Wanderers, Beater 2

Prompt: Love Them or Hate Them

Additional Prompts: [dialogue] "You're the worst" / "But you love me anyway"; [object] Invitation; [emotion] Surprise

Word Count: 2527

A Fine Line Between Love and Hate

Or, three times Lily Evans thought she might hate James Potter, and one time that made her think twice.

Third Year

It was her third Halloween at Hogwarts, but Lily Evans was still excited about the way the staff transformed the Great Hall for the feast. It was her favorite holiday, after all.

The requisite candles still floated above the tables, but tonight the charmed sky was full of dark, stormy clouds and occasionally flashed with lightning. Pumpkins, specially grown and carved by Hagrid the Groundskeeper, littered every available surface. The platters of food were decorated with seasonal motifs, and even the various desserts had autumnal decorations on their frosting.

It was shaping up to be yet another perfect Halloween when a shrill screech rang out through the Great Hall. Lily whipped her head around, trying to see what had caused such a commotion, but another pair of screams drew her attention elsewhere. The Great Hall was soon filled with shrieks of dismay.

Lily turned back to Mary McDonald to ask if she knew what was going on. The moment she caught sight of her friend, she bit back her own yelp. Mary's skin was turning a vibrant pumpkin orange before her eyes.

"Mary," Lily said calmly. "Don't freak out, but I think—"

Mary's eyes went wide, and she pointed a shaking finger at Lily. "Lily, you're turning orange."

She glanced down at her arm. Sure enough, the brilliant color was spreading rapidly across her skin.

"How…" Mary muttered.

"I think I know". Lily looked down the table and noted that the Gryffindor boys in her year were suspiciously absent. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of crimson — a scarf, probably — as the door to the Great Hall shut. Without another thought, she took off after it.

She caught up with the self-proclaimed "Marauders" outside the portrait that opened to the kitchens.

"You," she growled, jabbing a finger into James Potter's chest. "You're the one that did this."

"What would make you think that, Evans?" he asked sweetly. "Maybe you've had too much pumpkin juice."

"Oh, I don't know. Could it be that you four are the only people in the entire castle who haven't turned bright orange?"

James let out a chuckle. "Yeah, we figured someone might catch on to that. But that's why we left when we did. The effect will be gone by tomorrow morning, so you're the only one who'll have seen us normal-colored. Unless they check the goblets before the elves clean them—" he glanced at this watch "—which should be happening right about now, no one will be the wiser."

Lily looked at him in shock. These four were known for their pranks, but they rarely ever put this much planning into the execution.

"Don't look so surprised, Evans," Sirius said. "We couldn't risk turning any of our beautiful selves orange. It really wouldn't suit Peter's complexion." Then he leaned close to her and said in a conspiratorial faux-whisper, "Speaking of that, Lils, you might want to rethink the orange-on-orange thing you've got going on here. Not your best look."

Remus elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Sirius."

"I don't know," James said with a smirk. "I think she looks pretty cute as a pumpkin."

Her surprise quickly turned to anger. She let out a growl of rage and snarled at James, "You are the worst." She turned on her heel and stomped away before she gave into the urge to hex them all.

James' yell echoed down the corridor after her. "But you love me anyway!"

Fourth Year

It was a perfect winter day as far as Lily was concerned. There was a beautiful blanket of snow across the Hogwarts grounds, and tomorrow was Valentine's Day and a Hogsmeade visit. She just needed to finish her last bit of homework before she could allow herself to fully enjoy the weekend.

Lily was deeply engrossed in her Potions textbook when Dorcas elbowed her, bringing her back to reality. Around her, the Gryffindor Common Room had fallen silent. A small pink envelope was spinning through the air, leaving a trail of flower petals in its wake as it made its way across the room in her direction.

Lily squeezed her eyes shut and muttered under her breath, "Please no, please no, please no."

To her dismay, the pink envelope fell onto the table right before her. Lily's name was written on the front in a familiar, messy scrawl.

I'm going to kill him, she thought to herself.

She gingerly picked up the envelope, opened the flap, and pulled out the invitation inside. Before she could read it, it leapt out of her hands and hovered in front of her. That was never a good sign. She grabbed at it, hoping to stuff it back into the envelope before it could do any more damage, but the parchment floated back, just out of her reach. Its large, howler-like mouth gave a loud cough and, to her horror, began to sing.

Lily, Lily, bright and fair,

Beautiful with rose red hair,

Eyes so green and mind so sharp

You've ensnared this Potter's heart

Say that you will go with me

On Valentine's down to Hogsmeade

When its song was over, the invitation burst into a shower of flower petals, and the Common Room erupted into a flurry of whispers, pointing, and stares. Lily felt herself flush with embarrassment. She shoved her book into her bag and darted for the portrait. She could hear James calling after her, but she just kept moving, hoping to outrun him.

He was faster than her, though. James caught up with her outside an empty classroom on the third floor corridor.

"Lily," he said, gently tugging her to a stop. "Please, I didn't mean to upset you."

She whirled around and looked at him with disbelief. "Upset? I'm past upset, Potter. I'm pissed off. Where do you get off pulling a stunt like that? Embarrassing me in front of the entire house?"

To her surprise, James looked… vulnerable? Surely that wasn't possible.

"I just… I wanted to ask you to Hogsmeade. And I didn't know how." He looked down at his shoes and scuffed a toe across the gray stone floor. "I'm sorry for embarrassing you."

Lily's heart softened marginally. She'd never seen James less than supremely confident in a social setting, and she'd certainly never heard him apologize.

"If you're going to ask a girl out, don't do it in the middle of the Common Room in front of everyone. I felt like you were trying to guilt trip me into going to Hogsmeade with you."

"I didn't think about it that way."

"If that whole thing hadn't taken so much work, I'd believe you hadn't thought about it at all. How'd you get it to sing like that?"

"Sirius knows the Howler charm," James muttered.

"Oh. Of course."

A long moment of silence passed between them.

"I'm not going with you to Hogsmeade this year," Lily finally said. "I've already made reservations at Madam Puddifoot's for Dorcas, Marlene, Mary, and me."

James perked up, and she could practically see him turn on the charm. "So you're saying you can't go with me this year. Can I put you on my calendar for next Valentine's Day?"

Lily let out an exasperated groan. "That wasn't the point, James. God, I don't want to hate you, but you make it so bloody easy."

"I didn't hear a no in there."

"No, James, you may not put me down for next Valentine's Day. Or the one after that."

"How about the one after that?"

"Damn it, James. I swear, you are the worst!"

"But you love me anyway!" he said sweetly.

Lily rolled her eyes at his antics. "In your dreams, Potter."

"Don't I know it?"

Fifth Year

Even though most students had gone home for the Easter holidays, Lily still took her patrolling as a Prefect seriously. She just wished the person who'd signed up to stay and patrol with her felt the same way.

"Come on, Lils, give me a chance." James gave her his best puppy dog eyes, and she had to look away.

"Like I've been telling you all night, it's not a good idea."

"Why not?" he asked. "Really, I want to know why you think this is a bad idea."

Lily looked at him speculatively.

"That way I can fix it, and you won't have any reason to say no the next time I ask," he explained.

"That's more like it," Lily said, snorting a laugh. "Well, for one, we only recently became sort of friends. You don't know me well enough to know if you want to date me."

"I do, too. Go ahead ask me anything about you."

"Fine. When's my birthday?"

"Pssh, that's easy. January 30th."

"Okay, that was an easy one. My best subject?"

"Charms, but Potions is a close second," James easily replied.

Lily regarded him carefully for a moment. "Alright, I'm impressed."

"Like I said, I know you, Lily Evans. And I think I know you well enough to know that this—" he gestured between the two of them "—would be a great idea."

"I don't know," Lily said, shaking her head. "I still think we're better off as friends."

He shrugged, unperturbed. "That's okay. Friends is the first part of the plan."

"I'm afraid to hear what exactly this plan entails."

"Nope, I can't tell you," James said. His voice was doing the "oozing charm" thing again, which always made Lily a bit wary. "But I will say that it ends with us snogging even though we're really old and wrinkly."

Lily swatted him hard in the chest. "You're incorrigible. Give up on it now, Potter, and save yourself the heartache."

"I've been playing the long game since we were in third year, baby. I can wait."

"James, sometimes I think you try to make me hate you."

He looked at her, bewildered. "I thought you said we were friends!"

"I said sort of friends. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally hate you a little."

"Oh." He studied her for a moment, as if trying to put some unseen pieces together. Finally, he said, "You have some strange ideas about friendship. But I think I like that."

"You're the worst," Lily said, beginning their now-familiar refrain.

James finished, "But you love me anyway."

Sixth Year

Lily sat with her back against the trunk of a tall elder, just a few yards back from the Black Lake. Its heavy green boughs provided her with a good bit of privacy but still allowed her a great view of the lake.

She shifted her notes in her lap. This time next year she would be inside, cramming for her N.E.W.T.s and worrying about her future. But she wouldn't allow herself to think of that today. Right here, right now, she was soaking up the peace and happiness of a beautiful spring day.

That peace was broken a few moments later when none other than James Potter walked into her field of view. But he wasn't alone. He was leading a girl that Lily recognized as a Fifth Year Gryffindor down to the edge of the lake, and she looked to be crying. Lily thought James was saying something, but she couldn't really hear him. She crept a bit closer, staying under the shade of the elder tree's branches.

"Okay, we've got a little bit of privacy now," she heard him say. "Do you want to talk about what made you hex that guy from Ravenclaw?"

The girl hiccupped. "I just… He made me so mad! He said because I wasn't in Ravenclaw that I would probably fail all my O.W.L.s, and I've just worked so hard to make good marks in all my classes, but exams are in three weeks, and I'm so afraid that I'm going to fail them all and never get into the Auror academy like my dad, and I haven't been sleeping, and most of the time I'm stressed out to eat, and I'm just so tired, and- and- and—"

"And what he said was just the final straw," James finished for her.

Lily watched as the girl slumped down onto James' shoulder. She expected him to pull away, but instead he patted the girl on the back and softly said something that Lily couldn't hear. It seemed to make the girl feel better, though.

"Do you really mean it?" she asked, swiping the tears from her face.

"Yep, it's an open invitation. Any questions you have, I'll do my best to answer them, and if I don't know the answer, I'll ask Lily."

"Thanks, James."

He looked at the girl intently. "You know you still have detention though, right?"

"Yeah, I know," she said glumly.

"I'll see if we can get you in with Flitwick. He'll probably have you do something to help you practice charms that will be on your exam."

"Merlin, you're the best!"

The girl brightened, gave him a quick hug, and darted away, probably to keep studying.

James looked right at Lily's tree and called, "So are you going to help me out and answer any questions I can't?"

Lily picked herself up off the ground and walked out to meet James. "How did you know I was there?"

"You always hide out there when the weather's nice," he replied. "It's your favorite spot."

She put a hand to her heart. "I'm surprised you noticed."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I notice everything about you."

Lily smiled in spite of herself. Between their prefect duties and their smaller N.E.W.T. level classes, she and James had actually become good friends over the course of the year. He still hadn't given up on getting her to fall in love with him, but it didn't put a strain on their friendship either. She was actually looking forward to sharing Head duties with him next year.

"You're something else, James Potter," she murmured, turning to walk back toward the castle.

"The worst?" he asked, falling in step beside her. "You usually tell me I'm the worst, and then I say, 'But you love me anyway.'"

"Not the worst," she replied. "Just... something else."

James nodded. "A definite improvement. I'll have you falling in love with me by graduation yet."

Lily nudged him with her shoulder and laughed. "Okay, I take it back, you are the worst."

"But you love me anyway," he said, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

"No, I don't."

"You will. You just don't know it yet."

"Whatever you say, Potter."

Beside her, James grinned goofily.

"And don't even think of calling me Mrs. Potter," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Lils."

"Liar."

"You know me too well."

Lily couldn't help but laugh. She looked up at the castle in front of her and then over at the wizard now carrying her books. They were living in uncertain times, and she had a very stressful year ahead, but she knew one thing for certain: with James Potter in her life, it wouldn't be boring.