comori mici: A collection of stories for the Forum Wide Competition on the Harry Potter FanFiction Challenges forum.
Challenge One.
Prompt: Void
House: Ravenclaw
notes: Ah, mild language ;D A huge thank you goes to SiriusMarauderFan for being my beta for this story. She's absolutely amazing, and this story would have gone to custard without her :)
Don't Fail Me Now, Boy
Lily Evans/James Potter || Romance
Life is a bitch.
That was the only coherent thought running through Lily's mind. It was totally ironic how everything can go from being so perfect to so… not. If she was perfectly honest with herself, Lily knew that it was all her fault because, well, you can only refuse a guy so many times before he'll give up. It was just that she hadn't thought he would give up. She thought that maybe – just maybe – he truly loved her. But if that were true, she wouldn't be crying her eyes out, would she?
So, she was harsh with him. She was testing him, though. For six long years she tested him, wondering when he would give up. Of course, she hadn't expected that he would. After all those years of listening to him proclaiming his love for her (usually at some incredibly inappropriate time, such as during exams), she had, for a few fleeting moments, believed him.
It seemed so easy, the idea of falling in love. Well, James made it seem easy. He'd never questioned it – not in front of her, at least. He simply went with it. Yes, he made an idiot of himself because of this decision, but in the most vomit-worthy way, it was kind of cute.
"Lily…" Alice, one of her close friends began, sounding rather hesitant. "Are you quite alright?"
At this Lily scowled. Oh yes. She had just had her heart ripped out of her chest, had run out of the Great Hall crying, and was currently lying on her bed with her face buried into her pillow. Of course she wasn't quite alright. And what's worse? It was all her fault.
"I thought you'd be happy," Alice continued, failing to notice the way that Lily's fists had clenched. "You've wanted him to get over you for Merlin knows how long, and now he has. So what's the problem?"
Lily didn't reply. Instead she rolled over, glaring at her friend through red-rimmed eyes. Looking over to her drawers, she flashed Alice what she hoped was a smile, though she was fairly certain that it came out as a grimace of some sorts. "The ice cream, please?"
Glancing at the tub, Alice laughed. "Sorry, Lil. It's empty."
"Empty? I finished it?"
"Yes. But seriously, Lily, what's wrong?"
Brilliant. She was heartbroken, all the things she'd mentioned before, and now she was ice cream deprived. Could the day get much worse? With a single tear slipping down her cheek, she realized that yes, yes it could. And then, to her great despair and astonishment, everything just started to slip out.
"Didn't you see that way they were latched to each other?" Lily wailed. "It's disgusting! And it's not fair. He was mine first. I bet she's paying him! The nasty, two-timing, horrible, ugly –"
"Who?" Alice asked, effectively ending Lily's tirade. "You don't seriously mean…" she trailed off momentarily, wondering if she dared to bring the topic up again. "… that you fancy James Potter?"
"Of course I do!" Lily snapped in reply. "He loves me. He's mine!"
Alice stared at her best friend. Usually Lily was the calm, logical one. For some reason, this didn't strike Alice as either calm or logical. "You've been rejecting him for six years…"
"No, I haven't!"
"What?" Alice exclaimed in disbelief, shaking her head. "Yes, you have!"
Lily bit her lip, not wanting admit that Alice was, as always, correct. Well, come to think of it, she hadn't really rejected him… Just trampled on his heart a little bit and yelled her non-existent hatred towards him in front of everybody. Okay, maybe she had rejected him.
She'd done it all for good reason though. Like any other girl, she didn't want to set herself up for heartbreak. And James Potter? Well, he practically screamed running mascara, and tubs of ice cream.
"Why don't you, I don't know, talk to him?" Alice rolled her eyes, not granting Lily the sympathy that she wanted so much.
At the first, the very suggestion appalled Lily. How could Alice even think such a thing? James was not someone that you simply sauntered up and talked to. He was someone that you stared at and daydreamed about, and on the right occasion, yelled at. Talking didn't come under any of those categories. Then again, the boy did, apparently, like to work his mouth.
Lily stood, staring at him, for quite some time. For the first time in her life, she felt quite utterly speechless. James was staring right back her, though his gaze was expectant, and somewhat impatient, and not awkward or worried.
Right. She had to execute this perfectly. She knew James wasn't, though quite smart, incredibly bright when it came to matters such as these, and it wouldn't do to confuse him. Maybe subtle hints would be the best. Something like –
"Why'd you kiss her?"
Oh. Well not something like that, at any rate, Lily thought, mentally slapping herself on the forehead, as James continued to stare at her. His face was void of emotion, though his mouth hung slightly open. For a few fleeting moments, he considered the idea that he was daydreaming, but judging by the pretty blush on Lily's cheeks, he highly doubted that. He grinned inwardly at this, even though he knew it was highly inappropriate to do so.
"Marlene?" James asked flippantly, leaning against the stonewall and lifting an eyebrow at her. "She asked me to."
"She... she asked you to?" Lily spluttered. "And you did - just like that?"
"Why do you ask?" Oh, he had a pretty good idea why, but it would nice for her to admit it. Because, believe it or not, all those years of being rejected had kind of hurt him. It would be nice to hear perfect Lily Evans admit that she was wrong.
"I just..." Lily bit her lip nervously. Maybe he had finally given up. Maybe he didn't love her anymore. Maybe the past six years had been some elaborate joke. "I thought you loved me."
"Good of you to believe me after six years."
"So what? You snogged her to make me believe you? You do realize that's the most twisted logic I've ever had the displeasure of hearing of."
James sighed, running his hand through his hair and peering down at her. "Actually, Marlene wanted me to help her make Diggory jealous."
Silence. There was complete silence as the news sunk in. Awkward silence.
Pursing her lips, Lily resisted the urge to smash her head against the wall. Never in her life had she felt like such an idiot, and she had done quite a lot of idiotic things. And damn it all if he wasn't smirking at her.
"Would you break my heart?" Lily asked suddenly. "If I believed you, I mean. Would you break my heart?"
He shrugged in reply. "I've told you I've loved you for the last six years. What do you think?"
He wasn't being hopeful. He'd learnt a long time ago that the more you get your hopes up, the more it hurt when they were crushed. And Lily Evans did seem to crush his hopes a lot, even if she didn't realize it. After a few minutes of silence, James was starting to get impatient again.
"Give me one chance," he said. As she opened her mouth to respond, he held up his hands. "Just one chance. Call it a test, if you will."
"And if you fail?"
"Fail?"
"Lying, cheating, playing games, or in any other way not taking the relationship seriously."
James simply looked at her in astonishment. He had been using that line - give me one chance - for years now, and he hadn't really thought that it would have much effect on her. Apparently he was mistaken. Well, he couldn't let this chance slip by now, could he?
"I won't break your heart, Lily," he said softly.
"I haven't given it to you yet, have I?" she retorted, smiling slightly. "One date, Potter. Make it worth my while, yeah?"
He couldn't help but to grin. He didn't feel about it either. After waiting for so long, that's the least he deserved, right? So he'd finally - well, almost - got the girl. Now all he had to do was keep her. And well, he was James Potter, so that wasn't going to be too hard.
"Why don't we start now?"
Lily looked up, shocked at his easy reply. From the look on his face, she had expected him to jump up and down and squeal like a little girl. "Excuse me?"
"Let's go on a date," James said. "Right now. I'll take you to the kitchens, if you like."
"You know where the kitchens are?" she asked, a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"Always the tone of surprise," he teased, unconsciously falling back into the usual playful banter that he was accustomed to.
For once though, Lily didn't mind it, and she replied by batting him half-heartedly with her hand. It was going to be past curfew soon, she was sure of that. Then again...
"You do owe me some ice cream..." Lily grinned. She then surprised him by taking his hand, and pulling him along the corridor, only for him to laugh and pull her the other way.
Yeah. Life's definitely a bitch, but sometimes fate makes up for it. Sometimes.
