Reactance | James Potter

Chapter 24

LILY CAME TO a jerking halt outside the Great Hall. The doors slamming shut behind her echoed in her ears, not quite loud enough to silence the anger rattling through her heaving chest like drumsticks hammering on a cymbal.

   She could hear her own heartbeat thudding in her throat, feel her teeth grinding.  .  .  . Her wit slipped away, distant, like she'd forgotten to pack it in her bag last night with the rest of her school things.

   She started forward a step, then stopped. Went for another, fell back two. A frustrated chorus of curses came soaring out of her mouth from buried deep in her gut as she stamped her foot, her wild eyes darting rapidly around the entrance hall. A few students, far younger than her, huddled close to the wall, trying to pass but clearly too frightened to get near her.

   She swiped at her forehead, brushing back her hair with enough force to strain her scalp. "What should I do?"

   Believe it or not, she was trying her best to summon her inner James Potter. What would he do in this situation, if his best friend had been harassed — no, bullied — no, attacked — what would James do about it? She could use some of his malice now.

   Drawing blank, she finally started walking briskly across the hall but, before she'd even made it out into the corridor —

   Creak! The doors groaned again behind her, inching open. She looked over her shoulder, and was surprised to see James himself coming out of the Great Hall. Before he could spot her, she hurried through the entryway and slipped behind the wall, peering around sneakily.

   After assuring it was truly him — and not her mind playing tricks on her — she pulled back out of sight, pressing her spine flat to the stone and listening to his approaching footfalls, her stomach twisting with hate.

   What do I do? she only had a few seconds to decide. I must do something! But what truly irks James to his core? He feigns such nonchalance, always acting holier-than-thou, pretending that even Lily's greatest feats couldn't faze him —

When it suddenly came to her, her chin raised and frustration fled as if a lightbulb had finally switched on in her shadowy, cluttered mind. . . . Her anxiety melted away as a mischievous smirk sprouted to life on her frowning lips. How could I not have thought it earlier? Olivia!

   Lily sunk deeper into the shadowy caress like a camouflaged chameleon changing colours; her sly grin became frightening even to her, despite not being able to see it. She let James overtake her, watching him go, biding her breath, until he'd become a distant figure down the long passage. Then she crept carefully along, lurking close to the wall as the children in the hall had done.

Up the grand marble staircase, she followed him, far enough behind to not be noticed. Luckily, he seemed to know the way as well as he knew the back of his hand, for he didn't look around much. Creeping along on crouched legs, Lily hurried to keep pace with the changing levels, the grinding stone silencing her footfalls.

   Sure enough, he was headed right for Gryffindor Tower. There's nowhere else he can go from here, she realized when they stepped out onto the seventh floor and he turned left. It's almost too perfect!

   Beaming with devilish delight, she took a sharp right instead. Her feet pounded against the stone floor as she ran, echoing through the corridors — THUD! THUD!THUD!THUD! She bolted down the longer route, around the painting of the angry wolfhound; it was the way she usually went when returning from the library.

   She effectively cut him off by the Lachlan the Lanky statue. Soon she was chugging up the final threshold and charging past the Fat Lady, who couldn't open her portrait quickly enough and was squealing like a pig for slaughter at how Lily yelled at her to hurry.
The common room was much busier now than it had been that morning; heads swiveled to watch Lily tear up the girls' staircase three steps at a time with her body flung half-over the bannister, screaming at the top of her lungs, "OLIVIA! OLIVIAAAAAA!"