WHO: James Potter and Lily Evans
WHAT: James brings up the things Sirius told him to Lily---meep
WHEN: Evening
WHERE: Corridors

James had managed to sleep straight through the entire day of classes, all the way to dinner. He skipped dinner, though, and waited for his roommates to disperse and go on with whatever they may be doing before he slipped out of bed and made his way to the kitchens. He didn’t need Sirius to bring him food, he wasn’t helpless.

For the most part he’d been in a deep sleep, but the moment James woke up all he could think about was Lily, and what Sirius had said about her, and how it was all a lie…he shook his head as he exited the kitchens after finding some snacks; how could he deal with Lily now?

Lily was walking down the corridors after dinner, on her way to Slughorn's classroom. He was having another party, supposedly--it wasn't as if she really wanted to go, but if she didn't she knew that he would be disappointed. And Lily would really rather avoid any extra time talking to him.

She adjusted her robes nonchalantly and pondered on a plan to escape early, and wasn't really watching where she was going when she ran into a solid wall of...person.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't look--" Lily was cut off by seeing who it was. "James," she greeted, her frown turning into a grin. "Hey."

He dropped his bag of peanuts when Lily bumped into him, and they scattered across the hall. James held in a curse and bent to pick some up, avoiding Lily’s gaze, “Hey,” he mumbled, using his wand to summon the further pieces.

James noticed that her robes weren’t the regular school ones, and he refrained from rolling his eyes, “Slug club?”

Lily blushed a little, for reasons uncertain to her. "Uh, yeah... he's having a thing tonight," she said. Lily sighed. "I don't particularly want to be there, but I guess I have no better place..." She trailed off, hoping for a moment that he'd take the bait she was laying out for him.

The back of his neck bristled; James knew exactly what she was going for. Part of him wanted to sweep her away, especially (okay, his eyes couldn’t stay off of her) now that she looked so pretty in her robes, but then the other part, the angry, hurt, part, knew that it would only make things worse.

He stood and kept his eyes on his shoes, shrugging, “Don’t know what to tell you.”

Lily felt a surge of disappointment run through her, and not only because he had so obviously rejected her leading. Something wasn't right with him--even if he didn't want to go off and snog her somewhere like they had made a habit of doing the past month or so, it was entirely unlike him to not have a mischievous sort of suggestion to defy Slughorn with.

"Are you alright?" she asked, knitting her brow in concern.

“Peachy keen,” James snapped before he could stop himself. He winced immediately and frowned deeply, shaking his head. “No, not really. I don’t know—why are you even asking?”

He was so, incredibly hurt that he couldn’t manage to bring himself to look her in the eyes as he asked this. James had felt like they were actually making progress beyond wanting to snog each other senseless, and no matter how girly it sounded, he found it important.

James wasn't the only one who winced at his quick words. Lily couldn't help but feeling like that this situation was turning into what had happened between them and Davy in the common room. And that was something she did not want to relive in the least.

"I'm asking because you're acting weird," she said, barely able to keep the hurt out of her voice. She wanted to add, Why, is this none of my business too?, but refrained. Instead, Lily settled for, "It's troubling."

“Troubling? You think me, just…just not---“ He couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say, or had been trying to. He couldn’t think. James let out a breath and leaned against the wall, finally managing to look up at Lily. She was so pretty. “Lily, I know you’re lying.”

He bit his lip, loosing any courage he had and looked down at his shoes again. Merlin, this hurt.

Lily was taken aback by James's words in the most horrible way. It felt like she had just gotten smacked in the face--but this hurt more than any physical attack could. And worse, this was confusing. Why did he think she was lying? Better yet, what did he think she was lying about? All she had been since day one of this relationship--or whatever you called it--she had been nothing but honest with him. She wouldn't go to such lengths and swallow her pride like she had if she didn't care. Not in a million years.

"L-lying?" her voice stuttered out. Now she didn't try to stop herself from sounding hurt. "What are you talking about, James?"

“About this, about us,” James said, determinedly staring at his shoes. “That you’re…you’re just being nice, and…and you don’t really…” His voice cracked slightly, damn it. He was a complete wreck, and even a full day of no class or work couldn’t fix his breakdown from the night before.

“I’m sorry I thought…and that I’ve been clingy, sort of and…” He ran a hand through his hair, yearning to just run away.

Lily wanted to burst out right then. Excuse me for interrupting, but what the hell are you talking about? But she bit her lip down hard and restrained herself to prevent from getting angry at him.

As it were, she had every right to be angry. He doubted that she genuinely cared, and that struck a wound deep enough to make her want to cry. But getting angry with him wouldn't help, yelling at him wouldn't help... and he looked shaken up enough not to appreciate anything she'd scream at him.

"Why do you think I'm lying?" she asked, resisting the urge to go over and stand next to him against the wall. "What did I do wrong? Because I'd sure like to be enlightened."

“Sirius said he’s seen the looks you give me and, and that all of a sudden you’re nice and have been pitying me and…” It sounded so ridiculous, relaying this to Lily, but James was more concerned about her next words, the ‘I’m sorry, I thought I was doing the right thing,’ so he can go and dig a hole to die in. “And I can’t deal with people pitying me, especially you, Lily, honestly, I can’t.”

She wanted to smack him then. She wanted to smack James so badly. And now she was really angry--so he was listening to the lines of crap that Black had been feeding him about her, that she knew he must have been using to slander her for years now. Lily's fists clenched at her sides. She was furious--not just as Sirius for doing this, but at James for believing it.

But really, it was silly to expect that he'd listen to her over saintly Sirius Black, best mate. She fought the urge to scoff. Best mate my ass. What the hell kind of best mate pulls shit like this?

Lily closed her eyes and looked away from him and she cursed the stinging at the corners of her eyes. Things had finally been looking up as far as her love life was concerned. But of course Black couldn't have that. He was convinced that her being with James was a bad thing, apparently--laughable when he was the one who had started this whole clandestine affair--and whatever Black wanted, he got.

"Well I suppose you better go applaud Sirius, then," she said. "He's succeeded in controlling your mind to the point that you don't even care enough to look at who the fuck you're talking to when you start accusing me of lies. Real ironic, isn't it, seeing as I'm logically the person that would be the least pitying. Tell him I say congratulations, because it's taken six years, but he's finally successfully slandered me against you."

At that, Lily turned on her heel and went in the opposite direction, back up towards the dorms, walking at first and then running as she felt herself finally lose composure. She didn't want to hear any more of this. She couldn't stand to hear any more of it.

He stood there until he couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore, and even after there was silence in the hall James didn’t move. He was such a bloody coward. He was a coward, a wreck, and a lousy, lousy person. How could he have made Lily look like that, or make her voice crack like that? James huffed and slammed his fists back against the wall, pissed off at Lily, pissed off at Sirius, pissed of at everyone and anyone that was going to be near him.