Not Reacting
She was avoiding him. Determinedly. She could not talk to him today. It would not do. She just wasn't in a mental state qualified for holding a conversation or otherwise going about normal human social interaction with him.
So she simply avoided him.
It was significantly more difficult than she'd remembered it being. Back then, of course, she'd been convinced that she hated him, which made avoiding him all the more easy. Admittedly, he was also much more obnoxious back then, which brought its own difficulties in terms of avoiding him, but those were little compared to what she had to deal with now. Now, she was accustomed to his company, and not only was it socially acceptable for her to be with him, it was even what was expected of her. Other people thought she ought to be with him. She thought she ought to be with him. And to top it all off, she wanted to be with him. But she couldn't. She simply couldn't. Not today.
It didn't make it easier that all day she'd been finding flowers and chocolates and all sorts of sickeningly sweet presents that could only be from him. She rolled her eyes as she found another lily that had magically appeared in her bag, taking care not to crush it and especially not to look back at where she knew he was sitting with Remus. Don't react, she told herself. That was one of the most important lessons she'd learned about dealing with him. Never let him see you react.
She didn't know why she was acting so crazy. It had just been a dream, after all. It wasn't even a bad dream, in any way. Just an unusual one. But there was nothing wrong with that. And she'd had it on Tuesday, so she'd had plenty of time to think about it and contemplate her life and get over it. And yet, it was still bothering her now on Friday. And she was taking her frustration out on him by not reacting. And now that she was thinking about not reacting, she was probably reacting without even thinking about it. She took a deep breath and composed herself, making sure her face was completely devoid of emotion.
Having reassured herself that she was doing a wonderful job not reacting, she looked back into her bag for another textbook and stopped when she found that the previously lone lily had been joined by several others.
That did it.
She rose and made her way over to him.
"Potter," she said, without emotion.
He raised an eyebrow at her cold greeting, but smiled up at her anyway. "Evans," he returned evenly. A long pause followed, during which Remus once more displayed his brilliance by politely excusing himself, Potter looked back to his textbooks, and Evans cleared her throat.
"Potter," she repeated.
"Evans," he replied, without looking up. She took a breath.
"You're probably wondering why I came over-"
"You've been avoiding me," he cut across her, still studying the textbook.
"-here." She paused again. It really didn't surprise her that he'd noticed that she had been avoiding him. "I'm avoiding you," she repeated, rather dumbly.
"Yes, I just said that," he responded, making a note in the margin of his book.
"You're probably wondering why," she pressed on.
"Not particularly. I figured you had your reasons." He glanced up at her and grinned. "Don't worry, Evans. I trust you."
That shouldn't have surprised her, either, but it did. She stopped, trying to think of what to say next, while he went back to his note-taking.
After a couple of seconds, he glanced at her again. "But, you know, if you want to tell me why you've been avoiding me and why you've decided to come over here now, go right ahead."
That was all the encouragement she needed. "Well, the other night I had an unusual dream."
He paused in his notes. "Bad?"
She shook her head. "No. Just unusual."
He continued writing. "What was your dream about?"
"It was about you."
"Ah, so it was good, then?" He smirked.
"Shut it."
"Sorry. Do go on."
"Anyway, you and I were talking, here, just in front of the fire, a bit like this, but I was sitting there and you were there and you were wearing that one sweater that you think makes you look really good and I don't really know what I was wearing but I don't think it was this outfit and you weren't taking notes, we were just talking and-"
"...and Sirius was performing with the London Philharmonic while Remus rode a hippogriff to watch Peter play keeper for Real Madrid." He was looking her in the eyes now. "And now that we've covered the important details, let's go on with the rest of the dream, yeah?"
"And you gave me a bunch of lilies."
"Why?"
"I don't know, I guess Dream-you thought they'd be romantic or something," she snapped. "Anyway, when I saw the lilies in my bag it reminded me of the dream and I just had to tell you."
"Oh."
"Oh?"
"Oh."
There was a pause.
"...oh?"
"Yes, oh, as in, 'Oh, I thought there'd be more,'" he said, looking back to his notes.
"Well..." She took a breath. "There is."
He raised his eyebrows. "So what happened next?"
"Next...well, you asked me out."
"Sounds like a bloody fantastic dream to me," he responded, smiling broadly.
"Oh, shut it," she said, somewhat hurt that he wasn't taking her little crisis more seriously.
"No, honestly, Dream-you sounds like one lucky little girl. Well, that is, if Dream-me is anything like real me."
"Seriously, Potter, stop talking. Now."
"Oh come on, Evans, you know I'm just kidding," he laughed, looking up at her again. He studied her face for a second, paused, and something in his mind clicked. "D'you maybe...do you, ah, perhaps, want me to actually ask you out?"
She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I don't know, what do you want to do?"
"Well, I was just going to finish some homework, maybe have a chat with Remus, stop by the kitchens for some tea, read a book or two, perhaps break a world record-"
"Oh just ask me out, Potter."
He paused. "You know, I don't think I will," he said finally, looking back to his textbook.
"What?"
"I really did want to finish this up, and I am rather hungry-"
"James Potter," she said in a low voice, "I am going to count to three and if you do not ask me out by then you are going to wish you were never born."
"-I've been meaning to catch up on my leisure reading, I've heard that Animal Farm is an interesting story-"
"One..."
"-I mean animals on a farm? And they talk? Who would've thunk? And of course it's supposed to be some grand allusion to some big event or other over in the USSR-"
"Two..."
"-plus there are loads of world records to be broken, and I'd love to be remembered for, you know, eating the most hot dogs in ten minutes or whatever-"
"Thr-"
"Go out with me, Evans?" he asked, quickly but calmly, still studying his book.
"No!" she exclaimed, without missing a beat. "Of course I won't go out with you, Potter, and do you know why?"
"Because I'm insufferable?"
"Yes, and also-"
"A git?"
"Right, but furthermore-"
"Arrogant? Big-headed? A toe-rag?"
"Exactly!"
"Because I think I'm so wonderful when I'm really not and you wonder how my broom can even lift off when I've got such a big head and you'd never ever want to go out with me because I only care about myself and I don't take anything or anyone seriously and you'd sooner date the giant squid, right?"
"Precisely!" she exclaimed, worked up and exasperated, breathing hard and red in the face while he calmly looked her in the eye.
They spent several seconds like this, just looking at each other, when, finally, he turned back to his notes and spoke again.
"So I'll meet you in the Great Hall at eight tomorrow morning?"
"What?"
"Oh, how silly of me, you need your beauty rest, don't you? How about ten? That should give you enough time to get ready."
"Ten?"
"Yes, ten o'clock, I don't know what I was thinking when I said eight. You'd think after four months of dating I'd know just how much you need your sleep."
"You'd think so," she agreed. "Has it really been four months already?"
"Four months today." He smiled. "What did you think all the stupid little presents were for?"
"Oh." She paused, thinking. "I didn't get you anything," she stated simply.
"That's alright," he reassured her.
"Just an observation, not an apology," she corrected.
"Oh. Well then, that was quite an astute observation."
"Thank you. And now, if you'll excuse me, I need my beauty rest, and you need to finish your homework and...what was it? Break a world record?"
"Yeah, well, you know me, busy man that I am and all."
"Oh, yes, I know all about that. Busy with your own devices and supporting your friends while they play for the London Philharmonic and Real Madrid...really, though? You think Peter could play for Real Madrid?"
He shrugged. "Eh. Reserves, perhaps. Highly unlikely that he'd make it to the first team, but you never know."
She giggled. "Okay, well, good luck breaking your world records."
"Thanks, love. Good night."
"Good night." She headed up the stairs to her dormitory.
"Sweet dreams!" he called after her. He heard her laugh and smiled to himself because at the end of a long day, he'd finally seen her react.
Thanks for reading, please review.