He notices it. He notices it in the way the other boy stares at Lily. There is a fine line between love and hate, his mother used to say. Sometimes the line gets a little hazy, and the emotions of love and hate become one, making it hard to tell one apart from the other. And as James catches Severus Snape looking at Lily Evans for the third time this evening at the prefects' meeting he cannot help but feel his dislike for Snape grow. How, James wonders, could Snape call Lily a mudblood and then look at her like – like he fancied her? Well, whatever it was, he didn't like this. He didn't like Snape looking at Lily like that.
But then, James remembers the fine but hazy line between love and hate.
"James? James!" There is a poke to his rib cage and he glances down to see Lily looking disgruntled. She has just asked him a question and he doesn't know what it is. The prefects look at the head boy expectantly. He manages to say, "Err…"
"Would you like to add something to what I just told them about next week's duties?" Lily asks, now thoroughly annoyed.
"Uh – oh, um." James says quite inarticulately, and then grins at his fellow classmates. "Oh, you know, stay out of trouble, kids, and listen to whatever," he glances at Lily, "mommy says." A few of the prefects laugh at this, while Lily raises her eyebrows at James, choosing not to say anything.
James and Lily gather the left over handouts from the meeting, and the dismissed prefects slowly shuffle out of the room, yawning and stretching. A few of them wave a friendly goodbye to James and Lily.
James notices Snape throw another look at Lily before walking out of the classroom, and he has to fight the urge to go after Snape and disfigure his already crooked nose. James glances at Lily to see her gathering the handouts littered on the floor. She, apparently, had not seen Snivellus watch her.
When she looks up from the floor James is still looking at her. "Did you just call me a mommy at the meeting?" Lily asks, interrupting James' thoughts of mutilating Snape.
He is confused for a second, and then he remembers and says, "Oh, what? The whole 'listen-to-mommy' thing? I was just kidding – you know, you asked me to add something and it reminded me of my mum." Apparently this is the wrong thing to say.
Lily frowns and says, "I remind you of your mother?"
"No, listen to the whole thing," James says following her out of the meeting room. "The thing is, every time my mum lectured to me about something and asked my dad if he had something to add, he'd tell me to stay out of trouble and listen to my mum."
"Oh. But I still remind you of your mother?" Lily asks James as she struggles to hold onto the huge stack of handouts while trying to walk with coordination. James grins at her and takes the stack out of her hands.
"I love my mum, if that tells you anything," James says without thinking. His shoulders brush hers slightly, and he feels her shivering. It is August, and the air is muggy – not cold. Not at all.
James gives Lily a sideway glance and sees the red staining her cheeks. He realizes what he has said, and mentally kicks himself. I love my mum, if that tells you anything…great, now he sounds like his flirting old-self – the one who Lily had hated with passion. So, he tries to lighten the mood by saying, "Its nice working with you, Evans."
She is relieved. She smiles a little and says playfully, "Too bad I can't say the same for you." And they walk in companionable silence for a moment. The deserted hallways of Hogwarts at this hour of night really did give one the chance for a calm and quiet walk. The dimly lit lamps flicker a little with the humid air from the open windows along the hallway.
And in this silent moment James is harshly reminded again of Snape – the slimy git! – and of the way he kept throwing Lily those disturbing looks. He wants to ask Lily if she noticed them, too. But he wonders if that would be a little too personal. She had just started behaving in a civil manner with James a few months ago, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to risk asking her the wrong thing…
But, bloody hell! This thing with Snape was really getting to him…
He glances at Lily now, walking along beside him, her auburn hair pulled up messily in a bun, her nose small and sharp, and her gaze searching for late night mischief-makers. And he doesn't know how anyone could resist looking at her. But this rationalization doesn't keep him from wanting to attack Snape. Because, however irresistible she was, no one was allowed to look at his Lily like that! No one! James Potter had the ultimate privilege to do that.
And he doesn't know what to do.
But he wants to do something, because it is eating him. He doesn't understand why he feels so damn frustrated and angry. This thing between him and Lily – it was just friendship…right? The whole flirting with her was a thing of past, when he was immature and childish. It was only after James had stopped asking Lily out that she had finally accepted his friendship. And now, here he was, getting angry and upset over that Slime-ball looking at her.
But, why? Why was Snivellus even looking at her? Yes, James knew of the friendship that had existed between Lily and Snape before the greasy rat had ruined it by calling her the name James couldn't even bring himself to think of. But that was over.
And now the idiot was looking at her.
He cannot talk to Lily about it for fear of her reaction….
He definitely cannot talk to Sirius about it, because God knows that Sirius would end up doing exactly what James had in mind – beat Snape into a pulp or hex him into the next century. And Lily would surely find out about the fiasco, and that would be the end of his carefully planned out friendship with her.
He refuses to talk to Peter about it, because well… he was Peter, and who ever heard of Peter giving out advice?
And Remus – huh.
Remus was perfect! Remus was the advice guy…
James would have to have a chat with Remus about Snape's filthy eyes wandering towards his Lily.