Andromeda had spent the last half hour with Patch going over reasons again to refrain from jinxing Ted during the meeting. The past few weeks had been tense between the Head Boy and Girl, to say the least, and Andy had never been known for her patience; he was getting on her nerves a little more every day. She'd managed to remain civil, if frostily so, when they were in public, but this meeting was giving her a bad feeling.
Her disdain for Ted was irrational, and she knew it. He was well liked by professors and students, intelligent, talented, very good at his job - but none of that had managed to override the fact that he irritated her. Whether he'd said anything overtly or not, she felt constantly judged, constantly compared to Bella. This was not exclusive to Ted; in a family so well known as hers, it happened almost automatically - everyone made assumptions, everyone had ideas about the Blacks, everyone certainly had an opinion about Bellatrix one way or another, and Andy was well schooled in ignoring it for the most part. From
( ... )
Lily ran the last half of the way to the meeting, convinced she would be the last one there and not looking forward to interupting if it had already begun. She slowed down as she reached the door, caught her breath and walked in, immeasurably glad that not everyone seemed to be there yet, not even the Head Boy.
"Hi Andy," she greeted the Head Girl as she walked in. "Sorry I'm a little late, am I late? I think I'm late. Anyway, I was in the library, didn't realise the time, sorry."
She was rambling and she knew it, but she was still a little out of breath and the conversation (not an argument, she noted to herself) with James had thrown her a little.
"You aren't late," Andy said, raising an eyebrow at Lily's scattered explanation, smiling a little. (Genuinely, even - Andy liked Lily, she had a way of making people feel at ease, of making them laugh, that was hard not to like.) "Breathe. Sit. It's fine."
His timing, James congratulated himself as the Fat Lady swung open to reveal Lily coming straight at him, was impeccable. In a matter of seconds he had produced his ever-present Snitch from the pocket of his jeans, hoping to make it look as though he had already been playing with it. It was the same routine as usual: he released it, let it fly a foot or so away, easily caught it, let it fly a bit farther, caught it again, reflexes impressively quick - and he knew it. He could've been a Seeker, if he'd wanted, but it wasn't hands-on enough for his taste, not deep enough into the action, and he got to work more with Sirius (a born Beater, in James's opinion) as a Chaser.
Sirius who was, at least for the moment, nowhere in sight. This only proved that James's bravado wasn't calculated to impress his friends; the grin he flashed Lily would've been the same regardless.
"Alright, Evans?" he asked lightly, capturing the Snitch again with a particularly deft flick of his wrist, as though it were nothing.
Lily almost barreled straight into James, not realising at first who it was she was running into, but she caught herself just in time, her right hand on the frame of the Fat Lady to steady herself. She looked up, and gritted her teeth in frustration. Of all the days to run into Potter, it had to be the day she was running late for a meeting that she didn't think was going to go well anyway.
"Hi," she said, nodding her head at him and biting back the "Get out of my way, James" that seemed to automatically jump to her lips. It wasn't his fault, after all, that she was running late, and she had no reason not to be polite. Other than the fact that everything he did seemed calculated to annoy and delay her in some way, of course. Had she been less hurried, she probably would have had some smart comment or a disdainful look, but he had caught her on the run and so she was less guarded than usual with him.
Encouraged by Lily's utter lack of snark, James decided to press his advantage. His grin took on a more decidedly One Of The Cool Kids look, partly to cover the fact that he had an impulse to punch the air in celebration for what he considered to be a foot in the door. 'Hi' was, after all, significantly better than he had expected.
"You weren't at dinner," he pointed out, and then quickly added, "You know, I mean. Moony noticed." Which was a lie - he'd noticed, but thought that sounded a bit keen.
"I wasn't hungry," she said automatically, though the opposite was true. She was starving. She was going to have to find something to eat after the meeting. Her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, protesting it's emptiness and betraying her statement completely. She gave a self-deprecating grin, and shrugged her shoulders.
"Studying, in the library. I forgot to eat."
She didn't know why she was explaining herself, nor did she know why she was standing here engaging in a conversation when she had to get to the prefects meeting. She had roughly seven minutes before she was officially late, but she seemed to have gotten herself into a conversation without meaning to, and it seemed rude to leave, even it was just James.
Comments 29
Her disdain for Ted was irrational, and she knew it. He was well liked by professors and students, intelligent, talented, very good at his job - but none of that had managed to override the fact that he irritated her. Whether he'd said anything overtly or not, she felt constantly judged, constantly compared to Bella. This was not exclusive to Ted; in a family so well known as hers, it happened almost automatically - everyone made assumptions, everyone had ideas about the Blacks, everyone certainly had an opinion about Bellatrix one way or another, and Andy was well schooled in ignoring it for the most part. From ( ... )
Reply
"Hi Andy," she greeted the Head Girl as she walked in. "Sorry I'm a little late, am I late? I think I'm late. Anyway, I was in the library, didn't realise the time, sorry."
She was rambling and she knew it, but she was still a little out of breath and the conversation (not an argument, she noted to herself) with James had thrown her a little.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Sirius who was, at least for the moment, nowhere in sight. This only proved that James's bravado wasn't calculated to impress his friends; the grin he flashed Lily would've been the same regardless.
"Alright, Evans?" he asked lightly, capturing the Snitch again with a particularly deft flick of his wrist, as though it were nothing.
Reply
"Hi," she said, nodding her head at him and biting back the "Get out of my way, James" that seemed to automatically jump to her lips. It wasn't his fault, after all, that she was running late, and she had no reason not to be polite. Other than the fact that everything he did seemed calculated to annoy and delay her in some way, of course. Had she been less hurried, she probably would have had some smart comment or a disdainful look, but he had caught her on the run and so she was less guarded than usual with him.
Reply
"You weren't at dinner," he pointed out, and then quickly added, "You know, I mean. Moony noticed." Which was a lie - he'd noticed, but thought that sounded a bit keen.
Reply
"Studying, in the library. I forgot to eat."
She didn't know why she was explaining herself, nor did she know why she was standing here engaging in a conversation when she had to get to the prefects meeting. She had roughly seven minutes before she was officially late, but she seemed to have gotten herself into a conversation without meaning to, and it seemed rude to leave, even it was just James.
Reply
Leave a comment