I wanted a Lily/James story where James was dashingly handsome, Lily was stunningly beautiful and they had a love/hate relationship that didn't take three hundred chapters to resolve. I hope I've succeeded.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Lily, James, the Marauders, Hogwarts and other various things you may recognize from JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. Please don't think I'm trying to steal her ideas; she's a brilliant woman and I love her writing, I'm just having a little fun.
It was a rather infuriating experience for Lily, sitting in Head Student/Prefect meetings beside James Potter, trying to settle arguments and run things fairly. For one thing, she always disagreed with James, idiot boy, and for another, he never seemed to want to hear her opinion. He would merely laugh and everybody else would laugh too, because James was god to them and whatever he did, they did.
Oh, he had matured in recent years. He still had that annoying hair habit, but he wasn't quite so arrogant and every now and then he had a good word to say to Lily. Not often, though. Not often enough.
Well, yes, actually, often enough. Because she didn't want kind words from him. She wasn't planning to see him after school was over. He was probably going to be an Auror and she'd work at St. Mungo's and if their paths never crossed, so be it. She didn't care.
"Hey, earth to Lily!" James waved a hand in front of her face. "We're supposed to be working on plans for the Holiday Ball, not daydreaming about me naked."
"Get a grip," Lily replied, disgusted.
"On you? Certainly." James reached forward and grabbed her arm.
"Let go!" Lily shrieked. Luckily, they were in the Heads' joint common room, the one between their private Head rooms, and Lily was almost positive it was sound-proofed. "Let's just get this over with."
"Fine." James dropped her arm and unrolled a sheet of parchment covered in Lily's perfect, tiny handwriting. "So, these are your ideas."
"Yes," Lily replied curtly.
"Christmas tree – that's given – and a menorah, I guess, since we can't offend anybody. The mistletoe's a nice touch but I'm definitely scratching a classical ensemble. We need something big and noisy and popular."
"You're scratching?" Lily asked.
"Well, yes." James looked at her. "Are you sure you don't want to go out with me?"
"Shut it," Lily cried.
"Alright, we'll discuss music." He cleared his throat. "The ball will be loads more exciting if we have the Gremlins and Goblins or the Rockin' Centaurs, instead of some little classical thing with a piano and a harp. That's dinner music, Lils, not for dancing."
"Don't call me Lils," she told him. "And we are not having Gremlins and Goblins. We had them last year, remember? And even Dumbledore was holding his ears; nobody was dancing."
"Cool songs, though," James replied.
"Let's compromise." Lily pointed to the item on her list. "We'll hire a pianist for dinner and something slightly mellower, like the Unicorns or the Lovely Broomsticks or even the Ghosts. They're not too bad."
"The Unicorns," James said, wiggling his eyebrows. "The lead singer looks kind of like you and since I love to stare at you –"
"Would you shut up?" Lily screamed. "Every day I put up with this and I suffer through it but now I'd just like to get this done and we can't even do that! Have you heard of the NEWT's? I'd like to work on some things for them, but I can't, because I'm spending all my time as Head Girl and none of it as a student! Can't you just be a decent person, for once?" And she ran out of the room and into her own, slamming the door behind her.
James stared after her. That wasn't good. The teasing had been playful – polite, even, and Lily returned with a slap in the face. Maybe, just maybe, there had been a little too much. Just a tad, mind, because the girl had brought it upon herself.
Suddenly, there was an odd tap on his shoulder, but when James whirled around, he saw nothing. Only a glittering paragraph appearing in the air above the couch in Lily's handwriting.
You're a jerk. Worse, perhaps, is that you don't realize it. I'm going to Dumbledore to tell him this, because I think that we can no longer work together as Head Boy and Head Girl. The Christmas Ball is in two weeks and we don't have a band. Is that my fault?
"Damn," James said. He grabbed his wand and raced out of the room.
* * *
Lily walked into the Head's office quite calmly, considering that she absolutely hated her task. She wanted Dumbledore to demote James and yet, inside somewhere, was a feeling that she'd miss him at meetings. Somehow, she wanted Dumbledore to refuse her request.
"Ah, Lily Evans. Come in." Dumbledore pointed to the chair in front of his desk. "Are you feeling well?
"Yes, Professor," Lily replied. "Thank you."
"Well, as much as you love me, I'm rather inclined to believe that this is not merely a social call. Is it, Miss Evans?"
"No," Lily said, blushing. "It's about James."
"Ah," Dumbledore said, peering at Lily through his half-moon glasses. "Your co-Head student. James Potter, Head boy, Quidditch Captain, excellent student – that James?"
"Yes," Lily said. "I don't think we can work together anymore, Professor. We were trying to plan the dance tonight and all James did was make rude comments or disagree with me. He doesn't try at all and I'm terribly close to canceling the dance."
"What exactly did he say?" Dumbledore asked.
"Sir?" Lily said nervously.
"Lily," Dumbledore replied gently.
"All right." The redhead took a deep breath. "My mind was wandering – I'm tired, sir – and James told me that it wasn't time to daydream about him –"
"Naked." James' bemused voice filled the room. "Don't leave the juicy parts out, Evans."
"Ah, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore beamed. "Sit down, please." Magically, there was a chair beside Lily's, the same wooden, straight-backed chair. "Thank you for joining us."
"No problem," James said, leaning his head back. "So, what dirty lies has Lily been spreading about me this time?"
Lily just glared at him, and turned back to Dumbledore. "I'm willing to resign, sir, if that's what it takes to separate us. Perhaps that would help the school, as a whole."
"I'm sorry, Lily," Dumbledore said, "but I can't let you do that. We don't just pick our Head Students based on grades or ability. It's a difficult selection, and no substitute can fill either place. That means that the two of you are merely going to have to try harder to work together and if that means compromising a little bit, well, it's high time you learned to do so."
"But professor!" Lily stood up.
"Calm down, Miss Evans." Dumbledore raised a hand and watched as the girl sat quietly back in her chair. "Sometimes, it is best to befriend our enemies."
