I don't own nada. Except certain make-believe characters and the plot.
" Excelsipsempra." Lily watched in a detached sort of way as Potter's eyes widened at the tip of her wand and then ejected out of his seat. Slightly satisfied, Lily jumped off the table and stormed to the lavatory to fix her robes.
"Ougfh." James hit the ceiling of the great hall with a thud. Laughter was erupting from all around him. He could especially make out his best mate, Sirius howling from 100 feet under him. Bloody hell, he knew Evans was going to be a bit out of sorts after that prank, but banishing him to the ceiling? And where in Merlin's knickers were the professors during that gross display? "Probably laughing their arses off, that's where," James thought. He smiled at that thought. It was probably some sort of poetic justice that someone finally managed a prank him somewhat to marauder caliber. And he should have known it would be Evans. But honestly, he never saw that coming.
The girl was bloody brilliant-he stopped and looked down-bloody hostile as well. James kept looking from his perched spot in the air. The laughter was dying and he saw professor Dumbledore retrieving his wand. Any second and he'd have to face the masses. Good thing he had no shame or else he may have been a bit red in the face for that one. Especially since the anchor she used to zoom him into the air had been the top of his knickers. Yeah, bloody brilliant and hostile.
He knew Evans was a firecracker. He'd seen her flog more than one bully who picked on her old-friend Severus. And Ella was always saying how she kept a right nasty opinion on old Voldy. But it wasn't until their fourth year that he'd seen her temper in action.
They'd all been on a hogsmeade trip at the time. It was right around this time that the fourth years had gone hormone crazy. Everyone rushed to get dates for the trip, most likely because of some muggle holiday called Valentomes Day. Or was it Valentine? Either way, James himself had no clue why, but he invited a fellow Gryffendor, named Daphne Jordan to accompany him. Daphne, who he found out afterward, was mates with Lily had told him she would be delighted to if she could bring along her friend. James had no objection and even decided to invite a dateless Sirius along for the trip.
When they met up outside the castle James was shocked to see how grown up the pintsize redhead they had met on their first train ride had gotten. He was also shocked to see how Sirius seemed to notice as well. The four of them had a good time at Zonkos and even stopped by that dreaded teashop for a drink.
However, it wasn't really until their butter beer at the three broomsticks that they got to all chat. They each took turns talking about their favorite Quidditch players and the size of Professor Beery's ears. The more Lily talked, the more he found himself intrigued by her. Soon he barley listened to what his date was saying and found himself in a heated argument with Evans on which member of The Weird Sisters were, in fact, the weirdest. She ended up getting so upset with him she slammed her fist on the table declared that he had "a head full of nargles for brains" and abruptly left.
James was so stunned that he didn't even realize both Sirius and Daphne had gone to the bar to refill their butter beers. When they returned Daphne looked at his face and chuckled. "Yeah" she said. "She has that effect on a lot of people."
"BLOODY HELL! She confunded him too!" he heard his mate yell. "JAMES? ARE YOU IN THERE? If you're not can I have your cleensweep? Nod if it's a yes"
James focused and realized that during his daydream he had been let down by Dumbledore, who obviously thought James had learned his lesson.
"Sirius?" James asked.
"Yeah mate, nod once. I'll take right care of your broom."
" You're a git," James replied.
Sirius chuckled, "I'm a broomless git." The two boys laughed and joined their other three friends for breakfast.
James saw the scowl on Ella's face as soon as he sat. He smiled. "Oh common Ella, the whole school knows that Evans loves this dance we do."
Ella's face took on a look of disbelieving. "She just cursed you! And she's never done that before!"
"ah, sweet Ella that just means she's finally gone and fallen in love with James is all," Sirius added helpfully.
James sighed, no one understood this need he had to push her buttons, hell if he was honest with himself, even he didn't understand it."It's not about love Padfoot, it's about pranks." They all gave him one fleeting disbelieving look before turning back to their breakfast.
Or at least i think it is, James thought.
After changing her clothes to not resemble a trollop, Lily made her way to her first class of the term, potions. This spring term she shared the class with a number of fellow Gryffendors and a few Ravenclaw. Fortunately, Daphne was one of the Gryffendors she'd get to be with. Unfortunately, so was James Potter.
Lily sighed and entered the class. When she took her seat next to Daphne, the girl looked at her expectantly. "I go to the owlery for two minutes and you can't stay out of trouble," Daphne playfully scolded.
"Is it true you used the Flagrate curse to burn a picture of a three-headed dog on his chest?"
Lily laughed, "No, it was a picture of hippogriff."
Daphne smiled, "hmm, that makes much more sense." The girls giggled for a minute and then burst into laughter when the boy in question entered the room with Sirius Black.
Potter met Lily's eyes briefly and immediately changed directions her way. Lily found it quite comical actually, how Sirius walked a total of three paces before he realized Potter wasn't following him to the desk across the room. He turned around, now following James, while grumbling something that sounded like, "yeah, bloody pranks," under his breath. With a smirk on his face James plopped in the seat directly behind Lily and Sirius took the one adjacent to him.
Lily heard Sirius whisper something that sounded like, "honestly mate, denial is not just a river in Egypt."
Also hushed, Potter replied, "Nope, it's also the first stage in the grief process."
Slughorn's lesson started smoothly. He seemed to genuinely like Lily, always referring to her as the "brightest witch of her time." And to Lily's chagrin he even complemented Potter on that "great use of charms and transfiguration in this morning's prank."
Potter smirked and Lily swore she heard three girls in the room sigh dreamily. "Thanks professor," he said, "I couldn't have done it without Evans." She rolled her eyes and clenched her jaw from doing something stupid. Like calling him a self-centered prat who couldn't counter-curse his way out of a broom closet.
"Mmm. Right. Ms. Evans, always said she was the brightest witch of her year," Professor Slughorn replied. His smile turned a bit wobbly and he went on to add, "Today she obviously proved me right."
The class chuckled and went on undisturbed until Slughorn announced that this year they'd have assigned partners for lab work. Everyone grumbled but clearly had no choice in the matter.
The pairings started off predictably, one Ravenclaw and one Gryffenor to each team. Soon though the few Ravenclaws in the class ran out. Daphne, Lily, Sirius, Jordan Coote, Rose Riley and James remained. Daphne was paired with Coote and Riley was paired with Sirius, leaving James and Lily together. Lily cringed when professor Slughorn remarked that they'd pair nicely together proven by their teamwork this morning.
When all of the pariings were announced, James moved into Daphne's vacated seat. "Wotcher, Evans," he smirked. She scowled, "Potter." "I suppose your still brassed off about this morning," he asked.
"Sod off Potter," She lazily replied.
He was quiet a moment before he cheekily said, "Well you shouldn't be, you looked great in that white. I didn't even see any panty lines," he chuckled, "does that mean you don't wear any?"
Lily's cheeks heated a bit but she continued to ignore him
"I'm glad you don't."
She looked sharply at him.
"No, NO!" he clarified, "I meant I didn't even think that through. I didn't think the white would be that see through or…" He paused trying to find the right word and Lily saw a strange look cross his face, "…or that tight."
Lily continued to ignore him, marveling that this may be the longest conversation they had since that day in hogsmeade. "Don't worry though, you er… well you looked fit, that is, I meant you didn't look dumb, despite being attacked and err… well you know."
She smiled, despite herself. His rambling really was charming. And his hair at the moment was literally standing in every direction. He certainly looked harmless. And for once, he was acting…well, civil. Despite his current behavior, Lily mentally shook herself. She knew better, his pranks and malicious bullying couldn't be covered by one hour of semi-awkward banter. Instead of playing into his puppy dog act, she decided to get control of the situation.
"Listen, Potter, this isn't an interview for the Witch Weekly, lets just get through this, no need to talk."
In an instant his confidence and charm were back. He winked at her picked up the parchment and said, "I knew you just liked me for my body."