Jily oneshots

educational hazards

by downn-in-flames

Every student at Hogwarts High knows that you don't talk about Miss Evans in Mr. Potter's class, and vice versa.

Nymphadora Tonks knew this too; she just didn't particularly care.

"Potter!"

He can always tell exactly who's just walked into his classroom when she addresses him like that. Every student addresses him as Mr. Potter, and every other colleague addresses him by his first name.

But Lily Evans, it seems, needs to stand out from everyone else.

Not that she needs help with that, given that her vivid red hair and tendency to draw everyone's attention every time she walks into a room both already serve that purpose, but she's always been the overachieving type anyways.

"Can I help you?" he asks, skipping over any pleasantries. He knows she just wants to get straight to the point anyways - there's no point in indulging her in small talk.

"You deviated from the lesson plan today."

In that tone, she makes it sound like he's slaughtered a puppy.

"Yeah, well, the kids wanted to have a discussion about the Ming Dynasty and I wasn't going to stop them from that," he replies, his tone bordering on nonchalance. He knows that'll get her riled up - his seeming lack of care about what she perceives to be a very big deal - and yet he does it anyway.

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, please. They were just trying to slow you down so that you'd get behind and have to cut part of the unit from the test - I heard Sarah say that herself."

"Well maybe that was Sarah's strategy, but the rest of them seemed really into it."

He's fine with Evans getting annoyed that he hasn't followed plans to a tee, but the insinuation that he doesn't know what's going on in his own classroom is a bridge too far.

She crosses her arms in front of her chest, and makes a noise of displeasure. "When you mess up your own lesson plans, you mess up mine, you know. I don't appreciate that."

"Oh trust me, I know."

He absolutely knows, because every time he so much as makes the tiniest deviation from their pre-set lesson plans, for whatever reason, she comes into his classroom during their shared planning period with this same temper.

The point has already been belabored to death, and he's made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of adjusting his teaching style to suit her rigid structures, so he's not sure why she even bothers at this point.

Hell, he's not even sure why he bothers. He should really just lock his door during his planning period and let her angrily bang on the door for the entire 45-minute block. Wouldn't that be a fun chance of pace.

"It seems like you don't," she retorts, "because you keep doing it."

"And I'll continue to do so as I see fit," he replies, looking away from her and back at his laptop. "Our classes may be interconnected, but I'm not fundamentally altering my teaching style to fit yours."

"I - that's - you're infuriating," she declares, before turning on her heel and leaving the classroom.

He listens to her walk down the hall, heels clicking loudly as she goes. Once he's sure she's out of earshot, he sighs loudly, putting his head in his hands.

Lily Evans is somehow both the best and the worst thing to come out of taking a job as a History teacher at Hogwarts High School, and every time she opens those pretty red lips of hers, the duality of his feelings about her increases tenfold.