AN: hello everyone! I am back!I'm feeling very happy today, and to channel some happiness, I thought I'd write! Hopefully it spreads some joy to you? OH, btw, we are officially in Lily's POV of Flipped! WOOHOO! Why is this a cause for celebration? Well, just because I'm way better at writing female characters thoughts (for obvious reasons).
Hopefully you guys can see where things are starting to seem...flipped in the story? Do let me know if it is too subtle for your tastes!
Songs for the chapter:
Panic!at the Disco- There's a Good Reason These Tables are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet- "When did he get all confident?/ Haven't you heard that I'm the new cancer/ I've never looked better/and you can't stand it."
India Aerie - Chocolate High- "There is something about your love/that makes me just want to open up...I'm addicted to your chocolate high"
Chapter 5: James Potter's New Chocolate High
James Potter had officially, yes officially, gotten over his weird infatuation with Lily Evans. The proof? He had a new girlfriend.
When you hear that phrase, do you picture James' Potter's girlfriend? What image comes to mind?
Lily imagined a beautiful, petite, sporty girl with slick blond or brown hair, maybe sporting chic glasses that added an edge of intelligence to her beauty. A girl James Potter could easily fit his scrawny arm around, a girl with a wide smile who would laugh easily at his jokes, a girl who was just smart enough to appreciate James' intelligence without overpowering it with her own.
Lily tried to ignore the momentary twinge of disappointment she felt when she heard the news. Disappointed James Potter has a girlfriend? No way. Well, Lily reasoned with herself, it's flattering when a boy tells you every day that you are the sunshine of his life. Aggravating? Yes. Annoying? Definitely. But a little heartening as well? I think so.
She still felt rather uncomfortable and guilty every time she remembered her last shouting match with James Potter by the lake. She had abused James so abominably to his face: shouted arrogant big-headed toe-rag and a hundred other names at him that day after their OWLs, the last time she had spoken to him. Well, Lily thought, I didn't say anything to him he didn't deserve. But she remembered James' dejected face as she shut him down again, the way he had pleadingly called after her. Her stomach squirmed.
She casually asked Marlene who the mystery woman was, picturing a skinny, blond, giggly sort of harmlessly adorable Hufflepuff girl.
"Oh, that's the funny part," Marlene said with a laugh. "It's Ada Johnson."
Lily did a double take.
"Adaledaie Johnson?" she said in disbelief. "You're joking," she said. And then she winced.
That was a little rude of me, she thought. But...
She tried to remember Adaledaie Johnson from when she had seen her in the prefect's compartment a few hours before.
She was tall, bigger than Lily, and fit, in a body-builder sort of way, with giant bulging arm muscles that Lily was secretly afraid of. She had velvety smooth chocolate skin, large eyes whose whites shown prominently in her face, and stringy, thick, afro-like hair, quite far from slick and blond. She had high cheekbones that make her face severe, and to complete the image, Lily had never seen her smile once in their three-year acquaintance. To put the icing on the cake, she was a year older than James Potter, Head Girl, the smartest-witch-in-her-year, seriously hard-working and ambitious, a stringent rule follower, and had an overwhelming type-A personality.
One more fact: she was a Slytherin.
And apparently she was James Potter's girlfriend.
"You're joking Marlene," she said again.
"I couldn't believe it either! I mean I went over to his house this summer, you know for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement party his parents threw. Oh, on a side note, did you know Sirius is living with the Potters now? Apparently there was this big row at his house- his family is full of dark wizards and you-know-who supporters, you know, and he ran away."
"Oh no," Lily said, her eyes wide. She felt guiltier than ever; she had always hated Sirius for the way he treated Severus, but she hadn't even stopped to consider why he acted the way he did. "Poor thing!"
"Yeah," Marlene said. "Well, actually he seems a lot happier now living with the Potters, who adore him, so I think it is for the better." She said matter-of-factly while stretching her long limbs casually.
"Well, anyway, when I went to the Potters' I saw James and Ada slow dancing to a Celestina Warbek song, and all the adults were watching them and laughing and Sirius was teasing them, so I thought it was some sort of practical joke, but then…next I know, I walked in on them holding hands in the backyard, and then I saw him kiss her goodnight!"
"When was the party?" Lily asked, completely flummoxed.
"Two weeks ago. But the funny thing is, he's happier than I've ever seen him with her! He looks like he took an excess of love potion or something (I suppose that is possible)…I saw them snogging on the train and decided to be obnoxious and break in and ask 'are you two going out?' and they both glared at me, replied yes, and started snogging again."
"Oh Marlene," Lily said with a small smile. "You're an insensitive wart." Marlene laughed.
"Well I mean, I know Ada's had a crush on him for ages but the two of them are just so unlikely, you know?"
"Ada's had a crush on him?" Lily asked, now feeling guilty.
"For years: probably one of the reasons she's always been rather short with you," Marlene said, throwing Lily a pointed look. Lily blushed.
"But…I mean…but she's so…well…she's a Slytherin!" Hypocrite, Lily thought to herself, but she couldn't stop herself from blurting it out.
Marlene raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything, her compartment door banged open and in tumbled a couple snogging so heavily, it was hard to tell whose lips and hands were whose. Apparently they had been leaning so heavily against the door that they had stumbled straight past it. They tumbled onto the floor, the tall dark-haired male hoisting himself on scrawny arms over the dark girl underneath him, whose brown skin was dusted with a barely visible red blush.
"Well, nice of you to drop in, James Potter," Marlene said, her brown eyes twinkling.
"Hey Marly. I am so sorry, Ada, I didn't mean to...I just can't...you're like chocolate," he said, pushing himself off the floor and helping the girl below him stand up, who was now blushing more than ever. "I can't help myself," he smiled. He carefully dusted her black robes for her, and adjusted the shiny "HG" badge she was wearing on the front.
Ada was looking up at James from under her long, curly lashes as he fussed over her, a sheepish smile gracing her features. Lily noticed for the first time that she was extremely pretty.
"Don't worry about it, my fault as well," she said easily, grabbing his hand before he could fuss over her further, and pinning it to his side. Lily blushed at the way she continued to stroke his hand.
Ada turned to look over at Marlene.
"Sorry, McKinnon," she said.
"Don't worry about it," Marlene laughed easily. "Oh, Johnson, you've met my friend Lily, right?"
Lily, whose vision had become strangely clouded by black and red since the couple has tumbled in, threw Marlene a murderous stare. Both James and Ada started, turning to glance at Lily who was sitting across from Marlene.
"Of course she has," Lily replied.
The smile was gone from Ada's face, which didn't look quite as pretty anymore. Beside her, James was looking down at Lily, stony-faced. He had grown considerably taller over the summer, towering over Ada beside him. He was still in muggle clothes, jeans and a white shirt with a golden phoenix emblazoned on the front that Lily had never seen before, and that he filled out considerably better than she would have ever expected.
An awkward silence ensued.
"I saw her in Prefects compartment before. Congratulations on becoming Head Girl Ada!" Lily said, ignoring James and trying not to melt into a red and white pool of embarrassment.
Ada cracked a smile, showing her startlingly white teeth.
"Thanks Lily! It was really unexpected."
"To you, maybe," James laughed, and Lily had to stop herself from starting. It was the fullest laugh she had heard from James in a long time. He looked sideways at Ada his eyes glowed with warmth and pure, unadulterated, happiness.
"Shut up," Ada said, her large brown eyes staring at him, a coy smile playing about her features. Then she seemed to come to her senses.
"And uh, sorry, again you guys," she said to Lily and Marlene, now tugging James' hand. "We'll see you around."
"See you, McKinnon," James said rather pointedly.
"Later." Marlene replied.
The door shut behind them.
"Well, now I believe you," Lily said. Blood was still pounding in her ears.
A/N: Short, I know, but the next one will be longer! I just wanted to have a new take on James Potter's typical-girlfriend-before-he-and-Lily-get-together...
Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are like chocolate!
Love,
Science and Food