DISCLAIMER: I don't claim to be J.K. Rowling, but I do worship her. So yes, everything is hers. Thanks for reading...
ON WITH THE STORY!
Chapter 3: Bloody Unsettling
James hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before. He just couldn't get Evans out of his head. For some reason, he couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful her hair was, and how brilliantly green her eyes were. It was almost unnerving, to be perfectly honest. He still hated her, more than anyone else in the world, but he couldn't help that when he had pulled his dead-tired body to breakfast that morning, his eyes immediately shot over to her. The only response to this was, of course, a rousing raspberry from Evans and her crew.
Sirius seemed to be the only one of his friends that really noticed that his eyes rested on her whenever he wasn't wholly concentrating on something else. He jeered, laughed, and aggravated him constantly, calling him a "Love-sick wanker," to be exact. But James didn't care, as long as no one else noticed, which was becoming increasingly unlikely, as Sirius was creating such a ruckus at their table in the Great Hall. But the thing that worried James the most, was the odd looks that Remus was giving him, as though he could read his mind, as though he knew everything going on inside him, and found what he saw to be quite disturbing...
--
"One is very crazy when in love."
--Sigmund Freud.
--
Lily was feeling no better than Potter was that morning. Ever since the night before when Potter had stared at her for such a long, long time, she had been feeling strange, and entirely on edge, and she couldn't explain why. It was, "Right unsettling, that's what!" as she accidentally screamed upon noticing his eyes drift over to her for what seemed to be the millionth time that morning. "Sorry about that," she apologized quietly, her face flaming the bright color of her hair. She got up to leave in embarrassment, unwilling to suffer through another moment of breakfast with James Potter in the room. As she ran away, with her friends calling after her in confusion; she didn't notice a tall figure following quickly behind her down the corridor.
All Lily could think about was getting away from her embarrassment, her friend's questions, and especially, James Potter. "He's the start of this whole mess anyway!" she exclaimed aloud, her face still flushed. "If it wasn't for Potter staring at me, I would be having a perfectly normal morning. What is wrong with him anyway?" She muttered under her breath.
"I'm not all bad you know." said a deep voice from behind her. Lily jumped out of her skin when she saw Potter looming over her smaller frame. He really was tall, Lily thought through her anger at him having followed her.
"What are you doing here Potter?" Lily spat, her annoyance dripping from each syllable.
"Looking for you," He replied noncommittally, shrugging his shoulders and leaning against the wall beside her. He continued to watch her as she began to speak in retaliation.
"Now why in Merlin's name would you do that? You very well know that you are exactly the reason I left the Great Hall in the first place! Now just let me alone, as I would very much like to return to my dormitory and attempt to get over the embarrassment already awarded to me this morning." She said, turning away from him to head down the stone covered hall.
"I'm afraid I just can't do that Evans. I need to ask you something before you run off and hide away." James said, whilst moving from his place against the wall into her path, thus blocking any chance she had of getting away.
"What do you want, Potter? Can't you tell that I'd rather not be speaking with you? Please just let me be." She said with mounting frustration, trying to push past his outstretched arms.
"Now, now, I just want to ask you the question that has been bothering me all day; Why do I find you beautiful, Evans?" He finally said, stepping aside and fixing her with a vaguely confused stare, very akin to one he had first given her the night before.
"Excuse me?" Lily said in utter confusion. This was most certainly not what she had expected to fall from his mouth when he had stopped her flight only moments before. Any guess that she would have had surely would have included him either insulting her, or catching her off guard with a well-planned prank. This, on the other hand, was wholly unprecedented, and Lily was left rather speechless for the first time in his presence.
"Yes Evans, I don't understand it either. But ever since last night in the Commons, I can't help but find you amazingly beautiful. Of course, I still do hate you. Very much so in fact. But with Remus looking at me like I was some kind of odd...thing all morning, I needed to know why I could only think about your hair and your eyes last night." he said, quite matter-of-factly, although Lily could see through his calm and nonchalant facade. She even detected a shred of anxiety draped across his temple, and in the way he tapped his foot subconsciously against the ground in a quick, frenzied, rhythm.
But this knowledge, of course, did not make her dislike of him, and especially of this awkward situation, any less potent, and she made as quick of an escape as she could--rushing past his now lowered arms into the empty corridor beyond.
--
James stood there, entirely dumbfounded. He surely didn't fancy Evans in the slightest, but it was surprising for her not to take the compliment he had payed her with some type of grace or sense of pride, as many of the other witches in his year would. He always had had a very easy time with the girls he had come into contact with, and so this obvious rejection was, to say the least, surprising and a bit unsettling. He had always looked at Lily Evans as an out-of-the-ordinary girl in most ways, from the way she was never afraid of him, to the way her face would contort in the strangest fashion when she was in the middle of one of their famous shouting matches. So, he supposed, her uncommon dislike of him could explain her very unusual refusal of his attentions. How could any one so stubborn and utterly annoying be so beautiful? What a waste... He thought to himself with a frown.
"Oi, James, did you really just let on to Evans that you thought shes gorgeous?" Sirius said, as he walked up behind him, looking at him in an incredulous manner.
"Er...I suppose I must have, seeing as she stalked off like that." Replied
James, feeling quite lightheaded all of a sudden. Walking off together with Sirius and his other friends as they joined him, James began to wonder just how far this strange new feeling was going to take him. And for the first time in his life, James Potter was truly afraid of Lily Evans.
--A/N: As promised, here is the updated list of my fabulous reviewers!
blackshadowz
beyonce-85
3musketteers
Hazelocean
alix33
MtOTHepowERoF2
Trainer Krystal
And my honorary 1st reviewer: the Pinkfactory!
Much Love,
Summer
