Girl Flavor

A HariPo oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. This pairing is a Mew and Mor's Weird Pairing, which you may find in the M&MWP forum (see my profile for details). Check out and join the forum FUN! Read, review, and enjoy! Originally written for autumn midnights, for my lovely lil' sis's birthday. =w=

- ^-^3

Lily had this…feeling first when they were fourteen.

"Oi, pass the marmalade, will you?" Roxanne stared at her cousin over the breakfast spread at the Gryffindor table where the two lions sat with Freddie and Lucy, who bickered about something quietly amongst themselves.

The redhead had thought nothing of it when her cousin had asked. So Lily grabbed the bitter marmalade and passed it and nothing happened when their fingers brushed. That was normal.

But it was weird for Lily for the rest of the day. She felt this tingle in her hand that she couldn't explain, and it worried her badly enough for her to visit Madam Pomfrey. Pomfrey said that there was nothing wrong. "It could've been a bit of static, dear," the old nurse had said.

Static electricity my foot, the youngest Potter thought, biting her lip as she trudged up the staircase and got ready for bedtime.

"Everything all right?" Roxanne asked as Lily entered the dorm and tossed her bag on her bed and plopped down on the mattress.

Lily didn't think of the way Roxanne looked in the soft torchlight at first, but she would later down the line. But since it didn't occur to her then, she cleared her throat and said, "Oh, yeah, fine." And she pretended everything was fine.

Then, when they were fifteen and running for the shelter of the covered bridge after having gone to the Quidditch pitch for some peace and quiet after actually studying for O.W.L.s and ending up caught in the rain, Lily's breath caught in her chest painfully, and she frowned. "Gimme a sec before we continue," she pleaded, her hands on her knees.

"Lils, you need a breath?" Of course Roxanne asked. Between the two of them, Lily was just this bit lighter and therefore just this bit a better runner. She could run for hours when merely a minute would wind Roxanne.

"No, I need food—I'm starving!" the redhead fibbed. The flicker of concern she saw in Roxanne's eyes faded, but Lily felt panic constricting her chest along with whatever this pain was. She couldn't name it, but she knew it wasn't good, and it was odd, which also didn't help.

But she would be fine. It would be fine. Everything would be fine.

Yet, as the years passed, Lily didn't get any better. She wouldn't say that she got any worse, but… Well, take that instance in sixth year. Roxanne told her under the soft cover of night something the whole school was bound to know about the following morning.

"It's Romagda Vane," Roxanne whispered to her cousin, her best mate, her confidant. "She—well…" Even in the dark, Lily could see her Roxie's face darken with a strong blush. "She asked me out in front of her fellow Slytherins. And I said no." Roxanne looked at Lily as though she needed guidance.

Lily blinked. What was she supposed to say? What did Roxanne want her to say? That she had done the right thing? That no, she should give Romagda a chance? That they're at the age to experiment? Who was Lily kidding? She didn't believe in experimentation outside of Uncle George's workshop.

Lily went to open her mouth when that familiar pain clenched her chest, and so she gritted her teeth. Whatever had been on the tip of her tongue would fade, that was for sure. And, since she couldn't get words out, she smiled at Roxanne and hugged her, and Roxanne turned her wand's light off, and then everything felt safe with the fort of Lily's comforter over their heads.

The Potter daughter dreamed terribly that night, the thought not letting her go that her chest pains had been at their worst yet.

And it was true. Over the following years, the pains didn't get worse than that night when Roxanne had told her a girl had been attracted to Roxanne. Of course, the whole scenario seemed to have turned Roxanne off, for she remained single all of seventh year. Lily figured Roxanne was happier staring at her maroon Gryffindor tie and playing tricks than falling in love.

Lily was fine with that. And, actually, seventh year wasn't so hard on her own heart either. She wondered about that…but brushed it off. If it wasn't being bothersome, then why worry about it?

A year out of Hogwarts, and all those kinds of thoughts were out of Lily's mind. She even sat enjoying a good book in the kitchen at home once, snacking on some jam tarts, and life couldn't have been better. James was off doing Merlin-knew-what; Al had errands to run with his girlfriend, Calytrix; and Mum had decided to surprise Dad at work—"To lure my husband away from the workaholic in him," Ginny had told her daughter.

So Lily had the whole Potter residence to her book and herself. Good Godric, it was peaceful. Then Roxanne burst in through the front door.

"LILY!" She shouted it gleefully, and she blew into the kitchen with a new bag of Wheezes and—was that soot on her cheek?

Lily smiled and laughed at the picture before her. "Roxanne—really?"

Roxanne could only grin as she dumped the new wares on the countertop, and Lily understood that her book would be long forgotten. Not that she minded. And then…

Her chest ached. Lily placed her hand on her chest. Goddammit, there was that arrhythmia again! And the weirdest thing was that Lily could feel her cheeks growing warm, too…

Oh. Hmm. Perhaps that was it.

And, as the girls whiled away the evening so peacefully and had fun, Lily slowly pieced things together. Because her heart didn't ache when she was around Roxanne…

It danced. Her heart danced when she thought of Roxanne or was with her. And this realization was more painful than any ache Lily had ever felt before.

By the end of the night, Lily's mood had soured and Roxanne's concern had resurfaced.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

"Really, I'm fine. I'm just…I need a good night's sleep."

But she couldn't get that heavenly sleep as long as Roxanne kept visiting her either to hang out or to check up on her. It almost became annoying…then again, Roxanne could never annoy Lily. It was just that Lily now understood why that was.

And so she let a whole other year pass while she debated the thoughts running through her mind, the emotions beating in her heart, and the feelings burning, surging through her blood. This time of deliberation was fine in Lily's book because it were not as though she could say anything to her best mate in the whole world, even if they weren't related or both girls. How could Lily risk the friendship that they had over her "peculiar" (as Lily had dubbed them) feelings?

It took a day out with Roxanne, Freddie, and Lucy to get Lily to feel normal again, to feel as though she could breathe. In, out, in, out—Lily had this to focus on, and, if she focused hard enough, she didn't feel the need to collapse at the bat of Roxanne's pretty, soft, dark brown eyelashes.

Again, Freddie and Lucy bickered, so Roxanne rolled her eyes and joined Lily on their beach blanket. "It's too cold to swim anyway," the brunette stated casually as she dug out some crackers from their picnic basket.

Lily shrugged. "The breeze is nice, though. And Mum and Aunt Audrey cooked everything for us, so we might as well enjoy it before you and Freddie disappear into Uncle George's shop again and Lucy goes off on another one of her safaris—sorry, 'adventures.'" They chuckled at that, and Lily felt as though old times had returned between them—her and Roxanne, laughing gently and not caring about anything else in the world.

"Oi, pass the marmalade, will you?"

The redhead smirked to herself, recalling briefly when Roxie had said the same thing—what, five years ago now? She bent her head over the basket, grabbed the spread, and lifted her head up. "Here—"

In that moment, Roxanne caught her lips with hers. And when Lily, stunned, sat bolt upright, Roxanne gave her a quiet, somewhat sad smile. "Hey, Lils?"

"Yeah?"

"…I like girl flavor marmalade the best, y'know. The dark red kind."

For the first time in her life, Lily Luna Potter blushed darker than her Gryffindor-maroon hair. And her chest didn't hurt at what Roxie had said at all. …so much for marmalade always being bitter.

- ^-^3

:] Well, I think I managed to make it subtle that Roxanne was already starting to think of Lilu romantically (staring at her maroon tie while Lily has dark red/maroon hair?). But this was supposed to be light and heavy all at once, with some angst and sweetness mixed in almost equal parts to produce a delicious snack of femslash. XD Most of all, I hope you enjoyed it, Jess—catch the whiff of Al/Callie and FreddieLucy?

Thanks for reading, and please review!

-mew-tsubaki :}

2017 note: Awww. This ol' 2011 fic rly is quite cute, and it's not as angsty as I remember? But, man. Roxlilu is just. It's such a fiery, firework kind of ship. XD So boisterous, overall. Catching you unawares, as Rox did to Lilu here.