(Untitled)

[alotofgood]

James is cheerfully sitting at a table with a tall glass of Coca Cola (and ice), and what looks to be an actual school textbook in front of him.

(Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, if we want to be specific

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[real_or_notreal]

Bar Shirking Time is in effect all over the place, it seems.

"I hear congratulations are in order."

[alotofgood]

"- are they?"

Well, James isn't about to turn down any sort of congratulatory remark.

"Thanks, mate."

He grins.

"... what for?"

[real_or_notreal]

Unless they aren't.

Faintly dissembling, but without a falter. "A date with Lily?"

Just because Lily looked happy -- it doesn't automatically mean, he should be so aware of that equality -- "Unless it...didn't go so well on your side?"

[alotofgood]

"Oh."

James laughs, shaking his head.

"No, no. Blimey, it did. It was brilliant.

"I suppose I just didn't know you knew. Lily told you, then?"

[real_or_notreal]

"We ran into each other a few days ago."

Back with the melting ice cream.

"And she mentioned it, yeah."

[alotofgood]

Ah, the melting ice cream.

James was there too. It'd become something of a memorable evening.

"I'm glad she did."

He smiles; it's only vaguely soppy.

"She's - well, she's my girlfriend, now."

[real_or_notreal]

Not vague enough.

But it does match Lily well.

Peeta gave a small whistle.
Bemusedly bright, "Fast, isn't that?"

[alotofgood]

James laughs.

Then, leaning forward slightly, as though confiding some great secret, he says, "Honestly, mate? I've sort of been waiting for this - for her - for ages, now."

It couldn't be fast enough, in other words.

[real_or_notreal]

[Having computer problems. Trying to hold on, while fixing things.]

Peeta took a chair, shaking his head. "I didn't know that part. How long?"

[alotofgood]

[ ooc: No worries! Honestly, take your time. This thread isn't going anywhere. :) ]

James runs a hand through his ever-messy mop of dark hair.

It probably won't (realistically) be the sort of length of waiting Peeta has experience with, but to James, it's something of an eternity.

And if they're talking metaphorical (or just plain sappy), James is pretty sure he's been waiting for a girl like Lily all his life.

"Maybe the end of Fourth Year - I mean, without me really noticing it. And then, all through Fifth in some way or another.

"But I was a complete git for a good part of that time," he admits.

[real_or_notreal]

The last part earns a laugh.

"To her? Or in general?"

[alotofgood]

"Both," James says, wrinkling his nose. "But mostly in general.

"I think she helped me grow up."

[real_or_notreal]

"Yeah?" It's a question.

But he's thinking about how he'd told Lily only days earlier she'd helped him, without even knowing it, when he'd been in a bad state.

[alotofgood]

"Yeah," James confirms. "She was sort of a stick-in-the-mud when I first started talking to her. But - she made a lot of sense.

"And the more I talked to her, the more interesting I found what she had to say. Plus, it made me realize a lot about myself and the sorts of things I was doing."

Not all of them had been good, after all.

[real_or_notreal]

Peeta wouldn't really agree with Lily being a stick in the mud, given most of his interactions with her. But then he, also, hasn't known her years. Mostly. But what he's known of her here hasn't been very much like that.

It didn't come out. As James wasn't insulting her, even if Peeta felt surge of almost wanting to defend her name at the mention. He lived with Tempest, a constant daily reminder of Lily.

"It sounds like she's been pretty good for you, then."

[alotofgood]

James nods.

"Yeah," he says, grinning. "I'm really quite grateful for her, which is probably a terribly soppy thing to say.

"But she is brilliant."