An Infinite Improbability
Luck, in my opinion, is a very unstable bastard. One moment it's offering you chocolate, flowers, and an express ticket to heaven; a minute later it develops fangs and claws, and is beating you over the head with a gigantic mallet. Sometimes, luck offers you the once in a lifetime chance to intermingle with Lily Evans; a minute later you're blushing in indignity and cursing the skies for the blizzard it just gave you.
Luck has this thing against me. I must have done something hateful.
I cleared my throat, causing Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily to turn and look at me. "Oh, um…nice spell we're having, eh?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, Remus smiled sympathetically, Peter giggled, and Lily stared, a smile tugging at her lips. "A near blizzard," she muttered, and then shrugged. "To each his own, I guess."
Remus grinned at us. "We should probably head back soon. Would it be okay though if I buy that present first?"
Lily looked questioningly at us. "What present?"
"For his mum," I said.
She smiled. "That's sweet."
I'm giving my mum a present to, you know. It's a thirty-galleon dress. Finely woven and high quality. I'm as sweet as Remus, if not more.
I inwardly rolled my eyes at my petty thoughts. Shut up, brain.
It was a relief to get inside the tiny gift shop, which, thankfully, was warm and relaxing.
Lily strode away from where Remus and the others were heading. And I, naturally, being a brave Gryffindor, followed the redhead. She looked up when I stood beside her and smiled vaguely.
I looked at what had caught her interest. "Quills?"
She smiled sheepishly. "I have a thing for quills. It's something different from what I'm used to."
"Oh," I said, struggling to remember the name of Muggle writing gears. "Tired of…um, pencils…?"
"Pencils and pens, yes. Have you ever seen any?"
"From afar."
"I think I have a pencil with me." She dug into her pocket and came out triumphant with a yellow stick in hand. She handed it to me and continued browsing.
I found parchment nearby and decided to experiment. I looked back at her, confused. "Evans?"
She turned to look. "Yeah?"
"Where's the ink?"
She bit her lip as she broke into a smile. Why does she always have to keep from laughing? Doesn't she know I love hearing her laugh?
"You don't need ink. Pencils have lead. The only thing you have to do is sharpen them every once in a while. And you can also wipe out mistakes with the other end."
Whoa. "Cool."
She smiled.
"I can't imagine why you would prefer quills over these babies."
She chuckled. "If we're talking about convenience, I'd go with a pencil. But quills are appealing. They're very pretty."
I paused and ran over the short comment in my head. The first sentence would definitely come from a Lily Evans, but the other bits? I mean, did she just talk to me about something pretty?
I do believe the last thing we talked about before today was the versatility of a chess player. Logical. Before that was about a list of students. Dutiful. Before that was about turning in Transfiguration essays on time. Scholarly. Even before that was about how I was very full of myself. Finicky.
But now…Pretty?
I just might be on to something here.
"Um, yeah," I said. Merlin, I sound so cool! Okay. Should I agree with her, or should I be opinionated? "Actually, I couldn't care less about how pretty they look. I like these pencils. Where can I buy them?"
She grinned. "I have a whole stack of unused pencils. You can remind me later so I can give you some."
"Oh," I said, startled. I didn't think she would actually offer to give me some. "There's really no need for that. You may need them for—"
She waved a hand to stop me. "I'm trying to be nice, Potter. Help me out here."
I laughed. "Trying, Evans? Can't you do it out of impulse?"
Potter…Evans. Are we seeing a pattern here?
Hopefully we don't go back to being strangers again before the day ends. I've already gone through so much. All that awkwardness when I'm talking to her; how much I suffered that night we played chess; all the nerves I had to summon when I asked her to come with us here today.
If she ends up hating me more again, I swear that I, James Potter, will cry.
Her smile faltered. Uh-oh. She gazed intently up at me. Those eyes... "Maybe I am doing it out of impulse," she said. "You never know." She walked off to another aisle.
I was shocked. If I'm not mistaken, what she just said was…kind. Sort of. I immediately wanted to rush after her…talk to her more.
I decided against it and looked around. Quills. They're pretty. Buying one won't hurt me. I am, after all, filthy stinkin' rich.
* - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - *
We got back to the school alive, which surprised me greatly. The blizzard had gotten fearfully sadistic by the time we got out of that gift shop. In truth, I was ready for any huge gust of wind. I was planning on acting all heroic and shield Lily from it. I hoped a huge gust of wind would come. It didn't. Luck.
Anyway, we're back, we're overfed, and we're warm.
The lads and I were sprawled out in front of the fire. Peter was playing idly with a bunch of marbles, Sirius and I were doing nothing, and Remus was trying to get his present to dry.
"Bloody thing won't dry up," he mumbled. "I've used of every desiccating charm I can think of."
Sirius opened one eye to look at him. "Tried the steam charm already?"
"Yes."
"How about the heating charm?" I asked.
Remus rolled his eyes. "That's basic James. I did that first."
"Why not just set it by the fire? Let it dry naturally."
We all stared at Peter. Remus smiled. "Genius." He did as he was told then sat on the couch with us, mumbling praises for Peter, who beamed.
Lily decided to come down at that point in time, carrying a blanket and a thick, hardbound book. She smiled faintly at us and sat a few couches away, curling up and opening the book.
I watched her. Sirius did too, glancing casually at me during intervals. He cleared his throat and said, "Why sit so far from us, stranger?"
Lily looked up and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry. I thought it might be a little rude."
Remus frowned. "Rude? How?"
"Well, I didn't want to squeeze myself in and disturb your placid little gathering."
Sirius snorted. "No marauder gathering is a placid one, Lilykins. And you're not sure; we just might be plotting on how to destroy the common room..." He widened his eyes dramatically. "…telekinetically."
I chuckled at Sirius and smiled at Lily's lightheartedly raised eyebrow. "Don't fret. We're not."
"And besides," Peter piped in, startling all of us. "You could've jumped all over the place, pushed us, or kicked our shins, and we couldn't have cared less."
"Well said," applauded Sirius. He stood up and stretched before yawning widely. "Anyway, I'm off, lads." Lily cleared her throat. "And lass." He winked, and Lily rolled her eyes.
Remus stood. "Wizard's chess, Pete?"
"Yeah, sure."
They gathered the players and board and sat on a table by the corner. They seem to isolate me a lot with Lily nowadays. I should thank them.
What's this? Am I back to my confident self?
I turned to Lily, who was intently her book. I smiled. She was curled up under the blanket she had brought down, her toes exposed. Her toenails were remarkably clean that it bewildered me. I started to think of what other things she does to doll up. I noticed earlier today that her eyebrows were very carefully carved into a thin seductive line, which made me want to inspect every other part of her face. And body.
I never got to the body. I'm too courteous to even consider sinking that low.
But I have to admit I was very, very tempted. Not that I could have done that with all that fur in the coat she was wearing though.
Maybe someday…
"Potter?"
"Yeah?"
Her hand came up from under the blanket with a stack of pencils. I walked over to her, took the pencils, and sat beside her. "Thanks."
She nodded.
"I, um…back in the gift shop, I…well…" I took out the quill I bought. I was proud of my pick. It was very slender and lofty, and it was as green as a pair of eyes I always dream of. "I thought I'd give it to you, since…you know…the pencils. Er…sorry it's wet." I guess I'm not back to being confident yet as I can't even utter a complete sentence without stuttering!
She smiled, and I was pretty sure I blushed. "You shouldn't have. But thanks."
I was just about to ask her what book she was reading, but then I stopped. I really didn't care about the book. I was pretty sure I haven't read it. And I was also quite sure that I have never heard of it. I was never one for the books.
I bit my tongue. But then it started to hurt, so I stopped. If I asked her, there really isn't much she could do. She could simply answer, laugh at me, or mock me. But she could also walk away and be distant again. So I guess there was greater risk than I thought.
But then I'm naturally inquisitive. And I had to know. "Evans," I said, gently aware that I must look really dumb. "What, if you don't mind me asking, would you consider the connection between the two of us right now?"
She stared at me for a long time. Somewhere during that period in time, I wanted to run, hide, scream, kiss her, and steal her blanket to prop over my own head and shield me from her gaze. They were all quite mixed up. It got me confused and I ended up not knowing which came after which, and which actually happened. And...yeah. But I was pretty sure that by the time she spoke, I looked more bewildered than usual, which was saying something.
"I don't know. What do you think?"
Good answer, Lily.
"I was sort of asking you that."
She grinned. "Um…acquaintances? Acquaintances on last-name terms."
"You think so?"
"Yes."
I nodded in agreement, watching her. She looked straight at me and probably decided it would be fun to torture James Potter. She stared, so did I. Gratefully, she averted her eyes before I did. I still haven't gotten over our chess match and I wouldn't have been able to bear it if I lost a challenge as simple as not blinking. I grinned smugly.
She rolled her eyes. "Stupid piercing hazel eyes."
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that my eyes are striking and intense? Passionate, even?"
"Potter, I did not and would never say anything like that."
I nodded and tried to smile. "I knew that. I just wanted it clarified." So I don't get my hopes up too high.
She bit her lower lip and went back to her book, her delicate hands subconsciously playing with the quill I gave her.
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A/N I am terribly, terribly sorry I didn't get to update sooner. I know this isn't the best of chapters, but...oh well. Apologies.
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MC Thank you. I'm trying to finish Darren's chapter. I'll have it up sometime this week, if not later today (I hope). Hope you like this chapter. And have a Sunday-to-go-meeting day!
duva Additional expressions of gratitude to you since Zetta found this fic through your list. And goodness, update your fic soon. =)
child-of-scorpio Hehe. I don't particularly know which bit with Remus you're talking about, but thank you! Sorry for the lateness.
iriscristata I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner. Anyway, thank you!
LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e Ah! Thank God you think it's realistic! That makes me so happy. Thank you.
Cowgirl Up Poor Jamesie. All these writer's ganging up on him. I've read your fic, and I like it so far. And thank you!
aurora_borealis Sorry, no kisses until I think I've aggravated you enough. ^.^ Thank you!
Kait Thank you. I'm glad you thought it was funny. Update your fic soon!
Zetta *grin* A review without any criticisms from Zetta. I was at school when I saw that review, and I swear the person beside me looked at me weirdly when I squeaked. Thank you. And the happy little comments are perfectly fine.