The Preferable Maiden Fair

By Solarism

Chapter Two—James Potter's Plot

&&&&&

"She's an odd one and I don't deny it," Sirius Black said with an amused glance down the Gryffindor table. "Look at her eat. She eats funny, doesn't she Jamie?"

James Potter set his fork down carefully on his plate and bent forward to see down the table too. Six seats to the left sat Lily Evans, the topic of their conversation. She was squishing her peas into her mashed potatoes and swamping miniscule carrot boats with torrents of gravy. She did it with her fingers and smiled down at her plate in a way that reminded James of God staring down at all of his earthly children. The boys wrinkled their noses in distaste.

"That," Sirius said eloquently, "is so gross, man."

Lily failed to notice that the ends of her red hair were getting sticky as they fell onto her plate every now and then and got swished around in the brown gravy ocean. Sirius watched as she finally picked up her hair and licked it clean. He let out a little snort of admiration as she did.

"She's disgusting," said James. "She eats like a pig. Didn't her mother ever teach her any table manners?"

"I don't think so," Sirius grinned. Sirius loved pointing out other people's bad points and loved agreeing with his best friend James. This, he figured, was a golden opportunity for fun. Sending James a sly look across the table, he ventured further, "I dare you to ask her why she eats that way."

"It can hardly be considered eating," James said, feeling very much superior to the sloppy redheaded girl. "I bet she slurps too. I hate slurping noises."

"Yes. Everyone knows how badly you hate slurps Jamie. You correct us for breathing too loudly sometimes too. And Heaven forbid someone sip their water too loudly, because we all know that drives you crazy too."

James shot Sirius an annoyed look. "So what? I hate mouth noises. What's your point?"

"I don't have a point. Do I ever? But you're probably right," shrugged the tall, gray-eyed boy. "She probably does slurp."

"Thank you," James said with a roll of his brown eyes. James' eyes reminded Sirius of a deer; tan and speckled with something darker, like a part of a rump. Most people considered Sirius' eyes to be far more remarkable than James', but James' had a certain faithful quality to them that Sirius was quite fond of. James was Sirius' best mate after all, and it was Sirius' duty as such to make note of these kinds of things. Any physical attributes of anyone that could be compared to a deer's rump were worth noting to begin with, in Sirius' humble opinion.

Sirius opened up his mouth to say something degrading about Lily again when the chair to his right suddenly became occupied. Remus Lupin, a dear friend to both James and Sirius and yet a strangely avid supporter of Lily's weirdness, plopped himself into position and reached immediately for the last of the croissants.

"Hello mates," said Remus. "What are we talking about?"

James leaned in across the table intimately, and motioned for Remus to come closer. Remus, obliging fellow that he was, leaned forward as well so that James could whisper in his ear.

"Do you," James said quietly, "lick gravy off your hair too?"

"Excuse me?" Remus blinked, pulling back and taking a large bite of his croissant.

Sirius erupted into a fit of snorts and giggles, oblivious to the fact many heads in the Great Hall swiveled his way. Sirius was the kind of boy who was used to being in the spotlight—so used to it, in fact, that he didn't even notice it anymore. James was also usually in the spotlight, but less for his silliness and more for his unfathomable athletic ability. He had joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team in his second year, an age considered to be extremely young for the sport, but had already helped lead the team to success with his brilliant skills as a chaser. James coughed appreciatively into his hand as the befuddled Remus chewed his croissant.

Remus, on the other hand, didn't have much of the spotlight at all. This neither bothered nor pleased him. He wasn't a wallflower but he felt that he was far above needing attention from the rest of the school in order to function properly. He quite liked just being an Average Joe. Remus was content to exist simply, kindly, and with compassion. He needed little else than what he already had. Remus, like Lily, was shrewd.

The three boys looked at each other, happy, and all thought of the strange Lily girl was forgotten. When these three were together, nothing else mattered in the whole world. They were bound together by a special kind of friendship that made them hold each other very close to their respective hearts. Their other friend, Peter Pettigrew, who was busy making up a Transfiguration assignment, would have been sad to miss the moment of perfection that the three boys experienced right then. It was something, decidedly, to remember.

&&&&&

Lily the slob sat preening herself in front of the bathroom mirror. She put her hair up in a pony tail and then took it down again, dissatisfied with what she saw, and then put it up again at a slightly different angle. Leaning far over the sink so that her bosom would be reflected a little in the shiny glass, she examined her face for traces of ugliness. Lily was not vain. She was curious.

James Potter and Sirius Black spoke without much heed to volume, especially while at the dinner table when the whole Great Hall was filled to the brim with noise already. Lily, like most of the Gryffindor table, had been well aware of their conversation. They had been talking about her. Sirius, the tall, gawky one, had called her gross. She found nothing wrong with her eating habits and did not find herself to be in any way disgusting. She was human, and therefore imperfect. So was everyone. Her eating habits got the job done, and at least she did eat—it was better than being anorexic or being too poor to afford food. The boys ate as well, after all, and none too cleanly either. Lily had made it a point to watch the crumbs from their croissants get flung out across the table as they laughed. Silly creatures, and what hypocrisy!

Eating, when Lily thought about it, seemed always to be a very messy affair. This was excusable. It was near impossible to look elegant while eating, and surely everyone else but James and Sirius knew this. Still, their comments had made Lily take notice of herself more than usual. She looked at her face now, examining her pale cheeks and lofty eyes, and wondered if part of her being gross was the way she looked. Beauty was relative but was she the type of human that most people would consider unattractive?

"Hmmm," frowned the redhead. "This is silly. Who gives a damn what I look like? Bodies are shells. It's the soul that counts."

She touched her eyebrows and her temples and turned to see her profile. She didn't find anything about herself disgusting. Certainly she was not as beautiful as the girls who wore make up (although she did wear her smudged eyeliner with pride) and who did their hair up eloquently, but that was okay to her. She was simple and plain and that was just who she was. Her curiosity was deadened—no, her looks weren't abominable—so she he pulled off her jeans and tossed them in the bathroom sink. All the girls in the 3rd year Gryffindor dorm did this. They'd done it since the 1st year and would probably continue to do it until they graduated from Hogwarts. Jeans, when taken off late at night, went in the sink farthest from the door. As a rule no one ever used that tap. It was destined to be forever barren.

In her underwear, baby pink, and her pale green top, she walked quietly out of the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Lily the girl getting ready for bed was much different from the Lily who had been eating dinner two hours past in the Great Hall. Out of her heavy school robes and with a face freshly washed, she looked almost pretty. This is what Remus Lupin saw of her every day. He saw the inner pleasantness. He saw the soft, blurred edges and loved them best of all.

Lily climbed into her particular four-poster carefully, not desiring to wake the two girls who were already asleep a few feet away on either side of her, and settled back into the coolness of her sheets. Lily loved her bed very much. It was very different than all the hard wooden chairs around the school, or the stiff arm chairs in the common room. Her bed was soft and comforting like a mother's warm embrace. Shutting her eyes, Lily thought of her own mother.

How she missed her…

&&&&&

"Don't you think she has potential though? If someone cleaned her up and gave her some better clothes and we got a girl to put some more make up on her, especially around the lips, couldn't she be passable? If she was taught some manners and if she had her sketch books taken away for awhile so she would have to concentrate on the world around her, she could be more than passable. Do you agree?" James Potter asked, polishing his broomstick's handle with meticulousness.

"You've been harping on this since first year Jamie," Sirius said, amused. "If you care so much, why don't you have it done?"

"I think it's stupid. Lily is fine as she is and you shouldn't go around thinking you have the right to change people when you don't. Don't play God James. I don't think this girl would appreciate it," said Remus with a frown.

"James isn't playing God," said Peter, frowning too. "He likes her is all."

"I do not like her," said James, glaring at Peter. "She's messy and she speaks like a sailor. I think awful things about her. I bet she even has lice."

"She does not have lice," interjected Remus, agitated. "Why do you care about her so much? You claim to hate her and find yourself to be so high above her, but you spend most of your time thinking about her and even more of your time talking about her. I don't get you sometimes."

"I think what Remus is trying to say, James—" Peter opened his mouth wide, eager to jump in.

"Shut up about what I'm trying to say," Remus said. "He already knows he should lay off. He knows when he does this it upsets me."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Peter, Remus, this isn't a big deal. Jamie knows. Don't you Jamie?"

"I know," James said, and put more polish on the broomstick. "I'm sorry for offending you Remus. You know I don't mean things the way they come out. She's on my mind for some reason. I notice her in class more and more. She's the only one that doesn't fit in."

"She's the soggy puzzle piece in James' jigsaw," Sirius grinned.

"Eloquent," Remus said, rolling his eyes at Sirius.

"Thank you," Sirius nodded. "I'll be here all night."

"I think she's pretty," Peter piped up again. "I think her hair is a good color. It's unusual. There aren't any other redheads in our year. She's got nice eyes too."

"Her body needs some work though," Sirius shrugged.

"Her body's fine," Remus sighed. "She's well-built."

"She needs to stand up straight," James put in.

"Let's stop talking about this," Remus said.

"Why do you always defend her? You always have good things to say about her and you're just about the only one. What do you know that I don't?" James asked, looking up from his broom with a faint smile on his face. "When Remus gets attached to someone it's bound to be more complicated than a pretty face. What is it, Remus? Is she a stunning conversationalist? An amazing kisser? What's the secret?"

"I've never kissed her so I wouldn't know," Remus said shortly.

"Come now," Sirius grinned, sticking his face quite near Remus'. "There's something about that girl that's special. What is it?"

"She's just different is all. You already know that," shrugged the sandy-haired boy. He looked at James, Sirius, and Peter and saw that they needed an explanation. "It's what James is so bothered about. Everything you can't stand about her I think is nice. She's not that bad of a girl. She's original."

"Original," snorted James.

"You like her," said Peter, putting his face close to Remus' too. Sirius proceeded to make kissy faces, so Peter followed suit. Disgusted, Remus rolled away and onto the floor. He went over to sit on James' bed.

"Just don't try to change her James. She's not someone that needs it or wants it," said Remus softly. "There's a kind of purity in her that you shouldn't touch."

"I'll leave her alone if it really means that much to you," promised James with a shrug. "I still don't understand what you're talking about, but you've got me convinced to at least leave her alone for the time being. Besides, we all know Evans. No one's going to change her in the slightest without her putting up a big fight."

"She's a pacifist," muttered Remus.

Sirius grinned, "Lily Evans the pacifist. Beautiful."

&&&&&

"Can anyone tell me why the Treaty of 1864 was relevant to the rebellion of the sprites in 1901?" asked Professor Binns, the History of Magic instructor, as he leaned tiredly over his podium. Overachieving students across the classroom looked up quickly from their complex note-taking to shake their heads, while the rest of the class simply kept on writing. The only hand up in the class was James Potter's, as usual. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"The Treaty of 1864 was relevant to the rebellion of the sprites in 1901 because the sprites felt that the dragons had broken the treaty, and used it as an excuse to lock some of the dragon cases up in court. The dragons took offence to this and it eventually escalated into an environment of extreme distrust and hatred. The sprites, citing the Treaty of 1864 yet again, stole a dragon egg from one of the golden dragon nests, and this was used as an excuse for a full out rebellion."

James always used complete sentences. He was like a textbook. Lily, the only one in the class not interested in taking notes or listening to James yap, continued to draw. She was drawing two pixies kissing amid a shower of flower petals. To her, it symbolized the perfect summer wedding. Lily missed the summer already.

"Thank you Mr. Potter," droned Professor Binns. He turned to the chalkboard and began writing an outline of notes that the students needed to take down. Lily put the finishing flourishes on the pixie woman's hair and let her eyes drift slightly towards James.

Sirius was jabbing the back of James' neck with his wand and sniggering. James took out his wand under his desk, waved it with a smirk on his face, and grinned as Sirius' wand darted under the desk as well. Sirius looked sad. He settled back into his chair for a good pout.

James, shaking his head at his friend's boredom, continued taking notes. He was very adept at being the perfect student, but still managed to find time to work a little magic under the table at the same time. How corny, he thought as he remembered the wands under his desk, literally under the table.

Lily, although she hadn't heard James' thought, rolled her eyes back to her drawing and made sure the pixie man had an ugly face. It was going to be a long class period.

&&&&&

"Hi Lily," said James with a wide, awkward-looking grin on his face.

"Hello?" Lily looked up, her green eyes shrouded with lots of smoky black eyeliner and shadow. She looked intimidating, and James' smile turned into a firmly set line of determination. He plowed on into the conversation, drowning out Remus' rebuffs echoing throughout his head, and ignored the pointed part of Lily's chin. She looked too angled for comfort.

"I'm James Potter. I've been in the same house as you for three years now. I realized today we haven't spoken much."

"Actually, I don't think we've ever spoken at all," said Lily, but not unpleasantly. She pushed aside her sketch book—James shot it a look of suspicion, but she'd somehow closed the cover while he'd been temporarily distracted by her eyes—and motioned for him to sit down across from her. He obliged, running his hands over his pant legs as he did so to smooth out any offending wrinkles. Lily watched him with polite curiosity.

"But we've had the same classes and the same common room, obviously," said James, casting a look around him warily. Their position in the Gryffindor common room was precarious. At any moment, Remus could walk in and break up what James was determined to do. He would have to capture her interest quickly. "You seem like a nice, artistic girl. I've seen you in class. You didn't take any notes today in History of Magic."

"You're right," said Lily, a little confused, "I didn't. I was working on a very important piece of art and couldn't be bothered. I must admit I don't find that the class captures my attention very much."

"That's a shame," James said, highly doubting her piece of art had been important. What was more important than note-taking? "Luckily, I happen to be a very precise note-taker. If you ever want to borrow mine to copy down, you're more than welcome to them. I also make great test study guides."

"Ah, how studious," said Lily with a worried smile. Why was this boy talking at her? Where was his point? No one talked to her besides Remus Lupin, so this seemed very strange and out of the ordinary.

"I could get them for you now if you want."

"Oh, that's okay," she shrugged, her eyes floating to her sketch book. "I don't think I need them."

"Oh, are you one of those types who can listen and memorize everything through that method? That's very admirable."

"No, I just wasn't paying attention. I'm pretty sure I'm not one of those types anyway, but no, I was just really focused on my drawing. It was pretty important. I felt it took priority over Professor Binns."

"But, then, don't you want the notes?" James asked, shocked and displeased with the fact she didn't seem to have an urge to learn.

"Thank you, but no," said Lily with a pleasant smile. Her tone implied the conversation should end or at least change to a different subject. Bewildered, James was more than happy to comply with the latter.

"So, do you have a favorite color?" he spat out after a pause, at a loss for anything else to say to the strange girl sitting so comfortably in front of him.

Her eyes widened at his random question for a moment, but then they drifted skywards and she got a dreamy look on her face. "A deep, rich shade of gold," she answered, "because it reminds me of my mother and of sunshine."

"Of your mother?" James raised his eyebrows. She was a weird one, this Lily.

"If she happened to have been born a color instead of a person, my mother would most definitely be a deep, rich shade of gold. She would be slightly transparent and misty too, with hidden undertones of glitter and a high sense of mystery. She's foggy and pleasant and a lot like sunshine itself, really."

Artists, thought James with an inner groan.

&&&&&

"I think I should hate you for this," said Remus slowly, a crease growing steadily deeper between his eyebrows as his frown lengthened.

"For reaching out to the less fortunate and giving them a hand up? That's hardly a reason to hate someone Remus," Sirius said, sticking up for James as he was always prone to do. Remus rolled his eyes and was about to open his mouth and say that Lily wasn't less fortunate in any way, shape or form, when surprisingly, James did it for him.

"She's not less fortunate, Sirius. She's just different like Remus said. But no, mate, you shouldn't hate me for this," James said with a grin.

"I'm pretty damn sure this is venturing into the territory of things I can hate you for, James," Remus said and began to slowly massage his temples. When Remus massaged his temples, it meant he was worried. James saw this and knew, instantly, where he had the advantage.

"I wasn't going to mention this to you," James said slyly, "but I'm doing this for you man. I'm doing it so that you can get a date with her! Sure, when the next Hogsmeade weekend rolls around, she'll go with you for sure. She'll be all over you mate, I swear it!"

"How," Remus said, never one to be easily fooled, "does any of this foolishness have anything to do with me wanting to get a date with Lily?"

"You'll see," Sirius jumped in, taking James' cue. "Just you wait and see."

"You're going to be so proud of me Remus. Just you wait, just you wait," said James, with a glint of passion in his eye.

With a sigh, Remus looked at two of his best friends and saw that at least for now, he would have to let them win. He put his head in his hands and said a silent prayer that they wouldn't screw things up for him too badly. He also hoped that Lily was resilient enough to recover from whatever damage James was planning. He quite liked her, truth be told, just as she was to begin with.

&&&&&

"Lily, listen to me," James whispered desperately. "Listen to me, please. Take Harry and go back home. Stay in the house and don't come out until the Order sends word that it's safe. I'll join you as soon as I can if you'll only leave now..."

"I won't leave you James," Lily said firmly. She held her newborn close to her chest and looked at her husband indignantly. "We were never meant to be separated. You can't just send me home. If you go down, I go down with you."

"We have a child now. It's different, Lily. Don't you see? Who will take care of Harry if… well, if the both of us die this time?" James sighed, giving Lily a look of the most profound love and sorrow she'd ever seen on his handsome face, even after so many years of trials and tribulations.

"This baby is ours. It's no good if he loses a dad and keeps a mum, which is what will happen if I leave you here alone. You're not that strong James. You aren't immortal."

"Well, I should be," James said quietly, passionately, as he looked at his firstborn son sleeping peacefully against Lily's breast. The little boy's head looked so tiny, so fragile, so small… "Stay then, if I can't convince you to leave. But I beg of you, give the boy to Sirius. Tell him to take Harry to Godric's Hollow and wait. Allow no one in. Allow no one out. Pray him be fast about it because our son's life depends on his speed. Sirius is Harry's godfather. He'll know what to do."

Lily nodded her head solemnly, and kissed her sleeping baby's head with all the compassion she had inside of her. She wondered faintly if it would be the last time she ever saw her little boy. She and James had battled the Dark Lord twice before and had escaped with their lives, but James was right. It was different now. Now they had a son.

&&&&&

James watched Lily with suspicion as she stooped to pick up some rocks for the fifth time on their walk around the lake. Her silky red hair fell down around her shoulders every time she bent over. James couldn't imagine how girls got their hair so soft and shiny, but he wished he knew their trick. His own hair was unruly and looked like it had a bad case of static electricity. He watched as her hair fell back perfectly in place as she stood up, now with a new treasure for her pocket, and marveled as she dropped the plain gray stone into her robes. Today, her hair had no trace of the frizz he had grown accustomed to hating.

"Why do you pick those things up? Rocks are for babies," he said, not realizing the sneer he wore in his voice.

Lily paid him no heed. She continued walking and acted as though he'd never spoken at all. With a roll of his eyes, James continued walking with the weird girl of Gryffindor and wondered why he'd thought of this stupid idea in the first place. He'd never been a terrific liar and telling Lily his friends had deserted him was growing more and more silly sounding inside of his mind all the time.

Why had he wanted to get to know her anyway? His reasons now seemed few and very far away. He hadn't known spending time with Lily would be so boring and strange. James lived for thrills. In his highly organized, pretentious way, his only relief from himself was the occasional thrill he'd get to experience. Spending time pranking on people with his friends or playing Quidditch always supplied him with distractions from his inner perfectionist. With Lily, everything was amazingly simple. This drove him crazy. James had already started to hate her with a passion, and this was only Day One.

Why, oh why, had he been so stupid?

"There's something beautiful in picking up rocks. I put some of myself in them when I hold them and carry them around in my pockets. Then I leave them places other than where they came from. Weird places, like under my desk in Transfiguration, or in the Potions cupboards, or in suits of armor," Lily said suddenly. James perked up, surprised she'd actually given him an explanation, and realized that she'd only taken so long to answer because she was trying to think out a good enough response. The idea that she was trying to be good enough to meet his standards pleased him. James Potter had a rather large ego.

"In suits of armor?" he asked curiously.

"Well, why not?" Lily said, turning her head to smile at him as they walked. She smiled at him like they were the best of friends and always had been.

James suppressed a shudder.

&&&&&

"The first thing I need to do away with is that ungodly way she has of eating. If I'm to keep spending time with her, that has to go. I thought it was bad sitting at the same table while she ate, but imagine how bad it is now that I sit right next to her!" James said, casting his eyes around the room for some sympathy.

"You're being a bit of a prick James," Sirius grinned. "She doesn't eat that badly."

"She does too," retorted James, a little indignantly. Sirius was supposed to be the one that supported him.

"I just never knew a style of eating could be 'ungodly'," Sirius said playfully.

"How is eating against religion in the first place?" Remus added.

"Oh, never mind to you two," James snapped, hugging onto himself. "I'm going to turn her into something beautiful. When I'm done with her, she's going to be amazing. Just you wait and see, and try to prove me wrong. Lily Evans won't know what hit her."

"Maybe not," Remus said doubtfully, "but beware, that girl hits back."

&&&&&

Author's Note: Well… it's on the short side I know, and it's fragmented. I'm just trying out a new way of storytelling and I'm not sure if you guys will love it or hate it, but either way, it's useful and easy to do and for the purposes of this story, it seems to work well enough. Basically, in summary, James has got it into his little 13 year old head to tame the weird girl, and the weird girl doesn't know what's coming.

Dedications: For Tim—who everyone thinks I date, who has amazing eyes viva Deconstruct, whose hair I pull, who puts his hat on my head, who is a drummer, who makes me laugh, who is my best friend. All your support and all your love makes my writing possible. Editor-in-Chief, baby.