Out of Her League
"Rough day Evans?" James ventured.
Lily shook her head. "It was fine. Let's just get to work."
They found a note from Professor McGonagall. Lily grabbed it.
"James and Lily: When you have written down the house name next to each student and assigned jobs to each house leave them on the table with instructions. It would be very much appreciated if you could select some decorations as well," Lily read from the slip of paper.
James
made a face. "I'm not picking out decorations. She said it was
optional."
Lily rolled her eyes. "When she says 'it would
be very much appreciated' she means, do it or deal with my wrath."
The two stared at each other for a few seconds, not saying a word.
"Okay, let's get this over with," James said walking over to pile of decorations.
"James" Lily began but stopped.
"Whoa," James whispered, giving her a marveled look..
Lily glanced around her. "What? What's wrong?"
James shook his black head. "Nothing's wrong. You just called me James."
Lily arched a brow. "Well that is your name."
"Yeah, but you've always called me Potter," He said.
Lily shrugged. "Oh. Well, what do you want to do?"
James plopped down on the floor. "With what?"
"The Ball you idiot! The decorations, what should we do?" She said with irritation dripping on each word.
James shrugged. "I don't care. You're the girl, you tell me."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Just help me pick some stuff out."
She headed over to the pile of décor and picked up some pink crepe paper. She took one look at it and hurled it directly at James's head. It hit him square in the side of the face.
"What was that for?" He asked surprised.
"To tell you to get off your lazy ass and help!" Lily said with a smirk.
James halfheartedly stood up and walked over to her side. She held some white silk in her hands and ran her fingers across it. James sighed and picked up a roll of gold lace and handed it to her.
"Here. Let's go!" He whispered.
Lily nodded. "Yes. I'll tell her to put the silk on the tables and the lace around the boundary of the walls."
James tossed the lace onto the table and headed to the door. He turned back and saw Lily grab some red silk as well, leaving it along with their other choices. She left instructions for Professor McGonagall and put a few sheets of paper onto the table next to the silk.
"What's that? Don't we have more to do?" He asked in a confused way.
Lily shook her head slowly. "I was bored in History of Magic, I did the list before detention."
James nodded. "I can live with that."
Once out the door they headed towards the common room. James turned at the door leading outside.
"Aren't you coming out to the lake?" He asked Lily.
Lily nodded. "Yeah, I promised Selene I would. I'm just going to change."
James pretended to be shocked. "I thought all you ever did was go to the library or order people around."
Lily stuck her tongue out at him before disappearing behind the portrait. James headed out towards the lake. He could see Sirius laughing his head off while splashing girls, who would fake scream just to get his attention.
James loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves. He unbuttoned the top of his shirt revealing the beginning of his bare chest. He wasn't about to let Sirius have all of the fun.
"Oy! Padfoot, need a sidekick?" He yelled to his best friend.
Sirius nodded and beckoned him. "Yeah! Come on detention boy, the waters great!" Sirius shoved a blonde down into the lake.
James waded into the knee-high water. His first victim was a model thin girl. She squealed with fake fear when she saw him coming. He dove on top of her forcing her under the water. She came up laughing hysterically, while ringing out her black hair.
"James Potter! How dare you!" She squealed.
James shook his head, spraying water droplets everywhere. Sirius laughed hysterically and trudged through the water to his best friend.
"Prongs, you are the champion!" He said, slapping palms with James.
James laughed, pretending to dust off his shoulders. "I know Padfoot. I always have been, I always will be."
"Oh really?" James heard a voice behind him. He started to turn around but was shoved beneath the lake.
Water gushed into his mouth, ran down his throat. James tried to exhale only causing bubbles to blow by his face. Whoever was holding him down was not letting him come back up. There was only one thing he could do.
James opened his eyes and saw a foot. He grabbed his attackers leg and yanked downward with as much force as he could muster. Much to his surprise the first thing about his opponents appearance that caught his eye was a flash of red hair.
James pushed up against the lake floor and surfaced. He gasped for air filling his lungs with oxygen. Lily Evans came up gulping for air shortly after him.
"Who's the champion now?" She laughed.
Sirius cocked his head in surprise at the sight of Lily. "Evans? You're out? I thought you were allergic to sunlight!"
Lily made a face at him. "Well now that I'm around you I know that ugly isn't contagious."
Sirius's jaw dropped. "You are going to pay for that!"
Lily screamed with laughter as Sirius dove towards her. She kicked her thin legs to swim away but he was to fast for her. She managed to get a small breath of air in before she was forced beneath the water.
Lily opened her eyes and saw the waves people were making above. She tried to shove Sirius off of her but the boy was to determined not to let her up without a fight.
Sirius's stubborn grip was keeping Lily down much longer than James had expected. He could seem her frame flailing underneath the lake's surface. He felt his protective side start to show with concern for Lily.
"Funny Padfoot. Joke's over let her up." He said, trying not to sound odd.
Sirius shrugged and let go of Lily. She burst up and started coughing and wheezing. She gasped and gulped until she had managed to catch something of a breath.
"Stupid bastard!" She hissed, lunging at Sirius, who grabbed her shoulders to keep her hands away from his throat.
"Merlin's beard Evans!" Sirius grumbled, shoving her off. "Learn to take a joke!"
James waded over to Lily. "Yeah Evans, breathe. Enjoy the fresh air you never get." He grinned at her, no longer worried about her.
Lily smirked sarcastically and wrung out her hair. She stood up fully and made her way to the shore. James couldn't help but look at her muscular frame that her soaked clothing were sticking to. James shook more moisture out of his hair and followed her out of the lake.
"Where are you going?" He asked quickly, without realizing how juvenile it sounded.
Lily looked behind her, seeing James wading as rapidly as he could after her. She shrugged, wondering why James was making such an effort to be nice to her.
"I don't know. I'll probably go change since being sopping to my bones isn't exactly a dream come true." She said with a small smile.
James plopped down on the shore of the lake and watched her head towards the castle. He noticed Sirius sit down beside him but didn't really care.
"Don't do it. Prongs, you're completely out of her league." Sirius warned.
James shook his head. "No, I think it's the other way around. I'm completely out of hers."
