Chapter Two: Good Luck
“James Potter, get on the train this instant!”
James stifled his laughter as the beautiful, red haired prefect shouted in his face.
“Relax, Lily,” James told her calmly. He took her hand and pulled her toward him, grinning with pleasure. “The train won’t leave without us.”
Before he had a chance to put an arm around her waist, Lily wrenched her hand out of James’ reach and stared directly at James without blinking. She breathed in deeply, clearly trying to control her anger. Then, in a low voice, Lily hissed, “You “ are “ a “ pig.”
James ignored the comment and started to throw his school books into his trunk one by one, purposefully missing his trunk each time he threw. His books were sent flying across the room, sliding underneath beds, and inches from falling out of the high window, causing Lily to stay and yell at James longer than she had planned.
With a swish of her wand, Lily caught one of the books in midair and levitated it to James’ trunk, dropping it in. She waved her wand several more times and all of his other personal belongings zoomed into his school trunk.
James crossed his arms with a fake frown on his face. “You ruin my fun, Lily.”
Lily did not waste her time listening to James’ chatter. She walked over to the trunk and closed the lid with a great amount of force.
“Will you take it now?” Lily asked impatiently with a hand on her hip. She checked her watch. “The Hogwarts Express won’t wait forever, you realize.”
James held a finger in the air as if coming up with a brilliant idea. “Ah, but for James Potter “ it will.”
Lily growled dangerously at the boy to get moving. James deliberately walked slowly out of sight with his trunk following him, thudding down the steps to the Gryffindor common room. But just when Lily thought that she had seen the last of James, he poked his head back into the dormitory one final time.
“Have I ever told you how beautiful you look when you’re angry?”
“Train!” Lily shouted, brandishing her wand towards the door, trying to think of a rather nasty jinx. “Now!”
James laughed silently to himself as he exited the Gryffindor tower for the last time that year. Sixth year exams were finished, the summer sun was shining “ in his eyes, James was having one of the best days of his life.
That was, of course, assuming that Lily Evans would not argue with him any longer.
He enjoyed it at first. He really did. James would provoke Lily into throwing an insult back at him; it was all in good fun! But their constant bickering had become almost a bit of a hassle to continue. Besides, she had grown up. Lily was no longer the giggling girl James had met from Bennett Theater; she was a young woman, now. He no longer held a grudge against the girl he used to hate, but it was clear that Lily still did and chose to continue fighting against James whenever she had a spare minute. It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t resist the temptation to fight back!
Every summer since James moved into Lily’s neighborhood, James and Lily had both been involved in helping out with the summer play at Bennett Theater; Lily would act, and James would design the set. Neither would really see the other at all during the summer play, but it killed Lily knowing that James had intruded on her territory and refused to leave.
James didn’t mind. In fact, he had slowly grown to anticipate all of Lily’s lines in the play whenever they showed up in the script. Whether he was pounding away on a board backstage or painting a new background, he would always be aware of her lines. As his friend, Sirius, many times reminded him, he’d grown a soft spot for Lily Evans and didn’t even know it.
After spending summer after summer at Bennett Theater, James slowly found himself opening up to the plays more than he had ever thought that he would. The first year he worked on the set, James constantly looked for set pieces to carry or objects to repair so that he could increase his strength for Quidditch. Over time, he realized there really wasn’t as much muscular work involved as there was putting care and detail into each design he made. And each year, Mr. Evans would congratulate James on a job well done, and remind him to return the following summer.
And each summer, James would return without hesitation. But it was never without a fight from Lily.
At the end of every term “ a day just like today “ James would always remind Lily of their “date” that summer.
“It’s not a date,” Lily would say to him under her breath so no onlookers could hear her, “unless it’s a date with fifty other people as well.”
“Well if you really wanted to go out on a date,” James would say in a much louder voice with a smirk plastered on his face, “all you had to do was ask me, Lily. You know I would have said yes in a heartbeat, darling.”
“I do not want to go on a date with you! And don’t call me darling…”
It was the same every year. Always predictable.
James found himself standing in the doorway onto the Hogwarts Express. With a great shove, James pushed his trunk onto the train and climbed in after it. He turned around to say his final goodbye to Hogwarts for the summer and found Lily running toward his train car, worried that it would leave without her.
Lily hopped into the first stairwell she found, surprised to find James blocking her path with a very smug grin.
“Excuse me, James,” Lily spoke with a straight tone. She pointedly looked past him and bit her tongue to hold back any rude comments she didn’t want to regret later on.
“Oh “ why certainly, my dear,” James smiled lazily. He shifted strategically back and forth from his left foot to his right, unwilling to let Lily slip past him that easily. He stuffed his hands casually into his pockets and moved slightly closer to Lily, decreasing the space between them with a smirk.
Lily wouldn’t stand for James’ games. “Don’t call me dear,” Lily hissed automatically, shoving past James. She walked in the opposite direction as fast as she could.
James rolled his eyes at the girl and fell back against the nearest wall. He sighed with a small smile playing at his lips, but did not stay for long. James quickly picked up his trunk and followed her down the train to her compartment, unable to let her leave so easily. “You know,” he called loud enough so the entire train car could hear his voice within each compartment, “I can’t wait for our date this summer, Lily!”
“It’s not a date!”
*
“James, you’ve got ten minutes!”
James scrambled around his room to find everything he needed. He quickly threw on his glasses and clothes. He paused to check his backpack.
Sketchpad… check. Pencils… check. Script… shit.
James dropped onto all fours and began to scour the room for the script he seemed to have misplaced. He pushed his broom into the corner of the room; he threw all of his clothes into a wicker basket; he stacked all of his school books into a pile at the foot of his bed.
“I see you’ve actually cleaned your room for once.”
James looked up from the floor to find his mother smiling sweetly down at him. She was leaning casually on the door frame and holding something in her hand.
“You left it on the table this morning,” Mrs. Potter reminded James, holding out his script to him. “You were reading it during breakfast.”
“Right,” James mumbled, pouncing back onto his feet and swiping his script from his mother’s fingers. He shoved it into his backpack and zipped it up. “Thanks.”
“You better get going,” Mrs. Potter said, louder this time. She pointed to a large, grandfather clock in the hallway that read five minutes until eleven. “You don’t have much time.”
James gave an easygoing shrug. “I don’t care if I’m late,” he muttered, breezing past his mother. “It doesn’t matter to me,” he said with an air of haughtiness.
Mrs. Potter, however, noticed his uneasy smile and shifty eyes checking multiple clocks around the house. She nodded knowingly to her son. “Of course, James.”
The pair descended the steps to the front hall.
“When are you planning on being back home?” Mrs. Potter asked curiously. She entered their kitchen and began sorting through her business papers sitting on their kitchen table. After finding an important notice for the staff at St. Mungo’s, she picked up the letter and read over it multiple times.
James pulled on his sneakers and tied them as fast as he could. “Well, it’s the first day, so they’re only reading through the script…” James thought about it. “They’ll probably be done be three o’clock, maybe.” He shrugged. “I might stay a few hours later if I start to work on the set, you know…”
Mrs. Potter smirked at her son, tearing her eyes away from the letter in her hand. “So, I’ll keep your dinner warm?”
“Could you?” James flashed her a smile. He picked up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder and started to walk towards their garage door. James reached up to the key hanger above to grab his father’s car key, but found it was missing. He froze for an instant, puzzled at why the key wasn’t where it should have been. And then it clicked.
“Mum,” James called over his shoulder with the sound of dread coating his voice, “did Dad take the car to work again?”
Mrs. Potter nodded, muttering, “Mm-hmm.” She looked up from another letter addressed to her from St. Mungo’s. “He was up early enough to have time to drive to the Ministry this morning instead of apparating like normal “ did you want the car?”
James tugged on his hair in frustration, pulling at the roots. “Yes,” he said exasperatedly, “I wanted it! Come on,” he said quickly, walking into the kitchen and slamming his fists on the table in front of his mother, causing the tall pile of papers in the middle of the table to shake; many of the letters slid off of the top of the stack and floated to the floor. “I’m seventeen, Mum! I’m old enough to do magic outside of school, but Dad won’t let me drive a Muggle car that he made me learn how to drive in the first place!” James was seconds from crossing his arms over his chest and jutting out his bottom lip in a pout, just like a small child would in his situation. “He’s been driving for years “ I just got my license last week! Why can’t he let me try it for once?”
“Why don’t you apparate, James?” Mrs. Potter asked, turning back to the pile of papers in front of her. She absentmindedly waved her wand during their conversation, lifting the fallen letters from the floor to gracefully slide them back onto the table. She smiled as if she was hiding a secret and said, “Besides, I thought you simply hated driving, James…”
“Well - ” James struggled to find a good defense to his mother’s question, “ “ driving’s the fastest way to get to Bennett Theater,” he argued stubbornly. He was unwilling to admit that his father’s Muggle car had actually grown on him. Silently, James swore at his father and his obsession of Muggle objects. “I can’t exactly apparate into a Muggle building, Mum,” James explained with a wave of his wand like it was obvious. “Now I have to walk!” He put both hands in his hair and pulled at two large clumps of his hair. After pulling his hands away, his hair stuck up on end, far messier than it normally was. “I’m going to be late…”
Mrs. Potter silently crossed her legs and stared in amusement at her furious son over the rims of her dark glasses. She leaned back in her chair, hiding a laugh. “I thought you didn’t care if you were late…”
James took a deep breath and looked away from his mother. “Well “ I don’t. Of course,” he lied through his teeth. He sauntered to the front door as casually as he could manage. “I guess I’ll just “ take my time “ enjoy the scenery,” James muttered to himself, walking out of the front door with a goodbye to his mother.
Mrs. Potter stood once the door slammed closed behind James and walked towards it. She held out her forefinger and gently pulled back a silky window covering with a long fingernail. She peeked out of the window with a knowing smile.
James was running at top speed down the street.
*
Lily checked her watch again. It was past eleven o’clock. Her lips curled into a secretive smile. James was late. Maybe he can’t work here this summer, Lily wistfully sighed. Her thoughts grew cold. I’ve only had a few weeks to be free of Potter, and now in the middle of June, I have to see his arrogant face again “ a girl can only take so much!
Lily sat down on the stage beneath her and put her hands behind her to prop herself up. She crossed her ankles and wistfully looked around at the building that she had always spent her summers in.
For a one-hundred year old building, it really wasn’t in that bad of a condition. Sure, the heat during the summers tended to get a bit overbearing without any air-conditioning, but it really didn’t look that bad. Over the years, they had replaced the dust filled curtains surrounding the stage with brand new, fire red ones that brought more attention to the actors present onstage. The walls in the audience had been cleared of chipping, dark paint, and refurbished with ordinary white paint. Each of the seats in the audience “ including the one that James had fallen through seven years ago “ had been repaired to handle the more active kids that parents dragged to the theater. Even the wooden stage had been replaced so that the audience didn’t hear as many distracting creaks from rotting wood beneath their feet in the middle of a show.
“I wonder if James is coming back this year,” a short, blonde girl pondered aloud. The tight ringlets in her hair bounced around as she turned to her friend, looking completely horrified. “I hope he hasn’t graduated yet, Jess!”
The brunette, who went by the name of Jess, answered her friend’s question. “Rosie “ relax. He’ll be back,” Jess calmly stated. She blew a bubble with her gum and sat down on the stage directly behind Lily. Her voice got softer and loftier as she continued speaking of James. “I asked him at the end of the play last year “ he said he had one more summer left at Bennett Theater before graduating.”
Rosie’s jaw dropped and her eyes grew in size. “You “ talked to him?” The blonde girl squealed in excitement. Her breathing quickened. Lily thought the girl’s eyes were about to pop out. “No way “ James hardly ever talks to anyone but Mr. Evans!”
Lily had had enough. She spun her head around, making her auburn curls smack her flaming cheeks. “He’s just a boy,” Lily spat at the love struck girls. “It’s not like you’ve never seen one before!”
Jess tossed her dark hair over her shoulders like Lily had, but much more gracefully. She narrowed her eyes with a sly smile at Lily as if in a challenge and popped another bubble, this time in Lily’s face. “You’re just jealous,” she said in a soft, innocent-sounding voice, “that James Potter doesn’t talk to someone his own age,” she pointed accusingly to Lily, “and talks to a girl two years younger than you.” She glanced in triumph towards Rosie and then back to Lily.
“I am not jealous,” Lily immediately protested to the girl she hardly knew, unwilling to let a fifteen-year-old get the last word. “James and I go to the same school, and a day doesn’t go by without him trying to speak to me.” Lily smirked at the girls. “I’m the one who doesn’t talk to James.”
Rosie made a face, shocked to hear someone insult James. She opened her mouth to retaliate, but stopped when she noticed Jess standing and rolling her eyes at Lily with a soft, but noticeable, “Sure…”
The short, blonde girl followed her friend’s shadow as they joined a group of four other girls huddled together at the opposite end of the stage. Lily quickly looked down at her feet as soon as she felt six pairs of eyes start to watch her every move.
“Alright,” Mr. Evans clapped his hands to grab everyone’s attention, “time to start our read through of the script!” Mr. Evans shouted to the large group scattered throughout the large room. Lily could not have been anymore grateful for his interruption at that moment. “Come on,” her father continued, “we haven’t got all day!”
James burst through the doors leading from the street and ran down the slope towards the large group of kids, skidding to a halt just before he hit the stage.
Lily narrowed her eyes at the boy as she was silently reminded of who was actually responsible for fixing up the theater in the prior years; who had suggested the ideas to her father; who had, even, helped the hired workers to renew the look of the theater out of his own free will.
Lily pursed her lips together and glared at James as she heard the group of girls all giggle at James’ untimely entrance.
James doubled over to rest his hands on his knees and breathed heavily. He looked up at Mr. Evans with a beet red face and wiped sweat off of his forehead. “Am I “ ” James gasped for breath “ “ late?”
Mr. Evans beamed with great pleasure at James. “Right on time,” he said proudly to the boy who had never missed “ or been late to “ a play rehearsal. “We were just about to start.”
James grinned back at the tall, lanky man and slapped him heartily on the back. During the past summers, Mr. Evans had grown into someone James respected just as much as his own father. And, of course, it helped that his daughter “ Lily “ attended a wizarding school with him, so James never felt like he was hiding anything from Mr. Evans.
“Ah, now,” Mr. Evans spoke to the large group, “we are going to be learning a play that I, myself, have been working on for a number of years, now. And, finally, it’s finished!”
The group, James included, clapped their hands excitedly on Mr. Evans achievement. The man grinned and blushed as deeply as possible. Out of a nervous habit, he ran a hand through his graying hair and over a small bald spot forming in the middle of his scalp.
“If any of you have read it yet,” he spoke to the group, “it’s been designed as more of a fairy tale where a young princess and a thief fall in love.” Mr. Evans looked at the group with his eyes sparkling with excitement. “The thief kidnaps the princess for ransom money, but after spending time together, the pair fall in love.” Mr. Evans started to make big hand gestures to the group as he described the play. “The thief refuses to take ransom money when he realizes his feelings for her, and releases the princess.”
Mr. Evans moved around the theater, throwing in several animated arm movements to make his point. “The thief is caught by the castle guards and the princess finds out. She then persuades her parents to trust the thief, and they all live happily ever after!” he beamed, pronouncing the last few words as if that was how every story should end.
James nodded, taking notes on the sketchpad he had brought with him. Fairy tale…
“Now, there are the two main characters that the story focuses on: the thief, Eddie, and the love of his life, Lady Adelaide.”
Again, James scribbled more notes, thinking intently. He had just started writing ideas about the background of the stage that he envisioned when Mr. Evans spoke again.
“Eddie, the thief, will be played by Peter Garamond,” Mr. Evans spoke. There was a polite smattering of applause for the actor as Mr. Evans gestured to a tall, gangly looking boy. Peter waved with a flick of his hand, looking almost bored. He then stared at his feet as the applause died out, letting his hair fall down and cloud his vision.
James scoffed at Peter’s new appearance that had not been there the summer before. He checked his own hair and was proud to see that his “ however messy it may be “ didn’t pass his eyes.
Mr. Evans smiled before continuing. “And the role of the princess will be played by Lily Evans.”
James nodded, approving Mr. Evans’ choice as the rest of the room applauded Lily with even less enthusiasm than they had used for Peter. Multiple girls threw looks of disdain at Lily and rolled their eyes. Lily just blushed and looked down at her hands, but James knew that it wasn’t out of pride or excitement; she was nervous.
James understood. Lily “ the daughter of the director “ had been picked as the lead role in her final play. Of course, a handful of other girls had attempted to earn the same spot, but all lost to Daddy’s little girl.
James knew that because of Mr. Evans’ decision, Lily had plenty of expectations to live up to. She not only had to fulfill the normal standards that any director would require of a lead character, but she also had to act as if she were virtually flawless so that she could prove to the rest of the cast that she had earned the lead role and wasn’t a shoe in.
And for the most part, James sympathized with her.
Mr. Evans listed off the rest of the main characters with just as much enthusiasm as he had said the first two characters.
People clapped.
James took notes.
The read-through of the script began with each of the actors speaking their lines.
James closed his eyes. He listened to the rhythm in the actors’ voices as they read their lines and memorized it. In his mind, he could see the characters moving around the stage as if they were performing the play now. Behind the actors on the stage, James could clearly picture every piece of the set. The calm backdrop showed a gentle blue and white sky swarming around an image of a small castle in the far distance. Large trees portrayed the scenes when the thief hid the princess in the forest, waiting for ransom money. James imagined the large ceremony the king and queen would hold after announcing that their daughter, Adelaide, would marry Eddie; a grand chandelier hung from the ceiling; large, white pillars gave the audience the feeling that they were inside of the castle with the princess; a royal staircase would be stationed at the center of the stage for everyone to see Princess Adelaide as she made her first entrance as the wife of Eddie, the thief…
James couldn’t wait for the cast to finish reading their lines.
Before act two had even started, James was already behind stage laying out props for the play.
*
Lily had kept her eye on James all afternoon. Many times, she had almost missed her line because she wasn’t paying attention.
What is he doing? She couldn’t help but wonder. Closing his eyes like that…
Lily knew what he had to be thinking of: the set. Of course. For some reason, seven years ago when James had first created the set design for his first play, he had somehow developed a passion for the theater ever since. Before his fourth year at Hogwarts, Lily’s father made James the youngest head set designer that Bennett Theater had ever seen. He never admitted how much he enjoyed working on the summer play to anyone “ but Lily and James both knew that he did. He never purposefully brought up his summer plans at Hogwarts “ but everyone knew what they were. He never spoke much to his friends about it “ but they knew he loved what he did. Whenever someone asked about his summer, James would simply reply that he was working. But “ Lily could feel herself already getting upset at the mere idea “ he let the whole school know, of course, that James was with Lily during the summer; he never let the opportunity to make Lily feel uncomfortable ever pass him by.
And as much as Lily really hated the fact that James was constantly at the theater to help with the play even though he never admitted to it, he really wasn’t that bad of a set designer. At least, none of his designs ever broke. And some of them were pretty cool…
But did he really have to look like he was in some sort of a creepy trance whenever he was thinking? It was borderline disturbing.
By the time they had finished reading through the script, James was already figuring out how much wood he needed to buy at the lumber yard that night to start working on the stage the next day.
Lily stood up and stretched. Her leg had fallen asleep after sitting and reading lines for several hours. She leaned against the stage and began to wiggle her toes, attempting to regain circulation in her foot.
She looked up just in time to see Peter Garamond walk past. Lily gently hit his arm to get his attention.
“Hey,” Lily stopped him, putting her foot back on the ground. “Congratulations on getting the lead role,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m really excited.”
“Yeah,” Peter said, forcing a fake smile on his face. “Yeah “ you too,” he agreed, staring over Lily’s shoulder when he spoke to her.
“I think this is going to be one of the best plays,” she said, trying to continue their downward spiraling conversation.
Peter shifted awkwardly back and forth on his feet. “Yeah,” he agreed, now looking over his own shoulder. “Yeah, it should be fun, I guess. You know, me playing a thief and all.”
“You’ll have a great character to play,” Lily nodded excitedly. “I bet all of the girls will fall in love with you this summer.”
He smiled slightly as if he already knew this and didn’t need Lily to tell him that twice. He looked up at Lily for a moment, and then grinned.
“Peter!” a high voice shouted from behind Lily. Lily didn’t have to turn around to know that a girl was about to join their conversation.
“Jess Marzoli,” Peter beamed, excited to talk to someone he knew. “I’ve hardly seen you “ how have you been?”
“Wonderful,” the brunette Lily recognized from earlier gushed, constantly touching Peter’s arm with her long fingernails. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Lily. She seductively leaned in to whisper in Peter’s ear but spoke loud enough so Lily could hear every word. “Why are you talking to her?”
Peter’s eyes flicked back and forth between Lily and Jess. He managed to whisper back, “She’s congratulating me on my part.” His voice was louder than Jess’; he didn’t see a problem with Lily overhearing.
Jess looked scathingly at Lily once more and then turned her back on her so that she was facing Peter straight on. And without bothering to lower her voice in the slightest, she said, “I hope you didn’t congratulate her back.”
Lily pursed her lips and balled her fingers into a fist. She was turning red very quickly, and beginning to lose control of her emotions “ an unfortunate personality trait that came with her Irish heritage.
“Why not?” Peter asked, lowering his voice for this question. He sounded as if he really didn’t know what Jess was talking about.
“She didn’t have to work to get her part,” Jess said as if it were completely obvious. “Her dad is the one directing the play, and he gave the female lead to his own daughter!”
Lily took in several deep breaths. One more time, Marzoli, she thought, narrowing her eyes at the thin girl. I can take you “ just give me one more reason and I will…
“Mr. Evans is a fair man,” Peter shrugged, crossing his arms. “I’m sure Lily will do fine.”
Jess looked over her shoulder at Lily in disgust. She was about to say something, but chose not to. Instead, she allowed a subtle smile to form. And with a blink of her dark, cat-like eyes, Jess ushered Peter away without another word.
Lily could not hold in her breath any longer. She sighed heavily and looked across the room in the opposite direction of Jess and Peter. Jess was taking control of everyone in the cast, telling them all what to think. And she was two years younger than Lily! If Jess kept this up long enough, Lily would have no one to talk to!
It’s not like you ever really spoke to anyone at all before Jess tried to turn them against you. It really isn’t very difficult for her to do…
Lily hastily brushed aside her thoughts.
She picked up her script and scanned the room to find her father and James huddled together on the stage. They were standing over a table. Curious, Lily walked to the stair entrance on the left side of the stage and walked toward her father.
James was gesturing at the multiple drawings lying out on the square table at the center of the stage that he had made earlier in the rehearsal, and was describing things with large hand gestures.
“ “ these huge trees “ right here.” James pointed to multiple spots around the stage. “We can put them on whenever the audience sees the princess and the thief in the forest. Throw in a mix of dark lights, and it’ll feel like you’re actually in a forest.” James stroked his chin, looking as if he were deep in thought. “Although with all of these set pieces we need to make, I’m going to need as much help as I can get.” He turned to Mr. Evans. “Are there any new cast members joining my crew?”
His crew. Lily was very tempted to laugh aloud upon hearing this. James was now calling the other set designers his crew. Sure, James was the head set designer, but his crew?
“A boy,” Mr. Evans informed him, opening a binder. He laid it open on the table and flipped through several pages until he reached one in particular with a list of several names. “You still have the other five set designers from last year working with you,” Mr. Evans said. “And “ this boy.” Mr. Evans pointed to a name on the sheet in his notebook after he finally found it. “Jimmy Dunne, age eleven “ he just moved to the neighborhood from Ireland this summer.” Mr. Evans looked up from Jimmy’s name on the paper and back towards James’ interested look. “He’s starting tomorrow.”
James nodded at the name. He looked back at his set designs. “He’ll work with me,” James said with a nod. “I’ll take him under my wing and show him the ropes. Like an apprentice.”
Mr. Evans grinned.
“That’s all I’ve planned out in terms of the set, though,” James finished, looking up at the director. “Maybe Jimmy and I will work on the prison that Eddie stays in after he’s captured by the castle guards.” James suddenly got an excited look on his face as he started to imagine a scene from Mr. Evans’ play. “Wouldn’t it be exciting if Adelaide ran out of the castle to save Eddie from the castle guards?” James’ eyes widened as the idea slowly formed in his mind. He didn’t try very hard to control his enthusiasm. “Adelaide and Eddie could have a sword fight to keep the guards back!” James picked up a plank of wood lying across the square table and began stabbing it into the air and waving it around as if it were an actual sword. He hopped around the stage a few more times before lowering it to the floor and leaning on it with a wistful sigh. “That would be amazing.”
Lily rolled her eyes. Her father would never go for anything as stupid as that. A princess “ fighting off her own guards? Why would a princess even know how to use a sword in the first place? Was James crazy?
“James,” Mr. Evans started speaking with an excited tone, “would you be willing to be the choreographer for a few scenes?” Mr. Evans pointed to his daughter over his shoulder and continued speaking. “Lily has told me about a few of the pranks you seem to be known for at school, and I, for one, believe they take more planning and concentration than most people believe they do.”
Lily felt her jaw drop in surprise. Her own father had taken the bad words Lily had said about James and twisted them to make James sound like some sort of a genius for misbehaving!
Mr. Evans leaned closer to James to speak in a whisper. “Not many people know that I, too, used to pull a few pranks every now and then.”
Lily was sure her eyes must have doubled in size at that very moment. She didn’t even know that her father had pulled pranks at school!
James’ eyes shone with excitement. “Unbelievable,” he said in awe. Then he, too, lowered his voice, checking for unwanted eavesdroppers. “How did you pull pranks without magic?”
Mr. Evans laughed and slapped James on the back. “Some other time, son. I just need to know if you’ll be willing to organize some events on the stage; that sword fight sounds like a great idea.” He raised an eyebrow. “Are you up to the challenge?”
“Absolutely,” James gasped in utter disbelief. “So “ I get to plan a sword fight?”
“And,” Mr. Evans added, “I was also thinking about a possible ball held for the princess and the new prince at the end of the play.” He crossed his arms over his chest, deep in thought. “There could be a final dance to represent the wedding. Although, it would have to be a formal - ”
“My parents have a ton of formal parties,” James cut in quickly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was unable to hold back his excitement. “Just tell me which dance you want; I can do it!”
Mr. Evans was happily taken aback. “Well, then,” he said, “we’ll plan out the details tomorrow.” He laughed jovially and wrapped an arm around James’ shoulder as James laughed at the old man’s excitement. “Brilliant, my boy,” he said loudly. “I absolutely love it. You never cease to astound me, James!”
James felt his cheeks burn. “Thanks, Mr. Evans.”
“Roger,” he reminded James politely. “Call me Roger!”
“Well, Roger,” Lily quickly stepped into the conversation before the situation could get any worse than it looked, “isn’t it time we go home now?”
Mr. Evans turned to his left and saw his daughter with her arms folded comfortably across her chest. He smiled and took her under his other arm and brought Lily and James together so that their faces were less than a foot away from each other. “Ah, my star, here she is.”
James grinned obnoxiously at Lily with one of the most devilish smiles that he could muster once Mr. Evans looked away from him and at his daughter. She forced a polite smile, unable to make a face at her enemy while her father was watching.
“Don’t you think he’s doing a spectacular job?” Mr. Evans asked Lily, very proud of James. He pointed to the many black and white pencil designs that James had drawn within the past few hours.
Lily nodded, approving of the pictures. “Oh, sure, they’re great,” she said in all honesty. But she didn’t dare look up at James, because she knew that the minute she did, he would be smirking at her; he knew that she was telling the truth and that his drawings really were good, but it would kill her to let him know that.
“Anything that you want added to the set, Lily, dear?” James asked in as sweet of a voice that he could manage.
Mr. Evans beamed at the two teenagers, fully believing that they were the best of friends.
“Oh, no, I’m quite alright.” Lily lowered her eyes so that she could send James a deadly glare without her father seeing. “But if any of the sets goes missing, or “ oh, I don’t know “ break by chance, I’ll be sure to mention something to you,” she threatened James with the nicest voice possible.
Mr. Evans patted them both on the back. “You two finish chatting; I’ll wait for you in the car, Lily!”
Before Lily could quickly follow in her father’s footsteps so that she didn’t have to “finish chatting” with James, she was held back by an arm dropped around her shoulder. James’ voice spoke very loudly in her ear. “We won’t keep you waiting too long, Mr. Evans!”
Mr. Evans laughed joyously and waved at the pair before exiting the building through the double doors with his script tucked beneath his arm.
Bennett Theater had cleared out. The only people left were a red-faced Lily and a snickering James.
The moment the theater doors closed behind Mr. Evans, James heard a very low and steady growl by his side.
James hastily removed his arm from Lily, almost frightened of what she would have done if he did not back away.
Lily hurriedly moved several steps away from James. She hugged her script close to her chest, as if it could protect her from anything that James was about to do. “What’s with that stunt you just pulled, Potter?” she asked in an accusing voice.
James sighed as he realized that the worst case scenario of Lily’s reaction was about to become a reality. “Look,” he said, “in all seriousness “ our past put behind us “ ” James extended his hand to shake Lily’s “ “ good luck on the play.”
Lily didn’t move. She didn’t breathe. When the words that James spoke registered in her brain, she didn’t shake James’ hand as a polite gesture. She looked from his outstretched hand to his “ almost “ sincere face and asked a single question.
“Why?”
James was puzzled. He slowly pulled back his own hand as he realized that talking rationally to Lily was not going to be as easy as he had imagined it would be. “Why what?”
Lily was speaking very fast now that she felt she had the upper hand in the conversation. “Why are you wishing me good luck? You never have before “ why now?”
James sucked in a breath and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He looked down at his feet as he searched for an answer. “Well, you know,” he started lamely. His eyes suddenly flickered back up to Lily’s face and he smiled gently. “Your first lead role in a play and all. I just “ good luck,” he finished, shrugging pathetically.
Lily shook her head steadily. She didn’t accept the answer that James gave her. She squinted her eyes at James and again asked, “Why?”
This time, James looked nervously over his shoulder to check for any spies. He peered into the dark audience to see if anyone was watching. He sighed and finally looked back at Lily, seeing no other way to get out of this mess without giving her the truth. And then, as if telling a secret, James stepped closer to Lily and lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “It’s difficult to have your dad be the director and play a lead role in his play at the same time; it’s hard to prove to everyone that you got the lead role without any outside influences, if you know what I mean.”
Lily said nothing. James took a deep breath and continued.
“Other people might think that they had more talent than you and believe that the only reason that you were even cast as the lead role was because your dad was the one choosing the roles,” James said quickly as he ran out of breath at the end of his sentence. “I mean “ I’ve heard people talking,” he said as if he couldn’t help but overhear rude comments about Lily and had absolutely nothing to do with them. He took another breath. “And I just wanted you to know that after seeing you act over the years, I think you’ll do just fine.” He shrugged. “So “ good luck.”
The entire theater was silent. Even when James had stayed late to work on the set, the constant pounding of nails on wood created noise so James never felt awkward standing alone in the theater.
But right now, James felt more than awkward.
No one said anything. For a moment, Lily debated whether or not she should just leave without a word. And for a split second, she had started for the door “ but then stopped. She was facing the exit with her script still pressed to her chest. Lily took several calming breaths before slowly turning in a circle to face James.
“How do you know,” Lily started in a surprisingly calm voice, “that I was even thinking about that?”
James opened his mouth as if to answer the question, but Lily cut him off before he had the chance.
“Because I wasn’t,” she said in a stronger voice. James took one step away from Lily’s piercing green eyes as he sensed a crescendo in the volume of her voice. “What made you think I was even remotely worried about “ ” Lily swallowed “ “ about what other people think about me?”
James didn’t even try to answer this time, because Lily was on a roll. He knew not to say anything now.
“Because I’m not, James, alright? I’m not. I can handle everything just fine without your little ‘good luck.’ I already know that I can act without you informing me of your brilliant observation that you just realized seven years later, James!” Lily clenched her fists around her script and began stepping closer to James, raising her voice with each step. He did not blanch. “You don’t know everything, James Potter,” Lily was shouting at the top of her lungs, poking a finger into his chest with every word, “even if you like to think that you do!”
Lily stormed away, but she wasn’t finished. Her body shaking with fury, she reached the edge of the wooden stage just before the steps and spun around to face James once more.
“And even if I was nervous,” she said in a very low hiss, “I don’t need your help.”
James stood motionless as Lily ran from the theater without another word.
With a heavy sigh, James quickly tried to forget their conversation “ as he had tried to do with every other conversation that he attempted to have with Lily “ and started to work on the set.