Title: All For Love
Author:
sarahyyyBeta:
strawberrimelon Rating: PG-13 (for some very imaginative suidical thoughts XD)
Pairing(s): Lily/James, Narcissa/OC is you squint
Word Count: 1052
A/N: This one is longer than the rest, woo hoo! I can't believe I've never written Lily/James prior to this since they're one of my favourite canon couples. =D
------------------------------
“James Potter is on the Astronomy Tower! I heard them say that he was going to jump!” A seventh year Slytherin, Eliot Flint announced -or rather shouted loud enough to deafen anyone- as he ran into the Great Hall breathily.
In scenarios like this, one would have expected James’s fellow Marauders to go to his rescue, or probably Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall to rush up to the Astronomy Tower at once.
No one moved, however.
(And no, it wasn’t because of the fact that they were all shocked.)
Thinking that no one heard him clearly, for he had undoubtedly been speaking too softly, the Slytherin shouted again, “James Potter is going to commit suicide!”
“Again?” said a familiar voice from the Gryffindor table.
--
“Lily, I think you should just go there. Honestly, James’s antics are killing all of us. Yesterday it was poison, the day before it was flying daggers, before that it was drowning in the Black lake, starving himself, getting hit purposely by bludgers… And now this? ” Remus Lupin, being the most sensible of the remaining Marauders, pleaded.
The Head Girl merely shrugged. “If he wants to die, I don’t see why it concerns me,” she replied.
Peter stared at her, wide-eyed and gaping.
Sirius snorted. “Oh, come off it, Evans! You know he’s acting like this to get your attention. If you would just accept him, go out with him to Hogsmeade, snog him once or twice, then all would be peaceful for us.”
“I’m not the reason he’s doing this,” came her stubborn reply.
“Like hell you aren’t!” Sirius exclaimed. “Don’t you remember the ‘Oh, Lily, if you don’t date me, I’d be better off dead!’ part of his overdone proclamation of love?”
“Thought he was just kidding...” Lily muttered to Remus, who was chortling beside her. Turning back to Sirius, she rolled her eyes. “If I were you, I’d give him another three days. Then he’ll be out of ideas. There are only so many ways to die.”
--
“What is it today?” Narcissa asked Eliot as he came in. It would seem that Eliot had become the official person to go to when one was enquiring as to the whereabouts of James Potter.
Eliot grinned. “He tried to flush his head down the toilet.”
Narcissa blinked. “Seriously?”
Eliot nodded and extended his hand out. “Yep. And according our bet last week, you owe me two galleons, thank you very much.”
Narcissa growled. “What that idiot would do for love…”
--
“He tried to suffocate himself by stuffing berries in his nose, Lily!” Sirius exclaimed, waving his hand above his head to emphasis his words. “You’ve got to give him some credit and do something!”
Lily just scrunched up her nose in disgust.
“Can you even imagine what he’ll do next?” Sirius was still pacing in front of her. “Can you bear to let such a promising young man die because he lacks love?”
She rolled her eyes. “Many people love him, Black, and you know it.”
“He only wants your love, Evans!” Sirius turned away from Lily and muttered some profanities under his breath (the last time he did so in front of her had resulted in his mouth being scourgified) before turning back to her. “Merlin, Evans! You’ll kill him!”
“Correction!” she said, “He will kill himself.”
Sirius sighed and gave up. James was destined to die.
--
“Has anyone seen Mr. Potter today?” Professor Binns asked as the students filed in class.
“Ran headfirst into Professor Bole’s hippogriffs,” Eliot told the teacher cheerfully sitting down in his seat, “All the while screaming, ‘Love me or I’ll die!’ to Evans, Sir. He’s in the hospital wing now.”
Lily shook her head, hiding a wince while Sirius banged his head on his table, apparently having just heard the news.
Professor Binns shook his head and sighed, choosing to turn his attention back to the Goblin Wars of 1652 instead of commenting on his favourite student’s antics.
Eliot turned in his seat to face Narcissa. “Another two galleons, if you’ll please, Ms. Black.”
Narcissa frowned. “What are the odds of you winning every single time?”
Eliot just grinned as he took his money. “Slim to none, but for some weird reason, Potter seems to like choosing the ways I’ve betted on to try to move Evans’s heart. Well, I, for one, am not complaining.”
“I knew Potter was abnormal!” she exclaimed, sighing. “I just didn’t think that he’d be so crazy. I mean, blimey! Those are hippogriffs, not owls!”
“He’s a man in love,” Eliot told her, slightly distracted as he listened to Professor Binns’ lecture, “And love can do crazy things to people.”
“Like you’d know.” Narcissa snorted. “You won’t know love if it danced around in my underwear in front of you.”
As she turned her attention back to Lucius Malfoy, Eliot let out a dejected sigh.
Maybe he needed lessons from Potter.
--
“What is it today?” The regular question came up again the next day.
Nobody was expecting Eliot’s answer:
“Nothing.”
“What?” Narcissa asked. “He’s stopped?”
Eliot nodded.
“But…” she trailed off, looking flabbergasted, “why?”
--
Sirius shrugged. “I don’t know. He just woke up today in the Gryffindor Common Room and said, ‘I’ve done enough.’ I didn’t even know what he meant until I realised that he wasn’t doing anything stupid today!”
Remus nodded, relieved. “It’s high time he stopped anyway. It would have been ridiculous for him to go on and on and on when Lily isn’t even interested in him.”
“I don’t know…” Sirius said uneasily. “I think there’s something going on. I just don’t know what.”
Remus shook his head. “I think not. He’s probably just gotten his thoughts sorted out. He’ll be fine.”
“As long as he’s over Evans, he’ll be good,” Sirius agreed.
--
It had continued like that for a few more days.
Narcissa, Eliot and the Slytherins talking about the sudden halt to James’ ridiculousness, and the Marauders and the Gryffindors rejoicing over the fact that James had gotten over his phase.
…until one day, when Lily blew up and forcibly pulled James down for a kiss in the middle of Potions class.
“You own me twenty galleons, Black!” Eliot’s voice sounded from the back of the class.
Narcissa glared at him.