All I Never Wanted
Disclaimer: Obviously, Harry Potter is not mine. James is. I swear…One day…Sigh He is not a fictional character. He is not a fictional character! Kneads stress ball. Oh! And "All I Never Wanted" is from Diana Digarmo's album and belongs to RCA Records. For all of you who have never read a fic of mine before, I name all these babies after songs and/or their lyrics I feel depict their ambience the best. LOL. I'd even suggest listening to the song while reading the fic for the full effect. :D
Author's Note: Another stab at presenting some less-than-perfect Marauders, namely, Sirius. I love him dearly, with all my heart, but I think it would be a little fun to portray him as Lily honestly viewed him in her Angry Phase :). Prepare for dear Padfoot to be: vile, arrogant, obnoxious, and above all…SHALLOW & INORDINATELY HORMONAL. Don't like it? Please don't flame me. It's Lily's POV, after all!
Chapter One
"What're you doing, Lily? People-watching?" Remus Lupin innocently asked a certain defiant redhead one warm Thursday afternoon, after noticing her gazing steadily at something (or someone) a good distance in front of her.
"Poaching." Lily stated shortly as she narrowed her brilliant green eyes into a perfect glare directed at a certain messy-haired Chaser and his strikingly handsome (but "blunt and shallow") best friend who sometimes gallivanted around as an array of furry creatures on a whim.
"Ah." Lupin returned, sighing as he settled himself down next to her on the feathery grass of the Hogwarts lawn and opened up a textbook.
"What is it with him?" She started suddenly as she watched James turn down a perfectly pleasant-looking fifth-year girl on her offer to practice her "flying techniques."
His "No" came as easily and sensitively as one would say, "pass the butter" at the breakfast table. Lily loathed "the boy" for many reasons, one of which being this one in particular. Obviously, the little Ravenclaw who was now having herself a good cry of humiliation behind a pillar had put weeks, maybe even months (judging by her heaving shoulders) of thought and careful planning into asking him out and yet she received not an "I'm so sorry but thanks for the offer," or even a sympathetic smile from the (presumably ex-) object of her affection. Just a flat out, arrogant refusal. It was disgusting! Some boys. Honestly!
"Who?" Lupin looked up distractedly from his reading.
"That—that…Potter!" Lily finally managed to spat as she jabbed a slender finger ahead of her, as if simply speaking James' name was a matter of absolute vulgarity.
Remus laughed out loud, partially from the abhorrent manner in which she referred to and spoke so openly about one of his dearest, closest, truest,and best friends. She also happened to look adorably silly when she was…exceedingly frustrated, was it? There was an emotion only James could invoke within Lily which could not be named but was without a doubt some degree of unbelievably but irrevocably infuriation.
"Really, Remus. I don't know how you can stand them. You honestly deserve a much higher caliber of character amongst your friends." Lily huffed as she crossed her eyes at a straystrand offiery red hairand then blew itout of her eyes impatiently.
"Well, Lily, it's funny you mention that because every morning when you invite me to come and join you for a stack of pancakes, I say the same thing about you. How am I lucky enough to have her stand me on a daily basis?" He smiled at her cheekily over his reading glasses and he cocked his head to the side ever so earnestly.
Lily blinked and then burst into laughter, which pealed like bells and her beautiful eyes danced. When she smiled, her whole face lit up. That is such a cliché, but it was so entirely true for her. She placed her hand on Remus' arm and shook her head, still grinning her signature huge smile everyone loved.
"No, no!" she gasped still giggling. "How can you say that? I'm the lucky one to have you!" She still had stars in her eyes and Remus knew that he was not supposed to feel this way, but he wished he could make her smile like that for the rest of his life. He simply adored her.
She put a hand up to muss his chestnut hair which was already tossed agood dealby the wind.
Lily's laughter seemed to have attracted the keen ears of one James Potter and he made the beeline for the two Gryffindor Prefects, as coolly and suavely as he could possibly manage. Although he still almost tripped over his own and then Sirius' feet in the process. He then tried to look as debonair and nonchalant as possible as he leaned up against the trunk of a nearby tree. Unfortunately, all of his careful planning and smooth calculations went unnoticed by the girl now bent over a lesson plan with, as James' alert hazel eyes quickly registered with a pang of jealousy, a delicate hand placed softly on her companion's back as they talked animatedly.
"Oy, Evans!"
"Potter."
"Please, we're closer than that. You may call me Prongs."
"Yeah right."
She absolutely loathed that stupid nickname. The only human entity Lily despised more than the black-haired boy grinning like a Cheshire cat in front of her, was his stupid, arrogant-as-anything best friend who was at this momentstaring unashamedly at a seventh year girl sitting on the bank of the lake and who had just been squirted mercilessly by the Giant Squid right through her regulation school blouse. And one day for no reason known to Lily, the illustrious Mr. Sirius Blackstarted calling his best matethat obnoxious nickname and the next second James was no longer James, but was insisting that everyone call him "Prongs." ("Of course, it was just a perfect coincidence it sounds like 'thongs,' Lily had thought with disgust.") She vowed never, ever to call him that. After all, it only madeJames more arrogant.
James chose not to acknowledge her cheek towards him, which try as she might to take no notice of this fact, annoyed her further. Luckily, she had a lot of practise from home in maintaining her composure. (She wasn't the elder born with a rather trying younger sister for nothing, after all!)
"So…Evans…There's a trip into Hogsmeade this coming weekend and I wouldn't want you to miss it all holed up in the Common Room with your nose buried in a book. You really should get out more. It's absolutely wonderful for the complexion—"
"You should know." Lily retorted and yet again, James did not miss a beat.
"Of course, if you were to join me, that is to say, goonadatewithme—" He said this very fast in hopes that Lily would not catch it and be tricked into agreeing and then he would be IN, but alas, she wasn't the brightest witch in school for nothing.
"No." She said simply.
"No?"
"That's right. A big. Fat. NO."
"That's it? That's all you have to say is 'No!'?" He screeched out this last part in high-pitched, shrill tones, like a Howler that had been sat on and then stuck in theicebox for a good three months.
It's not that James was in the least bit surprised. By Sirius' calculations, this would be the seventy-ninth time she would be rejecting him. However depending on the lunar eclipse and the humidity of the day, James could expecteverything from arambling tirade as to why she would never date him, to a good blast from her well-trained wand,to a short andsweet, "No, thanks." This was his first flat-out "N-O."
There was a pause. James actually seemed a little hurt.
"Aren't you even going to tell me why?"
"No. And you should recognise the gesture!" Lily shouted, pink rising in her cheeks as she gathered up her things, stood up quickly, and stomped away angrily, herruby hair flung over her shoulder with an air of genuine defiance.
Remus sighed and looked up at James and Sirius tiredly. Didn't they understand why she did this? I mean, beyond the initialdisdain. That was obvious. She's trying to make a point.
"Weeell! Excuse me, EV-ANS." Jamespuffed to himself and slumped down against the tree. Sirius flopped down next to him.
"Ouch." That was all Sirius had to say.
"What is it with her?" came James' muffled whine through his sweater, which he had pulled up and over his head entirely in his frustration and humiliation. In some ways, he had become so cool, but at times like this when he looked quite a strange and pitiful sight, he was just plain first-year-rather-awkward-and-skinny-alone-on-the-train-James-Potter. If only Lily-Evans-only-person-who-sat-with-him-and-was-his-first-friend could see this.
However, at this very moment, she was busy getting an eyeful of the surprise left for her in the girls' toilet, compliments of one Peter Pettigrew who had been sent to complete this task for a goodthree hours after he frustrated the living daylights out of Sirius:
"PRONGSWantsA Good Snog FromLily Evans XOXO!" scrawled across all the mirrors in bright pink lipstick.
Chapter Two is in the works and if you like this one, please let me know:) Thanks!