Witchy Woman
It all began in the second week of October during my fifth year. That was an interesting time in my life. It was the time period when I was getting over being a bit notorious for chasing girls. I don’t know what it had been about pursuit that I found enthralling, but I did it all the same. There was the rush of adrenaline when coming in contact with a girl, the flirting and buttering up. Then there was the multiple asking and the multiple rejections. My wit would finally settle in, and she would agree. She would agree because she wanted to date me since the beginning, but didn’t because I had a small reputation. I’m not going to lie about it; everything every girl said was true. After the chase, everything I found interesting about the girl “ the attraction, the electricity, the charm “ disappeared. Said girl was a complete and utter bore. I think the girl was like that in the beginning, but I didn’t take note until I got her. So I would dump her. It wasn’t like I meant to do it, but I couldn’t stay with someone I couldn’t stand.
But I hadn’t done that in a while. No, I had a girlfriend. Actually, I had an ex-girlfriend. Norah Kelley and I were taking a break. We had begun dating in the beginning of fourth year and were perfect together, but she wanted to take a little hiatus. What could I say? I knew she’d be back. We were meant to be.
I have known Norah forever. She was the only daughter of a pure-blood wizarding family, and I the only son of one. Plus, the two families happened to be best friends. Our parents knew each other since school; she lived about five minutes down the road from my house and she was one of my few playmates in my youth. I loved Norah.
Before, when I chased girls, Norah was the one that was on my mind through it all. She understood me. We understood each other. There was no doubt in my mind we would end up married. It’s what made sense. She was the girl next door.
The castle was chilly and quiet, causing our voices to echo through the empty corridors. Outside, the sky was a cloudy purple, which was a nice relief from the stone grey. We could hear the distant whistle of the wind through the trees of the Forbidden Forest in the night air. It was approaching midnight as Sirius and I walked toward the portrait leading to the Gryffindor common room.
Even though it was a few hours past curfew, it didn’t stop us from a snack run. Usually we would have brought the Invisibility Cloak, but we deemed it unnecessary. Detention didn’t faze either of us much and we both knew the castle as well as our faces, which was saying something, seeing how often Sirius looked in the mirror. With our stealth, Marauder’s map and superior knowledge of the passageways, the Invisibility Cloak wasn’t needed, especially for something as simple as a trip to the kitchen.
“Think Moony is awake?” I asked Sirius, who was taking a swig of butterbeer. He shrugged.
“Probably reading or something equally boring,” he answered, sounding bored. “Or maybe he’s still patrolling, since he’s a prefect and all.” The word prefect was said with an air of supremacy and it made me snort. Sirius, Peter and I were all a bit angry with Remus. He had violated rule seventeen of The Code of the Marauders. It clearly stated, “No position of power shall be held, which discriminates against our Marauder ways.” Prefects were only out to get us; they were the bane of our existence.
“Gotta feel sorry for him though,” I replied, climbing through the portrait hole.
“Patrolling with Evans, it must be torture.” Sirius snickered.
“That’s a good point. She’s Satan if I ever met him.” I chuckled easily, no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t correct.
It was at that point we came face-to-face with the one we were discussing “ Lily Evans. And she had heard us.
Sirius and I hated her. There wasn’t much more to it than that. She was the biggest goody-two-shoes ever. Lily Evans had never broken a rule in her life, she was obsessed with school and hardly saw daylight because she lived in the library. When I say obsessed, I’m not exaggerating. If she didn’t get the best grade or learn the spell the quickest, she got upset or really angry. Last year, she began to cry because, of what I assume, a low grade on a paper. That was when we classified her as mental. She never laughed at a prank, and if I hadn’t heard her laugh with her friend, I wouldn’t have thought she could.
That brings us to another point, her friends. She had them. It was beyond me how she was so popular. Not nearly as popular as myself, naturally, but she really did have a lot of friends. Everyone liked her “ even some boys!! I really had no idea how. I mean, sure, she was okay looking, if you could get past the horns and pitchfork, but come on. Looks aren’t everything! Especially in terms of friendship. Look at Peter, he wasn't nearly as handsome as me, but it never bothered me. I didn’t know how her friends could stand to be around her, let alone romantic interests. Lily Evans was insufferable. I couldn’t stand to have to talk to her for more than ten seconds, but was usually subjected to her yelling because of her “prefect duties.”
Worst of all, she was really conceited. Oh yes! She had a stick up her bum and her nose in the air. She really thought she was the best at everything and no one could beat her. She pranced around the school with her stupid red hair and million books crammed into her green bag, thinking she was so much better than everyone else “ thinking she was so cultured and informed. Lily Evans never said it, but I could tell how much she thought of herself, how arrogant she really was. Yes, I could see right through her sweet, caring, nice-to-first-years cover. She thought she was so great, so saintly, so special, with her annoyingly bright green eyes. Only I knew the truth.
“Potter,” Lily Evans said, her voice icy and full of spite. I didn’t answer, but simply crawled into the common room and stood. Good thing I grew over the summer, because I was now taller than her. Last year, we were both about five foot seven, but I finally sprouted and stood proudly at six feet.
“Where were you?” she demanded. Sirius stood beside me now.
“Kitchen,” I said coolly, scanning the common room for the current girl I was after “ Norah Kelley. Only I didn’t have to chase her much. I knew she cared for me and would return to my side.
Norah and Lily weren’t friends really. Well, I didn’t think so anyway. I knew they shared a dorm and spoke, but for some reason, Lily didn’t really like the fact that Norah was dating me or dated me.
Lily Evans’ green eyes were full of disgust. At that moment, I couldn’t understand how any man in his right mind could think of her as pretty. She was just annoying and judgmental “ always in everyone else’s business.
“What is it to you?” I asked.
“I’m a prefect,” she answered in a dignified voice, which was under a layer of deep-seated anger.
“So?” Sirius interjected. “Are you going to give us detention, Evans?” Sirius laughed, as did I.
“Uh-oh, Padfoot, we might have to write lines!”
“Or clean the trophies!” he said dramatically.
“Anything but that!!” I feigned to plead. The common room was full, even if it was after curfew, and watching us in amusement. We did enjoy the attention.
I could see something flicker in her eyes. We were making a fool out of her, undermining her authority and she didn’t like it.
When she didn’t respond, Sirius leaned back with a smirk, crossing his arms unperturbedly. “So what is it, Evans? Detention? Turning us into McGonagall? Dumbledore? The Minister of Magic?” Again, she didn’t answer. I could see the satisfaction on her face though; something was brewing.
“No,” Lily Evans said simply. Both Sirius and I narrowed our eyes at her.
“Why?” I finally asked suspiciously.
“Well,” she said, speaking slowly. “I’ve never been one to get in between romance. I guess I’m just a softy.” Everyone must have gotten something we didn’t, because they all broke out in whispers.
“What are you talking about, Evans?” asked Sirius with the same confusion I felt. She let out a little giggle, which was very unlike her. This was bad.
“I mean, I should have known when I saw you two in the broom closet.”
“What broom clos“ wait! We were hiding from you and Moony. We don’t like each other!” I cried. I could see Evans’ eyes laughing at me.
“Whatever you say.” My eyes flashed now. I could feel my cheeks burning as the room erupted in laughter.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Moony and Wormtail on the ground, howling with laughter.
“Goodnight James, Sirius,” Lily Evans said and began to walk away. But before she disappeared completely, she turned halfway around, her red hair flying over one shoulder and smiled. It was a smile full of mirth. I balled my hand in a fist.
I never hated her more than in that instant. She was straight from hell. The thing I hated most wasn’t what she said, it was bad, but the fact that she was cleverer than me was worse. I was supposed to be the witty, cheeky, funny one. Everyone was laughing of course, but at me! That wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Lily Evans was the devil! All I wanted to do was grab my wand and poke her mocking green eyes out.
I was fuming. It was just too unexpected. Since when did Evans actually retort? She would yell, of course, but not actually do anything.
And she was gone, back to her friends, looking greatly pleased. I didn’t even know Lily Evans knew my first name until that day.
Both our faces bright red and our knuckles white with wrath, Sirius and I went up to our dorm, to escape the laughter and gossip of the common room. But of course, as we walked the stairs together, there were a number of whistles, claps and yells.
How could they believe that? Sirius and me, come on! Everyone knew that we liked girls, not each other. I had never felt so mortified.
Well, until the following morning at breakfast …
Light Up My Life by KASK
Chapter Notes: JK's backdrop. My words.
Hello! Here is the first chapter of my brand new story. I've been working on it for quite a while, so maybe it's not so new. Anyway, I hope to capture the Lily/James situation in a new light.
I think I'll be doing chapter names the names of song/album/book titles. This chapter is named after the song Witchy Woman by The Eagles.
Thank you to my two Beta's: Preethi (miss padfoot) and Jenn (Jenn22291). I am enjoying working with both of you!