Cherry Stones:
Disclaimer: Lily Evans, James Potter and the setting of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry all belong to the wonderful J K Rowling.
Summary: It takes Lily a while to come to terms with her feelings for James!
Lily, as delicately as these things
can be done, removed the cherry stone from her mouth and placed it in
the pot. She looked, as ever, calm and knowledgeable with her long
red hair sensibly tied back and her studious green eyes fixed on a
point about halfway up the lilac wall. There was a slight air of
detachment to her, suggesting she was deep in thought.
She may have looked calm but truthfully she was anything but, in fact, her thoughts were descending into a fairly dire pit of incomprehension, bewilderment and utter disbelief. She was having immense difficulties coming to terms with the rather startling feelings she'd been having.
Surely, surely, she didn't really like him.
James?
Really?
No, of course not. They were friends certainly, they had been since the middle of sixth year when Lily had realised that he wasn't really the insufferably arrogant prat she had always taken him for. They were close friends even, especially since becoming head boy and girl this year but that was it. There was nothing more. Friends. Just friends. Truly.
Yes, of course he was handsome- anyone with half an eye could see that- and he did have that secretive little smile he sometimes wore as though laughing at his own private joke that, loathe though she was to admit it, did make her go a tiny bit weak at the knees. Just a tiny bit.
What was wrong with her? Why had she suddenly seemed to start liking James? It had started about two weeks ago.
It was a wet Sunday morning, a typical late autumn morning. It had rained continuously through Saturday afternoon and throughout the night but this had failed to dampen the Gryffindor's spirits as they celebrated their first quidditch win of the season over Slytherin.
The morning light came creeping lazily through her window, coming to rest in a pool covering her pillow. Lily groaned as the light coaxed her awake and stumbled not at all gracefully out of bed. She tripped down the stairs into the living room area she shared with James, past the small kitchenette and over to the bathroom. She pushed open the door, shuffled over to her sink, picked up her brush and started viciously attacking her hair with it trying to make it look even half way decent.
It had never even occurred to Lily that James might have been in the bathroom. James was one of these unfathomable people who like to get a good start on the day and generally at weekends James was up and out of the heads' dorm at least an hour before Lily even surfaced. Yet, as she glanced into the mirror she saw a fairly amused James stepping out of the shower, a towel wrapped round his waist.
He was wearing that little smile.
"Lily, what are you doing up this early?" He teased her.
Lily was petite but not particularly short for her age, however, James was tall and so when she turned around to face him due to where her eye level was she was treated to a clear view of his chest.
And what a view it was.
Lily was in a complete state of shock: James Potter was standing in front of her, practically naked, and she couldn't seem to drag her eyes away from his chest.
"Lily? You OK?" He asked.
Finally managing to pull herself together Lily dragged her eyes away from his chest and stared at the floor.
"Me? Yep, I'm fine…I'm great." She replied slightly dazed. "I've got to go." And with that she turned and fled back to her bedroom.
James stared after her for a moment slightly bemused before shrugging to himself and making his way back to his own room to get dressed.
Since then Lily had found herself thinking more and more about James. About how sweet and caring he was, how good looking he was, how intelligent he was, how good at quidditch he was…
But still, she didn't like him or anything. Of course not.
As she dropped another cherry stone into the pot she remembered a rhyme she always used to say when eating cherries to figure out what she'd be when she was older.
"Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, poor man, rich man, beggar man, thief." She repeated to herself with a little smile. She'd stopped playing this game when she was accepted to Hogwarts because 'witch' wasn't an option.
Her sister Petunia had never had much time for this saying, instead when eating cherries she had always played the: 'He loves me…he loves me not' game thinking of her latest repulsive amdmirer.
This gave Lily an idea. There were five more cherries left in the bowl. Popping one in her mouth she took the stone and dropped it in the pot.
"I like him," She said.
She ate the second cherry:
"I
like him not,"
"I like him,"
"I like him not,"
"I like him!"
"Oh Merlin." She said realising it was true. "Oh good Merlin."
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