Starving For Truth

Lily Juliet Evans, was not a happy girl, at the moment. She was Head Girl. It should have been an honor. But it wasn't, as she was stuck with her Head Boy as none other than James Potter. They were currently patrolling the corridors, doing a final sweep of students for the evening, before returning to go to bed themselves. Her Head Girl badge flashed importantly on her chest, her long red locks hanging very neatly, cascading down to somewhere near her elbows.

"I still don't see how I got stuck with you." she muttered, glaring out of the corners of those startlingly green eyes. "I mean, honestly James." she said with a shake of her head. "You're the epitome of what a Head Boy shouldn't be. Let's face it." Said girl rolled her bespectacled eyes.

"C'mon Evans, I'm not that bad." James retorted. "You're just stiff. You need to loosen up and have a bit more fun." he added smirking.

"Loosening up is for immature boys who shouldn't be Head Boy to my Head Girl." she retorted coolly, only to be startled as James dashed off from her side, running to the nearest broom closet. "I'm not coming out until you agree to go out with me!" he declared, before closing himself in. Lily sighed and let out a small groan.

She walked to the door, opening it. "You truly have convinced me of your immaturity on whole new level, James Po--" She was cut off by her free hand being grabbed and yanked, causing her to stumble and fall into the closet, the door slamming shut behind her. A string of swears escaped her lips as she scrambled to get out of a rather...hem... interesting... position with Mr. Potter. "I hate you!" she hissed into the darkness.

James couldn't help but grin. This was such a Potter thing to do, pulling Lily into a broom closet. He wasn't exactly sure why he had done it. To be honest, he wasn't exactly sure why he did anything that he did around Lily. He had adopted the "arrogant big-head" attitude back in his 2nd year, and it simply hadn't worn off since. Well now that wasn't quite true, it did wear off, and quite often at that, just not when anyone was around. As James saw it, he had to live up to his Marauder standard. He had to be selfish and boastful, he had to play tricks and torment others, because as most people saw it, that was James Potter.

Putting back on the façade of the ego enhanced James Potter; James leaned up against a wall in the dark broom closet, smirk growing wide.

"So…what do you say Evans?" He asked casually, acting cool despite the fact that it was extremely dark in the closet, to the point where Lily could not see him anyways.

Lily scowled into the darkness. "Never. I'd date Severus Snape before I'd date you." she said harshly, venom lacing her words. But just as the girl went to get up, there was a click, as well as a familiar gruff voice crooning to his cat. James wouldn't have been able to tell, but Lily paled considerably. Filch had just locked them in. Falling silent, the girl waited until he was gone, before going and desperately tugging on the door.

Locked.

She reached for her wand, and hurriedly uttered a series of almost frantic 'alohamora's before giving up and sulking back to her respective wall -- as far away from James as was possible.

"Fantastic." she growled. "We're stuck in here until he unlocks the bloody closet. Brilliant job, Potter."

James' smile wore off considerably. He pushed himself off the wall, taking only a step and a half before he reached the door, and tried 'alohamora' for himself. That was how James was, or at least how he appeared to be, never believing anything unless he himself declared it true. When the spell didn't work, he turned slowly towards where Lily was, and didn't need to see her to know that she was livid.

"Sorry…I…I didn't know that would happen…" He murmured. He had been caught off guard and had no quick, or witty reply.

"Yes, well you don't think about a lot of things, Potter. And sorry doesn't change the fact it's happened."

Indeed. She was livid. She certainly didn't want to spend hours in this bloody closet with James. She didn't want to spend five minutes with him, much less potentially until morning, if not later.

She sighed, eyes narrowed. "If you try anything, anything at all, I swear to Merlin you won't ever have children, Potter." she said in a low, eerily calm voice.

James instinctively covered himself in defense.

"I won't…" He trailed off quietly. Realizing that they were still in the dark, James did the first smart thing of the evening and whispered "Lumos," causing the little broom closet to illuminate greatly.

The broom closet was quite small; there was hardly room for the both of them. Lily had managed to squeeze herself into one small corner of the broom closet that was opposite from James, making it quite apparent that she wanted nothing to do with him. James nodded, as if she had said that out loud, and sat down on a bucket of Magical mess remover.

Lily held her ground for a good amount of time, either not looking at him at all or simply glaring at James. Her looks said what her lips weren't. 'I blame you entirely for this, you great git'. Sighing heavily from her corner to vocalize her discontentment a bit, Lily continued to sulk, until finally she cleared her throat. "You do realize that if you weren't such an immature moron, we wouldn't be stuck in this bloody closet, don't you?" Her words were like venom. She was not pleased.

Lily had been holding her ground for quite some time, and in that time, James sat thinking. He admitted to himself that this was his fault, there was no denying that. But he started to feel the way he felt when he was alone, and no one was around to make him be the show off James that he normally was. Lily's words hurt him, yes it was his fault, and he knew that, but did she have to keep reminding him?

The only response he could think of was quite simple.

"I'm sorry."

He said it in a soft tone, to show that he really meant it. 'I doubt an apology coming from me means anything to her.' he thought to himself.

Lily was taken aback. She'd had a snide remark all set up to throw back at him to amuse herself, but he was sorry. Genuinely so. That much was obvious. She opened her mouth, before closing it again. It wasn't often Lily J. Evans was at a loss for words, but this was one of those times. Falling silent and pulling her knees more tightly to her chest, she took a moment to regroup. There was only one response she could come up with. "Its alright." she said it, although she sounded unsure of herself. What sort of trickery was he trying to pull now? "Well. It's not alright. But thank you for apologizing." she corrected.

James nodded in response. A part of James couldn't help but think that maybe they were meant to be locked in this closet; maybe this was his one chance. They were after all in their seventh year now. At the end of this year, James would be saying goodbye to Hogwarts and goodbye to most people in it. He didn't want to have to say goodbye to Lily. I guess you could say that this was the moment when James decided to show Lily that he wasn't all about pranks and running around with the Marauders, that there was this side of him that he only wished she could see.

A few moments passed before the idea came to him that it was stupid for them to sit here in silence until morning, they might as well have conversation.

"So…" James said, letting the "so" linger in the air for a moment, "Lily…why do you hate me?"

He hadn't really meant to say it, but it was the first thing that came to his mind. It was something he could have answered himself, but now he was curious to hear her side of it.

"Well, that's simple." she started matter-of-factly. "Because..." she trailed off. Perhaps it wasn't so simple. Lily went quiet again, pondering. "Well, because you're horribly immature. You're mean to everyone around you just to look cool and powerful. You bully others to make yourself feel better. You're beyond arrogant, and haven't a lick of empathy towards others. You're mean, self-centered, and seem to be convinced the world revolves around you. You've chased after me for years because I'm the one girl in the school you can't have, and you've completely scared off any possible school romance I ever had a chance of having. In short, Mr. Potter, you are a complete and utter scoundrel." Feeling she'd hit most of her points and sufficiently vented, she locked those unnerving eyes upon him to watch his reaction. This would be interesting.

James' heart stung. He didn't show it from the outside though; he simply sat there, staring off. He waited a moment before answering.

"You're right." He said without breaking his gaze. She was right, it was horrible admitting it, but it was true. He then turned his gaze onto her, and looked straight into those vibrant green eyes.

"You're absolutely right."

Once again, he shocked her. What the devil was going on here?! "If this is some sort of trick, Potter..." she warned, eyeing him suspiciously. But, as she caught his eyes and peered in, she felt herself soften a bit. Perhaps he was telling the truth? Maybe he wasn't as bad as all that?

What the hell was she thinking?

Keeping her guard up, she eyed him carefully. "Of course I'm right." she said. "Funny time to start agreeing with me, though. I've only been saying it since the moment I met you."

James shrugged and stared at his shoes. Maybe he should change the subject, maybe Lily didn't want to see "the real him." Maybe he should finally move on. That last one was impossible though, so he decided against it. There was something about being stuck in a closet with Lily, which was different from being with her say, in the Common Room, or patrolling the halls. It was more private. No one could barge in on them; he didn't have to put on a show for Sirius and the boys. Lily had obviously built up a very strong guard against him, one that he doubted he could easily break, which was why he now retreated back into silence and waited for her to bring around a conversation.

The girl watched him retreat into his quiet again and frowned a bit. Somehow, she felt badly about this. What if he genuinely was trying to change? Maybe he wasn't as bad as she'd always thought? Maybe he really just needed to be given a proper chance? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

She brooded over her options for at least three long, silent minutes, before deciding she was stuck for at least twelve hours, and he had apologized to her. Perhaps she'd at least listen to him.

"So. Why now for the sudden revelation, Potter? Why do you suddenly want to admit your many faults?" she inquired, raising a brow.

"Why not? Would you rather me carry on acting like a giant prat?" He asked with a sincere look in his eye. He was starting to feel that she might not believe him, that she'd think it was all some big joke that he was starting. This is what he hated about himself; no one could take him seriously. He was the boy who cried wolf.

Truth be told, she didn't. She didn't believe a word out of his mouth. Well, not fully, at any rate. "I'm pleased you've suddenly seen the error in your ways, Potter, but honestly, take a look at it from my shoes. Suddenly, a boy who has proven completely untrustworthy for your entire school career, gets stuck in a broom closet with you before seeing the light." she raised a brow. "You can't tell me you wouldn't be skeptical too."

"Yeah I guess." James said nodding in agreement. "So now I guess it's up to you to believe me or not." He added. What if Lily ended up not believing him? And ended up hating him throughout the year, and then he lost her for good? Lily had become more than a simple crush for James; he sincerely thought he might be in love. He would give anything to call those startling emerald eyes and vibrant red hair his own, and he would destroy anything that would try to harm her, despite whether she would approve of that or not. Sirius often laughed a James for being so head over heels with Lily. He called him whipped and told him that he'd snap out of it sooner or later.

James started to wonder what time it was, if this attempt to turn over a new leaf for Lily was futile, then he would have a long time in this closet trying to persuade her.

"Well, I don't. Just so you know." she said firmly, shifting and trying to get herself more comfortable. People always talked about doing rather devilish things in these bloody closets. She had to wonder if there was some secret way to make it more comfortable. She'd figure that out later. Lily tossed her head to get a few alarmingly red locks from her face, before looking to the boy across from her.

"Well, Mr. Potter. Any brilliant ideas about how we should pass the next, oh, twelveish hours? I don't think sleeping is an option in this awful place."

James thought for a moment. He decided that the mood was a bit heavy to continue on the conversation of James being sincere, but there were many answers he wanted to get out of Lily, so the idea occurred to him.

"Why don't we play the game of Truth?" He asked, and he couldn't help let a small grin spread across his face, except it wasn't the "James Potter the Great," grin, in fact it was more of a genuine smile.