I own nothing... it's actually kinda depressing.
James fidgeted in his seat.
It was a bad idea. A very, very dangerous, bad idea.
He spied Peter and Remus at their desk at the other end of the room. They weren't a part of it. They were obviously smarter than James. Not at school or magic, in those respects he was just as good, probably better. But they weren't dense enough to agree to Sirius' brilliant plan. James was.
It's not as if he's never done it before, he had on numerous occasions. It's just that lately, she had been angry with him, more so than usual. Why he thought it was a good idea to do this now, when she was already more irritable than usual, was beyond him.
Sirius was already grinning like an idiot next to him, but James was feeling more ill by the second.
He noticed movement in his peripheral vision and chanced a glance to his left. Wrong move. She was already glaring at him. She knew something was up.
Of course, she knew. She always knew. Even when they snot-faced first years she could see right through him. He could never see through her. Everything behind those beautiful emerald orbs was a mystery. Maybe, that's why she was so exciting.
Except when she was angry. When she was angry she was not exciting, she was just scary. Thinking about it, he decided he'd rather face Voldemort and ten death eaters than Lily when she's seriously pissed. Why didn't he think about that before he agreed? He looked again. Yep, still glaring. Still pissed.
The thing was that he didn't know why she was so pissed. The first two months of seventh year had been going so well on the Lily-front. After the initial shock of James being made Head Boy wore off, and after fair amount of cursing and complaining, Lily had actually begun to warm up to him. She had even dropped the immature calling him by his last name thing.
It was a compromise. He stopped hexing people left and right, stopped skiving off classes, stopped copying others' homework, stopped "strutting around Hogwarts like he owned the place", he even stopped asking her out. And she began referring to him as "James" rather than "Potter".
Everything was working out rather well; at this rate she might let him sit with her at meals by Christmas.
But then she got all angry. Not annoyed, but angry. Angry, like she wished James was dead angry. And she hadn't been like that since Valentines of sixth year when he proposed to her at Madam Puddifoot's, while her then boyfriend Amos Diggory was telling her that he loved her for the first time. James didn't know what the big deal was; he used to tell Lily he loved her all the time. He didn't understand why she was so pissed then, and he certainly didn't understand why she was so pissed now.
He hadn't done anything to upset her since last year. Oh sure, he had overheard her going on about some guy she likes to Alice Prewett the other day. Being the slightly jealous gentleman he was, he marched straight past her up to his dormitory without a word. She couldn't be mad at him for that, he hadn't said anything! He didn't even mention it while they were patrolling that night; he hadn't bothered her about it at all. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. James could honestly say that he hadn't done one thing to upset her. Yet.
It was a bad idea.
What was most irritating about it was that he knew it was a bad idea when he agreed. As soon as Sirius swaggered into the dormitories that night James knew. It was the look on his face, the 'I, Sirius Black, am a Complete Genius, What You Hadn't Noticed?' face. The same face that he wore when they stole McGonagall's underwear, and put them on the bulletin board with the sign asking girls to stop leaving their knickers in the Marauders' room. It was also the face that resulted in most of the boys' fun. So while Remus and Peter refused, James agreed wholeheartedly.
It seemed like such a good plan. She had been strangely tolerant of him in the two weeks prior. Why wouldn't she say yes? Of course, they had planned everything before she went all 'psycho-seething-hate-and-glares' on him.
He looked at Sirius.
"Umm Padfoot, I'm not so sure we should do this."
Sirius stared at him. "Are you mental? It's a great idea!"
"No, it's a really bad idea."
"What is a bad idea Potter?"
James nearly peed his pants as Alice Prewett entered the conversation. He stuttered as he looked for an excuse. He caught a glimpse of the scenery outside the window and whispered back, "What's a bad idea? Errr... Climbing a mountain..." He mentally slapped himself. People go mountain climbing all the time.
"Why is climbing a mountain a bad idea?" She was looking at him like he was crazy. He was trying to find a way to respond when Sirius cut in.
"No Alice, you didn't let him finish. Climbing a mountain LION is the bad idea."
He smiled smugly, like he was a genius and nodded at James as if saying "You're welcome." James mentally slapped Sirius. He just made them look like idiots in front of the love of his life's best friend!
"Oh, um right. Great observation, Potter, I guess I won't go mountain lion climbing anymore."
She gave him another glance, as though she really was questioning his sanity, and turned to talk to Rowland Miller.
He exhaled slowly, relieved that she didn't inquiry further.
Sirius nudged him and gestured to his watch. Twelve twenty-one. Four minutes until class was over. Nine minutes until his life was over.
It was a bad idea.
Three more minutes of class.
He was an idiot. She was going to kill him.
Two more minutes.
What was he thinking? He had to stop it. It was a bad idea.
One minute left.
"Professor, I'm not feeling well. I'm going to the Hospital Wing!"
James had jumped up and was collecting his things to leave class. Everyone was staring at him. Professor Binns was more shocked than anyone, mostly because he couldn't remember the last time a student addressed him.
Sirius gave James a bewildered look.
"Oi, Prongs! There's only one minute until class is over. I know you're not good with numbers, but that means only six minutes until – "
He stopped himself before he revealed their plan to the eager ears of their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff classmates.
"Until lunch," he finished lamely.
Lily, unable to hold back her suspicions after that brilliant statement, was about to interrogate the boys, when the bells signaling the end of class chimed. James pushed his materials into his bag and made a beeline for the door. He was down the hall and around the corner before anyone could question him.
He headed toward the Gryffindor Tower. There he would get his invisibility cloak and disappear till everything blew over. At least that was his plan, until he felt a pair of hands grab him from behind and stop him in his tracks.
"Where the bloody hell do you think you're going?"
"I can't go down there Padfoot, she'll kill me."
"You stupid prat. I can't believe you're backing out now. It's not like we can stop it. She'll either say yes, or be pissed whether you're there or not. "
This didn't help with James' anxiety. Regardless of how long he disappeared for she would still try and kill him when he resurfaced. He couldn't win. He was a dead man walking. And it was all thanks to Sirius' bad idea!
"Look, think of it this way. If she's pissed, she's pissed either way. But if she says yes, you'll be hiding out under your cloak and you'll miss your big chance."
James hadn't though about that. She could still say yes. She would say yes. And he would go down to the Great Hall and be ready for her to fall into his arms when she realized that she was as in love with him as he was in love with her. It would work.
As Sirius steered James threw the halls, they could hear kids wondering aloud about the castles slight differences that day.
"Where are all the suits of armor?"
"Has anyone seen the ghosts yet today?"
"You know, I think some portraits are missing from these walls."
James could began to feel anxious again. How had Sirius convinced him to come down? He said Lily could still say yes. Yeah, right, and Peter was a death eater.
The boys walked threw the huge oak doors into the Great Hall. Sirius tried to direct James towards Remus and Peter, but he was practically cemented to the floor. He had spotted Lily. She was with the other seventh year Gryffindor girls, listening to people speculate about the missing aspects of the castle.
When the clock rang out, announcing it was half past noon, everyone was puzzled as to why their food didn't magically appear like every other day. Even Professor
McGonagall had a bemused look on her face.
James, on the other hand, was ecstatic. A wave of relief rushed through him. Maybe it fell through. Maybe they couldn't do it. Maybe he was safe, maybe –
At precisely twelve thirty-one and seventeen seconds, however, his hopes were once again dashed. With an echoing crack, the entire Great Hall filled with house elves, suits of armor, several paintings, and nearly all the ghosts in Hogwarts, many of whom were holding incredibly unoriginal signs:
LILY EVANS: THE FUTURE MRS. POTTER
SAY YES TO JAMES
ACCOMPANY JAMES TO HOGSMEADE, OR REGRET IT TILL YOU'RE DEAD
JAMES AND LILY POTTER
JAMES EVANS?
Before anyone could comprehend what was going on, the paintings broke out into a rather obnoxious and uncharacteristic song directed at the Head Girl.
"Who'd'ya think you're kiddin'
He's the Earth and heaven to you
Try to keep it hidden
Honey, we can see right through you
Girl, you can't conceal it
We know how you feel and
Who you're thinking of!
You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feeling
Baby, we're not buying
Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown-up
When you gonna own up
That you got, got, got it bad!"
The hall erupted in laughter. Students and teachers alike found it completely hilarious. Everyone was amused by the show, even the Slytherins. Well, not everyone. One Head Girl was not amused. And one Head Boy was too terrified too laugh.
Sirius leaned over between chuckles and said, "Hey, look she's turning red. Maybe, she's just embarrassed. That's never too bad."
For a fleeting moment James believed him, but Sirius couldn't have been more wrong. When Lily she turned and spotted him, he saw the murderous look on her face.
Her face matched her hair, but she wasn't embarrassed. She wasn't even mad, she was passed mad. She began to make her way toward James, and he did the only thing he could think to do. He ran.
Soooo... what do you think? This is my first story that I think is decent enough to post, so I welcome criticism, but be gentle. Is that contradictory?
Also there is a part 2, but I'm kind of known to abandon projects without proper encouragement, so PLEASE REVIEW! I will love you forever. Not physically, because I feel like if more than a few people review than that would come off a little slutty, but the emotional kind of love. Okay, so, yeah. Review. Please.
XO Charity Errs