Lily ran through the halls of the school with Alice tagging at her heels. She took a moment to check the time on her digital watch and rushed again. A sweat was forming at the top of her brow regardless of the cool air blowing within the castle. She softly cursed at her non athletic legs and kept on running. Despite all of her poking and prodding this morning, they were still running late. Marlene had pointed this out roughly a few minutes after they finished giggling and all smiles were replaced with looks of horror. Her commanding skills took over and she immediately formulated a plan in her head so they could all avoid detention.
Marlene was to take the side entrance to the Potions dungeons so she could weave through the fifth corridor and make it to her Transfiguration class on time. Mary was going to follow Marlene and take a right from the Transfiguration classes so she could go to Charms. Lily and Alice both had Care of Magical Creatures as their first class of the day and they quickly decided that running through the Quidditch field was the best chance in arriving on time. No sooner had they made their plan, did they all go sprinting in different directions while desperately clutching their books.
But unfortunately, Lily had forgotten how far the field was from the Great Hall and had to stop in between to catch her breath from excessively running.
"I swear on Morgana, you must be the most non athletic witch in the world!" Alice shouted at her.
Lily rolled her eyes, "Shut it Al. I'm no Quidditch prodigy like James bloody Potter."
Alice groaned and pulled at her wrist. "After class, I'm making sure you join the team. Potter may be an arse, but at least he can whip you into shape for situations like these." Alice took matters into her own hands and dragged her by the arm. They maneuvered through the dark tunnel that led to the Quidditch pitch and unfortunately stopped short at the sight of her so called Quidditch prodigy.
James was circling the posts on his broom with a piece of parchment tucked underneath his arm. For a moment, she forgot that she was currently about to be late for a class and watched him with narrow eyes. "OI POTTER!"
Despite the steady wind against his ears, he managed to hear her and lowered his broom to the ground. "Ah, Evans. Fancy seeing you this morning," he said as the makings of a smirk touched the very corners of his lips. Lily's gaze did not falter. "Well fancy this. Everyone's supposed to be in class right now. What are you doing wasting time out here?"
He smirked, clearly unfazed by her anger. "I could say the same thing about you."
Her eyes narrowed into slits. "But I asked first."
He smiled at her as if the situation was a joke. "Well I'd love to give you an answer, but it seems to me that you've got a class to get to. Which, by the way, starts in two minutes right? If I were you, I'd consider running at this point."
"What d'you think we've been doing, playing a game of tag? I've been up and down this entire castle more than Peeves has in just two minutes," she responded heatedly.
James burst out laughing. He clutched his sides as his shoulders shook with laughter and echoed across the Quidditch Pitch. She wanted so badly to punch that smile off of his face.
She glared at his amused expression. "Oh sure, laugh it up. I'm still a prefect you know, and if you don't have a good reason for being out here, I can report you to McGonagall."
His laughing subsided and turned into a grin. "Well then, it looks like you have a conundrum on your hands. Get to class on time, or get me in trouble? And you better decide quickly. It's not like you have all the time in the world."
Lily looked back and forth helplessly between James, Alice, and the Care of Magical Creatures class just at her reach. She was at a loss for words because of her conflicting feelings. One side of her was telling her to call him out, whereas another part of her was screaming about being late. Eventually, the screaming won over and she groaned, "Don't think this is over. I've got my eyes on you."
He snickered at her response as Alice glanced worriedly towards the direction of the class. "Well Evans, everyone has their eyes on me. I'm too handsome for my own good."
She felt the urge to throw her stuff at him. "You know what I mean! We aren't through with this."
"Oh I have no doubt," He said widening his smirk.
Lily scoffed and stalked away with her books muttering the words "conceited jerk" and "pea brained moron."
They were thirty three seconds late. She was so worried after her encounter with James that she literally counted each second that went past their designated time. Thankfully, Professor Kettleburn had not arrived yet, and they were relieved from their previous fears of detention. Normally, the professors would only take off points for arriving late, but they were harder on the sixth and seventh years. The older students were meant to be an example for the younger students so being late meant wanting to spend Friday night cleaning the trophy room.
Her Care of Magical Creatures class went well, but throughout the day she was very distracted. All she could think about was what Potter had been doing in the fields before she'd caught him. It wasn't allowed right? He can't have any sort of legitimate reason to be out there, could he?
No he can't she thought and I should definitely report this.
Immediately after Charms, she had Potions with Marlene who was gracious enough to wait outside the door. "Bloody Monday," she groaned as they started walking towards the Potions dungeons.
Marlene looked a little skeptical. "And what's got your knickers in a knot?"
"Oh nothing," she added in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Except for the fact that Potter's out with his little antics again."
Marlene rolled her eyes at the name Potter and sighed, "What did he do this time?"
Lily burst into a fit of anger as she relayed the events of the morning. "I found him lounging about in the Quidditch fields before classes and proving yet again that he's nothing but a hardheaded idiot. Everyone else is desperately running in hopes of getting to class on time, and there he was continuing to be the bane of my existence and not taking school seriously. Just because he's the Gryffindor seeker doesn't mean he gets a free pass to the fields at whatever time he likes. If he had half the sense that Remus does, he would've just shut his trap and taken his arse down to class."
She watched in irritation as Marlene tried to hide her smile and failed miserably. "Alright," she asked as the smile on Marlene's face turned into a grin. "what's so funny?"
No sooner had she finished that sentence did she get her answer.
"Hard headed, am I Evans?" her eyes widened at the masculinity of the voice that spoke from behind her. She cleared her throat. "Erm….Marly, please tell me that's Alice or Mary." Marlene shook her head as giggles were threatening to burst from her throat.
Lily turned around, forcing herself to suppress a groan as she met the amused and irritated stare of James Potter. For a moment she stood gaping, not really knowing what to say, and then she shut her mouth into a thin line and glared at him.
"Yes," she stated boldly, "you're hard headed, and idiotic, and the epitome of stupidity, and practically every word in the book that defines brainless."
Lily saw from behind him that Sirius and Peter were trying not to laugh. "And that goes for you two as well, Padfoot and Wormtail," she said and watched in satisfaction as their smiles slipped away. Peter looked a little annoyed whereas Sirius started to grow red. She felt better getting a reaction from those two, but the thing that irked her was that her comments did not affect James the way his affected her. He continued to stare with that famous "James Potter"smirk as her irritation continued to climb higher and higher.
His eyes practically screamed, "Oh she's angry. Let's piss her off even further."
"Well love, since you seem to be so affected by what happened this morning, I'll let you in on something. You obviously know that sixth years can be Quidditch Captains right? And when we think about it logically, it's normal for them to be patrolling the fields in the morning right?"
Lily frowned at James's comment. "Yes, but what does that have to-oh holy shit, tell me your joking!"
His smirk widened. "Not at all my dear Evans. I'm Quidditch Captain this year, and you see, I have this very shiny badge that gives me access to the fields at practically any time I want. It's incredible, really. I presume you're familiar with the protocol of shiny badges," he said nudging the prefect badge pinned to her chest.
Her glare hardened. "D'you take me for an idiot Potter?"
His smirk turned into a grin. "No actually, I take you for being prude. So now that I've cleared that up for you, I think you have absolutely nothing to report to McGonagall about. Glad I could save you the embarrassment. I may be a little, as you say, "hardheaded," but I'm not cruel enough to get a prefect sacked from her duties."
"Shut up," she said heatedly, "I wouldn't get sacked for something as ridiculous as that."
"Now that's where your wrong again Evans," he added leaning a little closer to her, "Trying to use your privileges to counter those with equal authority as you is punishable by at least a detention. But knowing McGonagall, you would've been in for much worse had you reported the incident in the fields this morning. Be grateful that I saved you from a lot of embarrassment and the loss of your shiny badge."
And then he left leaving her with her face as red as an apple and her mouth virtually hanging from her jaw. At last she closed it and took a long deep breath to steady herself. Marlene looped an arm around her elbow. "Let it go Lily. He's just trying to get on your nerves and you're letting him."
Lily sighed and started walking with her to the Potions class. "I don't know why it's always me. He doesn't go at it with anyone else, but there's a certain part of him that loves to piss me off. Why is that?"
Marlene smacked her forehead. "For a smart witch, you are really daft. It's obviously because he fancies you."
Lily snorted a very unlady like snort. "Are you ill Marly? You seem to be hallucinating?"
Marlene rolled her eyes. "I'm quite alright thank you very much. You, however, are the one who needs a checkup. You can't even recognize that James Potter fancies you!"
She internally winced at the sound of that. For a moment, Marly sounded just like Severus.
Marlene ignored her discomfort and kept on talking. "And who knows, maybe you'll fancy him to."
Lily froze and then burst out into hysterical giggles. Fancy James Potter? She was a hundred and ten percent sure that would never ever happen. "My dear, you must go down to the hospital wing and get your head examined," Lily said through her giggles. "I do believe you're crazy."
Her friend sighed in irritation, "You never know. You could end up falling for him."
Still smiling, she said, "Yeah and I could also go hex myself, but that doesn't mean I'll do it."
And then she paused again with no hint of a smile on her face. "But if I ever do fall for that prat, do me a favor and put me out of my misery."
James maneuvered through a thick crowd of students as he tried to get to class. It had been funny, hilarious even, to watch Lily turn completely red with anger. Annoying her was greatly entertaining, especially when her face met the color of her hair. He grinned at the thought of it and continued weaving through a mass amount of people.
"Prongs, I think you've gone mad," said a voice next to him. James turned to meet the stare of Sirius who had his arms crossed as his bag slumped from his shoulder.
He smiled. "And why is that Padfoot. Do enlighten me."
"Alright, maybe a story will be able to properly enlighten you," added Sirius while using air quotes on the word enlighten. "Once there was a furious flower called Lily and a stupid git-I mean stag- named Prongs. Lily and Prongs got at each other's throats nearly every day since the first day they met. Prongs, being the overly dramatic deer that he was, tried to flirt with Lily which only increased her anger towards him. Neither could agree on anything because their opinions and personalities could never find a common ground. The two were completely opposite and incompatible in every way until one night when Lily, the furious flower, was greatly upset by her nasty older sister, the ugly petunia. Prongs saw his ever so feisty female at the verge of tears and comforted her in a time of need. However, Lily had no idea she was talking to the same Prongs that teased her on a daily basis. Now, the extremely idiotic Prongs doesn't know whether they are friends or enemies and goes on acting as if they never had that lovely encounter. He continues to torment Lily without wondering why in the world he's provoking her when earlier today he talked about getting on a friendly level. In my opinion, Prongs is a coward and a real wanker."
James sighed as his amusement disappeared into irritation. It was quite a low blow to call a Gryffindor a coward. "Sirius, the entire relationship is complicated."
"Then uncomplicate it James. I know you can't be friends, but at least stop hating each other."
"Well what am I supposed to do Sirius? I don't think she wants to stop!"
"Well that's immature," Peter piped in, "I for one, think Padfoot has a really good point. What's the point in hating each other?"
James groaned in irritation. "You pair need an awakening. Lilly and I can never be anything but enemies. For one, we've been fighting for ages. Someone might as well write down "James' property to argue with"on her forehead due to the amount of rows we've had. And two, she's a prefect and we're a pair of misfits. We've been pranking and ridiculing in this school since our first year. I'm not giving up pranks just for Evans."
Sirius shook his head. "No one said you had to, but it would be better to stay clear of arguments with her."
He laughed, "Alright Padfoot, I'll do that. Right after you start giving up womanizing."
Peter scoffed, "Fat chance of that."
"What's going on?" said a new voice from behind them. They turned around to find Remus walking towards them while stowing his wand away in his bag.
Sirius was the first to respond, "Prongs is being a git. We're telling him to stop arguing with Lily and he's too stubborn to listen."
"Ah," Remus said quietly once he reached the three of them, "C'mon lads, that isn't anything new."
James looked around helplessly. "So you're all just against me? Each one of you thinks I should stop arguing with Evans?"
A number of nods and a chorus of yes's answered his question. James exasperatedly ran a hand through his hair. "This isn't as easy as you're all making it seem. How do I throw out a five-almost six- year hatred out the window?"
Sirius clasped a hand on his shoulder. "No one said it was going to be easy mate, but you can't hate each other. What's the point? You've both lived on a set of rules for five years. It basically went like this. Lily and James won't talk to each other unless one provokes the other. Lily and James will glare at each other every time they cross the halls. Lily and James will avoid places where the other hangs out in. For example, Lily tries to avoid the common room as much as possible and James keeps away from the library. Lily has the right to anger James with heated comments about his freakishly athletic Quidditch skills and James has the right to provoke Lily on her prefect duties. In fact, most of the arguments revolve around those two topics."
"Hilarious," said James while not smiling, "You're amazingly comedic today Padfoot. But the fact remains that she doesn't see me as anything but an enemy. I don't want to hate her. I just love to argue with her."
"And you can," Peter piped in "but this time, as friends or acquaintances."
James shook his head, his dark hair swishing into a messier state as he did so. "It can't hurt to try, but Evans will never go for that."
Remus's shoulders were slightly shaking with controlled laughter. "Well, if you're going to follow through with it, I'd start calling her Lily."
Lily had made it to class on time despite all of James's provoking. It irked her greatly that she had to run to class because of his stalling in the hallway and it pissed her off even more that he made jokes about her duties as a prefect.
I swear she thought he should stop prodding his nose into my business.
Sighing, she sat down and set up her Potions cauldron and mortar. Looking up, she saw that Slughorn had already written down the instructions for the potion they were brewing today.
A smile made its way to her lips as her previous irritation was soon forgotten. Potions was her favorite class of the day.
Lily watched as Slughorn came to the demonstration desk and beamed at the class. She noticed dark circles under his eyes and realized that he had spent a full night preparing the four potions sitting on the table. Lily saw how tired he was, yet despite the fatigue, he looked ecstatic and enthusiastic to get to work. He must've been busy until the early hours of the morning she thought which means today's lesson is going to be very interesting.
Slughorn cleared his throat "Now, who can tell me what I brewed in these cauldrons."
Each brew sitting on the desk gave off different, colorful fumes and intriguing odors. Her mind raced back to last week when she read about similar brews for homework. Instantly, she recalled the names of each potion and their physical properties.
Her eyes flitted around the room to see if anyone else was able to recall as she did and provide a plausible answer. Just as she suspected, not a single hand was in the air. Slowly, Lily raised her arm up and Slughorn nodded at her "Yes Ms. Evans?"
"Well I recognize the first two to be Everlasting Elixirs," she stated while peering curiously. "Their uses depend on how they're brewed. For example, yours seems to be for common household cleaning judging by how the cauldron is clean wherever the potion touches it and how the liquid holds a pinkish tint."
Professor Slughorn beamed at her. "Correct Ms. Evans. Now can you tell me why they are called Everlasting Elixirs?"
Too easy she thought "Because they either never run out, or never stop working."
Slughorn nodded "Right again. Now what are the other two?"
She looked at the cauldrons beside the Everlasting Elixirs. One was a pasty yellow and the color of a sunflower. She liked the color and was briefly reminded of a dress at home that resembled the rich yellow coming from the potion.
The other was a clear, gold color. The moment she saw it, she couldn't take her eyes off of it. She marveled at the way it resembled liquefied gold yet remained as clear as water. It occupied most of her attention despite the small quantity lying in the cauldron. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she recognized the name of the substance. Did Slughorn really take the effort to brew such a difficult potion?
Her eyes shot back up to see the professor who was watching her apprehensively. She cleared her throat. "Well the one that's thick and pasty is an Elixir to Induce Euphoria. The name speaks for itself in its uses. Euphoria means excitement or happiness and so the potion induces irrational happiness. Normally people receive side effects of excessive singing and nose tweaking."
The Potions master had a wide and childlike smile on. "And can you tell me the last potion Ms. Evans?"
She nodded "Sir… if I'm correct that is Felix Felicis or what most people call it, liquid luck. How on earth were you able to brew it?"
"Ah, an excellent question, my dear girl." He turned to face the rest of the class. "It's true, this potion is highly difficult to make and one would be very lucky to make it correctly. To answer your question Ms. Evans, it was incredibly difficult. I had to convince ministry officials to give me the ingredients I needed and even then, it was risky. I managed to make it in a stroke of luck so I may present it to you all today. And speaking of luck, what do you think this potion does Ms. Evans?"
She smiled. "Well there's a reason people call it liquid luck. It causes good fortune for those who drink it, but the effects aren't permanent. They normally wear off in a few hours depending on how much of the potion you make."
She watched as Slughorn jerked his head in approval. "I really don't know how you manage to grasp the lesson well enough to teach the class and sometimes, even me. You must've gotten well acquainted with these potions when I assigned the homework. Good work Ms. Evans. Twenty points to Gryffindor."
Lily nodded. She was about to thank him when the door of the dungeon suddenly flew open. Her mouth let out a stifled gasp at the sight of the person on the other end. What the hell is he doing here?
"Sorry I'm late," said James as he sauntered into the room "I had to clear some things up with McGonagall about my schedule."
"Mr. Potter," said Slughorn rather coldly without turning around, "this is not an acceptable time to barge into class. You just interrupted me in the middle of my lesson. As of now, you have detention to serve on Saturday night at eight o'clock."
James shook his head. "No I don't sir. McGonagall gave me a note." He passed over a ruffled piece of parchment to Slughorn and casually leaned against one of the Potions tables. Lily turned her head to see the girls behind her giggling and whispering. She watched as James caught their eye and winked. The two girls closest to her gasped and giggled flirtatiously. Lily rolled her eyes and internally groaned He just can't help himself, can he?
Slughorn scanned the note quickly and roughly handed it to James. "This time it'll be an exception, but don't expect to get off that easy in the future. Now take a seat Mr. Potter."
"Where sir?" he asked scanning the room and smiling smugly when the only available seat was next to her. Her eyes widened Oh no!
"Next to Ms. Evans," Slughorn said quickly, not understanding the severity of his words, and continued to talk about Felix Felicis.
James chuckled and started walking towards her. With every step he took her mind kept screaming the word "no."
No! No! No! NO!
However, despite her furious head shaking and penetrating glares, he set his bag near hers and grabbed the stool from behind her desk. "Well Evans," he murmured while adjusting his seat, "looks like I'm your Potions partner."
She cursed her bad luck I need a whole mountain of Felix Felicis to make it through a class period with him.
Isn't it just a lovely day for an update :)
By the way, did anyone see the Narnia reference in this chapter? Comment if you did. Hint: Think logically.
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I love the banter between Lily and James and James and the marauders. They are all around, hilarious people. And I was also able to show Lily's smart side in Potions class.
I do have a few things to say about the story though. Firstly, I work completely from known facts. Meaning, I only use things that're known about Lily and James from the book. I make stuff up but it revolves around the facts we already have. For example, every potion in the chapter is actually a real potion mentioned in the book (mostly the sixth one because they're in advanced potion making).
The whole Quidditch Captain thing is true as well. Sixth years can become captain and they cannot be falsely reported. James has no right to take points away from students like Lily does but he has authority over the Quidditch team and so I stated in the chapter that they have equal authority. They both get to order around students (that seems to be the only thing they have in common right now).
I know that Lily and James did not officially start dating until their seventh year but I have a plan for that as well. Don't worry, you won't have to wait a whole year before they start liking each other. By the end of the sixth year they'll be head over heels. You'll see what I mean ;)
And once again I'd like to thank my lovely editor Mindless Mazes who is brilliant in fixing up my chapters. She's also written a great one shot on her account so if you haven't checked her out yet what are you doing? You better be going to her account after reading this chapter :).
Anyways…..until next time…
Never make eye contact while eating a banana. It's just weird. Almost as weird as giving it as advice to people.
