Summary: When Lily and James are both awarded the Head Boy and Head Girl position, they are forced to get along for the sake of their school. Unfortunately, neither Lily nor James are willing to let their guard down. What results is a story that is so passionately tumultuous, neither one of them ever realizes that they have not only crossed the thin line between love and hate...but they are now dancing in its depths.
As the entire magical world battles the oncoming threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Lily and James will have to learn that the only way to defeat the darkness is to find the light...in themselves.
Categories: James/Lily Characters: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 8
Completed: No
Word count: 20420
Read: 30474
Published: 05/26/10
Updated: 09/04/10
1. All That Glitters by Secret
2. Sweet Hellos and Sweeter Little Lies by Secret
3. Higher the Climb by Secret
4. Undone by Secret
5. Can't Tell Me Nothing by Secret
6. All Falls Empty by Secret
7. Ride Across the River by Secret
8. Gravity by Secret
All That Glitters by Secret
“Petunia Sylvia Evans, if you don’t come down here right now, your father and I are sticking you under the stairs for the next week, do you hear me?”
“Mom, please,” a young Lily Evans begged, looking anxious. “I don’t even want her here.”
“Nonsense,” Mrs. Evans said, waving this off as she peered in the direction of the kitchen entrance. “You’ve been waiting to be Head Girl since your first year, and I want the whole family together when we open that letter. Petunia, don’t make me call you again!”
Lily let out an impatient sigh and turned to her tall and balding father, who was sitting quietly in his chair.
“Dad,” she pleaded softly, “you know Petunia will only find a way to ruin this.” Mr. Evans shared a sympathetic look with his daughter and then turned to his wife who was standing behind her chair with an increasingly frustrated expression.
“Honey, she’s right. You know how ‘Tuney feels about this,” Mr. Evans said, laying a hand on his wife’s arm. “Don’t force our girls to get along; it won’t make things any better.”
“Derek,” Mrs. Evans said sharply, tugging her arm away from her husband and planting it firmly on her hip. “I said I want the whole family together, and I want the whole family together. Petunia, now.”
Mr. Evans gave his redhead daughter a pat on the knee helplessly and Mrs. Evans took her seat beside him. Lily just kept her green eyes focused on the fruit bowl in front of her, her normally pink full lips thin. A split-second later, a pair of footsteps stomped their way down the staircase and a Petunia Sylvia Evans appeared at the doorway to the kitchen, looking especially grouchy in a pair of sweats. Her brown hair was pulled into a severe ponytail and her matching brown eyes were narrowed into slits.
“Sit down, sweety,” Mrs. Evans said, patting the empty seat next to her at the small kitchen table. “Lily’s going to open her Hogwarts letter.”
Petunia looked at her mother as if she were crazy.
“Are you joking?” she demanded. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Yes, you do,” Mrs. Evans said firmly. Her plump face was stern. “Lily is about to find out if she’s going to be Head Girl this year, and the whole family is going to be here to support her. Now drop your ego and sit down. This is Lily's moment.”
“I was on the phone,” Petunia snapped, leaning against the doorway defiantly and crossing her arms. “Making a very important call.”
“Make me repeat myself one more time, and you won’t have the privilege of using one anymore,” Mrs. Evans warned. Petunia clenched her jaw and stared back at her mother.
“Fine,” she said finally, dragging her feet to the table and sitting down in the only open seat left. “I guess little miss Lily over here is the biggest priority. Let’s get this over with.”
“You can open the letter now, Lily,” Mrs. Evans said, shooting Petunia a warning glare before nodding in Lily’s direction. “We’re all here.”
Lily felt the feeling return to her hands and picked up the envelope lying patiently on the table. As she ripped it open with trembling fingers, a gold badge came tumbling out and her mother squealed in excitement. Petunia’s expression turned cold, but Lily’s emerald green eyes lit up as she abandoned the letter to pick the badge up off the floor. She scanned the inscription hungrily.
Lily Evans
Head Girl
“Sweety, that’s beautiful!” Mrs. Evans gushed, reaching for the badge as Mr. Evans leaned in to hug his daughter.
“Congratulations, Flower,” he said into her ear. “I’m so proud of you.”
Lily smiled broadly as her dad released her to accept the badge from his wife.
“You did it!” Mrs. Evans said happily, kissing her daughter’s cheek and then robotically wiping off the lipstick stain it left. Petunia snorted.
“Mum,” Lily complained, weaseling out of her mother’s grip. But she was still smiling. After six years of living in the Hogwarts library and two years of being a Prefect, she was finally Head Girl. As Mr. Evans handed her badge back to her, Lily felt pride swell up like a balloon in her chest.
“’Tuney?” Mr. Evans prodded after a moment of silence. “Do you have something to say to your sister?”
Petunia looked startled as if she had just been caught daydreaming. She raised her eyebrows at her mother’s stern expression.
“What?” she asked blankly.
“Never mind,” Lily said hastily. “She doesn’t have to say anything, Dad.”
“Yes, she does,” Mrs. Evans insisted, patting her husband's arm approvingly. “Petunia, congratulate your sister.”
“Mum, please -”
“No, she’s right,” Petunia said, suddenly oozing sweetness. “I should congratulate you. You’re the only person I know who has the uncanny ability to be an insufferable attention hog every single day. Congratulations.”
“Petunia!” Mrs. Evans snapped. “You’ve just earned yourself a week under the stairs.”
“No need, Mum,” Petunia spat. She paused as a maniacal craze spread across her features. “I’m moving out.”
“Moving out?” Mr. Evans repeated, his expression frozen. “What do you mean you’re moving out?”
“Well, before your precious flower here decided to make herself the center of attention again, I was on the phone with Vernon, and in case anyone cares, we’re getting engaged.”
“You’re what!” Mrs. Evans shrieked, standing up in shock and causing her chair to fall backwards.
“Now, Annie, calm down,” Mr. Evans said quickly, hurrying over to his wife and putting a reassuring arm around her. “Petunia, what are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about me and Vernon Dursley. We are getting engaged,” Petunia repeated victoriously. Her mouth stretched into a wide smile as she saw her mother’s eyes grow to the size of dinner plates. “I was planning on telling you all over dinner here, but since Lily had something so exciting to share, I figure we might as well lay out all the happy news at once.”
Even Lily could hear the dripping sarcasm in her sister's seemingly complimentary comment.
“At this age?” Mrs. Evans demanded, her hand over her heart. “Have you lost your senses?”
“Yelling’s not going to solve this, dear,” Mr. Evans said firmly into his wife’s ear. He turned to Petunia and said with bitter disappointment, “I’m sorry you feel like Lily is always the center of attention, but you have just crossed the line. Go up to your room and we will discuss this later.”
“Fine by me,” Petunia said smugly, turning to leave, “I never wanted to leave my room to begin with. Oh, and congratulations again, dear Lily,” she added over her shoulder.
Lily stared at her sister’s receding back in shock.
“Do you think she and Vernon are really engaged?” she heard her mom whisper tearfully. Lily turned around to see her parents talking in hushed tones near the sink.
“I don’t know,” Mr. Evans admitted in a low voice. “You know ‘Tuney. Sometimes she gets so upset, she’ll say anything to get a rise out of us.”
Mrs. Evans took a shaky breath and leaned her forehead against her husband’s chest. Lily watched as her father put his arms protectively around his wife and murmured comforting things in her ear. Glancing back down at the badge in her hand, Lily realized the celebration was over. Sighing, she stood up and made her way up the stairs. As she passed Petunia’s bedroom she paused. Hesitantly, she knocked on the door.
“Sod off,” Petunia said loudly. Lily bit her lip for a second and then chose not to listen to her sister. She turned the door handle and poked her head in.
“Can we talk?” Lily asked, a hint of anger in her voice. Petunia was sprawled out on her bed, staring up at the ceiling where she and Lily had once painted stars to mimic the night sky. At the sound of Lily’s voice, she turned to look at the door.
“What part of ‘sod off’ did you not understand?” she spat. Lily opened the door wider and stepped inside.
“Are you and Vernon really engaged?” Lily asked skeptically. Petunia grabbed one of her pillows and chucked it in Lily’s direction.
“I said go away,” she repeated with more force, turning her back towards Lily and staring out her window. “You’re the last person I want to talk about this with.”
“No,” Lily said firmly, catching the pillow and tossing it on the floor next to her. “You ruined a really special moment for me and I want to know whether or not you were telling the truth.”
Petunia Evans slowly rolled over to look Lily straight in the eyes.
“You want to know if I’m telling the truth? Do you really think I would lie about something like this?” she asked, looking more and more offended by the second. “You’re so bloody irritating, Lily! You’re not the only one who has special moments, you selfish git. Just because no boy has ever given you an ounce of attention... Well, I’m glad you go to your disgusting little boarding school. I can’t wait until you leave again.”
Lily shook her head, fuming. Only her dear sister Petunia could turn a situation like this around and make herself feel like the victim. It was one of her many talents, much like her talent for knowing everyone's business all the time, even when they would much rather her keep out of it.
“Fine,” Lily snapped. “I’m leaving Sunday. Mark your calendar.”
As she turned to leave, she heard Petunia yell, “It already is!” Lily slammed the door in reply.
Barely able to make it down the hall without turning around and hexing Petunia, Lily reached her own room and fell on her bed, her badge still clutched tightly in her hand. She couldn’t wait to leave either. Every summer she made an attempt to fix things with her horse of a sister, and every summer Petunia found a new way to make her life miserable. It was beginning to occur to Lily that she and her sister may never come to terms, that what happened years ago may never be healed. The thought made Lily both sad and frustrated.
Ever since Petunia Evans found out that her sister had been invited to study magic, she had harbored a not-so-secret jealousy. She had even discretely written a letter to Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, pleading him to invite her too, but to no avail. Lily continued to live the dream and Petunia continued to live a normal muggle life.
“Lily?”
Lily sat up to see her mother and father standing in the doorway with a piece of cake in their hands.
“What’s this?” she asked, a slight smile spreading across her face as her parents walked in and perched themselves on the edge of her red bed.
“To celebrate,” Mrs. Evans said, giving her a weak smile. “I baked it this morning.”
“We knew you’d be Head Girl,” Mr. Evans said, giving Lily a fond clap on the back. “We wanted the whole family to celebrate together, but under the circumstances…”
“Eat up!” Mrs. Evans insisted. “Tell me if you like it, it’s your favorite.”
“It’s great Mom, thank you,” Lily said, taking a bite and finding it to be a rich vanilla cake with raspberry filling.
“We’re proud of you,” Mrs. Evans reminded her as she and Mr. Evans stood up to leave. Lily let both her parents give her a kiss on the forehead before they filed out.
“And we’re sorry about Petunia,” Mr. Evans added, turning around at the doorway. “It’s tough on her. You know how hurt she was when you got your first letter, it’s only worse now that you’re Head Girl there.”
“I know you feel like we’ve said it a million times, but just give her some time,” Mrs. Evans said. She gave one last smile and shut the door behind her, leaving Lily alone with her Head Girl badge, her slice of cake, and her thoughts.
Sweet Hellos and Sweeter Little Lies by Secret
“I can’t believe your sister is engaged to that knucklehead!” Leela Rai exclaimed as she began unpacking her Quidditch gear from her trunk and storing them under her bed.
“I can’t believe she decided the best time to share that was two seconds after you found out you were Head Girl,” said Alice Bristow. She was sitting on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chin as if she were a five year old watching a particularly interesting show.
“Well, I can’t believe you didn’t bring me a slice of that cake,” snapped Aimee Holcombe. She placed a perfectly manicured hand to her tiny stomach as if she knew just where that cake would have sat. Lily laughed.
“Can you stop thinking about your stomach for once?” Leela asked, rolling her dark brown eyes in Aimee’s direction. “Didn’t you just eat five slices of pumpkin pie at the feast?” Lily stifled a smile at Leela’s irritation and chucked another chocolate frog at Aimee.
“Happy?” she asked. Aimee grinned back and ripped open the package. Turning to the rest of her friends, Lily continued, “I’m not even sure she really is engaged. Mum and Dad weren’t able to get another word out of her while I was there.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if she was lying,” Alice admitted. “She’s done this kind of stuff before, hasn’t she?”
“Never as bad as this,” Lily reminisced, leaning back against her pillows.
“Aimee,” Leela said, unable to pull her disgusted gaze away from her brilliantly blond friend. “How do you manage to stay so unbelievably skinny even after all the horrible food you eat?”
“Genetics,” Aimee said wisely, considering the chocolate frog in front of her as if she didn’t know where to start. “That’s what Gran says anyway.”
“I wish I had your genes, then,” Alice said enviously, pulling her slightly chubbier body closer to her.
“Oh hush,” Lily said, giving her brunette friend a loyal smile. “You’re fine just the way you are.”
“Yeah, Aimee’s just a freak,” Leela said, turning back to her Quidditch gear. Aimee shot Leela a nasty look.
“Well forget about me,” Aimee said. She gestured in Lily’s direction. “I want to hear about your Head Girl duties. How much more power do you have now?”
“How much more can we get away with, you mean,” Alice corrected.
“I don’t know yet,” Lily realized suddenly. “I was so distracted by Petunia’s tantrum that I forgot to read the actual letter, and the Head Boy didn’t even show up to the Prefect meeting today on the train.”
“Do you know who Head Boy is?” Alice asked.
“It’s not Frank?” Lily said, surprised. “I assumed it’d be either him or Remus.”
“No, I got an owl twenty inches long from him four days ago that detailed every aspect of his despair about it. He definitely isn’t Head Boy,” Alice confirmed, shaking her head at the memory.
“It must be Remus then,” Lily said. “I wonder why he didn’t make it to the meeting.”
“Speaking of,” Aimee began with a teasing smile as she stretched out belly-down on her bed and licked the tips of her fingers. “What’s going on with you two?”
“There’s something going on between you and Remus Lupin?” Leela asked, her brown eyes alight with new gossip. “Why haven’t I heard this before?”
“Relax, Lee. There’s nothing going on,” Alice defended, giving Lily a warm, supportive smile. “They’re just friends.”
“Oh, please. You can’t honestly tell me nothing happened during all those long Prefect walks you two took together,” Aimee prodded. She winked suggestively and Lily rolled her green eyes instinctively.
“I’m not you, Aimee,” Lily pointed out as Alice started laughing. “We really are just friends.”
“That’s what you said about Severus, too,” Aimee said, raising her eyebrows and sharing a look with Leela. Lily’s face suddenly turned to stone. There was a beat of silence.
“Stop that, Aimee,” Alice snapped immediately as she looked at Lily warily. Lily’s gaze was focused on her perfectly painted toes. Aimee faltered, her eyebrows furrowing as she realized she said something wrong. She looked at Lily cautiously and then looked to Alice for help.
“I’m sorry,” Aimee apologized quickly. “I was just trying to make a point.”
“Remus and I are just friends,” Lily said, attempting a smile. She let out a nervous laugh. “I’d trust him with my life.”
“If you say so,” Leela said in a sing-song voice, trying hard to clear the tension in the room. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
“The lady what?” Aimee asked.
“It’s Shakespeare,” Alice explained to her only pure-blooded friend. “A muggle playwright.”
“Well I’m tired. I’m calling it a night,” Aimee announced and she climbed under her covers after a hesitant smile. Lily recognized it as Aimee’s hasty way of ending a conversation she was afraid she had spoiled. A chorus of goodnights followed as each of the girls got settled into their beds and turned out their lamps. Within minutes, it seemed, all the girls were fast asleep. Everyone, that is, except a certain redhead, whose brilliant green eyes were staring blankly at the ceiling above her. For some reason, she was having trouble falling asleep.
Almost an hour later and still just as sleepless, Lily slipped out from under her covers and pulled a red silk robe on over her black nightgown. Taking a quick look at her roommates to make sure they were still asleep, she made her way down the spiral staircase to the Gryffindor common room. When she got there, however, she was surprised to see someone was already there.
“Remus!” Lily said happily. “What are you doing here?”
Remus looked up from his book and grinned. “Lily, hey,” he greeted, setting down his book and standing up to give her a hug.
“Isn’t it a little late to be up?” Lily asked as they pulled away. Remus led her to the sofa and they both sat down in front of the fire.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said, shrugging. “I hear you’re Head Girl. Congratulations.”
“That must mean you’re Head Boy!” Lily said. “I was hoping it’d be you. Why didn’t you come to the Prefect meeting today?”
“Lily,” Remus interrupted shortly, cocking his head to the side and looking at Lily in confusion. “Didn’t you read your Head Girl letter?”
“Actually, no, it’s a long story,” Lily said, rolling her emerald eyes toward the ceiling.
“You probably should have read it,” Remus muttered, looking away awkwardly.
“Why?”
“It mentions who Head Boy is…”
“Well, now I know it’s you,” Lily said with a shrug. “Do you know when our meeting with Professor Dumbledore is?”
“Lily, I…” Remus began. He took a deep breath. “Your meeting is tomorrow morning, followed by training for the rest of the day.”
“The whole day?” Lily asked. She shook her head in relief. “At least it’s you I’m spending it with.”
Remus just laughed nervously.
“Right,” he said under his voice. He turned to see Lily’s green eyes watching the fireplace calmly. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap and her ankles were crossed. Always the lady. Her red tresses that normally hung down to mid-back were in a loose up-do, a look Remus had seen often on their Prefect walks. Clearing his throat, Remus turned to look at the warm crackling fire, too.
“Excited to be back at Hogwarts?” Lily asked absently. Remus nodded slowly.
“I’ve missed the Whomping Willow,” he said quietly, looking around the common room cautiously.
“I’m sorry things were so hard over the summer. You said you accidentally injured yourself a few times?” Lily asked, giving Remus a once-over to see if there were any visible scars.
“Nothing too serious,” he assured her, “but transformations are always harder during the summer.”
“Because there’s nothing to scratch?”
Remus nodded again, looking down at his hands.
“You know, there was an article in the Daily Prophet a few weeks ago claiming that some wizard has created a potion that might help,” Lily said. “I was going to owl you the clipping but I wasn’t sure it would be safe. You know, in case anyone intercepted it.”
“I’ve heard of the potion,” Remus said. “I wanted to try it, but apparently it’s still in its initial stages. Side effects include growing a permanent snout.” A shadow of a smile broke his otherwise disappointed expression. “Something tells me that’d attract even more suspicion than monthly screaming from the Shrieking Shack.”
“Probably,” Lily smiled. Her green eyes glistened and Remus paused for a split-second, looking at her. Just as quickly, he grabbed his book and stood up.
“I should go,” he said, gesturing to the staircase that took him to the boys’ dormitory. “I’m feeling a little sleepy now.”
“Goodnight, Remus,” Lily said, trying not to read too much into his hasty goodbye. She stood up and gave him another hug. “I’m glad we were able to talk. I missed you this summer!”
“I missed you, too,” Remus replied with a genuine smile. “Goodnight.”
As he made his way up the staircase, Remus absently wondered how his friend would react when she showed up at Dumbledore’s office the next day. A hint of a smile played on his lips as he opened his dormitory door to find his friends still playing Exploding Snap.
“Lily doesn’t know,” Remus said, walking in and setting his book on his trunk.
“Doesn’t know what?” Peter Pettigrew asked. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, staring at his friends’ Exploding Snap game with immense concentration. Below him, on the floor, Sirius Black and James Potter were heavily engrossed in their favorite game.
“She thinks I’m Head Boy,” Remus explained, heading into the washroom. At this, James Potter’s hazel eyes glanced upward. A second later, he was focused on his game again.
“She didn’t read the Head Girl letter?” he asked casually.
“Apparently not.” Remus’ voice echoed from the doorway. Sirius Black’s mouth lifted itself into a smirk.
“Well tomorrow should be interesting,” he said smugly. He glanced at James, who still had his gaze fixed on the cards, perhaps with a little too much concentration. A second later James dove out of the way, and Sirius was left with half an eyebrow. Peter started guffawing from above.
“Shut it, Wormtail,” Sirius said through gritted teeth, his eyebrow singeing. He glared at James, who was laughing as well.
“I win, Padfoot,” James said with a smile, picking himself up off the ground and heading to his bed. “You get to do my Charms homework for the rest of the year.”
“You two were betting on who has to do Charms work?” Remus asked, walking out of the washroom and looking at them disapprovingly. “I suppose you already know I’m going to say that’s incredibly unethical.”
“Moony,” James pointed out as he pulled his shirt off over his head. “I think I know what’s ethical and what’s not. I’m Head Boy, aren’t I?”
Remus scowled as he lay in bed. “I don’t think that reflects your moral compass.”
“I wasn’t aware Prongs had a moral compass,” Peter said.
“He doesn’t,” Sirius said proudly. James tousled his hair with a grin and climbed into bed.
“I was thinking after Head Boy training tomorrow, we could grab some Butterbeers from Hogsmeade and celebrate,” James offered.
“Cheers,” Sirius agreed happily. Remus groaned.
“Yes,” he said sarcastically. “That’s a wonderful way to inaugurate your new position. Let’s break some rules and sneak out.”
“Knew you’d come around, Moony,” Sirius said. “Glad to have you onboard.”
Remus just rolled his eyes.
Higher the Climb by Secret
“Hey, Remus,” Lily said, sliding into the empty seat next to him at breakfast the next day. “Shall we walk to Dumbledore’s together?”
“Er,” Remus replied, setting down his pumpkin juice, and looking straight at James. “Sure.” As Lily stood up to allow him to follow, James caught Remus’ gaze. Remus jerked his head subtly towards the Great Hall exit. A second later, James had vanished.
“I’m ready,” Remus said, straightening up and turning to Lily. Behind him, Sirius Black was eyeing Lily with interest. Again deciding not to point out the curiously awkward tension, Lily turned her focus back to Remus.
“So you never told me why you missed the Prefects meeting on the Hogwarts Express,” she said as they exited the Great Hall. “I had the hardest time instructing the Prefects by myself.”
“I’m sure you did fine,” Remus assured her. “Prefects mostly know what their responsibilities are anyway.”
“That’s true,” Lily agreed. There was a pause. “So what happened?”
“Oh, er…”
“Remus?”
“Well, you’ll find out sooner or later why I wasn’t there. Trust me, I had a very good excuse,” he said with an ironic smile. Lily gave him a curious look. What was going on?
“You’re being so cryptic,” she observed. “What was it?”
“Well here’s Dumbledore’s office,” Remus pointed out as they arrived in front of the gargoyle statue. “I suppose you don’t know the password?”
“No,” Lily admitted with a guilty grin. “Didn’t read the letter, remember?”
Remus nodded, looking around uncomfortably. Lily’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.
“Remus,” she said slowly, “shouldn’t you know the password?”
“Well -”
“It’s Bertie Bott’s,” came a voice from behind them. Lily turned to see James Potter loping forward, tousling his dark hair as she had only come to expect. Her jaw clenched at the sight of him and her green eyes turned to slits.
“How would you know that?” she asked shortly. James nodded his head toward the gargoyle and Lily saw that it had stepped aside. She blinked in surprise.
“’Bertie Bott’s’?” she asked the gargoyle. “Really?”
“Dumbledore does love his candies,” Remus muttered, smiling to himself and shaking his head in amusement of his headmaster. “Er, can you give us a minute, Lily?”
“I’ll be inside,” Lily said, glancing between Remus and James in slight suspicion. After she left, James turned to Remus and cocked an eyebrow.
“She still doesn’t know, does she?” he demanded, slipping his hands into his pockets and looking at Remus expectantly. Remus took a deep breath and then patted James on the shoulder.
“No,” he said seriously, and then he suddenly grinned. “I thought it’d be more fun this way.”
“Moony!”
“Now go in there and tell us about it later,” Remus said, turning and walking away.
“You planned this?” James asked, unsure of whether to feel impressed or betrayed.
“Well,” Remus said, half-turning around to look at his friend. “I really didn’t know how to tell her that she had to spend the majority of her seventh year with you. But this was also just a great opportunity.”
And with another grin, Remus turned the corner and was gone. James stared after him with a sort of impressed half smirk before turning back to the gargoyle, which was now looking at him with an impatient expression.
“Sorry,” James muttered, running another hand through his hair. “I’m coming.”
Sitting inside Dumbledore’s office, Lily Evans was now incredibly confused. Where was Remus during the Prefect meeting? Why did James Potter know the password? And why was Remus acting like he didn’t?
“Ah, Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore said with a nod of his head, “late, I see, as usual.”
Lily Evans cricked her neck as she snapped around to see a tall athletic figure walk into the room. He had black hair and soft hazel eyes, the chest of a Quidditch player, and the confidence of a Chaser. And he was most definitely not Remus Lupin. Lily’s soft pink lips parted in horror as she lifted her hand to massage her neck gingerly.
“Sorry, Professor,” James apologized, walking forward and shaking his headmaster’s hand, “it won’t happen again.”
“That’s wonderful to hear,” Dumbledore said cheerfully, gesturing James to the empty seat besides Lily. After James settled down and both he and Lily were looking at Dumbledore with the utmost attention, Dumbledore smiled at them over his half-moon glasses. “Well, now that we are all here, I’d like to congratulate you two on being the new Head Boy and Head Girl of Hogwarts!”
And that’s how Lily Evans had to be sent to the Hospital Wing on the very first day of her seventh year.
“Here, drink this up, dear,” Madam Pomfrey said, hurrying over to the red-headed girl lying flat on a stark white hospital bed. She stuffed a green potion into Lily’s hand and helped her sit up against the pillows. “It helps with shock.”
Lily accepted the goblet and stared into it blankly. Madam Pomfrey waited a few impatient seconds before huffing.
“You have to drink it,” she reminded her pointedly. “Not stare at it.”
“Lily,” Alice said, trying hard to suppress a smile from her chair beside the bed, “drink the potion.”
“It looks nasty,” Lily said hollowly, still looking at the bubbling potion in her hand. She stretched out her hand to give it back to the nurse. “I don’t want it.”
“I’ll take care of this,” Alice promised, standing and taking the goblet from Lily. With a slightly disgruntled look, Madam Pomfrey hurried back to the fourth year with burns. Alice turned back to her friend.
“Drink this,” she offered again, lifting the potion to Lily’s mouth. Lily screwed up her nose in disgust. “Drink this and your problems will go away,” Alice tried. Lily grabbed the goblet from her and chugged.
“Ugh,” she coughed out after. “That was as nasty as it looked.”
“So want to tell me what travesty inspired this trip to the hospital wing?” Alice asked, sitting next to Lily on her bed. Lily took a deep breath and fought back the urge to vomit.
“James Potter is Head Boy,” she said dully, and as she could only have guessed, Alice let out an involuntary gasp.
“How?” she demanded through her raised hand. “I thought Head Boy had to be a Prefect.”
“Apparently not,” Lily answered meekly, the color slowly returning to her cheeks.
“But I thought you said Remus was Head Boy.”
“Right,” Lily said bitterly. “Remind me to transfigure him into a rat.”
“He lied to you?” Alice asked, appalled. “Why would he do that!”
Lily thought for a minute.
“I’m going to find out,” she decided, hopping out of bed and walking out of the Hospital Wing. Anger mixed with shame bubbled inside her so much that she didn’t even listen when she heard Madam Pomfrey running after her and trying to bring her back to bed. She walked with purpose and determination and even Alice struggled to keep up. When they reached the common room, Lily stood stoically in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
“Password?” the Fat Lady asked, looking up from a hand-held mirror in which she was checking her hair.
“Mandrake root,” Lily responded, and then stopped. She turned to Alice mischievously. “But I’m Head Girl so I want to change it.”
“Very well,” the Fat Lady allowed, curling stray hairs around her finger and then framing them around her face. “To what?”
“Remus is dung,” Lily declared. The Fat Lady paused and looked up at her again.
“Excuse me?”
“Remus,” Lily repeated slowly, “is dung.”
“Lily!”
“Well?” Lily asked, ignoring Alice. “Is the password changed?”
“I-I suppose,” the Fat Lady replied, looking as if she didn’t quite know what to do.
“Great,” Lily Evans said happily. “Now open up please.”
The Fat Lady swung forward and Lily and Alice stepped inside.
“Attention everyone,” Lily yelled at the crowded common room. She waited until the roar died down. “The password to the Fat Lady has been changed. It is now ‘Remus is dung’. If it’s difficult for you to remember, just think about what a load of dung Remus is -”
“Lily?”
Lily turned to see Remus Lupin staring at her in surprise.
“Oh, hello, Remus,” she said. “Did you hear the new password?”
“I guess you found out about James, then?” Remus asked, a shadow of a smile playing on his face.
“Oh, yes. Thank you so much for telling me,” Lily replied dryly. She paused dramatically. “Oh wait -”
“I can explain,” Remus said quickly. “I was going to tell you but I didn’t exactly know how. It’s not exactly a secret the way you feel about him.”
Lily narrowed her eyes at him before stalking towards the girls’ dormitory staircase. She couldn’t believe her luck. James Potter? Really? What was he even doing as Head Boy? Dumbledore couldn’t possibly have thought he’d really be a good choice. On the last day of sixth year, James and Sirius released a cage of pixies in the Gryffindor common room. With an exasperated huff, she fell onto her bed and let out a little scream into her pillow.
“Lily Evans?” came a soft voice that was followed by a knock. “Are you in there?” Lily looked up to see a scrawny first year standing hesitantly in the doorframe.
“Yes?” Lily responded, lifting her head off her pillow.
“The Head Boy says he needs to see you. He’s downstairs in the common room.”
Lily’s lips turned into a thin line. She swallowed hard and tried to manage a somewhat friendly smile
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll be right down.”
As the first year turned to go, Lily seriously considered bringing her wand down with her so she could get rid of Potter once and for all. Then taking a deep breath, she straightened up, made sure her robes were hanging right, and walked down the stairs. The common room had thinned a little, but there were still students lounging on the sofa or playing wizard’s chess in a corner. In the very center of it all, sitting casually in front of the fire, was James Potter, and on his chest for, the very first time, sparkled a gold badge.
James Potter
Head Boy
Lily’s hands clenched into little balls as she walked over and sat next to him. For a minute they sat in silence. Then James started chuckling.
“I can’t believe you had to go to the Hospital Wing,” he grinned, unable to stop. Lily resisted the urge to smack him in the back of the head and simply sighed.
“What do you want?”
“Not me,” James corrected. “Dumbledore. You had to leave “ er, sorry “ be escorted out before Dumbledore had the chance to tell you what our duties are.”
“I know what our duties are,” Lily said shortly. “We make sure gits like you are kept in line.”
James looked over at Lily in amusement. Lily kept her eyes trained on the fire in front of her.
“Essentially,” James replied. “But Dumbledore still wants me to walk you through everything. Not to mention, you missed training.”
“I’m sure I don’t need it, Potter,” Lily said, rolling her eyes and looking over at him with an impatient expression. “I know how to block, Disarm, and Stun. I’m a fully capable seventh year.”
“Dumbledore said teaching you was part of my Head Boy duties,” James said, ignoring her and turning back to face front. “Tomorrow morning I’ll be waiting near the Great Hall.”
Lily said nothing. She took a deep breath and quietly snuck a glance in his direction. He was casually hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees and watching the fire in front of him. The slightest hint of a smirk was playing across his lips, as if he knew Lily was looking. Her gaze snapped forward again.
“Goodnight, Potter,” she said, standing up. She paused, waiting for some sort of response. When none came, she turned to look at him and found his hazel eyes sparkling up at her, a distinct smirk lighting up the features of his face.
“’Night, Evans,” he said, standing up. He stared teasingly down at Lily as he casually messed up his hair, aware of how much it bothered her. Lily had to stop herself from hitting him right then and there. Grinning, James walked past her and headed up the staircase, leaving a slightly disgruntled Lily in his wake.
“I still cannot believe,” Aimee said, walking beside Lily and munching on her usual pumpkin pasty before breakfast, “that you and James Potter have to spend the rest of the year together.”
“I try not to think about it,” Lily said bitterly, dodging a first year who was apparently late to class. “No running in the halls!” she instinctively called after her.
“If I had a knut for every time I’ve heard you say that in the past two years,” Alice said, shaking her head. “I’d be able to buy those dress robes I’ve had my eye on.”
“Dress robes? Where would you even wear them besides Slughorn’s dinner parties?” Leela asked skeptically. “Hogwarts hasn’t hosted a ball since the Triwizard Tournament.”
“How the bloody hell,” Aimee asked, dumbfounded, “did you know that?”
“Don’t act so surprised, I’m not that bad of a student,” Leela snapped. Aimee let out a bark of laughter.
“Last year you thought mandrake roots were troll babies.”
“I told you that in confidence!” Leela said loudly as Lily and Alice started laughing. A second later, Lily heard someone call her name. She turned to see James Potter and Sirius Black walking in her direction.
“Alice,” Lily muttered, grabbing her friend’s arm before she could walk away with Aimee and Leela. “Stay with me.”
Alice looked enviously back at her two bickering friends, who were obliviously strolling into the Great Hall for breakfast. Her stomach growled quietly.
“Do I have to?” Alice whined in a hushed voice. Lily’s eyes narrowed. “Fine, fine.”
“Morning Evans, Bristow,” Sirius greeted as the two boys walked up. Lily gave a tight smile and saw Alice do the same.
“You ready?” James asked, looking down at Lily. She nodded.
“Bye, Alice,” she said, shooting her friend a pleading look. Alice just gave her a sympathetic smile and squeezed her hand comfortingly.
“Bye, Prongsie,” Sirius said, clapping his friend on the back. He turned his gaze to Lily’s brunette friend. “Can I walk you to the Great Hall, Bristow?”
“Doubt it,” Alice said, rolling her brown eyes. “With your intelligence, I’m surprised you can even walk yourself. Have fun, Lily.”
Lily muffled her giggle as she watched Alice turn on her heel and walk in by herself. Sirius just chuckled good-naturedly and walked in after her letting his body fall into a sort of natural swag.
“Well?” James asked. “Shall we?”
“Where are we going?” Lily asked, struggling to keep up with James’ fast pace.
“Room of Requirements,” James said shortly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “It’ll have everything we need.”
“The room of what? Ow-Potter!” James had just stopped short, causing Lily to run into him. James turned around and Lily saw his expression was one of shock mixed with glee. His hazel eyes danced teasingly.
“Don’t tell me,” he said slowly, “that Miss Lily Evans, Prefect for two years, Know-It-All for six-going-on-seven years doesn’t know what the Room of Requirements is.”
“Well, I don’t,” Lily said, already annoyed. “What is it?”
“Actually,” James said, considering her for a moment, “I’d rather just show you.”
“Like I’d trust you enough for that,” Lily scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and looking up at him stubbornly. James stared at her.
“Are you always this difficult?” James asked. Lily glared at him and he rolled his eyes. “Oh, unclench Evans." He turned on his heel and continued on his way. Lily stood there for a minute, a little surprised at the James she was seeing. She wasn’t used to him having such a...backbone. James turned around a few meters later and sighed. “Dumbledore was the one who suggested we use it.”
“Dumbledore suggested it?” Lily echoed skeptically. Her eyebrows floated toward her hairline. James nodded, growing increasingly impatient as he checked his watch.
“I suppose it’s okay then,” Lily said, hurrying to catch up with him. She vaguely recognized the irritated look on James’ face.
“You know things will run much smoother in the future if you start trusting me, Evans. I’m Head Boy.”
“Well you’ll forgive me if I find that hard to do,” Lily said, shortly “Your past does not speak highly of you.” James let out a ghost of a snort. “And for the record, I still find your appointment as Head Boy questionable.”
“That’s not your judgment to make,” James snapped, surprised at how offended he was by her statement. It was one thing when his friends pointed that out to him, it was quite another when this haughty girl in front of him decided to start making assessments. “It’s Dumbledore’s, and Dumbledore chose me.”
“Dumbledore also chose to make the password to his office ‘Bertie Bott’s,’” Lily countered.
“And which one of us was actually responsible enough to know that?” James asked, tilting his head to the side in mock confusion, and for the first time Lily Evans was at a loss. She gaped at him.
“I liked you better when you were simpering over me,” Lily mumbled quietly to herself in frustration as they turned a corner and headed up a flight of stairs. She knew for a fact he would never have spoken to her this way, say, two years ago. Lily saw James’ eyebrows rise ever so slightly and she realized with a gut-wrenching knot that he had heard her.
“I never simpered over you,” he said defensively, all humor gone. Lily scoffed and muttered, “Oh, please.” This, however, was apparently the last straw. James froze and faced her, his jaw set and his hazel eyes ablaze. “All right, Evans. Let’s have this out now." Lily could honestly say she had never seen him so furious, and she found herself falter in spite of herself. "Whatever it was I felt for you before is most definitely not there anymore. I realized I was dealing with an uptight insensitive little girl who has an undeserved ego the size of an entire Quidditch stadium.”
Lily’s cheeks reddened immediately. Her eyes were the size of two green pygmy puffs. In all her years at Hogwarts, no one - let alone James Potter - had ever spoken to her like that. Yet here he was, James himself, looking down at her with a concentrated look of pure disgust. Anger began bubbling up inside her, and before she could stop herself she was yelling back.
“This coming from the boy who should be applauded on a daily basis for being able to squeeze his massive head through the halls of Hogwarts? Messing up your hair, stealing Snitches because you think you look cool…I don’t know what Dumbledore was thinking making you the Head Boy. Anyone can see all you are is an inconsiderate toerag whose only two goals in life is to shag as many people as will have you and wreak as much havoc as humanly possible.”
“Last I checked, your best mate Snivellus was caught shoving a first year’s head into a second floor toilet with his friends,” James snapped, continuing to walk up the white marble staircase and leaving Lily behind him. “So you’ll understand if I don’t take your poor judgment of my character to heart.”
“He “ what?”
Lily felt her stomach fall straight into her knees and she looked at James with a sudden expression of absolute terror. He turned to face her, a few steps up. Her face was white, her eyes big. “When did this happen?” she breathed.
“Yesterday morning as part of their ‘Welcome a Muggle to Hogwarts Day’,” James responded in disgust. “I’m surprised your precious ‘Sev’ didn’t tell you all about it.”
“Stop,” Lily said softly, turning away from James and grasping the banister to steady herself.
“Didn’t hear about his conquest against an innocent first year muggle, did you?” James taunted.
“Potter, stop,” Lily said weakly, closing her eyes and mentally trying to stabilize herself.
“Though he probably didn’t use the word “muggle,” to be fair. Knowing Snivellus and the company he so proudly keeps, his exact choice of words was probably along the colorful lines of -”
“James, please,” Lily yelled, feeling her knees give way under her and hitting the steps below her with a loud thud. Letting out the tiniest of moans, she gingerly rested her head against the banister and screwed her eyes shut, willing away the horrible spinning she was feeling.
“Evans?”
He had rushed to her side. Lily kept her mouth shut for fear of this morning’s eggs resurfacing. “Evans, are you okay?”
“H-hospital wing,” she could barely get out. Her head was spinning uncontrollably, and she felt as if her heart were fighting for a way out of her ribcage.
“Hold on.”
A moment later, a pair of strong arms scooped her up off the floor. Lily kept her eyes shut but rested her head against a toned chest, her arms encircling the person’s neck lightly.
“Thank you,” she whispered almost inaudibly.
“Shh,” came the response. Lily felt his chest rumbling as he spoke, “We’re almost there.”
The next thing she knew, Lily was being placed delicately on a crisp hospital bed. Her red curls fanned out around her head. A pair of warm fingers gently brushed away a stray strand from her face and then someone was going to call Madam Pomfrey. Blinking her bright green eyes open, Lily swallowed hard and felt a cold dread wash over her. The room formed hazily around her and she squinted through the bright lights above her.
“Last I checked, your best mate Snivellus was caught shoving a first year’s head into a second floor toilet with his friends.”
“Two hospital trips in two days?” Lily heard Madam Pomfrey say with a frown as she hustled over. “What in Merlin’s name is Professor Dumbledore having you do? Oh dear, you’re looking quite pale. Another potion for shock is my guess. One moment, Miss Evans.”
“How are you feeling?” James asked, appearing behind Madam Pomfrey as she hurried away. He looked appropriately abashed.
“Fine now,” Lily muttered, glancing around the Hospital Wing to find it completely empty. “Did you bring me here?”
“Obviously,” James said, taking a seat in one of the visitor chairs. “Who else would it have been?” Lily paused.
“Well, thanks,” she said, avoiding his gaze. He considered her for a moment.
“It’s my fault you had to be taken here anyway,” he said slowly. Lily looked at her feet, swallowing again, and James suddenly found himself stumbling over what to say next. “Sorry about that, by the way.”
“Not your fault,” Lily mumbled unconvincingly. She turned back to face James with a serious expression. “For the record, though, Severus and I haven’t spoken in over a year.”
James nodded. “Why?”
“Because I knew eventually someone would tell me what you did today,” she replied sadly, and James thought he saw Lily’s emerald green eyes turn into tiny pools.
“Here we are,” Madam Pomfrey said, appearing again and handing Lily a goblet with the same potion she’d had to suffer through the day before. “I’m keeping you here overnight, Evans. If Professor Dumbledore has a problem with that, he can come straight to me.”
Lily accepted the potion with a sigh this time and drank it without a fuss. After she emptied the goblet, James watched in amusement as she pulled a face and coughed.
“Still disgusting,” Lily said under her breath. Her gaze flickered towards James and saw he was continuing to watch her with his hazel eyes. “You don’t have to stay, you know.”
“I put you here,” he said in terms of a response. He leaned back casually, balancing his chair on its hind legs.
Lily blinked in surprise. “Well, thanks,” she said quietly. James cocked his head to the side and looked at her for a moment.
“You are something else,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“What do you mean?”
“One minute you’re going absolutely mental,” James explained, “and the next you’re a demure little thing.”
“Demure?” Lily repeated, unaware of what she was supposed to make of that statement. James looked around the room distractedly.
“Sure,” he said, shrugging. Lily waited for him to continue and then turned away uncomfortably when she realized he wasn’t going to.
“So much for Head Girl training,” Lily mused to herself. James let out a ghost of a laugh.
“Maybe next time you can try not to land yourself in the hospital wing.”
“Maybe next time you can try not to be a complete prat,” Lily snapped back. James’ expression turned hard before it dissolved into one of resignation a few moments later.
“I suppose that’s fair,” he sighed. “Tomorrow is Quidditch try-outs, but I’m free most of the day after that.”
Lily nodded. “That sounds fine, depending on the amount of homework I have.”
“It’ll be the second day of classes, Evans,” James pointed out. He had to fight from rolling his eyes at her. Typical…
“The workload is much different as a Seventh Year, Potter,” Lily argued quickly. She saw James immediately open his mouth to retort before pausing and giving her a funny look. He squinted his eyes, as if trying to find something hidden in her expression. “What?” she asked, looking unnerved.
“You called me James,” he remembered. There was a beat.
“What?”
A most curious expression had crawled its way onto James’ face. He was half smiling, half taken aback. His hazel eyes were alight with trouble. He looked as if he were trying to find a way to stir something up.
“When we were arguing about Snivellus on the staircase,” he said slowly, carefully reading Lily’s face, “you called me James.”
Lily fought back the rush of blood to her cheeks as she struggled to maintain a straight face. She tried to give James a puzzled look. “What are you talking about?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. James’ smirk widened for just a fraction of a second. He took his time in finding a response. Finally, he stood up and straightened his robes.
“You’re right, you should probably get rest,” he said, suddenly unsmilingly. “We’ll schedule a time for your Head Girl training later.”
Lily’s lips had parted in surprise. The change in his attitude had been so quick, so sudden. She stumbled over the words, “Uh, okay, that’s fine.”
James nodded, reaching up to tousle his hair and then turning to leave. He was out the door before Lily could even register what was happening.
Can't Tell Me Nothing by Secret
“Aimee Holcombe, you promised!” Leela insisted angrily, fully donned in Quidditch gear and broomstick clutched tightly in her hand. Lily and Alice paused as they walked into the dorm and took in the scene before them with raised eyebrows. Aimee was sitting in front of the mirror, combing through her long blonde hair, and Leela was behind her, glaring at her through the mirror.
“Do I have to?” Aimee whined. She caught sight of Lily and Alice and brightened. “Take them!”
Leela spun around to see her two dorm mates frozen at the door, silently debating whether or not they could still leave without being seen. Lily bit her lip as she realized what was coming.
“Will you two come with me to Quidditch try outs?” Leela asked hopefully. Alice groaned as she trudged over to her bed and slung her bag off her shoulder.
“Lee, why?” she asked. Leela’s brown eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe her friends were resisting so much.
“Because you three always come with me!” she said, turning to Lily for help. “It’s tradition!”
“Only because you always drag us with you,” Aimee said, scrunching up her nose.
“Well, whatever the reason, you three have always been there,” Leela replied. “It’s our last year, don’t break tradition now! What if the reason I’ve been making the team all these years is because you three were in the audience? How guilty would you feel if you girls didn’t come tonight and I didn’t end up making the team?”
“We’ll come,” Lily assured her, sighing to herself. She was looking forward to this one night of peace before her Head Girl training the next day, but Leela’s doe brown eyes looked pleading “ and there were few times Lily had ever seen that occur.
“We will?” Aimee repeated, cocking one perfectly tweezed eyebrow. Alice turned questioningly to Lily as well. Lily just gave them a look in reply. “Fine,” Aimee huffed. “We will.”
Twenty minutes later, Leela was standing amongst a sea of red and gold adorned students, and her three friends were sitting in the stands above, each with their own distinct expression of disinterest.
“I can’t believe they haven’t started yet,” Alice said, peering down at the pitch impatiently as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “Where are the captains?”
“Relax,” Aimee advised, flipping through an issue of The Quibbler and setting her bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans next to her, “this will take a few hours. It always does.”
“I have plans with Frank later,” Alice said. “We haven’t been able to see each other since we’ve both gotten back.”
“We’ve been back for two days,” Lily pointed out, surprised.
“He had his own Quidditch try outs yesterday,” Alice explained. “He’s captain, you know.”
“Hufflepuff any good this year?” Aimee asked.
“How should I know?” Alice asked shrugging. She sat back so her back rested against the row of seats behind her. “I didn’t ask; I hate Quidditch.” She glanced at Aimee. “That magazine is garbage, you know.”
“I’m not daft,” Aimee snapped. “I read it because it’s entertaining “ and nothing kills time faster than Larry Lovegood’s ridiculous selection of articles.”
“Speaking of daft,” Lily said slowly, peering at two figures who were now striding toward the group of potential Gryffindor teammates. They were tall, dark-haired and sturdy, each with a broom in their hand and a shiny badge on their chest. “Is that…?”
“Merlin,” Alice breathed, squinting in the same direction. “Potter and Black?”
“Are they…Captains?” Lily demanded, her eyes big. Aimee’s blue gaze peeked out from the top of her magazine to stare down at the pitch. For a split-second she looked shocked, and then suddenly she sighed.
“Well that’s no surprise,” she said, shrugging and turning back to the Quibbler. “They were the two best Quidditch players last year.”
“B-but Potter’s Head Boy!” Lily sputtered. She turned to Alice for help, who just offered her friend a sympathetic cringe. “That can’t possibly be allowed.”
“And yet, there he is,” Aimee said, reaching into the bag next to her and pulling out a handful of colorful beans. “Would you girls like one?”
Alice just blinked at her. “At the risk of sounding like Leela, do you ever go anywhere without food?”
“I try not to,” Aimee said, flashing her brilliantly white teeth.
“Well, this is ridiculous,” Lily declared, standing up and huffing. “I’m going to go talk to Dumbledore.”
“Wha “ right now?” Aimee asked, abandoning her search for a toffee-flavored bean and staring up at Lily with her eyebrows raised. “You’re the one who promised Lee we’d come and watch. It’s your fault we’re here in the first place!”
“I know, tell her I’m sorry,” Lily said hurriedly, gathering her books and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Maybe I can get Dumbledore to give Remus the Head Boy position.”
Aimee groaned, rolling her eyes and burying her head back in her magazine. “Good luck,” Alice called after her as Lily took off in the direction of the castle again.
Ten minutes later, Lily was huffing and puffing outside of Dumbledore’s office, one hand wrapped around her middle and doubled over, trying to catch her breath. She regarded the gargoyle in front of her and bit her lip.
“What’s the password again?” she asked the stoic statue. “Fudge Flies? Chocolate Frogs?”
“Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans,” came a deep, patient voice from behind her. Lily spun around to see Dumbledore smiling down at her.
“Oh,” she gasped, startled. “Professor, I -”
“Was coming to talk to me about Potter,” Dumbledore finished for her with a knowing look. He took a deep breath, staring intently at the redhead before him. “I can’t say I wasn’t expecting this, Miss Evans. I’m a little surprised, however, at how soon you decided to voice your concerns.”
“Well I just came from Quidditch try-outs, sir, and I couldn’t help but notice that -”
“You couldn’t help but notice that Potter was both Quidditch Captain and Head Boy,” Dumbledore completed again, his blue eyes twinkling over his half-moon glasses. “Yes, well how could you? Perhaps we better take this into my office.” He gestured toward the gargoyle, who had already sprung aside. “After you, Miss Evans.”
Lily climbed up the spiral staircase up to Dumbledore’s office and settled herself in the chair in front of his desk. Professor Dumbledore followed her in a split-second later and sat neatly down in his own chair. Next to him, Fawkes cooed happily.
“Now,” Dumbledore said, letting his hands rest gently on the table in front of him, “what can I do for you?”
“Sir, how can Potter be both Head Boy and Gyffindor Quidditch Captain? Wouldn’t he be better off holding only one of those two positions?” Lily asked anxiously, letting the words spill out of her lips before she had a chance to dilute them in front of her Headmaster. Dumbledore didn’t answer at once, but instead regarded her with curiosity.
“You have concerns about his capabilities?” he asked finally. Lily paused for a moment, wondering how blunt she could be.
“Honestly, Professor? He’s always been known for his complete disregard for the rules. He’s consistently proven himself to be an inadequate leader and student and I’m just not sure he can handle both responsibilities,” Lily said. Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his red leather chair.
“I see,” he said simply. “Well, your apprehensions are certainly valid, there’s no doubt about that. I suppose I could remove him from his Quidditch responsibilities.”
Lily looked stricken. Rebounding quickly, she retorted, “Or perhaps put Remus in charge of Head Boy duties! He was a good Prefect and makes very good grades.”
“Yes,” Dumbledore said thoughtfully, “though I wonder if his leadership skills are as qualified as his other attributes.”
“I’m sure there are other Prefects who could make a good Head Boy! Frank Longbottom was a good Prefect and he seems like a good leader, too,” Lily tried. She smiled abashedly as Dumbledore met her gaze with an unreadable blank one.
“Ah,” he said softly finally. “You think Mr. Potter should be removed from his Head Boy duties, then, is it?”
“I only think he would be better off giving up his Head Boy position than his Captain position,” Lily said, looking appropriately embarrassed. “For his own sake,” she added lamely. “Everyone knows he values Quidditch highly.” Dumbledore’s blue eyes seemed to sparkle calculatingly at her and Lily’s face suddenly felt hot. She forced herself to hold Dumbledore’s intense gaze.
“I’m afraid, Miss Evans,” Dumbledore began, “that the Head Boy position has already been given to Mr. Potter for better or for worse. However, I have faith that together, you two will be able to make the best of the situation. Both of you are bright, capable, and talented - and more importantly, you both are adult enough to work out your differences. Do you disagree, Miss Evans?”
Lily shook her head silently at Professor Dumbledore’s pointed expression. “No, sir,” she responded reluctantly. Dumbledore gave her a smile.
“Excellent,” he said, as he pulled out a drawer from his desk and removed a clear bag of yellow candy. “Would you care for a gumdrop?”
“No thank you,” Lily declined, faltering a little at her Headmaster’s affinity for muggle candy. As she watched him pop a particularly yellow one into his mouth, she felt her last hope vanish.
That night, Lily couldn’t sleep well. As the rest of her roommates slept peacefully in their respective beds, Lily’s bright green eyes stared up at the rafters above her head, dreading the following day when a Mr. James Potter would be teaching her Head Girl duties. Sighing, she turned on her side and cursed her bad luck. This year already had ‘bad news’ written all over it, and she hadn’t even been to her second day of classes yet.
All Falls Empty by Secret
Lily Evans was lying in a hospital bed. Again. And Lily Evans was growing quite tired of this new routine.
“Miss Evans, would you care to tell me why are you in my hospital wing for the third time this week?” Madam Pomfrey demanded, folding her arms across her chest in suspicion. Lily sighed and pointed a single finger to her right, where a slightly amused James Potter sat in a visitor’s chair. Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows at his casual demeanor of mirth.
“Er “ sorry,” he apologized, straightening up a little and running a hand through his dark, messy hair. “We had a little accident.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Madam Pomfrey muttered under her breath, turning back to Lily and examining her carefully. “What is it this time?”
Lily took a deep breath and settled her cold gaze on James expectantly as if waiting for him to speak for her.
“I “ er - accidentally glued her tongue to the roof of her mouth,” James explained finally. Madam Pomfrey stared.
“Excuse me?”
“I was helping Evans with her Head Girl training, see, and we were practicing countercurses -”
“Are you telling me you meant to attach Miss Evans’ tongue to the roof of her mouth?” Pomfrey asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.
“Just so we could practice the countercurse,” James emphasized. “Only…that didn’t go so well, and, er, you must be familiar with the curse. The longer it’s held…well, the harder it is to remove.”
Madam Pomfrey’s lips were so thin they looked almost nonexistent. Her expression was unreadable. Next to her, Lily was still staring daggers at the boy, as if she still couldn’t believe she was in the hospital wing once again.
“I’ve heard,” Madam Pomfrey replied finally. She regarded the gold shiny badge on his chest with skepticism. “Well, Miss Evans, you’re in for quite a lot of pain, I’m afraid. The good news is that you should be on your way out of here in a little over an hour. I’ll be right back.”
As Madam Pomfrey bustled over to check on the Quidditch player a couple beds down, Lily turned her attention to her hands, which were folded neatly in her lap. She pointedly avoided James’ gaze, who seemed to look amused again when he realized this. He watched her determinedly analyze her fingers for a while, wondering how much longer he could hold in his laughter.
“Please tell me this is the first time you’ve held your wand backwards,” he said finally, grinning so widely he felt as though his face may split in two. Lily’s head snapped around to look at him, looking furious. She was fuming. James wouldn’t have been surprised if there’d been green sparks shooting out of her eyes. As it was, however, all James could do was chuckle.
The day had gone pretty much how Lily had expected it to. She had gotten up, grabbed a quick breakfast with Alice in the Great Hall, attended all her classes, and then met James in McGonagall’s empty Transfiguration classroom to finally complete her Head Girl training. And just as she had foreseen, the two of them had gotten into yet another argument “ this time about James’ irritatingly demeaning method of reviewing important spells.
To be fair, Lily should have realized earlier, James was probably just imitating the way Dumbledore had gone over them the day Lily found herself in the hospital wing for the first time. However, Dumbledore’s right to talk down to Lily was justified; he was after all, one of the most powerful wizards of the age “ if not the most powerful ever. James, on the other hand, was the boy who had released a rather large amount of pixies into the Great Hall on the last day of Lily’s sixth year. Quite a different type of achievement than, say, Dumbledore’s defeat of the powerful Gellert Grindelwald.
The argument had escalated so quickly that both Lily and James found themselves whipping out their wands and pointing them at each other, all the while continuing to yell. After a particularly annoying comment from James, Lily had decided that she’d had enough. In one victorious moment, she raised her wand and brought it down again, choosing a spell she considered a personal favorite. A split-second later, she found herself flying backwards with a very unpleasant sensation in her mouth.
Twenty minutes later, she found herself in the hospital wing with a bruised ego and an annoyingly pleasant Potter.
“Here you go, Miss Evans. Drink up but don’t swallow. Tip the potion into your mouth and hold it until I say the countercurse,” Madam Pomfrey instructed, handing Lily a smoking goblet and pulling out her own wand. Lily stared at the thick, orange, bubbling solution in her hand and looked up at the nurse as if she were crazy. “Unless you wish to have an incapacitated tongue for the rest of your life, I suggest you do as I say,” Madam Pomfrey said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other impatiently. Lily groaned and lifted the goblet to her lips reluctantly.
The potion tasted even worse than it looked, Lily realized as her eyes began to water in pain. Fighting back her gag reflexes, Lily tried to concentrate on Madam Pomfrey’s muttering. She absently felt the tip of a wand against her cheek.
“Now spit,” Madam Pomfrey allowed, removing her wand and storing it back into her nurse robes. Lily couldn’t even see past the tears that had welled up but she leaned forward and spit the potion back into the goblet cleanly. Wiping away the tears from her eyes, Lily looked desperately at Madam Pomfrey, who was watching her with a blank expression.
“It’ll unstick itself in the next few minutes,” Madam Pomfrey explained. “Perhaps in the future, Mr. Potter, you will be more careful about wielding a wand. Or picking one up, for that matter.”
“Er “ yes, ma’am,” James said, biting back yet another smile. He watched as Madam Pomfrey gave one last calculating look at Lily’s condition before marching away. He turned to see Lily’s eyes once again turning into little pools. It seemed as if the pain were going to continue until the process completed itself.
“You know, Evans,” James began, turning serious, “if we’re going to be Head Boy and Head Girl, you should probably find some way to be around me without constantly getting sent to the hospital wing. It doesn’t look as if Pom-pom’s overly pleased with your sudden increased attendance.”
Lily just sighed, wishing he would go away. She’d already had to endure ten minutes of his laughter before they had arrived at the hospital wing, and now he was pouring salt on the wound by lecturing her. A shooting pain in the roof of her mouth caused Lily to let out a muffled scream. Her mouth felt like it was on fire.
“Are you all right?” James asked, alarmed at Lily’s unexpected reaction. Lily shot James a nasty look just as her tongue gave a particularly horrible throb.
“My tongue is glued to the top of my mouth, what do you think?” Lily snapped angrily before her eyes suddenly brightened. “My tongue’s free!”
“Glad to hear it,” James said, ready to bow out as if Lily’s sudden ability to talk was reason enough to leave. He stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Lily hesitated for a moment, glancing at his receding back coyly and biting her lip.
“Thanks,” she said reluctantly, and James turned back around to look at her. Lily took a deep breath. “You know, for telling her it was your fault.”
“No problem,” James said with a shrug. A ghost of a smile began to play on his lips as he remembered the frozen look of complete self-loathing as she was thrown back by her own spell. “The memory of you firing a curse at yourself is thanks enough.”
Lily cocked her head and gave James a look that seemed to nonverbally ask him if he were always this insensitive. James just blinked at her, smiling. He was paused a few feet away from the bed, and it occurred to Lily that he was intentionally waiting there for her to join him.
“Too soon,” Lily advised, rolling her eyes and jumping off the bed.
“You owe me,” James reminded her teasingly, waiting as she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
“Speaking of,” Lily began, “what do you say we don’t mention this little incident to Dumbledore?”
“You mean that you held your wand backwards?”
“Well - er, yes, that, too,” Lily accepted abashedly, “but I mean that we didn’t get through the Head Girl training session.”
James looked confused. “Why?”
“It’s obvious that we can’t be in the same room together and get along,” Lily explained, staring straight ahead as the two of them left the hospital wing together. “And I’m sure I know all the spells he told you to go over with me anyway.”
“Fine,” James said, shaking his head mentally. He didn’t have the patience to argue with Lily’s giant ego right now “ nor did he want to. “Would you like to split up our evening walks, then, too? Normally Head Boy and Head Girl accompany each other.”
“We can trade off days,” Lily suggested, looking relieved at his suggestion. “It shouldn’t be too big a deal. I’ll take Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and you can take the rest.”
“Not that I’m complaining,” James prefaced, “but is there a reason you want to walk aimlessly around the castle for four nights when you could get away with doing that for only three?”
Lily looked surprised. “I thought it was obvious. I assumed you wouldn’t want to spend so many evenings dedicated to Head Boy duties. It might take away from your long nights of doing absolutely nothing with Sirius and Peter.”
And just like that, the momentary calm between them broke.
“Is there a reason you feel privileged enough to act so condescendingly towards me?” James asked, stopping in his tracks and turning to face Lily head on. It was amazing, he thought, how absolutely rude Lily could be to him despite the fact that he had just taken her to the hospital wing. Not to mention, their tremendous height difference. He was at least a foot taller than her, and she still felt as if she had the right to treat him as an immature first year. Lily looked up at James’ set jaw and piercing hazel eyes and felt herself falter.
“Sorry,” she said, not looking entirely like she meant it, “force of habit. I really don’t mind taking the extra day. I’m used to it. Prefects have to walk hallways, too, so I have two years of experience.”
“Yes,” James said dryly, walking forward again, “and we all know how important experience is in walking.”
Lily just stared at his receding back, green eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. “Potter, how could you possibly complain to me about my attitude when you're so obviously sporting one as well? I’m trying to be nice." Lily planted both hands on her hips and glared at the back of his dark head.
“Nice?” James asked, spinning around on the spot with an incredulous look. “Evans, I don’t know what you consider ‘nice’ but that was certainly not it.”
“I volunteered to walk the halls for four nights so you only had to for three!” Lily said.
“You volunteered to walk the halls for an extra night because you have a massive chip on your shoulder,” James corrected scathingly, “and you’re trying to remind me that you are more qualified for this job than I am.”
“Well am I wrong?” Lily demanded. “What was the last responsible thing you’ve done?”
“You mean besides taking you to the hospital wing three times in one week because you haven’t been able to get over your bloody ego?” James roared. Lily looked as if she’d been scalded.
“That has absolutely nothing to do with -”
“Miss Evans!”
Lily and James both froze as Professor Dumbledore appeared around the corner, inspecting the sight in front of him with raised eyebrows. Lily and James were standing a few yards from each other, red in the face but looking appropriately disconcerted at being caught by their headmaster.
“Sorry, Professor,” Lily whispered quietly at once, glancing at her shoes. James didn’t say a word but was looking at Dumbledore apologetically. Dumbledore’s expression was a mixture of disappointment and distaste and he was staring at the scene before him as though he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.
“Miss Evans,” Dumbledore said finally in a low yet powerfully commanding voice, “you and Mr. Potter will both compose yourselves and meet me in my office in no more than ten minutes. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir,” Lily said obediently. Dumbledore saved one last look of displeasure for the scene in front of him before sweeping away down another hallway. Lily looked at James hesitantly and realized with a start that he actually looked nervous. Without saying a word, James gestured in the direction of Dumbledore’s office as if to say ‘after you’.
Ten minutes later, Lily was seated in front of Dumbledore’s desk, her hands wringing themselves in her lap. Next to her, James was sitting as still as stone, hazel eyes glancing around at the trinkets and portraits that surrounded Dumbledore’s extravagantly decorated office. Dumbledore himself was seated across from them, considering them over his half-moon spectacles. His elbows were resting on the table, arms raised so that his hands were facing each other, fingertips touching. They had been sitting in utter silence for almost three minutes. Even Fawkes hadn’t made a noise.
“Well?” Dumbledore asked. “Would you like to explain to me why my Head Girl and Head Boy were standing in a hallway today screaming at each other? Miss Evans, how about you?” Lily swallowed, unable to look Dumbledore in the eye as he waited patiently for an answer. “All right then, Mr. Potter, would you care to enlighten me?”
James looked over in Lily’s direction before clearing his throat and saying, “We’ve, er, been having problems getting along. Sir,” he added quickly. Dumbledore nodded slowly.
“I see,” he said simply, “and why is that? Miss Evans, perhaps you can take this one?”
Lily took a deep breath and felt her heart pounding in her chest. “I don’t agree with some of the things he does or says,” she answered diplomatically, unaware of how else to word a six-going-on-seven-year hatred.
“In terms of his Head Boy duties?” Dumbledore asked. “What has he done or said that you haven’t agreed with?”
Lily was at a loss. “No, sir, not in terms of his Head Boy duties. I don’t agree with how he’s behaved in the past. He treats people with disrespect, he constantly disobeys the rules, and his attitude shows that he thinks he’s better than everyone else.”
James turned and stared at her, dumbfounded. “I think I’m better than everyone?” he asked. “You’ve been the one who takes every opportunity to remind me that you’re better at this position than I am!”
“I never said that!” Lily said, her green eyes wide.
“You might as well have,” James said.
“Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore interrupted again, holding out one hand in a signal for them to stop talking. He closed his eyes and brought his hand to the bridge of his nose where his fingers rested lightly. For a few moments all Lily could hear was Dumbledore’s steady breathing. Then suddenly he opened his icy blue eyes and sighed.
“It is clear to me now,” he began, “that I underestimated the history you two seem to share. For some reason you both are refusing to set aside your differences and accept your professional duties as Head Boy and Girl. I would like nothing more than to remove the two of you from your positions of honor.”
Lily felt her heart sink into the depths of her stomach as a fresh wave of sweat broke out over her hands. Closing her eyes briefly, she had the acute feeling of wanting to slam her head into the desk in front of her. How had she let James Potter ruin her only chance at being Head Girl? What was it about him that had her going absolutely mental?
“Nevertheless,” Dumbledore continued, “as I explained to Miss Evans when she came in previously, the positions are yours “ however much I currently regret that decision. Yes, I will admit I have never been more disappointed in you two; I thought both of you would have the responsibility and the character to take your duties seriously. Apparently, however, I was very wrong.” Lily glanced over at James and saw her expression mirrored on his face as well. It was truly amazing how guilty Dumbledore could make a pair of students feel without raising his voice at all. Even James was wearing a remorseful face.
“My poor judge of character, though, does not give you both an excuse to continue to behave as poor role models. I am confident I will never again see either one of you acting anything less than what I know you can be. Am I correct?” Dumbledore asked, peering at Lily and James intensely. Both of them nodded silently.
“Wonderful,” he said. His eyes twinkled knowingly in Lily’s direction. “Hopefully this time around, this conversation will have some effect on you two.” Lily felt James’ curious gaze on her and she swallowed uncomfortably. “Well, goodnight, Miss Evans, Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore said graciously, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Have a very pleasant rest of the evening.”
Taking that as their cue to leave, James and Lily both stood and made their way to the door.
“Ah, one more thing. Mr. Potter?” Dumbledore said, and James turned to see Dumbledore standing regally behind his desk. “I trust you and Miss Evans here have completed the Head Girl training she missed earlier this week?”
James snuck a glance in Lily’s direction and saw her shift uneasily. She looked back at him with a blank expression, though James thought he saw her green eyes looking particularly anxious. Sighing, he reached up to tousle his hair. “Yes, sir,” he lied, looking Dumbledore straight in the face. “We finished this morning.”
Ride Across the River by Secret
“That is enough!”
Lily jumped as she whipped around to see Professor McGonagall striding towards her, sparks of anger flying from her narrowed eyes. Lily’s heart sank deep into the pits of her suddenly flip-flopping stomach and she stowed her wand away hurriedly, hoping her professor hadn’t caught sight of it yet.
“Potter and Evans, in my classroom,” McGonagall demanded, throwing open her classroom door with just a wave of her wand and pointing one slender finger inside. Her nose was flaring dangerously. “Now.”
A small crowd of students had begun to gather around. Lily didn’t dare sneak a peak in James’ direction to see his reaction, but she could sense him following her past their Transfiguration teacher and into the empty classroom she was gesturing to. From Lily’s peripheral vision she could see a few third years staring at the scene and giggling to themselves. Apparently she and James had put on quite the show.
Once inside, Lily clasped her hands in front of her and gazed at McGonagall fearfully. Next to her, James cleared his throat and ran a nervous hand through his already messy hair. His other hand was stuffed loosely into his robe pocket. He seemed surprisingly subdued, given how worked up he was only a few moments ago -although Lily could understand that; she was strangely quiet as well. As the door swung shut behind Professor McGonagall, Lily had the acute feeling that things were about to get much, much worse. McGonagall was standing there, staring at both of them with such anger that Lily could feel her knees threatening to buckle beneath her. James shifted awkwardly. Professor McGonagall just stared.
“Never,” she spat finally, “in all my years at Hogwarts have I ever seen anything as repulsive as what I just saw.”
Lily felt a giant lump rising uncomfortably in her throat as she saw where this was going.
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” McGonagall continued in a hiss, “but both of you were in Dumbledore’s office not even three days ago with this same problem. Hm? Evans? Potter?”
A minute of silence passed as both Lily and James stared hard at the floor by their feet, feeling both scared and ashamed. Professor McGonagall let time tick by slowly as she continued to glare at the two of them unmovingly.
“That’s what I thought,” she said, sighing and moving towards her desk. “Very well then. You two leave me with no choice.” Lily chanced a glance up and saw McGonagall shuffling through some papers on her desk, piling up some of them in her arms. “The two of you,” McGonagall said, not looking up from her desk, “will be spending the rest of the day locked in my classroom “ alone. By the time you two leave, you will have hashed through every problem that lies between you or you will jinx each other into oblivion. Until you two have done either one or the other, you will be locked in here “ whether it takes all night or all weekend. I don’t have class until Monday, so it makes no difference to me. The choice is yours. Figure out a way to hold a professional relationship without having to resort to hallway spectacles or spend the weekend in a Transfiguration classroom. Either way, you two are going to finally work things out.” She snapped a drawer shut and finally looked up at the Head Boy and Girl. “Do either one of you have a problem with this?”
“Professor, today is Friday. I have Quidditch practice,” James objected quickly, stepping forward.
“That’s a shame,” McGonagall said, looking as if she couldn’t possibly care less. “Perhaps you should have thought of that before you decided to act like a first year in my hall. Any other concerns?”
McGonagall’s piercing eyes met with Lily’s. Lily shook her head quickly, her green eyes wide.
“Good,” Professor McGonagall said, and she pulled out her wand from her robes and gave it a whirl in the direction of the door. The handle gleamed a soft purple glow. Looking content with her wand work, McGonagall turned to them one last time. “Your parents would be ashamed,” she said softly, still stern. Then she left, letting the door to her classroom click shut behind her forebodingly. Lily simply gaped at the door.
“I can’t believe she charmed the door,” she breathed, thoroughly disappointed. When no response came, she turned to see where James had gone. He was sitting in a desk by the far corner of the room looking depressed. His hands were lying helpless in his lap and he was gazing at them blankly. “Are you okay?” Lily asked, her eyebrows furrowing in interest. James didn’t respond, but instead sighed. Lily waited a few seconds before hesitantly walking over to sit next to him.
For some reason the expression on James’ face had intrigued her. She had never seen it before, was almost positive nobody else had, and it worried her. Lily let her green gaze settle comfortably on the dark haired boy next to her.
“We’re not going to talk at all then?” Lily asked, raising her eyebrows. “You want to stay in here all weekend?”
She watched as James’ jaw set. He remained unmoving. Lily sighed and turned her gaze forward. They sat there in complete silence for a solid minute before James finally spoke up.
“You just won’t stop, will you?” he asked. Lily turned to him in surprise and saw he was still looking down at his hands.
“What do you mean?”
“What is wrong with you?” he asked again, looking up at her for the first time. Lily felt herself cringe briefly at the expression on his face “ absolute frustration. Though he had worn some semblance of that emotion in the days prior, she had never witnessed such a concentrated version. Lily found herself speechless as James continued. “You just won’t stop making my life difficult until you’ve finally gotten your way. Because of you we’re stuck in this bloody classroom, and I’m missing Quidditch practice.”
“Because of me?” Lily erupted, her green eyes wide. “It’s not just my fault!”
“Of course it is. I haven’t picked a fight with you even once,” James said loudly. “You, however, cannot stop railing on my faults “ and apparently complaining about them to Dumbledore behind my back!”
“I do not complain about them to Dumbledore,” Lily said defiantly, but she turned red in spite of herself. “I just told him how I feel. You’re hardly Head Boy material, and you know it.”
“There you go again!” James said. “Why do you insist on insulting me at every opportunity? I get it. I wasn’t very nice in the past. But I’ve tried really hard to deal with your Merlin-awful ego since this year started and I’m getting really sick of it.”
“My ego,” Lily said slowly, her eyes narrowing, “is not awful.”
“It’s awfully big,” James corrected.
“Oh please,” Lily spat. “It’s nothing compared to yours.”
“I haven’t said or done anything all year.”
“Well considering the year is barely a month old, that’s hardly something to gloat about.”
“Evans, what the bloody hell is your problem with me?” James yelled, throwing his head into his hands.
“Where were you on the train to Hogwarts when we were supposed to be instructing Prefects?” Lily fired back. James looked taken aback.
“What does that have to do with anything?” he demanded.
“You must be joking,” Lily said in a low, dangerous voice, as though she couldn’t believe James could possibly bring such a holier-than-thou attitude to a situation where he was clearly in the wrong. “It’s a clear example of how you’re treating your Head Boy duties with absolutely no respect.
“And that one absence has inspired you to make my seventh year miserable?”
“No,” Lily snapped, growing increasingly frustrated.
“Then what in Merlin’s name is your problem?”
“Everything!” Lily erupted. “You have this constant need to think and act like you’re better than everyone else. You have this erroneous self-proclaimed notion that you’re equipped to make judgments about anyone you want just because you’re James Potter -”
“No,” James bellowed, towering over her and vaguely recognizing a small pool gathering beneath her brilliantly green eyes, “what is your problem with me? What did I ever do to you? You’re on this insane mission to make my life a living hell and I want to know why. What are you so hung-up over?”
“Hung-up?” Lily asked, blinking furiously as her voice broke.
“I’m not an idiot, Evans, as much as I know you’d love to believe that. I clearly did something to you that you consider unforgiveable, and now you’re trying to punish me. Either you can save us both time and spit it out now or you can be a selfish little brat and keep us here all weekend.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lily mumbled, suddenly turning away and wishing the ground would swallow her whole.
“Lily, spit it out!” James roared, grabbing Lily by the arms and turning her back to face him.
“You ruined my friendship with Severus, you insensitive toerag! You made his life hell, you forced him into that horrible group of people he calls friends, you practically pushed him into calling me that “ that awful name...”
And Lily nearly collapsed from the sudden lack of James’ grasp holding her up. He had let go of her as if she had been set on fire and he stumbled backwards, looking at Lily as if he had never seen her before in his life. Lily threw out her right hand and let the desk catch her before she felt something wet streaming down her cheek. She slowly lifted her left hand and touched her cheek to find a teardrop. In absolute horror she glanced down at her finger and realized she was crying. In the hopes that she could wipe the tears away before James could see them, Lily swiped at her face. But it was obviously too late.
He was staring at her in complete shock and Lily rebounded as quickly as she could.
“What, you’ve never seen a girl cry before, Potter? I would have expected you to be used to it by now, considering the amount of girls you tend to treat like used tissues.” She tried to smirk, and felt her heart drop when she realized James’ expression hadn’t changed.
“I’m not doing this with you anymore, Evans,” he said quietly, pulling his eyes away as he sat back in his seat and continued to stare at his hands. Lily gaped at him.
“Doing what?”
“Arguing, yelling…screaming,” he said. His hazel eyes seemed bent on not straying from his fingers. Lily wasn’t sure what had just happened. She looked at her shoes for help. After a few minutes, James looked back at up her and waited for her to make eye contact with him. She did so reluctantly.
“I didn’t know you were so upset over that,” he said. Lily paused as she tried to digest the look on his face. It looked…apologetic, almost kind. It was maybe the first time she had ever seen him pull this expression. And Lily Evans wasn’t sure how to handle it.
“I’m not,” she said defiantly, rolling her eyes and sliding neatly into her seat as well. She took a deep breath and shook herself mentally.
“You just cried over it,” James pointed out. Again, Lily was surprised to hear the hint of regret in his words. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable with the way this conversation was turning out. She had never expected in a million years that she and James Potter would ever carry a civil conversation, let alone carry a conversation in which he pitied her.
“I did not,” Lily lied lamely, wishing desperately she’d been able to hide the tears better. However, in her defense, she had been so taken aback with the sudden surge of emotion that she hadn’t known how to handle it. She distinctly remembered the last time she had let her emotions get the better of her, and it had been years ago…on the last day she and Severus had ever spoken as friends. Shaking that memory out of her head quickly, she took a deep breath.
“Are you really trying to lie about it when I saw you not even five minutes ago wiping away tears?” James asked, raising his eyebrows. Lily looked at him sighed, feeling helpless. It seemed as if she had officially lost the battle.
“I guess not,” she breathed, turning back and mimicking the position James had been in minutes before. She studied her fingernails intensely and noticed her pink nail polish was chipped on her right thumb.
“Evans…” James said after a few minutes of silence, “I’m…er…”
Lily looked at him blankly.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, looking into her green eyes and swallowing hard. Of all the situations in the world, he had never thought he’d ever be participating in this one. From the look on Lily’s face, she probably didn’t either. James felt an odd comfort in their shared uneasiness.
Lily was currently trying to find the lost feeling in her toes as she stared wide-eyed at the boy she had hated for six years. Had he really just…? Lily was aware that her mouth was partially open. Closing it quickly, she looked toward the floor and tucked a lock of fiery red hair behind her ear. As she looked up again, she caught James glancing at her in a curious way. When he realized she had seen him, he cleared his throat and looked away.
“It’s fine,” she said, shrugging it off. James paused for a moment and then shook his head.
“It’s not. I didn’t know you felt that way. I…was an idiot.” James looked truly uneasy. Lily was unsure of how to respond. A few minutes later, James asked hesitantly, “Do you want to talk about it?” Lily looked at him as if he were crazy. “Right, never mind.”
Lily continued to stare at her hands for a few minutes. Tension settled around them like a thick fog. “But, uh…” Lily began, trying to find a way to break the awkward silence. “Thanks for, er…you know…asking…”
“No problem,” James responded, still not looking at her. Lily snuck a peak in his direction.
“May I ask you something?”
“Go for it.”
“How did you get so “ I mean…”
James raised his eyebrows at her. Lily glanced quickly at his expression and saw that he was trying to hide his obvious amusement. She felt herself falter.
“How did I…?”
“You just don’t seem as much of a selfish bugger as usual.” Lily watched James through her green gaze as his smile slowly vanished. A sudden pain washed over his hazel eyes and he took a deep breath before concentrating on looking away. He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed.
“Things change,” he said finally. He glanced in Lily’s direction and saw her nod; and for one of the first times since their first year at Hogwarts, he didn’t see a trace of judgment in her expression. She was looking at him curiously, her eyebrows lightly furrowed and her head tilted slightly to one side. He paused for a minute, considering her. “My Mum and Dad died this summer,” he said, not breaking eye contact with her. He saw Lily’s lips part in shock as her eyes grew wide and James in turn cracked a small smile in her direction. The last thing he wanted was for her to start pitying him because she thought he was miserable.
“I’m so sorry,” Lily breathed, unsure of what else to say.
“it’s okay,” James said, shrugging it off and turning back to look at his hands. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a huge deal,” Lily corrected, trying to ignore her throbbing head. She had felt as if someone had dropped a pumpkin over her head. Guilt tumbled around her as she remembered how incredibly insensitive she had been to him for the past few weeks. Then suddenly Lily’s heart stopped as a possibility hit her. “It wasn’t…?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” James said quickly, as though he knew what she was about to ask. “It wasn’t He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. My parents were fascinated with Muggles, everything about them. My dad actually built an entire car from the bottom up this summer. The first time they tried to take it out for a test drive…it didn’t go so well.”
Lily was now gawking at James’ profile, lost in the complete horror of that story. Absently, she registered the look on his face of feigned strength and Lily found herself swallowing hard.
“Car crash?”
James nodded slowly.
“When did this happen?”
“Over two and a half months ago.”
Lily was past the point of being able to formulate words. She simply continued staring at James, amazed at the way he sat stoically in his chair, unwilling to show even the slightest hint of emotion. His back was hunched over as he stared at the desk in front of him. His hands were resting lightly on his knees, as though he needed to brace himself up. Lily was struggling to keep her eyes dry, and she was blinking furiously as she looked away at the floor.
“Where do you live now?” she asked.
“Sirius and I still live in my parents’ old place, and our house elf, Dolly, is still there, too,” James responded, and Lily finally thought she heard a hitch in his breathing as he tried to hold back emotion. “It’s difficult, but now that I’m at school it’s easier to keep my mind off of what happened.” Lily nodded slowly, wondering if she’d ever be able to handle the death of her parents as well as James was obviously doing. She looked back up at James when she heard him shift his weight so he was facing her head on.
“You want to know why I’m suddenly taking thing so seriously? It was my Mum’s dream for me to become a responsible son. I never really lived up to her expectations nor followed in her footsteps of being Prefect or getting all my OWLs. When she died, though, I just felt like I should…do better. So I’m trying.”
Lily could honestly say she had never felt so horrible in her entire eighteen-year-old life. She felt morally and ethically equivalent to dung. She just nodded dumbly in James’ direction.
“I’m really sorry for how rude I’ve been,” Lily apologized quietly. She saw James smile in amusement and shake his head.
“Why, because you pity me now?”
“No, because I second-guessed your motives,” she admitted. “I was wrong. And I’m really sorry.”
“Well…for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, too,” James offered quietly after a few moments of silence. “You know, about Severus. I really didn’t mean for it to blow up into what it did.”
Lily paused. “It’s okay,” she muttered. “It’s not your fault he became…what he became. That was entirely his choice. I guess I always just thought it would be easier to blame you than to blame the boy I once considered my best friend.”
James was staring at her peculiarly. “If you want,” he said with a slight grin, “you can continue blaming me.”
Lily felt herself laugh before she could help it and she shook her head. “No, that’s okay. But thank you.”
A large click from the front of my room caused Lily and James to both jump slightly in their chairs. Lily looked over to see that the door to McGonagall’s classroom was gleaming a deep purple. A split-second later and the door swung wide open. Lily blinked in surprise. She had almost forgotten why she and James were in there in the first place. She turned to James and saw him sharing a similarly curious look. Then almost simultaneously, they both smiled. A second later, James was pulling up a sleeve of his robe to check the watch on his right wrist. His face broke into a huge grin when he saw it.
“I can still make it to Quidditch practice,” he said happily, leaping up from his chair and swinging his bag over his shoulder. “I can’t believe the door actually opened.”
“Trust me, I’m as surprised as you,” Lily admitted, grabbing her own bag and joining James as they nearly sprinted out of the room. “I never thought I’d ever be able to be civil to you, let alone work things out.”
James stopped suddenly and Lily had to catch herself quickly before she ran into him.
“Potter, what are you doing!” she exclaimed, side-stepping him quickly and using a castle wall for support. She saw him looking down at her with an expression she had never seen before “ nor one she could accurately describe. His right eyebrow was raised slightly, and he had a lopsided smirk on one side of his mouth. His hazel eyes looked like they were trying to worm their way into Lily’s emerald ones.
“Is that what we did?” James asked. “Work things out?”
“Well…didn’t we?” Lily asked, suddenly looking as if she regretted her previous statement. James saw her eyes cloud with worry and was struck by the irony of the situation. Lily Evans was worried about not being on good terms with him…?
“The door did open,” James reasoned slowly, still staring hard at her expression. “It’s just weird to hear.”
“It’s weird to say,” Lily said truthfully. “Especially after I’ve spent so much of my energy these past six years hating you.”
“Ouch, hate is a strong word, Evans,” James advised as the two of them continued down the hallway.
“Then that’s a pretty accurate description of what my feelings were toward you,” Lily said. James chuckled in response.
“So…we’re…what now? Friends?” James asked, looking like he felt highly uncomfortable even suggesting that idea. Lily felt herself squirm uneasily.
“No,” she said quickly. “How about two students who don’t want to jinx each other into oblivion?”
“That sounds fair,” James said, glancing at the petite red-head next to him and finding himself oddly at ease with the new title of acquaintance.
“I thought so,” Lily agreed. She glanced up at him and they shared a smile “ one of the first few genuine smiles they had both shared together. At that same moment, Lily Evans realized something had shifted in her life permanently. There was something strange and almost intriguing about it. Oh, that’s right. James Potter was now a part of it.
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A/N: Review please :) I know the read count is high but I'm just dying to know what my readers like and what they don't - it's what I feed off of when I'm looking for inspiration for future chapters!
Lily Evans hadn’t gotten a wink’s worth of sleep in over a week, and no one was more frustrated about that than her - except maybe her best friend Alice Bristow, who was currently nodding off in bed next to a chattering and seemingly wide awake Lily, her straight light brown hair falling gently in her face as her chin bobbed against her chest.
“I just don’t understand why I can’t sleep anymore! I’ve never had this problem before. Normally at about ten or eleven o’ clock, I am so tired, I could sleep through about anything,” Lily was saying as the two girls were sitting propped up against the pillows on Lily’s bed.
“Lily?” The muffled and groggy voice of Aimee Holcombe came wafting from the bed next to Lily’s.
“Yes?”
“It’s one in the morning. Shut up.”
Lily frowned and turned to Alice for support only to find her best friend fast asleep on her shoulder. Sighing, she realized she would have to accept defeat.
“Sorry, Aimee,” Lily said, “I just…can’t fall asleep. Again.”
“Try,” Aimee suggested. “Or I’m going to use that new spell we learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts against you.”
“Yeah, Lils, I love you but I’m so tired,” Alice said, blinking through her haze and removing herself gently from Lily’s shoulder. “I’m going to bed. Try to figure out what’s been keeping you from sleeping and then maybe you can fix it.”
“Okay,” Lily agreed reluctantly, allowing Alice to slip out from under the covers and head back to her own four-poster bed. “Thanks for trying to stay up with me.”
Alice murmured something unintelligible and flopped down on her sheets without even changing into her nightclothes. A few moments later, Lily distinctly heard the telltale signs of Alice’s light snores.
“Oh this just gets better and better,” Aimee groaned again, and Lily saw her begrudgingly remove the pillow from under her brilliantly blond head and cover her ears with it.
Glancing up at the ceiling above her head, Lily fanned out her red hair over her pillow and placed her hands on her stomach, breathing in and out to the rhythm of Alice’s snores and feeling her hands rise and fall with her chest.
She had been trying for five consecutive days to figure out why she was having such enormous insomnia issues, but to no avail. No matter how much she tried to wrack her brains for an answer, Lily could think of no reason.
And then almost immediately, Lily felt like smacking herself. She knew exactly why she couldn’t sleep, but she was simply refusing to let herself see it. She would not harp on it, would not think about it, would not even give it a second thought. The idea was absolutely ridiculous to feel guilty about something like this. And yet…
Lily felt her eyelids grow heavy as sleep finally welcomed itself. Taking a deep breath, Lily felt a slight smile spread across her features, and she turned over on her side to snuggle deeper under her plush covers. As her eyelids fluttered over her eyes teasingly, Lily slowly felt herself slip into subconscious. A curious scene appeared before her dark eyelids “ one she had caught herself reminiscing about ever since she had first lost her best friend.
“I don’t want to talk about her,” a young Lily Evans said uncomfortably, scuffing her shoe absently against the stone of the castle. “She’s still mad at me.”
“You didn’t do anything,” Severus Snape assured her, his dark eyes earnest. “She was the one who was being -”
“Don’t,” Lily said, screwing her eyes shut and holding up her hand in protest. “I don’t want to hear it. Let’s just talk about something else.”
A chorus of laughter reached their ears, and Lily and Severus turned around to see a group of four boys cantering towards the castle. Lily’s brilliant green eyes narrowed in dislike as she recognized two of them from the train at the beginning of the year. Severus turned to see whom Lily was glaring at, and his expression hardened.
“Hey, Evans,” the black-haired one with glasses said happily as they passed. “How are you?”
“Peachy,” Lily spat, as she flipped her fiery red hair over her shoulder and turned her back on him. The boy named James Potter looked surprised.
“You’re not still mad at us, are you?” the dark-haired boy next to him asked. Lily turned around and folded her arms across her chest.
“Yes, I am,” she confirmed for the boy she remembered as Sirius Black.
“Why?” James asked, his hazel eyes round in innocence. Lily eyed him with distaste.
“You two were bullies,” she reminded them coldly. She turned to the greasy-haired boy next to her. “Come on, Severus, let’s go.”
“You’d rather hang out with that slimeball?” Black yelped, as the mousy kid behind him started sniggering.
“He’s my friend,” Lily said proudly over her shoulder as she and Severus walked away. A couple yards away, Severus turned to Lily hesitantly.
“We’re friends?” he asked quietly. Lily turned to him, her green eyes sparkling. She smiled.
“Aren’t we?” she wondered. Severus look troubled, and Lily’s smile faded. “Fine,” Lily snapped as she began to walk away. “We’re not. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go do my Charms -”
“No, no,” Severus suddenly yelled, running after her, his robes flying out behind him. “We are. We are friends! Sorry, I just…” Snape panted as he tried to catch his breath. “We are.”
Lily woke up the next morning with tears in her eyes, and she wasn’t able to shake the feeling for the rest of the day. She wasn’t able to concentrate in any of her courses, which was unfortunate, as Lily couldn’t afford to do any worse in her Transfiguration class. By the time she met up with James for their evening rounds, Lily was feeling positively miserable. Her bubbling substance had exploded in Professor Slughorn’s face during Potions, she had transformed her raven into an even angrier raven in Transfiguration, and she had successfully fallen over her feet in Charms…three consecutive times.
Even Alice looked worried when she said her goodbyes to Lily and walked back in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. She exchanged a significant look with James that seemed to portray her wishes of good luck and then scurried away as fast as she could. That she didn’t even take a second look back confirmed Lily’s assumption that Alice was a little overwhelmed by her friend’s lack of grace that day. Lily couldn’t blame her. She had accidentally spilled some of the bubbling substance on her in Potions, set her robes on fire in Transfiguration, and repeatedly stepped on her toes in Charms. Lily would have felt downright horrible about it all if she hadn’t still been so obsessed with her dream the previous night.
“Are you okay?” James asked casually after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes. “You’re unusually quiet.”
“I’m okay,” Lily echoed softly, her eyes looking vaguely into the distance.
“Regretting our decision to walk these nights together?” James asked, slipping his hands into his pockets. “We could always go back to our other arrangement. McGonagall probably wouldn’t be happy, but -”
“No, that’s not it,” Lily interrupted. “I’m just distracted.”
James glanced at Lily’s disconnected expression and just nodded in response. His friendship with Lily, if he could even call it that, was still relatively new “ new enough that he had no right to pry into her personal life. Still, even he could tell that something was on her mind, but for her sake he pretended not to notice when she snuck a peek in his direction.
“Stop it! Stop it, you two,” Lily said firmly as she rushed forward and pulled the two bodies apart. Turning to a flushed Severus, Lily struggled to keep him from leaping onto the man in front of him.
“What are you doing?” she demanded. Snape’s black eyes still held fire as he panted, readjusting his robes and grabbing one of the hallway walls for support. His eyes were fixed on someone behind Lily, and she looked back to find James Potter readjusting his robes as well, his hair tousled gently and a pile of girls giggling and pointing right behind him. He was holding Severus’ gaze dangerously.
“You,” Lily snapped angrily. “I should have known.”
James looked at Lily and raised his eyebrows.
“For your information, this prick started it,” James said, and Lily felt Snape try to leap over Lily with a roar to get to James.
“No,” Lily yelled, pushing Severus away again. “Stop it, Sev. He’s not worth it.”
“Sev?” Black mocked, appearing behind James and smirking.
“I have a nickname for him as well,” the mousy haired boy said, appearing on the other side of James.
“What’s that?” Sirius asked, his eyes alight in excitement.
“Snivellus,” Peter scoffed. Around her, Lily heard titters of laughter. She glared at everyone surrounding them and then walked over to Severus, who was brushing the hair out of his eyes.
“Let’s go,” she said, pushing him away and following Severus out of the crowd into a relatively empty hallway. When she was quite sure they were alone, she asked, “What were you thinking, Sev?”
“He was making fun of me,” Severus said weakly, looking furious.
“Of course he was,” Lily said, rolling her eyes, “he’s James Potter. He has to find entertainment in the most degrading ways, but that doesn’t mean you should stoop that low, too!”
“He disgusts me,” Severus spat.
“But you still can’t just go around picking fights in the halls! You can’t afford to get another detention!”
“I know,” Severus grumbled, sparks flying out of his dangerously dark eyes. “As long as he stays away from me, I’ll be fine.”
“Evans?”
Lily blinked quickly and looked around at her surroundings. She was sitting on the ground, slumped against a cold stonewall in a position she could only assume she had fallen asleep in. Reaching up, she realized her hair was a complete mess.
“Have a nice nap?” James asked from beside her. He was leaning against the wall, twirling his wand in his hand. Lily blinked at him foggily. “You fell asleep.”
“Sorry,” Lily said, sitting up straighter and pulling her hair out from her hair band so she could comb her fingers through it. “I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”
“Why?” James asked, absently watching her for a second before realizing what he was doing and facing forward again. He cleared his throat and ran one hand through his own perfectly-tousled hair.
“If only I knew,” Lily said quietly. She finished her hair and turned to look at James. “What time is it?”
“Our shift’s almost over,” he assured her. He glanced back at her and noticed she looked tired. “You have bags under your eyes.”
“That’s what happens when you don’t get much sleep, Potter,” Lily snapped before she could help herself.
James paused. “And looks like we’re back.”
“What?”
“You‘re treating me like some sort of idiot again,” James said, wearing an expression that resembled Alice when she was handing Lily off to him. Lily just stared up at him and then quickly followed his lead and stood up.
“No, sorry,” she said, disappointed in herself for letting the memories of her past dictate the way she treated the man before her. He had changed, Lily reminded herself sternly. The evidence was right in front of her eyes. “There’s been so much on my mind lately, I’m just snapping at everything.”
James just nodded, unsure if he wanted to try and attempt any deeper conversation. With the lines of their relationship so blurred these days, he still wasn’t sure what was appropriate and what wasn’t.
“I’ve been there,” James said finally, “especially recently. Quidditch really calms me down.”
“I haven’t found anything that has helped yet,” Lily admitted. “Studying and homework normally do, but lately…they just seems to make it worse.”
“Maybe you should try Quidditch,” James joked with a grin. Even Lily couldn’t hold back a laugh as the two of them began to walk back towards the common room.
“That’d be a great distraction,” Lily said, rolling her eyes, “but only because I’d spend more time worrying about my broken limbs than anything else.”
“Can’t say it wouldn’t be effective, though,” James said. Lily caught herself doing a double take as she smiled at this response. Something about the way James had flashed his smile had made Lily forget for a moment what they were talking about. She struggled to stay involved in the current conversation. “I was actually speaking more in an audience kind of way,” James was saying. He glanced at her again with a slight sparkle in his eye this time.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re welcome to sit in on any Quidditch practices,” James said, shrugging as he tried to keep the invitation neutral. “I know that sounds stupid, but Alice sometimes comes to watch and it would probably take your mind off whatever it is that’s bothering you.”
“Wait,” Lily said, returning from her reverie, “Alice? Alice Bristow?”
“Yeah.”
“You let Alice Bristow watch your practices?”
“Yeah, Gryffindors are always allowed to watch,” James said, shrugging. “She normally makes a few appearances before our game days.”
“Oh Potter,” Lily said, laughing to herself as she lightly rested her forehead in the palm of her hand for a few seconds. “You do know who Alice is dating, don’t you?”
“Er, no,” James responded as they approached the Fat Lady. “I didn’t know she was seeing anyone.”
“She’s dating Frank,” Lily said, looking up at James and gauging his reaction. There was a slight twinkle in her eye. James just blinked, frowning in confusion.
“Frank Longbottom,” Lily clarified, and just as she had suspected, James face turned shockingly pale. He gaped at her, his hazel eyes wide and a look of absolute self-loathing spreading across his features.
“Frank Longbottom?” he asked, freezing in his tracks and lifting both of his hands to the sides of his head. Lily nodded, muffling what would have been an extremely girly laugh.
“Bloody hell,” James erupted, throwing his head back and letting out a roar of frustration. “The captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team? No wonder they beat us every game last year!”
“Well why did you think she was coming to watch you practice?” Lily asked as her eyebrows floated toward her hairline. “Oh, and ‘Remus is dung’.”
The Fat Lady swung forward obligingly albeit with a roll of her eyes, and Lily and James walked into the common room still engrossed in their current conversation.
“I was under the apparently misguided conception that she was trying to give support to Leela!” James said, looking suddenly like he wanted to smash a Bludger at someone. Lily couldn’t help but be amused at James’ horrorstruck response, but was also anxious to cash in on the sleep she had discovered she was battling during her evening walk. Lily headed toward the Girls Dormitories and waved goodbye to her fellow Head Boy.
“Well now you know,” she said. Her gaze lingered on the empty common room, realizing it was so late that they were probably the only Gryffindors still up. “Goodnight, Potter.”
“Night, Evans,” James responded absently, still shaking his head over the new information he had received. His eyes followed Lily’s tiny figure up the staircase before he pulled his gaze away and focused on his own trip up his own set of stairs. As he climbed towards his dormitory, he couldn’t help but vaguely remember how she looked when she had smiled over her shoulder to wave goodnight.
“I like Lily Evans,” a much younger James had once declared in the dormitory room. “There’s something about her.”
“Yes there is. She’s rude,” Sirius offered, screwing up his nose.
“She knows what she wants,” James said, shrugging.
“She’s eleven.”
“So?” James said defiantly, crossing his arms. “I think she likes me, too.”
Sirius’ eyes narrowed. “What would make you think that?”
“She was staring at me today,” James said importantly, strutting around the dormitory room with his chest held high.
“Was she sending you a death wish?” Sirius asked, and Peter guffawed as he smacked Sirius on the shoulder in appreciation. James looked over and glared at Peter through narrowed eyes, which promptly shut him up. Sirius laughed and clapped Peter on the back.
“Funny,” James snapped. “Real witty. You’ll see. I’ll have her eating out of the palm of my hand.”
“I’ll bet you an entire Galleon that doesn’t happen,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes.
“You don’t even have a Galleon,” James pointed out.
“Of course I do,” Sirius said, looking offended. “Clearly you know nothing about the noble house of Black.”
“Clearly,” Peter said importantly. James once again shot him a look.
“You’ll see,” he just repeated. “I’ll get Evans to fall for me.”
“You know,” Remus Lupin said quietly from his bed, looking up from Hogwarts, A History. “She’s actually quite nice...”
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