Affectionate Obsessions
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Note: I am so sorry, everyone who waited for this, for not updating in…..almost a month! For one thing, I was finishing I Never Gave Up, and for another, I had a big writers block with this chapter. Frankly, I'm having writers block with the next chapter for this story and with the first chapter of the I Never Gave Up Sequel. If you could suggest some situations, that would be wonderful. Anyway, here's chapter four of Affectionate Obsessions!
Chapter 4
A Strange Day for Lily Evans
It's quite funny to find that your world has suddenly gone upside down in just one day.
It's quite hilarious, in a twisted, strange way, when everything you thought was normal, your daily routine, and everything else in your life, suddenly changes, and you're stuck in some parallel world where you don't know what the hell is going on.
This was exactly what happened to Lily.
She had always prided herself on being calm, cool, and collected on most instances. She was mostly level-headed in a crisis situation, and was one of the most rational thinkers in the entire school, aside from the encounters where James Potter was involved. She had a routine that she followed everyday (wake up, bathe, change, eat, go to class, reject and think about James Potter, ect..) and aside from minor changes, there was no drastic change that had happened in her life, and not once did she blow up due to an unobvious reason.
So naturally, it came as quite a shock to everyone to see Lily to just suddenly lose what was probably left of her sanity right then and there in a normal, James Potter free environment.
And it all started with a bad hair day and a spoonful of peanut butter.
..------..
"Evans, would you hurry it up in there, I need to get ready for school too you know!" James yelled loudly as he banged the door to the bathroom which Lily and he shared.
"For goodness sake, Potter, would you wait, I'm busy doing something in here!" Lily Evans yelled back, giving a frustrated yell as she surveyed her hair, which had resisted the effects of the mayonnaise solution that she had tried the other night on suggestion of her mother and had decided to look like pieces of uncombed red straw stuck to her head.
Not exactly a pretty sight.
"I don't care, we have twenty more minutes before class starts, and I would actually like to be clean and have some food in my system before I get to class!" James yelled.
"Then go downstairs to the Great Hall and have some, you idiot!" Lily yelled back as she decided to take her wand to use a spell to make her hair look presentable-looking again.
Only to discover that her wand was with Kailey for some reason she could not remember.
Sighing, and not paying any attention to the loud banging on the door, Lily took her brush and began combing her hair, which proved an uneasy feat. After ten minutes, her hair was combed, but there were still many stray hairs and clumps that refused to be untangled, not to mention it still looked like straw, and Lily went out, and, in a burst of cruel inspiration, decided not to tell James that the bathroom was unoccupied.
Once she finished dressing, she went and took a hat out of her closet and placed it in her bag, just in case. She left her room and went to the Great Hall. She slid into the seat next to Kailey, which, to her displeasure, was near the Marauders.
"Morning Lily," Sirius greeted her cheerfully as Lily began buttering up her toast. "Why does your hair look like it was pulled out of the scalp and then glued back very unprofessionally?" he asked her bluntly in a loud voice, making a few people stare. Beside him, Remus smacked him upside the head.
"Thanks a lot for pointing that out Sirius, now I'm sure everyone has noticed!" Lily snapped at him, sighing irritably. She turned and found herself facing Kailey's questioning glance. "My mother's mayonnaise hair recipe, don't ask," was all she said as she took her wand from Kailey's grasp and with a wave of it, her hair went back to looking quite presentable, although it still needed to be combed again sufficiently.
"Lily?" Remus said as he put down the Daily Prophet that he was reading. "Where's James?"
"Um, well……" Lily shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know, James is probably—".
"Here!" James Potter suddenly said, sliding himself in between Sirius and Remus and taking some food.
"What took you, Prongs, you're usually not late for breakfast," Peter asked him as he drowned the contents of his goblet.
"Well, it seems that there was a minor setback with regards to sharing the bathroom," James said, looking pointedly at Lily, and he laughed lightly when she coughed and turned away. Although now I think I understand what took her so long, James thought as he saw her hair.
Lily glared at him, noticing his state, but said nothing. She continued eating, and making minimal chatter with Kaylie. She felt something like a headache coming on today, and she groaned lightly when it hit her full force.
"Lily, are you okay?" Kaylie asked her, taking note of her friend burying her head in her hands. "You look…well, horrible is the only word for it".
"Maybe, I don't know, but I probably stepped on a mirror or something, might explain why I'm having bad luck today," Lily responded, frowning.
Suddenly, there was a sound of a SPLAT coming into her direction, and Lily looked around to see what it was. Kaylie, on the other hand, was looking at Lily's uniform in horror.
"Lils….." she said cautiously. "I think you should look down at your uniform". Giving her best friend a questioning stare, Lily looked down onto her uniform and was disgusted to find a splat of peanut butter on her newly-laundered uniform. She turned to her left and glared when she saw Sirius holding up a spoon, looking apologetic.
"Sorry Lily!" he called out. "I didn't mean to hit you, I was going to hit Kaylie, I'm really sorry!"
While Lily was still casting a spell to clean her uniform, Kaylie, looking quite affronted, said, "Black, could you please tell me why the hell you were going to hit me with a spoonful of peanut butter?"
"I wanted to get your attention, plain and simple," Sirius said, his tone so flat and simple that it made it seem as if it were an everyday occurrence.
Kaylie's eyes flashed. "Oh, so you opted for wanting to throw a spoonful of peanut butter at me, as opposed to just calling out my name to get my attention!" she snapped, looking quite vexed. "Very mature, Sirius".
He simply grinned at her and turned back to talking with his friends. Shaking her head, Kaylie turned to Lily. Checking her watch, Lily noticed that they had only five minutes left before their first class started, and after she wiped her mouth, she stood up.
"Kaye, we've got to go. We've got Transfiguration first thing, and you know the professor, hating having late students," she said to her best friend, who was still finishing off the last remains of her breakfast.
"Hey, Lils, we'll go with you two. We've got Transfiguration as well," Sirius said as he, Remus, Peter, and James stood up.
There was a strange grin in his face that made Lily suspicious. "I don't think so, guys, we'd better go alone, and we wouldn't want to intrude on any of your business".
Sirius exchanged a look with his friends, and Lily saw Remus give Sirius and exasperated eye-roll. "Come on, Lils, what's the harm? Aside from lovesick Jamesie here, you're all good friends with us! Besides, we're not up to something, the way you talk makes it seem as if we're about to do something illegal".
"Knowing you four, I wouldn't be surprised," Lily retorted, staring the boys down. Kaylie laughed but said, "Come on, Lily, what's the harm? Of course you can come guys. Now let's a move on, or else we're going to be late!"
Hearing this, the group realized that they were indeed close to being late, so they hurried out of the Great Hall and walked as fast as they could to the Transfiguration classroom, not talking as they were too busy getting there.
The bell rang just as they entered the classroom. A tabby cat was sitting primly on McGonagall's table, waiting for the room to fill out. Once the last student arrived and the wooden door was shut, the cat leaped and a second later, before them was Professor McGonagall, staring at them formidably before turning back to the blackboard to begin the day's lesson.
It was a tough lesson. In theory it was hard enough to understand, but in practice it was even harder. Halfway through the class, wherein they were asked to perform the spell, only James and Sirius, as well as two other Ravenclaws managed it after a few tries.
"You know, Kaye, Transfiguration really is interesting, but it's hard. Honestly, you would think that Professor McGonagall is purposely torturing us, the sadistic old bat," Lily whispered to her, looking puzzled as Kaylie suddenly looked quite alarmed and made signals for Lily to quit talking.
"You were saying, Ms. Evans?" Professor McGonagall asked the redhead sharply, brow raised and hands on hips. Lily blushed and cursed the fact that lady luck was not on her side today. "Would you like to share your murmurings with the rest of the class?"
"Professor McGonagall!" Lily greeted, trying to place some ease in her tone. "Good morning!"
"I am trying to teach a class here, Miss Evans, and I'd like for you to pay attention, but it seems as if you are still too busy back-biting me to Miss Morgan over there. Please, do go on," McGonagall said sternly, staring Lily down so formidably that Lily felt ready to cower under her gaze.
"I'm sorry Professor, about what I said, I didn't really mean it," Lily said, looking as apologetic as ever, hoping that she would not get into much trouble.
McGonagall eyed her sternly still. "Miss Evans, five points from Gryffindor and a detention this three in the afternoon, as I know that you have a vacant period by then. Pay attention, and be thankful that I am not taking more. Eyes front". She walked back to the front of the class and resumed her discussion, leaving Lily to curse herself and her stupid, big mouth.
Once the bell rang, everyone stood up and proceeded out the door. "Miss Evans, Mister Potter, could you please stay behind for a moment?" McGonagall called out, bringing the two students, who were about to leave, to a halt. They walked to the front and faced the professor wordlessly.
She was simply telling them of their need to patrol around the corridors after curfew more often. "As Heads, you should be well aware of the rules in this school. I understand that you are…teenagers and most of you…...ehem…..engage in….certain activities, but it is not proper to do so at later hours at horridly public places. You should do well not to forget your duties, nor should you neglect them. And yes, this afternoon, I would like the both of you to be here in my office, for detention. Mr. Potter, you will be joining Ms. Evans, as you failed to serve your last week's detention. Honestly, as Heads you are not setting a very good example. That is all; you may proceed to your next class".
The two students merely nodded before turning around and leaving the room, still not saying a word to each other.
..------..
Lily's POV:
Was I an evil, innocent-killing witch in my past life that was killed in a pubic fire in Salem?
Or did I mercilessly slaughter hundreds of animals just for some nice winter coats?
Or, more frighteningly, did I ever go out with any past-life Voldemort?
Because whatever the reason is, there is something really wrong. First my hair is ruined, my wand can't really fix it that well, and Sirius-Idiot- Black throws peanut butter at me. Then McGonagall catches me calling her a sadistic old bat and takes points off Gryffindor and lands me detention with him The truthful are always persecuted, sadly. So I have just one question.
What the hell is going on with me today!
Unfortunately, I cannot articulate my thoughts, or vent, as the only person beside me is James Potter. We are at detention right now, and although McGonagall has left us here, she has charmed the door so that it unlocks onlywhen it is3:45. For some reason, all we had to do was lines, and I was almost finished, and I had nothing else to do.
Once I was done, I put down my quill and sat, quiet, not even paying any attention to him, although out of the corner of my eye I can see that he is desperately trying to get my attention. Even though I'd like to talk to someone who actually understands what it means to have an intelligent conversation (although sometimes I seriously doubt James's—I mean, Potter's capability of doing so), I will not give him the satisfaction of venting all of my problems to him just because he's the only person there.
That's it, Lily, good job, a nice, angelic, calming voice said in my head. Don't stare at him, don't acknowledge him, don't― wait, why is your head slowly turning in his direction, why are you opening your mouth to say something…….!
I'm hopeless.
"Potter," I suddenly said curtly, startling him. He looked up from his work and stared at me, his expression hopeful and glad that I actually noticed him.
He is so pathetic.
In a cute, annoying yet adorable kind of way.
Wait, what?
Back to the subject, please……..
"Yes, Lilykins?" he asked me, putting down his quill and looking directly at me, smiling.
Ignoring the fact that he had just called me by one of his many annoying nicknames for me, I continued, "Have you ever gotten the feeling that you don't know what's going on because you feel as if bad luck is constantly following you around?"
He looked surprised at my question, but hey, who could blame him? People don't normally ask questions like this. Still, he answered in an off-hand manner, "Yeah, sure, some of the time. Specifically when Sirius has eaten an exorbitant amount of chocolate and is prone toinsanity attacks". He paused and asked, "Why?"
"Nothing," I shrugged. "I just feel that way, that's all. Is that odd?"
"Knowing you, I don't think so".
I stared at him, incredulous. Did James Potter just call me, though indirectly, odd?
The filthy hypocrite!
Well, not really filthy, as he doesn't have any stain on his robes whatsoever, which is strange since he's a guy, and even from my seat I can detect a light trace of his cologne and—wait a sec, now it sounds like I'm observing him directly. First I strike up a conversation with someone I proclaim to high heavens that I hate, and then I find myself observing him?
There really must be something wrong with me today.
There was a sudden ring, and we both turned to the clock. It was already 3:45, so we knew that we were finished. Leaving our parchments on the table, we both stood up and walked to the door.
"So, uh, Lily," James said kind of awkwardly. "Nice uh….chatting with you?" The way he said it made it sound more like a question than a statement.
"Yeah, you too," I answered vaguely as I reached the door. I turned the knob a few times until the door opened. I was about to walk out when I turned and caught sight of my Potions book, which I needed as it was our next subject, still on the desk I had sat on earlier.
Sighing, I walked back, not bothering to use my wand anymore. For some reason, James was leaning on the wall near the door, as if he was waiting for me. After I got my book, I turned and gave him a questioning look.
"I'll wait for you. Potions is your next class, right?" James said. His voice was so casual, so normal, that for a second I forgot that I'm supposed to hate him and all I could think about was how sweet he was being and……
Who's the pathetic one now, Evans?
I walked back to the door, staring ahead that I didn't notice that my Divination crystal had fallen out of my bag, got unwrapped from the cloth that it was covered in, and was on the floor when I had walked back to retrieve my book. Apparently James didn't either, since he said nothing.
I was already very close to where James was when suddenly, I tripped over that stupid crystal. The crystal was magical, and it sent anything that touched it hurtling forward, so naturally, with a loud yell, I was thrown forward and―
For some strange, twisted, the gods-totally-hate-me reason, James's lips connected with mine. Suddenly, the bloody idiot took it in his head to actually kiss me properly, which he did in the next second.
James's P.O.V:
Have you ever felt like you were floating in mid-air? I meant, aside from when you are suspended on a broomstick?
That's kind of like what I'm feeling now.
I can't believe it. I'm kissing Lily Evans. And she hasn't killed me yet.
I must be in heaven.
Or in a really surreal world, but right now I don't really care. All I care about is that her lip-gloss tastes like strawberries and---wait a second, why is she slowly raising her hand?
Lily's P.O.V:
Oookkaay….what is going on here?
If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I was being kissed James Potter.
Ha! Impossible. I'm sure that if I close my eyes, he'll be gone and I'll wake up and realize that this was just a wacky, crazy, nightmare.
Damn. He's still there.
So I did the only logical thing I knew to do. Ever so slowly, I raised my hand, pulled away from him, smiled and…….
SLAP! I hissed, "Don't you ever mention this to anyone else, because if you will, I will personally make sure that you will be incapable of having any children at all. Good day, Potter".
And without further ado, I turned on my heel and as primly as I could, left for the dungeons, leaving a dumbstruck James Potter who presently had my handprint on his cheek, behind.
Oh my god. I can't believe it. I just got kissed by James Potter. Now I know that there's something wrong with me today as, kissing James Potter is, in my book, considered wrong.
So why can't I keep this stupid smile off my face?
P.O.V END
..------..
"Lily! Careful, you were about to add the sopophorous bean! We can't add that until the potion is stirred thirteen times," Kaylie told her irritably, sighing as she stopped Lily from adding the wrong ingredient yet again. They were at Potions, and were brewing a new potion by pairs, and throughout the lesson, Lily was seemingly distracted.
"Oh, what? Sorry Kailey," Lily said tiredly as she dropped the vial and rubbed her temples in frustration. What happened earlier was still fresh in her mind, and the fact that she kissed James Potter was clouding her memory. That and the fact that for some strange, twisted reason, deep, deep, way deep down inside, there was a part of her that actually liked it.
"Here, let me do the stirring, you cut up the remaining herbs," Lily instructed. Kailey nodded, and the two switched places.
"Counterclockwise stir….." Lily thought, repeating it in her head like a mantra. "Counterclockwise stir…….I can't believe that just happened…..clockwise stir—wait, no that's not right……" So preoccupied in her thoughts was she that she failed to notice that she had stirred the potion with so much force twenty times in the same direction, and it was now bubbling dangerously.
There was a sudden explosion from their table, and once the smoke cleared, it revealed Lily who was red in the face and horrified to find herself drenched by the potion that had blown up due to her own careless behavior.
The class was deathly quiet. They had been brewing the Draught of Living Death today, and for a fully-completed Draught of Living Death potion to be drenched on someone like that could be disastrous.
"Miss Morgan," Slughorn called out, breaking the silence, as Lily was still standing shock-still, unable to comprehend what had happened to her. "How far along were you on your potion?"
"We had just started, professor," Kailey quickly replied, staring at her best friend. "Lily was just stirring it for the first stage, sir".
Slughorn gave a relieved sigh. The rest of the class was still quiet. "Thank goodness, had you already added the next ingredient, she would have erupted in boils already". He turned to Lily. "Now, Miss Evans, are you quite alright? You don't seem to be yourself today and―".
Lily suddenly let out a loud, angry scream, her face color now likening to her hair very well, startling everyone, especially the professor. "AAAHHHRRRGGGHHHH! I. CAN'T. TAKE. IT. ANYMORE!" Everyone stared at her, looking quite frightened, as they had never seen the usually composed Head Girl lose her cool like this before. Even when she was faced with James Potter she was never this mad, so it could only mean one thing.
Lily Evans had finally snapped.
Not caring about what she was doing, or what on earth she was thinking, she grabbed her book bag and, much to everyone's surprise, turned to leave the dungeon. As she exited the door, James Potter himself, who seemed to be the primary cause of this, sauntered in, pausing when he saw Lily. She didn't even notice him and kept on walking.
"Mr. Potter!" Slughorn called out, seeing the startled boy in the doorway, still surprised himself by his favorite student's episode. "Would you please go out after Miss Evans, find out what's wrong with her today? You do, after all, cater very much for her emotions". He gave a slight smirk as the class broke into quiet laughter.
James rolled his eyes, not at all caring about the professor's comment. "Yes, Professor, anything that will save me from getting a detention because of being late," he merely replied as he walked out to go after Lily, not giving time for Slughorn to register the fact that he had just given one of his best students who was late the freedom to leave.
Back in the Potions classroom, Slughorn said, "Alright, class, continue with your Potion making, only thirty minutes left!"
Meanwhile………
"Lily!" James called out to the girl, who was presently walking as fast as she could. "Lily, wait!"
Lily turned to face him, her expression strange—it looked quite like a mix of embarrassment, anger, frustration, and confusion.
"Lily, are you okay?"
"Okay? Okay! You just saw me blow up in Potions, and you think that I'm okay!" Lily practically half-yelled in his face, startling him. James snapped out of it, however, and regarded the now near-hysterical girl with a cool, calm demeanor.
"Lily," he said as slowly and calmly as he could. "I understand that you were freaked out by what happened earlier, and I'm sorry, because it was an accident, but I couldn't help it, but please, calm down. I guess everyone has their breaking point at some time, do you want me to take you to Madam Pomfrey?"
"And receive another one of those Anger Management pamphlets again?" Lily said. "I don't think so. Please James, all I need is for you to leave me alone right now!"
"Lily, I haven't even done anything really bad to you today—well, aside from kissing you, but that was purely accidental, but whatever!" James protested, following her as she began walking.
Lily stopped and turned to face him, her face red and her eyes narrowed into slits. "DAMN IT POTTER, JUST DO ME A FAVOR AND LEAVE ME TO MY OWN BUSINESS!"
James rolled his eyes, not to be daunted by her angry expression. "Lily, just tell me what's wrong with you. How was your day, would you like to share it or―".
"How's my day!" Lily snapped in a supremely angry voice that James had never heard her speak in, and therefore was quite startled. "I wake up and find that my hair is ruined, your genius of a best friend throws peanut butter onto my uniform, I get detention because McGonagall overheard me insult her, for god knows what reason, I find myself wanting to strike up a conversation with you, the both of us kissed, and now I can't stop thinking about you, resulting in me getting drenched in potion, and you ask me HOW'S MY DAY! WHAT DO YOU THINK? URGH, YOU'RE INFURIATING!"
And without further ado, she turned onto her heel and ran as fast as she could, only realizing at that moment what she had just said, or rather, admitted. She never looked back once.
James stared out at her retreating figure, thinking about what Lily had just said. Shaking his head, he began walking back to the Potions dungeon.
A slow grin slowly started to form on his face as he recalled her last words to him. So, little Miss Evans has been thinking of him, eh? Well, well, that was something. It was no admission of liking him, nor was it a confession of being as head-over-heels over him as he was with her, but that, coupled with the fact that they had already kissed, was a start.
James smiled again.
Yup. It was definitely a start.
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This was an odd chapter, I'm not so sure if I like it.
Lily's coming around…sort of.
How was that? I hope it wasn't too bad; I really need help with this story. Did you think that it was too soon, or something? Anyone who gives a great idea will surely be commended. Please read and review!
