There was a teddy bear sitting on James's desk when he walked into the Transfiguration classroom. Lily Evans sat in the next chair, smirking, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.
"Evans." With a cool nod, James calmly vanished the ostentatious toy as it began to profess its love for him and went to sit somewhere else. Deflated, Lily sagged as Marlene slid into James's former seat.
"He didn't even look at it this time," Lily complained. "Seriously, how many rejections can a girl take? I'm starting to think that I should give up."
"I think that's what he wants you to do," Marlene pointed out. "Give up on him."
"Yes but —" Lily gazed forlornly at James, who had chosen to sit at the front. "—I'm in love with him. I can't give up."
Marlene sighed and patted her arm sympathetically. Mary leaned ahead and tapped Lily on the shoulder. "You know, maybe you should give up," she said. "Potter obviously isn't interested. I heard he fancies a girl in Ravenclaw."
Lily scowled, her hand crawling to her wand.
"Lily," Mary said warningly and Lily sighed, slumping in her chair.
"You both are so quick to discourage me," she murmured. "But…I guess you're right. I should not keep pursuing him."
"Excellent idea," said Mary dryly and sat down in her chair.
Eyes followed James and Lily as they walked towards each other. Everyone was expecting some grand gesture from Lily, perhaps an ensuing duel, and an entertaining result. James and Lily were both skilled duelists, so every interaction between them was exciting to their audience. Money often changed hands as the duel concluded, with either of them in the hospital wing.
Everyone was in for a surprise.
Lily walked past James, not making eye contact with him, not speaking to him, much less romancing him in any way. She was deep in conversation with her mates, and ignored James completely. James, meanwhile, breezed past Lily, looking at ease.
"What happened?"
"Why didn't Evans do anything?"
"Did she give up?"
James wasn't an idiot. He heard the whispers, he noticed the general lack of Evans in his life, and he was fine. He didn't care. He could eat his breakfast without being serenaded and walk to his classes without being showered in rose petals. It was refreshing.
Or so he thought.
Sixth year came and went, and seventh year arrived, along with a shiny Head Boy badge and a special letter from the headmaster. He soaked up every detail until he reached the bottom of the page, where his heart sank.
I have appointed Lily Evans as Head Girl.
Lily Evans. Lily Evans. Evans was a prankster, a misfit, not to mention she hadn't been a prefect. She spent her time dropping eggs on students' heads from the stairwell and putting frogspawn in the Slytherins' breakfasts. While James secretly approved of the latter, he couldn't believe that someone like Evans had been made Head Girl. It was simply unbelievable.
James almost wrote to Professor Dumbledore protesting the appointment, but he changed his mind — perhaps the old headmaster had his reasons. Evans was probably a good student, she did well in her classes, and she was occasionally responsible — but that didn't merit one of the highest honors Dumbledore could give you.
Professor Dumbledore had instructed them to meet in the first carriage so that they could make a plan of how to divvy up responsibilities. They would have to work around Evans's Quidditch practices (thankfully that would be easy, since Evans was the captain) and James's extra commitments, such as tutoring and event committee.
Evans had her back to him when he entered the carriage (James was pleasantly surprised, Evans was always tardy). Her red hair was tied up in a ponytail and she was already wearing her robes — crooked, but albeit somewhat tidy.
"Evans," he said and she spun around, her green eyes going wide.
"Hey, Potter." James waited for the inevitable innuendo or flirtatious tone, but her voice was unusually placid. "I've been waiting for you."
James's eyebrows shot up, she was making it sound as though he was late. "I am on time," he reminded her. "I hope you haven't been waiting too long."
"No, no, actually I just got here," she said, "just a few minutes ago. I started brainstorming a few ways we could divide the jobs and —"
And to his astonishment, she began rattling off her thoughts, all of which were actually valid. Nothing ridiculous, nothing with any romantic undertones. He knew she'd given up on pursuing him, but he wasn't sure how long it would last.
This was going to be an interesting year.
As Christmas approached, James found himself surprised by how much Lily was committed to her duties. She never showed up late for patrol or for meetings, she directed the prefects with ease, and she was balancing being Head Girl, Quidditch captain, and student extremely well.
Who are you, and what have you done to Lily Evans?
Somehow, over the summer, she'd matured from a girl to a woman. James was privately impressed by how much she'd grown but he would never admit that to her — at least, not yet.
Until the first patrol when she was late.
James waited, giving her the benefit of the doubt — perhaps practice had run a little late, or she'd been delayed by something important. Subconsciously, his trust in her had increased over the months and he believed that she was going.
But ten minutes passed, then twenty, and then thirty, and that's when James started to get worried. Lily was never late like this — had something happened to her?
Irritation swelling in him, he marched down the stairs, out of the castle, and onto the Quidditch pitch.
No one was there, but then he the figure — well, two figures on the other side of the pitch. One of them was definitely Lily — he recognized her by her dark red hair and matching Gryffindor scarf — and the other was a girl he couldn't quite see, but she was also wearing a Gryffindor scarf. It didn't look like any of the girls from Lily's dorm, and she seemed to be…crying?
Curiosity overcame his irritation and he hesitated. While he wanted to eavesdrop, it wouldn't be right to — he shouldn't be intruding upon others' private matters. But this was a side of Lily Evans he hadn't seen before. Of course he was curious.
Unnoticed by either person, he ducked under the stands and edged through the maze of wood and flags, getting as close to them as he could. He pressed his back to a wood post and strained his neck. Here, he could hear the conversation clearly.
"...must be hard." Lily's voice, gentle and reassuring. "If you need to sit out this game, we can use a reserve. Don't worry about trivial things like Quidditch right now."
Trivial? Quidditch? Lily Evans?
There was the sound of sniffling. The girl said, barely loud enough for James to hear, "T-Thank you," she said. "But it's okay. I need a distraction. I need to not think about them."
Them?
"Take your time and think about it," Lily said calmly. "You don't have to decide now. The match is in a week and the funeral is the day before. I won't force you to play if you don't want to."
James's stomach fell. Funeral. That meant that —
"My parents would've wanted me to play," the girl said firmly, sounding stronger. "Quidditch was their livelihood. I can hear them now, scolding me for wallowing when there's Quidditch to be played." She laughed hoarsely. "Thank you for your kindness, but I think I'll be okay. I'll go to their funeral and play against Hufflepuff."
A beat of silence. "I understand," Lily said. "If you change your mind —"
"I'll let you know," the girl said. He heard her shuffling away and heard a gusty sigh from Lily. He dared to poke his head out and glimpsed her, her face unreadable. Then she followed the girl, keeping a safe distance.
With a start, James remembered he was supposed to meet her at their patrolling spot. He had come to check on her. He had to beat her back to the castle. He spun and ran like hell.
Somehow, he made it. His chest felt like it had been split open and his heart was pounding at a frantic pace. But he'd made it.
Merlin, he was out of shape.
As he bent over to catch his breath, Lily rounded the corner and stopped short upon seeing him. "Are you okay?" she asked, sounding bemused.
"'M fine," he muttered, not looking at her. "I just forgot about our patrol." Something flickered in him as his eyes darted to her. He was lying through his teeth, but he wasn't ready to admit to what he'd done. And what she'd done.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Lily said, mercifully not ribbing him about his error. Her hands twitched by her sides. "I...had to take care of something."
James just gazed at her, two emotions warring in his chest. He had been ready to reprimand her, but words failed him. Witnessing what had happened on the pitch…and the fact that he too was guilty of being late. Neither made sense to him, and yet the former had changed something inside of him.
"It's fine," he said finally. "I was late too. We can both let this one slide, right?"
Lily nodded, her eyes unsettlingly focusing on him. James swallowed. "Shall we?" he offered.
"Okay. I'll take the top floors." Without waiting for him to say anything, she spun around and strode away.
Fine by me. If he was alone, he could sort out his thoughts.
Lily Evans. That girl. Lily comforting that girl after her parents had died and offering her time to grieve. Why was that so surprising? It was the right thing to do, and yet…
Perhaps she wasn't so bad after all.
1687 words
Gobstones: Gold Stone - Commitment; Accuracy - (setting) Quidditch Pitch; Power - (object) scarf, Technique - (object) teddy bear
All Aboard - Blue Train: Emotions - 5. Surprised
Honeydukes Hoarder - Sour Candy - 5. James/Lily
Truth or Dare - Dare - 10. Action: Crying
1000 - 798. (trope) Role Reversal
366 - 25. Believe
Writing Club
Character Appreciation - 4. Fourth Doctor - (item) scarf
Record Collection - 12. Be the Anchor That Keeps My Feet On the Ground, I'll Be the Wings That Keeps Your Heart In the Clouds: (action) crying
Scamander's Case - 13. (emotion) confused
