James Potter was eating an orange. Well, not eating it, exactly. He was peeling it. Or trying to, anyways. His nails scraped against the peel, but all that did was make little dents.
"Just use magic," Remus sighed, without looking up from his book.
"Magic?" James asked, highly affronted. "Magic?! Are you saying that I, the Stupendously Amazing and Magnificent James Potter, conqueror of worlds, hero of the universe, destroyer of Slytherins, should give in to a puny orange and use magic?!"
"Yes," Remus replied simply.
"How dare you?! Do I, with my ruggedly handsome features, my piercing eyes, my Quidditch-enhanced muscles, look like the kind of man who can't peel an orange without magic?!"
Remus looked up at James, taking in the boy's slightly scrawny frame, warm hazel eyes framed by glasses, and rather un-rugged face. "Yes," he decided.
"Well then, my friend, you need to get your eyes checked. All that reading must have addled them. I told you that books were bad for you, Moony." James continued to attempt to peel the orange, fingers vainly searching for a weak spot.
"Why don't you just ask Padfoot?" Remus suggested.
"Padfoot? Oh, I see how it is! You think Padfoot is better than me, don't you? You think Padfoot can succeed where I failed and peel this orange? Well, guess what! You're probably right, but I can't find him!" James exclaimed.
"Why don't you use the map?"
"He took the map," James said mopily. "Why don't you peel it for me, Moony?"
"Because I have a fresh paper cut and I don't love you enough to risk that pain," Remus said matter-of-factly.
"Gee, I love you too, Moony," James muttered sarcastically.
"It's not my fault your nails are short and stubby," Remus said. "I told you biting them was disgusting."
"I just want an orange!" James whined.
"Then use magic," Remus repeated exasperatedly.
"I will not stoop to using magic," James said, determined.
"But you'll stoop to asking your friends to do it for you?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"There's no dishonour in asking for help," James said in what seemed to be an imitation of Dumbledore.
Remus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lily just walked in, why don't you ask her for help?"
""Lily?" James immediately perked up. "Where?" He spotted her before Remus even had to answer- red hair is rather hard to miss, after all. "Lily!" He ran over to her and held out the orange.
"What is it, Potter?"she sighed before noticing the orange. "Erm, no thanks." She raised an eyebrow.
"No, can you peel this for me?" James made his best puppy-dog eyes, while mentally noting that if he randomly offered Lily an orange, she probably wouldn't accept it. You never knew, that could come in handy later.
"Fine," Lily gave in, taking the orange. "Why can't you peel it yourself?" She inspected the orange. "Oh, no wonder!" she exclaimed. "You've been trying to start from the middle, you great bloody git. Here." She took James' hand, much to his surprise, and guided it towards the top of the orange. "My mum always told me to start at the top." She dug his nail into the peel. "Do you bite your nails?" Lily asked, noticing how short they were.
"Yeah," James said dumbly, still trying to comprehend that Lily Evans was actually holding his hand.
"Hm. I always thought that was a gross habit." James Potter would never bite his nails again after that day.
Lily used his hand go break off part of the peel. "And from there on, it's easy." She peeled off the rest and handed him the orange, dumping the rind into a bin.
James popped a slice into his mouth and wondered if there was anything Lily couldn't do.
A/N- Reviews are nice, don't you think?