Chapter V: Phase III: Alluding
--
Now you know that it's all your fault,
How are you doing with it?
Hey, are you nervous?
Everything that you've ever known will go up in flames,
Tell me, are you nervous?
-Are You Nervous?" by Rock Kills Kid
--
Tuesday
--
"You're in?" Lily repeated for the sixteenth time, still trying to process what had just happened.
"Yes, I'm in," James slowly repeated, looking at her in confusion, "You alright, Evans? You're not usually this dim witted?"
"Shut up!" she exclaimed, pausing from her pacing to throw a pillow at his head.
"Hey- hey, watch the hair."
"Oh please, like it makes much of a difference. It still looks like a mess anyway."
"You have no respect."
"Whatever-but seriously, are you sure?"
"Yes I am, now, are you going to tell me what I have to do or what?"
"Oh, right… well I guess we should start slowly, subtly. Maybe we can have our meals together, partner up in class, and flirt in public a bit."
"okay, no problem," he saluted her before leaving the room.
"James," Lily called out after him.
"Yeah?" he asked, returning to the doorway.
"I'm sorry. You know, about what I said before. I was a total bitch, you didn't deserve it-any chance we can blame it all on girly hormones?" she asked him with a slight smile.
He smiled, really smiled at her for the first time in their seven years of schooling, "You got it, boss."
"Thanks… for everything."
"No problem, I'll get a lot of pleasure out of seeing Fenwick's face after all this."
"Glad to hear it."
"Night, Evans."
"Night, Potter," she told him as he closed the door, leaving her room.
--
I want so badly to believe that
"There is truth, that love is real"
And I want life in every word to the extent
That it's absurd
-"Clark Gable" by The Postal Service
--
Wednesday
--
"Good morning?" Lily greeted James, confusion evident in her face and tone when she saw that he was waiting for her the next morning.
"Morning. Ready to go?"
"Why were you waiting for me?"
"Well, we don't want people to think that all of a sudden we're flirting in class. By coming down together we're proving that we hung out before that, people just didn't know it. It's all about making it believable, Evans."
"How is it that everyone other then me knows how to do this when I am the one actually going through with this plan?"
"You're just not smart enough, Evans," he teased her, but for the first time it was good naturedly, as though Lily taking the first step to actually apologize to him the night before had mended many of the problems between the pair. "Now come on, I don't want to get down and see that they're all out of chocolate chip pancakes."
"I'm going, I'm going."
--
Oh, look what you've done,
You've made a fool of everyone,
Oh well, it seems likes such fun,
Until you lose what you had won
-"Look What You've Done" by Jet
--
Lily paused right before the doors to the Great Hall and turned to James, "Hey, before we go in, can I ask you something?"
"Um, sure."
"I know I don't deserve your help or anything-"
"Just spit it out Evans, we're going to have to start off on a clean slate if we want this to work. Better not to bring up the past if we want it to work out," James interrupted her.
"Just promise to keep me from killing Rachel when she comes over."
He laughed at how serious she was when telling him that, nodding in response, "Sure."
"Okay, good. Now we can go in."
"After you," he told her, opening the door for her.
"Do my eyes deceive me or are James and Lily actually acting, dare I say it, civil?" Remus dramatically exclaimed as the two walked towards the table, drawing attention from much of the student body that was so used to their backhanded comments directed towards one another.
"Very funny," Lily said sarcastically.
"Oh Lils, there you are, I've been looking everywhere for you," they heard a sudden voice exclaim from behind them.
"Rachel, how are you?" Lily asked with a forced smile, trying to fight the urge to slap the girl when she suddenly felt a reassuring squeeze on her knee from James who was sitting next to her.
"Oh you know, the usual," she said before leaning down to whisper to Lily. "What are you doing with the Marauders? I thought you hated them?"
"Maybe I was wrong," Lily vaguely said.
"Oh, okay," Rachel said, obviously not very satisfied with the response. "Well, you should join Sarah and me at the other end of the table; we have some great gossip to tell you."
"Thanks for the offer, but I already promised James I'd have breakfast with him."
"Oh, okay. Um, well then, see you in class," Rachel said, slightly confused by the fact that she had just been rejected by Lily for the Marauders before leaving.
"Where are Prewitt and Poirot?" Sirius asked.
"Do you address anyone by their first name?" Lily asked with an amused smile.
"Yeah, James and Remus."
"Although he usually uses some embarrassing nick names for us, so I'd revel in the fact that he calls you Evans rather than some other absurd name," James told her.
"It's true," Alice told her as she and Elle took seats next to Remus and Sirius across from Lily and James.
"I believe he calls James: Jamie, Jamie-Poo, Jimmy, and Jamsie," Remus commented.
"And you put up with that?" Lily asked James.
James just shrugged, "As long as he's the only one calling me that."
"okay… Jamie-Poo."
He turned to her, gaping in shock, "Not you too! Please no," he groaned.
"I don't know, it's kind of cute," Lily laughed.
"Fine, then-"
"Morning love," James was interrupted by Benjy who hugged Lily from behind, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. He then looked at the group, his eyes finally settling on James, "Potter, what are you doing here?"
"I was just talking to your lovely girlfriend," James told him with a pleasant smile, never taking his eyes off Lily, slightly winking at her when he said the word "lovely."
"I'll bet you were," Benjy said, glaring at him having noticed the emphasis he had put on the word lovely.
"Okay, I'm getting bored with this staring competition and grunt fest, so can we talk about something, oh I don't know, interesting?" Alice asked.
"I concur," Lily said.
"There was no grunting," James pouted.
"There was, but its okay, we'll ignore it," Lily told him with a slight wink that she was sure that Benjy took notice of.
--
I'm a war, of head versus heart,
And it's always this way.
My head is weak; my heart always speaks,
Before I know what it will say.
-"Crooked Teeth" by Death Cab for Cutie
--
Lily, Alice, and Elle were all in the Head Dorm doing homework on Lily's bed when Alice finally broke the silence, "You and James seemed to fall into your roles pretty easily."
"I don't know- it's weird, I don't know what to make of him. One second we hate one another, the next we're-friendly," Lily sighed, dropping her quill knowing that when Alice wanted to talk about something there was no point in trying to do anything else, she always required someone's full attention.
"Well, what do you know?" Alice asked, confused by the statement.
"I feel like I'm supposed to hate him… I mean he's cocky, conceited, vain, and then there's also the fact that he abhors me…"
"But?"
"But, he can be nice… underneath all the jackass-ness is an okay bloke, he can be semi sweet, I think."
"Not much of a final consensus," Elle teased.
"I know, but it's all just so-blah."
"blah?"
"Oh whatever, it's not like I should have made a final consensus on the first day," Lily brushed it off.
"At least you're finally starting to acknowledge the fact that he just may not be the spawn of Satan, but a decent person," Alice commented.
"Look at Alice being all positive, such a change from her usual pessimism," Elle teased.
"Oh shut up," Alice exclaimed as she threw a pillow at Elle's head, who ducked so it hit Lily instead.
"You bloody cow!" Lily cried as she grabbed a pillow and threw it at Alice.
As the girls were having a pillow fight, they didn't notice that the door had opened to reveal an extremely amused James. "Now this is what dreams are made of, any chance I can join in?" he said, causing Elle to fall off the bed from the surprise when she unexpectedly heard his voice.
"Piss off Potter, look at what you did to Elle, you know how timid she is," Alice scolded him.
"So, is that a no?"
"Yes it's a no, what are you doing here anyway?" Lily asked.
"I just wanted to tell you to save me a seat in class, I think it's time we partner up," he told her before leaving the room.
"It's pathetic how he can be so hot even when acting like a total wanker," Elle cried into the pillow.
--
Author's note: voila! So there you have it, another chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, please review (anything at all! Good or bad)!
-->