Out of My League
Chapter 2
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter collapsed onto their beds in their dormitory of 3 years. They just had the start of term feast and were looking forward to a 4th year of pranking, rule breaking and the secret outings they made every so often late at night. They famously named themselves 'The Marauders'.
James, on the other hand, had another reason to go back to school that year, and that was to finally convince Lily that he was the boy for her. Ever since he first laid his eyes on her, he had fallen for her charm. He loved the way she smiled, the way she laughed, just everything about her. He remembers the first time they locked eyes - her blushing cheeks and those phenomenal emerald eyes sparkling back at him.
It took him a whole year to figure out why she avoided him in public (even though he still doesn't really understand why) and never seemed interested in him and even to this day, he is given mixed signals. Back in first year, they were having their very first lesson - James remembered the event so clearly, as though it was just yesterday.
James walked nervously into his first ever lesson in Hogwarts. He and Sirius shuffled past the other pupils and sat in two spare seats near the back of the classroom. They both turned behind them, expecting to see Remus and Peter steal the other spare seats, but instead of looking into a pair of oval blue eyes, he look into two large round almond shaped green ones.
Immediately, his jaw dropped and his eyes went soft. He knew just who those eyes belonged to – he remembered avidly last night, when he was sure he met the girl of his dreams. Well, not exactly met, but saw.
Without warning, Sirius gave an almighty nudge into James's ribs. He was so shocked by it that he almost stumbled off his chair. His ears perked at the sound of giggles. Looking up, he looked right into the eyes of Lily Evans once more.
"Hi…I'm James Potter," James began shakily to Lily.
Lily smiled and replied, "Lily Evans"
The two goggled at each other for what seemed like ages, until their new professor rudely interrupted them.
"Hello class, I am your transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall," a tight-lipped, middle-aged woman sternly announced.
James found that he thoroughly enjoyed this lesson, and couldn't wait to transfigure something more than a pin…human transfiguration sounded like something he couldn't wait to master.
He collected his books and roughly stuffed them in his bag, as he wanted to find the next lesson quickly. He waited for Sirius to do the same and together they waited for Remus and Peter. They all walked out of the classroom, talking enthusiastically about their first lesson.
"That was bloody brilliant!" Sirius said in awe. "I mean, I live around magic like all the time, but doing magic yourself…" his voice trailed off as he thought back over the lesson, a smile upon his lips.
James walked past the group Lily was in and gave her a brief smile. She smiled back when she received a nudge in the ribs and a cautioned look. Her smile faded as she looked at the girl. She was tall for her age, long blond hair, a pointy nose that undoubtedly stuck up, and a pair of cold icy blue eyes. She looked like a tart and didn't withhold a friendly beauty. She wasn't ugly, you couldn't deny that, but there wasn't a pleasant feeling you received when around her.
Lily nodded slowly and looked back to the ground and eventually turning to the rest of the group as though nothing had happened. She was naturally the centre of attention. Every boy loved her whilst every girl wanted to be her. James looked on confusedly. Probably wasn't anything, he wondered, and carried on walking, hopeful that they were going in the right direction towards Herbology…
James sighed and threw his head back onto his pillow. He could feel the stares of his fellow Marauders on him, and closed the curtains. He knew what they were all thinking.
"Come on James, open the curtains. It's only the first night back and you're in depression again." That is sooo not true, well, kind of... James thought to himself. I mean, I get upset a bit, but not depressed.
"Sirius, I am not in depression. I'm just tired," James replied irritably.
"Is it because of Lily's new boyfriend?" Peter said, thinking he just won the Nobel Prize.
Sirius nudged Peter so hard in the ribs that he went flying backwards. Remus's jaw dropped and Sirius looked back at the lump on the floor and shrugged.
James suddenly stood up shouting; "WHAT? SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND? WHO?"
Whilst Remus went and helped Peter up with a pitiful look on his face, Sirius went and sat beside James on the bed.
"Look mate, you gotta get over her. She's the most popular girl in Hogwarts with a boyfriend who's two years older than us and is starting 5th year. I mean we're not exactly popular are we? You know she's only ever gone out with those type guys, and only ever will," Sirius concluded, hope evident in his voice. This wasn't the first talk he'd had with James about this girl.
"Are you telling me, that we are DORKS!" James blared out.
Sirius's jaw dropped and replied, "You have got to be bloody kidding me! I, Sirius Black, am and never will be a DORK!" he said it loud and proud with dignity in his voice.
"Thank God, because if we're dorks, what would Alex Hitchcock be?" Remus stated dryly. A roar of laughter exploded in the dorm. Alex Hitchcock was the most dorkiest, geekiest one of them all.
After getting over the fits of laughter, Sirius resumed. "Look, we're not dorks, but we're not popular. We're well known because of our famous association known as the Marauders that James thought up oh so brilliantly in the middle of 1st Year, but we just don't make the cut. I hate to say this James, you know I do, but she's just out of your league, she's out of any of our leagues," he concluded grimly.
James's head went spiraling. Is she really out of my league? Am I not good enough for her? Two little self-conscious Jameses popped up on his shoulders. On the left was deviling, naughty James, and on the right was happy, angel James.
'Of course she's out of your league mate! She's pretty and hot and you're a four-eyed freak! Come one, like she'll fall for you!' a sneer hissed into his ear.
'You don't know that! You never know what could be happening inside her head! Never judge a book by its cover James! You should know that by now…' a gentle, knowing voice butted in. "And besides, if she's out of his league, that means she's out of YOUR league you prat!" little James rolled his eyes at the naughty devil James.
James shook his head in confusion. Both sides make sense, but the one he hated most seemed to be more realistic to him at that moment.
"I think I'll be going to bed now," James announced to the dorm, "I'll see you in the morning, g'night." Slowly James trooped back to his trunk and got ready for a restless night's sleep. Perfect way to start the term. James thought bitterly to himself.
LILY'S POV
Lily stood outside the portrait hole, waiting for all her friends to bustle into the common room. She turned back to the reason of her stay and smiled happily. Fortunately, Ryan Decarter didn't see the confusion and nervousness included in that smile.
Lily had started dating Ryan during the summer, but truth was, was that she was incredibly nervous about dating him. He was two years older than her, he would have a lot more experience than her in the whole dating category, and she was afraid of another thought crossing his mind that she knew she didn't want happening at her age.
One of the main reasons to saying yes to him was the pressure of all her friends. She was afraid that people would think she was mad for saying no to him, and she'd loose all her friends. At least he was nice, sweet, and amazingly good-looking. He was tall with dark hair, amazing blue eyes and had a great body.
"I'm so glad you're my girlfriend, Lily," Ryan gushed.
"I'm…uh…so glad you're my boyfriend, Ryan," Lily replied uncertainly.
He wrapped his toned arms round Lily and gave her a kiss goodbye on the cheek.
"See you in the morning, Lily," He said as he started to move down the corridor towards the Hufflepuff common room.
"Yeah, see you in the morning," Lily said deflated. How she was going to break up with him was a problem, which would be on her mind for quite a while she figured.
When she reached her dorm, all the girls started swarming around her.
"Oh my god! You're sooo lucky to be going out with him!" one girl said. Lily looked one around the common room at all the other girls. So many voices were thrown at her. Blocking them all out she mumbled to no one in particular that she was going to bed and headed up the stairs to her dorm.
When she reached her dorm she looked around with fondness. She loved Hogwarts; it was her favourite place to be. As she opened her trunk and pulled on her pyjamas she thought about her past two years there and how quickly it had all gone. She remembered her very first day. Unexpectedly thoughts rushed back to James Potter. Lily liked him from the very first day she laid eyes on him, but she'd been warned not to go near him. She thought he was gorgeous and knew that he was incredibly nice, but ever since Mandy told her how it may jeopardize her popularity she'd backed off.
Back at her old school in the muggle world, Lily was never popular but always wanted to be. Now she had that, she didn't want to put anything at risk, even if it was only a boy. However, as she was climbing into bed something told her that that wasn't entirely true…
Hey all!
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Your one and only,
Jenny xxxx
