Cruel Summer - Lily and James Potter

Chapter 6 - Maturity

That morning James woke up to the smell of cooking.

He turned over on the Muggle bed and opened his eyes slightly. The light coming from behind made him wince and move suddenly.

The room swam.

He fixed his eyes closed and tried to recall the events of last night.

Erm...there was a bar...

James groaned and laid back on the bed, cursing his lack of memory. Attempting to open his eyes again, he looked at the ceiling. It only moved a little now, so he took that as a good sign. He slowly sat up, feeling the pangs of a headache numbly shoot through his head. Getting up even more slowly, he moved over to the mirror and made sure he didn't look as bad as he felt.

The smell wafted under the door again and he looked at his Wizard watch. It was about 10:30 in Muggle time, and James staggered across the room, and walked out the door.

Walking down the stairs - very carefully - he crossed the hall towards the kitchen, from where he thought the smell was coming from.

'It's probably Evans' Mother,' he thought to himself, hearing music playing from inside the room.

James opened the kitchen door.

Looking inside, he saw Lily by the cooker singing along with the radio. It was some Muggle song he didn't recognise. He watched her for a second, her voice in perfect tune to what was playing and he laughed.

'Fuck!'

Lily jumped nearly onto the ceiling as she spun round to glare at him. But what she thought would be a smirking face, was holding his head and muttering curses.

'How's the hangover?' she asked sweetly.

It was his turn to glare at her, 'You knew I was drunk? Why didn't you sober me up?'

'Because I'm not your slave!' she spat, 'And I think the thing about waking me and the entire neighbourhood at 4 o'clock in the morning deserves some punishment, don't you think?'

James looked at her, 'you're an evil bitch.'

'No James, I'm a stupid bitch for even considering that you would be grown up about this whole, 'You living in my house' thing!'

'Oh and it's my fault now, is it?' he glared at her.

'Yes! Yes it is your fault! Dumbledore wouldn't have had to make us do this if you hadn't been like you are!'

'And your so perfect are you Lily?'

Lily didn't answer him. She just folded her arms and glowered in his direction.

'You need to mature James.'

He stared at her, his eyes calculating, 'You need to get laid Evans.'

With that, he turned and walked out of the kitchen and into the lounge, leaving Lily to boil by the cooker and hurl silent hexes in his direction.

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Throughout that day, they had kept away from each other; much to Lily's relief. She was seriously considering that torturing plan that she had thought up last night. But she very much wanted to hit him where it hurt. She hadn't forgotten the little promise she had made to herself when James had fell asleep, and was definitely going to follow through with her schemes.

James was totally oblivious of her plots against him, and after his comment about her sex life, she discovered that he didn't know her at all, let alone knew what was going through her head.

He always thought of her as bookish and a loner. Granted she was bookish, but not in the same ways that he thought. And never was she a loner. If he had taken the time to open his eyes and look beyond his arrogant world, he would see that she wasn't at all.

Lily smiled at the thought of him knowing her.

Actually knowing her.

He never would.

James had stayed inside the house that day, whereas Lily had gone outside.

It was the middle of August, and there was no way that she was going to miss the heat wave that threatened to take over England's usually dreary climate.

Sitting outside on the grass, reading a Hogwarts book, she drank in the sunshine. It really did feel good and it evaporated all her anger, leaving just a content and blissed-out Gryffindor in its wake.

Mmm, this must be what heaven feels like.

She placed her book down and laid back, feeling the soft blades brush her skin.

'What am I gonna do?'

Sirius shrugged, 'I dunno.'

James had sent an owl to Sirius early that day telling him to apperate over. He had sent the message just after he'd had the argument with Lily that morning and was desperate to see someone that didn't piss him off totally.

Sirius had gladly come over, thinking that being in a Muggle home meant unlimited access to the Television. But James wanted a bit more than just him staring at a glass screen for hours on end. He wanted a way out.

'I want to do something that will ruin her, I mean really ruin her, like destroy her completely!'

Sirius frowned at James and sat back on the sofa. He had listened to his best friend rant on and on about her and frankly he was getting sick of it. If he thought differently, he would believe that James had a little thing for the Gryffindor. But he knew that was stupid. Sirius agreed to help him because he knew James would do it for him, no questions asked.

'You mean like a prank?'

James shook his head, 'Not just a prank. Something that will wreck all her stupid illusions of being 'The perfect Head Girl'.'

Sirius shifted in his seat and glanced at his friend, seeing the definite shine to them as he read off Lily's torment.

'Well what do you have in mind?'

James paused and grinned evilly, looking at Sirius expectantly. It took him a while until he knew what James was looking like him like that for.

'Me?' Sirius looked at James dubiously, 'Why do I have to do it?'

'Well, Moony will think of the morals or some shit, and Wormtail? Yeah right.'

He sat up, 'So...let me get this straight. You want me to seduce the girl you hate, just so you can ruin her reputation as Head Girl?'

James paused, thought about it, and then answered, 'Yes.'

Sirius sighed in exasperation, 'How do you think I'll be able to do that? She's sexually frozen!'

James laughed at his best friend.

'Come on man! I know you; warm her up if she's a bit cold. It'll ruin her! 'Prissy little virgin looses it to enemies best friend.' It'll be great!'

Sirius laughed, and then shook his head, 'She won't do it.'

'I thought you liked a challenge?'

James was deliberately doing the whole 'inverse psychology' thing and it was working brilliantly on his best friend's mind. He was nudging Sirius in exactly the right direction that he wanted, and he was falling for it fast. If James wanted something, he would go out of his way to make sure that his hunger was sated, and this was no different.

'Plus, accomplishing Evans? You'd earn like some kind of award for that. No body's ever done it.'

He laughed at his own joke and Sirius looked at him grinning, 'Yeah ok. I'll do it.'