For Jilytober Fest 2022, Prompt #14: Classroom Rivals
"Ascendio!" Lily rose into the air, dodging the spell, and gently landed back on her feet. "Expelliarmus!" And that did it. Marlene's wand flew out of her hand and she scowled. The two girls were the last pair to be in the middle of the circle formed by their classmates, all of whom were in various states of dishevelment. A jaunty carol echoed from the radio on the teacher's desk, and despite it being the middle of the afternoon, candles burned brightly in the rickety chandelier and along the stone walls. Out the window, grey clouds shrouded the castle's turrets, but their ice did not seep through; for even the usually spartan Defence Against the Dark Arts room was decorated brightly. Gold tinsel clung to the handrail leading to the teacher's office; fairy-lights marked out the blackboard, and most students still wore a token from the exploding crackers of their previous lesson, with paper crowns upon their heads or tiny prancing reindeer marching along their shoulders. Lily scooped up her Father Christmas figure from the floor, where it had fallen in her jump. Marlene adjusted her woolly snowman hat.
"Very good, Miss Evans. And well done, Miss McKinnon," Professor Forcier said, clapping politely. They would be breaking up for Christmas the next morning, and so their final Defence lesson for the term had become a mini-duelling tournament rather than anything to do with content. Marlene bowed to Lily with a flourish and joined Mary in the crowd. Professor Forcier strode to the middle of the room, where Lily stood, ringed by desks and knocked-out competitors. He took her wrist and thrust it into the air. "Miss Evans, our female victor! And will Mr Potter join us?" Lily barely concealed a grimace. James had somehow managed to take out the other boys in their class, even Remus (who, in fairness, did look quite ill). As such, he swaggered up to Professor Forcier's other side, full of his trademark self-importance. A lopsided red crown peeked out from his mess of black hair, like he was the prince he fancied himself to be. If ego was a teenage boy, he'd wear spectacles and an untucked shirt.
"Now," Professor Forcier continued, checking his watch, "we have fifteen minutes until the end of the lesson."
"Can we-?"
"Yes, Mr Black, if you don't destroy my classroom, I intend on letting you have an early mark," Professor Forcier said. Black pumped his fist, as did Marlene. "However, I did wonder if we might have a battle of the sexes first." He stepped away from Lily and James and turned to gesture to them. Lily's eyebrows flew past her hairline. James smiled bemusedly.
"Yes!" Marlene shouted enthusiastically from the otherwise silent crowd. "Yeah, go on! Lily'll smash Potter any day." Well. She'd certainly like to.
"I don't know about that, McKinnon," said Black, folding his arms. "Evans is alright. She's not Potter."
"And thank bloody Merlin for that," Marlene said. Lily's lips twitched upwards. Her gaze flicked to James, who squinted at her, frowning, and she scowled. Then something like laughter twinkled in the gold flecks of his eyes. Lily set her jaw. He was such a prick. The only thing he'd ever been right about was that hating each other was just the way it was. They couldn't get along. Even when Professor McGonagall forced them to work together – they'd both failed the assignment. They couldn't do it. He was insufferable and she had too much self-respect to put up with that. To her great happiness, shortly after they'd got their marks back for that, he'd quit everything. Well, not quidditch, but everything they'd shared. No more Charms Club, no more Magical Theory, no more MagiQuiz tournaments, nothing. As best she could tell he spent all his newfound spare time getting stoned with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew in abandoned stairwells. They replaced him with Dirk Cresswell for the quiz tournament, and this year they'd been knocked out in the first round. But that was, of course, because they'd all been so busy with their O. that the rest of it seemed unimportant. Otherwise, without Potter, winning would be even easier.
(Wouldn't it?)
"I'd rather just get the early mark now, Professor," James said, ruffling his hair (carefully, as to keep his crown, of course). Lily raised her eyebrows and stepped closer to him, smiling angelically.
"Scared, Potter?" she asked lightly. James looked her up and down and shook his head with a laugh.
"Not of you," he snorted. "Of spending more time than I need to in a lesson? Absolutely. It's my boggart, actually." Lily turned away, rolling her eyes. The thing was that she couldn't even believe him. He didn't pull it off as well as he wanted to – the whole devil-may-care rebellion schtick. Maybe it fooled the rest of the world, but she didn't believe that the boy who had once spent an hour arguing with her over the minutiae of goblin contract law now hated the very idea of learning something new. Yes, he'd always been lazy and arrogant, proud and argumentative, but he'd never been ignorant. It was one of the most frustrating things about him. If he were ignorant, he'd be dismissible.
"What do you say?" Professor Forcier asked, opening his arms out to them. Lily lifted her chin.
"I can take him," she said. "If he can be bothered." She started towards Mary and Marlene, as if it really didn't bother her either way. And it didn't.
"If she's going to be so funny about it," James said. Professor Forcier nodded.
"Right then. Miss Evans, to the window side, Mr Potter, to the door. You know how it works by now." James shrugged and trudged towards the door. Lily changed course and made for the far end beneath the window. Mary and Marlene pushed through the crowd until they stood near to her – not near enough to get hexed, without James deliberately aiming for them, but near enough that they could talk to her without shouting.
"Aim for his balls," Marlene advised.
"Don't let him distract you," Mary urged. "He'll make one of those comments and you'll get all flustered and forget what you're doing."
"Potter can't fluster me," Lily retorted. She gripped her wand, feeling the weight of it, allowing it to becoming an extension of her arm. Simply a part of her she could channel magic through. She took a deep breath. It doesn't matter that it's him on the end. It's no different to duelling Marlene. Keep your head.
"Are you ready?" Professor Forcier asked. She and James both nodded. James grinned crookedly. Cockily. Lily set her mouth into a firm line. "Very well. Go ahead, then." She and James strode forward until they met in the middle. James' brown eyes fell on hers. Lily glared back defiantly. They raised their wands sharply. His was longer than hers, and thicker too. She'd seen it plenty of times, but not so close, not when it was all there was to focus on beside his face, which was so close she could've counted the faint freckles beneath his eyes and the wisps of hair that fell over his forehead. Stupid little details. His wand lacked a handle – it was the kind where it would be very easy for a thief to accidentally curse themselves. An intricate design of grooves mapped the surface, connecting, diverging, spreading, almost weblike.
"Evans, you're staring," James said softly, the corners of his lips darting upwards. She swallowed and gritted her teeth. They swung their wands down by their sides and bowed. James held his crown on. Naturally. Lily held her pocket shut to prevent the little Father Christmas falling again. They straightened up – he met her gaze again, he was trying to put her off – turned, and walked five paces to their ends. Lily gave Father Christmas to Mary, and James adjusted his crown.
They moved into their starting stances, wands pointed.
"One," said Professor Forcier. James just smiled at her. He wasn't standing correctly – his shoulders slumped too far, his back was too rounded. A flush of fury rose hot in Lily's core. Did he think she was that much of a joke? "Two." Lily tensed, gripping her wand tighter, adjusting her feet infinitesimally. "Three."
"Depulso!"
Before James could open his mouth, Lily sent him flying backwards until he hit the wall and crumpled. The room gasped; Black was at his side in a second. Lily clapped her hand over her mouth. Shit. The crowd surged towards him, and throw the tangle of legs, she could see him on the floor, barely upright, eyes closed. Shit, shit, shit. Her heart caught in her throat. She hadn't meant for that. She'd meant to knock him over – she hadn't meant for that. Her heart raced. He disappeared in the crush. Lily's hands trembled. She clenched her jaw and pushed herself into the sea of backs, sliding past people. A burly Hufflepuff trod on her toes, and a blonde girl snapped at her as she ducked between her and her friend. Everyone jabbered away, speculating wildly. She couldn't see Mary or Marlene anywhere, but the throng was so thick it was impossible to tell. Mostly, she was adrift in a sea of black robes.
"Excuse me," she said. "Excuse me. Excuse me."
Finally, she broke through to the front. Sirius had an arm around James shoulder and was shaking him, while Professor Forcier and Remus both implored him to stop, and Peter unscrewed the lid of his water bottle and poured it on James' face. Lily thought James twitched a little, but his head stayed flopped on his chest. A bolt of fear pierced her.
"James?" she breathed, half-strangled, crouching. He stirred. Lily's chest tightened. He opened one bleary eye and fixed it upon her; then he grinned.
"Nobody forfeited for me?" he asked. And at once, Lily realised. Her heart sank to the pits of her stomach. She jumped to her feet, face contorted.
"That's not very honourable of you!" she accused. Of course – how could she have been so thick? How could she have – she was so stupid - how could he -?
"I didn't plan it!" James shouted back, pushing himself up. Black glowered at Lily, as if she had somehow forced him to move.
"What?" Peter said, looking between them. Remus sighed.
"Nobody forfeited for James. Lily moved from the duelling ring before it was confirmed that he was out – which is an automatic forfeit," he explained. Lily stared at James, fire burning in her gaze. He'd been awake the whole time, she was convinced, just waiting for her to show her face.
"You are conniving," she hissed. "It's meant to be in good fun! That's underhanded, that's -"
"I didn't do anything!" James shot back. "You just want to think the worst of me!"
"Then why was it what your mind went to as soon as you gained consciousness?"
"Because I was thinking about winning? I'm not evil, Evans, for Godric's sake, I'm not your boyfriend." It took Lily a moment. She gaped.
"You're going to bring Sev into this now? Because you can't admit you weren't playing fair? That's exactly what I'm talking about! You wouldn't know how to be a good sport if your life depended on it!"
"I haven't done anything!" James threw his hands in the air and shrugged Black off, bringing himself to Lily. He stood in front of her, as close as they had been when they faced each other in the ring, looking into her eyes. Lily hated it. She tried to step back, but there was nowhere to, the others were too close. So she held his gaze. If he wanted to have a staring competition, fine, she could do that too.
"It wasn't intentional," James told her firmly. "You just can't handle that you lost." Lily ran her tongue over the back of her teeth.
"Rematch, then," she said simply. He laughed shortly.
"No."
"So you admit it?"
"No." He adjusted his crown, and Lily was struck by the urge to rip it off him. "I just want an early mark." He glanced at Professor Forcier, who watched them warily, arms crossed. "Can we go now, sir?" Professor Forcier sighed.
"I suppose so," he said. The class cheered. "Happy holidays, happy Christmas, remember to revise before you come back, because we won't be messing around, we'll be getting straight into it. Only six months until your O. !" He waved his wand, and the door to the classroom opened. Students started streaming out. Lily, however, was still frozen in front of James.
"So you're not even going to try to prove that you were acting in good faith?" she asked. James squinted at her and took off his glasses, cleaning them with a handful of his robes.
"You'll think what you want to think, Evans. I didn't do it." He shoved his glasses back on. "Do you really think I'd lie to you?"
Lily hesitated. James' lips fell apart, giving way to an exhale so soft she barely caught it. His head moved in such a way that the paper crown fluttered to the floor. He didn't reach for it. A knot pulled in her chest, but she held her ground. Water dribbled down his face, where Peter had splashed him. He wiped it away, smiled mirthlessly and turned.
"Cheers," he said, and stormed over to Professor Forcier, who promptly began insisting Black, Remus and Peter take him to the hospital wing. Lily hugged herself. He had to have done it on purpose. He'd played her. Taken advantage of the fact that she was a halfway decent person and had rushed over to see if he was alright. Stupid. Marlene and Mary converged on her, but she barely heard them as she swept out of the classroom, trying to ignore the ball of ice in her stomach.
You're always going to hate me, and guess what? I'm always going to hate you. It was a fact. Of course he'd lie to her, deceive her, play dirty; what could she expect from someone like Potter?
(What had he expected of her? That she'd think the best?)
(Why had he looked at her like that?)
(Why did he keep looking at her?)
But he had been right, she told herself. If only in one thing.
It's just the way it is.