Untouchable

Stardrops

Summary: Lily Evans was beautiful, intelligent and mysterious. People saw her as untouchable. James Potter was a handsome, outgoing and popular. The two despised each other –determined to keep their relationship strictly that of enemies. But as time goes on, they begin to grow up and develop feelings that go much deeper than hatred. Their mutual fear of love becomes a myth when they discover that love really does overcome everything.

Disclaimer: The characters, settings and basic plots of the Harry Potter novels belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing.

Chapter Four: Lucius gets rejected – and punched.

James sat alone at a table in the library. It was the end of the first week of term, and his head was almost aching with the amount of thoughts it had been processing. All day long, mixed in with the thoughts about school and what he was supposed to be thinking about was the inescapable, continuous flow of Lily Evans through his mind. It was going to have an effect on his sanity at some point, he was sure.

By some twist of sadistic fortune, he'd ended up with Lily in every class of his. They were allowed to use their shared common room starting that night. And on top of that – everywhere he went; his eyes seemed to catch a glimpse of red hair that immediately drew his attention away from whatever else he was doing at the time. It was really beginning to frustrate him. How was he ever going to concentrate on anything else?

He was surprised that he did not see Lily in the library at that time, but it did not trouble him too much. The less he saw of Lily Evans, the less likely he was to grow too fond of her.

Sighing, he got up and left the library. Some fresh air would do him well, particularly while the warm weather lasted. He always loved the heat of the autumn, neither too cold nor too warm. There was something serenely beautiful about the golden leaves and browned carpets that littered the grounds of Hogwarts.

He strode casually down towards the lake, where the setting sun reflected brilliantly off the waters. Breathing in the air, he felt like he was breathing in the entire scene. Smiling to himself, he closed his eyes and lost himself in the moment. Lily Evans was banished from his mind, both conscious and unconscious for the present time.

He was just enjoying the peace and quiet he had to himself when suddenly it was disturbed by a spiteful, nasty voice floating across the air almost directly into his ears. "… Think she is? … I do not … pathetic little Mudblood."

James's eyes remained closed, but he sighed with irritation building up inside him. Trust Slytherins like Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape to disturb his tranquillity. He had almost managed to control himself and simply ignore them when he heard something that made his blood run cold.

"I dunno why you asked her. She's not that pretty. And besides – you don't even like her."

"Does anybody?" Two low, callous chuckles greeted this question.

"Well, rumour has it that she's the only girl in the school who has never been around."

"What? Evans?"

James's eyes shot open. What? They were talking about someone Evans. There wasn't anyone else at Hogwarts called someone Evans. It was only Lily. They had to be talking about her. How dare they? They'd called her a Mudblood. And they had said she wasn't pretty. She was pretty. She was the prettiest, most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on.

"So, is that why you asked her?" James could detect the smug sound of Severus Snape's voice in this question.

"Why does anyone ask anyone to the Ball? To get laid, of course. What did you think, someone might actually like her?"

James's eyes narrowed and his heartbeat quickened. They were not saying this. This was not happening. He wasn't going to be able to keep quiet much longer.

The sound of Snape's sneering voice and slimy laughter floated through his ears, trapped in his mind. "She wouldn't have been any good, anyway."

Lucius's barking laugh was sounded in return. "Well, it's a good thing to have on your record, the first guy to bed the Head Girl. She's just a boring, frigid Mudblood, anyway." His voice dripped with contempt that hastily hid his resentment at obviously being rejected.

James's blood boiled. They were talking about Lily. His Lily. Lucius had asked Lily to the Christmas Ball. How dare he? He couldn't help feeling slightly triumphant that Lucius had been turned down, but that soon disappeared at the fact that they were walking less than ten feet away and calling his Lily a pathetic, frigid, boring Mudblood.

He snapped. Turning abruptly, he walked briskly towards the Slytherin pair. His footsteps were heavy, and sounded with loud thuds as he stomped along the path. Lucius looked up in surprise and nudged Severus when he realised who was approaching. They both smirked.

"Oh, look. It's the saintly Head Boy, coming to reprimand us for breathing," said Lucius in a snide, jeering voice. "Wonderful to see you, Potty."

James ignored this comment. With one final step, he bunched his hand into a tight fist, so tight in fact that his knuckles were completely white, and with all his might, he let it fly.

There was a sharp smack followed almost immediately by a crack as Lucius crumpled to the ground. James glared furiously down at him. "From now on, talk about girls with a little more respect, or you'll have more coming your way, you arsehole."

Severus whipped out his wand and aimed it at James, his breath slightly uneven at the anticipation of a fight. "Touch him again, and I swear I will," he smugly hissed, narrowing his eyes and lowering his head to glare evilly at James. James smirked.

"Oh, please. You are the worst in the entire Charms class. I'm safer on this side of your wand than on the other. You're in worse danger than I am my dear slime ball."

Severus's face twisted in anger and he pursed his lips. Flicking his wand, he shot a jet of yellow light towards James who deftly avoided it and watched it singe the trunk of a nearby tree.

James smirked and was about to make some smart comment about Severus's pathetic aim, but a raised, female voice came shrieking into their midst.

He turned to see an irate Professor McGonagall jogging towards them, her fierce eyebrows like two dark smears of charcoal across her forehead. Rolling his eyes in exasperation, he looked at the sprawling Lucius who was still lying on the ground. To his surprise (but not regret), he could see a trickle of blood beginning to ooze from the side of Lucius's mouth, which was warped with loathing as he looked up at James.

"Just what is going on here?" McGonagall barked, coming to a halt beside Severus. She took in the sight of Lucius on the ground and gasped. Looking accusingly at Severus, her eyes narrowed.

Seeing that he was about to get the blame for this, Severus hastily pointed to James. "It was Potter, Professor. He attacked Malfoy for no reason at all, and then started threatening us."

To James's dismay, McGonagall was now glaring at him. He knew it was pointless to try and defend himself, but it didn't stop him from attempting it.

"Professor – I didn't attack him as such … and not for no reason either – it was -," he stammered before she interrupted him impatiently.

"Potter, I am in no mood for your excuses. Violence is not permitted under ANY circumstances, and you especially ought to be setting a good example for the other students. Both you and Mr Snape will go up to Dumbledore's office right away and he will discuss the possibility of you losing your post as Head Boy."

James hung his head and turned to go, but Severus looked up, disbelieving. "Why should I have to go? I didn't attack anyone!"

James snorted, his eye catching the burn mark on the tree trunk. Professor McGonagall was obviously thinking the same thing, because she looked very pointedly at the singed trunk and then raised an eyebrow, inviting him to argue further. Snape got the point and closed his mouth, sulking.

"Oh – get up and stop whining," she snapped at Lucius, who was holding his jaw and moaning. "Madam Pomfrey will be able to fix it in a second, if you can get yourself up to the hospital wing before you get in another fight. Now go."

None of the boys moved, all glaring at each other with utmost loathing. Professor McGonagall looked from each to the next, her face darkening. "Now!" she bellowed.

Hastily, Severus and James scrambled up the hill, keeping at least a metre between them at all times. Lucius followed, but more slowly, still clutching his jaw.

"What's the matter, Potter?" Severus spat. "Got the hots for Evans, do you?"

"Shut up, Snape." James didn't bother looking at him, knowing that if he did, he would be very likely to simply smack Severus in the face. How dare they – the both of them – talk about Lily in such a manner? She didn't deserve even to have them talking about her, much less deserve to have such insults poked at her behind her back. He was fiercely angry – yet confused as to why. He just couldn't bear to think of anyone insulting her.

She was beautiful. Why had they said she wasn't? He'd never seen anyone more beautiful in all his life. She didn't need makeup or flattering clothes, she could wear a sack or a cardboard box – or even a dress made from grubby old newspapers, and he would still think she was the most beautiful girl in the entire universe.

It wasn't only her beauty that made her enthralling either; she was just so pure and wholesome. It was most likely that they had been correct in saying that she hadn't 'been around,' but that didn't make her a target for seduction. It just added to her mystery.

His thoughts were interrupted.

"Well – just as well you don't then. I mean, she obviously hates you," Severus said, smirking. James's teeth clenched as he realised that Snape had guessed his secret infatuation with the redhead and was now trying to goad him into starting another fight. But the worst thing about what Severus was saying was that it was all true.

James simply did not reply. Snape was still waiting for a comeback, and receiving none, he opened his mouth to offer another of his pathetic insults. However, it never reached James's ears, because at that moment they had reached the staircase to the Headmaster's office. The giant stone statue that revolved as the staircase wound up to the office happily made a lot of noise and drowned out whatever slimy words Severus had muttered.

As the pair stepped into the office, a very grave man sat at the desk at the other side of the room. He looked as though he had been expecting them.

James gulped. Suddenly, the worst punishment was not that he would probably be being removed from his post as Head Boy, or even a suspension, or that his parents would probably be being contacted as he stood in the office. It was the thought of how much this would lower Lily's already small opinion of him.

With this comforting thought, he stepped bravely forward and raised his chin to receive whatever punishment was forthcoming.

&&&

"What on earth possessed you to do that?" Lily yelled, her face red with anger. "You're lucky you weren't expelled, or even arrested! The Malfoys are very well respected in the wizarding community, and you ought not to be fighting anyway. You are the Head Boy! How do you think that looked to all the first years?"

She stopped yelling to catch a breath and to pace angrily around their small yet cosy common room. She whirled back around to face him. "What sort of an example was that to set!"

James slumped in his chair, exhausted from all the stresses of the day and his long detention that night. Dumbledore always seemed to know what was going on even before he'd been told by the students. He'd not asked for a detailed explanation of what they'd done, only an explanation of why. Snape had been sullen, but James was always polite to Dumbledore. He liked the Headmaster. He was very lucky that Dumbledore seemed to share his intolerance for the Slytherin's absent respect for the Head Girl, and let him off lightly. Snape had gotten out lightly also, both serving only a two week term of detention.

That hadn't saved James from the tirade that had greeted him as soon as he entered the joint common room he shared with Lily. She was absolutely furious.

"What reason did you have, anyway?" she asked crossly. Folding her arms across her chest, she pursed her lips and tilted her chin up expectantly. "Go on, then. Justify what you did."

James shrugged. "I heard the jerks saying things about someone I didn't think deserved to be talked about that way."

Lily looked at him incredulously. "So you went and punched him in the mouth? Yeah, that's great, Potter. Resorting to violence is just the sort of stupid thing you would do." She turned on her heel and flounced out of the room.

James watched helplessly as she left. It didn't matter what reason he had given her, she wouldn't have been satisfied. He couldn't help wondering momentarily what she would have said if he'd told her the truth – that he'd been sticking up for her.

Somehow he didn't think it would have been met with gratitude.

&&&

"Did you hear about Potter and Malfoy fighting by the lake yesterday?" Jenny whispered, her eyes wide. Lily simply sighed and nodded. Sarah leaned in closer.

"Do you know why they were fighting? I wonder what it was about." Sarah twirled a finger around a lock of her hair as she spoke.

Jenny leaned in closer to Lily. "You talked to him when he got back from his detention, didn't you? What did he say?"

Lily rolled her eyes and leaned forward confidentially. "He said that he heard them saying things about someone and he didn't like what they were saying or something like that."

Jenny pressed a hand to her heart. "Oh my gosh, that is so sweet!"

Lily groaned. "Oh, Jenny. No. He was just using that as an excuse to beat up Malfoy, you know that they hate each other. He would have found a reason to punch him if he and Snape had been talking about the weather."

"But still – what if it were true?" Sarah asked. "I wonder who they were talking about, anyway. Did he say if it was a girl or just one of his Marauder mates?"

Lily shrugged. "I didn't ask. He didn't say."

Sarah sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Pity. I would have liked to find out."

&&&

Sirius and James were sitting near the back corner of the library, away from all the other students who were studying. The subject of James and Lucius's fight had become the focus of gossip that day, and everywhere he went, James was encountered with pats on the back from fellow Gryffindors, glares from Slytherins, and constant hisses of whispers all around him.

"Mate, I know you like the girl, but I didn't know you were this serious about her." Sirius leaned back in his chair, impressed. "I mean, I've fallen for some chicks in the past, but never seriously enough to punch out someone if they talked about her nastily. Although – it was Malfoy. I would have used any excuse to smash in his big nose too."

James smirked. "He looked really ridiculous there, writhing in pain. I was quite entertained for a while."

Sirius grinned. "Damn, wish I'd been there."

James paused. "I don't know why they made me so mad. I mean – yes I do. They called her a Mudblood, and said she wasn't pretty. And the only reason he asked her to the ball was because he wanted to shag her."

Sirius nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's pretty bad. I probably would have slugged him too, and I don't even have the hots for her. It's nasty to say about anyone. He was probably bitter at being refused."

"What did he expect, anyway? He asked her now, and it's September. The Ball isn't even until Halloween."

"Perhaps he knew you were going to move in and wanted to try his chances first." Sirius yelped as James whacked him across the chest. "You're really going to have to work on this whole violence thing, Prongs. Really not a good way to lure chicks."

James shrugged and picked at his fingernails.

Sirius watched him for a long moment. "Are you going to ask her to the Ball?"

James looked up. "Padfoot, do I look stupid to you?" Sirius opened his mouth to answer, but James cut him off. "Shut up. She wouldn't say yes, she wouldn't even consider it. She thinks I'm a monster now. Not that she didn't before this incident, though."

Sirius patted James's shoulder comfortingly. "You could try, at least. Lily's nice. She might say yes."

"No," said James despairingly. "It's not ever going to happen. And I don't know why I even entertained the thought of it coming true ever. She thinks I'm an imbecile."

"She's not wrong," Sirius joked.

James forced a smile, but his spirits were still low.

&&&

A/N: Okay, here's a very … strange chapter. I know that there's a whole lot of randomness here, but I thought it would be sweet for James to stick up for Lily in a way like that, particularly since him just yelling at Lucius didn't seem very in character. However, this is probably slightly OOC as well, but we'll get over that, won't we:)

Please review if you read it – they really make me work harder!

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