Chapter One (I don't think we'll do titles anymore?)
By Dinkee-Dino
Disclaimer: All the stuff (excluding characters you don't know and the plot) belongs to the richest woman in the UK until tax time.
A/N: So here is an old/new chapter. I've changed things considerably in the later chapters, but the changes in this one are pretty minor. Enjoy!
Lily
Lily tossed her prettily highlighted auburn hair as she walked past James Potter. Her highlights were natural, which was more than she could say for some people. James' chocolate brown hair wasn't his natural hair colour, but he still insisted that it was. Men! Sometimes she suspected that they were just as vain as girls. Since the first day of the first year, James had dyed his hair and kept it the same colour, telling everyone who'd listen that he had been born with the brown shade.
She hurried past him combing his hair in one of the hallway mirrors and headed towards Professor Thicket's class. Her Muggle Literature teacher had sportingly allowed her an extension on the Witchcraft in Muggle Literature essay. As of now, she had exactly two minutes to run up to the third floor and slip it under his door before her essay was officially late.
Professor Thicket was an old grandfatherly gentleman with thin, wiry glasses. Stern but fair, grandfatherly was the perfect word to describe him. He would willingly give his students extensions on assignments, but when they pushed their luck, he came down on them like a sack of bricks. Every student seemed to like him, but he sometimes annoyed them with lectures that reminded them of their parents.
She could just imagine what he'd say when she barely made the deadline for the essay. "Lillian dear, you're in your seventh year already! Head Girl, no less! You should know better than to procrastinate! For a second year, even a third year, I might understand. They maybe aren't settled in yet, but you're a responsible adult already. Don't you expect any other extensions from me!" But he always gave them.
Lily sometimes felt guilty about taking advantage of such an nice, old man. Sometimes she'd just put off his assignments simply because she knew that she'd get an extension. Well, if everyone else did it, was it really wrong to do the same?
Out of breath, she reached Professor Thicket's office with fifteen seconds to spare from the 7:00 deadline. Finding the door ajar, Lily pushed it open and walked in. The walls had been stripped of their usual photographs and instead, a few landscape paintings were hanging up. The mahogany desk had been moved closer to the window and all of the bookshelves were empty.
"Hello?" she timidly called, stepping into the room. "Professor Thicket?" A young man with black hair and dark blue eyes came out of the adjoining room. Lily watched him approach her with narrowed eyes. He couldn't have been older than nineteen or twenty. He might be the professor's son. Too bad. She thought he was fairly good-looking. Smiling, he reached her.
"Oh hello. I was in the other room and didn't hear you come. I'm just moving some of my things in." He extended his hand.
She ignored it. "Where's Professor Thicket?" she asked, still suspicious.
"Professor Thicket's gone. You just missed him, I think." He was still smiling at her.
"And you are?"
"Robert. Robert P. they call me. What about you?"
"Lillian. But don't call me that or I'll pound you so hard you'll have to reach up to wipe your arse," she retorted.
"Well, what am I supposed to call you then?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Lily glanced at the clock. 7:04. Her essay was already four minutes late. And dinner just started. Even though dinner was served until ten, everyone knew that if you weren't there early, all of the good deserts would be gone. "Figure it out," she said.
"Lils?" he ventured.
"No."
"Lily?"
"Very good, Robbie."
"So are y-"
"Look," she cut him off. It was getting late and all the raspberry cremes were probably gone by now. "Do you know when he'll be back?" Robert nodded. "Good. Then when he gets here can you give this to him? Remember, I got here with the essay before seven o'clock." She thrust the papers at him and dashed down the stairs to the dining hall.
James
He saw her toss her head at him as she walked past. Really. Lily only did that to prove a point. So what if her hair colour was natural? James didn't see why some people put so much stress on stuff being natural anyway. The brown hair worked better at attracting girls. Who cared if it was his real colour or not?
And was Lily still mad at him for stealing her knickers and hanging them up on flagpoles he'd put in the Dining Hall? That was four years ago for Merlin's sake! Talk about holding a grudge! Sure there were a few pranks before and after that, but he'd stopped in the fifth year. It wasn't out of the goodness of his heart though. Believe it or not, most of the girls respected and liked Lily and he was finding it hard to get dates when Lily had declared all out war on him. Her radar had dropped to a cold silence the past two years and James' luck with girls had skyrocketed. It wasn't like girls threw themselves at his feet, but he was a pretty sought-after guy.
After standing around for around ten more minutes, his best friends arrived. "Sirius! Remus! What took you so bloody long? Where's Peter?" he asked as he playfully punched each of them on the shoulder.
"Peter's saving us seats for dinner. And we took so long bec-" Remus started.
Sirius popped up. "You want to know what just happened? We were held up on the second floor landing by a bunch of girls. You know, Priscilla and her flock of popular babes. They were begging us to take them to the Yule Ball. Those girls are something else! Apparently they like what they see."
James laughed. "Yeah, right. Okay tell me the truth."
"No really. I swear that's what happened. Ask Remus or Peter!"
"Fine. Remus? Is Sirius telling the truth?"
"Uhm. Well. You know maybe not in that exact way. We did run into Priscilla and her crowd, but she mainly asked if you were going with anyone to the Yule Ball yet. And if not, she told us to mention to you that she wasn't going with anyone yet either." Remus was always the quieter one. The shyer one.
"Are you gonna ask her?" Sirius asked. "I know how it is with you and blondes. Me? I prefer brunettes."
"I dunno. There's plenty of time to get dates," James shrugged.
Remus spoke up. "Actually, James. Erhm the dance is only a month away."
"Like I said, plenty of time to get dates, but if it really bothers you guys, we'll go girl scoping first thing next week. 'K?"
Once they reached the Dining Hall, all of the tables had been pretty much filled. Peter flagged them down from his spot in the centre of the table and they walked across the hall to take their seats.
"Took you long enough!" Peter exclaimed in his slightly squeaky voice.
"Yeah, well blame it all on Sirius," replied James, heaping his plate full of mashed potatoes.
Sirius turned to face Peter, trying to convince his friend that all the girls were desperately seeking his attention. James just let him ramble and scanned the Dining Hall. He still hadn't decided if he'd take Priscilla up on her offer yet. Deciding that he needed to make a decision once and for all, he devised a slightly canny method. If Priscilla entered through the hallway door, he'd ask her to the dance. If she came through the door near the stairs, then he'd ask someone else.
Keeping one eye on the doors and the other on his food (in case Sirius decided to steal his fried chicken) James noticed Lily Evans rush into the hall, staring intently at something near the Gryffindor table. Following her gaze, he found that she was staring at the dessert basket down at the other end. Upon closer inspection, he spotted one lone raspberry creme hiding under a pile of baguettes. The last pastry!
He stood up and made a beeline towards the basket, trying to look casual as to not alert the others of the presence of the sacred raspberry creme. Lily spotted him out of the corner of her eye and James saw her quicken her step. Just when it seemed like he was going to make it there first, Lily sprinted the last half meter and grabbed the creme, clutching it proudly in her left hand. Without thinking, James snatched the raspberry creme from her.
"Give that back!" she shrieked, pawing at his robes. James held the creme above his head. He was tall enough that he could keep it out of her reach without any difficulty on his part. Looking back down, he saw that she was getting pink in the face.
"James Potter! That is my raspberry creme and you know it! I had it first! Give it here!"
He calmly looked down at her. "What are you going to do about it? How about asking nicely?"
"Alright! May I have my creme back? PLEASE?" Lily replied with forced sunniness in her voice.
James slowly lowered his arm and held the pastry in front of his face, inspecting the powdered sugar sprinkled on the top of the raspberries. He could see that Lily was dying to snatch the creme out of his hands. Holding the pastry out to her, he waited until the moment that Lily's hand extended to grab the creme, then swiftly tore a huge chunk out of it with his teeth.
Lily let out a strangled cry of frustration. James finished chewing and carefully swallowed. Wiping his hand with the sleeve of his robes he pointed to the raspberry creme. "Did you want some of this?"
"YOU!" was all she said before storming off to the other end of Gryffindor table to join her friends.
James watched her retreating back and silently laughed to himself. God how he loved making her mad! Priscilla came through the door near the stairs.
A/N: Ah. We all know where this is heading, but we love it anyway.