Disclaimer: Don't own the peeps in this here...thingy, yo. I'm so cool. Just not as cool as JKR.
Sins-of-Angels: A short one-shot about Lily and James. Because I've been reading Opalish and Dress-Without-Sleeves's stuff and they're simply inspiring. And because James and Lily are so cute and fun and easy to write. And because love is silly and happy and giddy, and I don't think (or, more likely, don't remember) I ever properly addressed this moment, right here, in anything I've written so far. And I always thought of it as such a sweet moment. Also, reviews make the writer's-block-stricken-writer's world go round! Enjoy!
The day he fell for her was a Tuesday.
She looked at him, mouth half full of eggs and toast, gracefully left gaping to go with the questioning look on her face. And he fell for her, right then and there.
"Wuaaaht?" she managed to say despite the laws of physics regarding talking with your mouth full. Carefully she swallowed and cleared her throat. "What, Potter?" Her cheeks had turned pink at the display of proper manners she had just participated in.
"Evans," he said, then swallowed. His throat was dry. When did that happen? He grabbed his cup and downed the water inside, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. Lily's nose wrinkled as she saw it, and James froze mid wipe, dropping his arm at his side immediately. "You're, well, you're…"
The girl waited as James tried desperately to think up the words. She sighed. "What, Potter? Mature? Smart? Not a conceded Quidditch-playing prat?" Lily paused for a moment as the boy stared at her. "Better than you at Charms?" she offered.
What? Charms? Oh, yes! That'll do. "Yes, yes, you're much better than me at Charms! Loads, even. I strive to be half as good." The 13 year old boy scooted closer, until Lily gave him a strange look involving one eyebrow going way higher than the other. How did she even do that? He slowly scooted back to his original spot and turned, facing forward and staring straight ahead. The girl shrugged and turned towards her food once more.
Sideways glance. James sat up as straight as he could and inclined his head away from Lily, glancing at her in what he clearly thought was a secretive manner. The polite cough the girl gave from a little ways down the bench alerted him that it wasn't sneaky at all. He jumped and stared straight ahead of him once more. "You're strange," the girl said simply before taking another bite of her eggs.
James glanced around, wondering why in the world he had gotten up to eat breakfast so early. If only Sirius was here, he'd know what to do! He got loads of girls making weird looks at him all the time. Okay, okay. Deep breath. One, two, and- "Evans."
Lily made sure to swallow first this time. "Yes, Potter?"
"You're pretty," James said decisively, then caught Lily's look and hastily added, "oh, and smart. Very smart." The look became kind of questioning, a mocking smile seeming to slowly spread. "Er. Well. You know, I thought you should know that you are. Smart. And pretty."
"I'm so lucky to have you point this out," Lily said simply, grinning as James's face went red. "Is that all?"
"Yes. No. Well. Wait."
Dramatically, Lily turned to be able to face James. She put her elbow on the table supporting her head, and unceremoniously filled a fork full of egg and stuffed it in her mouth.
"Er," was all James could say. Look at her chew. It was so weird, seeing girls chew. She took large bites and then chewed them for forever or something. "Well, see, I think, since you're pretty, well, not really since you're pretty, but it plays a part, and the smartness maybe too, 'cause you think of things not like other girl stuff, and when you smile it's not 'cause you want to see a boy see you do it or somethin', it's because you want to, you know? Well, I think, maybe, that we should, er. We should. Could we maybe…" Her chewing slowed. Did she swallow? James was too busy avoiding her eyes and looking at the floor to notice. "Evans,doyouwannagooutwithme?" James said in one breath, eyes closed. No answer. Slowly opening one eye, he saw Lily take another bite of her breakfast. She hadn't moved at all.
She frowned, seeming to give it a bit of thought. James sat up again, forcing both eyes to open and wait for her answer. She carefully swallowed. "Um. Not really."
"…Huh." James turned back to his food. "You sure?" he asked, shooting her another glance. She had turned towards her plate too, supporting her head on the table still and loading up her fork.
"Mmmyeah. Pretty sure." Another bite, and then more chewing.
"Oh. Ok, well." He picked at his food for a while. "Well, why not?" he finally asked, turning towards her again. He could see her roll her eyes, not bothering to turn towards him.
"Because, Potter, you're mean to my friends." A glance alerted her to the confused look James was wearing as he mentally listed off all of Lily's friends he's interacted with. "Severus, Potter," she sighed, supplying.
James's mouth dropped for a moment. "What? Snape? But-but he's in Slytherin!"
"So?"
"He's mean to me!"
"You started it."
"Did not!"
"Did too."
"Well, if I did, it was because he started it."
This caused Lily to put down her fork, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "So, you started it because he started it?" she finally asked, turning to face James again.
James moved his lips for a moment in what seemed like mental calculation before smugly declaring, "Yes!" with a content smile.
Carefully, Lily reigned in her extremely confused look, and forced herself to stop trying to follow Potter's logic. Instead, she grabbed her bag and stood up. "I'm going to go study. In the library." She thought this further and shook her head. "No. In my room." She paused before leaving. "You're really strange."
"So you won't go out with me then?" James asked, ever hopeful.
"No," Lily said simply.
"I'll keep trying, you know."
"Yeah. You do that," she said with a roll of her eyes, to which James simply saluted.
Truth is, James Potter wasn't sure why he fell for Lily Evans on a Tuesday. But he supposed it was as good a day as any.