Disclaimer: Harry Potter (and his parents) are the property of J.K. Rowling.
She'd Say She Hated Him
Lily didn't exactly hate James Potter, though if you asked her, to save time and the complexity of dealing with everything, she would say she did. He certainly went out of his way to annoy her. He had, ever since about halfway through third year. He was not nearly as clever as he thought he was, and some of his so-called pranks were downright mean-spirited, though she'd never go so far as to call them dark magic.
Potter had, she knew, played an enormous role in the breakdown of her friendship with Sev (with Snape, she thought with a pang). He and his friends had undeniably picked on her friend, though Lily knew their rivalry was far from one-sided. Maybe it would have been better if it had been, Lily thought. Snape had always been jealous of Potter- jealous of his Quidditch skills, jealous of his popularity, and fearful of Potter's all-too-obvious attraction to Lily. Severus had been terrible about that last one, Lily thought sadly. Just because she could not return his warmer-than-friendship feelings did not mean she was about to go off and hook up with Potter. But Potter had exploited Severus' insecurity- she knew he had. Still, in the end Severus Snape had made his own choice. He was the one that had called her that unforgivable word. He was the one with that hideous tattoo on his forearm (Lily had never seen it, but lately he'd taken to rubbing it whenever she walked by). Snape was the Death-Eater, no matter what Potter had done. She could be angry, she could be resentful, but she could not hate James Potter for Snape's choices.
Potter was an arrogant toerag. He was a braggart. Sometimes he was a bully. But the main problem Lily had with James Potter was that he wasn't nearly as stupid as he acted.
She knew the boy was brilliant. He skived off classes to set off dungbombs in the corridors. Those he didn't skip he slept or laughed through. Yet term after term he led the class- he and Black and Lupin. Pettigrew was their dopey sidekick. Everyone knew that. But Lily worked for her marks and still she was obliged to chase his skinny tail in every subject, except perhaps Potions. She figured Potter had heaps of brains under that purposely and perpetually disarrayed hair.
Yet he hexed Slytherins at the drop of a hat, and determinedly wasted time goofing off with Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. He and Black were in detention every other week. Lupin and Pettigrew joined them often enough. They called themselves the Marauders. Stupid name, Lily thought, though those ditzy Quidditch fangirls seemed to like it well enough. Fireworks in Filch's office. Giving all the Slytherins beards at suppertime.
Just as if there wasn't anything more worthwhile he could be doing. Lily had seen it, beneath the larking about and the stupid grin. She'd seen hints of decency, and even nobility in him. She supposed anyone who was friends with Pettigrew had to have the patience of a saint. She knew Peter only passed his classes because of his more intellectually endowed friends. He'd saved little Olivia Jenkins from that curse the other day. And she had no proof, but she suspected Potter had done some pretty incredible things for Remus. He and Black were intelligent, and observant, too. They had to know what he was, and she'd seen Potter divert conversations away from Lupin's eighteenth sick auntie and give him a little, truly nice smile. It had been a wonderful thing to see…
Potter was a leader without question. The Quidditch team had been unstoppable since he'd taken over. He was the only one that could make Black stop when he was being broody and nasty- and he did, too. He was the sort that people looked to in a crisis for a calm word and a grin, and with the war on with Lord V…Lord Voldemort everyone needed James Potter to step up. He had so much potential, and in three years or so, Lily thought, it was going to be their year fighting the war.
And James Potter was still strutting around the corridors, skiving off classes, and asking her out every weekend just as if she hadn't refused him five hundred times already! It was maddening! No. Lily didn't hate James Potter. But if you asked her, to save time, she would say she did.
