Disclaimer—It's all JKR's. Obviously.
A/N. Alright, I started writing this last night and figured I'd post it to get some feedback. It's Lily's point of view, sixth year.
Tell me what you think of it
If a metaphor could be used to describe our relationship, it would have something to do with the ocean. Mysterious and vague, yet magnificent and passionate. The whole idea of waves crashing into the sand would definitely be thrown into the assessment as well. But I've never really been big on figurative language. So to me, just naming us a sea would suffice.
He was tall, dark, and handsome. Jet-black hair always messy and in his face, glasses askew, robes crooked. A prankster from the day I met him. Mischievous. I was small for my age with hair brighter then his could be with flaming yellow hair dye in it. I wasn't perfect, obviously, but I liked order. Straight lines and ironed shirts.
Polar opposites, yet there was something that always clicked between us. Like an invisible set of handcuffs that disabled us from walking away from the other, we were stuck together. Maybe it had to do with that ridiculous saying about opposites attracting. Or perhaps it was because he was just so extraordinary, so unlike me that I just found him more… interesting then other people. But whatever it was, I found him as addicting as an alcoholic found firewhiskey. And no matter how much he annoyed me, he intrigued me. He always thought my opinion ill, yet longed for my approval.
There was something so oxymoronic about him. Bittersweet, if you will.
And I hated him, yet I sought for him. I wanted him out of my site, yet still close enough to reach. That mess of jet-black hair and all.
For six years I have known him by face. For five I have known him by acquaintance. For one and a half I have known him to be the most determined prat to ever walk the planet.
And today, December 1st at roughly eight twenty-three AM, I found myself happy to say that he was as strong-minded as ever as he plopped down across from me at the Gryffindor table, whilst shaking hair out of his eyes.
"James Jr." He announced proudly, as if informing me he's just won a thousand galleons.
"What are you on about?" I asked curiously, though throwing out my best nonchalant act.
"The name of our son! Unless, of course, we produce a girl, though I must say I'm not too keen on the idea. Too many frilly dresses and pink clothes, not to mention the fact that James Jr. makes an awful girl name," he paused a moment to shudder at the thought, ignoring my eye roll. "But then again, having any child implies that you and I would have had to-"
"Oi," I cut in quickly before he can begin to talk dirty. "If you finish that thought I'll hex you."
James opened his mouth to object, and then shut it again. Though I had never actually hexed the bloke threatening always seemed to work with him, at least for a few minutes.
Next to me my best friend, Lydia, let out a chuckle. By nature she was easy going and fun loving, and was always a fan of the constant battles between good and evil (me and James). Her looks matched her bubbly personality, as she sported a head of bouncy blonde curls and sparkling chocolate eyes. Her skin was light porcelain, and at a glance one might think of her as delicate looking, yet she was a tomboy at heart; as well as one of Hogwarts finest Keepers in years.
"Put a cork in it, Davies." James insisted to Lydia, though it was obvious he was joking. Although James and I weren't on the best of terms, he and Lydia two had always been friends. I doubted they would ever take long walks together swapping life stories, but they always found it easy to shared a laugh.
"Oh you're just sour because now you've got no one to have your offspring's with." She said with a smile.
"Of course I'm not! I still have my Lilykins; she's just-" he lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper "Afraid of commitment." James grinned as I rolled my eyes at him before returning his voice level to normal, turning to me. "I understand that you're frightened to take such a leap. Don't worry though; I'll wait until you're ready. In fact I'll wait forever if I have to."
"Great," I said, my words drenched in sarcasm. "Any chance you can 'wait' someplace else? Like in the Forbidden Forest or some other place where there's an equal chance you'll be killed or starving to death?"
"So morbid," A fourth voice insisted, shaking his head and grabbing a seat next to James. "You really should step out into the happiness of the sunlight, Evans."
"Thanks, Sirius, I'll keep that in mind."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for. You gonna eat that Lyd?" He added, pointing to a piece of bacon on the blondes' plate.
"Of course!" she exclaimed with a grin, picking it up and taking the smallest bite possible, purposefully savoring it to annoy him. "Mmm," Lydia sighed blissfully, taking a second bite. "The last piece of bacon."
"Yeah my piece of bacon," Sirius said with false tartness, reaching out as fast as he could muster to grab the small bit of food from her hand. Unfortunately he misaimed, and instead knocked over his goblet of pumpkin juice, spilling it on top of himself.
James let out a bark of laughter, and Lydia and I quickly joined in. Sirius swore loudly and stood to avoid getting more of the dripping liquid onto his robes. The juice had tipped right in between his legs, giving off the impression that he had wet himself.
"Wow, karma really does exist now doesn't it?" Lydia supposed with a grin, speaking over James and my laughter.
"Oh sod off," Sirius replied, though he too let out a lopsided smile. "Anyway, you're the one who wouldn't share, Davies. That must means karma might just have to get you back for that."
Lydia raised an eyebrow, still grinning. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see karma try. He may be strong, but I'm pretty sure I could outrun him."
Before she had time to react, Sirius had thrown a corn muffin at her, hitting her square on the forehead. Her mouth dropped in astonishment, and she quickly thrust the rest of her cream-cheese covered bagel in his direction, though not taking proper time to aim. Instead, the breakfast item grazed James across the face, leaving a trail of white fluffy topping across the top of his lip, resembling an overgrown and un-kept mustache.
"And here I was going to take your side," He said as though offended by the fact she had misaimed. "But now- it looks like it's two on one! Are you ready to get creamed, Davies?"
"No- I- You know I was aiming for Sirius!"
"Yeah, and let's just take a moment to thank the lord you're not a Chaser on the house team," Sirius interrupted, ducking as a sausage was thrown his way.
I let out a laugh yet immediately regretted it as both James and Sirius's eyes landed on me, just remembering I was sitting next to Lydia.
"Eet speaks!" Sirius yelled, taking on a deep French accent for Merlin knows what reason.
"Aye!" James replied with a similar accent. He narrowed his eyes at me in interest, as though I was a unicorn at the zoo. "Do you think eet eez friend or foe?" He asked Sirius; oblivious to the many curious onlookers who had turned in their seats to watch the two boys make a spectacle of themselves.
"What are you blabbing about?" I asked uneasily. Every so often James and Sirius slid into their own little world on cue, as if knowing what the other was thinking. It was a weird connection the two shared, and if they'd looked more alike I'd be tempted to call them twins.
"What eez zit saying?" Sirius wondered looking confusedly at me.
I couldn't resist cocking an eyebrow in perplexity, and I could feel Lydia's eyes move from the boys to me in equal bewilderment.
"Hmm. There eez only one way to find out!" James insisted, picking up two raisin bagels and handing one to Sirius, careful not to take his eyes off of me.
"Ah, I know what you mean. On three 'zen?"
"Three!" the two shouted in unison, abandoning their French tones and chucking the bagels at me. I let out a squeal, managing to duck out of the way at the last second.
"Hah!" I called triumphantly, though the second I sat back up I was hit square on the nose by a third bagel.
"Oi," Lydia looked at me with pity, before dragging me downward with a snap to avoid a jam-covered piece of toast aimed at my chest.
Dropping underneath the table, Lydia spoke again. "We need a strategy," she began, absentmindedly wiping a lump of stray butter out of her hair.
"We need…
…Seventy points from Gryffindor and a week's worth of detention." Professor Flemming said in his trademark know-it-all tone. The funny thing was though, he didn't really know it all, or really much of anything.
My jaw dropped in shock at the sound of the punishment, and I sat up straighter in the chair in front of his desk.
"But-" Sirius began, equally irritated that an innocent food fight would result in such a sentence.
"No buts. The four of you were way out of line today. As sixth years, you are supposed to be setting an example for the younger students. Throwing food around that was prepared by the hard work of house elf's is just plain disrespectful."
"Hippie," James muttered from next to me, no doubt referring to the Professors obvious adoration for the kitchen slaves.
I felt the corner of my mouth twitch as if about to smile, but I stopped myself just in time. This was not the time or the place, not to mention the person to be smiling at.
"We're sorry, Professor." Lydia insisted from my other side, obviously trying to shorten the visit here.
"Yeah, especially for the house elf's." James added, and I felt my mouth twitch again.
"We'll be sure to write them an apology letter," I couldn't help but include, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
"Maybe we should send them a fruit basket, guys!" Sirius turned to from next to Lydia to ask for our groups' approval for his suggestion, though I found myself unable to look him in the eye for fear of laughing.
"Now that," Professor Flemming cut in, eyes now twinkling "Is the respect that students your age should be showing. I really am glad I got through to you."
"Oh believe me, Professor. So am I." Lydia insisted, teary eyed due to trying to keep a straight face. However, Professor Flemming seemed to take her watery eyes as those of regret, and he smiled.
"Well then, I suppose you four can go."
I nodded and stood to follow Lydia out the door that James was now holding open. Just as I was about to leave, however, the teacher spoke again. "Maybe just two detentions rather then seven will suffice, since you've all obviously learned your lesson."
After thanking him, the four of us quickly made our way out of the office and down the corridor before he could change his mind. Once we were out of earshot, Lydia and I both let out the heavy laughs we'd been holding in, and I found myself leaning against her for support.
Over our heads the boys exchanged a high five, and Sirius insisted that he was the most amazing being to ever walk the Earth.
"No way, that was team work in there," Lydia insisted. Sirius opened his mouth to object, but James spoke first, trying to avoid the argument.
"Call it whatever you want, we just got ourselves out of five detentions."
"See?" Lydia insisted, trying to further explain her point. "James just admit that it was all of us. And besides, all you did was suggest a fruit basket. I'm the one who could be confused with Juliet as she just found her Romeo dead!"
I rolled my eyes at her exaggeration of acting talent as Sirius both asked her who in Merlin's name Juliet was began to argue. I soon found myself falling back behind the two to avoid getting yelled at. Lydia and Sirius argued almost as much as James and me, only when they finished they'd apologize and start joking again in an instant.
I wasn't surprised to find James at my side. He turned to me as we walked, and I could tell he was examining my expression, which I tried to keep blank to confuse him.
I was about to tell him to bugger off and look forward when he spoke.
"You had fun today."
I stopped walking, not really caring that the gap between us and Lydia and Sirius was increasing.
To be honest, I wasn't really sure why I stopped. Maybe it was because I liked watching him get confused when he realized I wasn't next to him. It could be that I preferred looking him in the eye when I talked to him. Either way, I couldn't resist holding back.
"Oh yeah, getting detentions and pissing off my classmates by loosing Gryffindor house points are some of my favorite pastimes." My voice was drenched in sarcasm, yet it lacked the icy tone I often laced it with when I spoke to him.
"Ha ha. You know what I mean though; you loved the thrill of the moment just as much as I did."
"Oh yeah?" I asked somewhat curiously, meanwhile examining a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of the barrette I had been keeping it in. "And how did you come to this conclusion?"
"You're eyes."
I dropped the strand of hair immediately at this simple statement and met his gaze. It's not that I found his words sweet, more so vague and interesting. "And do you read my eyes often?" I teased, though it was a serious question to a degree.
"All the time," He replied, not in the least bit embarrassed. "You're quite good at keeping your face expressionless, but your eyes give you away every time."
I closed my eyes as I spoke next in spite of him. "Now you'll never know what I'm feeling or whether I'm having a good time. You might want to invest in a new hobby."
In all honesty, I felt pretty exposed and vulnerable standing next to Potter but not being able to see him. But then again (though I wasn't sure if I believed him), having someone able to tell what I was thinking by just looking into my eyes made me feel pretty defenseless too, like standing in front of the Great Hall in my underwear, with no other clothes lying around to shield myself with.
Not being able to resist any longer, I slowly peaked open my eye, only to find him inches in front of my face, rather then the foot we had previously had in between us.
I let out a yelp and jumped backwards in surprise, ignoring the shiver down my spine that his breath by my ear had caused.
James laughed, obviously getting the reaction he had hoped for. "Got you to open your eyes."
Sticking out my tongue I held my head up a little higher, still stubborn yet obviously defeated. "Well I think I'm going to get going before you start telling me my future by the pattern of my freckles."
He chuckled as I turned the corner to head in the direction of the library while he swerved in the other route towards the common room.
"Oh and Potter?" I began, turning once more to face him.
"Yup?"
"You might want to work on the whole 'eye reading' thing. For your information, I didn't find getting in trouble exhilarating. I found it rather dreary and avoidable."
It was a lie and I could tell he knew it, but I couldn't help but disagree with him. It was like a impulse; he said yes I said no. He said big I said small. He reckoned I should go out with him, I'd say otherwise.
Traditional, if you will. And you know what they say; traditions aren't to be meddled with.
"Yeah yeah, Evans. Whatever you say."
I turned my back once more to him and let out a smile before opening the heavy door of the library, feeling his eyes burn into my back until I had disappeared within.
A/N. Alright, what did you think? I know it's probably cliché but hey, you got to give me time to prove myself. Hah. Whatever. Let me know what you think, and if ya'll like it I'll continue.
In other words, review.