Unrequited

1

If James couldn't have gotten more oblivious, it was that everyone knew how Asphodel felt about him, yet he didn't. It drove Asphodel mad to the point where she was screaming in her pillow after classes with the Gryffindors.

Asphodel didn't want to say anything about it or confess her feelings, as she thought it would affect their friendship in ways she didn't want them to. But if James was happy with their friendship and nothing more, she was happy too.

As soon as Potions class ended with the Gryffindors, Asphodel took her break in between classes to go to the Hufflepuff common room and face-plant into the couch. Her best friend, Faun Knight, followed closely behind. This was an almost weekly routine that Faun had gotten used to.

"Did you see the way James was looking at her during class?" She exclaimed, but her voice was muffled by the cushions.

"I was more focused on trying not to make the cauldron blow up." Faun replied. "If it makes you so irritated, you shouldn't shut out your feelings."

Asphodel's breathing started to slow as she lifted her face off the sofa. "My feelings can wait, Faun. I just don't get why he's so attached to her. It's not that I'm jealous of her or that I wish James did the same to me, it's just... Why?"

Why did James try so hard to impress her? Why didn't he just stop after the first three years he started? Why is Lily so special to him? Wasn't it unhealthy for James to keep his one-sided relationship up?

"Don't ask me." Faun started to pick up her textbooks and Asphodel followed her to class too.

But if Asphodel already dreaded the thought of going to Defense Against the Dark Arts, once she saw a girl pass her with a red and gold tie resting neatly on her robes, all she wanted to do was smash her head in a window. She thought they would be having it with the Slytherins today, but clearly Hogwarts didn't know what consistency was.

It just bugged her so much seeing the interactions between James and Lily. Wasn't he torturing himself by her rejections and harsh insults? I mean, Lily was tolerating him so well. Asphodel was surprised Lily hadn't done anything to land James in the hospital yet. Lily was the victim in this situation and, if Asphodel could say anything, it might have been called borderline harassment.

"Hi, Asphodel!" She suddenly felt a grip on both her shoulders as James shook her violently.

"Oh, hi!" Asphodel shooed away his hands playfully.

"I heard you were trying out for Quidditch this year?" James said as they both entered the classroom.

"Yes, but I'm not so sure anymore. My parents said it could be dangerous if things get a little too competitive." Asphodel placed her books on the desk and sat down as James parted ways with her quite abruptly. He waved goodbye and set his mind on following a certain red-head. Asphodel sighed.

She wished she and James could talk for hours and hours like they used to. Obviously not in class, but outside, or in the Library. Still, any little thing that James did or said to Asphodel made her heart skip a beat, even if it was just small talk.