Hi there! You might recognize my account name from a previous story, and if not, hello! I want to get right to the point so-
Disclaimer: Unless I suddenly turn blonde, and become a billionare (with a b), you should have no reason to compare me with J.K. Rowling.
I think the story should explain itself. Just a simple James Lily fic. This first chapter is from Lily's POV, the next from James's, then Lily's and so on. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Sparks and Fireworks
Chapter one:
Simple Desires
By Lily Evans
Hello there! I am Lily Evans, and I am a normal girl.
To an extent.
Pleased to meet you. I consider myself quite normal in everyday aspects of life. I am simple (for being a girl, as girls are naturally complex), well thought out, smart, and agreeable. Yes, yes. That'll do.
I am a girl of simple desires.
Now you may say- and I might just agree with you- that no desire is truly simple. Some desires just seem simple but when you think hard about them they're so complicated that you suffocate. And die. And there goes your life, crushed by a not-so-simple desire.
Back to the point.
I truly only have one simple desire. (Because the rest are so complicated that you might just suffocate.)
But it is a complicated simple desire.
My simple desire is:
Fireworks.
Yes, yes, I know. It's what every teenage girl wants. Besides a big bust and perfect skin (and occasionally that high pitched giggly voice that the guys love), every teenage girl wants a relationship. But mine seems more… sane. Maybe it's because it's coming from me, and I'm grading it.
Back to the point, again.
I want a serious relationship. I don't want crushes. I want love. I want that movie theater kind of romance where the boy kisses the girl in front of the pond of paradise and the fluffy pink hearts float around and in the back of the scene you see… fireworks.
Actually it's not fireworks. Because when you ask your annoying sister she tells you that you're thinking to hard and your brain may explode at any given moment, so she'll just leave now. And if you ask your supposed-to-care mother, she just chortles and then when you stress the point, she makes a bloody appointment to the eye doctor because she thinks your seeing things. Some mother…
But you understand (I hope).
So here I am.
Lily Evans. 17 years old. It's been five minutes into the train ride to Hogwarts, and I'm in an empty compartment staring out the window thinking about my simple desires. Some life I lead.
Then, my saviors from the perilous doom I call my mind.
The compartment door slid open, and in stumbled two of my closest friends, Frank and Alice, hand in hand. They had been friends for most of my sixth year, and gotten together in the summer. Alice is normally the shyer of the two; Frank is normally more open, but, then, it depends who they're conversing with.
"Lily!" Alice cried, walking over to me, interrupting me from sulking, which I shall eternally owe her for.
I stood up and brushed away any remaining thoughts of my simple desires and hugged her. "Alice!" I said, just as happily, hoping she wouldn't notice that I honestly wasn't enjoying myself. To my satisfaction, she didn't. I should consider a job in acting.
"'Lo, Frank," I said to Frank, opening my arms. In all honesty I was worried he wouldn't hug me, and just leave me standing there with my arms open for eternity, because sometimes Frank was like that. But then-
"How could I forget my Lilyflower?" Frank chuckled, and hugged me.
"You guys'll keep me company, right?" I begged, trying out my best help-me-I'm-pathetic look. I don't think it worked very well, because Alice gave her best I-wish-I-could-help-you-but-I-can't look. And her looks are better than mine.
"Yeah, we would, but… aren't you supposed to be in the prefect's compartment?" Frank asked, gesturing to the badge I wore on my shirt (proudly, mind you).
"Damn," I muttered. "I completely forgot!" I frantically slid the compartment door open, but I paused before I left, pointing to Frank and saying, "I owe you one," and then walking out the door. I could hear Alice giggling as I departed.
What an example I was setting now! Late for Head Girl duties. What a fine Head Girl I am.
I nearly dashed down the train to the caboose, the largest compartment, marked, pointedly, "Prefects Compartment."
The moment I had slid open the door and tumbled inside was the moment I saw him.
He was looking out the window. Sharing the same thoughts as me, about simple desires? I highly doubt it.
He didn't even need to turn around. I would recognize that raven hair anywhere and no one can make it stand on end quite as fashionably as James Potter.
But he did turn when he heard the door. And I did see those hazel eyes behind the glasses, I did see the nondescript expression that crossed his face, and I did see his expression change to a sly grin. But most of all I saw the single most annoying boy who I could possibly have the displeasure to meet.
So, okay. Maybe that was pushing it. Or so I thought, until I heard his first words to me. No, not a 'Hello' or a 'How was your summer?' or even a curt, 'Evans.' But no, he decided he would pat the empty spot next to him and say, "Kept it warm for you."
"Rain check," I said, avoiding eye contact (for eye contact, I found, was definitely something you didn't want to make in cases like this), and sitting as far away from him as I could, until I realized that I was right across from him. The devil does that too, you know. You don't realize how close he is until you see his face again. James Potter could very well be the devil.
"I'll hold you to that," he threatened, still grinning cockily. One. Of these days. I am going to hurt. That boy. SO badly. Mark my words.
At that moment something clicked in my head, just in time. James Potter wasn't a Prefect. So what the heck was he doing in the bloody Prefect's compartment? Funny how my mind works like that, hm?
James raised his eyebrows, as if the reason he was in the prefect's compartment was common knowledge, which- a note- it was most definitely was not. But he had quite a way of doing that: looking at you like you're the most stupid thing he's ever seen. Too bad he's not good for much else but making people feel terrible about themselves.
Then he began rummaging through his bag for something. "Oh- shoot- I know I put it in here- somewhere," he murmured. And then he pulled out a large badge with the four house colors- red, green, blue and yellow, on the Hogwarts emblem. I gaped at it… the Head Boy badge.
"Do I have to wear this thing all the time? It's definitely going to ruin my outfits," he said, proudly fastening it to his shirt. Then he looked up from his chest to me and said, "I see your wearing yours, too. We can match!"
"No—but--… who'd you steal that from?" I demanded, thinking as quickly as I could.
James scoffed. "Sirius!" he said, sarcastically.
Having Sirius Black as a head boy might just be more frightening than if James was.
He breathed in curtly and stood up. "We'd better start our rounds, then, shouldn't we?" he asked, outstretching his hand to me. Don't… give… in… Lily! I've had several calculations that involved James Potter being a hypnotist. Otherwise, why would I be fighting so hard just not to take his hand?
I stood up, (without his hand, I'm perfectly capable of standing myself, thanks) and abruptly walked out of the compartment. Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot. This day was not going as planned.
Honestly, I hadn't really read the letter that came with the badge and the announcement that I was going to be Head Girl. I was too excited and too busy trying to fend off insults from my sister who can't see fireworks in the background of romantic scenes. Anyway, the point was, I really didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. And I didn't feel like engaging in a battle of wits with James Potter, so that's what I told him.
"I really don't know what we're supposed to be doing."
"Oh, oh, oh," James said. "No problem, I'll explain. See, we're going to have to be working together, so we need to establish a sign of partnership, right? So we steal some romantic music and find an empty compartment, and then we start snogging."
"I could smack you!" I hissed, and I really don't know why I didn't.
"Okay, okay. We make sure no one's doing anything bad. I honestly don't know--"
Again, didn't feel like engaging in conversation, so I cut him off saying, "Can we do this separately?"
"Nope."
I eyed him suspiciously. He was grinning, but that was normal. In all honesty I didn't believe him, but I guess I just didn't feel like arguing about it.
"Fine, let's go."
James stepped in front of me, apparently trying to appear chivalrous (it wasn't working), and walked down the train. It wasn't long until he stopped at a commonplace compartment and slid the door open far enough to stick his head in, and for me to get a view of what was going on inside.
I was about to nag him about randomly stopping before I noticed what really was going on inside of the compartment. There was a tangle of black and blonde hair, and two bodies apparently attached to the heads (if there were any) that were now making furious contact. Though I wasn't able to identify the blonde due to her current position, I could put two and two together and realize that the black hair belonged to Sirius Black, or else James wouldn't have walked in on a random snogging couple.
The next sentence confirmed my calculation.
"Oi! Sirius!"
If I were Sirius in this situation, I would glare furiously at James, close the compartment door, and never speak to him again. But Sirius was Sirius, and Sirius wasn't serious enough to take this situation seriously. (Lord I stretched that pun too far this time.)
Sirius interrupted his engagement with the blonde (which I could now identify as an overly perky sixth year I had forgotten the name of, and again, no Head Girl skills!) and turned to James. The blonde was panting, but was silent and red in the face.
"I'm bussyyy," Sirius whined. The blonde giggled.
"Guess who my Head Girl is?" James said arrogantly, draping his arm over my shoulder and pulling me closer to him.
"Uhh… Layla McKnight?" Sirius asked, sarcastically.
"If you congratulate me, I'll be on my way and you can continue with your well worded discussion," James said. Why did Sirius put up with him?
Sirius stood up. "Hey- I was going to congratulate you! Congratulations, mate!" he shook his hand. "Now get out," and he slid the compartment door closed again.
I shrugged James's arm off. The nerve.
"I thought we were making rounds!" I cried.
"We are. We're going 'round the train, showing you off."
"I am not a trophy!"
"Aww, don't think so badly of yourself, babe," James said, pulling me into a hug.
"Damn, Potter, get away from me!" I said, shoving him away. "Touch me again and you won't have hands to touch me with!" So maybe that was pushing it a bit. I sighed, and continued, "I'll go this way. You go that way," I said, pointing with both hands in different directions.
"I'll find you," he threatened, pointing towards me as he walked in the opposite direction.
What a great year this was going to be.
A/N: There you go, the first chapter! Not much to say- just hope you liked it! Please R&R! The next chapter will be from James's POV.
