Insert Your Own Adjective; A series of Lily/James Oneshots
A/N: I do not own Harry Potter. Isn't that sad?
First of all, for those of you who don't understand the title, you will after the first couple posts. This story is a little cliche, but the point was to work through Lily's changing perspective. Tell me if you like it. If you don't like it, really... I'd prefer you didn't tell me
"Hey Prongs," his friend Sirius began, "Hogsmeade's this weekend," Sirius Black, black haired, grey eyed god, looked expectantly at his best friend. James smirked.
"Really?" He asked with a sarcasm that only his closest friends could catch. "I was unaware of this Padfoot-"
"Which is disturbing because you and I scheduled the trips." Lily interjected, not even bothering to look up from her food. In these past months she had gone from hating James to mild appreciation of him. Really, it surprised her more than the rest. One might say it was logical, though. After a rather shocking discovery that James was the Head Boy to her Head Girl, she began to accept, for the sake of her sanity, they must be friends.
{Flashback}
Lily walked into Flourish and Blott's, excited to be getting school supplies for the new school year. Not only was it her last year at Hogwarts, but she (to her great delight) had been made Head Girl. She had been walking on clouds. She believed that no one, not even Petunia, her petty older sister, could ruin this for her. She was wrong. Looking through stationary, she bumped into someone. The wrong someone.
"LILYBEANS!" She cringed and looked up into the happy eyes of James Potter. From behind came Sirius Black who looked about to engulf her in a hug before she stopped him with a look. He carried on with, "And how goes our favorite flower this day?"
Lily let it slide- there was only so much she could expect from him . She bit down the impulse to sneer, instead keeping her looks casual as she could.
" I was okay..." She trailed off not knowing how to finish. James grinned.
" And what made you so chipper earlier, when I let you bump into me?" For a second, annoyance flashed through her, and she remembered how unbearable Potter was. But still, it wasn't in her nature to be offensive, and she was undeniably happy anyway. Try as she might, Lily could barely hold it in.
"I've been made head girl!"she practically squealed. If anything, Potter's grin got larger, and he felt that what he had seen as a curse, binding him to responsibilities and rules, was now an absolute, delightfully addictive, blessing. But Sirius got there before him.
"Congratulations, Lilyflower, you picked a two must be deliriously happy" James couldn't help but think that it sounded awfully like Sirius was congratulating them on the birth of a child. He shuddered at the thought of how Sirius would be then. Sirius was still talking, "and remember, when you're in your dorm don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Which isn't saying much." James murmured. Sirius then wandered off, leaving James to watch the confused look that spread over Lily's face. She was so adorable, he almost missed what she said.
"What did he mean by that? He sounded almost as if we'll be in close quarters." James was almost afraid of how she'd take the news
"We will be, at least that's what I understand. Apparently as Head Boy, I will be seeing a lot of you." He let it sink in and watch the emotions flit across her face. It took a while to contemplate, so much so that she dismissed the sarcasm that would otherwise have irked her. She was unable to speak for a full minute. She had the urge to laugh- was this some kind of joke? She then saw the uncharacteristic serious look on his face and almost had the urge to cry. Potter? Head boy? Childish, lazy, girl magnet, prankster, independent James Potter?
"I-How-You? Supposed to be Mature!" She nearly wailed. He tried not to be hurt; her opinion meant the world to him, but then a tiny voice in the back of his head (which sounded surprisingly like another of his best friends, Remus Lupin) said, 'well, if she wants mature, be mature!' With his characteristic rashness, that had led him to victory in Quidditch and success in pranks, he blurted out,
"I realize that before this I hadn't been the ideal student, but with the badge I've decided to change. My grades are up, and I'm Quidditch captain, and I have a lot of responsibility, and unfortunately this summer I grew up." Was it considered lying if this was only what he was planning to do?
{End Flashback}
And so they called a truce. They were now able to work together comfortably, without Lily hexing him and they got along pretty well. Lily still wasn't convinced that James had grown up. But she saw improvement. He didn't skip classes, his pranks were harmless, and he was never late to meetings. He was making improvements and she felt it would be unreasonable to ask for more. She drew out of her wool gathering in time to hear Potter say,
"If I don't remember the schedule, my dear Padfoot, it is undoubtably because there was too much beauty sitting beside me for me to be able to concentrate." He looked at Lily with a cheeky grin, and Lily sighed and muttered something under her breath that sounded like
"Obnoxious boy!" Any girl would have swooned to here James Potter say that to them, but when you hear something like it everyday, and you happen to be Lily Evans, you find you have an immunity to it. Lily looked at her best friends, Alice, Margaret and Susan, and they all rolled their eyes. The girls carried on their conversation from before discussing the pros and cons of going to the next "Slug Club Party", but they didn't get far. They were distracted by the boys continued conversation.
"Whats got you so worked up about Hogsmeade, Pads?" Queried Remus Lupin, bookish, adorable toe-head that was the magical genius behind the band of friends known to the school as the Marauders.
"My dear Moony," said Sirius, copying James' words with a rather pompous tone, "I was merely wondering who your dates were. Anything exciting?" He added with a sly tone.
"That's right, the four of us were going to go, weren't we?" Said Susan to the other girls. She, Ret, and Lily had turned down dates to take Alice into town, because this would be Alice's first trip without Frank. Frank was Alice's steady boyfriend of three years, and had graduated last year.
For those three years they had always gone to Hogsmeade together, and the other girls were afraid that if she was left alone she would get depressed. All three girls (and Frank)were very protective of her. The four were drawn together by their strong sense of justice, But Alice saw things through rose colored glasses and had a rather fragile heart. And also a surprise up her sleeve.
"Actually, you really don't have to. See, " and her smile started to give her away, "Frank had a day off from the Auror Academy and said he'd meet me at the Three Broomsticks!" The other girls squealed. There was nothing like Alice in love. Ret couldn't help a quick glance at Remus, and the other girls also exchanged a quick look. It was true Ret often found herself sitting in the library working more diligently then she ever had on homework, just to spend time with him. She was the Keeper on the Quidditch team and was usually more comfortable in the outdoors (as her tan skin and strong muscles attested to).She enjoyed being different from others (which explained the long black hair that was dyed teal on the ends) but she was crazy about the oblivious, shy boy. As the girls quieted down, with a wink to the other boys, Sirius smoothly butted in.
"What? You mean to say that none of you other beautiful ladies have dates? The blasphemy! I say, Prongs, Moony, what sort of gentlemen would we be if we let them go without an escort?" The girls again rolled their eyes. With Lily's truce with James, and Ret's crush on Remus, the girls had come in close contact to all four of the boys (the fourth being Peter, but he wasn't around so much) and so this offer really wasn't surprising, just annoying. Susan jumped in
"You don't have to, we can take care of ourselves." She gave Sirius a look that dared him to challenge her. With a great show of gallantry, and Black charm, he carried on.
"But what sort of men would we be if we left you all alone? No its better that we go as a group!" He declared with a flourish. Lily scoffed at the 'men' part, but Alice jumped in.
"That's very kind of you boys we'd be delighted to take up your offer." Alice was the only one who was mutually in love, and she knew all the signs. She just hoped the other six would heed them. Like that James Potter lived and breathed to make Lily Evans happy. That Lily secretly (so secretly she didn't even know it) loved the attention. That Susan Scott was the only girl who could not only stand up to, but but talk down and successfully scold Sirius Black. That Black had a slightly softer spot for her than all the rest. And Especially that though Remus may seem oblivious, he relished the attention from Ret Lexington.
"Aw shucks, Al!" Said Sirius with a goofy grin.
"And now we have to move or risk being late to Transfiguration." Lily cut in. Everyone bounded out of their seats; even Sirius dreaded the threat of detention from McGonagall.
