Beyond the Universe - Jily AU

10. Platonic Dates

Dedicated to for winning the oneshot contest I held in a few months back.

Thursday, October 20th, 2016, 2:15 PM

Students flood into the halls, escaping their confined, stifling classes, and make their way to the various exits in the school. Their shuffling feet create a symphony far more unique and melodious than anything you might hear on the radio. Stalling her exit, Lily Evans lags behind them as she surfs her eyes throughout the halls, searching for the figure of her soulmate, who towers above most who construct the student population.

Halfway across the hall where Lily's standing, James allows the surrounding crowds of students to carry him down the corridor as he combs his eyes over the heads of teenagers, trying to pick out the distinguishable flaming colour of his soulmate's hair.

"Lily!" he shouts once he succeeds in locating her at last as he breaks apart from the chain of students rushing to make it outside. "There you are," he can't help but grin as his eyes meet hers, relief washing over him like a warm shower after hours spent in the bitter cold of the harsh winter.

"Hey," she matches his pearly white smile with one of her own, her green eyes lighting up as all traces of exhaustion erase themselves from her face within the blink of an eye. "Only one more day and then we're out of this hellhole for the weekend."

The two students begin to walk, their steps in perfect unison, while they follow the tsunami of their fellow classmates stampeding to the exits, racing to escape the school. Differing to the pace of their peers, James and Lily walk at a speed of leisure and they stand to the side of the herd of teenagers.

"Yeah," James sends a furtive glance and a lovesick smile towards his soulmate, something that whizzes over her head as she brushes a stray lock of frizzy hair off her face. "Speaking of which," he clears his throat and hikes his backpack up onto his shoulder, "do you- do you want to do something this weekend? Maybe finish Slughorn's essay, or get some coffee?"

He regrets the words the instant they tumble out of his mouth. What if she says no? What if she doesn't want to hang out with him? What if she thinks his idea of a date - was it even a date? - is lame, or too boring? Maybe she doesn't like coffee, or perhaps she already finished the essay!

A jumbled, tangled knot of "what if's" begins to unfold in James' head, giving him reason after reason and excuse after excuse that Lily could provide to him in the form of a rejection. Even less than a second after proposing the idea, he knows that she'll say no, he knows that she'll cut off all contact with him.

"Sure, that sounds perfect!" Lily chirps, moving closer to her soulmate to allow a diminutive seventh grader to zip past them. In contrast to most schools, Hogwarts Secondary had students ranging from the ages of 11 to 18, or pupils in the grades of seven to 12.

The words barely begin to register themselves into James' brain before none other than Sirius Black creeps behind the pair, his signature smirk smeared across his face.

"Looks like you've found yourself a date, eh, Prongs?" he teases, ruffling the already rumpled up hair of his brother. "You kids grow up so fast!" he makes a dramatic show of brushing away a nonexistent tear from his face.

James smiles, unable to mask his mild amusement as he rolls his eyes, "Shut it, Padfoot."

"Just friends, Black," Lily reminds him with a tinkling laugh, a grin stretching across her face. "Not a date, so don't get your hopes up just yet."

"Ah, but you said yet, my dear Lilykins, therefore I reserve the right to raise my hopes to a stature taller than Dumblebutt himself!"

"First of all," the hazel-eyed teen snorts, "Dumbledore is like, two inches taller than you, so not that tall, Sirius. Second of all, Dumblebutt? How the ruddy hell did you come up with that one?"