Deflating

Chapter Three: Just Like Quidditch

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(Reviews, while also undoubtedly good for your own personal karma, make my fingers fly impossibly fast…thus, this chapter arrives. So keep them coming and I will too ;)

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"She still won't…?" Remus said, trailing off in surprise. "She's still acting…?"

"Like a wench?" James snapped, mussing up his hair in the back again. "Yeah, you could say that." He sighed in a very exasperated fashion, and shoveled large amounts of roast beef into his mouth. The start-of-term feast had begun now, and the Marauders were consoling James on his second consecutive loss.

Remus frowned. "I thought that you couldn't go wrong with being nice to her…"

"And that's why you're single," Sirius interrupted.

Remus ignored him. "But I suppose Lily's more complex than that…"

"Only thing more complex than her is a labyrinth," James muttered derisively.

James was noticeably distraught over the fact that Lily was still acting rather cool towards him. He could not understand how she could get so angry because he was trying to mold himself to fit her expectations. It was terribly unreasonable on her part, as far as he was concerned.

"I'll talk to her," Remus declared. "Ask her exactly what she wants from you."

"I could answer that," James replied sullenly, pulling more platters of food to him and eating mashed potatoes and corn (together, no less) right out of the serving dishes. "She wants me to leave her alone."

"So leave her alone," piped up Peter from the opposite side of the table. "James, are you planning on finishing those potatoes yourself, or can I have some?"

James, Sirius, and Remus all stared at their friend. James, whose spoon was halfway to his mouth, merely gawked at him, and some color was rising to his face. "Leave her alone?" James sputtered, as though Peter had just suggested he just stab Lily in the heart with his wand to rid himself of this problem entirely. "Leave her alone? How will I get anywhere if I leave her alone?"

"You'll get nowhere," Peter responded plaintively. "Can I have the potatoes, James?"

James ignored this request. "Exactly! I'll get nowhere! And I'll be no more better off than I am now!"

"Right," Peter said, as though this was the point--as it was. "You'll be no better, but you'll be no worse, will you? Maybe if you lay off, she'll…stop acting so hostile." He didn't meet his friends' stares, but started to whine, "Seriously, James, the pota--"

"Bloody hell, Prongs, give him the damn potatoes before he wets himself!" Sirius exclaimed exasperatedly, pushing the bowl of the fluffy white food across the table to Peter, who blushed a little but eagerly spooned a serving onto his plate and began to eat.

James looked a little injured, but whether it was from Peter's advice or from the abrupt removal of the potatoes from his custody remained to be seen. "Do you really think I should leave her alone?"

"I think you should," Remus said bracingly as the desserts popped onto the table. He eyed a plate of treacle tarts but sighed once he noticed James watching it as well. Remus knew better than to enter a fight he knew he couldn't win. Sure enough, James snatched up the entire plate of pastries and began eating them at an amazing rate. Remus wondered briefly if his friend even bothered to chew.

"See, I disagree, Moony," Sirius said, tilting his head slightly as he chewed thoughtfully on a piece of chocolate cake. "I think James should go full speed ahead."

"Yes," Remus replied coolly, "we should go with your opinion because the success of your tactic can't possibly be rivaled."

"Only by yours," Sirius reminded him lightly, licking the remaining chocolate frosting from his fork in a careful, calculated manner before cutting himself another piece.

"James, you're being awfully quiet," Remus said loudly, not really wanting to trade retorts with Sirius while steadily forgetting what they were debating. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking Lily isn't quite worth all this trouble, then realizing I'm lying to myself and just making myself out to be more of a lazy git, because I should be up to the challenge, shouldn't I? That's all she is…a challenge…just like Quidditch." He seemed not to be talking to his friends so much as vocalizing his present musings to himself.

"Intervention!" shouted Sirius so loudly that James jumped, having apparently forgotten his friends were there, but moreover, forgotten that Sirius was in such close proximity to him. Sirius banged his fist onto the table for emphasis and several people turned to look at him, most of them giggling, some rolling their eyes superiorly. Sirius ignored them all, but lowered his voice. "I can guarantee you, Prongs, if you keep thinking of her as nothing more than an opponent in a Quidditch game, you will get nowhere. Maybe that's your problem: you don't really see her as a person. And maybe she knows that."

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Lily glanced down the table to where the Marauders were seated, undoubtedly putting their heads together for some other destructively juvenile prank. She sighed and turned to Charlotte and Emily, who were having a sisterly squabble over something trivial--from what Lily gathered, Charlotte was upset that Emily had been using her curling iron over the summer and had brought it with her intending to use it during the school year.

"What do you think they're planning?" Lily asked them, drawing herself up impressively as she watched the group of boys superiorly.

"Who cares?" Emily snapped, mind still on her sister. "Charlotte, you're being stupid. It's just a curling iron."

"Yes, but it's my curling iron, Emily. It's the principal of the matter. What if it wasn't a curling iron? What if it was money?"

"It's not money. Why would I want your money? I always have more than you do, anyway."

"Maybe I should go over there," Lily said thoughtfully, still watching Potter and his pretty little friends with an eyebrow raised, careful to look foreboding and impressive should they glance over at her for one reason or another.

"Lily, if you keep looking over there, James is going to notice you and think you're staring, and then he'll come over, and you'll have a war of the wisecracks with him, and then he'll leave, and you'll start ranting about how you hate when he starts things up with you, when really, you started it yourself," Emily intoned through gritted teeth. "And I'm really starting to tire of him, so try to keep the gawking to a bare minimal, okay?"

"I'm not gawking. I'm supervising. I'm Head Girl, I'm supposed to utilize my authority," Lily reminded them imperiously, tapping her badge.

"Yeah, well, it's annoying," chimed in Charlotte. "Just leave them alone. They haven't done anything yet."

"If I let my guard down, they will."

"Lily, I can almost promise you that you are the least of their worries. They've got better things to do than to hack off the Head Girl."

Sulking slightly, Lily turned back to her coconut cream pie and jabbed at it unenthusiastically with her spoon.

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"I see her as a person," James insisted, surprised that Sirius would even think to make this remark. "I do, I see her as a person."

"So treat her like one."

James let out a hollow laugh. "I'm trying, but her acting like a bloody vampire doesn't exactly make me want to invite her over to tea."

"I'm siding with Peter and Remus now," Sirius announced, apparently ignoring his best friend's comment. "I say James should leave Lily dear alone. All in favor say aye!"

"Aye," said Peter, his voice muffled due to the piece of treacle tart he'd managed to steal away from James. He'd shoved it into his mouth very hurriedly, as James was not in the most happy of moods.

James turned to Remus, who was picking half-heartedly at some cake. Remus sighed and dropped his fork with a clatter onto his plate. "Aye, James," he said softly. "You need a break. She needs a break. Just give it a rest and work on being a nicer person."

James scowled. "I am a nice person."

"Lily's description of 'nice', then," Remus replied. "Study her. Watch her. Learn about her. At what time does she usually like to go to bed? What hacks her off? What makes her happy? What does she eat for breakfast? Does she eat breakfast at all?"

"What color are her knickers?" Sirius offered.

Remus made a face. "No. Stay away from observations like that."

James smiled. "Okay. Okay, so I just have to basically stalk her?"

"No, not stalk her. Just…pay more attention to what kind of person she is."

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This really is just like Quidditch, James thought as he lay in bed that night, unable to sleep. I mean, Remus is suggesting I watch Lily's habits like a hawk--that's like studying an opposing player's style.

And I'm making sacrifices…maybe this is more like chess…

I'm horrible at chess, he reminded himself, smiling slightly.

That would be more fitting, wouldn't it?

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