When I woke up this morning, I realized that "blizzard" was, quite possibly, a word that was made solely for me and my life. If not made for me, it was at least my official word for the week—or the last seventeen years and eleven months—I haven't decided yet. Anyway, I've been keeping a tally for the last four days so far, I've found over a dozen things about me and my life that can be accurately described by the word "blizzard".
First in my list was—what else could it be?—my hair. Not even the greatest mathematician will be able to give me a count of exactly how many times my mum, my grandmother, and all of my many aunts have declared my hair the perfect analogy of a blizzard…or a blizzard the perfect analogy of my hair. Either way, it's a blizzard and we will succinctly leave it at that. James's hair = blizzard.
Then there's the weather. I was born January 4, 1955, which, as my mum had always told me, was an icy day—terribly hazardous and chaotic, just like me. She often used this to explain why I turned out the way I am. I blame my father and Sirius, but if that's what my mum wants to believe, then I'll let her believe that. Blizzardy weather also reminds me especially of the time when Lily went with us to Hogsmeade. Actually, that was only yesterday, but it seemed so long ago. In fact, I think my life only started two days ago. When I started spending more time with Lily, I just completely forgot about everything else before that, so the last two days seemed to just stretch itself out to accommodate the other half that is my previous long-forgotten life. Anyway, James's weather = blizzard.
There's my area of the dormitory, which Remus told me just this morning was turning ever so quickly into a bloody blizzard of bedlam. Remus is a fan of alliteration. James's surroundings = blizzard.
Then there was me talking to Sirius late last night. He was saying something about me being fidgety and brooding. I gave him a concise rhetoric. "Sirius, you do realize that my previously non-existent acquaintanceship with Lily Evans had just shockingly materialized out of thin air two days ago, crippling me momentarily, putting me up high on a bloody pedestal, crippling me again—only much worse and more permanent than before, and sending me and my already unstable mind off on one blizzard of a traumatic ride, right?"
James's life in general (which consists of Lily Evans and a bunch of other stuff) = blizzard.
He had looked at me strangely, like I was going nuts, and asked very quietly if I it was just him or had I really used the word blizzard.
I shook my head and galumphed him with a pillow.
James's life in general (which consists of Lily Evans and a bunch of other stuff) = blizzard.
I think this whole blizzard business may be slowly driving me to the brink of insanity.
I just knew there was a reason why I'd always been so afraid of blizzards. Now my childhood fears are resurfacing at the age of seventeen and are haunting me much worse than ever before. I find it strange yet funny that for more than half of my life, I've been so frightened of something that roughly describes almost everything that has something to do with me.
I think I'm cursed.
On the other hand—the pleasing hand, that is—I'm actually very delighted with myself and with how I've been doing and handling things lately. I knew well enough that associating and trying to become friends with Lily Evans is much, much worse than walking on thin ice, and I've never forgotten that—not one single, bloody minute. And so, as result, I am playing this "let's be civil to each other" game quite nicely. I do know that my actions were mostly…accidental, unplanned, and, well, clumsy, but they're working. Now I don't exactly know if Lily's starting to get used to me being around or anything, but she hasn't lashed out at me in almost a week. I must be getting there.
…Maybe not precisely there—wherever that is—but somewhere.
Oh and about that giving up thing that Sirius had suggested…I thought about it overnight and found out that however hard I tried to stay away from Lily Evans, it's never going to work. And so I decided that I am just going to subtly and tactfully throw myself at her and act stupid whenever someone (maybe Inner Voice Jack) reminds me that I am James Potter, she is Lily Evans, and everything in between that was infinitely improbable. Screw that. Acting dumb is one of my specialties.
That's right, people. James Potter is dancing—not walking, but dancing—on thin ice, in a blizzard, in northern Scotland. But guess what…(more effective if said in an annoyingly smug sing-song voice) he's wearing a helmet.
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"Prongs, I've never understood how you, of all people, came to like her so much. I mean…" Sirius gestured widely at me, trying to get something across but not succeeding. He sighed and elaborated after seeing my bewildered expression. "Look at you…" he said. "You're a marauder. Look at her!" Sirius turned to look at Lily, who was talking to Remus about the wall of books that had pleasantly shocked her, with a horrified expression on his face. "I mean, I know she's very pretty, but she's just too…uptight. And she's too smart for you. You've always hated it when someone other than me or Remus and sometimes Peter outsmarts you."
I chuckled. "Padfoot, she's been outsmarting me for the past six years. I'm used to it now. Don't you worry about me."
"But you can't deny the fact that she is dreadfully uptight, prudish, and, well, stuffy. And she does tend to be evasive sometimes."
I frowned at him. "Oh, stop it, Sirius. You don't even know her."
"I don't," he admitted. "But neither do you."
I opened my mouth to protest, but nothing came out. My brain struggled for a comeback, but it couldn't find one. It was then that I realized that Sirius was, in fact, right. I don't know Lily Evans.
I turned to look at Sirius, my mouth still slightly open and my eyes growing wide. Sirius looked smugly back at me. "I don't mean to break your heart or anything, but you do know so little about her, which leads me to my theory of infatu—"
"No, no, I'm not infatuated! And I do know a few things about her," I told him. "I just…need to get to know her a little more." I took a short glance at Lily, who was now sitting contentedly on one of the squashy couches beside Peter in our 'Whatever Room', holding a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. "And look, Paddy," I said, turning back to Sirius, "it's the perfect opportunity."
Sirius rolled his eyes but grinned anyway. "She's still prude," he reminded me.
I glared at him. "She's not prude. She's just…not very…carefree. Not like us."
Sirius snorted. "Oh, don't compare her to us, James. We're volatile."
I laughed. "Which then leads us to the theory that she just may have the potential to be a good influence on me."
"I don't think so. You're incurable, Jamesie. Anyway…" He nodded toward Lily. "Why don't you go somewhere else? I doubt you'll get to know her with us around." He sported a devilish little smile on his face.
I rolled my eyes. "We're going out by the lake."
"Oh, so you have it all planned?"
"Maybe I do." I gave him one last smirk before I walked over to Lily, steeling and readying myself for another round of breathless talking, done by myself, who I am quite sure will be rendered helpless and will melt the moment she looks up at me with those wide, startlingly green eyes…
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"So why are we out here again?"
"You know, I'm not exactly sure. But I'm willing to bet that whatever the reason is, it's all Sirius' doing."
Lily laughed timidly, like she always does when she's around me. It's as if she's doing it on purpose to torture me through deprivation of her majestic laugh. "You two blame each other for everything."
"Oh, well that's…a vital part of…friendship. You blame each other a lot. That's…one of the…foundations of a lasting…amity." I flushed.
I could see her suppressing a grin. "Amity?"
"Er, yes. Or maybe I should've used camaraderie instead. It's…more manly." I might have flushed again; I wouldn't know. My face and hands were numb from the cold and were rendered temporarily unfeeling to any sort of heat.
She nodded briefly, not bothering to hide her grin anymore.
Well, at least I make her happy. It doesn't really matter if she's laughing with me or at me, just as long as she's laughing.
Oh, who am I kidding?
"You know, you've changed a lot." I turned to look at her so quickly I swear I'd broken my neck. I stopped walking and for a moment I stood still, just staring at her. She didn't stop walking, though. She made her way to the beech tree by the lake and leaned on it, breathing tiny wisps of smoke out of her slightly parted lips.
I blinked and followed. "You really think so?"
She looked up and didn't speak for a few seconds, then she blinked rapidly and a look of comprehension planted itself on her pale face. "Oh! That you've changed a lot? Yes! Yes, you've changed a lot. I mean…" She tugged off her winter hat, letting her hair fall down on her face. "Head Boy, Quidditch captain, all NEWTs classes… When I saw you in that compartment on September 1st, I automatically thought that you were going to give me a hard time and be a pain. I should apologize for that. You're doing really great."
I blinked again, sensing that a part of my brain was trying to ponder exactly what was going on here, and the other part trying to remember how to breathe.
So maybe I have changed. That's a good thing, right? She smiled at me, so I just assumed it was. I smiled back. "Remus mentioned that once, but he never said I was doing great. I think he was a bit reluctant to comment."
"I don't see any reason why he should be."
I looked down at her, knowing that disbelief was written all over my face. "Are…are you serious? Like, really?"
She shrugged. "I don't think I've ever joked around with you."
I nodded stupidly. "Right, right. You're right." I paused, figuring out what to say next. "So…you actually think that I'm…better?"
Lily gazed thoughtfully at me before speaking. "Yeah, Potter, I guess so."
I didn't know if that delighted me or troubled me. Of course, I should be happy that she thinks better of me, but I couldn't help but be slightly bothered that we still haven't gotten over the last name thing. I grinned though, knowing that I couldn't have kept myself from smiling even if I tried. She grinned back. We've been smiling an awful lot. I guess that's a good sign.
But I'm not about to throw myself at her just yet. That would be recklessly stupid—a move that only Sirius would be able to pull off.
I rubbed my palms together for warmth before deciding to sit down under the stark beech tree. Lily gasped. "What are you doing?"
"What?"
"You're sitting down on the snow!"
I shrugged as I looked cheerfully up at her. "I was tired of standing up."
"But you'll get soaked."
"Nothing a wand can't fix."
"Aren't you cold, though?"
"Of course I am," I said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then again, it probably was. Lily looked horrified. I chuckled. "Don't tell me you've never sat or lain down on snow before."
She bit her lip. "I've…stepped on snow."
This was the part where I laughed out loud, and she glared at me. I shut up, and in those few seconds of silence I thought that maybe Sirius had been right about his 'prude' description. I then toughened my resolve and, through the employ of utter Gryffindor bravery, snatched Lily's arm and pulled her down beside me, effectively burying half of her in snow.
She had shrieked loudly and stared at me with wide eyes. What followed then was a rapid succession of piercing declarations of James Potter's repulsiveness. That was when I realized that I probably shouldn't have done that, or that I might've moved too soon. That was also when it dawned on me that my careful (or not) work for the past two days was slowly going down the drain.
There was a brief silence after she'd finished, during which she took time to catch her breath.
I winced.
Then, she laughed.
A/N Well, that took almost a month, but at least it wasn't two, right? Ehehe… This chapter is kinda lame. But you guys have big hearts, I'm sure you'll forgive me. My reviews went over a hundred! O.O That's crazy!!! I love you all.
Just for fun, I decided to call the Room of Requirement the "Whatever Room" since I didn't think the Marauders would know about its real name unless they'd specifically asked the house elves.
Thank you, thank you, thank you…
auroraborealis, babbling, child-of-scorpio (hope you did well on your exams…and I hope you've lost that axe by now), Cowgirl Up, Dimpi (I don't think I have a favorite Marauder. They're all too adorable.), Doll Head, duva, echocamp74 (thank you for telling me about that..I've always been iffy when it comes to tenses), errych22, Faerie Lover (why, thank you! And if you don't mind, I'd rather keep that crime to myself ), jaderadcliffe, koonelli (if I knew how to do that, I would've smuggled Jack a long time ago..hihihi..), monkinO (ugh! I'm so sorry you had to do that. I hope you didn't have to do it again. If you did, throw something at me. I swear I won't complain.), nat, OLAO, Professor Drusilla W.L.Silvers, Realmer06, Shadowrayne, silverblue-eyes (unfortunately, there isn't any fanart or this…I'd make some myself, only I can't draw ), Tracey (apart from the title, Hitchhiker's doesn't really have any connection to this fic. I just used that title because I couldn't think of anything else and at the time I was writing the 1st chapter, the book was right beside me)