At the time, it seemed logical. And I was all about logic for, as child, I would spend hours reading numerous books about philosophy and studies of logic. I learned that if something could be solved using words and equations, it was right – no matter what it was.
When Mary suggested a new idea during breakfast one day, I could see the logic behind it. A smile began to make its way onto my face. I even had the evidence that supported my decision; it seemed like everything was finally going to work out perfectly.
On a piece of parchment, I wrote out the ingenious plan in a form of an argument, showing Mary how it was absolutely foolproof. There was no room for error; nothing could go wrong. Everything added up.
As Mary and I climbed up the staircase to the common room, I closed my eyes and let the image play out in my head. I could just see the look on his face and the words that he would say right after. It was just so perfect.
"You know what to do, right?" Mary asked, breaking me out of my wonderful daydream.
I just looked at her. "There isn't much to it, Mary." It was just that simple. A simple, logical equation of A + B equals C.
It happened that night.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him make his way over to me with that familiar grin on his face.
"Hey Evans!" he shouted. I looked up with a curious look, motioning for him to continue. He stopped in front of me, hand running through his hair as usual, and said loudly, catching the attention of everyone around him, "D'you want to go with Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"
Everyone who had heard was watching us, waiting with bated breath for the next argument between James Potter and Lily Evans. So, I smiled and looked back down at the textbook in my lap. I could practically see Mary holding in her laughter next to me.
He didn't get an answer. Instead, I began reading. And judging by the silence around us, I knew he was still standing there, waiting for a response. If he had left, everyone would have been gossiping by now.
A couple seconds passed. It was working.
"Evans?" he questioned again, confusion evident in his tone.
No, he wasn't getting an answer. Because I was going to ignore him. He craved attention and I knew one of his favorite ways to get it was to start asking me out. It usually resulted in an argument with our classmates listening to us yell. James Potter needed to be center of attention. And he wasn't going to get it through me anymore.
More silence. He had to be giving up.
And if he didn't get that thrill from teasing me anymore, he would have to stop. I would finally be freed of James Potter. I wouldn't mean anything to him if I wasn't a pawn in his game. Mary was an absolute genius for bringing this to my attention.
It was the perfect logical plan. And it was working,
"Evans..." he said slowly but I refused to look at him. "Why aren't you yelling at me?" I bit my tongue and kept silent.
Suddenly, a new voice sounded out. "Prongs, you know what this means?" His partner in crime: Sirius Black.
I dared myself to sneak a peek at the two of them. Sirius looked like he was about to start jumping up and down as he clutched onto Potter's shoulder.
"No," I watched Potter gasp, his eyes widened.
To my surprise (and probably even else's), they high-fived each other with a loud proclamations of excitement. "This is the next step!" James exclaimed. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me for much longer!"
That was when the conclusion to my well-formatted argument was proved false. There was absolutely nothing that I can do to end this nightmare.
Leaning back on the couch with a loud sigh, I began hitting myself with the textbook. "This is absolutely illogical. I can't have it," I grumbled underneath the book resting on my face.
Mary shrugged from beside me. "Maybe if you said yes, then-"
"No," I cut her off abruptly. "Just...no."
James Potter was an exception: he took all rules of logic and threw them out of the window. And for that reason, I was never able to look at things logically again.
Random, kinda pointless, and based on one of my college courses? Yep. I know I should be writing Suddenly I See, but I randomly came up with this idea and actually wrote it (that's crazy talk!).
If anyone knows how to write the standard form of Lily's argument, you get a Marauder of your choosing.
Thanks for reading my randomosity!