“I believe ‘trounced’ is an appropriate word for this situation,” James said as he and Sirius plopped onto a couch in the Gryffindor Common Room. The Gryffindor Quidditch Team had just come back from a pre-season scrimmage with Ravenclaw”a scrimmage that many Gryffindors had watched”and a little bit of a celebration was beginning to brew around them. James had climbed through the portrait last and to the loudest applause, and Remus assumed he had purposely delayed himself in the changing room so as to make his grand entrance… He certainly deserved it after a stellar performance in the match, but it still made Remus laugh.
Remus watched him now, basking in his self-created limelight. As fellow team members clapped him on the back, a gaggle of second-year girls ogled him from a corner, pausing every now and then to turn away and whisper amongst themselves. Even Peter looked enthralled. Remus smiled and shook his head. James and Sirius were always the stars, and it could be quite entertaining to see people fawn over them. He swung one leg over the side of his armchair and looked at his friends. “Your hair’s all messed up, James,” he said with a laugh. Indeed, it looked like James had literally just hopped off his broomstick.
Diana Denham, a fellow Gryffindor third-year, happened to be walking by at that moment. “Oh, I like it like that, James,” she cooed, brushing her fingers lightly across the top of his hair. James had raised his hand almost to his head, about to pat it down, but at her touch, he sat up straighter. “Really?” he asked, his arm still perched awkwardly in the air.
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “It looks so windswept. Don’t you think, Lily?”
“Sure. Windswept,” Lily answered from an armchair to Remus’s right, not even looking up from the Daily Prophet crossword puzzle she was working on.
James whipped his head around to Lily. “Really?” he asked again, his voice perilously close to squeaking this time. “Well, I guess I’ll keep it like this!” He even ruffled it up a little bit more before finally dropping his arm.
“Well, mate, we can’t all have naturally gorgeous locks like me, but if Diana likes it, it must look good,” Sirius said with a wink, tossing his own dark hair playfully. Diana giggled and walked away, casting a fleeting glance over her shoulder at the Quidditch stars.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Sirius let out a low whistle. “Boys, I tell you, that is one pretty girl,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m thinking about asking her to Hogsmeade. What do you think?”
“I thought you were going to ask Rena Sorenson from Ravenclaw,” Remus said, getting a nod of confirmation from Peter.
“Yeah, that’s what you told me yesterday,” chimed the sandy-haired boy.
Sirius wrinkled his nose and cocked his head slightly to the side as if plumbing the depths of his memory. “Oh, yeah,” he said, nodding slowly as a look of recognition dawned on his face. “I totally forgot about that. Is it okay to ask two girls to Hogsmeade?”
Lily snorted from her armchair, still concentrating on her crossword. “Nice, Sirius. Really classy.”
“Well, it’s not like I would tell them they were both going with me!” he said, raising his eyebrows as if this was the most obvious point in the world. He whacked James on the arm looking for support. “Come on, Potter, back me up! How am I supposed to choose?”
Remus turned his head just in time to see James shift his gaze from Lily to Sirius. “What?” he blurted, as if startled back from a daydream. “Choose? Oh, um, yeah, Rena, probably.”
“That settles it, I guess,” Remus said to Sirius, though he couldn’t help but notice that James continued to steal furtive glances at Lily, who was”as always”completely oblivious. Remus smiled. He knew that James had a bit of a crush on Lily. How could he not know, when his friend stared at her every chance he got? It seemed, however, that Lily had no idea. At least, if she did know, she had never mentioned anything to Remus. Remus was suddenly possessed by the idea that maybe it was time to push things along a little bit. He cleared his throat. “Who are you going to ask, James?”
James’s head shot up and he looked straight at Remus, terror evident in his hazel eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words were slow to come. “Er, um…” he stammered, glancing again at Lily who still had yet to look up from the puzzle, “I don’t know, Remus,” he said, shooting daggers at his friend. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”
Remus couldn’t help but laugh. Okay, so his plan had backfired and now James was probably a bit miffed at him, but the look on his face was priceless. It was a mixture of embarrassment and hopefulness, if such a thing was even possible. And was that a tinge of anger? Remus laughed a little bit louder and winked at Sirius.
“Come on, Potter,” Sirius said, closing the book he was browsing to join in on the fun. “Just yesterday you were telling me that you had a few options, right?”
“Now that you mention that, Sirius, he was saying just that!” said Remus, looking again at Lily. Though her head was still down, it was now cocked a little to the side, and it looked like she hadn’t filled in any crossword answers for a while.
“I don’t know what you all are talking about,” James attempted to state forcefully, though his face had colored a violent red. He cleared his throat and ruffled his hair again with his hand, his eyes darting left and right.
“I don’t remember either,” Peter added, winking at James. James mouthed “thank you” to him then turned to glare at Sirius and Remus in turn.
There was a long silence where neither Remus nor Sirius knew what to say, both knowing they should probably concede the game or there would be hell to pay. Sirius’s eyes still twinkled as he calculated how best to proceed, and Remus chuckled again, but softer this time. It was amusing to see James”usually so cool under pressure”crack like this. He looked to his right and saw that Lily’s quill was moving again. The moment had passed.
Finally, the silence was broken when Gwendolyn came over to see if anyone wanted to go to dinner. Lily agreed and the girls headed for the portrait hole. As soon as they were gone, though, James rounded on Sirius and Remus.
“Why the bloody hell did you two do that?” he asked, his face still a bit red. “You know I was planning to ask her!”
“Yeah, so why didn’t you just do it, then?” Sirius asked. “We were only trying to help you.”
Remus agreed. “James, I’m pretty sure she knows you like her. I was just trying to nudge you in the right direction.”
“Well, I’m not going to ask her with you lot sitting around gawking at us, am I? You know, if Pete hadn’t jumped in to save me, that could have been pretty awkward!”
Peter beamed, but Sirius just laughed. “Could have been? No, mate, I think awkwardness was successfully achieved.”
James groaned. “Great. What are my chances now? Did she even look up from her bloody puzzle?”
“No, sorry,” Sirius said, clapping James on the back. “Better luck next time.”
“If there even is a next time,” James groaned, resting his head in his hands. “She’ll never say yes. As it is, she’s probably going with that damn Snivellus.”
“That grease-monster?” Sirius asked, his face the picture of disbelief. “James, you’re off your rocker.”
“No,” he insisted. “They’ve been together a lot these past few weeks. Not that I’ve noticed or anything,” he added under his breath as he massaged the back of his neck.
“So? They’re friends,” Remus said, reluctant to get into another Snape-and-Slytherin bashing session, which were threatening to become a daily occurrence.
“Friends? With him? I thought they just shared an obscene love for the library.” Sirius shuddered. “Mate, that throws her very sanity into question. You might want to rethink this crush of yours.”
James groaned again. “What does it matter anymore?”
Sirius threw his book down. “Oh, come off it! What happened to James Potter, all-star Chaser? Would he ever get discouraged like this?” he asked, his brows creasing into a frown. “She’s just a girl. Last time I checked, there are plenty more practically lining up to get a little bit of that Potter magic.”
“She’s not ‘just a girl,’ Sirius,” he said, furrowing his own brows, but then his face softened. “But you’re right, I suppose.”
“‘Course I am! Now let’s go eat.” And without another word, they all headed for the portrait hole and down to the Great Hall.
A few hours after dinner, James found himself alone in a corner of the Common Room. Well, he wasn’t entirely alone: Lily was there, but for the attention she was paying him, he might as well have been alone. She had moved on from her crossword puzzle, but was clearly deep into whatever she was working on now. He wanted to talk to her, wanted so badly to, but just couldn’t muster the nerve.
He cleared his throat. No reaction from Lily. He tried again, a bit louder. Still nothing. Time for a different approach. “Hey, uh, Lily?” he asked. She turned her face toward him, though her eyes were still trained on her book. He continued: “Are you working on Herbology right now?”
“No,” she said. “Ancient Runes.”
“Oh, okay.”
More silence. This was impossible! He and Lily never had problems talking to each other when the others were there, but, he realized with a sigh, they had never really had a conversation one-on-one.
“Are you going to work on it anytime tonight?” he tried again.
“No, I’ve finished it.”
She was cutting him no slack. Time to do things the James Potter way. Time to be direct. “Lily,” he started.
“James,” she said with an exasperated sigh, finally raising her eyes from her book, “I’ve done my Herbology. I’ve finished my Transfiguration and my History, too, and I’ve put them all away, so chances are I can’t help you tonight. Find someone else.”
He bristled. “Wow, Lily, no need to jump down my throat.”
She sighed again, but softer. “I’m sorry, James, it’s just that this translation is really hard and I’m pretty tired.” She ran one hand through her thick red hair, and James felt his stomach swoop.
“Fine. It’s just”” he began, then decided not to continue. No need to make her night more stressful.
“It’s just what?” she asked, looking at him, twirling her quill through her fingers.
“Nothing. Never mind. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said as he gathered up his books and made to head for the staircase to the dormitory.
She closed her textbook and sat up straight in her chair, tucking her quill behind one small ear. She pressed her arms into the chair and stretched her back, rolling her neck from side to side. “James, if you don’t tell me what, it’s going to distract me all night, so you might as well come out with it.”
“Really, it’s nothing,” he said, unable to take his eyes off her hair as she brushed a strand behind her ears. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to go with her anymore, if tonight was an accurate projection of how their date would be”she agitated and he dumbstruck. He slung his bag over his shoulder, but he hadn’t even taken a step before she spoke again.
“James!” she implored.
“Fine. Fine. Look,” he said, ruffling his hair, one hand gripping the strap of his bag in an attempt to conceal how his hands were shaking. “I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me, but clearly you’re busy right now, so just… never mind.”
A moment passed. “Oh,” she said softly, looking down at her lap. “Um, that’s really sweet of you.”
“Don’t even bother, Lily, if you’re going to say no. It’s okay. Really.” Have fun with Snivellus, he wanted to shout, but he restrained himself. James didn’t know why, but he felt so angry with her. She hadn’t done anything to deserve it besides snap at him, but she always snapped at him. Tonight, though, he really didn’t want to hear her say no. “Good night,” he muttered, and headed for the stairs, leaving a still-silent Lily behind.
The next day, Remus was perched on a stool in the Secret Greenhouse. The boys were to have their weekly meeting to discuss progress on their Animagi transformations, but they were late. Of course. They had made a few strides, Remus thought, but there was still such a long way to go. Sometimes he doubted if the project would ever happen. But if Sirius, James, and even Peter were anything, they were determined. Remus smiled as he thought back to that night a little more than a year ago when they had made their pact right here in this very greenhouse. Though none of them were anywhere close to being Animagi, Peter’s plants had grown nicely, which was something.
Peter himself opened the door to the greenhouse just then, and stood a bit awkwardly on the threshold for a moment. “Hi, Remus,” he said loudly. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, Peter, how are you?” Remus said slowly, raising one brow in question.
“I’m great, thanks!” Peter was still standing there, holding the door ajar, his words coming out awkwardly”more awkwardly than usual.
“You can come in, you know,” Remus said, gesturing with his hand and nodding at the door. “The Venemous Tentacula isn’t biting just yet.”
Peter gave an unnatural chuckle and stepped in the room. “Right you are, friend!” He walked slowly over to the table and began to check on his plants. “So, Remus,” he said, casting a glance to an empty corner of the room. “Do you like Sirius or James better?”
Remus laughed. “That’s a random question. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason,” Peter said, glancing again at the empty corner again and smiling mischievously. “I just wanted to know. Which one?”
“Why do you keep staring at that corner?” Remus asked, squinting his eyes and peering at Peter.
A nervous laugh escaped Peter’s lips and he spilled a packet of seeds onto the metal table. “Oh, no reason,” he repeated, scooping them nonchalantly back into their packet, though Remus noticed his voice had jumped a few pitches higher.
“No reason, huh?” Remus asked, finally realizing what was going on. “No reason at all? You just happen to keep glancing at that empty corner for no reason, right?”
“Yep! That’s it! No reason,” Peter said, his voice rising higher still. He was now looking at the corner every few seconds.
“So,” Remus began, picking up a trowel from the table and spinning it around in his hand, “If I were to chuck this sharp, pointed trowel directly at that corner, you would have no problem with it?” He raised the trowel over his head and looked inquisitively at Peter, who had now begun to sweat.
“Um,” Peter squeaked, “I guess not! Nope. Throw away!” He twisted his hands furiously in front of him.
“All right, here I go. One... two...”
Remus was almost to three before Sirius and James suddenly appeared in the corner right where he had been aiming. “Okay, you win, Remus!” Sirius said. “You caught us.”
“I am victorious!” Remus yelled, dropping the trowel and pumping his fist into the air.
“Were you really going to throw that thing at us?” James asked, gesturing at the gardening implement glinting menacingly near a group of Puffapods.
“I told you not to sneak up on me in the Invisibility Cloak or you would pay the price, did I not?” Remus smiled brightly.
“Fair enough, fair enough,” James conceded. “We’ll only sneak up on Peter now, I suppose.”
“Hey!” Peter exclaimed. “I helped you with this plan! I was going to get Remus to admit which one of you he liked better.”
“That is true, Pete,” Sirius said, “And we thank you for that, though it would have been an exercise in futility: we all know everyone likes me more. Boys, girls, animals, Puffapods, Pete Pettigrew, you name it.”
“Are you sure about that?” James asked, hopping up onto the counter, a wry smile playing at his lips.
“Yeah, why?” Sirius said, perching himself on a stool and carefully unwinding a vine that had just twirled itself around his arm.
“Well, it’s just that I can think of at least one girl who doesn’t like you more,” he said, his grin positively wicked now.
“Lily doesn’t count, Potter. Everyone knows she and Remus have their ‘special bond,’” he said, using his fingers as quotation marks. “Although, I’m not sure if she even likes you more than she likes me, so I don’t actually see your point.”
“I actually wasn’t talking about Lily,” James said, a bit defensively, though he quickly regrouped. “I was talking about Diana.”
“Oh, were you now?” Sirius scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “Come on, James, she clearly likes me better. In fact, I think I’m going to ask her to Hogsmeade tonight!”
James smirked. “I’m afraid you’ll find that she’s already taken.”
“Yeah, by who?” Sirius was off his stool now, his arms crossed over his chest, the vine creeping slowly back over his shoulder.
“By yours truly, my friend,” James said. He leaned back on his hands and looked at Sirius as if waiting for applause.
Sirius looked angry for a moment, then confused, but then he broke into a smile and punched James on the arm. “Eh, you can have her, Potter. You were right in thinking I should choose Rena Sorenson.”
Remus laughed. “You don’t even care, Sirius?” Sirius shook his head, and Remus followed suit. “Unbelievable, you two. Heaven forbid you’re ever separated. I don’t think you could coexist if you didn’t share everything.”
“That day will never happen,” Sirius said, freeing himself once more from the vine to trap James’s head underneath his arm and ruffle his hair. “There you go, Jamesey-boy! I’ve made your hair just how you like it.”
James laughed and wrestled his way out of Sirius’s grasp. “Just how she likes it, you mean!” He scooted sideways on the countertop as Sirius lunged playfully at him again, missing by a millimeter.
“What happened to Lily?” Remus asked as Sirius and James kept play-fighting. “I thought you were going to ask her?”
“Well, I did,” James said, locking Sirius’s neck under his arm until he cried mercy. Releasing the dark-haired boy, he hopped off the table and turned toward Remus. “I asked her yesterday night.
“And she said no?” Remus was genuinely surprised. He didn’t think Lily actually harbored feelings for James, but he was pretty sure she didn’t like anyone else either, so why not?
“Yep. Don’t really know why,” James said with a shrug, though Remus perceived a faint air of defeat around him.
“Well,” Sirius said, resuming his position on the stool, “I’ve always said that””
“Yeah, yeah, that Diana is prettier than Lily. I know. Prettier, maybe. But not better, Sirius.”
“Just like you and me!” Sirius said, giving James another playful punch on the arm.
“Which one is prettier and which one is better?” Peter asked, looking genuinely interested as he doused his plants with a stream of water from his wand.
“More importantly,” Remus said, not giving the boys the satisfaction of deciding who was prettier, “did Diana ask you to Hogsmeade?”
“She sure did!” James said, his spirits perking up a bit. “Right after I asked Lily, in fact. She cornered me in the Common Room and pretty much demanded that I go with her. It was quite interesting.”
“It always is, my friend,” Sirius said with a noble sigh. “It always is.”
This sent the four of them into a fit of laughter, and it was a full minute before they could even talk about their Animagi progress.
“I guess I’m excited to go,” Lily said as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “I just kind of wish...” She trailed off, and looked down at the table.
Lily and Gwendolyn were sitting together in the Great Hall during one of their free periods. The Hogsmeade visit was just a few days away, and this was the first year that they could go, so naturally the event had been met with some excitement among the third-years. But Lily, seeing the coupling that automatically took place among the older students and reflecting on her own awkward interaction with James, couldn’t help but wish that a certain someone would ask her. Unfortunately, that certain someone happened to be the brother of the certain someone sitting across the table from her right now.
“Kind of wish what?” Gwendolyn asked, checking her translation against her Ancient Runes dictionary.
“Nothing,” Lily said, returning to her own parchment.
“No, tell me!” Gwendolyn said, looking up from her book. “You wish what?” Her signature playful grin was traveling slowly across her face.
Lily couldn’t help but blush: Gwendolyn could read her like a rune. “I wish it was going to be warmer this weekend,” she lied.
Gwendolyn didn’t buy it for a second. “Yeah, right. This is about a boy! Who? Who?”
Lily scoffed. “I can’t believe you think I’m that shallow!” she said, feigning offense.
“Oh, sure, take the high road. I’ll have you know, though, that I remember what you said to me at the beginning of the year,” Gwendolyn said, waving her quill accusingly in Lily’s face.
Lily was genuinely puzzled. “What did I say?”
Gwendolyn batted her eyelashes and twirled her dark blonde curls in a convincing”if not slightly exaggerated”impression of Lily. “‘I don’t know, Gwendolyn... I think third year’s going to be really hard with school and everything. Maybe I shouldn’t even think about boys!’” Gwendolyn dropped her strand of hair and looked at Lily, her mouth twisted into a smirk. “Answer to that, my friend.”
Lily blushed again. Gwendolyn was right: she had said that over the summer. “Well,” she started, wondering how to talk herself out of the situation, “I guess... people change, right?”
“Fair enough. I’ll even believe you if you tell me who you want to ‘change’ for!” There was a momentary pause, then Gwendolyn tentatively asked, “It’s not that Severus Snape, is it?” Her round face didn’t bear a look of judgment, but she certainly seemed cautious.
Lily frowned. “No, it isn’t, but if it was him, would there be anything wrong with that?” She was tired of people always jumping to conclusions about her newfound friendship with Severus, and had expected more from Gwendolyn. Sure, he wasn’t as handsome as James or Sirius, and he paled”quite literally”in comparison to Chadwick, but that hardly made him a bad person. She was beginning to wonder if the friendship was really worth all the hassles it had caused in just a few weeks of existence.
The truth was, she really enjoyed his company. They had spent countless hours huddled together in the library working on the mysterious tablet”whose meaning yet remained elusive”and she found him to be interesting and unashamedly honest”a quality often lacking in her other male friends. Being with Severus was refreshing on many levels. Like Remus, he appreciated her intelligence and wasn’t afraid to interact with her on matters scholarly. True, he offered no substitute for the buoyant enthusiasm of James and Sirius, but at times said buoyancy was grating. Severus was quieter and more reserved, though Lily was almost positive there was something fierce inside him. It scared and fascinated her at once. Still, if she kept encountering judgment at every turn, maybe whatever fierceness there was would never be discovered…
Gwendolyn noticed her friend’s displeased expression and began to backpedal. “No, of course not! It’s just… I don’t know him that well, I guess. I mean, that’s it. Really.”
The matter hung precipitously in the air for a moment before Gwendolyn smiled again. “If it’s not Severus,” she said easily, “who is it?”
“Oh, look at the time!” Lily exclaimed, glancing at her wristwatch. “Free period’s almost over.”
Gwendolyn, who didn’t wear a watch, grabbed Lily’s arm from across the table and twisted it to look at the time. “Liar! We still have two whole minutes, which is plenty of time.”
“I’m not going to tell, Gwendolyn,” Lily said, trying to keep the mood light, though she knew that when Gwendolyn got hooked on an idea, there was hardly anything that could stop her from seeing it through. A trait no doubt enhanced (for better or worse) by the boys...
“Okay, then I’ll start guessing. You’ll have to answer eventually. There are only so many boys at this school!”
“Guess away, Gwendolyn, but I’m not going to confirm.”
“Sirius,” came Gwendolyn’s first guess.
“No, but interesting to see that you thought of him first.” Lily was trying desperately to turn the tables on Gwendolyn.
“Please,” her friend scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. “Sirius is good for a few things in this world, but I think being a boyfriend is almost certainly not one of them.”
Lily raised one eyebrow in disbelief. “Well, I’ll just say that I’m not the only one who has noticed something between you two, so take that as you will.”
“Uh-huh, sure, Lily,” Gwendolyn said, making a ridiculous face and again waving her hand. But Lily noticed a small smile materialize at the corner of her lips as she looked down at the table. Gwendolyn coughed and turned her head back up toward Lily, and her eyes seemed unusually bright. “Next guess: James.”
“Are you just going to go through the boys in our year?” Lily said as she rolled her eyes, though she felt her heart rate speed up. She hadn’t told anyone about James’s botched attempt to ask her to Hogsmeade, not even Remus. She wanted to tell Gwendolyn, but knew that she would never live it down...
“Yes, unless you tell me that he’s in another year,” Gwendolyn said.
“Nope,” Lily responded.
“‘Nope’ as in ‘No, he’s not in another year’ or ‘Nope’ as in ‘No, I’m not going to tell you’?” Gwendolyn asked, her eyes narrowed.
“Well, that’s just for you to figure out, I suppose!” Lily shot back playfully. Anything to avoid talking or thinking about James Potter would be good at this moment.
“Fine, fine,” Gwendolyn said. “But, my dear, how ‘bout a taste of your own medicine: I’m not the only one who has noticed something between you and James.” Gwendolyn’s smile was downright mischievous, with just a touch of superiority.
Lily tried desperately not to blush yet again. Though she, of course, had no designs on James, it was always fun to entertain the idea that someone liked you. On the one hand, when he had asked her the other day, she had to admit that she had let her imagination run free for just the barest of seconds. On the other hand, James had never made any secret of the fact that he was enamored with her, so she should have felt flattered all the time”which she didn’t. Annoyed was the most common feeling, actually. Somehow, the fact that he had actually taken action on his feelings made her even more annoyed. She didn’t like him. She didn’t want to like him. Why had he asked her?
Still, she caught herself feeling just a tiny bit of elation at Gwendolyn’s words. This couldn’t happen! She willed the annoyance take over again. She shook her head vigorously as if to confirm to both herself and Gwendolyn that she didn’t like James. “Wrong, whoever said that,” she said, perhaps a little too forcefully. “Totally, completely, one hundred percent wrong.”
“All right, all right!” Gwendolyn said, throwing her hands up in front of her. “I get the picture. Not James!” Gwendolyn paused, her gaze returning to the table as she idly traced a pattern in the wood. “But if he asked you, would you say yes? Just to have someone to go with?”
Lily almost confessed that he had, in fact, asked her, but she stopped herself in time. “Nope. I already have someone to go with.”
Gwendolyn was confused. “Who?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
“You, silly!” Lily said, sending her sweetest smile across the table.
“Oh, me, you say? How do you know I’m not already going with someone?” Gwendolyn teased, stacking her books and parchment up into a neat pile, then proceeding to shove them all haphazardly into her bag.
“What? Seriously? Who?” Lily demanded, just as they heard the familiar tone signaling the beginning of the next period.
“Saved by the bell!” Gwendolyn said with a laugh as she slung her bag over her shoulder and trotted toward the door, leaving Lily scrambling to catch up in her wake.