Title: Sirius Picasso
Summary: "I wouldn't expect you to understand the artistry required for painting," Lily sighed, returning to her work. Sirius would prove her wrong if it was the last thing he did.
Meep. This is my first time attempting a Harry Potter oneshot for a challenge…and in general. Here goes something (hopefully!)
I figured I'd make this kind of fluffy and cute because most of what I write really isn't.
This oneshot is for Allons-y Lovelies' Quotes Challenge from the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum. The quote that she gave me was "Stop your whining! It's ruining my artistic vibe."
Here's my disclaimer- I'm obviously not Miss Rowling so I don't own any of these characters. Without further ado…
Sirius Picasso
Lily Evans never had any delusions that her gift for art would be a marketable skill, nor did she wish for it to be. Creating art was simply her hobby, and while she didn't mind sharing it with friends and acquaintances, she never desired to make it profitable. Her bedroom closest was overflowing with canvases, sketchbooks, framed drawings, and even a few three-dimensional pieces. As she sat on the tree stump in James's front yard, painting, she made a mental note to eventually show James her art closet. Lily had agreed to stay at James's house with him, Sirius, and Remus for the last two weeks. Potter was still a tad obnoxious and certainly egotistical, but Lily has found herself, at last, falling for the young man. Needless to say James was over the moon about this new development in his Lily Quest.
Mrs. Potter, once hearing of Lily's artistic ability, immediately pulled out her old paints easel and transfigured some spare plates into canvases for her to work on. Lily's emerald eyes squinted at the tree as she tried to gain a good enough image of how the golden sunlight looked streaming in through the foliage. Sunlight was always one of her least favorite things to paint. Shadows were easy because they were always the same and people were never much of a challenge, but light was something else entirely. The way that light, be it natural or artificial, shone on a landscape affects everything from the shading to the shape of certain objects. If she had to choose between painting nothing but rainbow circles for the rest of her life and painting beautiful pictures with different lightings she would pick the rainbow circles.
The young witch bit her lip as her hand guided the brush against the canvas and, once satisfied, cheerily exclaimed, "There!"
The three wizards looked up from their game of poker and glanced over at her canvas.
"Gee Evans," Sirius said. "You make it seem harder than it really is."
"It's not easy," Lily muttered.
James ran his fingers through his hair and grinned at the redhead. "You have quite the artist's eye, Lils."
Blushing, Lily turned back to her canvas and thanked him.
Skeptic, Sirius raised an eyebrow. "It can't be that difficult, can it?"
"I wouldn't expect you to understand the artistry required for painting," Lily sighed, returning to her work.
"Why don't you prove her wrong, mate?" James teased, playfully tapping Sirius on his backside.
Remus grinned and nodded at Lily. "Yeah, Sirius."
"No way."
Lily took her hair out of her ponytail and set the paints and brush aside and rose from her stump. Taking a step forward before folding her arms across her chest, she flashed the boys a toothy grin and stared at Sirius. "Yes, let's see you paint something," she said and pointed to the sky. "Those clouds, paint them. Now."
"I hate you all," grumbled Sirius, standing up and walking to the stump. He cleared his throat and studied the clouds; large talc-white blobs, and if he looked close enough, seemingly crawling across a blue background. He reached for the white paint when Lily tsked him.
"Sirius the sky is not tan; you have to paint the sky first."
He grumbled under his breath and reached for a blue- "Sirius, too dark!"
A lighter blue- "Too pale, that's more like a cornflower blue than a sky."
A black- "That's not blue."
It can be a night sky- "No it can't."
Why not- "Your assignment was the paint those clouds in that sky."
Prongs- "James can't save you this time."
He reached for the first blue again- "That is still too dark, mix white with it."
He picked up the brush- "Too light, add some green."
The brush almost touched the canvas- "Not quite right."
"Stop your whining! It's ruining my artistic vibe," Sirius groaned.
"What artistic vibe," James snorted, grinning at Lily.
Lily's eyes shone with delight. "Do you give up?"
"Never," Sirius growled.
"Just admit defeat," Remus smirked. "It would be for the best."
"You're no Picasso," James smirked.
Sirius chuckled, "Prongs, who the bloody hell is Picasso?"