The Beginning of ...Something
DisclaimerThere's no J.K. Rowling here and all the characters from the Harry Potter books belong to her.
Chapter Three And the Unnecessary Hatred Continues...
Lily Evans sat quietly in the Gryffindor common room, peacefully reading a book (because reading a generic book is a convenient way to make a character seem intellectual). Unfortunately, she was having a difficult time getting past the first few sentences because, frankly, she hated being stared at. Of course, as the most popular girl in all of Hogwarts, she was constantly being stared at.
As you may infer, people were in awe of her beauty and the energetic presence she brought with her every time she entered a room. Like right at this very moment, when Lily was attempting to read a book, all of the Gryffindors in the common room felt it necessary to drop everything once she entered the room in order to stare at her and sigh; while secretly envying her in the back of their feeble minds.
But in all truthfulness, knowing the depths of Lily's character, she was a gothic bookworm at heart, as it always is one or the other in all of fanfiction. She had become very subdued and had learned to keep to herself since her parents' death that faithful day in her first year. She still had a presence and from what we can observe, was fairly upbeat most of the time, but ever since that day, she had always had a nagging feeling in her heart. She felt as though something terribly big was missing and that the void would never be filled. That was the most logical explanation, in my opinion and many other fanfiction writers, for her lack of trust in everyone.
Oh, she most definitely kept her innermost desires to her self and kept up the image of this clean-cut wizarding girl, but deep down she wanted nothing more than to scream at her current audience to leave her alone.
Instead, she flipped a page of her book over and pretended to be immersed in her reading.
It was that exact moment that the Marauders decided to barge into the Common Room and upset the peaceful activity of 'Lily Evans-watching.'
Now this was one more thing that made people jealous for Lily. James Potter and his friends always found ways to annoy her. Of course, it was a known fact that they found ways to annoy everyone but Lily seemed to be a special case, in their eyes.
"Evans," James smirked as his friends followed him through the portrait hole.
"Potter," she countered, not bothering to look up.
She braced herself for a short little torturous conversation that would end with Potter asking her out. That was what always happened. As you may have noticed, fanfiction writers everywhere have taken to the idea that James always asked Lily out every time they talked because of one incident they read about. With all the time James spends trying to lure Lily to him, you would think he would not have time for anything else, and yet he still manages to be at the top of his class and a prominent Quidditch star. He is almost flawless, in our eyes.
Except for the fact that Lily clearly still sees him as a prat.
"So, reading again, are we?" he said, glancing at the book she had in her hands. The rest of the common room watched them closely because they had nothing better to do.
"No," she answered, feeling that the incessant fighting between them was getting a little old, "There is no 'we' here. I am reading and you are badly attempting to mock me."
It was quite obvious how annoyed she was by the small fact that her eyes were narrowing at a rapid pace. If you blinked, you might have missed it.
"Well if I stop," James started and looked to his friends with a grin while he took to messing up his already untidy hair, "Will you go out with me?"
Lily simply snorted and thought briefly about what to say next.
I'll let you glance into her mind for a moment as she ponders the best answer to James' inquiry.
'I'd rather go out with the giant squid,' I could say, but I already used that one last week. Hmm... How about, 'I'd rather work for the rest of my life as a house-elf'? No. That might offend someone. Oh, I could comment about jumping out the window. Yes, that would work; I haven't used that one before...
The comment came angrily out of her parted lips faster than she had imagined. "I'd jump out the tower window before I'd go anywhere with you."
"Hey, close one, mate," Sirius Black said from behind James, "I thought maybe she hesitated there for a second."
A couple others in the common room nodded at James before turning back to their normal activities.
"I'll volunteer to catch you," one boy called out from across the room and some laughter erupted as James and his group of friends stalked off.
As in any other story, Lily's friends quickly rushed over to talk to her.
"Lily, you should have said yes that time," said Arabella Figg (though she's much too old to be in Hogwarts, somehow appeared).
"Yes," a girl named Alice agreed, "He sounded much more sincere that time."
"I still think yesterday's proposal was better," her friend Morgina argued with a frown, "Although if Sirius asked me out the way James has been asking you, I would have said yes ages ago."
As usual, Lily laughed but didn't bother trying to smile. "I stick to my convictions."
"Then I say your convictions are wrong," Morgina teased.
If you knew what Lily was thinking, you would know she wanted nothing more than to scream again but she just flipped another page in her book and sighed.