Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. Heck, the character I made up is based after a friend. If I owned Romeo and Juliet, I'd be dead. Because Shakespeare lived a couple centuries ago.
A/N: Hey all! This is the author talking to you. Do you see that pretty bluish button at the end of the story? Well, I named him Bob. And Bob is lonely and needs a friend. So click on him and write a blurb on how much you LOVE this story and Bob will give you a cookie. And who doesn't love that? Flames are OK if they're justified. But if you have bad news, tell me in a happy way to make it seem less bad. Yes, I even got the idea of that from Romeo and Juliet. Now before I bore you to tears, here's chapter two!
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The next day, James saw Lily sitting in the Head's common room, reading on the couch. Seizing this moment of calm serenity, he went over.
"What brings you here today Lily?" James asked, genuinely curious.
"Shakespeare." Lily said, not looking up from her book. "Angela mentioned it and I couldn't get it out of my head since."
"Which one are you reading? He wrote thirty seven plays you know." James said looking at the gold lettering on the cover.
"Romeo and Juliet. His most beautiful work in my opinion."
"Well, personally, I found it too fast paced for my liking. Had it taken place over, say, a month, it may have been more believable."
Lily put down the book and scrutinized James. "You read Romeo and Juliet?"
"Yes. Two households both alike in dignity in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge breaks new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. I didn't read it, I was in it. Potter family tradition. Every summer, we put on a Shakespearean play. A few years ago, I was Mercutio. But since my mother is obsessed with it, we're putting it on this summer too. But I don't have a Juliet to bring home this year. Yet another tradition. When we do a love story, the lead male lead brings home his girlfriend. I, alas, have no Juliet this year. My cousin Rodolphus brought his girlfriend, Bellatrix home. Oh well. My mother can get over the shame of having the only Romeo without a Juliet in six generations. I'll just be shunned from my family and forced to move in with Sirius and rot there."
"James. Would you, by any chance, want me to be your Juliet this year?" Lily said, already knowing the answer.
"Why Lily! I hadn't given that a thought! But if you insist." James said in fake astonishment. Lily rolled her eyes and realized what she had agreed to. She was going to play James's lover in one of the most timeless love tragedies of all time. "We will have to reherse and that would involve going home with me over summer break."
"Then I have a letter to write." Lily said as she got up and left.
When he was sure she was gone, he turned to the corner of the room and Sirius came out from underneath James's Invisibility cloak. "Told you I could get her to do it."
"Damn. You must be good."
"I am, aren't I? Is it all set for you to come to 'Verona' this summer Mercutio?"
"Yes Romeo. You emo dude."
"For the last time! Romeo is NOT emo!"
"He's moping over some other girl. Then he kills himself. Sounds emo to me." James bit his thumb. Sirius feigned offense. "You foul Montegue! Have at thee!" Sirius tackled James to the ground.
"Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? We need to reherse!" Lily called from the stairs. "What are you doing?"
"Non canon fight with Mercutio." James said simply. "Is it the balcony scene already?"
"We could just do Romeo's death scene and be done with it!" Lily shouted. "In fact, if you're on stuff that didn't actually happen, I'll just kill you myself!"
"Hilarious. What you should know is we do a walking interactive show. The stage is my entire manor, so the first week of break we spend just redecorating. Since we can all use magic and we have extra hands for longer, it shouldn't take as long. This means yes, you will be in my room. Get over it. And it's a mess. Again, get over it." James explained. "You would be staying in the guest room. Down the hall from mine."
"Whatever. Can we get to practice?" Lily asked impatiently. In truth, Lily couldn't wait to start and was excited at the prospect of perfoming such a beautiful piece of work, with James. 'NO! You do not like James. You are doing this so he'll leave you alone and for no other reason. The many kisses that occur in this mean nothing and he is still an arrogant prick.' "On secod thought. I need to rewrite that letter to my parents. Be right back." Lily raced up the stairs and sat on her bed to edit the letter to her parents. It read something like this when it was done:
Dear Mum and Dad,
I'm going home to James's for a while over break. He needs my help with something and I said I'd do it. I miss you guys! Everything's awesome here. Nothing special to report other than my absence for a couple of weeks. We're putting on Romeo and Juliet and it's at Potter Manor in Godric's Hollow if you want to see it. I can't see James having a problem with you coming. I'll write about dates and times and everything. I hope you can come! Write back soon if you have any problems with me going. I assure you, James is a respectable, decent, kind, dashing, chivalrous, knight in shining armor. Haha. Kidding. But he is nice. And Sirius and Remus and Angela are coming I think. I really don't know much. It's an interactive show so you get to see the entire manor. I hear it's lovely. The way James describes it. And he said we're going to redecorate the entire thing. He actually has an ivy covered balcony for act 2! But I said too much. I'll see you when I see you.
Best,
Lily
P.S: Mum. I think I like this one. He's kinda special. Dad, don't scare this one away please!
Lily sighed and wondered how she could buy herself more time alone. She heard a crash and ran down the stairs. Sirius was laying on the floor laughing uproariously while James was just kinda standing there. Lily looked at them confused.
"Should I even ask?" Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips.
""No. You do not want to know. All's you need to know is one word. Sugar. And lots of it." James said, looking puposeful and resigned.
Lily looked aghast from the now rolling Sirius to the disappointed James and said "No. He didn't..."
"Yeah. He put one too many sugar cubes in his morning coffee and now he's a rolling lump of useless lard. And he's supposed to be Mercutio. Poor sap."
"I like pie! I want to be a squirrel! Can I have some cheese? I like pie!" Sirius said laughing "Who are you? Who who who who?"
"God save us all." Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Do we need him to reherse?"
"Yeah. When you and I have scenes with other characters, this loser takes the other characters place. Then we all rotate so we all have it memorized. I guess we'll have a high friar. But oh well."
Lily and James started practicing Romeo and Juliet with a high Sirius. The scenes went something like this:
"O Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo!" Lily called from her place on the stairs that served as the balcony.
"He's right here lady! God! Open your eyes! You say you love this guy, but you can't recognize him when you see him? What's up with that?" Sirius called up at her.
"Sirius, that means 'Why are you Romeo?' Not 'Where are you Romeo?'!" James called from his postition behind a chair. "And it's only Romeo and Juliet in this scene. Not to mention she's not supposed to know I'm here. Then she gets all pissed off that I am, but that goes away pretty quickly. Then she says she loves me and everything is all happy inside. Until they die. Which we're rehersing next."
"Why? I'm in no hurry." Lily said worriedly. "We don't have to practice that now. I mean-"
"You've got to get used to me kissing you otherwise it won't work. It's nothing, purely professional. But I know how you get." James expalined calmly. "But no offense."
"None taken. I guess." Lily said nervously. "Shall we continue?"
"We shall. Look how she leans her hand on her cheek. O that I were a glove on that hand that I may touch that cheek!" James recited.
"Ay me!" Lily said, like a perfect Juliet.
"Argh! I'm a pirate! Fear me and my swashbuckling awesomeness!" Sirus shouted in his drunken stupor. "I am the feared pirate Daddy Longlegs!"
"Sirius. There are no pirates in Romeo and Juliet. Now stick to the script!" James shouted exasperatedly. "Perhaps we should get Angela in here."
"Good idea. I'll get her. She's still in Defense." Lily offered. She noticed James's eyes follow her as she descended the steps. Little did he know, her eyes were following him as she left.
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A/N: It's me again! Remeber Bob and his cookies! And if you liked this, check out my other stories in the meantime. This may be a long update. And remember the blue button. And if you're colorblind, sorry. I think it's a light gray.