James rested in his infirmary bed with all his friends and Lily Evans around him. He still didn't know what to consider her. He knew no matter how much he wanted to deny it, he liked her, a lot, on the contrary he thought she was perfect. He caught himself staring at her more often, but the great thing about it was he would catch Lily staring back.
He smiled to himself.
His arm was gaining feeling back so he got up from his bed and gathered his school robes and was walking up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. As James reached the painting to enter the common room a voice greeted him from behind.
"Potter!"
James's nostrils flared, his images of Lily that calmed his mind vanished and replace with violent images of himself punching Severus Snape.
James turned around to face Snape.
"What do you want," James hissed, "You black, hearted coward. Hitting me with a spell from behind."
James's usual, warm hazel eyes were now as dark as coal, digging into Snape's.
"Do you see what you've done, Snevillus. Not only will you have serious consequences for hurting me, but you also have made yourself a target. Oh! And I almost forgot the best part. Lily, probably, despises you just as much as I do, so I guess in the end you're the one with the most damage. I suppose your ridiculous fantasies about Lily can be put into a grave," James glare continued to grow more intense, "While your at it, you should dig your own as well because that is the only way you will ever be able to see Lily!"
James finished his monologue with a fiery rage. He wouldn't waste another second of his time with that fiend.
He couldn't believe the nerve Snape had, trying to what? Confront him? Or try and hurt him again? He suddenly was afraid that Snape and with 'Death Eaters' would try and hurt Sirius, Remus, Peter, or even worse: Lily. James's heart beat faster. Lily did tell Dumbledore that Snape had been the culprit. Would they think that was being a traitor? James had to warn Lily before she tried to see Snape. The last thing he wanted was Lily to get hurt after the progress they had made at becoming better friends.
As James rounded the corner he ran into Lily, nearly spilling her drink. His rage had been completely extinguished, and a huge grin broke out on his face instead.
"Hey," James said lamely. He rolled his eyes at his nervousness around the stunning red head.
Lily looked at James with her piercing green eyes and gave him a brilliant smile.
"Hey Potter," she locked eyes with James then focused behind him.
Lily saw a shadow of a black robe quickly round the corner in a blur.
She focused back on James, his head now turned to see what Lily was staring at. Lily noticed that James's hand had balled up into fight fists.
She gently touched his hand, and he snapped his head back to Lily and gazed at her hand on his, he slowly unclenched his fists.
"Is there something wrong?" Lily asked cautiously.
James ran his hand through his hair.
"Lily, listen, I know that Severus is your friend, but I get a bad feeling from him, I told you back on the train that I really did feel bad from what he said to you at the platform," James paused the sighed, "I just don't want you to get hurt or anything."
Even though her head was spinning from what he just admitted. How he cared for her enough that he didn't want her to get hurt. Lily couldn't help but be a bit annoyed at him. She still had loyalty towards Sev. He was her first friend that was a wizard and she did spend a lot of time hating that Marauders. James didn't know Snape like Lily did.
"I get where your coming from," Lily started, "I really do, sometimes I get a weird vibe off of Sev too… but you don't know him like I do James, this is just going to be a phase, he just needs to calm down first."
Even Lily could hear the doubt in her words.
"Lily.. I do know him, just from what he did to me on that train fully explained his true intentions, he is the type of person who will backstab you, no matter how close you are. He might be loyal, but it didn't seem like he was to you." James warned.
Lily suddenly snatched her hand away from James's.
"You don't know him at all, Potter! I haven't even talked to him yet! He has a right to be mad at me! I just need to talk to him and everything will be back to normal!" Lily said the words before she could stop them. Lily's own heart ached; she didn't want things to go back to 'normal' she liked spending time with James. She never knew how much she could like him after she saw past his big head.
Lily could see the hurt on James face, but he quickly covered it.
"Fine, if that's how you want it Evans."
James took one last look at those amazing green eyes, and walked away leaving a teary Lily and his heart behind.
xxxx
Snape needed to apologize to Lily, he felt guilty about what he had done to her. Leaving her behind like that on the train. He was being an awful friend to her even though she was the one hanging around with the Marauders. No, he couldn't think about that bad stuff she had done to him, it would just get him mad and back out of talking to Lily.
He was pacing near the Gryffindor common room waiting for Lily, the only reason why he knew where it was, was because of Lily.
Then he saw him. Snape saw James Potter his back was faced towards Snape. Anger pulsed through him, he was stealing away Lily and Snape just stood there and let it happen. He shouted the words before he could stop it from flowing.
"Potter!"
Snape had recoiled even at the sound of James's name. He hated anything that had to do with James Potter. He wanted to just get away so he could go find Lily so he kept his mouth shut.
"What do you want," James hissed, "You black, hearted coward. Hitting me with a spell from behind."
Snape shuddered. His temper was rising.
"Do you see what you've done, Snevillus. Not only will you have serious consequences for hurting me, but you also have made yourself a target. Oh! And I almost forgot the best part. Lily, probably, despises you just as much as I do, so I guess in the end you're the one with the most damage. I suppose your ridiculous fantasies about Lily can be put into a grave," James glare continued to grow more intense, "While your at it, you should dig your own as well because that is the only way you will ever be able to see Lily!"
Snape could barely stay still without lashing out on James. It seemed like James had had enough as well and he stormed off. Snape rushed after him hoping to get a punch when he saw Lily. Her beautiful red hair and bright green eyes, Snape could almost smell her flowery scent. She had a mesmerized gaze in her eyes.
But he stopped suddenly as he realized who mesmerized her and it nearly caused Snape to vomit. He rushed around the corner to try and compose himself. He took a deep breath and peeked around the corner.
He saw the girl of his dreams holding his enemy's hand. Snape had enough. He rushed to the Slytherin dorms holding in tears of betrayal.
xxxx
James returned to his dorm, miserable and defeated.
"Hey mate, why the long face?" Sirius joked, "Evans found out you obsess about her every second."
Remus rolled his eyes.
When James didn't retort back to Sirius's jokes, Sirius knew something must have actually gone wrong. Both Sirius and Remus went by James's side while Peter watched from his bed.
"James… what happened? You look like someone died." Remus said softly.
James hung his head low, "She said she wanted thing to go back to normal."
Remus and Sirius looked at each other. James had always flirted around with different girls, but he had never seriously liked any.
James suddenly lifted his head up, "If she wants things to go back to normal. Then I'll make them go back to normal."
xxxx
Lily wandered around trying to keep her mind off of James. She needed a ditraction so she hurried to find Snape. She looked everywhere for him, she finally settled on going down to the dungeon where the Slytherin common room was. When Lily heard Snape voice she suddenly stopped.
"Trust me Severus, no girl is worth your time."
Her eyes narrowed at the voice of Rodolphus Lestrange.
"I know, trust me. Lily Evans will not be in my life ever again. Nor do I want her in my life." Snape said icily.
The first round of tears fell silently off of Lily's cheeks.
"That stupid little red-head. I don't even see what you saw in her. She is a no good Mudblood."
Mudblood? Lily never heard of the word before, perhaps she could go ask Jam- No. I can't I've hurt him bad enough… maybe if I apologize.
"I couldn't agree more Rodolphus, as I told you before I will never talk to Lily Evans, she is not worth my time." Snape said.
"Good." Rodolphus paused, "Welcome to the Death Eaters."
xxxx
Lily ran back to her dorm. She hated Severus Snape! She hated him! Lily couldn't stand it.
James was right, I should have listened, Lily thought.
"Lily?" Alice looked concerned at Lily's face. "What happened, are you okay?"
Alice came towards Lily and put an arm around her.
Lily shook her head.
"What happened Lily?"
Lily explained, to the best of her ability while crying in between, her story. When she told Alice that Snape had agree that she was a Mudblood Alice nearly cried out.
"He called you what!" Alice stood up and looked at Lily seriously, "That low life bastard! How could he care you such a name!"
Lily didn't even realized that it meant such a bad thing, but after hearing Alice's cuss words and swearing she agreed she would never use it.
"This is absurd! I can't even believe Snape would say that! Coward!" Alice hissed.
"Listen Alice I just need to talk to Jam- Remus… Yeah! I need to talk to Remus!" Lily sprinted from their dorm and went into the Gryffindor common room where she found Remus reading a book with no James in sight. She exhaled and sat by Remus.
"Hello Lily," Remus chuckled. He put his book down and faced her, "Considering that you have one of my best mates pacing his dorm tormenting himself this very second, makes it clear that I shouldn't be talking to you… but seeing that you are here, it probably means that you have something very important to tell me?"
Lily smiled at Remus's intellect, "That's exactly correct. I feel dreadful about what I said to James, I don't want things to go back to normal. He was right about Sev, he completely, utterly backstabbed me. He called me a mudblood!"
Remus looked shocked, "He did?"
Lily nodded.
"Listen Lily, I'll talk to James about it, but I'm just going to warn you. James is going to make your life a living hell for the next few weeks."
Lily groaned, "How?"
As if on cue, James came down to the Gryffindor common room.
"Remus? Are you-," James's eyes focused on Lily then narrowed, "What are you doing here Evans?" he said coldly.
Lily rolled her eyes, "I see what you mean," she whispered to Remus.
Lily suddenly got up, two can play at this game.
"I'm not doing anything here. Not anywhere that you will be Potter." Lily winked at Remus and walked out.
James stared after her, wide-eyed with shock.
"Mate," Remus laughed, "You look like you've been hit with a petrifying spell."
James looked over to Remus, "She- she wasn't even fazed. I need to try harder."
James marched back up to his dorm shaking and nodding his head to different insults he could say to Lily. Remus chuckled at his best friend and continued reading his book.
Xxxx
A few months went by and both James and Lily were at each other's throats with insults.
"No one wants you here Potter!"
"Who said I wanted to be in the same room with you Evans!"
"Then why don't you leave!"
"Because your hair was blinding my way to the exit!"
"Don't even get me started on hair Potter!"
Their small quarrels were the only communication that had in those weeks, but behind the scenes they were dying to see each other. Asking their friends constantly to ask how each other were doing. Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Alice were being driven insane.
"We really need to do something about them," Alice said, exhausted from Lily's babbling about how much she 'hated' James. Alice had never seen Lily act like this about a guy before. She had noticed that ever since Snape had been out of her life, she had been more involved in her social life. Alice thought it was because she always thought of Snape as her brother and she was always so busy trying to help him out of trouble.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Ya think? This was been going on for, what? Five months!"
Remus sighed, "On one of my exams I wrote down the Lily Evans insults James had been rehearsing. McGonagal thought I was losing my mind. If I hadn't explained to her that James was going crazy I think I would have been in some serious trouble."
Alice giggled and covered her mouth.
At the moment Frank Longbottom entered the room with a huge plant in his hands.
"Hey Frank," Alice said shyly as she blushed.
Sirius eyed Alice then looked back and forth between Frank and Alice then elbowed Remus. Remus shook his head at Sirius obviousness.
"Oh," Frank shifted his plant to the side so he could see Alice's face, "Hey Alice."
He smiled at her, "Is that for Herbology?" Alice asked.
"Yeah, I decided to do some extra work, I always found it kind of fascinating," Frank and Alice were still staring at each other while Sirius was looking back and forth between them, "Well I need to get going on this work, but I'll see you later."
After Frank left the room Alice was still in a daze.
"What is Merlin's name was that?" Sirius questioned skeptically.
Alice turned to him and narrowed her eyes, "None of your business! Back to James and Lily."
Remus chuckled at Alice's obvious discomfort.
"Um, right then. James and Lily," Sirius started, "What's the plan?"
"I say that we force them to talk to each other and make them both face the fact that they like each other," Peter suggested happily.
All Sirius, Remus, and Alice eyed Peter's logic. Peter looked to his feet.
"It was just a thought," he sighed.
"We could just influence to talk to each other though," Alice commented.
Sirius scratched his head, "What do you mean?"
"Let's just keeping talking about them, you guys to James about Lily and I'll talk to Lily about James. Make him go completely mad!" Alice almost looked evil while she was unraveling the rest of her plans to 'torture' Lily and James. Remus became more intrigued by Alice's plans then his own book, so he started listening and suggesting his own ideas. After hours of scheming Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Alice were going to drive their best friends insane.
xxxx
Alice walked down the grand hall for breakfast to meet Lily. Her plans ready to unfold. She kept walking down the Gryffindor table until she spotted the red head eating a small bowl of cereal and reading a large book.
"Lily!" Alice nearly screamed her name.
Lily jumped, startled at her friend's loud greeting. Her milk a cereal now covered parts of her book. Lily looked at Alice exasperatedly and shook her head while laughing.
"Alice!" Lily mocked then rolled her eyes, "Sit down."
Alice complied.
"So would you like to explain why my breakfast is on my books?" Lily asked playfully while picking off bits of cereal off her books.
Alice giggled then lowered her head a bit, "Well, actually I wanted to ask you something." She said softly.
Lily eyed Alice, "What is it?"
Alice fidgeted with her hands, "Well, I… I just wanted to know if…"
"Alice, just tell me," Lily pressed.
"I wanted to know if you were still interested in James Potter," Alice finished while observing Lily's reaction carefully.
Alice is interested in James? Lily thought in her mind. She realized that a new jealous feeling erupted; Lily barely managed to control her feelings. She was over James, in fact, she hated him. She started having thoughts of Alice holding James's hand, and Alice waiting with Sirius, Remus, and Peter if James got hurt again. Lily saw Alice and James holding hands walking around campus having fun together and laughing. James's lean body holding Alice when it was cold, his beautiful light hazel eyes looking at Alice's face. She imagined James ruffling is perfectly messy black hair when he got nervous talking to Alice, not Lily. She pushed her disturbing thoughts aside and came back to reality.
"Um, yeah of course! Besides I never liked Potter," she lied.
"Great! Thanks Lils!" Alice said happily, she got up quickly and hugged Lily then strode off to where the marauders were sitting.
Lily noticed she had picked the spot right in front of James, her jealousy bubbling dangerously high.
A ripping sound pulled Lily out of her envious daze. Lily had ripped one of the pages out of her book, she was clutching it with her right hand and she couldn't bring herself to let go. She shook her head and let go of the paper slowly, forcing herself to turn back to her studies and breakfast, trying with all her will power to not run over to James and tell him she was sorry.
xxxx
Sirius watched as Alice came over to their table, Lily looking outraged, he chuckled.
Alice winked at Sirius and nodded. Sirius continued to listen Alice babble to James until Lily had gotten up, took a glance at James and marched out of the Great Hall. Sirius snickered then thought about how he was going to pull his plan off.
"Hey James, can I have a word for a second?" Sirius asked, nervously.
James nodded quickly; appreciating that Sirius gave James an escape from Alice's jabbering.
Sirius signaled with his arm for James to come over a good distance away from everyone else. James scratched his head, confusedly.
"What's wrong Sirius?" James asked, anxious.
"Well I was just thinking…" Sirius started.
"What?" James eyed Sirius.
"Since you're not interested in Evans anymore that maybe I could have a go," Sirius exhaled finishing his request.
James world went into slow motion as those words came out of his best friend's mouth. His fists balled up into tights, white rocks, his fingernails digging into his palm. Sirius likes Lily? James's mind went far past the present and what he imagined was his worst nightmare. He saw Sirius and Lily together with himself just standing by. Sirius and Lily hold hands around campus, flaunting their happiness. James saw Lily comforting Sirius when he became angry or sad. Lily being held by Sirius instead of himself, James saw himself fade away from Lily's memory and being replaced by his best mate. James saw Sirius and Lily laughing together, sneaking out late to cause trouble. He saw Lily's vivid emerald eyes glued to Sirius's face, not James's. He saw Sirius kissing Lily, making her blush the same color has her stunning hair. His jealously was completely noticeable to Sirius.
Sirius rolled his eyes.
James continued his internal rant. Stop this Potter! You do not like Evans.
"Yeah, go for it," he said, bored. However, his insides were screaming to punch Sirius in the face.
Sirius eyed James strangely; he was expecting James to completely explode.
"Thanks, mate," Sirius blurted, then he ran to catch up to Lily.
James couldn't help but turn around to face his nightmare. Lily's beautiful crimson hair pulled back by her green headband, bringing out her bright green eyes. He saw Sirius approach Lily and he took her books in his hands and started walking away with James's dream girl. James let his guard down and let his heart-broken expression completely show on his face. He was tired of faking his feelings.
Suddenly, Lily glanced behind her. Her eyes met James's empty ones.
James quickly turned around and headed back to his table, with a hallow heart.
xxxx
James returned to his dorm, defeated and worn out.
He sagged on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. He held his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes under his rectangular glasses while shaking his head. Remus walked into the dorm and saw an, obviously, depressed looking James. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt.
Remus sat down next to James and patted him on the shoulder.
"What am I going to do, Lily is driving me crazy," James mumbled behind his hands.
Remus chuckled, "Sounds about right."
James looked up at Remus and rolled his eyes, "What the hell am I suppose to do?"
"Well, whenever I'm overloaded I like to sink into a good book," Remus grinned.
James laughed heartily, "Remus you're too calm to get overloaded, it's unnatural for a hormonal teenager."
Remus then got up and pulled a book out of nowhere, "Try it."
He tossed he book to James and chuckled while walking up the stairs he stopped when he reached the curve.
"I'm calling it a night," Remus pointed at the book, "Have fun."
James shook his head and tossed the book aside. Remus rolled his eyes and continued his way up the stairs.
As soon as Remus disappeared, James quickly reached for the book and started flipping through the pages.
"Ha!" James looked up at a smug Remus peaking around the corner, "Knew it!"
James took a pillow off the couch and chucked it at Remus, "Get out of here you crazy bloke!" James said exasperatedly.
Remus chuckled and tossed the pillow back at James and shook his head while rounding the stairs once again.
James chuckled to himself while shaking his head. He scanned the book Remus had given him.
James took a more comfortable position on the coach sprawling across it. Within an hour James dozed off into a comfortable dream where he and Lily were together.
Xxxx
Lily walked into the Gryffindor common room to pick up her book that Remus had borrowed.
She scanned the empty room. He said he would be here…
"Remus?" Lily called out, quietly.
She walked by where the stairs were and called his name again. She sighed and turned around.
She saw James lying on the bright red couch across from her, one of his arms hanging off the side, touching the floor. His legs, too long, which caused his feet to be elevated by the round arm rest, his glasses still on the edge of his nose. Lily's book rested upon his chest. His other hand placed, gently on top of the opened spine. Lily's noticed the slight rise and fall of his chest. She smiled to herself as her heart swelled.
She walked closer until she kneeled by James's face. His eyes closed and his face relaxed and peaceful. She gently touched the side of his face.
Lily could stay here forever, looking at the boy she was in denial about.
She then, slowly, took his glasses off and set them on the floor where his right hand lay.
Lily sat down comfortably and examined his hands. She grabbed his hand tenderly and interlaced her fingers with his. She loved the feeling of holding his hand, even though he was sleeping, the spark she felt couldn't be stronger. She smiled as her lids drooped and grew heavy. Lily soon fell asleep, her head lying next to James's chest and her hand still locked with his.
Xxxx
I hope you liked it! There's more to come (: