A/N: Alright, someone in the reviews mentioned that I had mad Lily in 6th year and James in 7th. Sorry if I confused you but I just wanted to let you all know that both of them are in their 7th year…The fic starts out at the end of their 6th year and goes into their 7th. Okay, well that's it…on with chapter 11!
Chapter 11: So, You Think You Know Me
Can you leave me here alone now
I don't wanna hear you say
That you know me that I should be
Always doing what you say
'Cause I'm trying to get through today
And there's one thing I know
I don't wanna think about you
Think about me
Don't wanna figure this out
I don't wanna think about you
Or think about nothing
Don't wanna talk this one out
I won't let you bring me down
'Cause I know, I don't wanna think about you…
"Don't Wanna Think About You"
~Simple Plan
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The day dragged on slowly as Lily walked from class to class, her homework pile steadily increasing in size. Lily sighed as she left herbology, heading for charms with Professor Flitwick thinking that she was definitely not going to get much sleep that night seeing as how she had a Heads/Prefect meeting that night as well.
She joined the already congregating crowd just outside Flitwick's classroom, pushing her way to the front where she could just make out the brim of Meg's head.
"Hey." Lily said breathlessly.
"Oh, hey Lils, I guess we're all early or something." Meg commented.
"Yeah, well, you know how people are during the first week of school…" she trailed off. "Hey, Allie and Jen have this class too don't they? Shouldn't they be here?"
"Yeah, they're probably somewhere in that." Meg replied motioning toward the swarm of Gryffindor and Slytherin NEWT level students who had this class as well, their charms class looking much larger than usual due to the cramped and narrow space of hallway they inhabited just outside of the charms room.
Lily was about to reply when there was an unmistakable CLICK! That signaled the classroom had been unlocked.
"C'mon Meg, lets hurry and get a good seat." Lily said grabbing Meg's arm and pulling her inside the room and toward the desk in the second row on the side.
Professor Flitwick was the optimistic and kind charms teacher. He was a small man with graying hair and a squeaky voice who usually stood atop a large pile of books in order to be able to see over his desk and get the attention of his pupils.
"Now class, today we will be practicing banishing charms in pairs." Professor Flitwick began. "But don't get too comfortable in the seats you have chosen, because I will be choosing your partners today."
There was a unanimous groan that swept through the class at the mention of this, but Flitwick, being rather kinder than most teachers took no notice. Lily shot a sorrowful look at Meg as well as Allie and Jen who had gotten seats two desks away.
"Let's see…" Flitwick began looking around the room. "How about, Snape and Robinson." All four girls let out a sigh of relief. "Lupin and Sparks…" Jen heaved a sigh of relief glad she was working with Remus and smiled as she caught his eye. "Alderson and Rossier, Brooks and…" Allie held her breath as she say Flitwick's gaze linger on Rockwood. "Miss Black." Allie made a gagging sign back at Lily and Meg which told them exactly how she felt about being paired up with Narcissa. "Pettigrew and Corbett…Riley and," Meg perked up at the sound of her surname from next to Lily. "Mr. Black," Sirius turned around and winked at Meg who rolled her eyes at him but still looked slightly pleased. "Evans and Potter-"
Lily froze, realizing who she had been paired with and completely stopped listening to the last three or so pairs Flitwick named off.
Well, this is gonna be awkward… Lily thought to herself.
"Alright Class, get into your pairs and choose a desk in the room then come up and I will give you the objects you will be charming as well as a thin spell book which gives you the incantation." Flitwick said squeakily.
Lily watched as Allie begrudgingly went to sit next to Narcissa, Jen walk over to Remus were they immediately began working, and Meg meet Sirius half way to an empty desk where he pulled out her seat for her.
She sighed and turned around looking for James, and finding him surprisingly right behind her.
"Um…should we work here then?" James asked not quite looking her in the eye.
Lily nodded dumbly and James set his bag down.
"So, I'll go get the objects or whatever, and you get the books?" Lily asked.
James nodded in understanding.
The spell books they would be using were on the right on a bookshelf while Flitwick was handing out a variety of objects for the class to 'banish' in the left corner of the classroom, meaning that Lily and James would be collecting the supplies in opposite ends of the classroom.
It seemed like an easy enough task to Lily, but of course, nothing ever seemed to go smoothly whenever she was with James which is why she found herself seemingly blocked by him as they tried to pass each other to get to their destinations. It seemed as if every which way they tried to step, the other stepped simultaneously. If Lily stepped left, James stepped left, if James stepped right so did Lily.
After about the fifth unsuccessful attempt, Lily let out a frustrated sigh.
James smiled slightly,
How is it possible that she can make me feel so depressed one second and then make me smile the next?
He thought as he placed his hands on her shoulders gently, pulling her slightly toward him self.
Oh, god! Why is James pulling me toward him?!
Lily thought panic stricken.
Oh. My. God! He's not going to-- No! He'd never-- argh! What if he does?!
Lily's struggling thoughts, however were paused as James swiftly twirled them around so they had switched positions, he gave her a lopsided grin before chuckling as he turned her in the direction of the bookshelf.
Lily turned halfway and watched as James walked over to Professor Flitwick before going over to retrieve the slim spell books, cursing herself for jumping to the wrong conclusions.
Five minutes later, Lily found herself at the desk once more, scanning her copy of the spell book. She smirked as she finished reading.
Easy,
She thought as she picked up her wand and pointed it at the medium sized rubber ducky she was supposed to vanish to the front of the room.
"Olevi Deliquesco!" Lily pronounced, swishing her wand over the duck.
It disappeared with a small pop and emerged seconds later atop Professor Flitwick's desk.
"Oh! Very good Miss Evans! And on your first attempt too? Five points to Gryffindor!" the Professor replied beaming at her.
Lily felt her face flush and looked sideways over at James who seemed to be having some difficulties trying to banish his toy train to Flitwick's desk.
"Oloonie- no, that's not right…Olana, no, that's not it either…" James muttered to himself.
"Olevi Deli-Deliquesco! That's it!" James replied.
"Olevi Deliquesco!" James replied jabbing his wand at the train. Nothing happened...charms always had been his worst subject.
"Olevi Deliquesco! Olevi Deliquesco!" James tried again.
Lily snickered as she watched him.
"Would you like to share with the class exactly what it is you find so funny Miss-I'm-so-perfect-I-banished-my-object-on-the-first-try?" James said sarcastically, rounding on Lily.
"No need to get all snippy, Potter!" Lily replied coldly. If there was one think she hated it was being called Miss Perfect "It's not my fault you suck at charms."
"Excuse me; I do not suck at charms!" James replied defensively.
Lily laughed. "Says the boy who couldn't banish a measly toy train a distance of what,
fifteen feet?"
James was getting irritated. Where did she get off telling him he sucked at charms anyway?
Maybe it was because he kinda did, but was James the kind of boy who would openly admit to being bad at something? Of course not.
"That's easy for you to say!" James shot back. "You got a rubber duck! Anyone can banish a rubber duck!"
"Well, fine Mr.-high-and-mighty ... Accio rubber ducky!" Lily said pointing her wand at the duck she had banished moments before. Instantly the object shot across the room and into her outstretched hand. "You do it then if you're so clever! Here, we'll switch." Lily remarked shoving the toy at James and pulling the train he had been using toward herself.
"Ladies first." James replied.
"By all means." Lily shot back motioning for him to go.
"Oh, very clever Evans, rightly witty aren't you?"
"I like to think I am." Lily replied sweetly before turning to the train.
She swished her wand over the object in a smooth and graceful movement before,
"Olevi deliquesce!"
And with a pop, the train disappeared and landed neatly on Professor Flitwick's desk.
Lily smiled smugly.
"Well, I guess it's your turn then, Potter." Lily replied.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious, I hadn't noticed." He replied rolling his eyes.
James gulped knowing fully that there was no way he would be able to do the spell…she was right, he sucked at charms. It didn't help matters that Lily decided that tapping her foot would be a good use of her time while she waited for him to attempt the spell.
"I'm waiting…" Lily replied annoyingly.
James snapped, having been concentrating on trying to do the spell.
"Gah!" James shouted, his concentration having been disrupted by Lily's voice. "I know! Just- just gimme a second…I have to get in the mood!" James replied, instantly regretting the last part of his comment.
"James, I'm not asking you to shag the bloody thing for Christ's sake!"
"Huh! Who knew under all that proper-Prefect-y-ness you were just as sick and twisted minded as the rest of us, Evans." James replied with a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, yeah," Lily replied getting impatient. "Just banish the bloody thing will you?
At the rate you're going, my clothes will be out of style by the time you get 'in the mood'!"
"Olevi Deliquesto!" James replied jabbing his wand at the rubber ducky. Blue sparks emitted from the tip of his wand zapping the person in front of them and giving the same effect as a slight electric shock would.
"Watch it!" Replied the blonde Hufflepuff whom James' spell had hit.
"Heh, Sorry." James replied grinning sheepishly.
The girl looked at James and her cheeks blushed slightly before muttering that it was alright and turning around once more.
Bloody Potter and his smile! Ooh! One of these days, he'll be in a right spot and that damn sexy smile of his won't work!
Lily thought to herself.
So Potter has a sexy smile does he?
You again? When are you gonna leave anyway?
I thought we already discussed that technically since I am you I can't-but about this sexy smile…
You are so infuriating, we are not talking about Potter or his sexy smile! I refuse! Now leave me alone!
Fine, but I'll be back!
"Wanna know what you're doing wrong?" Lily asked trying to keep the smugness out of her voice.
She didn't wait for him to answer before going on with her explanation.
"First off, you're saying it wrong, its 'Olevi Deliques-co with a 'C' not a 'T'… and secondly its more of a swish with you're wand, not a jab, you're not trying to poke it's eye out--"
James rolled his eyes.
"Usually when people don't ask for help it means they don't want it Evans." James replied cutting her off.
"And usually when people end up hitting the person In front of them with a spell instead of what they're supposed to it means they do, Potter."
James opened his mouth to argue but was cut off by Flitwick.
"Alright, that's enough for today I think, class is dismissed. No homework for tonight, however if you were not able to banish your object properly, please practice because it will come up on the test we will be having in a few weeks!" the professor said.
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Lily was the first to arrive at the Heads/Prefect meeting that night in McGonnagal's office.
She busied herself with organizing the room so that all of the chairs were in a sort of horseshoe shape with the open side facing McGonnagal's desk and leaving room for her and James to stand at the head.
No sooner had she finished doing this, did the prefects start to file in. James was among the first to arrive, alongside Remus who was still a prefect as well, and walked over to stand beside Lily, leaning casually on the desk behind him with his arms gracefully crossed over his chest.
"Alright everyone, lets start so we don't have to stay here later than we have to!" Lily replied in a voice of authority.
Everyone stopped talking and Lily waited for the final whispers to dissipate before going on with her speech.
"Now, hopefully you all remember that Potter and I are the Heads this year. You all also now have the passwords to your respective common rooms. You may change them as you see fit but you must record changes to your passwords in the school file cabinets and notify your heads of house when you do so."
Lily paused, thinking that she'd at least give James a chance to jump in and explain some things but when he didn't say a word, she just rolled her eyes slightly and kept on going.
"For those of you who don't already know, the prefects have their own bathroom located on the third floor (A/N: I have no idea if this is right or not, I think I remember this from the fourth book but I'm not sure.) and the password is 'Pine Fresh.' Now, I will remind you all that as Prefects you are to make sure that everyone follows and obeys the school rules. Therefore you will be responsible for making sure that the other students behave. You have the power to take points away but bear in mind that the professors will monitor how many points you are taking away and why. If they believe that you have no just reason to take points away, then they will not count against the specific house you are trying to punish. Aside from reinforcing school rules, you all must do nightly rounds in your pairs and the rounds schedules are as follows, Hufflepuff : Tuesday nights, Slytherin: Thursday, Ravenclaw: Sunday Gryffindor: Monday. Potter and I will do rounds on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays… any questions?" Lily asked, barely pausing for anyone to get a word in. "Good. Now, you will be informed of hogsmede weekend visits within the week and it is up to you to post notices in your respective common rooms. Do you want to add anything Potter?" she asked looking over at him.
James looked up at her and then at the group before shaking his head and grinning sweetly at her.
"Nope, I think you've just about covered everything Evans."
Lily shot a forced grin his way before resuming her brisk and authoritative tone.
"And finally on to the last topic of the meeting, are there any suggestions any of you would like to make?" Lily asked in a slightly bored tone.
"Yeah," Relpied a seventh year Hufflepuff Prefect with wavy brown hair whose name she thought was Marcus Edgecombe. "Every year it's the same old boring thing. I say we do something fun for once-- something different!"
(A/N: three guesses as to what's gonna be suggested…come on, I know you all know what's coming ; )! )
The rest of the prefects murmured to their neighbors apparently agreeing with him.
"Hey, my cousin Maggie whose a muggle- she lives in the states, and she was going on about how at her high school they have this thing called homecoming where they do a bunch of really boring stuff that's supposed to be fun but isn't." a blonde Ravenclaw Prefect named Ariel, who Lily always took to be slightly ditzy explained.
"Well, if it isn't fun Ariel, then why are you bloody wasting our time explaining it?" Marcus Edgecombe replied interrupting her.
"I was getting there! Like, Jesus, keep your shirt on Edgecombe. Anyways, at the end of the week- and this is the fun part we should do-"
"Oh, joy!" Marcus replied rolling his eyes.
Ariel shot him a deathly glare that told him plainly that if he interrupted her again, he was going to regret it.
"They get to have a dance which is basically like this big party with dancing and a theme and food and a band and really cool decorations!"
Again, murmurs passed around the group of students and many shouted out comments like "Yeah!" or "A dance would be fun." And "That's a great idea."
Lily scoffed internally, being muggle born, she knew a lot about dances.
A dance? Fun? Psh! These kids have no idea what they're talking about!
"Nuh uh! No way, we are not having a dance!" Lily replied sternly.
"What?! But why Evans? Do you always have to be such a killjoy?" Ryan Davies, the seventh year Ravenclaw prefect whined.
Do you always have to whine like a frigging two year old? Lily thought to herself but restrained from saying outloud.
"Because, it is way too much work! Not to mention that all of us fifth and seventh years have OWLs or NEWTs and with all of that, how am I supposed to be in charge of something like this too?"
"Oh come on Lily, a dance would be so wicked!" another prefect called out.
"No! Come on, Potter, don't you have anything to say about this?" Lily asked turning to James for support in her decision.
"Actually…um…" James began, he looked away from Lily's pleading green eyes and looked at the group as a whole. "I think a dance is a great idea. Sounds like lots of fun to me!"
"Atta-boy James!" Ryan Davies replied, clapping him on the shoulder in a manly way.
"Yeah, I always knew you were the cool Head…so when should we have the dance anyway?" Marcus stated.
"Wait! Hold on a minute! How are you already discussing a possible date when I never said it was going to happen in the first place? You all need a Head to run the whole dance thing and I'm not agreeing to it." Lily replied getting frustrated.
"That's fine Lily because James is gonna be in charge right James?" Marcus asked.
Everyone in the room looked at James hopefully.
He was torn. He didn't want to go against Lily and make things even more tense between them than they already were, but at the same time he wanted to make everyone happy and live up to their expectations. James groaned internally before finally responding.
"Yeah, of course I'll be in charge of the dance committee, but let's talk about that at the next meeting alright?"
A vibration of excitement shot across the room at James' response from all who were present except a certain redhead whom James didn't even want to look at, knowing she'd be upset.
"Great! Hey can we go now mate?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah, sure…" James replied before adding. "And don't forget, rounds start next week!" as the rest of the group filed out.
Remus hung back slightly and glanced over at James. James looked back at him and motioned for Remus to leave as well, knowing that Lily would most definitely want to talk about what he had just done.
James sighed and turned around to face the inevitable, but found that Lily was still not facing him. In fact, she was completely ignoring him.
"Um, Lily?" James called quietly.
She looked up suddenly, her emerald green eyes livid.
"Thanks a lot Potter! You could have at least backed me up a little!" Lily replied furiously.
"But, you asked me my opinion and I honestly thought it would be a good idea--" James reasoned.
"Yeah, but when I asked you I thought you'd at least think about why I said no!" Lily said. "I seriously don't think this is a good idea Potter, have you stopped to think about everything else we have on our plates excluding NEWTs? If I'm gonna pass my NEWTs I don't have time to be in charge of the whole dance thing too!"
"Weren't you listening to a word I said in the last ten minutes, Evans? I said I'd take care of it! I'll be in charge and then you won't have to worry about it, just show up and help decorate or something!" James replied, felling his temper rising slightly but forcing it down, he really didn't want to give Lily yet another reason to be angry with him.
Lily let out a sarcastic laugh at this comment.
"And what is so funny Evans?"
"Potter, tell the truth for once in your life for God's sake! The only think you care about enough to take responsibility over is Quiddich and your stupid pranks. There is no possible way you will actually go through with everything needed to plan out this dance, sooner or later you'll get tired of it and drop it on me and then I'll have about another thousand pounds to add to my sack of burdens-I know you Potter and it just won't work."
And that was the last straw for James, he forgot completely about the fact that he didn't want to fight with Lily anymore.
Who did she think she was anyway? If anyone knew about responsibility, he did.
James let out a hollow laugh before answering, his hazel eyes pounding into her green ones.
"You think you know me, Lily Evans? A lot of people think they know me, but let me tell you something, I can count on one hand the number of people that truly do and you are definitely not one of them so stop trying to bloody figure me out because I don't wanna think about you or that anymore! Just leave me alone!" James all but screamed at her before turning around and exiting the room.
Lily stood there quite shocked. Sure James had been mad at her before but she could never remember him being this mad.
She was furious with herself as she too walked out of the classroom feeling tears sting her eyes. She didn't care about stupid James Potter, why should she after what had just happened. But if she didn't care, then why was it that every time they really argued, she was always the one left in tears?
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A/N:
Boy, isn't James just a moody little thing? He's so lucky he's cute…but that doesn't
give him the right to be all bitchy… anyway, a lot of people thought that Lily and James needed a little more confrontation because the tension is already there so that is basically what this chapter is for.
As for chapter 12? Well don't expect it out so soon, I have about ¼ of it written but I'm having some problems transitioning the fourth I have into the next part of the story. But don't worry, I'm working on it and I'll have it out as soon as I can ;-)
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!
Toodles!
~Luminous Star