Groovy
Lily and James
"In recent years, studies have shown that a progressive incline to say the following slang, 'Groovy' and 'Far Out' have been used amongst muggles to show appreciation towards a situation or object."
The Muggle Studies teacher, Professor Grattes paced in the front of the room; lightly swatting a ruler against her hand as she gave her lecture to the seventh year students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"For example," she continued, "one might overhear a muggle saying, 'that book is groovy.'"
In the back, Lily Evans gave a giggle. As a muggleborn, she naturally knew all of this information, she was in it for an easy 'O'. But other students, such as James Potter and Sirius Black, both purebloods, were taking diligent notes.
Professor Grattes shot a glare at the girl, making her shrink back into her chair.
James glanced over his shoulder at Lily who was still blushing from the silent reprimanding she had received from the teacher. Their eyes met and James felt his ears heat up with embarrassment at being caught staring at her... again. He hurriedly looked back down at his notes and began to doodle a Quidditch goal post.
*
"Why am I even taking that class, Prongs?" Groaned Sirius Black. "Who needs to know how a toaster works? If I fancy a bit of toast, I'll just use a heating charm, or summon some from the kitchens, right Prongs? Prongs?"
Sirius followed James' gaze to the source of the distraction. Lily Evans was currently entertaining her mates with an obviously amusing story for the girls were holding onto each other from bone-shaking laughter.
Sirius strained his ears to hear what she was saying, curious as to what was so hilarious.
"So there we were in the movie theatre when this ridiculous amount of words started piling upon the screen. 'A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...' I said to myself, what a terrible way to begin a movie! I'm already half bored to the grave!" Lily animatedly flung her arms about as she continued to illustrate her story.
"So, I turned to my sister about to ask if we could leave," Lily continued, rolling her eyes. "When I was suddenly repulsed by the sight of her face getting sucked off by her cheese-eater of a boyfriend Vernon Dursley. I swear, the way they were going at it, I was afraid that I was going to have to take Petunia back home with no face... No wonder that oaf is so fat, he must eat all of his dates' faces off! Mind you, I'm just surprised that the blunker even manages to get a girl to look at him!" A fresh wave of laughter overtook the girls who sank even further to the ground, clutching their sides.
"Let's go, Prongs. I'm starving for some lunch-" Sirius was cut off by his friend who was already half way over to where Lily and her friends were laughing. Sirius rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "here we go again..."
"Hey Evans! Are you talking about that new Star Wars movie that just came out? The one that's extremely popular with the muggles?" James asked approaching the girl in question.
Hiccoughing herself back to a straight face and wiping tears of mirth out of her eyes, Lily replied with a surprised, "y-yes, I am. Do you know of it, Potter?"
James looked pleased with himself as he nodded. "I saw it over the summer and really liked it, actually."
"Did you?" She asked. "Because I found it extremely stupid. Although, all the boys in the theatre were positively wetting themselves with excitement the whole time." Giggles overtook the girls once more at the image.
"However, I did see another film that was really groovy, it-"
"'Groovy'?" Sirius frowned. "Muggles actually say 'Groovy', then?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes of course they do, Black. Why else would Professor Grattes say so? Just to pull one over on you?"
Sirius shrugged. Lily continued, "Yes, and we also say 'get down' and 'boogie' when referring to dancing. As well as 'feel tha' funk' when showing appreciation for a song or band."
She picked up her bag and began walking away. "But my personal favorite slang phrase would have to be 'catch you on the flip side,' which means 'see you later.'"
James watched as she walked through the doors to the Charms classroom, her flaming red hair swinging merrily behind her. Sirius clapped him on the back, which diverted James' attention back to his mate.
"Lunch?" Sirius asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, please." They grinned at one another and made their way to the Great Hall.
*
A second year Gryffindor girl watched, repulsed, as James managed to fit an entire sandwich into his mouth. Mustard, tomatoes and other condiments dripped from his mouth onto his plate.
"Oh, now that's just disgusting." She squeaked with a grimace.
"Whot?" James asked her, half-chewed bits of food spraying from his mouth. She put a hand to her mouth and turned so her back faced him.
Non-pulsed, James snatched up a napkin and daintily tapped the side of his lips with it, entirely missing a glob of ketchup on his cheek.
Pushing his glasses further up his nose, he noticed red hair dancing into the Great Hall. Lily Evans was looking down at the homework she picked up from Charms, a class she missed the other day due to sleeping in by accident. James watched as she stuffed the paper into her bag and scanned the table for her friends with her vibrant green eyes.
After coming to terms that they were not there, she sighed resignedly and walked up to the four boys. "Mind if I sit here?" She asked Remus, who smiled up at her and nodded. She returned the grin and sat down across from James. She looked up at the raven-haired and bespectacled boy.
"Attractive." She said.
He grinned. "You finally noticed."
She rolled her eyes, "I was referring to the giant red thing that is currently taking up half your face."
His mouth fell into a comical 'O' shape. He hastily grabbed Peters' sleeve and used it to wipe away the offending object.
"Remus," Lily addressed the weary-looking boy with sandy colored hair, "I was hoping I could borrow your Arithmancy notes?"
He nodded and retrieved his bag, in which he dug into trying to find the parchment.
"My notes are hardly eligible, for I'm afraid I was half-dead yesterday during class. I did not sleep at all the night before last."
James looked up at her from his food, "Yeah? I noticed you weren't in Charms yesterday. Sleep in?"
She nodded, laughed and asked in a jokingly manner, "I've noticed you boys have not been pulling many pranks lately. Are the famous Marauders' keeping a low profile while you plan to dominate the world?" She winked. James' heart failed.
James struggled with himself as he tried to come up with something witty. Sirius beat him to it. He laughed and teased back, "Oh yes. We'll let you onto it too, seeing as how you're Head Girl and we could use the extra power to help levy us in the right direction."
"Ooh, it's going to be that good, huh?" She asked playfully.
"Oh yes. It's going to be better than treacle tart."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Sirius." James interjected. "Because treacle tart is the most delectable treat in all of England."
He turned to Lily who was cutting up her chicken. He stared at her until she looked up at him. "What?"
He smirked, "Don't say 'what' Lily, dear. It's rude. Say, 'pardon'."
She rolled her eyes. She was wondering when the obnoxious part of James would make an entrance. "And here I was hoping that you could be less arrogant..." She slammed her fork down onto the table. "Remember that time," she glared at him, "on the train, you professed your undying love for me so loudly that people came out of their compartments just to see what the commotion was about?"
He nodded, shrinking down onto the bench.
"Well, remember when you said, and I quote, 'give me a chance, Lily, I'll prove to be the best boyfriend ever!' Well, if you hadn't shouted it about in a sing-song voice, it would have been quite sweet, and I might've actually said yes." Lily became more and more angry.
Peter, Remus, Sirius and James gaped. "Really?"
"But that's the thing, Potter. You're always doing things for attention. That's why I said 'no' so many times, I felt like you were just asking me out to win something, to gain even more attention. The fact is, if you had taken me aside, asked me out one-on-one, there would have been a big chance of me consenting to a date in Hogsmead."
She shook her head at the table, loose red curls swinging violently. She took a deep breath and continued.
"But no, you would rather die my hair a bright pink in the middle of the Great Hall and shout about that you loved me with an undying passion! What girl in their right mind would say 'yes' to a boy like that!?"
She stood up, grabbed her bag and stomped out of the Great Hall, leaving behind four boys with bits of food hanging out of their mouths.
"I thought girls liked the color pink..." Peter said. Sirius and Remus glanced worriedly at James, who looked as if he was trying to solve an extremely long math equation. After a pause, James abruptly stood up and ran after Lily.
*
He caught up to her by the staircase, grabbed her wrist and turned her around to face him.
"You would've said yes?" He blurted out.
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes, I would've."
"If I didn't shout about my love for you?"
"Yes- and if you stopped hexing people randomly, something that I noticed you stopped before sixth year."
"Oh." There was silence.
Lily gave a huff. "Well?"
He frowned. "What?"
She slapped her forehead in frustration, "aren't you going to ask me out, now?"
"You-you would say yes?"
"Oh Merlin!" She turned and started to stomp away.
"No, no Lily, wait!"
She turned, arms crossed, and looked at him expectantly.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not very good at this without the hundreds of people watching," he joked. She gave a little smile. He continued. "Would you go out with me next Hogsmead?"
She tapped her chin thoughtfully, then smiled. "That would be groovy."
Fin