Never Got Along

By: neen

author note

Please read this before reading the story! The info might help you out a lot…and takes about one minute!

Set in 5th year as you might notice. It's the beginning of Lily's hate for him

My own character: Penelope Walker. She is a Gryffindor, who is also in 5th year and is basically Lily's best friend.

Yes, James has recently asked Lily out before this opening scene (the 1st time as well) and Lily refused him and gave a reason of studies being more important. Then Lily notices his personality and attitude and greatly hates it.

New character: Celeste Provolone (she is half-veela, like Fleur) – she won't wreck Lily and James's relationship, don't worry…

Chapter Eleven

"What?" James repeated again, looking horrified.

"What? You do not like me?" Celeste asked angrily, and to everyone's surprise, her natural charm lifted, and Celeste did not look as pretty.

"No, it's just that—are you sure?" James asked, stunned.

"Oui, I am sure! My muzzer would not lie to me, c'est impossible!" Celeste said indignantly, looking greatly offended.

"Ah, yes, I—erm—I wasn't trying to offend you, er—Celeste. Have we met before?" James asked, trying to place where he saw her.

"Oui! Last year, at ze annual ball zat your parents host every year for fellow Aurors! I could only attend last year's because I was on vacation in Marseille with my grandmuzzer before. You remember moi!" Celeste beamed and more of her beauty came back.

"Er—yes," James said awkwardly.

"I have been sorted into Gryffindor—a most excellent zing, iz it not?" Celeste continued happily, smiling.

"Er—yeah, excellent! This is my best friend, Sirius Black, Celeste," James introduced, noticing that Sirius had been kicking him in the shins to get his attention.

"How nice to meet you, Meester Black!" Celeste gave him a large smile as she eyed him closely.

"Indeed. So, Celeste—which cheese is your favorite?" Sirius asked, trying to engage in a cheese conversation.

"Well, I know I should like provolone, since it iz my last name," Celeste threw back her head and laughed openly, "but I must confess I like ze brie better."

"Oh, really? Yes, that is an excellent type of cheese, good choice," Sirius nodded intently.

"Et toi, Sirius?" Celeste asked, forgetting her arranged husband, James. Not that James minded.

"Ah, I seem like a lot of different cheeses. Brie on top, of course," Sirius said smoothly, throwing her his trademark smile.

James left the table, letting Sirius and Celeste flirt by themselves. Remus and Penelope had already left long ago.

"Moony?" James asked grinning, walking in on Remus and Penelope snogging in the Common Room. They quickly broke apart, both blushing deeply.

"Sorry, were you two busy?" James continued, giving Remus a smirk, who looked down.

"Just joking, you lot—get back to your affairs," James said and he walked upstairs.

As he shut the door, he couldn't help feeling slightly jealous. Sirius was off flirting with Celeste and even quiet Remus had a girlfriend. But, he—James Potter, just couldn't get Lily Evans. Why was that? He shook his head and dipped his quill into some ink and wrote quickly on a piece of parchment.

"Mum—

A girl named Celeste Provolone (her mum's Madeline Provolone) came today during breakfast to claim that you and her mum have arranged a marriage for us. Is this true? Mum, you can't possibly do this to me—I want to look for my own girl! Anyways, how's Dad? Busy with work, I suppose? Well, I must get going now.

Love,

James"

James sighed as he saw his owl depart with his letter.

"Well, time to get going for class," James sighed miserably and left for Potions.

The Potions master paired James and Celeste together, much to James's dislike and Sirius's disappointment. James did not like the Celeste girl at all.

James suffered deadly glares from the other boys in the class that day.

Lily was busily grounding her beetle eyes into an overly fine powder, muttering angrily to herself. The boy she was partnering with looked scared as Lily repeatedly stabbed at the powder.

Penelope glanced over at Lily and smiled. She heard the words, "stupid…Potter…idiot…girl…ugly…Potter…toerag…Potter."

Penelope could feel it. Lily was falling for James.

"I—I think it's good now," the boy squeaked, somewhat terrified as Lily's eyes took on a glint.

Lily then snapped back to normal. "Sorry, didn't notice," she muttered, her ears turning bright pink.

"Zis potion is easy, James—I've done it before at Beauxbatons. We will get top marks for sure, James," Celeste said loudly with poise, making sure people around her heard, as she mixed the potion expertly until it glowed a bright turquoise—the color it was supposed to be.

"Ah, a new student from Beauxbatons—Provolone? Excellent—take ten points to Gryffindor!" the Potions master said, looking delighted at Celeste's perfect potion.

"Merci beaucoup, Professor!" Celeste beamed, looking around at everyone.

"Hmpth," Lily scowled terribly, nearly beating the boy she was working with to a pulp when she noticed that he almost added too much of the main ingredient.

"Sorry!" he apologized profusely and was most glad when Lily took over, getting the Potions to turn into a bright turquoise as well. Lily grinned. She was just as good as that stupid Celery girl.

The boy scuttled out of class as soon as the bell rang, terrified out of his mind of Lily.

Penelope stopped Lily in the hallways before Lily went off to Muggle Studies and she went off for Divination. "Lils—you've got competition!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily snapped, her mind flashing to Celeste.

"Oh, Lily—you're so stubborn," Penelope sighed and left.

"Lily!" a voice called after her and she turned around.

"Potter," she addressed and walked on.

"Lily—aren't you in Muggle Studies with me?" James asked and said, "Muggle Studies is this way."

Lily blushed. "I knew that—I was ah—just preoccupied."

"What were you thinking about?" James whispered huskily and Lily could feel the tiny wisps of hair on her neck rise. Lily flushed again. She couldn't believe James had that effect on her.

"N—nothing," Lily stuttered, her face steadily gaining red hues.

"What's wrong, Lily? Have a fever? Let me check," James placed a cool hand on her forehead and she turned even brighter.

Lily rapidly spun away. "Get away from me, Potter."

James looked confused. "Hey—Lily! What's with you?"

But Lily had already fled.

James quickly followed her.

"James—James! We got top marks for our potion! Are you going to ze Muggle Studies class? I'm going zere too!" Celeste beamed as she hung onto James's right arm.

"Erm—Celeste, I—uh, I'm happy, yeah," James said, forcing a smile as he tried to loosen Celeste's hand. Surprisingly, she had a strong grip.

James sighed and reluctantly went to Muggle Studies with Celeste hanging onto his arm.

The professor looked amused. "Are you a new girl?"

"Oui! From Beauxbatons—I've just transferred here. Provolone. Celeste. Do you mind if I sit wiz James here?" Celeste asked, turning her charm on.

The professor looked flustered. "No! No, go right ahead."

Celeste sat down elegantly next to James. Lily was sitting right behind Celeste and threw her a glare, even though she wasn't quite sure why. She just didn't like the girl. "Celery girl," Lily muttered under her breath.

"Class—today we will be discussing the different subjects that Muggles learn in school. What are some? Ah—yes, Evans?" the professor called.

"Physics, chemistry, biology, a foreign language, english, algebra, geometry, calculus, and statistics," Lily said confidently. She had a feeling that she left some out, but that was good enough.

"Yes, yes, and—ah, Provolone," the professor smiled.

"Geography, history, music, art, literature, environmental science, and there are precisely two branches of algebra: algebra one and two," Celeste said, beaming.

"Literature and English are the same thing!" Lily suddenly exploded, standing up.

"Good heavens, Miss Evans! (that rhymed!) What are you doing?" the professor demanded.

Lily ignored him as Celeste shot back as she too, stood up, "Literature iz about reading works while Eenglish iz about grammar, spelling, and ze such! Zey are not ze same!"

"You read works in Eenglish as well!" Lily retorted, mimicking Celeste's French accent perfectly.

"'Ow dare you! You—you—mimic moi?" Celeste cried out indignantly. "James—James, zis iz ridiculous! Ze girl iz being stupid. Support moi!"

James looked uncomfortable under Lily's and Celeste's stares.

"Well, unfortunately for you, my dear Celeste, James happens to like me and not you. Shame, isn't it?" Lily said with a grim smile, her temper flaring.

"What? Iz zis true, James? You like zis stupid little girl?" Celeste asked heatedly, staring hard at James. Lily looked mad enough to slap her senselessly.

"You two—stop being stupid!" James shouted as he sat both of them down.

The two stared at each other with the utmost loathing throughout the class as the professor tried to calm the class down.

Lily stared pointedly at the ceiling and it magically began to write out the words, 'Ha! James likes me. Too bad for you.'

Celeste looked up and became outraged. Then, she too, while smirking, looked up and words began to form, 'I'm so sorry, but he is going to be my husband.'

Lily stared at the ceiling, not believing it to be quite true. She did not write anymore and stared at the professor drone on about muggle schools. (thanks to maraudergirl7 for the wonderful shouting match idea!)

"Can you believe her? That stupid French girl! Just because she's somewhat pretty doesn't mean that James is going to marry her! He likes me, doesn't he?" Lily asked huffily of Penelope after classes were over for the day. (thanks to Prongsie4028 for the wonderful description of 'that stupid French girl'…no offense to French people as well!)

Penelope looked amused at Lily's reaction.

"He does, Lily. However, since you left breakfast before they finished talking, there happens to be a fact that James and Celeste do have an arranged marriage," Penelope explained.

"What?" Lily asked, completely stunned.

"Anyways, I seem to think that you might have taken a liking to our dear Mr. Potter. Is this true?" Penelope asked, smiling at her best friend, who turned slightly pink.

"I don't know—we're just friends anyways," Lily shrugged and sat down in her bed, taking out her diary that she not written in in a long time. (good catch, epicalica! Thanks)

"All right, well, I'm downstairs if you need me," Penelope said as she left.

Lily opened up her diary and began to write.

Author's Note:

Ooh…yes, well…reviews please! Thanks.

Reviewers:

: Prongsie4028 : Lily's getting around, don't worry…thanks for your wonderful description! Couldn't have said it better myself…

: maraudergirl7 : Thanks…I loved your idea of a screaming match between the two fiery girls!

: End-of-ur-world : Thanks! Yeah, lots of twists in this…

: epicalica : As I said above, very nice eye! I'll put the diary idea to use again next chapter! Thanks!

: nashypear : Hope that update was fast enough!

: James'sSnitchBoxersLover : YES! You figured it out—I'm so happy! Good job—Celeste (or Celery) is part-veela! Yay! Yes…Lily was a bit…um…angry in this chapter…

Thanks to nashypear and End-of-ur-world for adding this to your favorites and also great thanks to End-of-ur-world and nashypear and evilloveberry08 and James'sSnitchBoxersLover for adding this to the alert list!

French Vocab:

C'est impossible: It's impossible.

Oui: yes

Moi: me

Et toi: And you?