Something Akin to a Love Story
Chapter Two- Stalker Tendencies
By: MelissaMarie
Disclaimer- Erm…J.K. Rowling owns everything. Except for…ah, who am I kidding, it's all hers.
Special Thanks too- My best friend Elise, who is the only one who thinks I have any talent at all. I lurve you!!! Lara, P.S.Lily231, RangerPrincess (You were right about the stalker presumption, Lol), Whispercat311, Eschiva, Prongsgurl (Yes, review love is allll yours. Isn't James the greatest? Sigh…there aren't enough fics out there from his point of view, which is why I started my own!), LJAlltheway (I'm glad you think I did a good job mastering James's psyche. Considering I'm a girl I thought it would be a lot harder than it's been, Lol.) And Mod girl Gemma, who was the only one that responded to the cookie I put up for this story. I love you all, and this chapter is for you.
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Before the story of James Potter's amusingly horrendous love life can commence, it is necessary to summarize the last few weeks of his Sixth year at Hogwarts, so we can move on to the summer before his seventh.
Awkward. That's all there is to be said really. Terribly, horribly, embarrassingly awkward.
When he entered a room, she would leave it. When she entered a room, he would pretend to leave it and hide behind something so he could stare at her as much as he pleased.
She'd nod at him in the halls from time to time, and he'd stutter out something incoherent, but that was really the only bit of communication between them now.
No, he didn't like it.
Not one bit.
But when he thought back to exactly what he had said that night, he couldn't really blame her.
He probably came off as some sort of stalker.
Oh god.
How would he ever get Lily Evans to fall in love with him now?
"What are you on about, Padfoot…?"
Sirius continued his dramatic pacing of the room, stopping every once in awhile to stroke at the rather fluffy bit of black hair on his chin.
"I'm trying to explain some of the benefits of manhood to you Prongs, now be a good lad and pay attention…"
James rolled his eyes and continued to scribble away madly at a piece of parchment that was well on its way to touching the floor. Sirius, unfazed as always, continued on happily with his rant.
"Perk of manhood number one- Independence."
A snort of laughter was heard as Mrs. Potter appeared at the doorframe and tossed a pile of clean underwear at him.
"Independent my arse. You'll be crawling back here every Sunday begging me to wash your undies and bake cookies."
Sirius opened his mouth to disagree, suddenly found her statement to be quite true and grinned instead.
"Right you are Mrs. Potter. And you'll be begging me not to go."
She rolled her eyes and threw a pair of pinstriped boxer shorts at her rather inattentive son. He continued to write, pretending he didn't notice the shorts hanging precariously off the top of his head.
"I'll kick you out right now if you don't shave that ridiculous bit of hair off of your face."
He smirked.
"Which bit? I am particularly fond of my eyebrows…"
A pair of rolled up socks collided with his head.
"I'm talking about that miserable excuse of a goatee that's residing on your chin. Get rid of it. You look like a moron. Or worse. Like my husband."
Mr. Potter walked by, not moving his eyes from his copy of the Daily Prophet.
"I heard that."
"I love you darling."
He shook his head and turned the page, continuing on through the hall. His wife smiled, rolled her eyes at Sirius's goatee, and turned her attention on her son.
"Dear god, James, who are you writing too?"
He reached up to remove the shorts, and deftly dipped his quill in a nearby inkwell.
"No one."
Sirius rolled his eyes. Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes. If the pinstriped boxer shorts had eyes, they would most assuredly be rolling.
"Her." Said both Sirius and Mrs. Potter at the same time, causing James to look up from his novel-length letter with an indignant frown.
"Well it is her!" Mrs. Potter interjected. "You've been in love with her since that time we ran into her on the platform, remember? Poor thing was knocked unconscious. Her parents were good about it though, didn't press charges or anything. Eleven years old and doomed to the utter agony and torture of love."
She shook her head.
"Bit sad really."
James signed his letter with a flourish and tied it off with a bit of gold string. He looked immensely pleased with himself.
"This should do the trick!" He declared happily.
Mrs. Potter and Sirius exchanged glances.
"That's what you said about the hair ruffling thing." Said Sirius flatly, eyeing the letter with some apprehension.
James considered that a moment, scratching the back of his head.
"Erm. Could you read it for me then Mum? You were a girl once, you would know if this would, er, creep her out?"
"Of course, darling, let me see it- Wait. Once? I was a girl once? What am I now, a moose?"
"Mum!"
"Oh alright, alright…"
She unfolded the letter huffily and Sirius eagerly popped his head over her shoulder to read along.
Mrs. Potter's eyebrows rose steadily higher as she progressed through the letter, and she had to elbow Sirius harshly in the ribs when he burst out in rather insensitive laughter halfway through. When she reached the end, there was a very loud silence, and Sirius, doing what he assumed every good friend should do, walked around to James and clapped a hand on his shoulder sympathetically.
"Sorry mate, but you come off a bit…stalkerish."
"Stalkerish?!"
James looked despairingly up at his mother, who rolled the letter up and set it down on an end table.
"He`s right, you know."
He put his head in his hands and began mumbling incoherently. Mrs. Potter sat down and put her arms around him comfortingly.
"Well, perhaps you could have left out the fact that you knew the exact number of hours since you had last seen her."
Sirius, casting a shifty at mother and son, grabbed the letter and stuck it into his back pocket without being seen.
"Maybe assuring her that you would readily murder anyone who touched her was bit much…and the fact that you had watched her sleep one night in the common room…"
"That's stalkerish, that is."
"Yes-" Feeling desperately sorry for her forlorn son, Mrs. Potter gave him a squeeze and said-
"You know, your father used to write me letters like this all the time."
James brightened.
"And you two ended up married! So I might have a chance after all!"
"Well…I thought he was kind of creepy actually. But yes, once he broke through the restraining order I had placed on him and proved his love to me in a reasonably sensible manner (Well, as sensible as a love struck Potter can get, which isn't very far I'm sorry to say), we got together, snogged a bit and decided to get married."
James and Sirius winced.
"Ew."
She rolled her eyes and got off the couch.
"Oh shut-up."
Once his mother left the room, continuing her usual house cleaning pursuits, James sank into a fit of daydreaming, which most assuredly involved a certain red-haired girl with almond shaped eyes. Sirius guessed that Lily might not be doing entirely proper things in this fantasy either, as James was so engrossed in what was going on in his mind, that he didn't notice him stand up, call his owl over, and tie a rolled up scroll onto it's leg with a piece of golden string.
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Remember that letter, it'll make its grand appearance much later on in the story. Thanks for reading! Bet you thought it was a one-shot at first glance, huh? Sorry this chapter is so short and pointless. I had to introduce the luffly Potter's (And the letter) SOMEHOW. I'm almost done with the next installment, so expect an update from me soon! Lot's of excitement is in store for you with chapter three, I'll tell you that much….
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