James Potter was not someone who often thought before he acted. He could be found hexing deserving Slytherins in the hallways on occasion, never stopping to take a moment and wonder what repercussions may come out of it. He often opened his mouth in the middle of class to answer a question before it was even completely out of the Professor's mouth. He also had a certain knack, talent even, for saying just the wrong thing at just the right time to make Lily Evans storm off, cursing his name in her wake. James Potter was not someone who often thought before he acted.
Lily Evans, on the other hand, liked to weigh her words. She was by no means a quiet girl, often voicing her own opinions and even getting into rather heated debates with both friends and mere acquaintances. She was fiery and determined, but her arguments were never without meaning. That is, unless James Potter was around.
James's spontaneity was often what upset Lily the most. This was mainly because it had a nasty habit of rubbing off on her whenever she was around James for any amount of time. She would rattle off words without meaning and get so frustrated with him that she lost all sense and ended their arguments just the way he always began them; without properly thinking.
It was not uncommon for Lily to lay in her bed at night and let her mind recap the days events or even imagine ridiculous scenarios that she was sure would never happen, but would like to be prepared for just in case. It was, however, strange for James to be found doing the same which was precisely what was happening one late and, seemingly insignificant, Wednesday night.
James Potter lay in his bed, looking up into the abyssal darkness that the curtains of his four-poster provided. Most nights he didn't bother to close the curtains, opting to sleep in the comforting blue glow of the moon as it seeped in through the window on the other side of the room. But tonight was not an ordinary night.
James never planned anything. At least, he didn't plan anything that did not absolutely require planning. Pranks and Full Moon Nights he could spend hours thinking about and preparing, but every day things and simple conversations? Never.
This did not occur to James as he painstakingly reviewed the events of that Wednesday night in his head. Commenting on Snape's lack of general hygiene. Lily's pointed eye roll. Remus' warning that perhaps he should just give it a rest. His own refusal of such a preposterous idea. The night ending, once again, in a fight between Lily and himself.
"When are you going to learn, Potter?" she had said as they faced each other just outside of the Great Hall. Her eyes were pleading and very tired. She was sick of this argument. She was sick of him.
"Learn what? I don't have anything to learn! And since when are you back to sticking up for him anyways? Huh? I thought…" He paused here, the beginning of a thought brewing in his mind. A warning not to say anymore. He ignored it, rage getting the better of him. He was tired too, you see.
"The fact that you even said you have nothing to learn just proves my point." she yelled, dangerously reaching the point she ever so dreaded when she would cease to think her thoughts all the way through. Act on complete impulse. Impulse didn't scare Lily, absence of any self-control did.
"I thought you'd learn." he countered, still refusing to heed that bright little light in the recesses of his mind that told him it was time to shut up. "I thought after he called you a…after he…"
Her face was growing redder with anger, almost daring to challenge her hair. "Don't," she commanded, getting a grip on herself. "Don't ever speak to me again."
That was nearly four hours ago, and yet here he was, loosing sleep over some stupid girl and her stupid mistake. It was stupid, after all, to tell James that she never wanted to speak to him again when the boy she was defending had said much, much worse. But she wasn't stupid, and that was the thing. He could think it all he wanted. He could lay there for hours and shout that he hated Lily Evans. He could say she made his life hell, that she didn't make sense, that she was impossible and that he never wanted to speak to her again, so she had nothing to worry about. Of course, all of those things would be a lie. Because, as he looked up without seeing and, for maybe the first time in his life, really thought about what he had done, what he needed to do, and what he was going to do, James Potter realized that he truly loved Lily Evans.
Even if she did drive him mad.