Their Seventh Year

You guys are too hard on Sirius.  I admit he is my favorite character, so he gets his own subplot, I couldn’t help myself.

Chapter 8- Lost in Translation

James kept one eye on Flitwick while he scribbled in his notebook. He really didn't want a repeat of the incident in McGonagall's class. But this was an emergency. He had to talk to Lily, as soon as possible, and he had to plan what he was going to say. He added "DON'T KISS HER WITHOUT PERMISSION" on his "Rules of Engagement" list, and then noted sadly that that probably meant not kissing her at all, since right now it seemed quite obvious that she would not give him permission. Ever.

If he was going to do the thing properly, and apologize to her, he had to know what he was apologizing for. And that was the problem. He didn't really understand what she was so mad about. Perhaps he had been a little forward, and certainly he could have chosen a more romantic setting, but he didn't see that as a reason to slap him. Hell, if it had been reversed and she had kissed him without warning, he'd be delighted. He'd throw a party in celebration.

What had she meant about not treating her like a person anyway? It wasn't as though he went about kissing inanimate objects. He was treating her like a person- a person he wanted to kiss. It irked him even more because he'd been doing so well, and she'd actually started being nice to him instead of just listing all the reasons she hated him every time she saw him. He'd done a pretty good job of not flirting with her…did kissing count as flirting?

Besides, wasn't she flirting with him? All that smiling and looking pretty? Wasn't that was girls did when they were flirting?

He sighed. He had practiced saying "I'm sorry Lily" all morning in the mirror, ignoring Sirius's near hysterical laughter at this, and thought he'd gotten to sound quite sincere. But actually getting her to be near him long enough to say it was another matter.

The bell rang, and as they were all filing out of the classroom he saw his chance. Lily was looking for something in her bag, and was taking longer than her friends to get her things together. James saw that she was going to be the last person to leave the class and doubled back, and then blocked her as she tried to leave.

"Wait Lily-"

"Get out of my way."

"We have to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Fine, you don't have to say anything, just listen-"

But she pushed past him and out of the classroom, ignoring his protests….

……………………………………………….

Remus came into the common room and considered if he wanted to do his homework there, or go up to their room. If he went up to their room James would probably be sulking or plotting ways to get back into Lily's good graces, and he spotted Peter and working on what appeared to be herbology near the fire, so he decided to join them. might have some insights on the charms essay, she was good at charms.

"We learned about care and feeding of mandrakes in third year, that's not so hard, the tough thing is the venemous- Oh hullo." greeted him as he sat down. He got out his charms work while they chatted on about mandrakes and other slightly more bloodthirsty plants that one encountered in NEWT Herbology. A few moments later Flora threw herself down across from him.

"Oh good, you're working on the charms essay. Can you believe all the work we're getting in there? Who knew Flitwick could be so vindictive? And I can’t get a damn thing done in the room with Lily. She keeps sighing and muttering. Honestly, can’t you boys tell Potter to stop being such a stupid prat and apologize?"

"He tried, she wouldn't listen to him." Peter supplied.

"You all do know what the problem is, don't you?" Sirius jumped into the conversation, pulling a chair over, he glanced over all the books on the table. "Wow, it's like a Ravenclaw Saturday night."

"No Black, please enlighten us as to what "the problem" is." Flora said, folding her hands primly over her book.

"Different languages." He said, with an air of doing them a great favor.

"What are you talking about? I don't hear Lily speaking French or something."

"Men and women, even if they all speak English, speak different languages. So sometimes things get lost in translation. Luckily, I have become an expert in girl language."

"Oh No." Muttered Remus, covering his face. He had an idea where this was going, and it was not going to be pretty.

Flora and Alice were now giving him their full attention. "I'm riveted. Go on."

"Well, for example when a girl is acting all mad, and you ask her what's wrong, she says "nothing". Now your average guy might think that actually means nothing, but no. It means she expects you to apologize. If a girl says "no, go ahead and watch quidditch with your friends", it means "don't you dare go watch quidditch with your friends". If a girl says "I don't want anything for my birthday" she means "I want something really expensive for my birthday." And if she says "Don’t kiss me Sirius" it generally means "Sirius, I really want you to kiss me."

Flora snorted and rolled her eyes, but he didn't stop.

"Now James's problem is that he doesn't understand this language barrier, so he takes everything Lily says at face value. She says "I hate you Potter" and so he tried to overhaul his entire personality to be more likeable, and of course it's not working, because really all she means is she's going to make him work for it." He sat back with a satisfied air.

"Well. That explains a great deal." said quietly.

"You see what I'm saying?"

"No, it explains why you can’t keep a girlfriend for more than a week."

"How have you not been arrested?" Flora asked incredulously. She turned to Remus. "If you want Lily and James to get together, don't let this git give James advice."

………………………………………………………………………

Lily felt a little bad that she was annoying her roommates, so the next night she went to the library to study, thinking maybe she'd be better able to concentrate there, since she could get nothing done in her room. She didn’t know how it was possible that James Potter was everywhere. It was like there were ten of him at Hogwart's so he could magically appear everywhere she was. More likely, he was stalking her trying to get her alone so he could attempt to talk to her again, or maybe kiss her again, you never knew what he was going to try.

She felt so stupid that she had actually started to think he might be nice. It had obviously just been an act to get on her good side. He just wanted to snog her and assumed if he was nice for a few days she would melt over him like any other girl. Well, Lily was not any other girl and she wanted something more in a man than a good kisser. She wanted someone who was smart, but who could also be funny sometimes, since she suspected she came across as too serious. She wanted someone who had confidence, yes, but someone who respected her as well. She wanted someone who saw her as an equal, and James Potter would never seen anyone as an equal, since he thought her was superior to everyone. To him she was just a conquest. He only wanted her because he couldn't stand that someone wouldn't jump to do what James Potter said. He really was the most arrogant, self-centered, annoying boy she had ever met.

"All right, Evans?"

And he was stalking her.

"Evans, wait."

She kept walking, maybe if she ignored him he would go away.

"Listen, I know you don't want to talk to me and that's fine, but you have to at least give me a chance to say something. Look, I'm really sorry I kissed you. That was totally out of line, I shouldn't have done it without permission. But, you know, you looked really pretty, and…"

She sighed. "You just don't get it Potter."

His legs were longer, but he was still having to walk fast to keep up with her. "You're right, you're completely right, I don't get it. So help me out Lily, explain it to me."

She stopped suddenly and turned to face him. He looked completely earnest, but she wasn't going to be fooled again. He was obviously a good actor, he already tricked her once into thinking he was a nice guy.

"Why does it matter Potter?"

He looked shocked. "Well, because…I like you."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why do you like me?"

"Well, uh…I mean…why…er…why wouldn't I?"

"That's what I thought. You don't really even like me Potter. You don't know how to like someone, much less love someone. The only thing you love is James Potter and you're so enamored with yourself you can’t believe there's something you can’t have. Well, you might as well get used to it because I want nothing to do with you."