Author: WhtChoc
Title: Runaway Love
Chapter Title: Prologue: At the Party
Rating: R…
Disclaimer: None of the HP characters are mine
Summary: AU. At the prestigious private university of Percy Academy, James Potter is a rich, hotshot second year grad student who has no time and patience to deal with lowlife rejects like Lily Evans.
Warning: It's mature, which means there will be things in here that are not suitable for people who are uncomfortable with mature subjects, sex probably being the biggie. If you are among those people who are uncomfortable and/or who do not like to read about these things, please do not read this story any further.
Author's Note: This story is completely AU. I've written one other AU story that turned out pretty successful called Spin the Bottle. That story will be done in about another three chapters. What I'm doing in this story is taking all of the characters that you saw in that story, including J.K's HP characters and including them in this AU story. So you will be seeing Bella, Shauna, Damek, Chris, and other made up characters of mine that are not included in the HP world. Like I said, my other AU story turned out successful, and so if you have any doubts about whether you like AU, I encourage you to give this one chapter a shot. During Spin the Bottle, I had readers who never liked AU stories in Harry Potter become fans. Don't shut your doors too quickly.
Prologue: At the Party
I love the way we dance in the back of the club
And you know you drive me crazy
When you hold my body close to yours
Makes me feel like I'm your baby
--- Mashonda
"Ew, what does she think she's doing?" Bella asked her older brother, frowning in disgust.
James Potter looked in the direction in which Bella was frowning. In the middle of the dim room, dancing very closely and very provocatively with Damek Jacobs, was the lowlife reject and slut of the whole campus, Lily Evans. She seemed to be completely wasted and didn't seem to mind that Damek's hands were openly massaging her ass and shoving his no doubt hard-on into the apex of her thighs. The couple also didn't seem to notice the dirty, disgusted looks that were cast their way at their mating.
He scoffed, taking notice of the reject's clothes. Black high heels, a very, very short jean skirt that was faded and a tank top that probably couldn't even be considered a tank top because it never covered what it was supposed to. He saw that Damek caught his gaze and with one hand, made an obscene gesture about Lily before his hands slid up under her "skirt."
James turned his head to his younger sister, disgusted.
"Who the fuck cares?"
Exactly his point. He didn't care if Lily Evans got hand raped that night. She was the one making her decisions, deciding to go all out slut. He'd seen her at these parties before, and in even worse condition than tonight, once or twice vouching to give head in the middle of a crowded room. At least tonight she kept the guy's pants on. Still, Evans' reputation was completely and irreversibly fucked up.
Percy Academy University was one of the top, richest, and most prestigious schools in the country. Needless to say it was very selective in its students and its faculty. Only the best of the best and the richest of the richest had the privilege of attending PAU. If you went to PAU, you were guaranteed a prosperous future. Hands down. How Evans ever made it into the school was a mystery among mysteries on the gorgeous campus in Los Angeles, California.
The thing was, was that James did know how the reject made it in with the hotshots.
James's mother was the Advisor and Head of the Financial and Student Aids Department all the way across campus in Jamison Hall, a sort of Shelter for the poor and unfortunate people of the streets in downtown Los Angeles. His mother met Evans who he guessed was already living on the streets and made a deal with her that included the perks of getting the best education one could get in the whole country. James guessed it stuck with the redhead and ever since, Evans had been going to the private university while still sauntering about, mucking the already party-like ways of the student body into a dirty mud pile.
There wasn't one guy who didn't know about Lily Evans. About three quarters of the campus had fooled around with her, about half had fucked her, and about… everybody would be damned if they admitted that they had or even wanted to. Evans was just that kind of girl and for a while, James had felt sorry for her from afar until he started to realize that she could be a factor in her ruined reputation.
"Well, I don't care," Bella gritted her teeth, forcing herself to look away from the redhead and into the hazel eyes of her brother, "but it's kind of obscene, don't you think?"
James chose to shrug and not say anything. He didn't come to this party to watch Evans make a fool out of herself like always and he certainly didn't come here to listen to Bella's incessant complaining about the slut in question. He came to this party to have a good time and to forget about---
"James!" A shrill voice rang out.
He froze and Bella smirked. "Guess someone found you."
He glared at the brunette. "Shut up."
She started to back away, noticing the look of horror her actions were causing him. "I guess I should let you two talk out your differences."
He grabbed onto her arm, pleadingly. "Please, don't leave me alone with her…"
Bella shrugged out of his grasp and gave him an innocent smile, "It's between the two of you. You can't keep running away from her, James. Tell her the truth or suffer her obsessive and possessive qualities over you."
James watched his devious younger sister back into the crowd, leaving him to fend for himself. He sighed, shaking his head and hearing his name in that same shrill voice that gave him the chills. He counted to ten before turning and giving a very bright, very fake smile to the girl now standing in front of him.
"Shauna." He said, in a forced cheerful tone.
"God," Shauna huffed, "Where have you been?"
He shrugged, putting his hands in jean pockets casually. "Bella and I just got here."
"Oh…" Shauna said quietly. "Well, I asked Remus where you were and he didn't know. And then I found Sirius about to screw some girl's brains out and asked but he threw his boot at me."
James tried not to laugh. The idea of Sirius throwing his boot at Shauna while he was about to get some from some girl made him feel better. Sirius was one of his best friends and knew exactly the way James felt about Shauna. However, like Bella, he believed that James should tell Shauna himself, like a man. During times like these, James didn't necessarily want to be a man.
"God," Shauna groaned, looking past James, undoubtedly at the scene he and Bella had caught before, "Can she be any more of a slut? He's fingering her on the dance floor and she's giving him a hand job."
James sighed. "Can we talk about something?"
Shauna looked up at him. "Now? Right here?"
The music sounded like it was getting louder so James leaned into Shauna so they could hear each other. "Well, yeah. I was planning on talking to you tomorrow but…"
"Oh my god!" Her voice shouted, right in his eardrum and he winced, immediately pulling back and rubbing his ear.
He looked at her to see she was looking behind him again with a bright smile on her face. He groaned and knew tonight wasn't going to be the night that he broke everything off with her. He wanted to swear over and over again but decided against it when she leaned up and gave him an excited peck on the cheek.
"That's Chris Amiet, the lead singer in that local band I was telling you about!" Shauna said, pointing and then patting her clothes down. "Oh my god, this is my chance. I'm going to go say hi to him." She started to walk away and then turned back, giving him a strange look. "Are you coming?"
James shrugged, shaking his head. "Nah, I think I'm just going to… um, find some people."
Shauna stared at him for a second before shrugging and turning into the crowd to make her way to the entrance of the room. James remembered Shauna mentioning this "really gorgeous" looking guy who was the lead singer of some local band in downtown L.A. Most boyfriends who cared if their girlfriend checked out other guys might be offended or angry but James saw this as an opportunity. With any luck, James thought as he made his way through the crowd, Shauna and this Chris Amiet would hit it off and she would break up with him.
James walked up the stairs, occasionally being pulled to the side by one girl or another, flirtatiously inviting him to other parties and after parties. Up front, he generally told them that he could make it and if he didn't, he made up some kind of excuse that the girls usually giggled off and then they invited him to another.
James Potter was a hotshot when it came to class and the campus. Everyone knew him. Most guys looked up to him with respect and hidden, sometimes obvious jealousy while all of the girls fawned over his good looks, generally good personality, and his charm. He had his own loft apartment off campus that his father had bought for him for his birthday. His mother had disapproved, stating that James and Bella would never know the hardships of regular people if his father always gave them big, expensive gifts. James loved his mother very much and was actually pretty close to her but that whole giving back to the community thing really never sat well for the rest of the family.
It might've been because Annette Potter came from the ghettos of Long Beach, California. She and her five older brothers lived with their drunken mother and step-father, just trying to get by on a daily basis. They attended the run down public school just down the street from their brick complex apartment building. They walked everywhere they went because they couldn't afford a car and couldn't even afford to take the bus sometimes.
Annette Potter was one of the most sympathetic, empathetic women Nicholas Potter had ever met. James's father had instantly been intrigued with his mother's way of doing things, her sharp wit, and her obvious beauty. James's grandfather had a soft spot for giving back to the poor and had enlisted Nicholas to volunteer at a local shelter where he had met Annette. He instantly fell in love while it took Annette sometime to trust the fact that a very rich man was in love with her, for real.
After Annette's declaration of love for the kind and rich Nicholas Potter, he shortly proposed to her after. James had heard the story of a rich man falling in love with a poor girl too many times, as that was his parents' love story. They were still very much in love with each other… their passion and compassion for one another obvious to onlookers. They were partners. They were lovers. They were each other's best friends.
That's what James longed for some day and after suffering through Shauna's constant fussing, constant disapproval, and constant nagging; James knew he had to cut her off for good. It wasn't like he was actually looking for the woman he would spend the rest of his life with yet but he knew just prancing around with the absolute wrong girl and somehow leading her on, was not good either. He knew that Shauna took his going steady with her as a sign that somehow she might be "the one" for him.
That wasn't his intention though. He had never even said that she was his steady girlfriend. They had met at one of these parties and had clicked physically and the next thing he knew, he was seeing her toothbrush, her shaving stuff, her towels, and practically her whole wardrobe at his loft apartment off campus. He remembered Sirius, Remus, and Bella all laughing at him about how afraid he was to hurt Shauna's feelings.
It wasn't that he was "afraid", ha. He just wasn't experienced in breaking it off with a supposedly steady girlfriend.
"Prongs," A familiar voice said from inside one of the bedrooms upstairs. "Is that you?"
James frowned and pushed the door open to see Sirius lounging on a cushioned chair over by the window without a shirt on and his jeans half buttoned up. He smirked when he saw that the girl that Sirius had been supposedly "screwing the brains out of" wasn't anywhere in sight. James walked more into the room as Sirius swung his legs around and faced his long time friend.
They had given each other nicknames when they were in elementary school growing up together. James was Prongs, Sirius was Padfoot, and Remus was Moony. Don't ask why they still used the names but it just kind of stuck after a while. Other people who looked up to the infamous "Marauders" as they were called on campus for being the hottest and richest guys, thought their nicknaming was cool or cute. Whatever.
"Your bloody obsessive girlfriend was looking for you earlier. Said she had some sort of surprise for you." Sirius said gruffly, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.
James frowned and took a seat across from Sirius. "Yeah, she found me but she didn't mention any sort of surprise." He grinned. "She probably just said that to make it sound urgent."
Sirius let out a dry laugh. "Bloody hell." He exhaled and a cloud of smoke wafted through the air. "I threw my boot at her for interrupting me in my business."
James laughed. "Your business?"
Sirius nodded and took another drag and let it out slowly.
James looked around. "So where's the girl who you were doing er… business with?"
Sirius rolled his eyes and stood up, buttoning his jeans all the way. "We were interrupted too many times."
"By who?"
"Well, first by, Shauna," His voice went up real high as an imitation of what her voice sounds like, "And then by your bloody sister…"
James's eyebrows rose. "Bella came up here?" He narrowed his eyes. "With who?"
Sirius shrugged. "Hell if I know. The bint stumbled in here laughing with some know-it-all senior and left before I could ask any questions."
James stood up as well. "Did she look like she was drinking?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, just looked like she was about to have a good ol' time." He looked at James, seriously, "She's probably fine, James. She doesn't need your horse trotting to the rescue, she's a big girl." He lowered his voice. "Believe me, I know."
James wanted to ask more questions. If someone was trying to have a go at his baby sister, he wanted to know all about it. Fuck, he would kill anyone who tried to take advantage of Bella, no matter who the hell it was. But somewhere in his mind, he knew Sirius was right. Bella could handle herself and if she couldn't, well… he'd handle it for her.
"And then," Sirius continued, "Evans and that Damek kid stumbled in here, ripping clothes off this way and that. Not even recognizing the room was already occupied."
James didn't say anything while Sirius pulled the discarded shirt over his head.
"Basically spoiled my girl's mood, said we'd do it some other time and left. Didn't even bother to take her thong with her. Just left." He scoffed. "I swear that Evans girl scatters the room thin, don't you think?"
"How did you get them out?" James asked, deciding to try and be interested in what Sirius had to say about the reject.
"I got Damek out of his daze and he ran off. Evans got all huffy and puffy, we had some hot words and then she left too." Sirius said, and then got this faraway look in his eye. "Evans is a toughie… I mean, she's easy but… that body can twist every which way, mm mm mm." He laughed, giving James a look. "And I should know… I've had her a couple nice times. I wish I had her when she's not wasted, though. She'd probably be ten times better."
Sirius caught the disgusted look James was giving him and laughed, patting James on the back. "Oh, come on, mate… you're the only guy within a thirty mile radius who hasn't or doesn't seem to want to have a go at Evans. I'm not the one who's not normal."
James shrugged as they walked out of the room. "I'm not interested in drunken, trashy, slutty, lowlife rejects like Lily Evans, Padfoot. I'm just not. I don't see where the appeal is, that's all."
"The appeal for guys like me is a good fuck, to be honest. Evans can ride all night long and plus she has a mouth like a… wow." He shook his head in thought before continuing, "And for guys like Remus, she's the kind of girl a guy wants to try and be her knight in shining armor, to be the one to get her off her ass and onto her feet. You just have to decide what kind of guy you are. The realist who sees what kind of girl Evans will always be or the dreamer that sees some kind of girl that Evans will never become."
Author's Note: Alright… a couple things to clear up. I know some of you are thinking what horrible people the Marauders are and in the beginning, they are, I guess. It's important though to realize the character development that James and Sirius and Bella and everyone who seems really crude in this chapter need to go through. Lily's also portrayed as a slut, as a reject and as someone no one sees going anywhere but I assure you, there are many more parts to her character in this story. We'll go through them which will make her a more beautiful, more appealing, and sexier character. Right now, though, please bear with me in this. Things will get better and will get lighter. We just need to show how everyone is at this point before we can go start making James realize his undying love for Lily and such. Stick with me!