Author's*Note—Hey, guys! If anyone can help me come up w/ a new and improved summary for this story, I'd be extremely grateful…mine's rather short :-( I'm having a creative block when it comes to changing it…so…a little help, please?
Chapter 3: One Step Closer and Two Steps Back
"Lily…er…you umm..you're spilling oatmeal all down the front of you!" Leila observed, her voice slightly shrilly.
Lily averted her eyes from they're previous target to look down at the front of her robes, which were covered in her breakfast. She dropped her spoon with a slight huff.
"Are you all right? You've been acting funny ever since you woke up.." Lola pointed out, then quickly muttered a spell that caused about 20 more napkins to jump out of the single one that rested beside Lily's plate.
Lily reached for a few napkins and then began dabbing at her robes. She waited until she had managed to wipe up at least ¾ of the oatmeal before looking up briefly to answer Lola. "I have not…"
"Lil, you were in such a rush to get here earlier that you were trying to stuff your feet into mittens!" Cecilia protested.
"They look an awful lot like my socks." Lily reasoned simply.
"What's your excuse for this mess, then?" Lola questioned, raising her eyebrows in a daring fashion.
"Er…well, I've always thought that these bowls appear much too far away from the edge of the table-."
"Lily." Leila drew out her name, shooting her a look of complete disbelief.
Lily crossed her arms, then, after realizing that she had placed them right on the spilled oatmeal, groaned.
"Oh, fine..it's just that I'm a little on edge today. The minute he breaks his end of the bargain, believe you me, his arse is going to be in detention faster than-."
"We should've known." Cecilia sighed.
"Oh, Lil, give it a rest! You're not even giving him the benefit of the doubt." Leila pointed out sternly.
"He doesn't deserve it."
"Well, it would be nice if you took it into consideration that if he's not at practice tonight-."
"Lola, this is beyond Quidditch!"
Lola looked extremely offended. "You know-."
"Potter needs to know that he can no longer get away with terrorizing our school. He's going to pay for every indecent ("I wouldn't call anything he does indecent—its not as if he goes about streaking-." Leila commented), immature, selfish, brainless, senseless thing he does around here!" Lily stormed, her eyes blazing.
"Lily, I don't deny that James can be a little..er..mischievous...but, if he agreed to your conditions…and well, you know how he loves Quidditch..maybe he'll---Oh, Lily would you at least look at me when I'm speaking to you!" Leila looked very miffed by the realization that Lily was staring very intently over her shoulder.
"It's just…he's…he's doing something under the table." Lily quickly bent down, her head disappearing under the table for a few moments. When her face came back into view, she looked extremely frustrated.
"Is he being indecent?" Cecilia inquired, making it quite clear that she wasn't interested in the answer by cutting her omelet into various shapes.
"I couldn't get a good look at him from over here…a few pairs of legs were blocking me. Lei, could you try?" Lily pleaded.
Sighing, Leila nodded her head apprehensively and bent down to get a good look at James. Very unlike Lily's expression when her head popped up from under the table, Leila emerged with an amused smile on her face.
"What was he doing?" Lily asked eagerly.
Leila grinned even wider. "He apparently dropped his fork...very sketchy, indeed."
*
"Why is Evans staring at me like she expects me to set off fireworks at any moment?" James questioned his friends from down at the other side of the table, a sour expression on his face.
"I don't know..maybe because she does." Remus answered, not bothering to look up from his eggs.
James groaned. "I don't understand. What am I supposed to do?"
"Nothing. That's the whole point." Remus continued to eat his breakfast, a mild expression on his face.
James glanced over at Lily, eyeing her curiously. "No, I mean concerning her. She hates me."
"I wouldn't call it hate…more like extreme loathing." Peter corrected, trying to sound hopeful.
"If you were her, would you hate..er…extremely loathe me?"
"Hmm…consider myself a gorgeous redhead with great legs and a Prefect badge…definitely one that's never crossed my mind before." Sirius mused.
James's lips twitched into a small smile, but his expression grew more serious when he noticed that Remus was now staring rather intently at his spoon.
"Moony?"
He looked up, pretending to be a little startled.
"Hmm?"
"Remus," James's tone grew more serious, "if you were Evans, would you hate me?"
He sighed in response. "Nah, mate, I could never hate you. I do see how she could…er..dislike you, though."
James leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "Well, how then? I'm forever complimenting her and-."
James stopped himself when he heard Remus's knife scratch against his plate with an irritating screech.
"What? I compliment her!"
Remus studied James for a moment, trying to think of a good way to get his point across. "Yes, you do compliment her, but-."
"But she has a tendency to morph into a complete hag whenever I feel like talking to her!" James finished for him.
Remus's head tilted slightly. "Not quite."
"Didn't think that sounded right." Sirius added.
"Now, Prongs, you do compliment her, but, " Remus continued, "it's not in the way she wants to be complimented. She wants to be respected-."
"You Prefects and wanting to be respected, honestly, could your lot get any more demanding?" Sirius scoffed.
"Finished, Padfoot?"
"Oh, of course. Just needed to add that real quick."
"As I way saying, she wants your respect. She wants to be treated like…well, kind of like the way you treat us."
"Like a….like a…………friend?" James asked, an incredulous expression on his face.
"Moony, you're brilliant! Girls love that 'friends first', approach. They go incredibly soft whenever you tell them something like 'I think that friendship is the best foundation for a meaningful relationship'." Sirius enthused.
"You see? That is," Remus pointed at Sirius as he spoke, "another thing you want to avoid."
"Me?" Sirius asked, looking slightly put out.
"No, that attitude. You can't be interesting in getting Lily. You have to be interested in getting to know Lily and getting to be Lily's friend."
"One problem, Moony. I don't think she'll exactly give me a great big hug and strap a friendship bracelet on my wrist when I mention this to her."
Remus sighed, looking weary. "James, I won't deny that its going to be a slow process. You need to first convince her that you're worth her time. Make her see that you're not a complete git..that you can be a perfect gentleman. Let out the inner-James."
"The inner-James is afraid to get to know the outer-Lily." James replied, his voice showing the tiniest sign of meekness.
"Well, he shouldn't be. She'd like him." Remus answered, nodding his head in affirmation of his statement.
"Well..er………where can I start?"
"Most obviously, you can start by keeping yourself out of trouble today. Show her that you can keep your word."
"Moony, it's not like I go looking for trouble-." Remus silenced him with a doubtful look.
"OK, it's not like I go looking for trouble most of the time."
Remus's expression did not vanish.
"OK, half the time!"
The doubtful look remained in place.
"Some of the time?"
Remus shook his head.
"OK, I'm a troublesome git! Is that better?"
Remus nodded his head, a satisfied smiling spreading across his face. It may take some time, quite some time, in fact, but he had a feeling that he could bring out the better side of his friend.
*
It was nearing the end of the school day and James Potter could be found strolling down the corridors whistling happily, delighted that he had managed to get through so much of the day without making trouble. His mind full of anticipation toward practice that night, he barely noticed that he was walking straight toward a girl who staring quite avidly at him.
"Hi, James." She greeted in a breathy tone, beaming at him.
James passed right by her, not comprehending at first who he had just been greeted by. He did have the grace to say "Hey!" cheerily over his shoulder, though.
"Oh..um…where are you headed off to?"
This time he recognized the voice before he'd even turned around.
"Oh, hey, Chrys." He smiled pleasantly. He didn't know Chrysanthea Pearlstone quite that well, but she was, indeed, very pretty, and that was more than enough incentive for him to stop and chat with her.
She grinned even wider at his acknowledgment of her. "Where are you headed?"
"Double Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. What about you?"
"Divination."
"Ah, and you couldn't foresee that I was headed to Transfiguration?"
"What can I say? I'm something of an amateur." She grinned at him.
"Yet you still made it into the N.E.W.T. class?" He inquired playfully, yet he really was interested in her answer.
"Well, there aren't many full out Seers at Hogwarts right now, are there? I have a feeling that Professor Destina accepted anyone who got above a T on their O.W.L.'s. I got an A. I'm rather good at palm reading, you know?"
"Oh, really?" James held out his hand.
She looked delighted, although his response had been predicted. She gently took a hold of his outstretched hand and pulled him toward her.
"You need to be closer for me to get a good look." She explained.
"Not a problem." He stepped even closer, so that they were now a little more than a foot apart.
She began to study his hand, softly tracing the lines of his palm with her pointer finger. After just moments of studying, she looked up.
"Well, according to this very reliable source (she held up his hand), you're very handsome and clever and….oh……single."
He smirked. "I'd like to think you're pretty dead-on with that."
She let go of his hand and stepped closer. "James, do you have a date for the first Hogsmeade visit next weekend?"
"Uh…noo..can't say that I do. Not yet, anyway."
She turned on her heel and began to stride away. She didn't get too far, though, before she whipped her head around.
"It's a date, then?"
"How do you know I'm interested? You didn't even look at my palm again."
"Oh, I didn't need to. I saw it in your eyes."
With that, she pivoted gracefully and strode out of sight.
*
"Mr. Potter, I'd be delighted if you could show up to my class on time one of these days. I'd give you a detention, but Mr. Black has already pleaded with me to not shoe him out of first place..whatever that means..and he seemed rather desperate..in fact, he got a little snippy with me, so I gave him the detention." Professor McGonagall commented as, minutes later, James tried to sneak over to his desk in her classroom.
Sirius turned around and winked at him, then mouthed, "400".
James shook his head at his friend before facing his teacher. "Sorry, Professor."
Then, noticing that Lily had just rolled her eyes and thinking back to his conversation with Remus that morning, added in a sincere tone, "It won't happen again."
His comment had its desired effect upon her. She immediately turned around, eyeing him curiously. He didn't smirk, nor grin back at her. He merely smiled, as if he was looking at Remus or Sirius. As if he was looking at a friend. She gave him an oddly perturbed look before turning back toward the front of the classroom.
"Class, today we will be continuing our attempts at transfiguring our desks into small animals. I don't particularly care which type of animal you wish to try to create, but I must remind you to please keep it small and relatively friendly. Oh, and Mr. Black, do try and not confuse your desk with Mr. Pettigrew again."
Sirius smirked. "Right, Professor."
James could hear Peter pipe up, "Seriously, Padfoot. It took Madam Pomfrey hours yesterday to shrink my ears back to normal and stop them from flopping over. My nose is still looking rather pink, too."
As the class began to break off into groups to practice their spells, James waved Sirius, Remus, and Peter over.
"Guess who I have a date with this Saturday."
Sirius's eyes widened and he gestured in Lily's direction.
James shook his head. "Not a chance in hell, man. Although, I do think I'm starting to get the gist of this friend thing."
"Who's the lucky stand-in then?"
"Chrysanthea Pearlstone."
Peter's eyes lit up. "I reckon she could be the opening act instead of the understudy."
"Right he is, Prongs." Sirius enthused.
Remus shook his head in exasperation, though.
"James, what happened to the plan?"
"The plan isn't to get Lily, though, remember?"
"If you ever want a relationship with Lily Evans, you cannot go around dating girls like that."
"Girls like what?"
"Girls she has no respect for. You're still not fully understanding the plan."
"Oh, I fully understand the plan! The plan is to draw Lily to me by getting me to be the way she likes me best—miserable."
"Prongs, I-. OK, listen, you can go on this date, but don't be…showy or anything…and do it just this once. You can't cancel it now, anyway, because then you'd look like a prat."
James still looked sullen, but he nevertheless complied. "All right."
"Now," Remus glanced over at Lily, "you mastered how to do this bit of transfiguration yesterday and she's still having some trouble. Why don't you go and offer her your help? Don't show off in front of her, either. Help her like you'd help one of us."
James sighed. "OK..I can do that."
"We'll practice over here and pretend to not be watching, then, all right?"
"Got it, Sirius." James nodded and turned to make his way over to Lily.
Behind him, he could hear Peter say, "Sirius, that is MY ARM, not the leg of the desk!"
Ahead of him, he saw Lily slumped down at her desk, looking very disheartened as she watched Cecilia Konstanze transfigure hers into a small puppy. Several girls around her cooed and surrounded her, eager to pet it.
James took this as an opportunity to go and talk to Lily. He took a seat at the desk next to hers and slumped down in it, mimicking her own style of sitting. He turned his head toward her, but as soon as their eyes met, she looked away.
"Potter, what are you doing?"
"You looked upset…I…er…wanted to know what was wrong."
"I'm sure, you know, with all your brilliance, you managed to master this yesterday."
"Err..no, I'm still having trouble." He lied.
She turned back toward him. "Why don't you go back to your own desk and practice then?'
James bit his lip, restraining himself from sending her an angry retort. The girl could be so difficult.
"I haven't mastered it, but I'm not half-bad at it, so….erm…I might be able to help you. Could I just see you try it? I'm sure you're not as bad as you think.."
Hesitantly, Lily stood up. She held up her wand, then paused and looked back at him. "You're just going to make fun of me."
"No, really." James thought hard for a moment, trying to figure out what kind of words of encouragement he'd muster up for the boys if they were in a similar situation.
"Everyone does things at their own pace. It takes me forever to learn some things in Charms and you're brilliant in that class. Maybe you're making a small mistake that I could hint at. I don't even have to come out and tell you it, if you'd rather figure it out on your own. Maybe it would help if I told you the things you're doing right…might raise your confidence a little."
Lily studied him for a few moments. Then, without another word to him, she turned around and, muttering the spell with a flick of her wand, she promptly transfigured her desk into a small rabbit.
James grinned. "See? That was brilliant! Maybe you just needed someone to encourage you."
"Or maybe I just wanted to hurry up and just get it so you'd leave me alone."
Afraid that he might not be able to restrain himself from retorting this time, James got up and turned to go back to his friends. Before he could reach them, however, he heard a voice call out his name. Not his last name, either. His first name.
"James?"
"Yeah?" He asked eagerly.
"I think..you…er..might've helped….a little bit."
He smiled. "You're welcome."
"I didn't say thank you." She pointed out quickly.
Taken aback, James fumbled his words. "Err..umm…well, nevertheless, you're welcome."
"Okay." She shook her head slightly in amusement as she turned.
James couldn't help but grin. Sure, he wasn't exactly the smoothest bloke around her, but at least he wasn't a complete git anymore.
*
"Buddy, you are this close to being home free!" Sirius held up his pointer finger and thumb so that they were mere millimeters apart from each other as he said this.
James grinned. "Must say—I'm proud."
"Well, you should be." Sirius clapped him on the back.
The two best friends had separated from Remus and Peter after Transfiguration to sneak into the kitchens for a snack and were now on their way back up to Gryffindor Tower. James had been plagued for a few minutes by the thought that this action might be considered "illegal" to Lily, but Sirius assured him that, given that they were not offending or harming anyone, their course of action was in full compliance with the deal.
"POOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTYYYYYY……POTTTTTTTYYYY AND HIS BUDDY BLACKKKKKKKKK." Peeves the Poltergeist zoomed past them, cackling with glee.
The two boys exchanged a look and laughed. They had always found it immensely amusing that Peeves had never managed to find a good, slanderous nickname for Sirius.
"I DON'T THINK YOU BOYS SHOULD BE ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAMIIIIIIINNNGGGG THE HALLS!"
"Why not?" Sirius questioned.
"WELL, YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO GET IN TROUBLE, NOW WOULD YOU??" Peeves asked, floating directly above them.
"Oh, no, Peeves. No trouble for me tod--." James's voice was cut off by the sound of the cracking of several small lights, which had been hanging on the wall behind him and Sirius. The boys looked up immediately.
Peeves had several small darts in his hands (where he'd gotten them, they had no idea) and was aiming them at anything in throwing distance.
"Peeves, normally I'd find this amusing, but today--."
"AWWWW…LITTLE POTTY IS AFRAID HE'S GONNA GET IN TWOUBLE, IS HE?" Peeves mocked in a babyish voice.
"Peeves, just give them to me, OK?" James held out his hands.
For a reason unbeknownst to James, Peeves actually swooped down and emptied the small darts into his hand, then flew back up to the ceiling. James heard footsteps behind him, but figured that whoever it was would surely dash by after seeing the combination of him, Sirius, and Peeves. Instead of growing faster, however, the footsteps slowed down, then came to a sudden halt.
"What is going on here?"
Peeves zoomed away, cackling merrily.
James groaned, throwing a questioning look at Sirius. Sirius nodded his head gravely as he stared at the figure behind James. James closed his eyes briefly, trying to quickly come up with an explanation as to why he was surrounded by shattered light bulbs and was carrying several small darts in his hands. Possibly he could dub it as coincidence?
The footsteps started up again and he knew that the person was drawing closer. The first thing James noticed when he opened his eyes was a strand of flowing red hair. As he looked up, his eyes settled their gaze upon bright green orbs, which were actually looking a little darker at the moment, possibly because they were narrowed in anger. His worst fears had been confirmed.
"Ev—I mean, Lily, I-."
"Be in Professor McGonagall's office at 6:45 sharp. She'll be expecting you." Lily didn't bother with another word. She turned on her heel and strode down the hall, entirely convinced that no matter what kind of acts he staged in front of her, James Potter would never change.
Disclaimer: same as usual guys!