It was odd when I first realized that more than a string of witticisms, insults, and jokes existed between us. From that moment, that which I knew as white and that which I knew as black were lost equally in the gray abyss of my mind, and I never even knew this kind of gorge existed within my being.
I had resented her for so long, and she despised me just the same. No matter what I threw in her direction, she knew just what hex to use to set me right again. No matter how much I tried to let my distaste for her get in the way, it always seemed that the bright fire of her spirit shone through the thick black cloud that seemed to hover over me.
In our history together, I can trace my feelings back to a herbology lesson in mid-March during our seventh year. Two lessons ago, the class had planted baby mandrakes, and now that they were nearing maturation, the day's assignment was to plant seeds that would grow food for the mandrakes.
One must take into consideration that it is generally not a man's duty to plant seeds and such, though apparently, my fellow male pupils seemed to know what they were doing. Confused and conceited as I was at the time, I simply looked around in hopes of imitating someone who seemed to know what he or she was doing.
I'm pretty sure that's the first time I saw her.
I mean, of course I'd seen her for the past seven years at school. I had taken out all the toilet seats in her girls' dormitory, she had stolen my clothes and died my underwear hot pink. I spread rumors of romance about the class nerd and her, and, apparently, she did the same about me. But in all my time with her, in this endless, dizzying sort of waltz that seemed only to spin us in circles, I think it was this particular herbology lesson that I first lifted my face and opened my eyes to see her.
I had tripped.
Er, literally—I had tripped. And while brushing myself off and patting down my hair, her form came into focus before me. She threw seeds from her hand as if she deigned to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was as a beggar under her feet.
She suddenly turned, and at first I thought she had spotted me and was coming to where I lay, but she was simply heading over to the stream that had been enchanted to run through the class for the day. This angel of light had me captivated. The shadows of leaves fell upon her arms, but her shoulders were in the sun. The skin of her arms was like a blue mist, but her shoulders were white and glowing, as if the light fell not from above, but rose from under her skin. I watched the leaf that had fallen upon her shoulder, and it lay at the curve of her neck, and a drop of dew glistened upon it like a jewel.
I watched as she delicately sprinkled water on her patch of the earth. The drops of water falling from her hands were like sparks of fire in the sun. I dared not move an inch closer to her for fear of putting the fire out with the ill-humored wind that seemed to find me any time she was near—
"Potter!"
It took me a moment to realize that the voice calling my name had been hers. I shook my head clear and tried desperately to gather myself before her.
"James, you're looking a little pale," she called to me again.
"Lily," is all I could mumble to myself.
True concern apparent in her voice, she neared me, hobbling on her knees. What a fool I must've seemed at that time!
I looked straight upon her, and I saw the shadows of her lashes on her white cheeks and the sparks of sun on her lips. "You are beautiful," I heard my voice say. What a thing for me to say to her! I must've looked like a complete idiot. Well, not must've—I did look like a complete idiot, for I still could not muster my limbs to move. I stared at her. Having said what I had, I found the only sensible thing to do now was to wait and see what her reaction would be to my declaration.
Her face did not move and she did not avert her eyes. Only her eyes grew wider, and there was a triumph in her eyes, and it was not triumph over me, but over things I could not guess.
"The day is hot," she said, "and you have worked for many hours and you must be weary."
"No," I answered in a daze.
"You need some water to drink. Are you thirsty?" She asked, ignoring my previous reply.
"Yes," I said, for I truly was, and could hardly breathe or speak at this point.
Lily quickly realized that neither of us had our wands, for the students had left them inside, so she cupped her hands together and allowed for a small amount of water to pool into the cage her fingers created. She held the water to my lips.
I do not know if I drank that water. I only know that suddenly her hands were empty, but I was still holding my lips to her hands, and that she knew it, but did not move.
I raised my head and stepped back. For I did not understand what had made me do this, and I was afraid to understand it.
And Lily Evans stepped back, and stood looking upon her hands in wonder. Then she moved away, even though no one was coming, stepping back, as if she could not turn from me, her arms bent before her, as if she could not lower her hands.
My legs finally remembered how to stand up, and as I did so, I picked up my bag of seeds from the ground and threw the seeds into the furrows of the earth as Lily walked away. But the seeds flew wildly, for when I looked down, my hands were trembling.
Author's Note: Wasn't this cute? I know I wrote it, but I can't help but think how cute this would've been if it actually happened! And I'm terribly sorry you had to read through half the one-shot to figure out this was James/Lily, but I honestly didn't know what pairing it would be at first. I thought about Draco/Ginny, Draco/Pansy, and Ron/Hermione before I finally settled on James/Lily because they seem to hold a fair mix of the above three pairings. And why so much lovey-dovey imagery? I just finished reading Anthem, by Ayn Rand, and that novel deserves so much credit! I felt all poetic and nerdy for so long after reading it. It left me thinking for a while, which is what caused half the imagery and such you saw in the one-shot. Still, hope you enjoyed it! I know it's been a while since I wrote a one-shot, so I hope this one was satisfactory…even though I seem to have obliviated almost all traces of Draco from it!