The Rise and Fall of James Potter

Disclaimer: None of the characters, places, etc. that you recognize are mine. They belong to J. K. Rowling. The title, the title of each chapter, and the inspiration for this story are all from David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. So all of that belongs to David Bowie. (And if anyone was wondering, I checked the time line: the album was released in 1972).

And I'm trying not to use exact song lyrics, as that is apparently "illegal". Whatever.

Chapter Two: Soul Love

"Lily!"

I sighed and turned around. "What do you want, Potter?"

"I just wanted to know if you would-"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" he asked.

Okay, of course I know what she means. But I decided to play dumb. This tactic doesn't usually work with Lily. This happened to be one of those times.

"You know what I mean, Potter. Why do you constantly harass me?"

I feigned shock. "Harass! I'm appalled. I would never harass you. So do you wanna go out with me this weekend?"

I swear to Merlin she started to growl. "NO!" she shouted. "No, no, no, and a thousand times no! Why aren't you getting this, Potter! I don't like you, I don't want to go out with you, and I never, ever will!"

And with that, she stormed off.

I sank down into a soft chair by the fire in the common room.

"Hey Lily," Nora said, sitting down next to me. "So, I'm assuming Potter did his usual Sunday morning routine?" I nodded. "So how'd you turn him down this time? Hexing him, yelling at him? Ignoring him completely?"

"Yelled at him." I turned to look at my best friend. "He really doesn't get it, does he? I've told him time and again that I'm not interested in him. Why does he keep coming back?"

"I think he likes you, Lily. You know, like he actually cares about you."

I laughed. "Don't be daft."

"So how'd she reject you today?" Sirius asked.

"Stuff it, Padfoot."

He laughed. At me. His supposed best friend. "I really don't know why you bother, Prongs."

"Because she's obviously my soul mate," I said, as if it were obvious. Isn't it?

"Course she is. Did you happen to do your Transfiguration essay yet?"

"Sirius, you're better than I am at Transfiguration," I said, searching through my bag for a quill.

"Doesn't mean I wanna do my work. What are you doing?" he asked.

I happened to be sitting at a desk, writing a letter to Lily. "I happen to be sitting at a desk, writing a letter to Lily. Now go away."

"This is the common room. I'm allowed to be here."

"Damn you."

As I headed into the common room the next day, I saw him.

I swear, would it have been too much to ask to be a Ravenclaw?

Well, there was little I could do to avoid him, as he was seated in a chair fairly close to the exit. I guess I could wait for him to leave, but he doesn't look like he's planning to any time soon.

Oh, screw this. I'm going to walk by casually and hope he doesn't notice me.

"Hey, Lily."

Keep walking, keep walking, pretend you didn't hear him.

"Lily!" Okay, that one was quite loud. I could always pretend to be deaf. Yes, yes that will have to do. "Lily," he said, stopping in front of me. "Didn't you hear me?"

"No, actually, I didn't, now if you'll excuse me I have to..." He looked at me expectantly. "Leave."

"Right." For a Monday afternoon, the common room was quite empty. His cronies were all sitting there, pretending not to watch us. Except Sirius. That boy has no shame.

I was kind of at a loss of what to say. I mean, I wanted to continue talking to her, but as usual, my brain and my mouth didn't seem to be communicating very well.

Funny how that seems to happen when Lily's around.

"Potter, what do you want?" she said, sounding exasperated. I wonder why.

I stood there, my mouth hanging open like a fish, trying to form a coherent sentence.

It wasn't working.

"Well?"

"Did you get my letter?" I asked.

She sighed. She seems to do that a lot when I'm around "Yes, Potter, I got your letter. And the answer is still no. Now, if you don't mind..." she said, and started to walk away.

"Wait!" I said, grabbing her arm.

She turned to face me. "What?"

And before I could stop myself, it came out. "I love you."

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"Oh, sweet Merlin, he's finally cracked," Sirius said after myself, Remus, and Peter finished expressing our astonishment.

"What the hell do you mean?" I asked, suspicious.

"I mean, I love you. I'm in love with you Lily!"

I can't believe I just said that.

I could hear Sirius saying something to Lily, and then realized he was dragging me upstairs to the dorm. Remus and Peter were following us. Sirius sat me down on my bed and closed the door behind us. "Are you out of your bloody mind?"

Well that's not very nice.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" Apparently he's not done yet. I began to ignore him, occasionally tuning back in to catch phrases like "Dumbass," "treats you like shit" and "You're her bloody bitch." Really, the boy has a foul mouth on him.

"Look, it's not like I can choose who I'm in love with, alright," I said when he finally took a break.

"She doesn't like you! You are embarrassing yourself."

Remus and Peter, I noticed, were not doing anything to defend me from this verbal abuse. Actually, Peter looked like he wanted to defend me, but also wanted to agree with Sirius. Remus just stared at the ground with his hands in his pockets. Spineless twits.

"Sirius, I know you're not exactly Lily's biggest fan, but I can't change the way I feel."

He sat down on his bed. "You're making a fool of yourself. Why can't you just pick somebody else and move on?"

"I can't! I love her!"

"Yeah, we heard. And so did she. I say you drop the whole thing."

"I'm not listening to this," I said, storming out.

As I was leaving, I heard Sirius say, "He's hopeless."

"He really said that!" Nora squealed. No lie. She actually squealed, all high pitched and girly.

"Yes. I mean, what was he thinking?"

"Apparently that he loves you."

Apparently. "Look, Nora, he's just so obnoxious and full of himself. He thinks he's so amazing, he's just like...like..." Who is he like? I know I'll think of it.

"Hey, what's going on?" Another friend of ours, Jennifer, came in.

"James told Lily he loved her!" Nora said quickly.

"Really? Oh, that's so cute!" Again with that squealing thing.

"No! Not cute! Annoying! He's a complete prat, and I can't stand him!"

"Lily, he's really not that bad," Jen said. I hate it when she takes his side. Okay, so it's not really his side, but you get my meaning.

"Hey Lily," I said. Maybe Sirius is right. Maybe I have no pride.

Oh well.

"What do you want, Potter?" she said, not looking up from her book. She looks so pretty when she's in the library, deeply into her studying.

"Well, about earlier today... I mean..."

Damn! I should start writing down what to say.

"Look, Potter, it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't?"

"No, because I know you weren't being serious. And don't even think of it," she said, cutting off any chance I had at making Padfoot's favorite cheesy joke.

"I was being completely serious!"

"No you weren't. You can't love me, because you don't know me. And I certainly don't love you."

"Why not? What is it about me that you can't stand, Lily?" I asked with all sincerity. I'd heard the list many times before, but she was always very angry then. She seems calm now, so maybe I'll get a real answer out of her.

"You're arrogant, vain, conceited, and every other word to that affect. You think you're something special because you're so smart and good at quidditch. You're just like... Ziggy Stardust! That's it!"

I knew it would come to me eventually.

"You're exactly like Ziggy Stardust." And with that, I gathered up my things and left.

Ziggy Stardust? Who the hell is he?
A/N: I realize the storyline isn't progressing much, but it will, I swear.