Listen to Samson, by Regina Spektor while you read this. That was my inspiration. This is just a quick drabble, one that I just randomly found on my desktop (and somehow, it's a lot better than it was), and I hope you enjoy it.


I Loved Her First.

It was the talk of the school.

Potter and Evans.

James and Lily.

James-and-Lily.

Already they were one name, said in the same breath, with the same reverence as when the Greeks spoke of Zeus, or witches when they thought of Arstani Lickerno, who was voted ten times in Witch Weekly? as the hottest and most eligible bachelor of Wizarding England.

Everyone knew how Lily had finally snapped in the Gryffindor common room, grabbing James by the collars of his shirt and pulling him in for what had been heard to be described as a "way of doing the horizontal tango without actually doing it, yeah?"

They were perfect together. Just the right mixture of love and hate, with promises of languid summer days undertones that perfectly complimented the passion hovering just beneath the surface.

They were light and dark, complimenting the other like puzzle pieces. All the moping around that the two of them had done was finally gone, and they were brilliant in their joy. Everyone in the school was happy that they had finally gotten together, even the Slytherins (not that they would ever say that aloud, of course).

Markus Ranier hated himself because he wasn't.

It wasn't like he didn't like that they had finally gotten together, had finally cut the crap that both used and kissed already. He did like it.

But he was jealous, so jealous he saw green whenever he saw Lily. Whenever he saw Lily holding hands with Potter, or laughing at his jokes, and at him.

Jealous when he looked at his girlfriend and saw that she wasn't Lily, no matter how much her brown hair looked red in the firelight of the Hufflepuff Common Room or her blue eyes turned green when he squinted really hard.

Jealous when he looked at his girlfriend and hated her, because she wasn't Lily.


Markus had fallen in love with Lily in their third year, when she was a girl that helped him out with his homework in Potions that she could just get and he couldn't, and didn't make fun of him for being a Hufflepuff just because she could.

He had asked her to Hogsmeade his fifth year, and she had said yes. That day, that glorious, wonderful day, Markus had Lily all to himself and it was perfect.

Then, a week later, she had told him that they were better off as friends.

His world had crashed around him, bringing with it a relentless stream of girls that could pass for Lily in the darkness of the rooms they spent time in, and a desire to never forget what he had for one wonderful, glorious day.


He turned aside as he saw them walking down the corridor towards him, Lily's hand in Potter's. She gave him a sweet smile, pure joy at seeing him lighting up the green, green eyes that Marilla's didn't even come close to.

"Hey, Markus! Are you doing okay? We haven't spoken in a while… Maybe we could get together and study in the library sometime soon?"

Markus let her ramble on, answering when appropriate, but kept his eyes on Potter, knowing that his thoughts were reflected in his face.

I loved her first.

And when Potter dipped his head in acknowledgement, Markus knew that he had seen the rest of the story.

And I love her still.


I've never written a drabble before – if this can even be called that. Let me know what you think, pleaseandthankyou3

Oh – and if you're a Draco / Ginny shipper, I've got a story up you might be interested in. It's going to be updated… Soon. I hope. Life is hectic, but I've got the plot all planned out, so if it would just stop changing around on me, we'd be set.

Jayme.