Title: How to Handle a Roommate Mediation (by Lily Evans and James Potter)
Disclaimer: Do not own the characters or the world.
Also, this is not based on any real life story or person.
A/N: Right, sometimes, I imagine Heads at Hogwarts are like Resident Advisers. That have to deal with Roommate mediation. I thought it was funny. Hope you do too! Also, I feel like to stress that this is fiction.
ENJOYYYY!
Dear Rob Stevens:
It's Lily Evans again – I'm assuming that my previous letters have gotten lost in the mail (you are unbelievably talented and I'm guessing that you get a ton of fan mail every day!). But, I thought I'd send you another letter in regards to my cover letter and resume submission. It would be a real honor to work with you!
Please let me know about your decision. If not, I'll be at your concert in London over my winter break! Very excited to see you play for the second time.
Respectfully,
Lily Evans
There was a lot that Lily Evans could boast about with her position as Head Girl.
She was timely with getting incident reports in with exquisite detail; despite Professor McGonagall's lack of appreciation towards her ability (and let's be honest, pure talent) to describe the lighting on the walls and how the shadows danced while the students carried on with their illegal duel. Professor McGonagall has repeatedly told her to stick to the facts. Lily was also organized with the Prefects rounds time tables and their meeting agendas were always nicely written out in cursive by hand (so James may have walked in on her charming some quills, but same thing!). She had no problem in stopping a duel (honestly, she shouldn't say this, but playing the power card is always the best).
The only thing that can make her heart stop, stomach drop, and blood turn icy cold in hery veins was a roommate mediation request. Which was exactly what this 5th year Gryffindor (Helen? May? Oh Merlin) just stormed in into the Head's Office and requested.
"You-you want a roommate mediation?" Lily asked stupidly while turning her head to the side, hoping that she wasn't doing that nervous grin with her mouth.
The girl nodded vigorously and took a seat at the chair in front of her (and James' if one was being technical) desk.
"It has gotten so bad in the room! I can hardly do any work with Mary's music playing or Susan's need to go to bed so early or Helen's need to just turn on all the bloody lights at 6 AM for her stupid Quidditch practice." The mystery girl took a deep breath as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "We need a roommate mediation. As soon as possible." She said curtly, almost daring Lily to disagree with her. Because, obviously, as Head Girl and a 7th year student Lily had no life other than to serve the school. Which was, of course, a noble and prestigious title to hold. Except for roommate requests. That was part of the job that Lily detested.
Lily took a shaky breath and prayed that her knobby knees didn't buckle as she sat down. "Right. Well. James and I will be in contact-"
"James? James Potter will be there?" The girl asked, clearly annoyed with her nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Yes. James will be there to help moderate the discussion." Lily said quietly, fiddling with a strand of her own hair. A give away to her nerves.
The girl just slumped back on her seat with her arms crossed and her head turned to the side as she huffed through her nostrils. "Can't it just be you? I'm sure with Helen's relationship with James that he'll be all biased and stuff." The girl said hotly.
This time, Lily's eyebrows shot straight up. While James and Lily could have long conversations about everything and nothing… their love lives were unusually quiet. Mostly because Lily felt that her fictional relationship with Rob Stevens would only make James laugh and Lily had a strong suspicion that James might feel weird to talk to Lily about his love life, on account of that unfortunate time period when all that James did was ask Lily out. Also, the two were incredibly busy that Lily would be astounded if either of them had time for a real relationship with someone.
So when this mysterious girl just drops a hint that James may or may not have a relationship with Helen, well, obviously it piqued Lily's interest.
Lily gave a girl a tight smile before replying evenly. "No. He won't. He's been trained in conflict mediation and I can guarantee you that we'll both be as neutral as Switzerland." Lily said brightly, as she eyed the clock to her right
She didn't want to exactly pressure this girl but she did have class in five minutes across the castle. And it was with Professor McGonagall, not exactly the warmest of spirits with tardiness.
The girl just rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I guess if he has to be there then what choice do I have." She muttered darkly, clearly upset by James involvement.
Lily just nodded my head, hoping it conveyed her sympathetic nature of Head Girl. "Yes. Well, I'll have to get in contact with your roommates and I'll be contact you all via owls. There will be instructions and I suggest that you have a talk with them that you've requested a mediation after this meeting." Lily said curtly, while slowly raising out of her chair and grabbing her bag. Praying to Merlin that the girl had enough common sense to understand that Lily needed to get out of this office. Like, now.
"When will we do the mediation? I have class till 6 today and if have to do it tomorrow – "
"I'll owl you about the times!" Lily said hurriedly, walking quickly around the desk as the clock tick closer to class time. Thankfully, the girl actually followed me out as Lily locked the door.
"Must be nice to have your own office." The girl said, somewhat, kindly giving Lily a tight smile.
"It is." Lily said sweetly, waving her wand to lock the door. "Anyways, you'll get an owl later today! Bye now!" Lily said before hoisting my bag and sprinting towards the other end of the hallway.
"You're late Ms. Evans." Professor McGonagall said curtly as Lily opened the door. Lily immediately flushed as everyone and their mothers seemed to have turned their head around and the entire class was filled with the scrapping of chairs. Brilliant. Plus, James Potter had that awful smirk.
Honestly, so she was late once, not as if that gave him the right to smile like that at her.
"Sorry. I had to deal with a-uh student." Lily mumbled as she grabbed a seat in the back.
Professor McGonagall nodded before continuing with her lecture. It wasn't until Lily had unloaded her books, quills, and parchment that there was already a hastily scrawled note on her desk.
Lily Evans late? Oh, the joys of this moment! How red you were! I wish I had a camera!
Lily looked up to see James wink before chuckling a bit in his hands. But she merely smiled to myself because if anyone else hated roommate mediations… it was James.
Biting down on her lower lip, Lily wrote down her own message.
Haha, guess who has to do a roommate mediation this week?
Lily looked up in time to see James' eyes widen before he pursed his lips as if he'd rather be doing anything else. He gave her a dirty look before replying.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Lily just snorted at the response. It wasn't as if James was known for his eloquent word choice (Professor McGonagall often complained about his lack of detail in incident reports. Not that Lily read Professor McGonagall's comments on James' report or anything.
Okay, maybe once.
Or twice.
Or all the time.
Yup. It's those fifth years in Gryffindors – the one that has Helen?
Lily looked up in time to see James wrinkle his nose.
Right. She's talked to me about that situation… not very nice what the others have done.
Lily shot a questionable look to James, scrunching up her eyebrows as Professor McGonagall droned on.
She's waking up the room at 6 AM…
For good reason Lily! With Heads and courses that's one of the few times that everyone can make it to practices! What about Julie's inability to pick up herself?
Lily felt particularly angry as she wrote the next line.
James! It was Julie who came to me! We cannot take sides! You're Head Boy.
I still have a heart.
Right. Well, I need to pay more attention but let's meet after classes at five at the office to mail them the letters. Okay?
Do we have to? They can't really fire us for not doing this…
Let's not test it.
Merlin, let's hope we survive it.
Precisely after 5, Lily was sitting at the Head's desk with James' hunched over her as she wrote the note in a particular fashion. He often huffed when Lily paused or crossed something out or made any thinking noise (he especially didn't like it when she sighed and lean back on the chair). By the third time she did this, he let out his own huff and threw his hands in the air.
"Look, Lils, I get that you want to write beautifully but I really have to meet up with Padfoot-"
"James! We need to send out this owl before this evening! And we need to make sure that they're aware of the ground rules!" Lily snapped as James wondered over to the chair on the other side of the desk, plopping himself down.
"And what are these ground rules?" James asked in a bored tone, pulling out that damn snitch and letting it buzz around his head lazily.
Lily just rolled her eyes. "Remembering to use I statements, examples of said I statements, what they should bring to the meeting, and our roles in it." Lily rattled off as James nodded his head, and Lily couldn't help but pause for a second.
If this roommate mediation was going to be fair, she had to ask James about his love life. And make sure that there was nothing going on between Helen and him. I mean, for Head purposes and nothing more.
"James." Lily asked, her eyes very focused on the letter in front of her while biting on the quill.
"Lily." James replied evenly.
"There's nothing… I mean, well, there was some hint that you and Helen may be involved and are you?"
"Involved?"
"Romantically." Lily muttered, trying very hard not to blush from head to toe.
James just laughed, and Lily couldn't help but to look up and just feel so happy. It was great because James could take an objective approach on this whole matter. No need to worry about his emotions getting involved at all.
"Why Lily? Would it make you jealous?" James asked arrogantly before throwing a wink in her direction.
Lily rolled her eyes. "No. Just would have been hurt if you didn't tell me about your love life or a potential girlfriend or a friend with snogging rights."
James gave a heavy sigh. "Nope. No girlfriend. Not even one with potential and no friend with 'snogging rights'. My love life is as exciting as a History of Magic class." James mumbled under his breath. "What about you Lily? Anything exciting going on?"
Lily smirked, "Why, would it make you jealous?" Lily said before laughing at her own joke. James, the wit completely lost on him, just rolled his eyes.
"Har, har, very funny. But really, anything happening with you?"
Lily let out a small sigh. "Nope, nothing exciting in my life. Romantically that is. As far as major events, I've sent the second follow up letter to Rob Stevens."
James wrinkled his nose, "A follow up letter? For what?"
"Oh, did I not tell you?" Lily asked, biting on the quill as James narrowed his eyes at her.
"Tell me what?"
Lily let out a sigh. While she's had some odd ideas, this is by far the strangest of them all. And it was an idea that came to her after seeing Rob Stevens play for the first time live. And after a night of drinking. Granted, she didn't actually mail the things until she had sobered up but by then, what did she have to lose?
Except her dignity.
"Well. I sent Rob Stevens my cover letter and resume in case he was looking for a new assistant." Lily said confidently, quickly adding a few sentences as James looked at her (or how she assumed) with his jaw hanging by the hinges.
"You're mad. You did not-"
"Oh yes I did. I figured if I didn't get into the Auror Academy then – "
"Wait, wait. Your backup plan for if you don't get into the Auror Academy isn't to do something sensible or incredibly boring but to be some assistant to a rockstar?" James asked incredulously.
Lily rolled her eyes, before exclaiming "Yes!" as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole world (which it was, clearly James needed to get his brain checked. Hasn't he heard Rob Steven's music lately?).
I mean, yes, it was a tad far stretched. But fate works in mysterious ways and she was all about chance and luck. And good things happening to those who wait.
James shook his head in disbelief. "And people thing I'm the crazy one in this duo."
"Hey, you applied to be an assistant to that ridiculous qudditch team-"
"Okay, first of all it's for the Wimbourne Wasps, honestly Lily, did you learn nothing from that Qudditch presentation I made especially for you?" James burst out rather hotly which Lily thought was absurd.
Granted, Lily did pay attention during the first presentation that James made about Quidditich. She did think she should make the effort to learn about a sport that she knew very little of outside of the walls of Hogwarts. However, James had multiple presentations that were bursting with statistics and play-by-play bits and lots of fouls and Lily honestly got lost after the first twenty minutes.
Plus, when James was engaged in something such as Qudditich, his speaking speed doubles. So it was harder to follow him. And, his hand motions and running from one side of the room to the other also made things confusing. James, in general, was a confusing human being.
But most important of all, and the reason why Lily gave up on learning about Qudditich, was the fact that James fell asleep the one time Lily was ranting about the FIFA World Cup and how it was utterly idiotic that England had lost to sodding Italy for qualifications. Not that she was bitter about the England thing or the James thing… but it did influence her decision to sleep or not to sleep during James' presentations.
James, clearly thought different. "I actually have a shot at getting that job if my application is chucked out of the Auror Academy!" James exclaimed wildly, as Lily just continued to roll her eyes. And James took this as a challenge and stood up to start his pacing.
"Okay, well, I have contacts there. I also am captain of the Quidditch team. That one time, Patel even commented on my flying skills…"
And Lily couldn't take it any longer. Because James Potter was going to get into the Auror Academy without a doubt. Whereas Lily's application could easily get chucked out.
"Come off it! You're going to get into the Auror Academy! You have the highest grades in Transfiguration! Professor McGonagall wrote you letter of recommendation-"
"Professor Dumbledore wrote yours-"
"You're captain of the Quidditch team-"
"You're Head Girl-"
"You're Head Boy-"
"You're the smartest with Potions and Charms-"
"You're a pureblood."
And James quickly shut his mouth, shoved his hands in his pockets, and stared down at his feet. Lily concentrated very hard on the parchment's corner, as it was slightly bent. Because she couldn't handle looking at James right now.
While Lily pretended that her blood status didn't concern her at all, it did very much. She often felt like she walking in the hallway with a target on her back and a sign on her forehead that was flashing, "Muggle-Born". It was hard to silence the whispers in the hallways and more than once she had someone challenge her authority because she was a mudblood. She tried to pay no attention to the rumours that she only got her position because Professor Dumbledore needed to show that he trusted muggle-borns, so why not make the Head Girl one? She's heard more than once that she took the spot of a pureblood. That wasn't truly qualified to be a Head Girl and that she was only given to her for statistical and symbolical purposes.
Again, she tried not to think about those things but at night when room was quiet and Marlene was snoring slightly and Lily cannot toss or turn into a position to sleep, her demons come out to play with her insecurities.
"They won't throw out your application because of that." James said quietly, taking a seat again.
Lily looked up to see that James had finally raised his own head to meet hers. "Lily, you're the smartest witch our year. So many of the professors brag about you! Look at Slughorn or Dumbledore! And granted," here James hesitated and ran a hand through his hair, "the ministry for magic is becoming corrupt by you know who… but you're applying to the auror division where Barty Crouch is head-he'll make sure that no muggle-born applicants are thrown out without a fair chance. I mean, there is still that chance that you'll get discriminated but… you've still got a shot." James said with such an earnest face that Lily couldn't help but smile.
"We better get back to the letter." Lily muttered quietly, drawing her eyes down to the words and letting the quill do the work while James just nodded.
"We better set a time, how about tomorrow at 8?" James asked and Lily agreed and wrote the time down, hoping that they were all free.
They weren't and it was made very clear later that evening. Of course, since Lily was smart and sensible she left the office right after they sent the letters. And for once, Lily got the exquisite detail of a play by play when James Potter came marching into the library and slammed a piece of paper in front of Lily's desk. There were some hushing but James gave them a harsh look which prompted several hushers to quiet down.
"They are all metnal." James hissed, sliding into the chair next to him and wringing his hands through his hair. "They are all so mental" he repeated, still massaging his scalp.
Lily leaned back and crossed her arms. "I told you, Mr. "Helen is the reasonable one"" Lily whispered back, looking over her shoulder to make sure that no students were near by. This was highly unprofessional. But highly satisfying.
James placed his palms on the table and gave Lily a wide eyed look. "I just… I just don't get it! How could you be so upset over a time change? And they wanted to do it right then and I told them no and then Susan piped up that you would be biased because Julie came to talk to you-"
"She called me biased?" Lily hissed out suddenly, snarling a tad. Because she didn't take it lightly when people assumed things about the Head Girl position. Like how she would be easily swayed by crying or would be willing to discriminate against some houses or whatever.
James nodded, his lips pursed. "Yeah. And then, I told her that we were trained to be neutral and that we can all get this done. And moved the meeting time."
"To when?" Lily asked and saw that James started to fidget about in his seat and ruffled a hand through his hair. Lily immediately narrowed her eyes and leaned forward on the table.
"James." She whispered threateningly and there was no mistaking it that James Potter was looking everywhere and anywhere else other than Lily. "When are we meeting them?" Lily asked and heard James loudly swallow.
"In a half hour. In the head's office."
"BLOODY MERLIN!" Lily exclaimed, slamming her hand down on the table. Of course, the hushers piped up and Lily had to remind herself that throwing things was unacceptable.
"You're a prick James Potter, you're the world's biggest prick." Lily snarled at him as she started throwing things haphazardly in her bag. She heard a snap (probably her quill) and heard the parchment crinkle (that'll need some straightening charms) but it didn't matter because James Potter was the world's biggest prick.
"What was the one thing I asked of you earlier this semester James? What was it?" Lily snapped at him as she shut her bag closed.
James winced. "'To keep you in the loop. And to communicate with you to make decisions.'" James said, was he stood up with her to argue his case better. "But look, Lily, you don't understand! They were all yelling at one another and I thought one was going to cry and I was just so flustered! What am I supposed to do?!" James whispered, he shook his hands for emphasis.
"You tell them to shut it in polite terms and get them to agree on a sodding time that isn't within the next twelve hours!" Lily snapped as she started speed walking. Hurried footsteps let her know that James was right behind her.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do and I thought that since we're both free-"
"I am not free." Lily snapped, turning on her heel to angrily jab her finger into James' chest. Quite honestly, it hurt her finger more than she hurt James (that boy was far too bony, didn't he know how to lift some weights or eat?). "I have an entire potions essay to write and I've barely started. I was already planning on staying up all night! This is making me stay up to the early hours of the morning!" Lily hissed, before returning to her angry walk that only made her calves hurt.
"I'm sorry!" James whispered frantically, easily keeping up with her hurried steps. Damn that boy and his long legs. "I assumed that you finished that essay last week! Why are you so late to turn it in?"
At this, Lily slowed down, trying to think of any good excuse that did not involve 'Rob Stevens' or 'obsessively listening to his new album' or 'writing countless letters that were never sent'. Because, honestly, some people experience seventh-year-itis quite differently than others. Some may find it appropriate to get drunk every weekend. Lily chose to write semi-love letters to a famous rock star. And get drunk.
It was all quite relative.
"I was busy! Look, let's just get this over with." She said hurriedly, waving her wand to open the Heads' office door. She quickly chucked her bag in the corner and started pulling out the chairs from midair to form the proper formation for the mediation. James went to work on the desk, tidying it up and trying to give the general appearance that him and Lily were neat, organized people and not complete slobs.
And it seemed like only minutes when Lily heard the first knocks on the doors.
"Can we come in? Or do you need more time?" Julie asked, eyeing the two Heads with the utmost judgement on her face.
Lily tried very hard not to snarl or to have that ugly look of contempt on her face. Instead, she smiled and gestured to the seats. "Take one!" She said brightly as James pointed his wand to the door to have it shut.
They hesitantly walked to the chairs and nervously sat down. One started biting her nails, the other crossed her arms, the third twisted her hair, and the fourth simply stared off into space as if she had no idea what she was doing there.
Lily turned to James and gave a huge sigh that roughly translated it: This isn't going to be fun….
James pushed his eyeglasses up which was the universal sign of him agreeing. Grimly smiling at one another, the two took their spots at the head of the circle while the other girls gingerly sat down.
Lily was quick to write down the body languages of the girls. James saw what she was writing and gave her the 'You're utterly mad' look which only prompted Lily to shrug her shoulders as she swung her feet. She had read a book about how body language was very important to note during a mediation. Granted, the book was talking about high crisis situations in politics but no reason not to apply it in a good old roommate mediation. Same thing really.
Lily cleared her throat, "We are all here this evening to do a roommate mediation. Now, I know that some of you have talked to either James or I and I want to ensure everyone here that we are only here as mediators. I am assuming that all of you have received letters stating the ground rules and using of 'I' statements." Lily said sternly as she looked at the four girls who were shifting slightly in their seats. "How this will work is that this will only take up an hour, and we're going to go around in the circle and see what exactly is bothering everyone using I statements. James and I will help facilitate the conversation and I will be taking notes to draw up a roommate agreement for all of you."
Everyone nodded, including James which Lily had to slightly hit with her elbow because obviously he wasn't participating in the roommate mediation as the girls were.
James was just about to open his mouth when Mary raised her hand, James' eyebrows shot up and pointed to her. "Do you have any questions or comments Mary?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yes. I was wondering if I could start?" She said briskly, and before James could even agree she started talking.
"I called for this mediation because I'm going crazy in this room. It's absolutely barbaric how the rest of you live-"
"I thought we were supposed to use I-Statements?" Helen cut in nastily, throwing a dirty look at Mary.
Mary rolled her eyes and let out a buff of angry air, "Alright, 'I' am frustrated and angry over the fact that someone feels the need to wake up the entire dorm at 6 AM…"
"Merlin Mary, why don't you just out and say it that you're angry over the fact that Helen makes a lot of noise in the morning?" Susan piped in, leaning in towards her chair.
"I make a ton of noise in the morning? Noting can compare to Miss Julie's hour long talks with the sixth years in our room!" Helen snapped back before taking on a very nasty (yet accurate) imitation of Julie's voice, "Merlin's beard! Did you hear about Sirius Black? Isn't he so dreamy with his hair? Do you think he'll be at the party? Should I wear my black dress? What tights should I wear? Do you think he'll notice me? Ohhh! I hope so I'd just love to-"
Julie's face reddened and she wrinkled her nose in pure anger as Helen went on and right before Helen was going to finish her sentence, Julie barked out laughing.
"I'm bad? At least I'm not sending off owls to a certain captain about anything or everything just to get a chance to talk to him-"
Oh, Merlin.
Helen snarled her next words, "You little bi-"
"I get really annoyed when Mary plays Rob Stevens' newest single on repeat for two hours. I would really appreciate it if you put in headphones or lower the volume." Susan said quickly, her eyes looking between Mary and Helen and Julie, her breathing slightly elevated.
Which was no shock considering what a disaster the conversation was. It was barely minutes in and the girls were ready to tear each other's throats out. And Lily had to try to wipe off that scared look on her face (which she sure she wore) and even James had a deer in headlights look with the girls fighting.
"Um, so, um, Mary – Susan is suggesting an alternative to your Rob Stevens obsession… would you agree to using headphones? Or lowering the volume?" James said nervously, messing his hair up in the back as Mary rolled her eyes and leaned back.
"I guess so." She muttered bitterly as Lily wrote down the agreement on another sheet.
"And, uh, Julie, it seems like your roommates are having a hard time… concentrating? When you're having your animated conversations with your friends-"
"Oh! That's not allowed now? To have conversations in my own damn room?" Julie snapped back angrily before plunging on. "It's my room too! I should be able to do whatever I want in it…"
"We all have to make some sort of compromise…" Susan said quietly before Julie rounded on her.
"Oh! And would you be willing to go to sleep later?"
And that's when Susan started biting her lips, "I need to sleep early! Otherwise, I'm a mess in the morning! Just because you're terrible at time management-"
And that's when Helen cut in, "Ah, yes, no one can be perfect like Susan…" She trailed off and she laughed at her own cruel joke while Susan sucked in a deep rattling breath. And that's when Lily realized that Susan had tears brimming in her eyes.
Bloody Merlin and his left trouser pants.
"I'm not perfect! I just have my routines! Just because my life isn't a complete mess of gossips and blokes and-"
"No one asked for your opinion St. Susan." Julie snapped, rolling her eyes (something that she did a lot Lily put in her notes), "Look." Julie said, slapping her hands on her thighs. "I called for this mediation because I get woken up by Helen every morning, yelled at by Susan every evening to quiet down and go bonkers when Mary listens to Rob Stevens on repeat – I mean really, Mary, Rob Stevens?!" Julie said nastily, which Lily made sure to write down (mostly that Julie has different music tastes that may or may not be incorrect), "Can we please figure out something to settle our messes?" Julie asked, looking at everyone in the group.
And that's when, as Lily would write later in the report, all hell broke loose with flames and demons and the devil himself as the girls started screaming at one another. Susan started crying and hyperventilating, Helen kept snarling, Julie kept rolling her eyes and Mary just started yelling over everyone.
And then there was a series of bells ringing which signified the end of the hour. All were silent, breathing heavily as Susan sniffed.
Lily took a deep breath, "Well, um, clearly we will need some more mediation sessions before we resolve the problems in this room. But, I think, I think this is a good start, yeah?" She asked questioningly as Helen was the one to roll her eyes. Lily pretended not to notice and looked down at her notes. "We at least resolved the fact that, uh, Mary will use headphones or lower the volumes while listening to her music, yes?" And Mary nodded with her lips pursed.
"Right. Uh, Lily and I will be in contact with you tomorrow with this… tentative roommate agreement and settling for a new time. Next week. No sooner than that. Lots of… Head duties this week." James mumbled as the girls started filing out of the room, with the exception of Helen.
"James? Do you mind if I talk to you later tonight privately about this mediation?" She asked hopefully, her eyelashes batting while placing a gentle hand on James' arm and flicking her hair like some desperate heroine which was completely inappropriate if anyone asked Lily.
"Uh, well, I need to," James quickly looked at Lily, his eyes large, "to figure some things out with Lily. But how about tomorrow? Before quidditch practice? I can meet you on the pitch like… twenty minutes earlier to discuss?"
Helen looked a tad sad at first (which I Lily mentally figured the score was 1:0, to Lily) before perking up (the score remained the same even if Helen thought differently). "Sounds perfect! See you tomorrow!" She said happily, before strutting out of the room and giving James a quick smile before shutting the door shut.
Well, Lily never really liked Helen anyways.
"That was a complete disaster." Lily said bitterly, throwing her notes on the table, before collapsing in a chair.
"It was." James nodded in agreement, before opening the drawers and searching around in them.
"What are you trying to find?" Lily asked, peeking over the desk.
"My flask. I figured that hiding a stash of firewhiskey in this room would probably be genius." James muttered, as he opened the middle drawer. Lily's eyebrows merely raised a bit.
"That is so inappropriate."
"You're telling me you don't want a drink now?" James asked, slamming the middle drawer before opening the last one.
"Oh no, I definitely want to drink something right now." Lily muttered as James yelled out something triumphed before waving the silver flask in the air.
"We are terrible at our jobs James." Lily said sadly as she stared at the notes on the desk as James took a swig from the flask and practically choked on the liquid (honestly, that boy needs a chaser a lot of the times).
"I mean, honestly, who failed so fantastically at a stupid roommate mediation? Sirius could probably do a better job then we did… I mean, he'd probably crack a joke, make them relax, and then do some voodoo magic. Probably a calming charm, which is technically unethical in this position to use but really, if it works it works?" Lily muttered as James tried to take another swig, and was able to get the liquid down his throat without coughing.
At least there were some successes that night.
Lily let out a sigh as she let her hand out for the flask to fall into, sniffing gingerly at the firewhiskey, her nose wrinkled.
"What brand is this James?" She asked suspiciously, eyeing the flask as James shrugged his shoulders.
"I want to say it's Wizard Whiskey but I have a feeling it's Drawhiskey-"
Lily let out a groan, "Are you bloody kidding me? Drawhiskey? Who the hell buys that stuff!?"
It was a perfectly valid question. Since Drawhiskey came in a plastic, cheap bottle with the worst cartoons of dragons on it. Plus, to make matters worse, Lily swore it gave the worst hangovers the day afterwards (even if you drank water and ate food and did all the normal stuff). Lily and her friends theorized it was because you got so drunk so quickly that the alcohol had a hard time leaving their system…
Anyways, to make a long (and rather disgusting) story short, the 7th year Girls swore off of Drawhiskey after Valentine's Day in 6th year when they were all either throwing up or just wishing their insides would come out. They spent three days hungover (a record for them) and could barely tolerate any foods that had the slightest bit of taste (Lily actually lost weight in those three days).
James ruffled his hair. "Sirius swears by it." And Lily rolled her eyes as she let the flask drop. Because despite the fact that every cell in her body was screaming, begging for some sort of alcohol… she couldn't even handle the taste of Drawhiskey anymore (a lesson learned, again, in March in her 6th year).
"I'll pass. We might as well start the incident report."
James groaned as he collapsed into a chair, burying his head in his hands. "Must we?"
"Yes." Lily said in an annoyed tone as she started to pull out the form. Hardly bothering to do her regular pretty cursive, she simply pushed the form with a quill to James to write.
"Alright." James said begrudgingly as he pulled the parchment and quill towards him and started to write.
"Head Boy James Potter and Head Girl Lily Evans were approached…" he muttered, and Lily groaned as she placed her weary head on the desk. It was going to be a long night.
"Done!" James yelled out excitedly, coming through the door as Lily looked up quickly from her essay. Considering James got them into the mess, he offered to file the incident report and send off follow-up letters. Lily tried very hard not to edit the incident report (except one line that she thought was quite necessary about Rob Stevens).
Lily let out a sigh of relief as she leaned back on the chair. "Good. Now we have some real work to do…" James gave her a small smile and settled down across from her.
They got a solid five minutes of work in when there was harsh knock on the door.
James flashed a confused look to Lily who merely shrugged her shoulder as James leaped to open the door. Lily's eyes widen as she saw Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway. Late at night. Looking very calm and very angry. Lily dropped her quill the same she exclaimed in surprise, "Professor McGonagall! What a pleasant surprise?" Lily tried to say confidently but could only shoot McGonagall a petrified look while trying locate her quill with her foot.
"Good evening you two, I've just received your incident report." She said quietly, walking in and closing the door behind her. She chuckled, which froze Lily's insides, "It seems like we've had similar nights."
"Pardon?" James stammered, hands clasped in front of him as Professor McGonagall gave him her famous tight smile.
Oh, fuck.
"You see, Susan was just in my office in regards to your… mediation?" She said quietly and Lily flushed. "Now, it is very, very rare that I get a student crying in my office in regards to roommate conflicts. I have been told in the past that I am far too 'cold'", she raised her eyebrows and Lily swore that her heart stopped, "to be supervising a mediation. Except for rare cases such as this one." Professor McGonagall finished, throwing a harsh look to James who looked like he couldn't care (his hands were shaking, that stupid prat).
"Now. I want you two to host another mediation as soon as possible. I do not want to see a single Gryffindor crying in my office for over an hour this late night unless it is for a transfiguration assignment."
"Oh, I think that can easily be arranged considering most of the 7th year Gryffindors are still struggling with your latest assignment." James said in light hearted manner as he ruffled his hair. Professor McGonagall only looked him up (James tried to look like he wasn't scared, but alas, that boy pales faster than Lily can blush) and down before turning her attention to Lily.
"We'll get it done. Tomorrow." Lily squeaked and Professor McGonagall nodded before striding out of the door and slamming it.
"I am the worst Head Girl ever!" Lily choked out, feeling her heart race and her head get a little woozy because who honestly gets the head of Gryffindor storming into the Head Office so late at night? Except for the fantastically awful head duo of James Potter and Lily Evans?
"Well… at least the whiskey wasn't out?" James offered uncertainly and Lily grimaced even more because what reasonable Head Girl and Boy drink on the job (well, she'll find out later that every Head does that at some point).
"We are the worst. I am the worst Head Girl. I should have handled that situation better!" Lily exclaimed, pushing herself from the desk and still breathing heavily until her heart stopped again that night. "Oh my god." She muttered under her voice and James took a deep breath because it took a lot for Lily to say 'Oh my god' rather than 'Oh Merlin'. "What if we get fired James?" Lily wailed as pure panic raced through her veins.
It wasn't unreasonable, in Lily Evans mind, that was a very real possibility. Considering that the mediation went awful. And the fact that it bothered Professor McGonagall. And the fact that James did a shoddy job on incident reports and Lily provided too much information and Professor McGonagall always seemed to be chasing them down over one thing or another and sometimes the prefects were disrespectful towards them. And what if they know about James drinking? Ohmygodohmygod. And what if Professor McGonagall secretly disagreed with how they handed out detentions? Was Lily not firm enough? Was James too relaxed? Oh god, she was getting fired and James…
James was doubled over in laughter as Lily shot him a look of fury.
"It's not funny! We could get fired!" Lily yelled out and James only howled in laughter again.
"Fired?! You think we could get fired because of this? I would say that you're drunk-"
"You don't think we could get fired? Huh? We could be the first! The cutting example for every Head! We'll be known as the complete idiots who got fired over a mediation!"
And James, realizing that Lily was not drunk or trying to be hilarious, quickly stopped laughing and gave Lily a pointed look. "For them to fire us, they'd have to pay us some sort of wage for this mad job. And we do not get a single sickle for our time-"
"Why should we!? It's an honor to serve this school!"
"You do realize that the house elves in the kitchen say the exact same thing, right?" James asked, raising his eyebrows while Lily flushed. "It doesn't matter! We could still get fired!"
James snorted. "For a botched up roommate mediation? No way. Those girls are more than a handful… I'd love to see someone else try to get a word in with all their bickering and insults. Can you imagine what Jacob Smith would have done? That kid would have probably stunned them all! And Elise Bower? No doubt she would have joined right in!" James almost yelled and Lily had to smile at the Jacob and Elise because even though those two would have been Heads if James and Lily had declined… well, they weren't the most adequate people for the job.
But Lily still believed that they could get fired over a botched up roommate mediation.
"Still James-"
"Lily." James said sternly as he walked over to the desk and Lily promptly shut her mouth since she knew that James meant business when he said her name as if it was an entire sentence.
"Here's what we're going to do." He instructed her while reading the letter she was going to send to the girls. "We are going to change this one line about our next meeting." He scratched something out and Lily hardly had the energy to tell him that it looked sloopy or unprofessional. "And we're going to send it." He grabbed the letter and went over to his owl who had magically flown in an hour earlier when the idea of sending a follow-up letter was brought up. "And we are going to work all night on our assignments and we are going to get perfect scores because we are intelligent human beings who do not get fired over dumb roommate mediations. And I will be making runs to the kitchen for coffee and pudding and crackers to help us through our midnight munchies." James said aggressively, opening the door a bit to have his owl fly out and following right after it.
And Lily sighed and looked down at her work, slightly wilting inside when she realized the hours of academic pain in front of her.
Dear Rob,
Hypothetical question, if a candidate (who is your biggest fan) for your assistant position is unfortunately fired from her current position… would you still look at her resume and consider her for the job?
Hypothetically of course.
Respectfully,
Anonymous
Lily suspected that James may have spiked the coffee with a calming draught (since her latest draft to Rob seemed completely ludicrous and full of anxious thoughts… which was odd since she was feeling so at ease right now).
Of course she wasn't going to get fired. But she was going to spend all night with a prat who got ink smudges on his nose every time he had an itch. The black dot on his nose got bigger and bigger with every tick of the clock…
At around 4AM, the two of them were close to being done with their assignments. Though they could have both finished their assignment in a more timely matter if they weren't. Instead, they were lying on the floor munching on treats, drinking coffee, and discussing important matters.
For Lily, it was the fact that James was going to meet up with Helen 20 minutes earlier for practice. I mean, he cannot become biased because of one meeting with sodding Helen. That would be unprofessional.
"How are you going to get up in time for Quidditch?" Lily asked, glancing at James who looked deadpanned at the plate of crackers, loudly chewing on one (thankfully with his mouth closed).
He merely shrugged his shoulders and gulped loudly before answering. "Magic. I don't know. It shouldn't take long… I'm hoping to just tell her that we've changed the meeting and that she should be honest and more sensitive towards the group tomorrow. And then take a nap. Maybe the team can practice and I 'observe' in the stands…" James trailed off and grabbing another cracker.
"You think Helen is that, erm, easily deterred?" Lily asked awkwardly, blushing slightly as James gave her a slightly pointed look.
"I'm hoping that me not throwing myself at her will be hint enough. And me not taking her side throughout this whole ordeal…" James sighed and turned his head to face Lily. "I don't know, what do you think?" He asked.
Lily blushed a little bit more. Because if she was being perfectly honest, rejecting people was not one of her strengths. She was excellent at hoping that they would get the hint and avoiding them as much as possible. She's been told that she should work on 'talking' to people when she wants space but that seemed a little too much work…
"Not sure. I mean. I think her crush on you is a little strong. Like, one of the ones where you either have to get a girlfriend or muster up the courage to tell her that you just don't like her."
"But I have to work with her on the quidditch team! I can't out right reject her… Can I get a fake girlfriend?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "A fake girlfriend? Merlin James, you do realize that you'll have to spend time with your fake girl to make it look real…"
"Yeah, well, I mean how hard is it to find someone to be a fake girlfriend? I mean… you could probably do it…" James trailed off, giving her a wink and Lily just burst out laughing.
"Me? As a fake girlfriend? No way. You'd be the worst fake-boyfriend ever. Forgetting our fake anniversary, taking me on awful fake dates, oh and you'd give bad fake compliments-"
"Okay, those compliments would be real. And why do we need an anniversary? Can't we just fake-go out for a week and call it quits?" James whined and Lily sniggered again.
"Sorry. I have high standards for fake-boyfriends. And you don't make the cut."
"Oh, fine." James huffed as he turned back to his work. "Maybe I'll just find another fake girlfriend…" And Lily couldn't help but throw him a dirty look.
"Talk to her. She'll be fine." Lily said, sucking on her quill as she turned flopped back onto her stomach get her final paragraphs written.
At some point, they were both done with work. Instead of going back to their beds like responsible human beings, it made more sense to take a quick twenty minute nap sitting up on the couch in the office. Of course, the twenty minute nap turned into a two hour nap in which Lily ended placing her head on James' shoulder while James own head lay on top of hers.
Since James had to be up early for practice, he tried to very carefully extract himself from Lily trying very hard not to be tempted to fall back asleep with her (her head, he reasoned strongly with himself, was a very nice pillow). Of course, Lily woke with a start and with some quick words (James promising to be right back after practice) Lily went back to sleep, completely forgetting about the interaction.
When Lily finally woke up, joints sore and hair an absolute mess, James Potter came wondering through the door with some food in hand, his hair still damp from a shower that he clearly took.
Lily looked down at herself, frowning a bit. Her shirt was all wrinkled from her night in the office and she could feel the bird nest building in her hair and her breath had that special feeling like she ate all night and didn't brush her teeth. And James Potter came wondering in like a model.
"Morning!" James said happily, plopping down next to Lily and putting a plate down on her lap. "Toast! With jam!" James said eagerly, throwing an arm around Lily as he used his free hand to eat his own plate.
"You're perky." Lily said, taking baby bites from her jam while trying to act very nonchalant about the arm.
"Well! Waking up early and getting no sleep… Well, I get really excited! It's awful when I crash…" James spoke quickly, frowning for the tiniest of seconds before shrugging and shoveling food in his mouth.
"Should I be nervous?" Lily asked, trying not to get stressed by the energetic James next to her.
"Nah. It's just." James wriggled around on the sofa, "My heart." James said lamely to Lily.
"Your… heart? Wait… did you talk to-"
"I did!" James said beaming slightly and Lily felt a bit sick at her stomach, dropping the toast.
"Told her the meeting was changed and that we'll do better of controlling the situation! Told her that I had to be neutral and even though we were FRIENDS and TEAMMATES I couldn't take favors and all." James rambled on, "Anyways. I think she got the hint."
"But your heart?"
"OH! Heart palpitations! Feel it!" James cried eagerly, grabbing Lily's hand and placing it fiercely on his chest above his beating heart.
Lily was thankful that James was so out of it that he couldn't even tell that her face was flushed.
"Feel it!? Feels weird. And uncomfortable." James said quickly, dropping Lily's hand that meekly fell away.
"Erm. Right. But you're okay otherwise?" Lily asked tentatively and James shook his head.
"I am going to crash really badly sometime today." James said with a smile and Lily wondered if there were some wizarding drugs that she was unaware of.
Dear Rob Stevens,
I know that one must be aware of the things that take place at your concert… but I must say that apart from gillyhash, I am clueless about the other "potions" that take place. Are there many in the wizarding world? Very curious.
Respectfully,
Lily Evans
By early afternoon, James prediction became true in the humid potions classroom. He nodded off a dozen times during Professor Slughorn's lecture and he was as useful as a rock when they finally paired up for potions.
"No James!" Lily hissed, pushing James' arm out of the way as he was about to drop the wrong ingredient. Again.
"Hm?" James mumbled, cracking open his eyes and staring blankly down at the item in his hand.
"You need sleep! You're barely functioning! And I need you today during the mediation!" Lily hissed as James stared at the remaining ingredients on the table, blinking very slowly.
"I'll be fine." James said, but his eyes closed again and his head dropped onto his chest. Lily had to hit him in the arm before he startled awake.
"This is ridiculous." Lily mumbled and wiped her hands on her robes. Looking down at the cauldron, she realized that they hadn't really started the potion and it was one that could be potentially started later that week…
"James, just follow my lead." Lily whispered as she thrust her hand into the air.
"What?" James asked, one eye open.
"Perfect." Lily whispered and James mumbled something.
"Professor Slughorn!" Lily cried and the professor's neck turned swiftly towards Lily. His face shone with happiness as he bounded over.
"Yes Miss Evans?" He asked, frowning a bit as he stared down into the cauldron.
"James here… he's not feeling too well. I suspect that I hit him with too strong of a charm earlier today in charms class…" Lily trailed off, giving James a concerned look as he tried to look more 'alive' with the professor around.
"Hmm… you think it'll wear off?"
Lily shook her head, pressing her lips into a worried grimace. "I think he needs to go rest or visit the hospital wing and I can't exactly do this potion by myself… perhaps we can come by another time this week to do it?" Lily asked hopefully, giving a smile to Slughorn who gave her a nod.
"Of course you can. Careful with your charms Miss Evans! You may really knock a fella off his feet!" He said before wondering off.
Lily laughed and started clearing up, thankfully, James did the same. Within minutes they were out the door, with Lily tugging on James arm to get to the office.
"Where we going?" James asked, almost crashing into a column.
"You're going to bed on the sofa while I get some light reading with my book." Lily said, her eyes darting to James who was practically sleepwalking. It was only when James walked into the same column twice, that Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the hand to lead him safely back to the office.
"Bed time?" James asked as Lily waved her wand in front of the office.
"Bed time." Lily assured him, pushing him through the door. He pulled off his glasses and placed them on the desk, loosened his tie and unbuttoned the first few on his shirt, before throwing himself down on the couch.
Lily had hardly sat down on the main desk chair before she heard the light snoring from James.
Dear Rob Stevens:
In your band, do you ever have to do any sort of conflict mediation? I am becoming quite the expert at it. Another excellent reason why I would be fantastic as an assistant to you.
Respectfully,
Lily Evans
Two hours later, James groggily pulled himself into an upright position and rubbed his face.
"Good afternoon sleeping beauty." Lily said brightly while James made a slight groaning noise.
"Why are you there?" James asked resolutely, leaning back on the sofa and eyeing Lily as she raised her eyebrows.
"Because I saw an opportunity to brush up before our meeting and so-"
"No, no, no. Why are you sitting in that chair? It's hard as rock ever since I messed up the spell to help it-"
"That was you? Remus took the blame for that!"
And that's when James turned bright red. "I forgot about that." James said quietly, his eyes growing large and looking at the ground. Lily marked her spot in the book and placed it on the desk, crossing her arms.
The story was, that Remus and James were doing some work in the office. Something with rounds and points. When Lily walked in and found that the once 'slightly unpleasant chair' suddenly became 'hard as rock and wildly rigid'. She asked if something had happened. Remus said something about his charm going haywire. Nothing more.
"Why did you lie?" She asked, enjoying the blush that was creeping up on James' neck.
"Um, well. You see. It was in the first week of term and you came into this position so prepared and I was completely overwhelmed and frazzled by everything that I had to learn. Remus offered to help me, so we went into the office to go over policies and such. I thought I could surprise you with my knowledge and making that chair absolute heaven to sit in. But, then, I spent two hours of my life trying to reverse the spell that I cast on that that thing instead of studying with Remus. And then you came in already fuming about some Slughorn matter and you sat down and started freaking out –"
"I did not! I just asked what had happened!"
James gave Lily a very pointed look. And she squirmed a bit in the chair. There was the possibility that she may have recalled things differently than James did.
"Anyways." James continued "I just wanted to impress you those first few weeks and I was so nervous that if I admitted that I messed up the chair and hadn't learned the policies in time that you would murder me or something… so Remus took the fall."
Lily frowned. "Are you still that nervous around me?"
James laughed and shook his head. And Lily couldn't help but think that it would be perfectly alright if he feared her just a bit. She often imagined herself as the next Professor McGonagall; inspiring fear and respect and awe in every room she strolled in.
"Nah, that went away once I realized how completely neurotic you are about this job." James said, flashing a grin at her while she rolled her eyes.
"Come sit down here. You can read your book and I'll fall asleep on you. I may drool on you though, fair warning." James said and Lily just shrugged her shoulders.
"I'll live." She said, grabbing her book and wondering over to the sofa and sinking into the cushions.
"This is much better." Lily said contently, bringing her knees up underneath her as she opened her book.
"It certainly is." James mumbled, his head falling on his chest before finding spot on Lily's shoulder. And she found that she didn't mind have James Potter drool on her robes or snore in her ear.
Dear Rob Stevens,
I'm assuming that you have many female friends. It is quite normal for them to fall asleep on you and potentially drool on you? Not a lot. Just a normal drooling amount. Right?
Wait, is that just gross? Because, everyone drools. Should be acceptable.
Respectfully,
Lily Evans
The rest of the afternoon was quiet. Lily kept turning the page and getting used to the hum of James on her shoulder. She was engrossed on one chapter, how to confront people who were not cooperating with the mediation rules, that she hardly noticed that James was reading along with her.
"Think these actually work?" James asked, pulling himself off of Lily.
"I think so. Kinda useful to keep in the back of the mind." She responded, shutting the book after marking the page and staring at James. James took a deep breath and ruffled his hair, reaching towards the desk for his glasses.
"What time is it?" He asked, leaning back on the couch.
"Around 6." Lily responded and James nodded his head a bit.
"I was out of it. Thanks by the way." He said, turning to face Lily.
"For what? I got to skip class because of you-"
"Still. Thanks. Plus, I did snore and drool on you…" He said, a small grin coming on his face and Lily couldn't help but mimic it.
"Nothing a silencing or cleaning charm can't fix." She whispered, taking a deep breath and staring at the door. "So, you were a bit out of it this morning… but the talk went well, right?" Lily asked nervously, fixating her gaze in the doorway rather than on James.
"It did. Told her that I couldn't use our friendly relationship to grant her favors. I dropped the term 'friends' and 'teammates' so many times that I'm sure she got the hint." James finished off.
And Lily took a deep breath because there was one question pounding in her head that had to get out. "Do you do this with all your female friends? Fall asleep on them and casually drape an arm over them?"
Well. She was in Gryffindor. And though her bravery was shown in her bold questioning, the fact of the matter is that her face felt hotter than a dragon's breath and she couldn't tear her eyes away from the doorway.
"No. I don't. Just you." James mumbled quietly. "Do you do this with other blokes?"
Lily smiled a bit to herself. "Just with you." And then, she finally looked at him and there was a quiet smile to his face that made her heart pitter patter in her chest.
And when it was time to retell the tale, she wasn't sure who made the first move or if they both did but all she remembered was the instant that his lips touched hers.
It was a good kiss. The kind that makes your heart jump to your throat and jump again and again. And Lily's hands quickly laced in his hair and his hands on her waist that made it feel like a trace of fire. And she practically sighed out bliss when his mouth traveled to her throat-
"James!" Lily cried out quickly, her eyes snapping open while James' half lidded eyes were slow to wake up as he pulled away. "We can't do this! We have to report it!"
James blinked at her a few times. "What?" He asked, shaking his head.
Lily traced her hands down to his shoulders. "We can't do anything official until we report our relationship, or at least a change of relationship, to Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore-"
"You want to go and tell Professor Dumbledore that we were snogging?"
Lily bit her lip from trying to prevent herself from laughing at James gobsmacked face. "No! I mean, well, this changes things." Lily said, shifting a bit in her seat and putting her hands in her lap as James did the same.
"I mean, I'm not sure if you want to date me-"
"I do."
"Okay, well, I mean, we need to consider the pros and cons." Lily said seriously and James buried his face in his hands.
"Okay. Let's get this over with. Cons, we have to tell Professor McGonagall about our snogging sessions."
Lily rolled her eyes. "James! What if we're horrible at dating? What if we break up and it's awkward –"
"We'll get couple therapy or mediation-" James said in a sarcastic manner.
"What if it's a horrible break up in front of the entire student body and we loose all respect and can't carry out our duty-"
"That sounds like the worst day ever."
"James!"
"Okay, look, I don't know Lily. " James said, pulling his face out of his hands. "All I can think of is that we'll cross that bridge when we get there. We can make guidelines if anything but I know for sure that I would never break up with someone like that. What am I, a first year? Give me some credit here." James said and Lily bit back a smile.
"Okay. Well, we still need to report the relationship." And James groaned and looked up at the ceiling.
"Letter or in person?"
"Person. We can do it tonight after the mediation..." Lily said quickly and James snapped his face towards her.
"Too soon?" Lily asked nervously and James just laughed.
"Not at all. Glad to know that I'm not the only eager one. Come on now, let's get dinner." James said, getting up and reaching out a hand to Lily. She grabbed on it and pulled herself up. She wasn't sure if she should let go or not but James wasn't so she wasn't going to either. It had been a long day and night and holding James' hand before another round of mediation and dinner was reassuring.
"Alright. One more time. Who are you?"
"Lily Evans. Head Girl. Master of roommate mediation." Lily practically shouted in the office and James roared with laughter.
Though dinner was nice, Lily started to slightly freak out. She started to voice every single worry in her head to James ("What if they shout again? What if I forget something? What if I don't speak up? What if I need to drink water and it's awkward?"). While James listened politely for the first five minutes, his patience waned at ten and then at fifteen he cut her off telling her that he had a 'plan' for them that he'll reveal back in the office.
Lily obviously thought it would be a game plan or some kind of flow chart to map out exactly how they were going to handle every scenario. James merely meant a confidence booster exercise which he made Lily shout over and over about how she was the best and the strongest and the smartest…
Lily supposed it wasn't a terrible plan if James was saying nice things about her and making her shout them back…
"Right. I think that should do." James said, wondering over to her and circling his arms around her waist and resting his head against her forehead. Lily's heart did a flip within her chest as she grinned to herself. James' staring down at her.
"This is nice." Lily muttered stepping closer to him.
"You know what's nicer?" James asked in a somewhat innocent tone. And before Lily could stop him (but really, as if she was), he closed the distance between them by kissing her on the mouth. And though Lily had every intention to stop him, she couldn't help how her blood raced and her heart pumped as he held her closer. She couldn't help but feel brave within his arms.
But she still pulled away, but resting her forehead against his, smiling and trying to catch her breath all at once. "Nice try."
"Who said it didn't work?" James asked, his eyes full of glee, though he did suddenly turn his head over his shoulder an eyed the door carefully.
"This should go better. I'll scare the living day lights out of them and you'll wear that bitch face of yours and it'll be great." James said happily, breaking away from Lily and falling onto the couch.
"I do have a pretty good bitch face." Lily smirked, falling onto the couch next to James and putting her head on his shoulder.
"Yes you do." James replied, throwing an arm around her, and pulling her closer. Yet, as soon as he did there were quick raptures on the door.
"Time to put your bitch face on." James whispered in her ear and giving her a quick peck on the cheek before standing up to open the door.
"Right. Things will be different this round." James said confidently, clapping his hands together while the troublesome girls eyed him while Lily smirked.
"There will be no yelling." James started.
"Nor insults." Lily added on.
"Right!" James said, pointing towards Lily. "We're going to stick with the same rules as yesterday. And if not, we will cut you off. Are we clear?" James asked and the girls grimly nodded their heads.
"Well. That went better than last time."
"James, that was infinitely better than last time." Lily said cheerfully, her hands tightly clamped in James as she threw him a grin as they continued walking down the hall.
She was on cloud nine. I mean, who could blame her? She successfully lead a mediation. There was no yelling, and Lily was able to cut off a few of the girls when their tones were raised. Within the nice little hour, they had outlined solutions and rules.
She was brilliant. James was, kinda, brilliant too.
"You ready for this?" James asked, stopping outside of Professor McGonagall's office.
Lily nodded. "I am." Going on her tip toes to kiss James.
Well, perhaps the cloud nine feeling had something to do with James.
Dear Professor Slughorn:
While I have had notable publications within the field of Transfiguration; my abilities within divination are lacking (or non-existent as you claimed at the start of the term). Funnily enough, I seemed to be correct that Lily Evans and James Potter would get together mid-term.
Please be kind enough to send me the galleons with this owl.
Respectfully,
Professor McGonagall.
A/N: Reviews are the best thing ever! So leave a note or two! :) Also, PM if you wanna be friends in the Tumblr sphere.