MY LIFE IN A NUTSHELL
NARRATOR: Ms. Lily Evans
SUMMARY: It's the start of 7th year and things are beginning to spiral out of Lily's control. Follow her day-to-day adventures in this multi-chaptered fic about love, hate, and the many aspects of a 17-year-old witch's life.
RATING: T, for language, some visual imagery, and attempted humor.
Disclaimer: I'm Asian, not J.K. Rowling. And not an Asian J.K. Rowling (idon'tevenknowlolwut)
A/N: Karma Day continued. Enjoy!
Miranda was finally beginning to sober up. The shine in her multicolored eyes had gradually dimmed and the scowl on her face had begun to get more and more pronounced. Finally, by the last lesson of the day, she was a raging hormonal tornado- step out of the way, or you'll be wrenched from the ground and thrown willy-nilly over the rainbow.
Marlene, Alice, and I were patiently putting up with her seething anger. Sirius, however, was oblivious to her complete change in mood in the past two hours, and strode right up to her, armed with a pick-up line and a smirk. No matter how much we waved frantically to him over Miranda's back, he ignored us, and ploughed right on with his flirtations.
"So, Miranda," he started off, his eyes sweeping up and down her body. She narrowed her own eyes back at him, teeth gritted, fists clenched. I shared a quick glance with Marlene- we knew this wasn't a good sign.
"Heard you're good with a wand. How about you try mine?"
Oh. No. He did not just say that. Sirius grinned at his use of innuendo and settled back down for the retaliation.
To the people's surprise, Miranda slowly grinned and straightened up, a confidant gleam on evident in her irises.
"Oh, I'll show you what I can do with a wand," she said brightly, and quick as lightning grabbed her wand and sent a variation of jinxes and hexes at Sirius.
A Few Hours Later
"Where's Goshawk?" asked Remus. He was sitting beside me, lounging in his chair. The arithmancy lesson was about to start, and we had always been partners- despite his choice of friends, he was a nice person. That is, unless his inner Marauder began to show. We, as in the collective students of Hogwarts, knew that every single one of them was potentially dangerous, and Remus was no exception. He was, however, a little bit more tolerable than the rest of them, and I found his company enjoyable.
"Where else? McGonagall's office, of course," I answered shortly.
"Ah, yes, I see. She does have quite a problem, doesn't she?" he responded airily.
"Judging by the fact that it's barely been 24 hours, and she's already caused three injuries, I'd say that things aren't starting out so well."
"Perhaps I should pass on the word to Sirius to back off?"
"Yes, you should probably do that, before he ends up in the hospital wing. Again."
What fate in the universe was causing my terrible day?
Maybe it was karma. Merlin knew that I did enough horrible things on a daily basis (by accident of course) to rack up a few points on the karma scale.
Karma-induced days, contrary to popular belief, will linger. Instead of lasting the morning, or merely staying the hour, they'll continue for the whole time. But karma was all about Newton's law- every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The only problem was, what was I doing to deserve such karma?
In that case, it was just bad luck that as I sprinted down the stairs my bag caught on the railing. It broke open, my stuff flying through the air and tumbling down the steps. I groaned as I saw my arithmancy text book, full of my notes, inserts, and marginal doodles, disappear into the trick step. To top that wonderful moment of such luck, my bag strap, which had been previously holding me back from a similar fate to my arithmancy text book, decided to let go of me and I tumbled down the flight of stairs.
Straight into the arms of...an undetermined person.
"Amos!"
I attempted to regain my dignity and tried not to hyperventilate. Because, in all his glory, Amos Diggory was standing in front of me, eyeing me with a raised eyebrow and a charmingly crooked smile.
"May I help you, Lily? Seems you're in a bit of a situation."
Help! Being offered by Amos Diggory, no less! I gave him a silly smile and said, "I'd be honored."
As soon as all my stuff had gone back to their proper places in my bag, I remembered my disappearing Arithmancy textbook. "Oh!" I said, and frowned. That book had my life in it- it was a memoir of doodles, quotes, and notes, the ultimate book of Lily Evans.
Amos looked at me questioningly.
"My arithmancy textbook," I explained. "It somehow...disappeared down the trick step."
"I assume you're looking for this," another voice called from the end of the hallway. There was a smirking James, holding my battered, well-loved textbook. "It fell on my head while I walking past Gregory the Smarmy."
"MINE!" I cried, leaping up and rushing to get the textbook. However, James moved his hand at exactly the wrong time, and I overestimated my sprint, and I ended crashing into him in my attempt to get the book back.
"Whoa," he said, catching me as I fell back on the rebound. Merlin, his chest was hard as rock.
Well, I already knew that, didn't I? I had (accidentally) seen it this morning.
"Sorry," I muttered, grabbing the textbook from him and cradling it in my arms. Soon, I had two confused 17-year old males staring at me as if I was a sort of enigma. Realizing my current situation, I blushed and quietly walked over to my now organized bag.
Awkward silence followed, but was broken by an unnatural cough.
"I was wondering, Lily..." Amos trailed off. I held my breath.
"Hogsmeade weekend is coming up, isn't it?" James interrupted loudly. My gaze switched to him and quickly became an accusing glare.
"Well, yes, I was just going to mention that," Amos said, irritated. "And I was wondering if you'd like to come."
James gave a half-hearted smirk and said, "Well, Amos, you're great and all, but I just don't feel that way toward guys."
"I wasn't talking to you," Amos said angrily. He turned all the way to me and stared at me, his blue eyes penetrating my green. "So?"
Uh.
Uhh...
My mouth began to regain control, even if my brain hadn't. That was how this next sentence came out.
"Miranda likes you!"
No, no, no, was that me?
"Oh, really?" Amos said thoughtfully. "Well, I'm really interested in you," he continued. "Are you sure you'd rather not?"
It was all I could do to nod.
"Well, then. Miranda. Miranda Goshawk, you say?" he asked absentmindedly.
I nodded again.
"Very well, then, I'll see..." He trailed off once more.
"You can't," James said, his voice slightly defiant.
"Excuse me?" Amos said.
"You can't ask Miranda to Hogsmeade," James pressed.
"Well, why not?" Amos asked, surprised at James' tone of voice.
"Because, in that process, other people will feel terrible- keep in mind other's hearts, right?" James said again in the same defiant voice.
"Well, in the process of asking somebody out, there is always a likeliness of broken hearts," Amos said argumentatively. "Miranda's decent. Thanks for the suggestion, Lily," he said brusquely, and began to walk down the hall.
The silence was just as thick as before, and I felt funny feelings boiling in my stomach. I was going to be sick, right? Something like that.
Because, well, that was jealousy, wasn't it? Potter was jealous. Of Amos. Why else would he be so insistent on Amos not taking Miranda to Hogsmeade?
Quite a turn of events, my brain hummed quietly. My consciousness seemed to be faltering, most likely due to shock than anything else.
But...wow. Potter liked Miranda?
Something...something's not right here.
It took me a while to realize that James had left, but snatching up my accursed bag and speeding down the corridor, I caught up with him. Damn his long legs- I was panting now, and unable to get out a coherent sentence. He glanced at me and smiled at my obvious overexertion.
"It's nice to see that you like her," I babbled. "She's quite a nice person, and everything, but I think you should let somebody else have her- I mean, Sirius likes her, doesn't he? And Amos does too, you really can't compete with them. Not to say that you're ugly or stupid or anything of the sort, but they're...they're her type, I guess you could say. Not to say that she only goes for looks, Miranda is quite a deep person-"
"Slow down, Lily," James said. To my surprise, he was laughing. "Start from the beginning again. I couldn't understand a thingthrough that speech."
No! I didn't want to repeat myself!
"I said," my voice calm and collected (or, at least, more so than it had been a few seconds before), "it's not a bad thing you like Miranda. But she's too...up for demand, I guess...maybe...you should just leave her alone?"
James's quiet laughter turned raucous and I flinched at the echoing sound of his guffaws.
"Like...Miranda?" he choked out, nearly doubled over.
"Well, seriously, it's not that funny!" I said, taken aback.
"Are you kidding me? It's hilarious! Lily," he said, calming down a bit but letting a few chuckles come through, "you should know by now that I've only got eyes for you." I avoided his gaze at this sentence. "I'm just concerned about Amos because of Sirius. Like you said, he does like her, and it's sort of amazing- he's never tried so hard to get a girl before."
"Doesn't seem like trying to me," I muttered.
"That's because Sirius is like the kiss and forget guy," James said patiently. "He never really cares for girls, it's all sexual tension and that sort of bogus shit." He smiled and said, "He's just starting to see what will happen if a girl he likes doesn't like him back."
Once again, I pointedly avoided his stare.
"At least he's getting lap dances," James said airily, and began to laugh again. "I'd give anything to get a lap dance from my girl."
This time I met his gaze, despite my efforts to look away. I blushed and he began to laugh all over again.
"You know, Evans, the way you plunged into that nonsense- I'd say you're jealous if I didn't know better." James grinned cheekily at me. "And I also picked up a few words...not ugly or stupid? That's new. I think you've made my day."
And, that infuriating grin still plastered on his face, he strolled down the hallway and turned the corner, disappearing from sight.
It was late- nearly 11:30. Having finished my homework hours ago, I was staring into the fire. The flames flickered and the sparks flew. It then occurred to me that fire represented love in so many ways. How many books had I read that said, 'the sparks flew'? How many romance novels had talked about the heat of love, burning passion, and all that other junk?
"I've always loved the fire," a quiet voice said from behind me. I jumped about a foot in the air before realizing that James had been standing behind the couch the entire time. Luckily, the only light in the room was the glowing embers of the fire, and my blush was not visible in the orange light.
"Same," I said quietly, resting against the back of the couch.
"A little late, isn't it? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Potter asked.
"Shouldn't you?" I retaliated, but my comment was ruined with a following yawn.
"Come on, go. Or I'll carry you," James threatened.
I grinned and said, "Then I best be heading up now- knowing you, you'd probably bring me to yourroom instead of mine."
With a wink, I stretched and left him staring at me in wonder by the fireplace.
Something was wrong, something was right...but wasn't that how karma worked?
A/N:
Hey...that ending for the chapter was a little calm and peaceful, good for the ending of Lily's intense day.
On a side note, I assumed the trick step was like Hogwarts' vanishing cabinet, and that it spewed the things that fell into it out of nowhere. So that's how James, by chance, got a hold of Lily's textbook.
Read and review, people! This is chapter four, but I have few reviews, no matter how many favorites or alerts I have! It takes 15 seconds or less! One word, even, is all I ask!
-.x.