All of the teachers at Hogwarts seemed to like Stacey. She was a pretty good student, even though the schools in America were a little behind British schools. McGonagall had a solution to this.
She caught the small group of students as they left their Charms classroom. This was the class that most of them were taking, though Peter was not present.
She pulled James and Stacey aside and spoke to them for a moment.
When they rejoined the group and started walking again, Stacey started speaking.
�She asked if James would help me catch up. I�m a bit behind, so I could use all the help I can get,� she explained.
�You�re welcome to ask me for anything, you know,� offered Lily.
�Thanks!�
At the next intersection of hallways they split off, heading for their different classes.
At lunch, the Marauders seemed subdued, and didn�t talk as much as usual. Remus looked tired, and the other three melancholic. And yet there was a faint sense of jitteriness in James and Sirius.
Lily looked to her other friends, who had seemed to notice the same thing. They didn�t have any reasons, however.
Lily didn�t know what was wrong. Perhaps they had stayed up late last night planning a prank or just being young men.
She was also rather shocked to see McGonagall ask James, and not her, to help Stacey catch up. She also didn�t know what James thought about being a tutor to Stacey. Her question was answered later that night, when they were all sitting in the Gryffindor common room. James and Stacey sat in a corner�rather close together, as Lily noticed�looking at a textbook. Stacey seemed to lean closer every once in a while and James did nothing to remedy the situation. Lily�s eyebrows furrowed, and wondered if the American was acting on her words from last night.
However, she was forced to return to the game of wizard�s chess she was losing to Nikeia. The main reason for this was that Sirius was whispering directions into Nikeia�s ear. The tall young woman giggled each time he leant close, and smiled broadly up at him when the hint panned out well.
Lily couldn�t help but wish James was helping her out.
Later, when James and Lily left the common room to do their rounds, James asked Lily a question.
�Hey, Lily?�
Lily looked up to James.
�I have to be somewhere, so would you mind terribly if I left you alone for the rest of the round?�
�What?� asked Lily, incredulous. �Why? Is everything okay, James?�
�I can�t tell you, I�m sorry, but can I please leave you now?� He seemed anxious to leave, and Lily, seeing the urgency in his eyes and hearing it in his voice, nodded him goodbye.
�What about McGonagall?�
�Well, she knows about this,� called James, from about ten feet away.
�Potter, is this a detention you somehow earned without anyone else knowing?� asked Lily, placing her hands on her hips.
�Well, sort of... I really have to go Lily; I�ll see you tomorrow,� said James, turning and walking briskly away.
Lily�s eyebrows furrowed and she watched as James run down the hall to the stairway that would lead him down to the exit. Lily turned and began walking. She stopped in front of a window, marveling at the way the full moon shone through the darkness of the night. She looked down to the grounds and saw a large black shape, rather like a dog, run across the lawn, and a lighter one galloping like a stag after it. Thinking it odd that a stag�especially a white one�would be running across the Hogwarts grounds, she watched the stag and the dog disappear a moment later. It was just as odd that the stag and the dog were running side-by-side. Then, she thought that it must�ve been just a coincidence that they appeared at the same time as James if he were to have gone outside.
She wasn�t sure where her mind was taking her�James was in detention, not outside�so she shrugged.
A suspicion of Severus Snape�s from years ago niggled at her mind, but she pushed it aside. She had never quite brought herself around to actually believing it, but she couldn�t deny it had a truthful weight.
She began walking again towards one of the more central hallways (if that was even possible in the castle) when she heard a shuffle of feet and then the creak of a door. She paused, listening. A faint rustle came again from down the hallway. She frowned, took out her wand and held it aloft. She said a spell inside her head and a ball of light burst from the tip.
It hovered for a second and then floated quickly down the corridor to hover above the door to a small broom closet. Lily walked over, shaking her head but smiling coyly. The spell she had just used was one she had created herself, and she was rather proud of it. It gave whoever said the spell, verbal or not, the ability to find a person who was without a magical enchantment. It worked well at this moment, for whoever was hiding in the closet was suddenly quite found out.
�Whoever�s inside the closet, come on out,� said Lily. A few seconds later, the door creaked open and a long-haired girl walked out.
�Stacey? What are you doing out of bed at this hour?� said Lily, staring at the American in surprise.
�Well, I was in the library, and then that vulture kicked me out, and I thought that I had enough time to� to send out a letter, but� I hadn�t planned that anyone would be in this hallway. I was just a bit startled when I heard footsteps,� said Stacey. �Overreacted a bit, I guess, by jumping into a closet.�
�Well, the Owlery is that way,� said Lily pointing to the blackness behind her.
�Is it? I thought I was going in the right direction.� Stacey put a hand to her forehead, as if trying to visualize the school. She whimpered rather helplessly.
�Well, it�s okay. Come on, I�ll show you back to the dorms. You can send the letter in the morning. You�re not supposed to leave after curfew,� intoned Lily, in a reprimanding but soft voice. She beckoned to a sorry-looking Stacey and they walked towards the dormitories together.
�Hey, where�s James?� asked Stacey.
�Oh, he had to go and do something,� said Lily.
�Oh,� muttered Stacey, watching her feet walk. �By the way, since we�re on the subject, what do you think of him?�
�What? Of, of James?� stammered Lily, shocked at the question and not ready for it.
When Stacey started to reiterate her question, Lily held up a hand saying that she heard what Stacey had said.
She knew, of course, Josey�s, Nikeia�s and Alice�s response to this question. Though she did accept that what they said wasn�t inaccurate, she started by saying, �Well, he can be a sweet person, and he�s great at Quidditch, and a very good student, if that was what you were aiming to get as a response.�
Stacey shrugged slowly, and looked at Lily again. Taking that as a cue to say something more, she said, �Well, I didn�t like James in any way for the longest time, but it was only just recently that we came onto even footing. But other than being new friends and working together, I don�t suppose there is much positive to go on yet.�
�Much positive?�
�Our previous years of school were less than fond.� She left it at that, not knowing why she had even said as much.
�Oh,� mumbled Stacey. �Well I have... noticed James. He�s pretty gorgeous, and he has helped me with classes. But, I was wondering if you�d mind if I asked him to that village place. I wouldn�t mind spending a day with him. �
Lily had stopped walking, right after Stacey said �ask him to that village place.�
�Lily?� said Stacey, turning around. �Is something wrong? Is that Peeves dude floating above me with a bag of chalk?� asked Stacey, daring to look up. Lily remembered the incident from earlier that day when the poltergeist greeted the new student with a bag of chalk dropped from the ceiling. Somehow, none of the other seventh years had remembered to mention Peeves.
�What? No! It�s just that I was... surprised, um, that... you were asking me if it was all right if you asked James out. I don�t see why you�d ask me,� said Lily. Underneath her confusion she was squirming again.
�I just wanted to know if you�d mind,� the brunette explained.
�Oh, yes.�
�So, you don�t mind?� asked Stacey, hopefully.
�Yes.�
�Yes, you do mind?�
�No.�
�No, you don�t mind if I ask him out?�
�No.�
�Lily! Make up your mind! Can I ask him out or not!?� blurted Stacey.
�No, you can�t ask him out because he is already taken!� said Lily in a rush of words. When those words were out of her mouth, Lily couldn�t believe what she had said. She whimpered much like Stacey had. Taken? By who? Certainly not herself.
Evans, think!
�What?� Stacey�s eyes were wide. �Taken? By who?�
�Um,� Lily thought furiously and in an instant she had her answer: �Himself!�
Stacey stared at Lily, one eyebrow raised.
Lily stammered to explain, not sure from where in Merlin�s pointy hat she had pulled such a strange answer. �What I mean is that because he is who he is, because he�s a Marauder, he... he... well he is someone special and can�t get caught up in anything other than who he is. If he were to give his heart to anyone, Hogwarts would no longer be the fun place that it is. He wouldn�t be a Marauder, he would be... in love.� Lily couldn�t believe the words she was saying.
Stacey continued to stare at the redhead.
�Stacey, James is a troublemaker. It is what he loves doing. If anything were to get in the way of him being who he is, he... well, he... wouldn�t be who he is.� Lily knew it sounded lame, and she suspected Stacey Wilson did as well.
�Uh�huh,� came slowly from Stacey. �Well, I wasn�t expecting to fall in love with him� just go out with him.�
Lily opened her mouth as if to respond, but started walking again instead. She heard Stacey start to follow. They walked in silence to the dorm.
At the portrait, Stacey turned to Lily.
�Well, thanks for walking me. It�ll take a while to get used to things.� She said the password and stepped inside the portrait hole when the Fat Lady had swung open, grumbling. �I guess I�ll think on the James thing a bit more. I suppose what you really wanted to say was that I can�t have James because you want him. But that�s just me being a hopeless romantic, and putting pieces and ideas together.� She waved her hand flutteringly in the air, and smiled a bit.
Lily was standing there, flabbergasted.
�I�ve heard about you two,� Stacey said from around the side of the portrait. �I should probably back off. Well, except to say that I think you should ask him to Hogs-beer� Hogs-ale� whatever the heck it is! Silly name for a village anyway! �Night!� Stacey disappeared, and the portrait closed behind her.
Lily was still standing their, shocked.
She could vaguely hear the Fat Lady attempting to talk to her, but she just smiled distractedly and walked away.
Americans could be so precocious, she thought.
Lily Evans go out with James Potter? Even farther fetched: Lily Evans ask James Potter out? Preposterous. But, did she want James as more than a friend? No. Was she jealous at Stacey for wanting to go out with James? No. Did she care if Stacey went with James to Hogsmeade? No. Did she believe the answers she just gave in her head?
No.