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welcome to oblivescence! we are a brand spankin' new marauders' era rpg, and we're thrilled that you've discovered our cozy little corner of the internet. take a few minutes to read through the plot, look over the rules, and explore the board, and if you feel so inclined, please fill out an application! we'd love to have you. if you've got any questions, scroll down to the cbox and ask away; we're more than happy to help you out.
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Lily awoke with a start, finding that her head was face down on a potions book, in the Gryffindor Common Room. It appeared to be that the room was empty except for the occasional first year. Lily blinked a few times, and glanced down at the book before her. Potions. What a nightmare that project was. She had to look up all sorts of information that was foreign to her. Not that she was very familiar with all that much, being muggleborn and all. Lily sighed as she closed the book, and rubbed her eye's a bit, trying to adjust them to the light from outside. Where was everyone? Breakfast? Surely classes hadn't started yet. Lily walked to the window and peered outside. She couldn't see the Greenhouses from the Gryffindor Tower, but she did see the a flying lesson taking place. Perhaps classes had started?! Had she really been that late? How could she let this happen? Lily mentally cursed herself for sleeping to long, and began shoving all of her things into her bag (making sure they went in as neat as possible though), before flinging it over her shoulder, and bolting for the door. Just as she was about to push her way out of the gryffindor common room, she paused and looked down at her clothes. She shook her head and ran upstairs to the girl's dorms. She couldn't very well go to class this way. She wasn't even wearing her school robes. Quickly she dressed herself, and then headed down to the common room once more. She was extremely glad that she had taken a shower the previous night, before settling down on her homework. It certainly did save her a bit of time, this morning.
She quickly headed out of the common room, and raced through the halls. A few students were here and there, and Lily was dodging through just about all of them. Normally Lily didn't do this, she was always on time. However, it was as of lately... that she was finding it difficult to study too. Her mind was so confused, what with James and everything. He'd kept insisting that he was changing. Maturing. Her head girl duties meant that she was spending loads of time with James, since he'd made head boy. She couldn't help but notice slight changes in him. For one thing he'd learned how to apologize. That was ground breaking in it's own. All the time, she was trying to hate him, yet something deep down inside, wasn't letting her anymore. It was highly difficult to change her attitude toward him, and sometimes... she just wasn't sure she wanted to. Did she really want to let him in? Lily sighed as she continued to push through the corridors, and flew down the many flights of changing staircases. Occasionally waiting impatiently at the end of certain one's until they reached the right platform. She would then continue to run. It seriously bothered her that she was letting a boy into her life like this. How could she allow that to screw with her head so badly? She was never the type to let boy's control her study habits. Why should now be any different. Especially when it was James Potter.
Continuing to curse herself, she pushed open the great oak front doors, and ran across the grounds as fast as she could, while holding a huge bag on her shoulder. When she reached the green houses... she took note that no one was there, and sighed. Professor Sprout wasn't even in the classroom, when Lily peered through the window. She sighed heavily. So she had been early? Well... how early? Before she could think anything more, Professor Sprout came from around the other side of the greenhouse, nearest Lily and smiled at the red head. Lily sighed again and returned a weak smile, before looking around and trying to find some sort of clock or time. She turned back to the professor, who was tending to her plants.
"You are fairly early Lily dear! I had no idea you were so interested in plant life. Isn't it wonderful?"
Professor spoke, and Lily gave her a very forced pathetic smile. She nodded to be polite, but then turned away. Great... nothing like being early to a class where you so often nearly got your arm bitten of. Lily heaved a huffed sigh, before leaning back against the building. It was no sooner had she done it, that Professor Sprout looked over and started screeching at her. Immediately Lily stood up and rushed away from the wall. She looked at the professor who was appearing to cater to a bunch of rather crumpled looking weak flowers it seemed. The Herbology professor shot Lily a horrible glare and Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her head nervously.
"I'm terribly sorry professor... I didn't see them. It was an accident!"
"Pay more attention Ms. Evans! Try to be a little more compassionate would you please?! These plants are nearly extinct! I am trying to grow as much as I can, and you almost killed them! Not to mention I haven't fed them yet, you wouldn't want to be their lunch now would you?"
"Oh professor... I- I had no idea. I'm so sorry! Will they be alright? I- I... I'm sorry? They eat flesh?"
Lily's face was turning red in embarrassment, and a slight note of concern. It was completely like her, to kill of a plant life species by leaning on it. 'Great job Lily!' she thought to herself, as she continued to stay a fair distance away from the professor and her hungry plants. Now all she could really do is wait. Wasn't like class was starting any time soon. No sense and running all the way back up to the common room. She couldn't be that early. She heaved another sigh. She could always help tend to the plants... but that was never a good sign. It really wasn't... especially after she nearly killed a bunch of them. No, it was best to just stand off to the side and wait for some students to arrive. Her only hope was that Alice would hurry down from the breakfast or wherever she was, and keep her company. She frustratedly mumbled under her breath.
TAG: CHERRI <3
OUTFIT: LOL NO
WORDS: 836
NOTES: YAY!
chained to a girl
WHO WOULD KILL YOU WITH A LOOK; IT'S A NICE WAY TO DIE, SHE'S SO EASY ON THE EYES. SHE SAID, LET'S GET AWAY, BUT YOU PLAYED IT BY THE BOOK; YOU'RE A WARDEN'S PET, SHE'S A SCREAMING SUFFRAGETTE.
“No, that won’t do… Filch closed off that passage last year, remember?”
It was another fine day at Hogwarts, and the marauders were lazing about on the grounds; it was another half hour until their scheduled Herbology class, and the four boys sat near the path to the greenhouses in various positions of repose. They were chattering lazily, tossing ideas back and forth for what their next mischievous endeavor might involve, but it seemed like everything they thought of involved some condition that could not be met, due either to opinion or circumstance. One of the more obvious difficulties was, of course, James’ new role as Head Boy. Sure, being in a position of power made it easier for him to get away with making trouble, but at the same time, James felt uncomfortable abusing the privilege he’d been awarded. In fact, he actually wanted to do a good job, although this desire had much less to do with his devotion to laying down the law than it had to do with his infatuation with Lily Evans.
Since his initial mess-up on the train, James had been trying very hard to get back on Lily’s good side (or to just get there in general, for he’d never really been on it in the first place). He’d attended meetings, filled most of his posts (unless Remus offered to take them!), and had actually scolded a couple of Gryffindor second years for being out of bed after hours. He was obviously inclined to let certain people slip past his radar, and already had several plans in the works for late night marauder adventures, but James had been making an honest effort to be mostly good and mostly impartial with the hope that it might impress Lily. Thus far, he’d received a higher count of glares than smiles from the fiery redhead, but James could almost feel her ice case beginning to melt, and hoped that it was only a matter of time before it would crack completely.
“What we really need is to find a way to distract Mrs. Norris. That bloody cat has the most inconvenient timing of any cat I’ve ever known,” James groused. He readjusted his position against the tree he was leaning on, stretching out his legs. “Maybe if we…” he started, but a flash of red in his peripheral vision brought his train of thought to a crashing halt and it careened off the tracks, leaving him speechless. He watched as Lily Evans sprinted across the path to the greenhouses, her cloak aflutter behind her, books clutched in her arms, and red hair dancing in the sun. Lily was in their same Herbology class, which didn’t start for another thirty minutes… so what on earth was she running for?
James blinked and looked back to his friends, and realized that the three of them were staring at him expectantly, hanging at the end of a sentence he’d never finished. “Er,” James said, and ran a hand distractedly through his wild hair. “I honestly have no idea what I was going to say.” He laughed, and sat up, reaching over to grab his bag from its place beside Sirius. He stood, slinging the strap over one shoulder, and looked over his friends once more, who probably knew the distinct reason behind his erratic behavior (though they were kind enough not to acknowledge it now). “ I’ve got… something. To do. See you lot later,” he stated hurriedly, and turned, heading for class a remarkable half hour earlier than he needed to. Lily Evans was a good influence on him indeed.
He reached the greenhouses just in time to hear Professor Sprout snapping at Lily. He looked between the crumpled plants on the wall and the highly embarrassed Gryffindor, and he paused at the door, watching the exchange with a little smirk on his face, unable to ignore the humor in this situation. It was a rare occurrence to hear any teacher scolding Lily Evans (she was typically considered a model student and one of the brightest witches in their year), so despite his feelings for her, James relished slip ups like these, because they made her all the more human. He observed the scene, unnoticed, for a few more moments, his eyes following Lily as she moved as far away from the professor as space and time would allow. He then quietly moved in through the door, approaching Lily from behind.
“So, is it your goal to destroy the school’s entire store of plants before winter?” asked James, grinning. He removed the strap of his book bag from his shoulder, setting the thing down haphazardly beside one of the tables, and then turned to hop backwards onto the tabletop with a casual sort of ease. He situated himself into a sitting position, propping himself up with his arms behind him, and looked down at Lily, who’s face was still pink with embarrassment (and now that James had arrived, probably with anger as well).
Flushed with embarrassment, Lily did her best to keep her distance from the professor and the flesh eating plants. With that, she also tried not to go near any of the other plants that lined the greenhouse walls, but it seemed near impossible. Every time she took a step in one direction, it felt as though she were walking into another set of dangerous or endangered species. Not that she would know for sure, but none of them looked at all familiar. She sighed before giving up, and just deciding to stay rather stationary until she had some company. However it wasn't long before she heard the voice of another. Her eyes closed as the all too recognizable voice of James Potter rang through her ears. She swallowed hard, as the red in her face deepened. Both from realizing that he had just witnessed her being scolded and was now poking fun at her, and because of the simple fact that he was James, and that made her slightly annoyed and angry.
"No. No it isn't..."
She said flatly. And for once she had no retort. No snappy comment. Nothing. She heaved a rather irritated sigh. How was it that now more than ever, he managed to catch her in the most horrible of situations. It seemed to be happening more and more lately. He always caught her doing something relatively embarrassing or silly. Like last week, when he over heard her singing in the prefects bathroom. Barely anyone ever came up there, but there James was. Now here he was, teasing her about making a fool of herself, and she had nothing to say about it. Lily was wracking her brain, trying to come up with some catchy come back. Still, she struggled. Instead she just rolled her eyes at him.
"What are you doing here anyway Potter? It's not like you to be early. It's not even like you to be on time. You can't possibly have some sort of sudden interest in herbology."
She said this matter of factly. She felt like she knew him all too well. He'd never have gotten to class this early. Yet despite the company, she was glad to have it. Even though it was still the one boy that seemed to drive her absolutely mad, it was still better than hanging around with a professor that was steadily growing more furious with her (especially now that she was having trouble with bringing the plants back to full health), with each passing second. Lily swallowed hard again, and looked at James, still eyeballing the flustered professor from the corner of her eye. She went to speak again, but professor sprout seemed to cut her off.
"I'm afraid Lily dear, that if I can't get these plants back to their full health by the end of this class period, I'll have no choice but to pull points from Gryffindor. For sheer lack in paying attention to school property!"
"What? B- But professor it was an accident! I didn't mean to... I didn't see them... I-..."
It was like she was living a nightmare. While most people wouldn't have cared, it was only a couple house points... Lily did mind. Never in all of her years at Hogwarts, could she remember a time when she got points deducted from her house. She was a particularly model student, and never really broke any rules, or got into intense trouble. Now here she was pleading with a professor because she was about to have her record soiled. Not to mention... it was all happening right in front of James. Lily wasn't sure it could even get any more embarrassing. There was no telling he'd enjoy this. He'd poke fun at her for months. Even though her point deduction would be unjust and non-deserving really, she knew he would always bring up the time Lily Evans got into trouble with a professor. For a moment, Lily thought she was going to cry, but she didn't, she couldn't. No matter how much her clean record meant to her, crying in front of her peers just felt like the lowest of the low. She was too strong and too proud for that. She mulled it over for a minute, wanting to blame her stupidity on someone else, when it dawned on her. She had been stressing. She had been stressing about James, foolishly thinking about her feelings for him, and that is when she absentmindedly leaned on top of the professors stupid plants. The thought suddenly made her turn a glare towards James.
"This... is all your fault, you know that?"
The words came out before she could stop herself. And now... she had to recover from it. She couldn't tell him how it was his fault, that would mean admitting she had been thinking about him. Then he would know he had power over her thoughts, and that just wasn't something she wanted to get into. Lately... Lily had been having a lot of word vomit, and it was ending badly every time...
TAG: CHERRI <3
OUTFIT: LOL NO
WORDS: 736
NOTES: YAY!
chained to a girl
WHO WOULD KILL YOU WITH A LOOK; IT'S A NICE WAY TO DIE, SHE'S SO EASY ON THE EYES. SHE SAID, LET'S GET AWAY, BUT YOU PLAYED IT BY THE BOOK; YOU'RE A WARDEN'S PET, SHE'S A SCREAMING SUFFRAGETTE.
“No? I guess I shouldn’t make assumptions based on your plant crippling abilities then…”
James could tell that Lily was already annoyed with him, but in all honesty, he didn’t really care. At least he was here with her in this nearly empty classroom, guaranteed fifteen minutes of alone time with her before the other students would start to filter in. At this point, being around the girl and getting a word or two of response from her was enough for James, though it was mostly because he’d never experienced a version of Lily Evans that was not completely and utterly frustrated with him; maybe if he were to try being more likeable as a person, he would have gotten to know an even better version of Lily Evans than the one he was already familiar with. Unfortunately, James was not very good at understanding the difference between being funny and being obnoxious, and so this Lily—the angry, temperamental, accusatory one—was probably here to stay.
Her question brought a casual shrug from him, though inwardly his heart hammered against his chest. Of course he wasn’t going to say that he had followed her here, because that would make him sound—as Sirius would put it—“creepy,” but it was hard to think of any other believable reason for what he was doing in class nearly thirty minutes early. Lily knew just as well as he did that he was not trying to get ahead in Herbology; he quite possibly cared about it least out of all the subjects he was taking this term. Unfortunately, the I-do-care-about-plants route was really the only option left. “What if I do have some sort of sudden interest in Herbology?” James countered, looking down at Lily with widened hazel eyes. “I like mandrakes. I think they’re quite cute when they aren’t screaming…”
Well, that had been surprisingly easy to joke his way out of. James was shocked that Lily hadn’t come back with as snappy an insult or accusation as usual, but he figured it had something to do with the fact that he’d actually caught her doing something embarrassing. He felt a little bit guilty as his eyes brushed over the embarrassed pink that tainted her cheeks, but before he could make up for his mistake, Professor Sprout was at it again, squawking like the old bat she was about some vile species of plant that only she cared about. James stared at the Professor as she huddled over the plants, looking as sad as though she’d just discovered a pack of beheaded kittens, and he wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of her passion. He kept quite though, if only for Lily’s sake, and eyed the head of Hufflepuff house as she hobbled off to the other side of the greenhouse to check on something else.
James briefly considered making a snide remark in reference to Sprout now that she was out of earshot, but upon looking back down at the redhead, he could tell she was in no such mood. In fact, she looked strangely tragic, with her bright green eyes glistening more wetly than usual and that gentle smudge of red shame still delicate on her skin. She wasn’t looking at him, which gave him free range to look at her, and James frowned a little, trying to think of something to say that might sound vaguely sensitive to her concerns. Before he could even open his mouth, though, Lily turned quite suddenly to shoot him one of the nastiest glares he’d received from her since they had started their 7th year at Hogwarts. Her following declaration left him gaping open-mouthed at her for several long moments as he tried to decide whether or not she was serious. Did she honestly believe that this was his was his fault—that he was entirely to blame for Lily’s own decision to lean up against a wall covered with creepy little plants?! When he realized that she was indeed serious about her accusation, he let out a loud laugh, staring at her in complete bemusement. It was official: Lily Evans had gone mental.
“My fault. My fault,” James repeated slowly, as though he were a foreigner trying to decipher some strange English terminology. Brow furrowed, he scratched his jaw, still holding her fiery green gaze. “Yeah, Evans, I’m not quite sure that adds up. Care to explain?”
Lily stated matter-of-factly. His response, or rather excuse for being down at the greenhouses so early, made Lily laugh a little. More so in disbelief than finding James funny. Her eyes found themselves rolling, as they always seemed to whenever Potter was around. Mandrakes were horrible little critters, and Lily couldn't stand them. Herbology was quite honestly her least favorite subject. She wasn't terrible at it, nor was she any good either though. She didn't struggle or anything, but she certainly didn't have any form of love for the subject in any way at all. She hated talking to plants. She hated the screeching ones, and taking care of them. The stinging kind, and the poisonous ones. You'd find worse things in the greenhouses than in defense against the dark arts or potions, it was nauseating. Lily wasn't sure that James felt the same way as her, but she was nearly certain he didn't have some new found joy of herbology. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well then... if you think they are so cute, I hope your children are just like them."
With those words, she paused for a moment, and smirked at him.
"Provided anyone is insane enough to allow you to reproduce that is."
And there she was. Lily was back. At least the spitfire Lily that James was ever so familiar with. Lily was trying hard not to show the real feelings she was having about professor sprout contemplating taking points from Gryffindor, on Lily's behalf. It was easier to cover it up, by taking it out on James. Not that she was proud of herself for it, but the boy did seem to make it rather easy for her, and she couldn't bare the thought of him seeing her in distress. This really was the only way. His reaction to her accusation was just as she'd expected it to be, even if she didn't like it. She rolled her eyes yet again, as she walked a little ways away from him, not wanting to look him in the eyes. She stopped at a nearby table, and put her hand on the chair, still refusing to look at him.
"Yes, your fault. You're obviously the reason I've been so stressed out. What with being head girl and all, all of these meetings, and trying to make up for my lack in help, and... and... yes, you're fault. You heard me, I shouldn't have to explain!"
Right, good job Lily, go ahead and talk your way in a circle. She heaved an irritated sigh, doing her best not to cave and let up, even though it really wasn't his fault, and they both knew it. He had actually been doing rather decent with his head boy duties. Not quite as good as Lily would have approved of (she knew he let gryffindors off the hook a lot, regardless if they broke the rules or not), but he was trying, and doing it rather successfully. For some reason, Lily hated that. It made him 'no so bad', and he was just supposed to be bad for her, just bad. In truth, it was her fault for allowing herself to think about him so much. Her fault for stressing out about thinking about him. Her fault for absentmindedly leaning against the stupid disgusting plants. Annoyed with herself Lily, turned to face him finally. She closed her eyes, as if it were painful to do what she was about to do, and then bit her lip before speaking.
"I'm sorry. No, you're right. It's not your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have such high expectations of other people. I apologize."
TAG: CHERRI <3
OUTFIT: LOL NO
WORDS: 643
NOTES: dey are da cutest
chained to a girl
WHO WOULD KILL YOU WITH A LOOK; IT'S A NICE WAY TO DIE, SHE'S SO EASY ON THE EYES. SHE SAID, LET'S GET AWAY, BUT YOU PLAYED IT BY THE BOOK; YOU'RE A WARDEN'S PET, SHE'S A SCREAMING SUFFRAGETTE.
The moment that Lily Evans resorted to insulting James Potter was the moment in which he knew that she had gone back to normal. While most people didn’t quite enjoy degradation from the person they were in love with, James felt an oddly definitive sense of relief when he heard the challenge in her tone, saw that little smirk at the corner of her mouth. As messed up as it might sound to someone more functional, Lily’s ability to berate James was actually one of the things about her that he’d always liked best.
Even so, he was certain that he’d done nothing to deserve her present anger, and vaguely eager to hear Lily’s explanation he leaned forward as she began to speak. He had already figured that Lily was blaming this plant situation on him for convenience’s sake alone—it was easy for her to blame him for things because he was too pathetically in love with her to put up much of a fight—and his suspicions were confirmed when she started blabbing about a number of things that had absolutely nothing to do with Herbology. Aside from his missing that first meeting on the train and his occasional smack of favoritism towards Gryffindors, James had been doing a decent job of being Head Boy, and Lily could not deny it. He had thought that doing a good job would make her happy, and it confused him to hear her telling him that he’d been doing poorly enough to make her miserable. It didn’t make sense. Still, he humored her by listening to the rant, which lasted for a good twenty seconds and turned her cheeks the same pink they’d been when he had first walked into the greenhouse. He stared at the back of her head when she turned away from him, his eyes tracing the curve of her shoulders, the rise and fall as she heaved a sigh. He wondered what she was thinking of, and knew that whatever it was, it was probably not complimentary towards him. He had nothing to respond with, for they both knew that her argument made no sense, so he continued to examine her red hair while he waited for her to make up her mind.
When Lily finally turned around to look at him, James raised his eyebrows expectantly, genuinely curious to hear what she had to say next. He could see a calculation fizzing and sparking in her green eyes, and he felt a jolt when she pressed her teeth to her bottom lip. She was… sorry? He was right? It was not his fault? It was… hers?!? James gaped at her, and in his confusion the thought actually crossed his mind that this must have someone else under the influence of Polyjuice Potion; that was how incredibly unrealistic it seemed that Lily Evans would admit to being wrong—especially to James.
For a few moments, he thought of gloating. Gloating was something that James was very good at, and it always felt excellent; it was something that had come as an impulse to him in the past, but in recent months he’d learned the wonderful practice of thinking before speaking, and had tried to utilize it the best he could—especially around Lily. He continued to stare stupidly at her, the expression on his face indicating his internal struggle, until finally he let out a quick exhale. “To be honest, your expectations of me aren’t even that high,” he said, and let out a laugh as he reached up to rub the back of his neck. “I should be able to meet them, I know—and I’m trying, Evans! Really, I am,” he said, a note of desperation hidden in his voice. Suddenly, a little smile popped onto his lips. “Still, I can’t be held responsible for your plant-murdering tendencies…”
It was impossibly hard for Lily Evans to allow herself to be around James in a civilized manner. It was even harder to be embarrassed in front of him. Even more so, to get in trouble in front of him. Yet quite honestly... the worst, was having to admit that she was wrong to him. Not that Lily ever had a problem admitting she was wrong usually. Sure she was stubborn, but she knew she wasn't perfect and never liked pretending that she was. Admitting she was wrong only made her feel like she had something to work at. Although, admitting she was wrong to none other than James Gregory Potter... well that was just the worst possible experience Lily could really imagine. She knew he would relish in it. She knew he would flaunt it. She could tell he was just going to brag and wave it around in her face like a child. It was how he was, it was who he was. She knew him well enough to know how much he enjoyed gloating, and today would be no different right? Wrong, apparently. When James somehow managed to surprise Lily by, in fact, not turning her raving rant into a joke, or boasting about how right he was, and what a miracle it was for Lily to admit she was wrong, she was pleasantly awestruck. Her face managed a awkward sort of smile, but it was a smile non-the-less, and it was at him. She tilted her head to the side a bit glancing him over, before she shook her head slowly.
"I know you are. I've noticed... honest."
She found herself letting out a soft giggle at his comment, and she nodded in response.
"I know. I just can't believe I've lost the house some points. And besides, it's not murdering! The plants aren't dead. They are just..."
The red head took a glance at the slightly crushed, limp plants and bit her lip, wincing a bit at their current state, and turning her head once again to the side, hoping that by looking at them from a different angle they might look better off. Her eyes averted back to James.
"... ummm... slightly incapacitated?"
She laughed again at herself mostly before leaning her back against one of the desks, getting rather comfortable. Alright, so it wasn't Alice, or Remus, or even Peter, none of her other female friends... it was James. Yet, for once he didn't seem that bad. She was at least laughing around him, and it wasn't at his expense. It was nice to be able to smile around the boy, after all... he was generally used to seeing a scowl or frown. Surely this was a better way to socialize. She looked at the ground, and then at Professor Sprout again.
"I'd offer my help, but I don't feel like being their breakfast this morning."
TAG: CHERRI <3
OUTFIT: LOL NO
WORDS: 526
NOTES: :3
chained to a girl
WHO WOULD KILL YOU WITH A LOOK; IT'S A NICE WAY TO DIE, SHE'S SO EASY ON THE EYES. SHE SAID, LET'S GET AWAY, BUT YOU PLAYED IT BY THE BOOK; YOU'RE A WARDEN'S PET, SHE'S A SCREAMING SUFFRAGETTE.
It was almost funny to watch Lily as she struggled to put on a smile for James; it was as though offering him a positive expression was so rare that she’d actually forgotten how to do it altogether. Still, he appreciated the effort, considering the number of smiles he’d given her for absolutely nothing in return. It warmed him that she was admitting that she’d at least noticed his genuine attempts at being a better person to please her, and although James was often guilty of idealism in its purest form, he felt like this time he might actually be making some kind of progress with the fiery redhead who’d stolen his heart so very long ago.
As if he wasn’t already encouraged enough by her calm and sincere behavior, now Lily was actually giggling at a joke he’d made! He tried not to look too surprised—or, alternately, too proud of himself—for finally dragging a laugh out of her, and instead put on his crooked little smile, glancing towards the woebegone plants as Lily tried to salvage what little honor they had remaining. Incapacitated was a good word for the crippled little things, but either way they didn’t have long to go, which was particularly evident if one were to judge by the expression on Professor Sprout’s face. “I’d say more than slightly,” James laughed, scratching his jaw as he looked down at Lily.
Perhaps it was his fault for having such an easily inflatable ego—or perhaps it was hers for being too kind to him too quickly—but James was feeling even more confident than he usually did, sitting atop the table with his eyes fixed on Lily Evans. She’d smiled at him, accepted his apology, and giggled at something he’d said, all in the course of ten minutes! It doesn’t sound like much, but with the way the two usually interacted with one another, it said a lot. Internally James was smart enough to know that nothing drastic had changed between he and Lily, but he couldn’t help the voice in his head that was pushing him to ask her the question he’d been trying to convince himself to bring up every time he’d seen her since the announcement for the ball had been posted on the school’s bulletin board. He’d struggled through prefect meetings with the words on his tongue, stood by her side during their duties while practically sweating through his robes with anxiety over asking her… and yes, to ask now that he’d finally done something right was stupid and impulsive, but so was James. He straightened up a little bit, watching her in clear focus through the lenses of his black-framed glasses.
“So,” he began slowly, as though he’d been given some indication that this subject was now ready to be broached, “you’re going to the ball, yeah?” He was about as smooth as a rocky canyon, but it didn’t matter much; she should have expected this kind of talk from him, considering they both knew that he’d been desperate for her for a good three years and that his desire only grew with each passing day.
She responded, still unable to wipe the smile off of her face. She had been serious, she wanted him to stop picking on her. She was liking it too much, and that was bad. Yet for some reason, the smile would not remove itself. Although, it did manage to sneak away, as soon as things got awkwardly silent. While James was still smiling, their laughter had died out a bit, and now it was just the two of them. James sitting on the desk, Lily leaning up on another beside him. She had to glance away because surely it wouldn't seem appropriate for them to continue looking at one another. She continued to ignore the grumbles that Professor Sprout was letting out in the back of the room. The plants were a goner and Lily was feeling terribly about it. How could she possibly kill that many plants. Luckily their were still a few lives ones, but certainly not as many as the Professor was hoping for. She swallowed hard, before looking back at James, who was looking a bit eagerly at her. She shifted her eye's for a moment, wondering if he knew something that she didn't. She furrowed her eyebrows giving him a rather puzzled expression. She was about to open her mouth to ask him if he was feeling alright, but he'd begun to speak.
The long drawn out so, already had Lily begin worrying. Mentally she began begging him not to ask her. She knew it was coming, he often started his dating rants this way. About how their was a hogsmeade visit coming up and they should go together, and it would be fun. Her eye's widened slightly, and she braced herself for the inevitable. He was going to ask her out, he always did. She wasn't sure how she was going to respond. She was so tired of rejecting him. That didn't mean she wanted to date him, it was just that she couldn't stand constantly repeating the same speech to him. It was getting old. It was nearly four years of this. She wasn't sure she could handle it any longer. Just then, as the words escaped his lips, Lily let out a sigh. She nodded.
"Yes James, I was planning on it. Why, did you want to take me?"
She asked him flatly again. In a way, she was grateful that he'd ruined the moment. She didn't need to keep having cute, fun moments with him. It was not good for the whole 'I don't like him', mental note she kept posting around in her brain. The more comfortable she got around him, the more she felt the need to push him away, and the less she found herself able to. Thankfully, he was good at killing the mood, and making her rather irritated. She gave the brown haired boy a rather blank expression, waiting for him to say the word yes, so she could say the word no, and be done with it. It was frustrating to have to deal with, and tiring to continue fighting him off. Why couldn't he just try and be her friend first before trying to be her boyfriend? She only wished he saw things they way she did.
TAG: CHERRI <3
OUTFIT: LOL NO
WORDS: 472
NOTES: :3
chained to a girl
WHO WOULD KILL YOU WITH A LOOK; IT'S A NICE WAY TO DIE, SHE'S SO EASY ON THE EYES. SHE SAID, LET'S GET AWAY, BUT YOU PLAYED IT BY THE BOOK; YOU'RE A WARDEN'S PET, SHE'S A SCREAMING SUFFRAGETTE.
James wasn’t sure what he’d expected out of this inherently doomed situation, but the heavy sense of disappointment he felt upon Lily’s remark was enough to tell him that it hadn’t been this—it had been something completely unrealistic, something else entirely. If James had actually thought before speaking, if he’d taken just a few seconds to look back on all of the times he’d asked Lily Evans out on a date, he would have remembered how badly each attempt had fared for him and might have convinced himself to wait a bit longer before trying. Unfortunately, James had never been a ‘think first’ kind of guy. He always seemed to forget the regret that came with each failed attempt at earning her affection, probably because each time she smiled at him was like the pressing of a ‘reset’ button on his heart, and so he tried and tried and failed and failed and tried and tried again.
Though it was already clear that Lily was not keen on the prospect of accompanying James to the ball, he had started the conversation and now he needed to finish it; he could not so easily let go of his pride. He held her blank stare, a little smile quirking at his mouth, and leaned forward slightly. “Er, I mean… yeah,” he said stupidly, and shrugged his shoulders as though this were a nonchalant offer rather than yet another desperate plea for her affection. “We should go together, as Head Boy and Head Girl. It’ll be cute, the kiddies will like it,” he said with a cocky grin, and nudged her lightly with his elbow.
Despite James’ best efforts to seem casual and pleading all at once, Lily was not having any of it, and he let out a little sigh. He leaned back once more and looked up at the greenhouse ceiling, through which he could see the bright blue of the afternoon sky. What would it take to convince her that he was worth a try? She had seen the change he’d put forth for her, and the only reward he requested was her presence! It seemed a simple thing to James, because in truth, he had no idea or understanding of the way Lily’s mind worked, and probably never would.
They sat in the same awkward silence for a few more long moments, and James was acutely aware that he had ruined and potentially backtracked all the progress he’d made in the last ten minutes. He looked down at Lily again, meeting her pretty green eyes, and ran a hand through his dark hair. “C’mon, Evans,” he groaned finally, dropping his hands onto his knees. “Haven’t I humiliated myself enough in the past four years? How much begging and self-degradation do I need to perform before you’ll give me a shot?”
Lily let out a rather heavy sigh. He'd ruined it. He'd butchered the moment, and Lily was both relieved and sort of sad about it. She took in a deep breath, trying to find the words to say. She was tired of snapping out him. Tired of rejecting him time and time again. Still, it made no sense to say yes, just because you were tired of saying no. Lily wasn't the type to give in either. Saying yes to James, would be giving him exactly what he wanted. Exactly what he'd been wanting for so many long years, and for some reason, despite all of the progress he'd made as a decent human being, despite how much she was slowly starting to enjoy his company and even like him, she still didn't trust him. This game he was playing with her, this obsession with her going on a date him, it made her uneasy. She wasn't going to be a notch on some boys bed-post. Least of all James, or Sirius. The fact that she didn't want to date him, made him pursue her even more. Yet if she threw herself at him like all the other girls did, she would have been used and tossed aside. That's how Lily always assumed it to be. It was a nasty mess she had in her head, and it just wasn't something she was willing to take lightly.
"James... I- I don't know..."
The words managed to come out, but she trailed off. Another sigh escaped her lips as she slowly shook her head, biting her lip as she contemplated the situation in her head. Looking him in the face got harder and harder. He was always so hopeful, and had been, especially now. Before, when she would reject him, it was like a joke to him. He would laugh it of, and keep trying as she ran away from him. Sometimes he would even get upset or angry. Annoyed even. Now though, with each time he asked her (and she had noticed he'd cut back a bit since their return to Hogwarts), he looked more hopeful, and more crushed when her very familiar 'no', reached his ears. The tiniest small came across her face when he'd told her that the 'kiddies would like it', and she gave him a rather disbelieving look.
"The kiddies? By that you mean, all of your friends?"
She looked away from him again, trying hard not to see the disappointment in his face. When he spoke once more, it startled her a bit. His demeanor changed a little bit, and she hadn't been quite prepared for it. He had a point, and Lily wasn't sure she liked it. What did James have to do for Lily to finally say yes to a date with him. It was probably trust. She probably needed to trust him. She found herself rolling her eyes.
"Has it ever occurred to you... that perhaps, I don't want you to beg? Maybe I don't want you to humiliate yourself James? I don't say no to you, because I find enjoyment in your suffering you prat. I'm actually offended you would put it to me like that."
Lily looked out of the window of the greenhouses, a few other students were starting to file down now. Not many, for it was still a good 15 minutes before class would start. For a minute Lily thought to walk away from James, like she usually did. Something inside of her made her stay though, as she looked him in the eyes once more.
"Look, I'd like to attend this ball by myself, if you don't mind? I'll make you a deal though?"
She managed to smile at him, hoping that this would suffice. She could handle this a lot more than an actual date with him. A dance wouldn't kill her, and hopefully it would make him happy.
"If you promise... not to ask me out again until the ball... I promise to dance with you. Fair enough?"
TAG: CHERRI <3
OUTFIT: LOL NO
WORDS: 642
NOTES: :3
chained to a girl
WHO WOULD KILL YOU WITH A LOOK; IT'S A NICE WAY TO DIE, SHE'S SO EASY ON THE EYES. SHE SAID, LET'S GET AWAY, BUT YOU PLAYED IT BY THE BOOK; YOU'RE A WARDEN'S PET, SHE'S A SCREAMING SUFFRAGETTE.
The fact that Lily started off her refusal with the words “I don’t know” was new and exciting, and it managed to give James a bit more hope than was logical, given his history with the girl. At this point, he should have been able to tell by the tone of her voice that she was about to turn him down (albeit in a softer way than she normally did), but his idealism got the best of him yet again and he actually thought, for a few short seconds, that she might accept his proposal. Thus, her words did manage to sting a bit more than they usually did, and he ran a hand through his dark hair out of habit as she rolled her eyes at him. He supposed that she did have a point—Lily’s constant rejection of him probably had less to do with wanting to humiliate him and more to do with her own feelings and desires—and yet, he couldn’t help but feel like she almost enjoyed putting him down for all of the times she’d done it.
“Well, you shouldn’t be offended. In fact, I’m the one who should be offended here,” James pointed out, raising his dark eyebrows and leaning forward. “You’re the one who’s turned me down since the tender age of fifteen, so what am I supposed to assume? That you care about my poor little heart?” James let out a laugh in spite of himself; he had no idea why he was arguing when he had already resolved himself to her answer. He was so used to hearing no from Lily that he’d begun to accept the word with a coolness which implied that he was unaffected by her repeated blows to his pride. This was not exactly true—every time she humbled him he regained a little less of his once-enormous ego—but James always managed to bounce back pretty quickly, retaining at least the simmering hope that he would have better luck next time.
He waited for the final punch without curiosity, but when Lily finally spoke, it was not to utter a complete rejection but rather something like a suggestion. A smile quirked at James’ lips as he stared at her, eyes searching the delicate face for any sign of falsehood. “Seriously?” he asked, trying not to look too excited at the prospect of having a guaranteed five minutes time with her at the Halloween Ball. It was hard to get the redhead alone at social functions—she had a lot of friends who, in the past, had all seemed equally intent on helping Lily avoid James—but now she was telling him that she would willingly give over some of her time to him, and for a dance, no less?
“You do know that you’re setting yourself up to stand close to me for several minutes, and that dancing requires physical contact?” James asked with a crooked grin. He cocked his head to the side at her proposition, considering it. He didn’t blame her for her request (in fifth year he’d asked Lily to attend the ball with him upwards of ten times), but he’d learned that moderation was a good thing and hadn’t been planning on asking her again anyway. Thus, the deal almost seemed too simple—too good to be true—and he couldn’t help but wonder if there was a catch to it. He didn’t waste too much time considering it, though; he was much too eager to accept her proposal to spend any more time wondering if she really meant it.
“We’ve got a deal, then,” James declared, and held out his hand to shake hers, as if they’d just made a bet on race horses. For all the time he’d spent dreaming of Lily, he certainly was not very good at treating her like a girl.
"Oh really? You should be offended? Your the one who keeps asking despite knowing my answer already. I thought you'd be used to it by now."
She stated, raising her eyebrows slightly in return to his look of slight disbelief. As she proposed a dance, to try and salvage just a bit of the poor boy's dignity, and spare herself from feeling utterly terrible, she gazed over his expression awaiting her reaction rather patiently. His response sounded even more disbelieving and surprised than she'd ever taken notice before and it made her laugh a little. Still, he somehow managed to put her suggestion into a perspective that made Lily roll her eyes at him again. Was he that bewildered?
"Right... are you trying to make me re-think my proposal James? I can take it back if you'd like. I think I can manage a few minutes next to you, as opposed to you practically attaching yourself to my hip for the entire evening. I wouldn't be surprised if you suggested Siamese twins as a couple costume if I had agreed to be your date. No... a dance will do, I think."
She managed a soft giggle as James announced his acceptance of her offer and held out his hand for her to shake. She eyeballed it for a moment before giving him a cheeky grin, and shaking his hand in return. As if it sealed it in some way, she supposed. Although she did manage to find the words to add to their little agreement at the end. Most of the students were relatively close to the Greenhouses by now, and Lily leaned up off of the chair she was leaning against and stepped in front of James, giving him an intensely serious gaze.
"However, if you so much as ask me out or tell anyone that we are 'dating', or 'attending the ball together', the whole deal will be voided out, and I will refuse to dance with you James. So don't get carried away alright?"
She then smiled and took the seat she was leaning up against prior. Now it was just a matter of seeing if James could keep his mouth shut on any of the matters. Somehow, Lily was betting against his odds.
TAG: CHERRI <3
OUTFIT: LOL NO
WORDS: 403
NOTES: :3
chained to a girl
WHO WOULD KILL YOU WITH A LOOK; IT'S A NICE WAY TO DIE, SHE'S SO EASY ON THE EYES. SHE SAID, LET'S GET AWAY, BUT YOU PLAYED IT BY THE BOOK; YOU'RE A WARDEN'S PET, SHE'S A SCREAMING SUFFRAGETTE.
None of the cruel things that Lily Evans would ever say or do to James Potter would be able to counteract the affection he was feeling for her in that moment. When she took his hand to shake it was like she’d just handed him some grand trophy that he’d been training to win for ages, and he practically glowed with the pride of his accomplishment. He had done it: he’d secured a dance with her. Despite the many times he had imagined it, he’d never truly believed that it would happen for real. Her grin was like a spark plug, and he shook her hand heartily, feeling an odd little twinge in his stomach when she pulled her fingers from his grasp. He hardly even noticed the other students as they flooded into the greenhouse for class, for he hadn’t realized that his 30 minutes with her had already passed—for James, 30 minutes with Lily Evans was like five minutes in real world time. Inevitably he did notice the others, for it was hard to ignore the scraping and clattering of chairs and the chatter of pre-class pupils, but James wouldn’t let it get him down. For once in his life, he had actually been successful in an attempt to win Lily’s affection—or, her attention, at least.
He looked down at her as she stepped in front of him, nearly two heads shorter than him since he was sitting on the desk and she was standing on the ground, and while it would be hard to take anyone else seriously at such a level, Lily never seemed to have a hard time commanding respect. James raised his eyebrows at the intensity of her gaze, and couldn’t help the tiny smile that formed on his lips as she spoke, even when her words meant ‘serious business.’ “Fair enough, Evans,” he replied. He closed his eyes and drew an X over his heart with a finger. “Just a dance, I won’t say otherwise, solemnly swear by my life and all that.”
When his lids fluttered open again, she was rolling her eyes at him and turning around to talk to Alice Logan, just as if none of it had ever happened… just as if this were another normal day in Herbology. But this was not another normal day—it was the start of something, and James knew it—even if Lily didn’t yet.
i'm sorry? flesh eating plants?, tag: james
