Reactance | James Potter

Chapter 2

"I dunno, Olive —"

"No no, she's onto something," said Marlene slowly as Olivia released Lily with a pout. In a moment, Marlene had gotten from her bed and crossed the room; she stood beside Olivia now. "We show Potter exactly what it's like to be unwillingly pursued, and it will force him to realize just how annoying he has been. The end result? He leaves you alone — for good."

   Lily huffed, wearing an obvious and pained expression. She crossed her arms over her chest with a frown and said, "Don't you think that's a little mean?"

"All you ever do is complain about the insufferable idiot," Marlene had a very short temper, and the lack of agreeability from Lily was beginning to set her off. When she spoke again, her voice was unusually high in an attempt to mock the redhead: "Oh, Potter this and oh, Potter that. Like bloody hell, Lily, we're giving you an opportunity and you're squandering it."

"I just think that this is a step too far," said Lily, her cheeks flushed red from embarrassment. She looked toward Olivia, as though expecting for her best friend to step up in defense, but Olivia only watched quietly. How was she supposed to react? Lily and Marlene were constantly fighting. If Olivia chose a side during every argument, then the girls would never get along. "It's truly awful having someone chase after you all day long —"

"And you don't think it's awful chasing after someone who always turns you down?" retorted Marlene, a firm narrow to her blue eyes. Olivia began to shuffle on her feet in discomfort. It was times like this when she wished they had another roommate. "You already make the lad want to die daily, Olive and I are just trying to put him out of his misery."

Lily scoffed but, before she could say another word, Olivia seized one of her pillows off of the floor. In a long, fell swoop, she managed to whack both of her friends at once. Marlene immediately raised her arms over her face to protect, as she would put it, her 'future source of income' and Lily's jaw fell ajar as she looked at Olivia in complete surprise.

"Stop it," said Olivia, a frown on her lips. She glanced between the girls, a hand on her hip and the pillow hung loosely near the side of her thigh. "If Lily doesn't want us to chase off James, then we won't. But, Lily, you have to see that Marls and I aren't terrible people for considering this. Enough is enough with him and —"

Smack! Olivia's dark hair messed all in front of her face, pieces stuck up toward the ceiling as a result of static electricity. She stared wide-eyed at Lily, who was clutching a pillow and choking on silent laughter.

"Oh, it's on!"

And it happened in a flurry. Feathers cascaded over their heads in the air like snowflakes in the winter. Through the noise of laughter and fabric colliding with skin, Marlene could only just be heard shouting, "wait for me!" as she struggled to grab a pillow of her own. It was ultimately inevitable that, by the end of the evening, their dormitory would be in a state of disaster but these three girls couldn't bring themselves to care.

They were young and, at least for the time being, very much alive. The summer had been a fearful one for all witches and wizards in their world, silently watching as one man rose to unspeakable power. Who knew how much longer innocent happiness such as this would last?

Meanwhile, across the tower, an infamous group of teenage boys sat crowded around one bed. Despite it being the first night back at school, their dormitory already looked lived in: underwear was strewn across the floor, trunks laid open against the furnace, and empty sweet wrappers overflowed the rubbish bin in the far corner. On the walls were Quidditch posters and Gryffindor flags, most hung either upside down or crooked. To them, it felt homely.