Chapter Two

A rather public hatred

Lily stormed through Hogwarts without a thought to who she passed by. Her mind was entirely on reprimanding Cassandra, that there was no room to notice that she had pushed by her Astronomy professor without a word. Bethany was tagging behind, trying to dam up the flood of anger she had released, but Lily didn't hear a word. Not even stopping to acknowledge the headmaster, she burst through the door out onto the grass.

James preformed an extraordinary maneuver on broom to avoid an errant bludger. "Keep that thing in line, Winters!" he bellowed to the repentant Beater. The Quidditch captain ducked out of the drill, zooming high above the field to check on his team's progress. Watching them perform perfectly- Cassandra Edwards the Chaser was flying so well she was almost ahead of the drill- he caught sight of two figures hurrying towards the field from across the lawn.

If he was not mistaken, he thought with a deal of despair and sarcasm, it was the lovely Lily Evans. There was the distinct possibility she was coming here to cancel Quidditch forever. You never knew with that girl. Yes, it had to be her. The setting sun was glinting off the first figure's red hair. James doubted anyone else would look like a house elf with its head on fire.

"Cassandra!" Lily yelped. James was impressed with her lung power. Very rarely had he seen Evans angry, and even few times had he hear her yell. She seemed up to the job though. He could hear her loud and clear, even as high up as he was. Cassandra sent him an uneasy look, and he nodded in return. As she swooped out of formation towards the ground, he took her place.

Lily's mouth was off and running even before Cassandra touched down. "What is this? Have you completely lost your mind? No, I know you have. How dare you even suggest such a thing!"

Cassandra just looked at Lily, paying her even less attention than Bethany had. Lily thought she would spontaneously combust. "Lily, it is all for the best," Cassandra soothed.

"No it is not! Do you know how much mental harm you have caused me?"

"Lily! Honestly, you just need to relax sometimes. It would be good for you." Cassandra seemed passionate about the subject herself, but she could not out do Lily. At this point, Lily resorted to jumping up and down to relieve her frustration. It was rather comic, if one was only a casual observer.

"I don't need to relax, especially not in that way. AND JAMES POTTER WOULD NOT BE GOOD FOR ME!" she screamed, her voice bobbling due to her frantic bouncing.

"Lily, I know you hate him, but look past that. He can't be all that bad. Tell me one thing that's wrong with James Potter." Cassandra persisted in being the "voice of reason."

Although James had been busy zooming about the field and watching the team, he had heard his name mentioned a few times. One thing he enjoyed almost more than Quidditch was driving Lily Evans crazy. He flew over the edge of the field where the little gathering was and arrived just in time to hear his virtues canvassed by Lily.

Lily had reached the cold anger point. She wasn't jumping up and down, but instead was standing as still as a tree of the Forbidden Forest. Obviously her friends could not see what a mistake they had made. James and she would be impossible. It wasn't that Lily wasn't interested in boys, she was. Someday she hoped to get married and have a family. Not with Potter though. She was interested in a lot of other things that prevented her from wasting her time with them. She was intent on doing well seventh year so she could get a good job after graduation. And she was head girl, which required dedication and meant she was a role model for the entire school. That was a job she took seriously. Unlike Potter.

"What is wrong with James Potter? I will tell you. Potter does not think about anything but Quidditch. In fact I cannot say he does think about anything. The things you would say he thinks about really need no brain work at all. Quidditch is a sport, not a mind game. He doesn't need to think about girls since they have the disgusting habit of just lying down at his feet and begging him walk all over them, which he does being the manipulative, self-centered bastard he is. Pranks seems a natural instinct to him. He never seems to remember that they usually involve breaking at least one school rule, which it his responsibility to enforce as head boy. I cannot fathom why the headmaster chose him. Honestly, he is no person to be a role model to Hogwarts. He doesn't take anything in this school seriously. He follows the rules as much as he follows his classes. What does he think he's going to do out in the real world? Sit on his parents' fortune? He disgusts me!"

Lily paused, panting as she tried to fill lungs emptied by the tirade. Her friends were staring at her like they had thought she worshipped James along with everyone else. She would have to grill them later, and if they admitted to believing that she would excommunicate them from her circle of friends. That would put a serious dent in her circle of friends.

Lily's angry musings were interrupted by a voice. In fact, it was the voice. The voice that made Lily want to scream, that spent little currents of irritation running up her spine.

It was James Potter.

"Why, I didn't know you had such a high opinion of me Evans," Potter remarked as if she had made a comment on the weather.

Couldn't anything put a dent that monster ego? Lily might have been embarrassed, had his ironic comment not given her time to recover all her anger. The head girl spun around and glared, secretly it would cause him to turn green or all his hair to fall out. She couldn't speak, but manage to sputter like a pot boiling out of control.

"Sitting on gold sounds fun, Evans, but I'd rather play Quidditch. Who knows, I might have to be careful not to slide off a pile of gallons, and that would require me to think! You know I can't do that!" Potter continued, putting on that repentant act everyone else found so convincing. Lily despised it.

"Potter, you are entirely infuriating!" she shrieked.

"Oh, so that's why you won't go out with me?" James nodded pensively. "But wait, there are plenty of girls who don't find me infuriating, so sorry; I won't have to tax you with the terrible stigma of being my girlfriend."

Lily hissed, and had to control her hands. She was caught up with a random desire to just claw him, and she didn't even like cats, she was allergic to them. Not as much as I am to Potter, Lily thought, very deeply in a snit. She couldn't think of anything to say, and decided a dramatic exit was best. Hands clenched at her sides, she marched stiffly off towards the school.

Only, James' voice followed her. "Oh, Evans? I might as well let you sleep at night; under no circumstances would I ever even think about going out with you." His irritating voice was followed by his even more irritating laugh. Lily gave up on walking; she sprinted up to the doors, intent on finding a solitary spot to analyze exactly how much she hated James Potter.