Mad World Mods (madworldmods) wrote in madworldrp, @ 2007-10-01 22:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | james potter, lily evans |
RP Log: Lily & James
LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY lilymarie)
Characters: Lily Evans and James Potter
Setting: Evening of 01 October in the Gryffindor Common Room
Summary: Lily is putting up posters for the Masquerade and James comes up and they have a conversation? Without arguing? Is that possible? Then something even stranger happens.
Rating: G
Note: This could have been overheard or just seen by anyone who happened to be in the common room, so feel free to have your character have noticed.
Lily let out a sigh as she put up the last poster advertising the Masquerade Ball in the common room. Professor McGonagall had asked her to do it and, being on the board of the USO and a prefect, she wasn't in any position to say no. Besides, so long as she was doing something, she wasn't thinking about how she was annoyed with Severus for not sticking up for her to that fifth year.
However, then she just found herself thinking about how it was a ball. Oh, honestly. Did they need to bring balls into the already dramatic world that is Hogwarts? She didn't even try to hide her scoff when she heard about it from Professor McGonagall - something she never normally would have done. It was hard being her usual happy self, though, when she kept thinking about how her best friend was a complete and total arse. It's a good thing she had other friends.
Backing up a step, Lily looked at the poster appraisingly - only to run into whoever it was behind her. "Oh - sorry," she apologized quickly with a glance backward.
James sauntered through the portrait hall and into the Gryffindor common room. It was evident by now that whatever mysterious rift that had taken place between James and his friends was now, for the most part, over. In fact, James was already starting on the process of repelling it from his memory entirely, just like he had done last year.
As soon as James entered the common room, his attention was caught by none other than Lily Evans. A slight, yet mischievous grin dawned on James's features; it had been far too long since he had last flirted (though annoy was probably a more accurate word for what exactly it was James was about to do) with Lily. Silently, James peered over at Lily's shoulder to see what it was she was putting up. James scarcely had a moment to read the contents of the poster before she bumped into him, but a chorus of squeals from a nearby group of fourth years who had read the poster more quickly than he led him to believe it was something rather exciting; or rather, something exciting to the mind of a fourteen year old girl.
"Not a problem," James grinned and continued to read the poster from over Lily's shoulder. "Masquerade Ball, huh?" he asked and suddenly the squeals made perfect sense to James. A Masquerade Ball was, in fact, just the thing a fourteen year old girl would find exciting.
As soon as Lily noticed it was James, she was distracted by the squealing fourth years, getting in the way of her showing distaste for the bloke. Then again, she didn't feel the usual amount of annoyance that she usually did when she was encountered by James. She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't help attributing part of it to her displeasure with Severus - apparently she could only be annoyed with one bloke at a time - and the conversation between James and Remus she had overheard a few days ago.
Therefore, instead of her usual rolling of the eyes and scoff, she let out a slight sigh. "Looks that way," Lily nodded, looking at the poster. "Professor McGonagall asked me to put it up."
Lily's reaction had James completely thrown off. Sure, annoying Lily and fruitlessly attempting to get her to go on dates with him James could do, but actually having to keep up a real conversation with Lily? James wasn't quite sure how to go about doing such a thing. Not to mention, he was so surprised she wasn't telling him to bugger off that all he could do at the present moment was raise his eyebrows.
However, James quickly realized the opportunities such an auspicious occasion in which Lily didn't seem completely irked by his presence offered, and decided to take advantage of it. "Seems like the faculty's going a bit event happy this year," James pointed out. It was somewhat remarkable, really, that James hadn't asked Lily to go with him yet. This wasn't to say that James wasn't going to ask her, oh no, he was planning on doing just that, but James was simply going about it with a different approach. Maybe this whole "conversing with Lily" thing might just work for him.
"I'll say," Lily nodded, turning to actually face James now. She felt awkward not getting annoyed with him right off the bat, but she was doing her best. After all, everyone who cared about Lily - except for Severus, of course, but right now Lily didn't know if he counted under that title - seemed to think that she should give James a chance. Of course, that didn't mean she was going to turn around and try to coerce him into going to Hogsmeade or anything of that sort. However, that didn't mean she couldn't do a little conversation.
She furrowed her brow slightly, though, in thought before ammending, "Actually, I think Frank might have been the one that did everything for the Faire. I don't really think any of the staff had anything to do with that one." See? Smalltalk she could do.
James slipped his hands into his pockets. He would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling just a bit awkward about this himself. He just wasn't used to talking to Lily, in fact, James couldn't even remember the last time they had a real conversation. It felt kind of strange, actually.
"Oh yeah?" he asked. "Wow, that must have been a lot to organize," James said, cringing a bit at his words. He was already starting to get bored, more so with himself than with Lily. James had to really fight the temptation to just go ahead and ask her to the Ball already. "It was fun, I had a pretty good time," James told her, having decided to just keep going on about the Clubs Faire. It wasn't exactly the most riveting of subjects, but since Lily didn't seem to mind it, James just went along. "Er...did you have a good time?" he asked.
"I did," Lily nodded, shrugging slightly as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "I went with Mary and we mingled around a bit. I'm glad we raised so much money for St. Mungo's, though. It was certainly a good cause."
In all honesty, Lily was now just plain intrigued by the fact that James was holding a conversation with her. He hadn't tried to ask her out yet and, in fact, seemed mildly interested in what she had to say. Was that allowed?
"I went with Tierney," James told her and laughed a bit "Yeah," he said. "I lost track of how much money I spent after a while, I pied a bunch of the professors," James told her. "That was pretty funny, I can't believe they actually agreed to do that," he said. "I guess they knew they'd raise a lot of money that way, it's pretty hard to pass up hitting a professor in the face with a pie."
Talking to Lily was starting to get a bit easier. The conversation didn't seem quite as odd and out of place as it did initially. James nearly forgot all about asking her to the Masquerade Ball, but the thought crept back into his head soon enough. James decided to have a little bit of a lead up into it, instead of just springing the question on her. Maybe that had been the problem all these years, after all, even James had to admit that something clearly wasn't working. "So, how do you think this Ball's going to be?" James asked her.
There it was, Lily realized. He seemed to be leading up to asking the question, but rather than being annoyed like she might have been, she found herself almost..amused? Was that allowed?
"I'm sure it will be fun," Lily shrugged, crossing her arms in front of her chest and jutting her hip out slightly. "I mean, it's Hogwarts, right? All of the magic and everything sort of makes it a necessity - but that might be because I'm still marveling at the whole magic thing right now." She smiled slightly as she thought about it, either forgetting that she was talking to James or just loosening up.
James nodded in agreement, trying to seem as casual and nonchalant as he possibly could. He had no idea that Lily was onto him. James assumed that if Lily knew what he was up to that she would just tell him no right then and there and be done with it rather than going along with what he was saying. James and Lily were just full of surprise tonight, it seemed.
He was a bit taken aback with how candid Lily was being around him. "Really?" James asked interestedly, yet again forgetting about his intentions of asking her. "It must have all been pretty mind blowing when you first got here, yeah?" he asked. "I mean I was pretty blown away by everything in first year, and I grew up with magic," James explained. "We don't exactly have an enchanted ceiling or anything back at home," he grinned.
Lily actually laughed, then, thinking back on her first year at Hogwarts. To say that she was surprised was a huge understatement. All of the magic had been so shocking - from the food appearing on the table to the enchanted ceiling. She'd grown used to most of it over time, but even now there were times when she was blown away by this or that. She actually had a feeling she always would.
"Yeah, it was pretty shocking," Lily admitted, smiling. "I hadn't known any more than what I'd heard from - " She hesitated, not wanting to bring up Severus, partly because the conversation was going well and partly because of how she felt about him right now. "From, you know, what I overheard on the train. So, actually getting here was something else." She recovered from her slight hestation with another smile.
"Yeah," James nodded. "Well, my parents told me a lot of things, but even then it's a lot different to see it all in person," he said. There had actually been a fair few things that came as a surprise to James. He didn't really have any cousins and certainly no older siblings to give him a more recent account of what Hogwarts was like, as the Potters were a very small family, and both of his parents had attended Hogwarts a long time ago and really only remembered to tell him about the main things.
Realizing they had steered a bit off of James's intended topic, he made an attempt to bring the conversation back to the Ball. "So, do you have any idea who you want to go to the Ball with?" he asked. It was a truly shameful and somewhat pathetic attempt to be discreet about asking Lily. James was actually embarrassed by it, he much preferred to be straight forward when it came to asking girls out, but he was trying something new, after all.
Ah, there he went. Lily would have been a bit disappointed, in all actuality, if James Potter had actually let her down and didn't ask her. It was one of those things she felt like she could count on. Even so, he wasn't being nearly as direct as he normally was which she thought was a tad bit different. She had to give him that.
"Well, seeing as I just put up the posters a few minutes ago, I hadn't really taken the time to think about it," she raised an eyebrow with an amused smirk.
James knew better than to think Lily would have just let him off the hook. It had really been a ridiculous question, and James expected no less of Lily than to highlight said ridiculousness. "Really now?" James asked. "I would have expected you to have it all figured out by now, really, I'm rather disappointed in you," James teased. Merlin's balls, did he really just tease Lily? That is, tease her in a way that was entirely casual and completely harmless? James was even surprising himself tonight.
James knew better than to think Lily would have just let him off the hook. It had really been a ridiculous question, and James expected no less of Lily than to highlight said ridiculousness. "Really now?" James asked. "I would have expected you to have it all figured out by now, really, I'm rather disappointed in you," James teased. Merlin's balls, did he really just tease Lily? That is, tease her in a way that was entirely casual and completely harmless? James was even surprising himself tonight.
"So, you want to go with me?" James asked her. The mere fact that James hadn't asked this right from the get go was truly commendable of him, but to expect him to word the question in a more eloquent or at least in a less blunt way was really asking too much of him. At least James had made something of an effort, however slight it had been.
It was on the edge of her tongue, really. Lily was ready to say no, just out of pure habit. She wasn't supposed to actually go with him. That was part of the thing they did. He asked, she said no. However, either because of Severus or this conversation, she hesitated.
"Er - " she started, her brow furrowing. Swallowing once, she shrugged and fixed her bag. "I'll think about it, all right?" Wait, now was that allowed? Was the world going to spin off its axis? Were pigs flying?
James looked stunned, completely and utterly stunned. She was going to think about it? Lily never thought of it, the answer was always no, James practically knew this before he even had to ask. When Lily turned James down, it didn't even bother him. Lily's refusal to go anywhere or do anything with him was common place, it was just how things worked and was so ordinary and typical that it really required no feeling of sadness or anything really on James's part. 'I'll think about it' was an entirely different answer, however. Did it mean there could be a yes? The mere idea of it was preposterous, it was lunacy, reall, but then there it was.
"Uh...what?" James asked. "I mean ok, right, just uh...think about it and let me know," he said. "I'll just be going now, got um..homework to do," James told her and began to back away from her. James didn't really want to stick around lest his 'I'll think about it' turn into a no. Even at this point James wasn't really counting on a yes, but he did at least want some time to brag about it to Sirius, Remus, and Peter before she inevitably said no. 'I'll think about it' was barmy enough as it was, but a yes from Lily to James would surely cause the world to explode, or at least Hogwarts anyway.
Lily was just as stunned as James. Did she really tell him that? Had she said she'd think about it? As she thought about what had just happened she realized yes, yes she did. She had told him she'd think about it. Which meant she'd have to get back to him. And actually think about it. She could almost hear Tierney squealing when she would tell her later - no, if she told her later.
Wait, was she actually going to think about it?
Suddenly, Lily's head started to hurt. She wasn't supposed to give James a chance. That's not how it worked. However..here she was. And for some reason she didn't feel like changing her mind. Merlin, she must have been really shook up.
"Yeah, I'll let you know," Lily agreed with a nod, fixing her bag once more. She gave him a brief smile and waved slightly with her free hand. "I'll see you later, James." With that, she turned and furrowed her brow as she walked toward the girls' dormitory. Oh, Merlin.
James stared at Lily, a look of blank bewilderment on his face. She wasn't taking it back, she wasn't changing her answer to no, she really meant it. Could she possibly really mean it? She had to, James figured, or else she wouldn't have said it and she surely would have taken it back by now. Still, James couldn't help but be a bit skeptical, it was just all so odd.
He smiled slightly back at her "Yeah..see you.." he said. James turned his back toward her as he walked off, his brow furrowed in a look of confusion not so vastly different from her own. Out of all the things that had gone on so far this school year, this had hands down been the strangest.