Playing the Part
By: Shrk-bait
Chapter 4: Never an Easy Task
The course of true love never did run smooth. –- William Shakespeare
A couple of days passed, both Lily and James in a sour mood.
They barely spoke to each other, only exchanging a couple of words and nods of agreement at Prefect meetings. Lily would brush past James in the hall, emotionless. She wouldn't even scowl or glare at him.
James was no different. Every time anyone mentioned the name 'Lily' or 'Evans', he would stare at them blankly, not bothering to respond. He refused to make peace with her, despite his friends' urgings to do so.
The entire school noticed the tension between them. The Gryffindor dining table was certainly quieter, the students too afraid to upset either the Head Boy or Head Girl. They sat on opposite ends of the gigantic table, never looking up at the other. The professors had noticed this change in conversation level at mealtimes, as well. With auditions for the play fast approaching, they were extremely concerned that the Head Boy and Girl would not be able to cooperate with each other.
"Enough is enough," Dumbledore muttered to Professor McGonagall. "Minerva, you must speak to them both. Seeing as how they are both in your House, you should be able to set the straight, for the sake of the school."
"Right. I completely agree, Albus. This childish dispute has gone on long enough." She nodded understandingly.
She whipped out her wand and pointed to herself, muttering "Sonorous."
"Mr. Potter and Miss Evans, will you both report to my office immediately. No excuses from either of you." Her voice echoed throughout the Great Hall, causing both Lily and James to look up surprisingly.
James and Lily rose simultaneously and walked towards the exit, the rest of the school watching them intently.
They reached the door at the same time and stopped dead in their tracks. They glared icily at each other for a moment, right before James swept into a deep bow, extravagantly motioning for Lily to pass through the door. Lily snorted, muttering something that sounded oddly like the words "show off" and quickly strode through the open doors.
"You called for us, Professor McGonagall?" Lily asked, just a hint of impatience evident in her voice, though she hid it well.
"Sit down, both of you." Minerva McGonagall sighed, motioning to the two seats in front of her large oak desk.
Both Lily and James followed orders, though hesitating slightly. They sat in the silence, waiting for McGonagall to continue. Lily fidgeted with a stray piece of hair, while James stared out of the window down at the Quidditch field.
"This feud, this row, this petty argument between you two must cease." She demanded in a threateningly low voice. "For goodness sake. You two are 7th years. Head Boy and Girl, no less!"
"But, Professor . . ." Lily began calmly, preparing to tell her side of the story.
"No buts, Miss Evans. I expected more from the both of you. Auditions for Professor Harris' play are fast approaching and the school is going to need you to pull this off. You'll have to spend much more time working together, not constantly bickering or fighting."
Lily grimaced with the mere thought of having to spend more time with Potter. As if Head duties weren't enough . . .
"You are excused. Please consider what I have said." She said, finally. She watched them sulk out of her office, no doubt, headed for the Great Hall to return to their separategroups of friends.
Lily Evans and James Potter? Getting along? What is Albus expecting, a miracle? Well, if we manage to go through an entire year at Hogwarts with those two as Heads, it'll be one, McGonagall thought.
"Can you believe McGonagall? She wanted me to get along with Evans, knowing full well how much we detest each other!" James told his friends, incredulously.
"Why exactly was it this time?" Sirius asked nonchalantly as he wolfed down another helping of Yorkshire pudding. "What exactly did you do to her?"
"Bloody hell, Padfoot. I don't even know! For some reason or another, she's furious with me and I've just decided that I'm not going to take it anymore. I'm tired of always being the one to apologize for whatever she thinksI did. I am not the wrong one this time. If Evans wants to make peace with me, she's going to have to be the one to come crawling back on her knees. I will not yield." He announced passionately, reaching up to messily run a hand through his hair as a few Ravenclaws from the nearby table giggled at his speech.
"But Prongs, you never really apologize to her. You always end up making it some sort of joke, which makes her even more mad. Then, she eventually drops the matter entirely, as if she knows you'll never be the one to admit you're faults." Peter analyzed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully and staring up at the enchanted ceiling.
"That's absurd, Wormtail." James responded immediately, frowning.
Usually it was Peter – insecure, not so bright, timid Peter – that backed him up 150. Though Peter was far from the brilliance and cunning that James, Sirius, and Remus seemed to have attained so effortlessly, James had always felt some strange need to include him. Eventually, they all became friends, something that surprised all the Hogwarts students – themselves included. No one ever expected him to be in the same group as the most popular boys at Hogwarts, but then again, the Marauders didn't really care about what people expected.
"I don't need to admit my faults to Evans. It's not like she is in any hurry to admit hers to me!" he shouted, tightening his fists and slamming it on the table.
"As true as that may be, you've never really given her any reason to. I mean, when you made her your little conquest in 5th year, you barely knew her. Other than asking her out repeatedly and annoying the hell out of her, you didn't really put in any effort to get to know her. She turned you down dozens of times and you seemed to sort of . . . lose interest. Whether or not you did, is beside the point. From someone else's point of view, especially Lily's, you don't exactly strike someone as the kind of person you can just meet and immediately trust with your deepest secrets. Hate to break it to you, mate, but that's the way it is." Remus explained knowledgably, already backing away as if he could predict James' next action.
"What the hell? Is this Gang-up-on-Prongs day? Some friends you guys are. I will not make a conscious endeavor to make nice with Evans. She's just as cold and cruel to me as I am to her. What's the point of getting to know her, if I know that she is just going to hex me to hell every bloody time I do something even slightly wrong? I know I'm right. And instead of having my back, you three tell me how I should try to establish some sort of truce with Evans, when I know she would never agree to a truce with someone she absolutely hates! Which would be ME, in case you haven't noticed!" he seethed, knocking over a goblet of pumpkin juice, the sticky liquid spreading across the pure white tablecloths.
He swiftly marched out of the room, a brutal scowl fixed on his face.
Lily blew into the library and slammed her books roughly on the table where her friends were sitting. She was flustered, her heavy breathing causing her chest to rise and fall.
Madame Pince sent her an admonishing look and returned to helping a 1st year find his lost Charms textbook.
"You okay, Lily?" Kira asked, looking up from the Potions paper she had been vigorously working on before Lily's dramatic entry.
"Of course I'm not okay. McGonagall insists that I work with Potter and that I stop holding a grudge against him." Lily muttered, inwardly cursing the Transfiguration professor.
"What's so bad about that? I mean, I think it's time you two made peace. You've been at each other's throats for almost 7 years! Friends. Why don't you just be f—" Charlotte suggested, only to be interrupted by a furious red-head.
"Charlotte. You can not be serious! Peace? With Potter? Are we talking about the same guy here? The words 'friend' and 'Potter' can not be used in the same sentence. This is the James Potter that glued my uniform to the stool in Potions, stole my homework and charmed it, put a silencing charm on me because I was trying to be a good Prefect, and bribed me into going out with him in 5th year. Not to mention all the other horrid things he's done. Do you honestly think that I can be friends with man, no, a boy who is so immature and egotistical, that if I even suggest a truce, will immediately assume that I've begun to fancy him?" Lily screamed, completely forgetting that she was in the library.
"Um . . . Lily?" Charlotte whispered, her eyes looking around the room.
Lily spun around and realized that every single person in the library had heard her, Head Girl, rant and rage about how much she hated her fellow Head Boy. Not that they weren't already aware of the tension between the two, but Lily had always made herself look like the more mature one, the one who did not actively express her dislike to the entire school. And now, they knew. The seemingly perfect Head Girl, the girl who they thought would never sink to Potter's insulting level, had lost her temper, something that rarely happened in public.
She grinned sheepishly at the gaping students, kicking herself mentally for her folly.
Damn James Potter, she cursed to herself.
She desperately grabbed at Kira's arm, pulling her from her papers and motioned for Charlotte to follow them.
"That was smooth, Lily." Kira commented sarcastically, smirking.
"I know, I know! I can't believe I was so loud. I must have seemed like such a horrible person, unworthy of being Head Girl!" she wailed mournfully, covering her face with her elegant hands.
"Lily, it's not that big of a deal! They know how much you can't stand Potter, and who would blame you? He pranked you for 5 years, then just randomly changed his mind and started to pursue you. Then, he just stopped and went back to the hating and the pranking. Fickle, that's what he is. After all he's done to you; I'm surprised you haven't hexed him out of Hogwarts."
"I guess so . . . bloody hell, if only Potter would build up the maturity to sincerely apologize to me, I would have a whole lot more respect for him. Just once, if he really, truly meant it, I might even consider the idea of not completely hating him with every fiber of my being." Lily murmured thoughtfully.
Charlotte and Kira looked at each other, amazed that Lily would take such a calm approach to this. From Lily's next outburst, they clearly thought too soon.
"But NO! James Potter is too high and mighty to apologize to anyone! Too consumed with his stupid hair and his stupid pranks and his stupid group of adoring girls to even bother apologizing. And that's what gets me. He thinks he's God's gift to mankind, when he clearly isn't. Every single time he comes to apologize to me, he makes it some sort of joke. He's never once looked into my eyes and said 'I'm sorry'. And he probably never will. Potter will never change. He'll never grow up, and thatis what makes him such an insufferable prat." Lily stated firmly.
"Lily, did you ever think that maybe you should give him a chance?" Charlotte asked timidly, knowing exactly what Lily's reaction would be.
"Give him a chance? What has he done to deserve one? Nothing. Potter has done absolutely nothing to gain my respect or even my tolerance. Other than being able to effortlessly score high enough marks to take as many N.E.W.T classes as I am, he has done nothing that I would consider impressive."
"C'mon Lily, just think about it. Maybe the reason why he won't be mature and apologize to you, is because he knows it won't do any good. He's really not that bad. It's just that you've already got this mindset of how you view James, and nothing will be able to change that. Unless you forget all the stuff he's done to you, all his immature pranks and insolent insults, he's never going to do anything to gain your respect."
"Whaaat? I do not think like that."
"Are you sure? If James came over here right now and said, 'Lily, I've been an idiot. I'm so sorry for everything I've done. Let's just forget about everything that used to be between us and start anew, please?' What would you say?"
"I'd forgive him and shake his hand."
"No you wouldn't." Kira burst in, laughing disbelievingly. "Don't lie, Lily, I heard it can be addicting."
"I would. For the purpose of this conversation, that is exactly what I would say."
"You would say, 'Leave me alone, Potter. Do you honestly think I could forgive you, after all the torture you've put me through? You're a prat with an ego the size of a planet. Sod off.' Thatis what you would say." Kira responded to Charlotte's proposed question with an answer that was so . . . Lily.
"Right. Exactly. Do you see my point, Lily? Just give him one little chance. He may surprise you."
Lily grunted and reentered the Library to retrieve her books. Her friends glanced at each other with exhausted looks upon their faces.
Getting Lily to tolerate James was not going to be an easy task. Then again, nothing ever was with Lily and James.