written for the qlfc training camp round #2

position: seeker

team: the penzance pegai

prompt: write about a third party interest in your otp

edit: a huge thank you to the lovely, wonderful tiggs (whitetiger91) for beta'ing this story!

back to you

word count: 2577

You stress me out, you kill me

You drag me down, you fuck me up

We're on the ground, we're screaming

I don't know how to make it stop

I love it, I hate it, and I can't take it

But I keep on coming back to you

- Back To You, Louis Tomlinson and Bebe Rexha

When Lily spots the two Marauders settling themselves into the chairs opposite her own, she knows that her productive evening is about to go down the drain.

She snaps her book shut, rather pointedly, and glares at the shorter of the two. Lounging in the chair like he owns the place with a cocky, self-assured grin on his face, Sirius Black looks at her with those disarming grey eyes which have half the female population swooning like damsels in distress — but Lily just raises an eyebrow at his flirty expression. Something's up. And she doesn't like it.

Remus Lupin sits to his right, his sandy blonde hair dishevelled and his apologetic blue eyes looking at Lily pleadingly. Yes, something's definitely up. A gaggle of tittering girls from their fan club lingers a few shelves behind their desk, watching the proceedings with eager eyes. Lily rolls her eyes. They better have a bloody good reason for interrupting her work because that Herbology essay she was writing is supposed to be submitted tomorrow and —

"Go to Hogsmeade with me, Evans." All of Lily's thoughts come to a screeching halt when that statement leaves Black's smirking mouth.

What?

There is a deathly silence for a moment — even the girls hiding behind the shelves heard it. Lily groans. The fact that Sirius Black is asking Lily Evans out will probably be the best gossip heard by the Hogwarts students in the entire month.

Lily turns to Remus first — after all, he's the more level-headed one between the two and surely he must know that this is ridiculous. The blonde just shrugs apologetically and cowers under Lily's fierce glare.

Turning her glare to the black-haired Marauder, who is looking entirely unaffected, she hisses, "Are you out of your mind, Black?"

Black shrugs, one shoulder lifting elegantly, in a way that's enough to make even the most graceful girl jealous. "It's an honest question, Evans." He smirks. "And besides, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't accept."

"It's no wonder that your relationships never last beyond a week, Black. You're entirely too charming, aren't you?" Sirius mocks a bow and Lily huffs in indignation. "And the answer is a no, by the way."

If this scene played out with some other girl in her place, Lily would have laughed at Sirius' disbelieving expression and the sight of Remus withholding his laughter. But right now, all she could do was gather her books and leave the library with as much dignity as she could muster.

And in that moment, Lily Evans was, quite possibly, the most confused witch to have ever existed.

The next day's Defence class is a nightmare.

For starters, James Potter has stopped speaking to Black — a momentous and blissful occasion — because apparently, Black betrayed him in the worst way possible by asking her out.

Psh. He hasn't asked her out since the beginning of the term, has he? So why is he so bothered if Black asks her out?

She swallows the bitter taste in her mouth.

Secondly, Black is her bloody partner in the class. Which means that she's distracted by his snarky little notes for the entire lesson and that she'll probably fail the class if he keeps this up.

I can explain.

His first note is simple, written on a wrinkled piece of parchment, printed in elegant cursive. She raises her eyebrows at him. As much as she wants to listen to Professor Perkins speak about Dementors, her curiosity gets the better of her.

Remus thinks that if you go out with someone else, it will be enough for Prongs to sit up and take notice. And ask you out himself.

And almost as if he's added it as an afterthought:

It will probably end badly for the bloke who will take you out — me, but if it will stop him from whining then I'm ready to do it. So, are you in?

Lily bites her lip.

How do you even know that I want to go out with him, Black? Did you ever consider that? And my answer is still no.

Perkins looks at the pair of them suspiciously as Lily shoves the note towards Black and she sends a reassuring smile towards the professor. She smiles back and turns away, to the magical image of the Dementor behind her. There are some perks to being Head Girl, Lily admits.

She hears Black groan beside her and she turns curious eyes to him.

Evans. Are you still in the denial phase? Or are you mature enough to admit that you fancy him and want him to ask you out?

Lily feels a blush working its way towards her cheeks and steals a surreptitious glance towards the boy in question. He's seated across the aisle, in their row and is steadfastly ignoring their conversation. But his eyes meet hers just as she pulls them away and her blush deepens. Black chokes on his laughter.

Alright. I fancy him. But he hasn't asked me out since last year, has he? How d'you know that he still fancies me?

Sirius seems too exasperated to write anything down again, so he leans closer to her and whispers, "Who're you kidding, Evans? He's mad for you, and you know it. But he thinks that he should give you some space and he's acting like a lost puppy. It's driving us all bloody crazy, so Moony and I thought that the jealousy will nudge him on." Lily stays quiet, but Black prompts, "So, will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Lily is silent for a little longer, watching as Perkins waves her wand for the notes on the Patronus charm to appear on the board.

"Alright." She finally concedes. "Meet me at eleven by the portrait, Black and not a second later, or I'm ditching you."

"Aw, we both know that no one ditches Sirius Black, Evans. But I'll let you think that you can. It's a date." He grins that cocky grin of his and Lily fights a smile.

"Godric, between you boys, I don't know how you manage to fit all that ego in the castle," Lily mutters.

"Practice, love." Black grins, standing up lithely as the bell rings. "You know you just love us, don't ya?"

Lily just rolls her eyes and exits the room.

This is going to be the most dramatic Hogsmeade weekend that anyone's ever witnessed.

Lily taps her foot against the floor, staring at her watch as the minute hand ticks away serenely, indicating that Black is twenty minutes late for their 'Make-Prongs-Jealous Mission'. So much for being on time.

"Sorry, Evans, my hair was looking horrendous. We can't have me looking less than perfect on our date, can we?" He pauses, dramatically. "But then again, I'm always perfect, so it doesn't make much of a difference." He looks so pleased with himself that Lily doesn't have the heart to bruise his ego.

"Get on with it, Black. I have a long shopping list, and you're my personal shopping cart for today."

Sirius looks horrified. "Your — what? I don't know what you think I am, Evans, but I'm surely not shopping with you," Black says, scandalized.

"Yes, you are, Black. It's something gentlemen do, when they take a girl out, you know. Oh wait, I forgot, you're no gentleman. You're a bloody wanker." Lily smirks smugly at Black's indignant expression. So easy, really.

"I'll have you know that I'm the perfect gentleman, thank you very much. Now, shall we proceed to Filch's pointless 'checkpoint' to get ourselves checked for 'contraband articles that may cause havoc in the village'?"

A few minutes later, after Lily and Sirius are regarded by Filch with beady eyes and a suspicious glare, they step out into the cold October air, Lily's eyes darting awkwardly from one person to another because, really, she has never felt so awkward on a date before.

And then, she has the misfortune of looking at James Potter and her pleasant mood melts instantly. He's with the other Marauders, laughing hard at Peter's gobsmacked expression at something Remus said. His hazel eyes slides to hers and his smile dies.

There's a pang in her heart and she looks away. "Ah, it's working magnificently." Sirius beams and Lily purses her lips.

"Was this really necessary?" She hesitates, as Sirius' curious eyes meet hers. "I mean, if he really did like me, he'd have asked me out, right?"

Sirius is quiet for a long time, speaking only as they near Honeydukes'. "Sometimes, Lily, we need a little nudge to set ourselves into action. And with dumb wankers like James, you need a proper shove to get him going." His grey eyes light up with mischief. "Besides, you got the fan club off my back for one Hogsmeade trip at least, and for that, I am forever grateful." Catching Lily's arm, he drags her in. "C'mon then — you need to buy a whole pack of Magical Mallows as a gift of gratitude for me — and an apology too, for that hex James is going to send my way tonight."

They spend the rest of the day near the Shrieking Shack, feasting on the Mallows that Lily bought. Of all the magical sweets she's tasted, she likes these marshmallows best — they melt in her mouth, leaving behind any flavour that she thinks of.

Sirius, she discovers, is just a big puppy underneath his facade of 'rich, arrogant and spoilt brat'. He is loyal to James, who is more a brother to him than Regulus ever was and protective of Remus. Of Peter, he doesn't have much of an opinion. Perhaps it's because of the blatant envy that Peter's always displayed towards him, or maybe because he's a sneaky little thing, all sly smiles and veiled insults. But Lily lets it slide — she knows that it's a sore topic for him.

If anyone had told her that she'd be going on a fake-date with Sirius Black to make James Potter jealous, and become friends with Black in the process, she'd probably think that the person was Imperiused, or just bonkers. But now, it seems so easy as to be natural.

And just as she is feeling comfortable in her own skin, everything is ruined.

Potter, standing before them with a furious expression on his face. His glasses are askew and his hair so messy that it shouldn't be humanly possible — if Lily had to guess, he'd been pulling at the strands quite violently.

A quiet Oh, no escapes her lips and Sirius cracks his eyes open — he'd been taking a quick nap because he was entirely too tired of this romance business.

"Just a couple more minutes, Prongs, and then you can beat the living daylights out of me."

"Sirius," Lily hisses because she definitely doesn't want to deal with an angry Head Boy.

"Okay, okay, I'm up." And then, catching James' expression: "You know what, I think it's better if you sort this out between yourselves, Lily. I'll be on my way now."

Lily stares at him in disbelief as he whistles his way out of the little alcove facing the Shack.

Bloody coward.

"So, hello," she starts, after a prolonged silence, his gaze heavy on her form.

"Hi," he answers restrainedly. "How was your — date?"

She flinches at the venom in his words and hastens to explain, "James, no, it — I mean — it wasn't a proper date —"

"Oh, really? It certainly looked like one. What with both of you cavorting through Hogsmeade hand in hand, roaming around the Shrieking Shack." His eyes look like hardened amber and for a moment, Lily feels the sting of tears behind her eyes. "You know, if you were really not interested, you could have just told me. You allowed me to make a fool of myself in front of the whole school and —"

"Allowed you?" Lily feels incensed. "I never asked you to create such scenes in front of the whole school and I never encouraged it. And — and I won't say that I was happy when you didn't ask me out again but —"

"Oh so that's what you wanted? For me to ask you out over and over again? For you to break my heart every single time? I can't believe this." His shoulders slump and Lily's heart hurts. "I thought — I thought that maybe I had the smallest of chances this year, but I can never compare to Padfoot, can I?" And Lily has so much to say, so much to scream at the top of her voice, but he doesn't let her. "Goodbye, Lily."

And in a blink of her eyes, he's gone.

Lily avoids the Marauders, every single one of them, for as long as she can. Sirius looks apologetic, James miserable and the other two just look tired of all the drama. They don't try to approach her, and for that, she's grateful.

However, she forgets one tiny detail.

James bloody Potter shares most of her patrol shifts in the next month. The moment she sees him leaning against the corridor wall, a guarded expression on his face, she groans and vows to swap her shifts with a prefect at the earliest possible instance.

But for now, she owes him an apology.

They spend most of the shift in silence — a first since James became Head Boy, and it drives her to madness.

This is not how it is supposed to be.

"I'm sorry." The words come tumbling out of her mouth before she can stop them and James looks at her, surprise written all over his face. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have agreed for that fake-dating idea," she continues. "It's just that… you didn't seem interested in me anymore, but Sirius insisted that you were and — and I couldn't just let the matter go without at least knowing where we stood. I'm sorry James — but I fancied you, I do fancy you and you, of all people, should know what that does to a person. And how could you ever think that you were less than Sirius? Of all people, you feel inferior to that bloody wanker?" Lily chuckles nervously.

He's silent. If there's one thing that kills Lily more than James' sorrow, it's his silence. She knows he's trying to grasp words to reject her as gently as possible. Oh, Merlin, it's best to walk out with that little piece of pride she has left —

His lips feel soft against hers as he pulls her in quickly, catching her by the waist as she loses balance. And oh, it feels wonderful and amazing and…

A wolf-whistle cuts through her bliss and James groans. "Piss off," he yells at the beaming Marauders and Lily rolls her eyes.

"You owe me one, Evans," Sirius calls out over the others' catcalls. "You owe me one for that hex he sent my way because it was bloody painful."

"Quit being a drama queen, Black — and you heard Potter: Piss. Off."

James laughs beside her and says, "Now, tell me what you did with Padfoot on your 'date'." On seeing her confused expression he explains, "I need to outdo him, you see. I've been wanting to go out with you so long — can't have my best friend seeming better than me, can we?"

Oh, no, no, I just keep on coming back to you

yes, this is officially my favourite one-shot of all time. :D i was really hesitant to write this because how can i break jily up but i'm so happy with the way this turned out and yess i got it done so quickly that i can't even :')

(and yes, thank you kat, for this prompt. you can shake your head and say i told you so)