A/N: So, I saw this quote and I just thought it sorta fit with Lily and James. Not sure about it... Please review, constructive criticism would be great! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nope. :(
"Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle or end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
-Gilda Radner
Living in the moment was something Lily Evans did not know how to do. Her life was a series of structures, with no negotiation to deviate from the original plan.
James Potter was the exact opposite. He let the winds take him wherever they wanted to go. His life was full of surprises and he enjoyed it.
She always found it strange, how James could be studying in the common room, and then the next time she would look up, he was gone, a flurry of parchment in his wake. For that was how he lived. He was spontaneous, irrational and highly incomprehensible and Lily didn't like that.
He found it strange how Lily could be down in the Great hall for breakfast at 7.30 each morning and had a strict timetable for each moment of her day. But that was how she was. She was calm, rational and highly incomprehensible and James loved it.
James lived off ambiguity. Lily lived off certainty.
James had a natural talent in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He would add a little bit of something else into his spells and –poof! – the results would be extraordinary. A little wand embellishment here, and a little tone inflection there, easy and simple, and extremely impulsive. Sirius would laugh, Remus would clap, and Peter, well Peter would try not to gaze at James with too much awe shining in his young eyes.
Lily had a natural talent for Arithmancy and Potions. She would know exactly what to do, and how to do it. She would do the right steps, in the right order, with the right values and get the expected result. Severus would smirk at her as Slughorn praised her work again and she would try not to look. She wasn't friends with him after all.
She didn't always follow the instructions; some of them were downright ridiculous. The potion would not turn the colour specified with the ingredients needed. A little bit of something else would fix it, and her Potions were always the best, she being the only one that knew how the different elements and ingredients combined to make the end result.
James was terrible at Potions. He just didn't know how to follow instructions; so naturally, adding a counter-clockwise stir after 10 clockwise stirs wasn't really on the menu. It just didn't make sense to him. Everything was downright ridiculous. He just didn't understand how the ingredients would make the potion and you needed to follow all the steps to the letter. Safe to say, James did a lot of hoping in Potions.
He changed. Somewhere between 5th year and 7th year, he matured. He stopped pranking people in the corridors, started doing his homework on time, and didn't get any detentions. Sirius said he was being a party-pooper. Remus said he was glad James was finally becoming a good adult. Sirius took offense to this, obviously. Lily just snorted and walked away, flicking her hair behind her.
She was unnerved when he changed. James Potter had been a solid presence in her life of someone to dislike and ignore, and fight with on really bad days. James changing was not a good thing, it disrupted her whole life. And she didn't want that. Safe to say, Lily hated change.
When she got Head Girl, she jumped up and down, screaming and running around her house. After a few seconds she realized it might not be proper and instead walked around with a huge grin on her face for the next few weeks. It was a culmination of all her dreams, hard work and determination, and she couldn't be prouder.
When he got Head Boy, he just laughed. Dumbledore must have been off his rocker, he thought. But when he did realize that this was actually happening, he walked around with a bemused expression on his face for the next few months. It was the destruction of all his mischief, detentions and nights out with the boys and he couldn't be more confused.
Her pride dissipated when she saw James was her co-Head. He would ruin everything for her, and it just wasn't fair. Fate must have been out to get her, she thought.
His happiness increased when he saw her in the Heads Compartment on the train. She would make everything better and he would be able to spend more time with her. Fate must have been on his side, he thought.
And when James turned up on time to their first set of rounds, Lily had to grudgingly admit that she really didn't know James Potter at all. She learned that he wasn't a player, he wasn't an idiot (he was actually rather smart), and he didn't hex people just because he felt like it anymore. In fact, he hadn't done that since 5th year. And it occurred to Lily just how much she had stereotyped James over the years.
He was happy when he managed to surprise her for once. Well, that was not technically true, but it was the first time he had surprised her for the better. And gradually, as they did more and more patrols together, he discovered he really didn't know Lily Evans at all. Sure, he knew her favourite colour was light blue, and that she loved apricot jam. But he didn't know that she had a sister, who hated her, and that her mother had Alzheimer's and couldn't even remember who Lily was. He learnt that she was romantic, she loved sunrises and she over analyzed everything. It occurred to James that she was NOT perfect, like he had thought, but her imperfections and quirks made her perfect for him.
Their friendship was unexpected for Lily, but worthwhile. He was kind, irrational, spontaneous, and slowly, Lily began to be spontaneous too. It started when she had over slept, and James hadn't woken her up. So she woke up late, and went down to breakfast late, and suddenly, it occurred to her that she didn't really mind. And she ate something different to the fresh strawberries and apricot jam on toast, and had pancakes.
Their friendship was unexpected for James, but incredibly worthwhile. She was funny, smart, and rational, and slowly he became rational too. It started when she rebuked him for doing his Charms essay 30 minutes before the class. So the next night, he did all the homework he had been given, not at the last minute, or whenever he felt like it, but at a reasonable hour on a reasonable day. And he realized that it felt good. And he continued to do this, until the exams.
She was shocked when she finally realized that she liked him – might even love him. She had gone from disliking him, and being aggravated at him every second minute to liking him, and thinking about him every second of the day. But Lily accepted this with a smile, and got used to it. She giggled at his jokes, enjoyed the time she spent with him and started to wear her hair differently every day.
James didn't know what had happened to the Lily he knew, but he didn't mind the changes. He had gone from annoying her and following her around like a lost puppy to being her friend, and accepting her not loving him. And James accepted this with a grin, and got used to it. He called her 'love', sat with her at breakfast and in many of their classes, and started tucking his shirt in every day, loosely of course.
The kiss was spontaneous. She had just grabbed his face, in the middle of a deserted corridor somewhere on the third floor and pressed her lips to his. It wasn't slow and soft, but passionate and rough. And she loved it.
The kiss was spontaneous. He had replied eagerly when she kissed him, and he felt like he was falling through fireworks. And he loved it.
"Go out with me love?" He asked. She nodded and pulled him towards her for another kiss. And it was better than the first.
He asked her out. He regretted it as soon as he said it, but she said yes. He kissed her again. And it was better than the first by a long shot.
Their life was full of moments. It was full of split-second decisions, with a structured approach. They didn't know what was going to happen next, but that didn't matter. They lived in the now, not the future. They did things spontaneously, and they couldn't have been happier.
Their story was full of fantastic, delicious ambiguity. And it couldn't have been better.
A/N: So there you have it. Thoughts? Loved it? Hated it? Suggestions?