Stealing Sheep

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 1: The Way We Weren't

CRASH!

A heavy novel titled, '101 Useful Uses For Wolfsbane' whizzed a mere inch above James' head, confirming his suspicions that she was not very pleased with him.

SMASH!

An ink pot was aimed at his head, but he ducked quickly. The green liquid ran down the wall behind him, and glass pieces scattered at his feet. That was when he realised that she was not very pleased with him at all.

"For the love of Quidditch, girl! That was my favourite ink pot! I mean, I like it but I never asked for it to be smashed into me!" James exclaimed, his hazel eyes widening as her vibrant green ones bore into his.

"Quidditch! QUIDDITCH! Do NOT get me started on that bloody game! That's all you and that pathetic friend of yours ever think about with the exception of those cruel little 'pranks' that you think are ever so funny!" She raged sarcastically and stalked out of the door, slamming it with all her might. She was surprisingly powerful as the room shook from her furious rampage.

She was gone long enough for James to heave a sigh of relief. Then it dawned on him that Lily Evans would *never* just sulk away and let him get away with it. Not that he knew what 'it' was . He had just been strolling along, minding his own business for once, and feeling quite good about life, when a red-headed firebolt had assaulted him. Suddenly, with a torrent of insults fit to make even Sirius blush, he had been thrown through the portrait hole and into the empty common room.

"What's this?"

'Here it comes,' he thought, both mentally and physically preparing himself for what she would hurl at him. He simply had to act the right way - innocently - and there was a minute chance that he could escape with only minor injuries and his limbs still attached.

Evans held out a book - a diary to be exact - for James to see. He eyed it suspiciously, convinced it was a trick question. "Huh?" He answered stupidly; he was sure that he had missed something vital in the conversation.

"It's called a diary - as in *private*. But anyway that's not the point. Now, just suppose someone would want to pull an absolutely *hilarious* prank involving someone's diary, and just *suppose* that this prank made a person actually *sing* the contents of their *private* diary stood on the Gryffindor House table in front of the whole bloody school!" Lily got more and more worked up as she raged at him, her face turning a deeper shade of crimson by the second, and James finally comprehended what she was going on about. "And just suppose that a certain IDIOT BOY had just so *happened* to do all this to someone like - let me think - ME!"

"So?" Unfortunately, despite being one of the smartest students in the school he could be incredibly thick sometimes.

"So?! SO!" She was now looking as though she would explode: her nostrils flared; her face was the color of a post box; and her free hand was balled into a fist at her side. "How dare y-"

"I didn't do it - don't shout at me," James said in a high-pitched, defiant tone.

This was the wrong thing to say, James realised, as she continued her tirade of abuse. But he hadn't had anything to do with it! It must've been Sirius. He had actually been thinking about pulling that prank for a while now but he just couldn't decide who should be the victim. Guess he decided.

She was now pacing in front of him, getting scarier and fiercer every second but now James had begun to get angry too. Where did she get off calling him names and blaming people randomly?

"What are you going on about? It wasn't me! It was Sirius!" He yelled in a fierce voice, his hands now clenching into fists as well.

"Oh! So now you can't even have the courage to admit it!" She shrieked and faced him, hands on hips, fuming as he glared down at her.

"I didn't do it! But I'm beginning to wish that I had! I wonder what saucy little secrets you've been keeping? 'Cause you're not exactly perfect now are you?" James said hotly, staring unblinkingly at Lily.

"What are you implying? Just say what you mean for once and stop being such a whimp!" She took a challenging step towards him.

James met her in the centre of the room so that only an inch separated them. "You are a spoiled little princess who can't admit when she's wrong! You needed taking down a peg or two!"

"You arrogant prick!"

"Hag!"

"Toad!"

"Idiot!"

"Slug!"

"Scarlet woman!"

Their fury simultaneously reached boiling point, and, in their heightened state of wild anger, they lunged at each other, like two arrows that had been previously pulled taut now ripping loose. Before they could fully comprehend what had happened, they were locked together in a furious embrace, her hands running through his hair at an alarming rate and his lips ravishing hers.

As they sank to the floor, a mass of tangled limbs, she muttered "pig." He smiled against her mouth.

"Witch."

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A seventeen-year-old Lily Evans sprang bolt upright in her bed, instantly awake, gasping for breath and attempting to understand what the Hell had just happened to her.

After that, she could no longer sleep, for fear of revisiting the monstrous scene with Potter, so she got out of bed and padded into the bathroom. She shut the door, and sunk onto the cold, tiled floor. Lily just sat in the darkness with her head in her hands, and tried to decipher her last nightmare.

She had had the horrific visions before, of course. She had been having them for weeks now, but it was usually just them screaming at each other over something trivial. Never before had there been any inkling of any emotion other than hate between them, never mind them actually...

She gulped.

Any interaction between her and James Potter was strange in itself. In her whole life she had only said about three words to him, with the exception of the time she had stood up for that idiotic boy, Snape. But apart from that...

He had his friends, she had hers, and that was all there was to it. She had never harboured any secret desire for him, or really felt anything at all except for the occasional twinge of annoyance at his arrogance. She had, however, sometimes suspected that he had a thing for her, as she had caught him staring at her strangely once or twice.

There was no doubt that it was a bizarre situation. Why would she be dreaming about James Potter if she had no feelings for him? She wasn't that worried about being secretly in love with him. Lily had seen loads of her friends absolutely detest someone, then all of a sudden realise that they actually kinda liked them. She was used to the concept and knew that if she began to loathe James even a tiny bit, it probably meant that she fancied him. That was so not going to happen. She had learned that love and hate were close relations, and since she didn't hate him and sure as Hell didn't love him, she was safe. The dreams were probably just a manifestation of some deep psychological problem. She hoped.

Lily got to her feet and quickly washed her face with cold water. 'You have to stop this,' she told herself. 'It's only sexual fantasies about James Potter...' Whilst staring at her dripping face in the mirror, she couldn't decide which was worse: raging hormones, or losing her mind. She concluded that she was losing her mind. Nevertheless, she would have to get over it quickly before she returned to Hogwarts for her final year, or someone was bound to notice that she was moaning, 'Potter...prat...gorgeous' in her sleep.

All she knew was that whatever it was, it was freaking her out.

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