mother hen
“I hate you.” That and another variation of this line, like: “I hate you so much,” and “I hope you die,” or “Please Prongs, slow down so I can strangle you with your own sleeve,” said Sirius Black in the last hour many, many times. James always just smiled and ran faster.
The thing is Sirius asked his best mate to help him get into shape. Don't get me wrong, Sirius' shape was very good, he exercised from time to time and he was more than okay with his appearance. But bad times were coming, probably a wizarding war and Sirius naturally wanted to help. And to help, he had to be able to run more than a few yards without losing his lungs on the way.
But Sirius Black liked to be lazy. In a way. He liked to just lay down and listen to his vinyl records, or doodle in his sketchbook. Or just mess around, really. Sure, he was physically active; making pranks, running from Filch and Mrs. Norris, or playing quidditch. But that was nothing compared to what James Potter did every day. He woke up at half-past five in the morning. That is way too soon! Then he went on a jog, did his morning exercise, and sometimes he even went for a swim. Meanwhile, Sirius slept comfortably in his warm, soft bed, looking like a human burrito. So, it was no surprise, that when James woke him up, his first word was “no”.
The thing about James Potter, that many people didn't know is, that he is a mother hen. He always made sure that the boys ate properly and drank enough water, slept well, and were as healthy as they could be. So, when Sirius asked him for help, he was psyched. Maybe a little too much.
When they passed Lily without noticing her in the Great hall, it was already seven in the morning and they finished their work-out; run around Hogwarts property, which took them almost an hour, sit-ups, squats, push-ups, and lots of weird-looking stuff Sirius didn't know how to call, that were incredibly painful. Then a little more running and stretch. Sirius didn't want to stretch, who even need to touch their toes, anyway? But James said: "Strengthen and lengthen. If you won’t do it, your muscles will hurt more than you can imagine. And I’ll make you run another mile.” And so Sirius stretched.
“I fucking hate you,” he groaned and plopped on a bench. Then he lied down, not caring how ridiculous it looks. He was all sweaty and disgusting and he didn’t care at all.
“You love me. And you can thank me later,” he grinned and started putting food on a plate. Eggs and toast and beans. Then he put porridge in a bowl with nuts and fresh fruit. He poured a glass of pumpkin juice and a cup of black tea with a splash of milk. Then he moved all of that in front of Sirius still laying on the bench and groaning.
“Stop whining and eat,” James ordered and made the same breakfast for himself.
Lily was watching them curiously. It was almost a month since she actually talked to them in the hallway where she met Sabine. But she watched them all the time. She couldn’t stop thinking about how much they changed. Or maybe her attitude changed.
Sirius finally sat up and stared at his breakfast for a solid half minute.
"Are you kidding me? Am I supposed to eat all of this? Is that an all-day meal? Can I have a pie instead?" he protested and pleaded, but it was useless.
“Your body needs to be nourished. You need protein and vitamins. Now eat your damn breakfast or I’m gonna force it down your throat.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would and you know it.”
Lily snorted. But at the same time, Sirius growled so they still hadn't noticed her.
“I hate you,” spat Sirius but started eating. James satisfied with his work stuffed his mouth with eggs and bacon. What a wonderful way to start a day.
They were silent for quite some time. Nothing was interesting about them eating, so Lily rather stared out of a window. Sun slowly creeping through heavy clouds, making dust dance in its shine. One sunbeam right in her face, warming it and making her skin glow like melted gold.
“I think I’ll throw up,” she heard Sirius say. And there goes the magical morning.
"It gets better after a while. The first week is the toughest, then it gets easier and easier," replied James with a mouthful of porridge.
"A week? I don't think I'll be able to leave this table let alone repeat your hell of a morning routine!" he exclaimed, and Lily chuckled quietly.
"Ah, don't be a baby! It was not that bad. I would actually repeat it again in the evening if I wouldn't have to help Wormtail with transfiguration." Lily noticed that James had part of his hair in a ponytail. Just his fringe, it was a teeny tiny ponytail on top of his head, and it was the cutest thing she had ever seen in her entire life.
“Nooooo. We have other plans. We have to do the thing, remember? Why can’t Remus help him?” Sirius whined again and Lily rolled her eyes. God, the almighty Black was such a cry baby early in the morning.
"Because he would kill him. As much I'd love to watch him turn all read with a vein popping on his forehead, scream, throw things and stomp away after the first five minutes of Peter's questions, I promised I'll help him. You can join, it will be faster."
"Oh, the vein, I love it. It's hilarious. But you're right, it was less hilarious when he broke my bed and snapped your broom in two," Sirius mused. "I still don't understand where you find the patience. It's endless." Sirius' hair was a mess. He put it in a ponytail too, but it was all ruffled and with leaves and grass tangled in.
"I guess I'm just used to it. I know him since we were babies, he was always like this," James shrugged and glanced at his fancy wristwatch. "Oh my god, we gotta go or Moony won't have time for breakfast before ancient runes and he's unbearable without breakfast."
Lily couldn’t believe what she just witnessed. She always thought that Remus was the nicest one of them, the responsible one. The fact, that he attended way more classes whereas the others did the bare minimum, was making all this more shocking. Remus was the short-tempered and James bloody Potter had endless patience? What the hell?
"Yeah, he scares me, when he's hungry," nodded Sirius, and both of them shivered.
Lily snorted. The two Gryffindors finally noticed her.
“What’s so funny Evans? You’ve never seen hungry Remus, have you?” Sirius pointed at her and she shook her head still quietly laughing. “Well, hope you never will. He’s terrifying.” She nodded laughing out loud now.
"I don't believe you, Remus is the nicest person I know," she said more just to tease them than she'd actually believe it, because when she thought about it, any time Remus wasn't able to achieve something for longer than a minute, he started to growl, then he snapped his quill in two, took a deep breath and fished new quill from his bag. It was indeed hilarious. "Nice hair, by the way. You look like a ruffled forest fairy," she snickered and watched how Sirius' face turned from amused to panicked when a leaf fell into his meal.
"Merlin's hairy balls! I won't have time to fix it! Prongs let's go. Now. Move, move, move!" he yelled way louder than was needed, his tiredness forgotten. He jumped from the bench running towards the exit. James tried to stand up but failed numerous times due to the laughter. He was howling, Lily was wheezing, and man, what a wonderful way to start a day.
“Good one. Thanks for that,” James spoke up when he finally calmed down. “Good morning, by the way,” he smiled, his doe eyes and adorable ponytail. Then he jogged away to catch up with Sirius.
Either James has completely changed during summer or Lily started to really like him. She didn't like the thought, she would certainly never tell anyone that she thinks James Potter is incredibly handsome, intelligent, fun and kind. No. She was supposed to hate him. Because if they weren't enemies, there was no relationship between them. And that was kind of worse.
For the rest of the day, Lily couldn't stop thinking about the fact, that if she would have accepted James' invitation to Hogsmeade, she may have been as happy as that morning all the time. Be included, be part of the group. She liked James and she liked the idea of hanging out with him and Sirius. And it scared her because she ruined her chances by being cruel to them in the past, didn't she?