Kiss the Girl by lilyevans91
Chapter Notes: hey guys, i was inspired to write this after watching the little mermaid (a very good movie, i strongly recommend it), and i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! thanks!
~sara
An eleven year old James Potter, bespectacled and messy haired as always, slouched grumpily against the brick wall as his mother kissed him goodbye at Platform 9 ¾, Kings Cross Station.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” the 35 year old woman asked him, anxiously (and vainly) smoothing down James’ black hair. “Your father may act like it will all be a fun jest, like going to Hogwarts is no big deal, but let me tell you, Hogwarts is one of the best schools in the world. So you’d better not fool around too much, do you hear me? You need to choose the right people to be friends with, and I’m not talking about that pureblood versus muggleborn nonsense, I’m talking about making friends with people who are good and kind and hard working. James, are you even listening to me?
“Yes mum,” James said, perking up a bit at the thought of meeting other people who liked pranks just as much as he did. He was the very picture of golden, angelic innocence, but for the mischievous spark in his eyes that was not lost on his mother.
Sighing and throwing up her hands in defeat, Elizabeth Potter looked at her son in fond annoyance. “Well, at least I won’t be the one to have to clean up the remains of any of your pranks,” she murmured to James, ruffling his hair tenderly.
Suddenly realizing how much he was going to miss his mother, but also knowing that she would drag on the farewell forever if he didn’t say anything, James smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye. “Bye mum, see you at Christmas!” he called out as he jerked his trolley along towards the platform barrier.
“Promise you’ll write!” the brown-haired, elegantly dressed woman called out to her son.
Rolling his eyes, James grudgingly replied, “I promise, Mum. Bye!”
Puffing up his chest arrogantly as he turned his back on his mother, he thought to himself, Well, that was embarrassingly emotional. I will miss her though. Listen to me, going on like a baby away from his mum for the first time! Oh well, at least I’m on my own now. And with a false show of confidence, he nonchalantly walked towards the brick column that served as the wizards gateway from one world to another. Not knowing exactly how the barrier worked, he leaned casually on it as he smiled charmingly and winked at some cute muggle girls passing by, somewhat ruining the whole effect by losing his balance and falling as the barrier gave way.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily--you can decide for yourself-- there was someone in his way on the other side, so he didn’t fall. Unfortunately, the other person, who happened to be a red-haired and petite girl, did fall over.
James quickly regained his balance, looking around to see if anyone had noticed his blunder, and then, deciding that no one had seen him stumble, pulled his trolley along behind him. He was about to walk off with only a quick “sorry!” to the person he had knocked down, when all of a sudden an angry voice rang out from behind him.
“Excuse me! Are you blind, or just exceptionally dim-witted? You just knocked me down!”
James turned around with an amused smile on his face, a witty retort on the tip of his tongue. That retort died in his mouth, and in only a matter of seconds all intelligible thoughts were fried and henceforth deemed useless, as he looked down at the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on.
Saying she was a gorgeous beauty would be untruthful, but she had such an aura of life around her that you could practically see right into her soul. Atop her head was a beautiful, wavy mass of hair, dark red that somehow happened to be cherry colored and chestnut colored and lemon colored, all at the same time. Her large, almond shaped eyes, were a beautiful green color, intense and fierce and the exact color of limes. Really, that same exact color. Her lightly tanned face was dusted with tiny red freckles across her wide cheekbones that looked accustomed to wearing a large smile. Her face was saved from being almost perfect with a nose that happened to be larger than normal while not being too large for her face. James even found her mouth beautiful, though it was fixed in an angry scowl.
“Didn’t your parents ever tell you it’s not polite to stare?” the girl snapped at him with her slightly Irish accent, still angry but looking uncomfortable now.
Snapping shut jaws James hadn’t even noticed were open, he grinned cockily and ruffled his hair, making her roll her eyes. He didn’t even notice, anxious as he was to impress the fiery girl. He just knew she was the one for him.
“Hullo, my name’s James Potter, what’s yours?” he asked her as he offered her a hand to help her up.
“Lily Evans,” she replied as she took his hand, giving him a tilted smile, the right corner of her mouth a bit higher than the left. She tilted her head to the side and looked appraisingly at him, her large eyes bright and sparkling. “I forgive you,” she said, moving towards the train suddenly and seeming to expect James to follow. For the second time that day, James’ jaw dropped in amazement. This Lily girl was really something. Gathering his trolley hurriedly, he jogged after her to catch up.
“What do you mean, you forgive me. What did I do wrong?” he asked her.
She halted abruptly and turned to him, disbelief clear in her eyes. “Are you honestly saying that knocking me down and not saying sorry is nothing wrong?
“Well,” James said a bit uncomfortably, “I was going to apologize. Honest, I was.”
Lily’s eyebrows raised skeptically, but she decided to give James the benefit of doubt. “If you say so,” she said, turning and continuing in the direction of the black and red train. “We probably should be getting on now, or else the train’ll leave without us,” she called to him over her shoulder after glancing at a muggle watch that read 10:25.
Hurrying after her, James held out an arm to stop her from getting on the train. Sighing slightly, she turned her head to look at him with upraised eyebrows. Smiling in the most charming way he knew how, he lifted her trunk from her trolley and (gladly) found it surprisingly light. He hefted it easily onto the train before placing his hand in the middle of the air expectantly.
Lily looked at him as if he were daft, which she probably thought he was. “What on Earth are you doing?” she asked in bewilderment. “If you think I’m not strong enough to lift my trunk onto the train, you’re sadly mistaken. And if you think that I’m not strong enough to lift myself on the train, you’re asking for a black eye.”
James hastily withdrew his hand; he had no doubt of the strength in her arm, although she might not be angry enough to actually punch him. Looking sulkily at the ground, he grumbled, “It’s called good manners.”
Lily sniffed and jumped up to the train. “No, it’s called old-fashioned. Good manners are all well and good, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t do that again.” Her face suddenly changed from slightly miffed to mischievously teasing. “I do have a good punch, you know,” she remarked, waiting for James as he climbed onto the train and pulled his trunk behind him. “I was the best girl on my baseball team, although I must say that I enjoyed football a good deal more.”
The started walking down the train hallway, searching for an empty compartment to sit down in.
“Baseball? Football?” James asked, perplexed. Lily laughed at his lost expression, at his large hazel eyes widening behind his absurdly round glasses. He looked even more confused at her laughter, which of course only made her laugh harder.
A reluctant smile tugged at the corner of James’ mouth, and he finally gave in and smiled at the laughing figure before him. This time, though, it was a genuine smile rather than a cocky smirk or an arrogant grin.
Lily looked up with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard, and for a moment her heart skipped a beat and she froze, the image of laughter still on her face. She stared at James who was now laughing, and she got a strange, fluttery, warm feeling in her chest. Then, just as suddenly as the feeling was there, it was gone.
Looking up at Lily to find she had stopped laughing, James gestured to the compartment whose door they had been leaning on and, seeing as it was empty, they went on in.
This time James knew better than to try and help Lily with her trunk, so he quickly busied himself with putting his own baggage away.
After their trunks were taken care of, the sat down opposite each other and looked awkwardly at their hands, not really knowing what to say, but wanting to say something.
“So,” James started, “tell me about football, since you like it so much.”
Lily instantly decided that she liked this James boy very much; she had been a bit nervous that there would be prejudices against non-magical people. Eager to reply, she explained the basic ideas of her favorite sport to James, but had to point out many obvious things to him.
“No, James,” she was saying exasperatedly, “the ball isn’t always moving. Like I said, you’ve got to kick it around the pitch for it to move, and if you don’t kick it hard enough, it stops.”
“But why?” James asked, stupefied. “That makes no sense. And why are there sidelines? That doesn’t make sense either. Quidditch, though; that’s a game worth playing!”
Lily sighed and threw up her hands in vexation, but upon seeing he paid her no mind, she resigned herself to listening to the rules of his beloved “Quidditch”. Within minutes he had her enthralled and asking questions of all kinds, from the most obvious things to the most random.
“You actually fly on brooms? I thought that was just a myth!” Lily breathed, intrigued. “But why are there two bludgers? Don’t you think just one would be enough?”
James was about to open his mouth to reply that two bludgers made for more danger and excitement when the compartment door opened and a boy walked in.
Both Lily and James’ heads turned to the newcomer, a tall boy with longish dark hair and large grey eyes. He had a lean build and his face looked strong and determined, as well as mischievous and defiant. He plopped himself down unceremoniously and shoved his trunk under his seat next to James. Straightening up and shaking his shiny black hair out of his eyes, he gave a smile that was naturally wicked looking, though Lily doubted he was unable to change it to completely innocent in less that the blink of an eye.
“Hullo, there. M’names Sirius. Who’re you?”
“I’m Lily. Evans,” the redhead replied, putting special emphasis on her last name, but if Sirius took notice of her hint, he didn’t show it.
“Pleased to meet you, Lily.” At this Lily raised her eyebrow at Sirius’ quick change in demeanor; he had gone from speaking casually, carelessly even, to speaking in polite tones, all in a matter of seconds. James noticed with some bemusement her eyebrow movement; it seemed to him that she did that a lot.
“And I’m James Potter. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Sirius.” James introduced himself politely, determined to impress Lily.
“So, Sirius, what’d you do over the summer?” James asked, relieved at Sirius’ entrance, for though he was already quite fond of Lily, he was an eleven year old boy and was in dire need of some male company.
“You know, the usual: snobbish pureblood relatives came over, I got locked up in my room for ‘disrupting the peace of purity’ and all that, learned even more dark spells from my mum…yeah, it was pretty much a normal summer.”
Lily looked somewhat confused but seemed to understand the gist of it from his bitter tone; Sirius family was cruel and he’d had a lousy summer. She sensed, though, that he wouldn’t be too keen on receiving sympathy, so she decided to stay quiet.
James, however, understood perfectly. “Oh, I know, we get visitors like that all the time, hoping to turn my parents to the ‘dark side’. Who are your parents, anyway?” he asked casually.
“Orion and Walburga Black.” Sirius stuck his chin out defiantly as if daring James to laugh or do something equally rude. James’ face maintained its casual expression.
“Cool. You don’t seem anything like them.”
For a moment Lily was very afraid that that had been the absolute wrong thing for James to say. Sirius’ face was frozen in a blank mask as though he were too shocked to do anything, and then, suddenly, he threw back his head and laughed long and hard. James smiled a small smile and Lily felt her heart miss another beat. She quickly busied herself with her fingers, twisting them around and studying them intently, looking down so as to hide her blushing face.
Once Sirius stopped laughing he clapped his arm around James’ shoulder and grinned at him. “James, mate, I think we’re going to be great friends.”
All of a sudden a small, plump, blonde haired boy poked his head through the compartment door. “Um,” he squeaked, “do you, er, mind if I sit here?”
“Of course not,” James said distractedly, “just come on in and make yourself comfortable.”
The little lump of a boy opened the door wider and squeezed himself through. He quickly put his trunk away and sat down by Lily, who introduced herself as well as James and Sirius; they were caught up in a conversation about some of the pranks James had pulled on his numerous relatives before, and they seemed to be quite into it.
“I’m Peter. Peter Pettigrew,” the boy replied to her introduction in his squeaky little voice.
“Nice to meet you, Peter,” she said, a bit peeved when he did not answer. Then she saw that he was otherwise preoccupied listening to James tell a story of when he had lit a particularly large and dangerous firework during his cousin’s wedding. Peter’s small, pale blue eyes, were fixed on James, and whenever something especially exciting happened he would gasp and applaud as if he were at a show. The first time this happened, James and Sirius gave each other a look that clearly said, “Can you believe this loser?” The second time, however, James seemed to enjoy the attention, and soon he was showing off for the poor little Pettigrew and occasionally throwing glances over to Lily and ruffling his hair to make it look windswept. To his disappointment, Lily looked rather disgusted at his attempts to impress her, and eventually took out a muggle book from her satchel and started to read.
James sighed and decided to really charm her up at Hogwarts; she obviously wasn’t going to be paying any attention to him for a while.
Sirius couldn’t help but notice James’ periodical glances in Lily’s direction, though, and he soon guessed what James was up to. He gave a wicked grin and pointed his chin towards Lily, who was utterly oblivious, riveted in her book. The question in Sirius’ eyes was obvious, and James had no choice but to answer. Sighing, he nodded, which set Sirius off in a fit of very girlish giggles, giving James a chance to gaze at Lily in peace.
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There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don’t got a lot to say
But there’s something about her
And you don’t know why
But you’re dying to try
You wanna kiss the girl
Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
It’s possible she wants you, too
There is one way to ask her
It don’t take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
James had a sudden desire to kiss Lily; he was pretty inexperienced in the art of chasing girls, though, and he didn’t really know how to go about it. In fact he felt rather embarrassed to have such feelings, seeing as he had always responded with disdain when any of his older neighbors and friends had had crushes on girls.
He eyed Sirius, who was still giggling like a lunatic, and Peter, laughing as well (though he probably didn’t know why) and wondered if he could get them out of the compartment so he could kiss Lily. Suddenly, his mother’s voice sounded in his head:
James Potter! Don’t you even think about kissing that little girl! that would be completely inappropriate! Don’t you dare!
Mum? James said to himself in confusion.
I’m not your mother, silly boy. I’m your conscience!
Isn’t that the same thing? James asked in bewilderment.
James sighed to himself as he got no reply from his “conscience”. Guess I’m just too shy to kiss her, he grumbled to himself, not even thinking to ask himself why he was so “shy” all of a sudden.
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Sing with me now
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
My, oh, my
Look at the boy too shy
He ain’t gonna kiss the girl
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Ain’t that sad
Ain’t it shame, too bad
You gonna miss the girl
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
James and Sirius talked the rest of the train ride away, with Peter hanging on to their every word as if their stories were sweet water and he, a man dying of thirst. Lily made her disdain clear with her sniffs of disapproval and haughty glances in their direction. James paid her no mind, though. He would snag her up at Hogwarts. After all; who could resist the charm of the wonderful James Potter?
After a couple of hours a tall, lean girl with long, curly brown hair and large blue eyes stuck her head in. “Hello there!” she said in a strong Irish accent, smiling broadly. “My name’s Mara O’Neil and I’m Gryffindor Prefect, sixth year. You lot are first years, right?” She looked questioningly at the small group, then continued when they all nodded. “Right well, you’d best change into the school robes soon, we’re only half an hour from Hogwarts. Hope to see you lot in Gryffindor later!” she winked at them mischievously, then turned to exit our compartment. Lily, deciding to momentarily forgive James for being an arrogant and cocky jerk (though she suspected that was merely the front he put on while with others), looked curiously at him and asked, “Gryffindor? What’s that?”
Sirius answered for James, earning him a glare: “Well, there are four houses in Hogwarts, each defined by certain qualities. For instance, Gryffindor prizes people who are brave and like to do what’s right, stick up for those weaker than them, and all that jazz. Then there’s Hufflepuff, which likes people who are honest, loyal, just, kind…you get the picture. Ravenclaw likes people who are witty, clever, smart. And then there’s Slytherin,” -here his mouth twisted bitterly-, “in which there are people who are ambitious, powerful, into ‘purifying the wizarding world from muggleborns’ and all that rot. With any luck, you won’t be in that house. My entire family’s loaded with Slytherin’s. It’ll be a family scandal if I get into Gryffindor.” Sirius’ eyes burned with an almost enthusiastic light with the very idea of bringing shame to his family, and Lily had to use every ounce of self-control she possessed not to let her sympathy show.
Busying herself quickly, Lily rummaged around in her satchel for her school robes. She pulled out a long black robe with the Hogwarts school shield on it and looked at them a bit confusedly. “How exactly do you wear these? Over your regular”I mean, muggle clothes?”
“Exactly.” James glanced at Lily for a second and then took his wand out from his pocket and gave it a wave. “Accio robes,” he enunciated. Lily looked at him like he was crazy.
“What’re you”oh.” Looking in awe as James robes flew into his arms from his trunk, Lily raised her sparkling eyes to meet James own twinkling ones. “How’d you do that?” she breathed.
He shrugged nonchalantly and didn’t even try to keep the grin off his face. “Oh, it’s just everyday magic my mum and dad taught me to do. I could teach you a couple of spells if you’d like.”
“Oh yes!” Lily nodded eagerly as she straightened her robes over the uniform skirt, button down shirt and vest. Looking towards Sirius, she added, “If you know any as well, I’d be happy to learn some from you. Or you,” she added as an afterthought as she nodded towards Peter.
It quickly became clear that Lily was a phenomenally quick learner, and James and Sirius had to really exert themselves in order to keep her challenged.
As the train ground to a halt, Lily looked out the window. “I guess we’re here!” Her eyes were dancing and her cheeks pink from the excitement of their spells lesson, though James noticed that her hands shook with nervousness as she held the window curtain back. It was fairly dark, and they didn’t have a clear view of the castle yet, but Sirius stood up and stretched his arm out to get his trunk. Pulling it down with ease, he glanced down at Lily. “Would you like your trunk, Miss Evans?”
Tearing away from the window distractedly, Lily tried to concentrate on where she was. “Yes, Mr. Black,” she answered in the same proper but teasing tone.
James was embarrassed to feel jealousy of Sirius seeping into his skin, and he shook his head to clear it.
Gathering up their trunks, the four first years were soon swept off the train in the rush of students, old and new, all excited to be at Hogwarts. Peter looked around a bit nervously as he watched students board the horseless carriages. “Are we supposed to go on one of those?” he asked as the first one started off for the huge castle, now illuminated in an eerie glow. “You guys?” he asked again, but James and Sirius and Lily (and quite a few other first years too, I would imagine) were all gaping at Hogwarts in awe.
“It’s so romantic!” Lily sighed in wonder.
“Romantic? It just looks big to me, not lovey-dovey,” Sirius said.
James and Lily looked at each other, their eyes crinkling up in amusement for Sirius’ ignorance of the true meaning of romance.
“Firs’ years over here!” The four first years jumped in surprise as a booming voice beckoned them, then they made their way over to a gigantesque man with a tangled black beard and a rosy cheeked, friendly face. “Are all firs’ years over here? Good. Well, I’m Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper o’ the Keys at Hogwarts School o’ Witchcraft an’ Wizardry. We’ll be goin’ over to Hogwarts across the lake. Four people to a boat, if you could get in now.” Hagrid himself took a whole boat, and it looked to be a tight squeeze for him as it was.
Everyone moved in a large clump towards the bank of the lake where the boats were, and in the rush and squeeze, Lily and James got separated from Peter and Sirius.
“Oops, we lost em,” James said, his mouth turning up in a slight grin. Lily chose to ignore him and instead got in a boat with two people in it, a boy and a girl. James followed her.
“Hello there, I’m Lily Evans,” Lily was saying as James seated himself in the boat. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Remus Lupin,” said the boy in a pleasant voice. He was pale and had a rather long, serious face, but his dark brown eyes looked cheerful, and his sandy hair flopped into his eyes raggedly, seeming to give him the appearance of a very polite mischief maker.
“I’m Katie Behren,” the girl answered. She had silky black hair cut boyishly short, and her large brown eyes conveyed her daring, fun-loving nature.
“Nice to meet you, Katie,” Lily smiled, “and this is”.”
“James Potter,” James interrupted her, flashing them a charming smile. “I’m capable of introducing myself you know,” he added, turning to Lily. She merely raised an eyebrow, but gave him a hint of a grin nonetheless.
Lily and Remus switched places right before the boat rocked forward into the calm lake of it’s own volition, causing them both to fall to their places with a thump.
Lily, now seated next to Katie, began a conversation that lasted most of the way across the lake.
James and Remus sat in comfortable silence, leaving James to gaze at Lily. He couldn’t help but think of kissing her again, though he knew he shouldn’t. Shaking his head again to clear it, he looked down at the water in apparent fascination.
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Now’s your moment
Floating in a blue lagoon
Boy, you better do it soon
No time will be better
She don’t say a word
And she won’t say a word
Until you kiss the girl
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Finally, about 100 yards from the other shore, Remus broke the silence between himself and James by whispering, “If you really like her, just kiss her.” James turned to him with a strange expression on his face (he was half weirded out and half relieved that Remus could tell he liked Lily). Suddenly he smiled. I always knew Remus was a good bloke. He’ll be a good chum to Sirius and me.
James leaned forward confidently, his arm and hand and finger outstretched to tap Lily on the shoulder. He bit his lip in hesitation. Should her, or shouldn’t he?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Don’t be scared
You got the mood prepared
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Don’t stop now
Don’t try to hide it how
You wanna kiss the girl
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Float along
Listen to the song
The song say kiss the girl
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Music play
Do what the music say
You wanna kiss the girl
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He did it. He tapped Lily on the shoulder, and watched while everything slowed down to slow motion, as Lily turned around, her beautiful red-gold hair flipping over her shoulder, her eyes confused and a little annoyed at being interrupted, her mouth slightly open as if to ask something. James thought she was the cutest thing ever.
He leaned forward and kissed her straight on the lips.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
You’ve got to kiss the girl
Why don’t you kiss the girl
You gotta kiss the girl
Go on and kiss the girl
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
An ear-splitting shriek split the calm, dark night, rang in everybody’s ears, finally dissolved into only the remnants of what had been a shriek of outrage.
James peeked open one eye to see a fuming Lily staring at him, red in the face from her anger.
“James Potter!” she whispered, her voice cold and clear and as quiet as her previous utterance had been loud. “If you ever do that again, I’ll…I’ll…aaaaarrghhh!!!!!” She screamed in frustration and outrage and embarrassment and maybe even a tiny bit of happiness, but that tiny bit was so tiny that not even Lily could hear it.
She blew all her breath out through her mouth, making a strand of shining hair fly up in a rather comical way and turned around to ignore James in a frosty silence.
James grinned a rather goofy grin, making Remus shake his head and smile in an amused way. Smirking to himself, mischievously happy, James thought, This is going to be a fun seven years!