For the Houses Competition
Word Count: 2119
Prompt: [Color] Purple
It was a beautiful March day at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The birds were singing, sunlight was streaming through the windows illuminating dust particles into a near haze, cats lounged in said windows and no doubt students would be joining them had it not been in the middle of the school day just as exams were getting closer and closer.
As a prefect, Lily was sometimes excused from class to patrol the hallways. It was only about once a month she had to do this, and while normally it would agitate her to be missing class this time of the year, she enjoyed it today. She liked the near silence, and it gave her a chance to just breathe.
Or not.
As she climbed the stairs to get to patrol the Third Floor, sobbing reached her ears.
Sighing, then forcing her peppy prefect exterior on, she found the source of the sound. Sitting on one of the stationary stairs was a first year. He was small, even by first year standards, with curly hair and brown skin covered in nasty purple splotches.
"Hey…" she said gently. The kid stiffened. "What happened? Are you okay?"
He scrubbed a tear away, flinching when he touched a purple patch.
"N-no," he said. "S-some kid… I— I think it was supposed to be a prank."
"There you are," said a familiar voice. "I wondered where you'd run off to."
It was James Potter. Lily drew her wand.
"Potter, I swear if you were the one who hurt this kid—" she whirled around and froze when she saw similar purple splotches on his skin.
He held up his hands in surrender, wand hanging loosely between his thumb and forefinger. His glasses hung askew and one of the lenses was cracked.
"I come in peace, Evans," he said.
"What happened to you?" she asked. "Both of you."
"Well, some of those ponces claiming themselves as Death Eaters, which is seriously a stupid name, were prowling around the halls. This firstie was on his way to the loo when those assholes cornered him and started doing this weird hex," he said.
"Weird how?" Lily asked.
"I'd never heard of it before," said James, gingerly sitting down on the steps. "It was like a bunch of tiny punches. Hurt like hell."
"And how did you end up that way?"
"He got in the way," said the first year. "Told 'em to leave me alone. They got him next."
"You tried to stop them?" Lily asked James. "By yourself?"
"Is that so surprising?" he returned.
It was hard to say… James Potter was always pulling pranks on everyone. It occurred to her that in the past year, his pranks were directed more towards those who were being unkind. Even so, he had gone too far doing what he did to Severus.
Severus tried to claim that the Death Eaters' "pranks" were no different than the Marauders' pranks, but that wasn't true. In the end, everyone was laughing with the Marauders. Nobody laughed at anything that the Death Eaters did.
James could go too far with his pranks as well, but something like this went against his code. He had one, a loose moral code that went against causing anyone undue harm.
"I suppose it isn't," she said, lowering her wand.
James turned his attention to the first year who was still crying quietly.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"B-Bailey."
"Nice to meet you, Bailey," he said. "I'm James. James Potter."
"Why do they hate me?" Bailey asked, wiping his nose on his sleeve.
"Because they're idiots," James replied. "They think something about having pure blood makes them better than everyone else. More superior. It's totally bogus. Take Lily for example. She's muggle-born, like you, and she's one of the most brilliant witches in the school. And me? I'm a pureblood and while I am pretty great—" Lily snorted at the remark— "she's even better."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." James reached into his pocket and unwrapped a doughnut, no doubt from the kitchens. "Here. I think you could use this more than I do."
Bailey took the doughnut and ate it slowly. James then started telling jokes to make the kid laugh.
Lily smiled slightly. Why wasn't he like this more often. Since he was taking care of Bailey, she decided to take care of him.
"Here, let me fix your glasses," she said, holding her hand out.
"What? My glasses are fine," he replied, adjusting them and snapping off one of the temples in the process.
Lily took them and held the pieces in her flat palm.
"Oculus Reparo."
She placed them back on his face and found herself captured by his hazel eyes. Warm and colorful. Like the leaves at the beginning of autumn between green and brown.
"There," she said after a moment. "Good as new."
"Thanks, Evans." He smiled. "We should get to Madam Pomfrey."
"Er— right," she said. "I'll go with you."
Madam Pomfrey was perplexed by the hex at first, having never seen anything like it, but when she determined the purple splotches were indeed heavy bruising, she was able to fix them with the application of a topical cream.
"Enjoying the view, Evans?" he called as the cream was applied to his back. He'd had to remove his shirt for that.
"Dream on, Potter," she scoffed with an eye roll.
"Well then… I think we're fine here," he said. "Go do your prefect thing."
Lily made to leave and immediately turned around.
"Aren't you going to ask me out?" she demanded.
He grinned.
"Do you want me to ask you out?" he asked.
"No!" she said almost too quickly. "You just ask me out at every opportunity and you didn't. Maybe that hex messed with your head."
"Whatever you say, Evans."
Lily scoffed and left, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"Potter," she muttered.
It was just a fluke. Something he did with his foolhardiness.
Wait a second…
"POTTER YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN CLASS!" she bellowed, running back to the Hospital Wing.
"He already left, Miss Evans," said Madam Pomfrey.
Potter hadn't changed.
Or so she thought.
Protecting Bailey was just the start of this new James. Sure he still pulled his pranks and he had his annoying moments during class. He especially still insisted on high-fiving her whenever she raised her hand. But his attitude was changing. He wasn't as… childish. She found him actually studying to the point of being in the top ten of their year. He was applying himself.
While he still held a special hatred for Severus Snape in his heart, he seemed to hate the other Death Eaters even more. Whenever they decided to pull something, he started fighting back. Sometimes it was by himself, and other times it was with the Marauders. He was showing a new kindness. A new maturity.
"What brought this on?" Lily asked Remus Lupin during one of their rounds. "Did you say something to him?"
"You know I can't control them anymore than the teachers can," said Remus with a lighthearted chuckle. "But after… after that incident with Severus… I think something happened that made him take a long, hard look at himself."
"The incident when he called me a mudblood last year?" Lily asked.
Remus shook his head.
"No," he said and looked around, dropping his voice. "You know how Sirius can go too far when he goes unchecked?"
Lily nodded.
"Well… he told Severus about the Shrieking Shack." The boy swallowed hard as if the thought made him sick. "And he fell for it. I tried to attack him."
Lily gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
"James stopped me, saving his life, and got into a huge row with Sirius about it," Remus continued. "I think that's when he reevaluated everything. Pranking is now his hobby, but not his life. I also think he wants to be someone who is worthy of you. He goes on about how good and kind you are. How more people should be like you."
Lily felt her cheeks flush.
"Oh?"
Remus nodded.
"What do you think about who James is becoming?" he asked.
"I… I don't know," she said, honestly. "I haven't really thought about it. I have noticed he's been giving me my space… overall."
"I think the High-Five Lily game will go on forever," Remus chuckled. "It's more of a habit than anything now."
"I might actually miss it if you stop," she replied with a grin.
"Anyway," he said. "You don't have to go out with James. I just want you to know that he made the choice to grow up by himself."
After their rounds and Lily went to bed, she lied awake thinking about her conversation with Remus. About James and all the things he'd done. How these past few months he'd been trying to fix things. To redeem himself and change from the bully who is always pulling pranks, to someone who does good. And he actually was changing. It wasn't just Remus saying so. His actions were speaking for themselves. He wasn't making a big deal over it. Wasn't telling everyone the good things he was doing. It was just something he did now.
Lily had noticed even if she hadn't thought about it and she decided she liked this James.
This was someone she would like to date.
Maybe even love.
So, when they ended up sitting next to each other in Study Hall, she didn't know what to do. She was used to ignoring him. He was the one who always tried to get her attention and he'd stopped. Today he was actually taking notes. This irked her!
Amazing what divergence from a routine did to someone's psyche. This wasn't even something he planned on doing. He was leaving her alone like she wanted and it was driving her insane not having his attention. He wasn't even looking at her.
Tapping her nails in agitation, she decided to do something her friend Mary MacDonald did to attract a boy. A bit ashamed of herself, she tossed her hair over her shoulder to show her neck. Mary said doing that made boys think of kissing, or something of that sort. Doing it made her feel a bit dumb. She glanced at James and watched him twist his fingers in his messy curls, eyes still on his parchment. He turned her attention to Remus who looked like he was trying not to laugh.
Scowling, she huffed quietly and went back to her assignment. She looked up once more when Remus tossed a note on James' desk. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. What was he thinking?
James discreetly opened it and gave Remus an unamused look. He scribbled something on the note and tossed it back. Sirius glanced over and snorted.
They all ducked their heads when Professor McGonagall passed and gave them unamused glances. Sirius wrote something on the scrap of paper and chucked it, smacking James square on the forehead.
Before their silent squabble could escalate, the bell tolled and the hall filled with the sounds of shuffling papers and bags being opened and clasped shut paired with the relieved sighs of overworked students.
"Lily," James called once they were in the corridor.
He'd never called her by her first name before. Lily looked over her shoulder.
"Yes, James?" she said.
James rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and huffed through his nose.
"Do you want to go on a date with me to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he mumbled.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked, knowing full well what he said.
"I said," he sighed and raised his voice to a normal volume. "Do you want to go out with me this weekend? To Hogsmeade."
Lily pretended to think about it.
"Okay," she said. "I will go out with you, James."
The look on his face was priceless. When he fainted into the arms of Sirius and Remus, she laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"She said 'yes,'" he breathed. "SHE SAID YES!"
"Bye, James," she called walking away with her friends.
"LILY EVANS IS GOING OUT WITH ME!" He hollered and whooped. "SHE SAID YES!"
"I heard you, mate," said Remus. "It's a date, not a marriage proposal."
"I DON'T CARE! SHE SAID YES!"
Even with this reaction, Lily smiled to herself and found that she was excited to be going on a date with him.
"I can't believe you're going on a date with James Potter," said Mary.
"I don't believe it, either," she replied and stole a glance over her shoulder to see James doing an excited dance.
What a dweeb.