This is inspired by the Zeus and Hera myth from the Percy Jackson Greek Gods book, it's not based on the real myth because... ah, it's not so nice. But enjoy!
Lily stormed up to the seventh floor and rushed to the portrait of the Fat Lady. This was the third time this week, just wait until she got her wand on him, argh!
"Apertus!" She said to the painting.
"Yes, yes, no need to snap." The Fat Lady swung open lazily revealing the Gryffindor common room.
"Potter!"
The Marauders were lounging in front of the fire. Remus was reading a book, James and Sirius were changing each others' hair colours, and Peter was on the side clapping.
"Evans, dear, did you miss me?" James ran his fingers through his currently bright purple hair and grinned. He flicked his wand and his hair returned to its black mop of messy hair.
"I am not your dear! Potter, why did you transfigure the charms corridor into the North Pole?"
"Actually, it's Antartica because there are penguins which are native to the southern hemisphere."
"Potter, I swear to-"
"Why does he get all the blame? I helped!" Sirius protested. Lily flicked her wand and Sirius began doing ballet in front of a group of second years.
"Ha! Keep it up, Prongs! Well, Evans, I didn't hurt anyone, not even Sni- Severus. And it was quite funny, don't you think?" He grinned.
"Um, no! Ever since dinner I've been helping Flitwick melt icicles from the ceiling!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "Remus!" She pointed her wand at Remus who had suddenly found his book extremely interesting.
"Yes?"
"Why didn't you stop them!"
"Well..."
"And you're a prefect, why weren't you helping?"
"I was..."
"Hey, Evans, wanna make a deal?" James grinned (again) and ran his fingers through his hair.
Lily crossed her arms but kept listening.
"Well, if I can make you say 'I love you' to me by the end of the week you have to go to Hogsmeade this weekend."
"And if I don't say... those words?"
"I won't do anymore pranks this year. No promises about Sirius." They all looked over at Sirius who was still dancing.
Lily thought about it. There was no downside, she would never say 'I love you' and then there would be no more penguins or any other flightless birds.
"Deal," She said.
"Great!" He jumped over the back of the couch to face her. Lily blushed, he was too close. "Pinky promise," he held up his pinky.
"Pinky promise? Potter, I'm not twelve."
"Oh, Evans, Evans, Evans, in the wizarding world pinky promises have magical binding properties. Almost like an unbreakable vow, but instead of dying you get hiccups for a week."
"Hiccups. For a week."
"Have you ever tried going to sleep with hiccups?" Sirius called. Lily flicked her wand and duct tape appeared over Sirius's mouth.
"Deal," She linked pinkies with him.
"I, James Potter, promise to never prank anyone for the rest of the year as long Lily Jasmine Evans says 'I love you' to me by the end of this week."
"And, uh, I, Lily Jasmine Evans, promise to go to Hogsmeade with you, James Potter, this weekend if I say 'I love you' (that didn't count) by the weekend." They shook pinkies.
"Pleasure doing business with you Evans, see you in Hogsmeade."
• • •
"No, Alice, I'm sure I'm going to win this bet." Lily and Alice were walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"I don't know, Lily, this is James Potter we're talking about, he probably has some sort of crazy Marauders plan to make you say it."
"I'm not going to fall for some charm or jinx." The girls sat down at the Gryffindor table.
The Marauders sat a few seats down from them.
"Oh, here we go," Lily groaned. She watched, she was sure that James would come over and try to flirt with her and make her say... those words. But he didn't, he started talking to a Ravenclaw girl who was sitting behind them.
"Wh- what does he think he's doing? Why is he talking to her?" Lily hissed to Alice.
"Lily, you guys aren't dating."
"I know that."
"Why are you jealous?"
"I'm not-"
"Well, you sound like it."
"Wh- what? No, I don't?" She said it like it was a question. She looked over at James, he was laughing and making jokes with the Ravenclaw. He ran his fingers through his hair and grinned. The grin that he normally reserved for Lily.
"Lily, your face is the colour of your hair."
She took a sip of pumpkin juice and glared daggers at her breakfast, suddenly she was not so hungry. She'd been feeling this way for a while, jealousy whenever James was talking to another girl. She still got mad at him, sure, especially when she had to ice skate down the hallways. But for some reason whenever he would talk to other girls and not her, she got a know in her stomach and the subtle feeling to strike the other girl with a bat-bogey hex.
• • •
The rest of the week went the same way. James wouldn't look at her for more than a second when passing in the hallway. He wouldn't grin at her, or flirt with her, or even call her Evans.
They were in their last class of the week, NEWT Transfiguration, and the whole class was writing down notes on conjuring vertebrates.
"Hey," someone tapped her shoulder from behind. She turned around, it was James. Was he finally going to talk to her again?
"Yeah?"
"Do you have an extra bottle of ink?"
"Oh, uh, sure." She reached into her bag and gave him her extra ink bottle.
"Thanks."
"Is that all you need?" She turned around in her seat to look at him better.
"No, that's it," he didn't look up at her.
"Evans, Potter, stop talking or I'll have to give you detention," McGonagall said from the front.
Lily spun around and continued writing.
The class ended and Lily and Alice headed towards the Black Lake to start their homework.
"Well, at least you won't have to clean up any more of his pranks."
"Yeah, I guess. It just felt so, I don't know, lonely without him bugging me all the time."
"Lily! Lily! Lily!" It was Peter running from the direction of the forbidden forest, "Come quick," he took a deep breath, "there's a-" He gasped and pointed towards the trees.
"Ok, um, I'll catch up with you."
She followed Peter into the woods. She saw Remus and Sirius crouching over a stag which was lying on its side in a pool of blood.
"What happened to it?" She knelt down and examined the wounded animal, its leg was bent at an odd angle and there was a long gash on its flank. She took a deep breath and pointed her wand at the flank, "Vulnera Sanentur," the gash closed.
"Episkey only heals minor injury, right?" She asked Remus.
He shrugged, "You could try."
She pointed her wand at the leg and said, "Episkey."
The leg straightened out to normal. The deer stood up gingerly and tested its weight on its leg. It winced but seemed alright.
"Is that better?" She asked it. The deer snorted and nuzzled her neck.
"Yes, ok," She laughed and rubbed it's neck, "I love you, too."
The stag's antlers melted into its head, its tail disappeared, and it morphed into... James. Lily stood open-mouthed with her hand still around his neck.
He grinned, "I win."
Hey! Thanks for reading! If you don't know, I'm not British so I don't know their speech patterns, but this is the best I've got, so, yeah.
Art credit goes to viria, you may know her from tumblr and deviant art. She does Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Doctor Who, and other fandoms.
And for the story, it's something that came to me while reading the Percy Jackson Greek Gods book. It's based off the myth in that book because in the real myth Zeus does some other Zeus-like action.
Anyways, thanks so much, and since this is a oneshot I don't have to worry about writing another chapter. YAY! Unless there's a sequel...
