CHAPTER THREE – The Plot is Established
Lily and James returned through the portrait hole two hours later. While their rounds had flown by for James, Lily had been rather bored, and irritated besides. James would have to look at her in that certain way of his, and her body would have to react with something akin to butterflies in the stomach. She was sure that it was not nervous anticipation, but rather annoyance at the frequency with which these moments occurred, as the butterflies seemed to increase the more he looked, the closer he walked, any time their hands brushed... In all, Lily was relieved to return to the nearly empty common room, and almost happy to see Potter's irrepressible best friend waiting impatiently for them.
"Finally!" Sirius vaulted from a lounging position on a sofa right over the back of it, landing about four inches in front of Lily. She stood her ground, attempting to appear unimpressed, as he gave her a cheeky grin.
"I suppose you're ready to resume reading that rubbish?"
"Actually, Evans, I am. Are you always so alliterative?"
Lily, searching for an insult in the remark and not really finding one, grinned back at Sirius. He winked at James as Lily took Sirius' arm and led him over to a nearby cluster of armchairs, while James followed, glowering at his mate.
"Got the book James? Now where were we? Ah, yes."
Part Two: The Plot is Established
Although basically an unimportant aspect of a Lily/James romance story, it is generally more enjoyable for readers if the author includes a plot. After introducing all of the characters and highlighting James' unrequited love for Lily, the means for James to capture her heart must be established - herein known as the "hook".
The hook varies from story to story, and it is often the one aspect in which Lily/James fan fiction tales differ. The important thing to remember in creating a good hook, however, is to spin it out, as Lily should not be easily won. The hook can be as simple as James helping a fellow student in need, changing his entire personality for Lily, or saving her life after a run-in with Voldemort, or it can be a complicated series of romantic scenes, all of which inevitably backfire on James, but cause Lily to recognize his humanity, thoughtfulness, and big heart, thereby falling for him when he thinks all hope is lost.
"Gee Prongs, don't you always think all hope is lost?"
"Nope. I'm about to move into my 'confident-in-my-masculinity-and-unconcerned-with-winning-over-Lily' stage, which this book assures me will cause such a tumult of emotions in Lily's already softening heart that I'm bound to win her over anytime now."
Sirius was about to yell at James for reading ahead, but instead both boys turned to assist their companion, as Lily was overcome with such a fit of giggles that Sirius and James had to pelt her with seventeen pillows from the window seat next to them before she would stop.
"OK...OW! Stop it! Stop it, boys. OK. I'm sorry James, but you looked so sure of yourself!"
"Let's just keep reading, huh?" Sirius grabbed the book from the floor where Lily had dropped it, ducking quickly to avoid a pillow fired back at James as Lily attempted to emerge from the barrage of pillows they had thrown at her. "I saw something earlier about a spanner in the works, Lils, so perhaps all hope is not lost for you."
"QUIT calling me that, Sirius!"
Of course, the easiest ways to spin out the hook include the secondary stories, in which the characters have other things to do rather than wrestle with their tangled love lives. Some of these may include:
1. Aforementioned superfluous love interest(s) in the forms of: James' harem ("Oh, get over yourself, Potter!"); James' openly evil, jealous girlfriend; Lily's secretly evil, jealous boyfriend; a random popular guy whom Lily is crushing on; etc.; getting in the way of Lily and James' potential relationship.
2. Evil characters (usually Slytherins such as Bellatrix Lestrange & Co.) plotting revenge for some small slight that Lily unintentionally (or the Marauders intentionally) has performed against them.
3. Extra task forced upon one or both main characters by Dumbledore, who is ALWAYS portrayed as a barmy, matchmaking old codger whose eyes twinkle ad nauseum. While this can give Lily and James the opportunity to spend time together, in order to spin out the hook, it is important that they spend most of their extra time together fighting inanely.
"Isn't that what you two do anyway?"
"Basically. We wouldn't have to, if James weren't always looking at me like some moonstruck bedlamite."
"I can't help it Lily! I try to be cool around you, but you're just so...MMPHF!" Seeing the moonstruck bedlamite look beginning again, Lily tossed a pillow right in his face, but not as hard as she normally would have, because James wasn't acting like a complete berk just then. Sirius cheered her efforts anyway, however, and then turned back to the guide as if nothing had happened. James snuck a peek at Lily from behind the pillow he still held at his face, and she grinned at him.
Any of the above 'spanners in the works' will help your characters over the inevitable lull that occurs between the first week of school and Halloween. Halloween is a very important part of the typical Lily/James romance, because most writers introduce the Halloween Ball. The ball is very useful to the plot and/or the hook, because it is inevitably planned by James and Lily, as Head Boy and Head Girl, which gives ample opportunity for arguments, sexual tension (moments where James brushes Lily's hair from her face, leaving a trail of tingles where his fingertips touched her cheek, eye-locking, Lily-tripping-and-falling-into-James'-arms-and-lingering-because-she-feels-so-safe, etc.), or James entering a 'confident-in-his-masculinity-and-unconcerned-with-winning-over-Lily' stage, which causes him to back off and treat her as a casual friend, thus piquing Lily's interest.
There are several ways to handle the ball itself, when deciding on the all-important question, "Who will go to the ball with whom?" With secondary characters, this question is usually quite simple, but for Lily and James, there are several ways to handle the situation:
1. Make it mandatory that James and Lily, as Head Boy and Head Girl, attend the ball together. This can cause great opportunities for conflict, as Lily's boyfriend and/or James' harem or superficial evil girlfriend will all/both be extremely annoyed by the situation.
2. Lily and James each attend with respective significant others. They should probably end up dancing together at least once, unless more balls are planned (not recommended) and longing looks across the room as their respective escorts act ridiculous is the order of the day. Lily and James sharing a dance can lead to massive jealousy with their significant others, and give opportunity for sexual tension, and possibly even a kiss, between Lily and James. Kisses will be discussed in greater detail in the next chapter.
"Why don't we have a Halloween Ball?"
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?!" Lily started to get up in a raging huff, but James and Sirius shoved her back into her armchair simultaneously.
"Not until we're through with this chapter, Evans. Be patient. You know it's worse for Prongs anyway - he'll be dreaming all night of sweeping you across the floor of the Great Hall and smooching you tenderly in front of everyone at some lame school dance!"
James started to look annoyed, but realized the truth behind Sirius' taunt and acquiesced with a shrug and a sheepish smile. Lily snorted and crossed her arms, but didn't try to leave again. She fought desperately against the smile threatening to emerge on her own face, and only just succeeded.
3. In more fast-moving fan fiction stories, Lily will have already discovered her boyfriends' secret flaw, usually in an explosive, overly dramatic common room (or Hogsmeade) scene that leaves her heartbroken. She typically then asks James to the ball, to make the boyfriend jealous, and is secretly wowed in the difference between their behavior and treatment of her. At the dance, James is often called upon to defend Lily's honor from either the Evil characters or from the boyfriend, whom, typically drunken and attending with a random promiscuous student, insults or embarrasses her in front of everyone.
Of course, time can be bought for the characters by moving the Halloween Ball to a Yule Ball, Valentine's Ball, etc. Some particularly overzealous authors plan several balls in the same story. THIS IS OVERKILL. For the sake of your readers and your characters, do not force Lily and James to endure more than one ball! Remember, these are not flighty American high school kids, but young wizards at the cusp of a great and terrible war, facing an adulthood fraught with danger and impending doom. Please give the characters the respect they deserve, and allow them to enjoy their final school year with dignity and aplomb. Fun is definitely allowed, but remember, for most of the population, dances ARE NOT FUN.
In the next chapter, "The Girl is Won", we will discuss the establishment of secondary relationships, Lily losing an argument, a big showdown with evil characters, and the all-important first kiss.
Sirius shuddered. "Uggh! I agree with this Daisy bird. James notwithstanding, why would anyone want to go to even one ball, let alone three or four?"
"Well, it would make a delightful pranking opportunity."
At this, James and Sirius both looked up, startled, at Lily, who was looking rather smug.
"Evans, you would want to pull pranks at a major school function?"
"What better time?" With a flip of her hair, the redhead left her armchair, and grinned at Sirius as she passed James, steadying herself with a hand on his shoulder. He, of course, trembled at her light touch. "Goodnight, boys. I'm meeting Thomas in Hogsmeade tomorrow at 2:00 PM, but if you'd like, I'll meet you two before that and read some more of this rag."
"Sounds good Lils." Sirius looked at James as he replied, who was nodding fervently, unable to speak. He could still feel her fingers on his shoulder.
Lily rolled her eyes at the nickname, but headed up to bed without yelling at Sirius. He looked at James again. "You know, Prongs, I think your girl's loosening up around us. She was almost fun tonight."
"She's always fun, even when she's mad at me. You want to go visit Tibby in the kitchens?"
"Go on then, I'm starved. And no one makes chocolate squash turnovers like Tibby!"
A few minutes later, the boys were on their way to the kitchens, shuffling quietly under the invisibility cloak. As they passed by the corridor that led to the Ravenclaw dormitories, they noticed a couple snogging desperately behind a statue. Sirius nudged James as he recognized the girl, James' most recent ex-girlfriend, Sabrina DeVore. James chuckled softly, then grunted as he stubbed his toe on a raised stone tile. Sabrina didn't seem to hear, but her companion looked up for a second before focusing again on the blonde in his arms.
It was Thomas.