A/N: I could go on and on and on about how late this update is and how horrible I am, but I'm just gonna let your read and ramble in the end.
Thank you to everyone who favorited, reviewed or even followed!
The idea for this one came from the reviewer MajorMajo.
Sting
He cornered him in the hallway.
"What," James hissed, "was that?"
He was referring to the "incident" (James thought it was closer to "disaster") that happened moments before, in Potions Class.
Evans and Snivellus were, as usual, brewing their potion together. James and Sirius were, also as usual, working in the table directly behind them - Not many knew this, but James' less-than-average grades at Potions were mostly caused by him silently fuming at the pair and breaking things - When Snivellus reached for the Horklump Juice the same time the red haired Gryffindor did.
That resulted in their hands brushing.
James told himself he would've been fine with it if she did the normal, excusable thing - yelling "prat" at Snape, wrenching her hand from his, and riding off into the sunset with James - but instead she had smiled a bit shyly at the Slytherin, gently let his hand go and made a joke James couldn't hear. The joke was incomprehensible partly because there was noise in the classroom, but mostly because James had crushed the delicate spines of the lionfish.
"Really, mate?" Sirius had asked, his voice a mixture of sympathy and exasperation. "Again?"
James had ignored him and continued to pound the spines, which shrieked and rattled in disagreement.
"What was what?" The Slytherin now replied. Snivellus, James was sure, knew perfectly well what James was talking about.
"You know what."
Snape's lip curled. "Just because she won't come into any kind of contact with you doesn't say anything about other blokes, you know."
James paused for a bit, stinging, then forged on mercilessly."But you're not just "another bloke", are you, Snivellus?"
The other boy remained quiet, his face unreadable.
"No..." James continued, "Of course you're not. You think I haven't seen the way you look at her? You think - "
He was cut off by the Slytherin taking his wand out from his robe and roughly shoving it under James' chin.
The fates had turned; Snape was now the one verging on uncontrollable anger whilst James was the one regarding him coolly.
"You think I believe your little act, don't you, Potter?" The potions expert spat out.
Upon seeing James impassive (and befuddled) expression, he added, "I know this whole I-have-feelings-for-Lily thing is just a moronic game planned by you and your cronies. You've hated her for so long, why stop now? You're just using her for your own bloody fame, are you not?"
Snivellus' comment had hit his mark. James took out his own wand.
"How dare you -"
In that exact moment, Slughorn - the potions professor - sauntered out of the nearest classroom, humming to himself. "Oh, boys!" he exclaimed, surprised. Oblivious. "What are you still doing here?"
"Nothing," Snape muttered venomously."Pardon me, professor."
And just like that, he was gone.
James did his best to appear nonchalant, despite of his raging emotions; he could do without another detention.
He shrugged. "Boys these days, you know?"
Stung
He watched them in the hallway.
They were walking, chatting, when a large horde of students scattered out of the nearest classroom, yelling and crashing into people.
They callously shoved James, which resulted in his hand brushing with Lily's. He looked down at her, smiling. She grinned in response, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him.
He kissed her back.
Snape took one look at their hands, which were held tightly since they were brushed, and turned away.
A/N: Poor snape-y. (Note to all Snape Lovers- I did not mean to show Severus as a bad person or something by calling him Snivellus, it's just James' opinion (I don't think he ever called him Severus). NOT WHAT I THINK.
Again, so sorry for the late update. I did have this oneshot written a couple of days ago but the internet at my house decided to collapse. *sigh*. Here's a March resolution; update Rideo once a week.
How's that, guys?
Oh, and this fic is nearly to 10 chapters! Which means the 10th one is going to be awesome/special. I'll try, at least. If anyone has an idea for something unusual please review or PM me!
Or, you know, just review. Even something like "cute" would mean a lot :)
~Fearless Noodle
