Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Reasons Why I Hate James Potter
1. He always runs his fingers through his hair
2. He is ugly inside and out
3. He is mean to Severus and a childish bully
4. He just likes annoying me and it's just a game to him
5. His friends are the absolute worst
6. He thinks Gryffindors are better than all the other houses
7. He's a spoiled brat
Lily worked hard, scrubbing the floors of Flitwick's classroom all by herself. Footsteps echoed outside the room and when she looked up, she saw James rushing in, completely out of breath and five minutes late. Of course.
"Grab a brush and join the party, Potter," Lily muttered.
"Sorry I'm late, Evans. Sirius and I just found the coolest—"
"I don't really care. Just help me finish this so we can leave. I'm starving." Lily had missed lunch and hadn't had anything to eat that day except breakfast. That did not put her in a great mood, to say the least.
They worked in silence for a few minutes, but James, being James, couldn't stay quiet for very long.
"So, why are deers—"
"Deer," Lily corrected.
"Deer," James rectified, "Your favorite animal?"
"I'm not here to make small talk, Potter."
They continued in silence for five minutes and then Lily, having nothing else to do in the infuriating silence, answered, "We have a lot of deer back home where I'm from. My family would have picnics in the woods and the deer would come up to us. My sister and I had so much fun feeding them and playing with them." Lily smiled wistfully. "I guess they just remind me of a better time."
"Better time? What, you don't have picnics anymore?"
Lily bit her lower lip. "Not really and not the way we used to. My sister stopped coming to our family picnics no matter how many times we asked her to. And we've asked her like a thousand times, but she prefers to shut herself in the room and not speak to me."
"Why did she stop coming?" James questioned.
Lily sighed, not really knowing why she was telling all of this to the bane of her existence, but continuing nonetheless, "Ever since I found out I was a witch, Petunia thinks I'm a freak for my magic. And you don't have to say anything," Lily said, "I know I'm not a freak. But it just hurts when I hear her say it to me."
"I'm sorry," James said, softly.
Lily just continued scrubbing the same spot, even though it was already clean. "It's sort of funny," she said.
"What is?" James tilted his head curiously.
"That back home, I'm called a freak for being too magical and at Hogwarts, I'm called a mudblood for not being magical enough."
"Don't say that," James said, roughly.
"What was that?" Lily said, surprised by his sharp tone.
"Don't call yourself a mud… you know. You're not defined by what others call you, so you sure as hell shouldn't call yourself a freak or a-a—"
"Thanks, Potter."
They continued to work in silence. It wasn't as awkward or uncomfortable anymore. Rather, it felt nice and soothing.
Scrubbing the floors of the dirty classroom full of the feces of charmed rats had a way of clearing her mind, as crazy as that sounded.
"I like deer too," James piped up after a few minutes.
"Why's that?" Lily asked.
James looked up from the shiny floor and shrugged. "I guess they have this sort of strength within. They are hunted by humans and animals alike, but they still manage to beat the odds and survive. They're very noble creatures."
Lily chuckled. "I guess they are. I never saw it like that."
James smiled at Lily's laugh. "But they're not my favorite animal," he added.
"Oh really?" Lily quirked her eyebrow. "Let me guess, your favorite animal is the—"
"Lion." They both finished the sentence together.
"You are so predictable, Potter. Of course it would be Gryffindor's animal."
"I am the most unpredictable person you have ever met!" James argued. He seemed truly insulted by Lily's accusation. Of all the things she had said to him, this was what he got offended by. What a surprise.
"You really aren't, Potter."
"My pranks are—"
"Predictable. I mean, how many times can you change the Slytherin hair bright pink?"
"When I ask you out —"
"Predictable! All you do is stand on top of tables and profess your undying love to me. Been there, seen that," Lily sang.
"So what you're saying is that I need to find better more exciting pranks and ways to ask you out."
"No, I'm just saying, if you're going to prank people and ask me out, you might as well make it interesting. And maybe mix it up a little, I'm sure the other houses need some pranking too. We have magic for goodness sake! The pranking possibilities are endless!"
"My, my, my, Lily Evans, who would have thought that you would be a pranking mastermind."
"I'm not helping you with a prank if that's what you're implying."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"Can you just go back to asking me out already?"
James smirked. "Don't worry, Evans. The next time I ask you out will be epic."
"I still won't say yes."
"But you might."
"But I won't."
James sighed. "Lilykins, you break my heart."
Lily shook her head. "The floors are clean and my stomach is hungry." She stood up and wiped her hands. "I'm going to get some food."
"Right behind ya." James stood up as well and stretched his arms out.
They both finished putting the supplies back in the closet and started walking to the dining hall.
"You know, Evans, if it's just the two of us in the dining hall, it could be considered a date," James teased.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Thanks, but I'd rather starve than date you."
When they arrived at the dining hall, it was completely empty (damn you, James, it's not a date) and there was no food on the table. Lily and James did not realize how late it was and everything was closed for the night.
"Why did you have to come five minutes late?" Lily yelled in frustration, the hunger in her stomach blocking any sense of logic. "If you just got to detention in time, we would have finished earlier and I would have food in my belly!"
"You can't seriously be blaming me! If you're really hungry, I know a place we can get food."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Lily grumbled. "I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight, my love," James called out as she walked away.
"Go to hell, Potter."
The next morning, Lily groggily made her way to breakfast, her stomach was excessively grumbling the whole night with thoughts of muffins and pancakes and eggs and bacon and—
"Food! Wow, James! You could feed a whole army," Peter's voice announced alerting the whole dining hall of James's treasure.
Lily, and everyone else, peered over and saw that James had received a package from home. A rather large package filled with sweets galore, probably all homemade.
James was an only child, beloved by his parents.
No wonder he's so spoiled, Lily thought to herself.
James looked excitedly at his treats and began unpacking them one by one.
Lily picked up a biscuit, smothered it with butter, and munched on it as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.
The bag his mom sent must have been touched by magic somehow because there was no other explanation for that many sweets fitting in that space. The desserts just came out, the next treat being even bigger and more glamorous than the one before it.
Out came toffee, cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, rock cakes, puddings galore and ooooh, her favorite… treacle tart.
Suddenly, Lily's biscuit seemed a little dry.
James finally noticed the crowd of people watching him unpack his gifts, their mouths watering in awe.
Some people just seemed to eye his food for the food, but others, they seemed saddened at the sight.
Lily understood why. The first year at Hogwarts was a big deal in a witch's or wizard's life. Sometimes muggle parents were scared of their child and wanted nothing to do with them. People feared what they didn't understand and magic was something very, very not understandable.
Lily was lucky to have muggle parents who loved her for her, regardless of her being a witch or not. They were always supportive of whatever she did.
For magical half-blood and pure-blood children, the situation could be the opposite. Especially with the sorting and being placed into houses. Sometimes, the house someone got placed into didn't match the dreams the magical parents had for their child and that created some familial distance. Kids whose parents wanted them to be Ravenclaw got into Hufflepuff, or vice-versa. Parents who wanted their kids to be Gryffindor found out they got into Ravenclaw. And the worst crime of all, committed by none other than Sirius Black: a Gryffindor in a family full of Slytherins.
So, parent-child relations were not really the best at Hogwarts. Not all parents were like that, of course, but a good number were and it was really heartbreaking to see the kids who would always feel like a disappointment to their parents, just because of where a hat told them to sit.
Seeing James being so loved by his family and surrounded by his mother's homemade showcase of affection probably hurt a lot of people who wished it was their mother or father sending them that instead of a hateful howler about how they are a "complete and utter disgrace, that they bring shame to the house crest, and that they should never step foot into their home again." And yes, those were actual words that came out of a howler sent to Sirius Black.
Even Lily felt bad for him when that happened a few weeks ago. The Slytherins weren't as sympathetic, but it was okay because all their hair was dyed pink a few hours later. Wonder who did that?
Lily understood that sadness to a certain extent. She remembered her sister, Petunia, being a great cook back home. She always made the most scrumptious violet pudding. Now, Lily couldn't imagine Petunia making one of those for her ever again.
When Lily saw James with his baked goods, she imagined it was her sister sending her that with a little note saying: Miss you Lily! Sent with lots of love.
But the baked goods and the love wasn't for her. There was no more love between the sisters anymore. Not even in the slightest.
All of the love was for stupid, spoiled James and only for him.
"Hey, Sirius," James said, casually. "My mom wrote that these snacks were for you too."
And then he proceeded to shove a whole cauldron cake in Sirius's face.
Sirius laughed and wiped the bits of his cheeks and nose. "This is so good, I'm not even mad at you for shoving it in my face," then he paused, "She really said it was for me too?"
"Yeah." James read the note again. "She said all my friends were like her children, so I had to share. Welcome to the family, I guess." James grinned.
Sirius just stared at him, unsure of what to do.
"What?" James said, picking up one of the snacks and unwrapping it. "Never had a family before?"
Lily knew he was joking, but there was an underlying question being asked: would you like to join my family?
Sirius just laughed it off. "I suppose I do now." He grabbed a pumpkin flavored treat and bit into it.
"You too, Peter," James said. "And Remus, grab a snack. You look like you got beat up by the Whomping Willow."
"Gee thanks, James, and I thought I was having a great hair day today," Remus sarcastically commented.
But he and Peter ate the food anyway.
"Phanks, Phames," Peter said, his mouth stuffed to the brim in sweet treats.
"Hey, Potter," a student nearby, Amos Diggory, casually leaned towards them. "Can I have one of those cakes?"
"Sure." James handed the older boy one delicious looking cake. "Help yourself."
"Thanks." He bit into it. "This is amazing!"
James smiled at that reaction. "My mum's secret recipe."
"My mum used to make cakes just like these," Amos reminisced.
Amos Diggory was one of those kids whose parents wanted him to a Ravenclaw (better job opportunities, they said), but he was sorted into Hufflepuff, much to his parents' disappointment. Amos was nice to Lily, a little prideful, but generally a kind person. Amos vowed that when he had children, he would be proud of them regardless of whoever they chose to become or whatever house they were sorted into.
That was the kind of parent Lily wanted to be too.
Before she knew it, there was a whole line behind James wanting to try a bit of his mother's recipes.
James gave his treats away willingly until they were all gone.
"Mate," Sirius said, disappointed. "You didn't even have any for yourself."
James shrugged, still with a happy smile on his face when he saw how much the others enjoyed his snacks. "It's okay, my mum makes these all the time and I have it over the holidays. You can too, if you'd like to stay over with me when break starts. I know with your family—"
"I'd love to," Sirius interrupted. He grinned and joked, "But only for your mum's sweets."
"Of course."
Lily tried to hide a smile at that interaction. Even though she hated James and Sirius separately. They did have a unique and strong friendship, even after knowing each other for less than a year.
Sometimes, she felt their friendship was stronger than hers and Severus, even though she and Severus had known each other for longer. The two of them used to be closer, but after Severus was sorted into Slytherin... he seemed different. Almost like he was avoiding her. She hated to believe that he was not seeing her because Slytherins didn't interact with muggle-borns, especially Gryffindor muggle-borns. She refused to believe it, in fact, and still kept trying to reach out to her dear friend.
Finishing her breakfast, but still with a queasy and slightly hungry stomach, Lily made her way to her first class of the day, when she heard the pattering of footsteps behind her.
Turning around, she saw James running towards her.
"Evans!"
"Yes, Potter?" Lily asked, not completely unkindly.
James held out something wrapped in a napkin and offered it to her.
Lily looked at it and then back at him. "Is this a trap? Are you taking my advice of not pranking the Slytherins and are pranking me instead?"
James sighed, ruffling his hair. "Just take it, Evans."
Lily reached out carefully and took the napkin. When she unwrapped it, she saw it was a piece of—
"Treacle tart." Lily held it up to her nose and smelled the heavenly scent of lemony sweet goodness. "These are my favorite!"
"I know." James grinned. "I saved the last one for you."
Lily looked at him in surprise. "But you hardly got any! I can't take it." She tried giving it back.
"It's fine, Evans. Really. It would make me lot happier if you had it. Think of it as an apology for coming five minutes late to detention and having us miss dinner."
Lily and James both knew that even if James did come on time, they still would have missed dinner by a long shot, but neither decided to bring that up.
"Are you sure you want me to have your last sweet?"
"I am absolutely positive."
Lily pursed her lips, but her desire to try the sweet took over and she took a bite. "Holy Merlin, this is amazing!"
Maybe James wasn't so bad after all, she was kind of starting to like him as a person. That's strange…
James proudly said, "I knew you'd like it," then he grinned sneakily, "And it was laced with love potion so now you have to go out with me."
"What?" Lily shrieked and tried to spit out whatever treacle tart she still had in her mouth.
"I'm just kidding, Lilykins." James held his hands to his stomach as he laughed. "But I had you going for a second, didn't I? Now that would have been an epic prank."
"You complete arse!" She smacked him. "You made me spit out the most wonderful dessert in the world because I thought you poisoned me!"
"Relax, Evans!" James tried to shrink away from Lily's arms, "My mum will send more over later! I would never forcefully make you fall in love with me. That just takes the fun out of it. But pranking you, I didn't even think about it until you reminded me."
Lily crossed her arms and stepped back. "I didn't like that prank," she stated bluntly.
"Then I'll have to try better next time."
"You do that," Lily harrumphed and made her way to her next class leaving a happy James in her wake, still laughing at his own joke.
When Lily sat at her seat and waited for class to start, she took out her journal and began writing.
Deer Journal,
Get it? Deer? Like dear, but deer the animal. I don't know. Potter has gotten deer into my head lately.
Honestly, Potter, in general, has been stuck in my head lately and it's so annoying!
I had detention with him yesterday. I won't get into the details, but ugh, I was so hungry and that made me get into a bad mood and then Potter was being Potter making me into get into an even bigger bad mood! And then I didn't even get dinner.
Speaking of food. Potter had a lot of food today at breakfast, and he shared it with everyone. Even me. Which I kind of wasn't expecting him to do.
It was really nice of him. I mean, he's still annoying and dumb, but I guess he's not as spoiled as I thought he was. He cares for his friends and he even invited Black over to live with him cause Black's parents are absolute trash.
So what I'm really trying to say is that my seventh reason why I hate Potter is now declared null and void.
Lily flipped to the page with the list of her reasons and dragged her finger down to the last reason and crossed it out.
—7—.—H-e-'-s—a—s-p-o-i-l-e-d—b-r-a-t—
Then she went back to her latest journal entry and continued writing.
This doesn't mean anything though! Even though James may not be as spoiled as I thought, there are still plenty of other reasons why he's a horrible person!
Trust me, I have 6 more reasons why I hate James Potter. And those reasons aren't going away anytime soon.
Author's Note: Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed Year 1! Thank you so much to the people who reviewed, favorited, and followed!
Love you guys!