"I don't want to go."
"Are we going to have this conversation every time you have a duty?" Marlene sighed "I really don't see why not - he's hot."
"He's James Potter."
"Still hot - I wouldn't mind a bit of him."
"Coming from the girl who's slept with Sirius Black on multiple occasions-"
Marlene laughed, tracing the outline of a flower onto her thumb nail with her wand. With a flick, it began to glow scarlet and then settled as a magnificent orange colour.
"You're good at that." Lily commented.
"What - sleeping with Sirius Black?"
"Actually I was talking about painting nails but whatever."
Marlene cackled, drying her fingernails with a warm gust of wind from her wand before resting them on the white sheets of the iron bed. More than a week had gone by since the incident in the Common Room and Madame Pomfrey was still insisting that Marlene was to stay in the Hospital Wing for at least another fortnight.
"What time is it?"
"Five-to."
"You'd better go - your date starts at eight."
Lily shot her best friend a disgusted look, before standing up and walking towards the door.
When Marlene shouted "Enjoy yourself!", Lily could practically hear the grin on her face.
She walked down to the enterance hall to find James Potter leaning against the front doors, one foot resting on the wall and a smirk on his face as he caught her eye. The kind of casual arrogance that can only be achieved after years of admiration seemed to flow from every cell of his body and it was then that Lily realised that this overinflated state of self confidence was probably what made him 'hot' in everybody else's eyes.
"What are you smirking at?"
"I don't smoke, it's bad for you."
Lily looked at him, the lack of amusement evident on her face "Funny."
"Yes, I'm hilarious."
He winked and they left the castle, walking across the courtyard. Outside, the sun was hovering over the top of the forest but still bright. The sky was a clear, cloudless blue, slowly melting into purple by the mountains as dusk began to settle.
They walked across the viaduct in silence, Lily's irritation growing with James' smirk.
"Seriously." she snapped, after almost an hour of this. "What is so funny?"
"Nothing," He said, and then caught her eye and laughed "Okay - sorry...but this."
"What?"
"I don't know, really." He smiled, messing up his hair absently and making her blood boil "It's just that doing these duties with me clearly irritates you and you have no idea how atractive you are when you're angry."
This caught her off guard. She stared at him for a moment and then within seconds her wand was out, pointing at his throat and pinning him to the wall.
He looked down at her, his voice amused "Go on, Evans; Hex me - I dare you."
"You've just broken our agreement - I'm perfetly within my rights to hex you."
"You asked me what I was laughing at."
"You didn't answer my question." She retorted.
"Oh, sorry - did you not understand?" He cocked his head to one side "I was laughing because, when you get that look on your face that makes it perfectly clear you want to punch me in the face, it just makes me want to throw you against a wall and give you a really good shag." He raised an eyebrow "Do you not find that funny?"
"You obnoxious little-" She started, waving her wand and sending a jinx in his direction.
His wand was suddenly out and he bloxed the spell easily. Lily responded with several more hexes, none of which met their target. They duelled for a few minutes, James putting in more effort than he would strictly have liked - she was a very talented Witch. Eventually, he span her around and pinned her wrists to the stone wall with his hands, looking down at her and breathing heavily - he had won with sheer force, not because he was any better than her - simply because he was stronger.
"Evans, stop."
She looked up at him, staring daggers "I detest you."
"I know." He nodded, and let her wrists drop as she stopped fighting against him "And that's a shame, really...seen as I've spent the past seven years of my education trying to get you to like me."
"You broke our deal." She said, ignoring him completely "I knew you would."
"You asked what I was laughing at." He replied, irritated.
"You're disgusting."
"What - for finding you attractive? More than attractive, honestly. I think - no, I know that you're the most beautiful person I've ever met."
"You said you'd stop this!" She exclaimed, gesturing towards him with a desperate wave of her arms "You only want me because you can't have me!"
"No I don't." He said simply, and the calm tone of his voice opposed to all the shouting made her suddenly listen. "I really do not."
She looked at him and ran a hand through her long fiery mane of hair, waiting for him to continue.
"I don't want you because I can't have you."
She shook her head "Even if you genuinely think that, and this isn't just another scam of yours to get into my pants, once you had me you'd get bored. Believe me."
"Why are you so determined to see the worst in me and the best in everybody else?" He laughed humourlessly "Snape bursts into the Common Room after a load of future Death Eaters nearly kill your best friend and you're that desperate to believe he isn't involved that you ask him what he's doing...then I tell you how perfect I think you are and you think it's a scam to get into your pants?"
"You don't understand. He was my best friend and-"
"And if they told him to hurt you...he would. You said it yourself."
To this, Lily did not have an adequate response so she just looked at the seventeen year old infront of her.
"You know, it doesn't even matter any more." He ran another hand through his hair "I give up."
She watched as he walked away, clad in jeans and a hooded Quidditch jumper. His hair was sticking up at the back as always and his hands were shoved deep into his pockets. He did not turn around as he turned the corner, out of her sight and into the school.
Lily put her head into both hands and exhaled heavily, wondering what on earth had just happened. One thing was certain - working with James Potter was no longer an option.
x
The walk to McGonagall's office was quick - Lily let her feet guide her while her mind replayed the conversation-arguement-duel she'd just had.
"Evans?" The woman's voice broke through Lily's thoughts, as crisp and sharp as ever.
Lily gestured to the door infront of her as Mcgonagall walked up to corridor towards her "Can I talk to you?"
She frowned for a moment but then nodded, unlocking the office with a wave of her wand. She walked around the wooden desk and sat, gesturing for Lily to do the same.
"I quit." she said quietly, and Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow.
"Quit? Quit what?"
"I don't want to - I can't be Head Girl any more."
"No." Mcgonagall said simply, and then "Sit down.", for Lily was still stood up.
She sighed and sat opposite her Head of House "I can't work with him."
"It's not even been two weeks yet." She said "I'd expect a Gryffindor such as yourself to have a little more willpower."
"You have no idea what he's like!" Lily exclaimed, irritated "One minute he's being a cocky, egotistic dickhead and the next he's practically confessing his love for me - could you work with that? I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking - putting us together!" She shrank backwards into the chair, suddenly very quiet as if all the puff had been taken out of her.
McGonagall watched her steadily for what seemed to be a very long time and Lily half expected to be expelled - after all, if you were going to shout and swear at any teacher at all, Minerva McGonagall was possibly the worst option to go with.
What actually happened, however, was something Lily would never have guessed. A small, yet steely glint unlike no other Lily had ever seen appeared in McGonagall's eye and her lips curved into a slight smile "I strongly believe that Mr Potter gets equally as worked up as you do with him - he just hides it better. If, and I'm assuming myself to be correct here, he has had some kind of outburst this evening, then it has been a long time coming and you aren't in danger of another one any time soon."
Lily looked at McGonagall "Are you going to let me quit?"
"No." She shook her head "But I will change the rota so that you don't have to spend so much time with him."
Lily smiled weakly "Thank you...and I'm sorry for shouting."
"That's okay." McGonagall smiled slightly "And, just so that you know...it wasn't Professor Dumbledore's idea to have you two as Head Students."
Lily's eyes widened "You?"
She nodded "And if I didn't have full faith in the pair of you - I would not have suggested it. Now, I suggest you go and get some sleep."
Lily nodded, standing up "Night, Professor."
"Good night, Lily."
x
Please review, it makes me happy :)
