“Are you sure he’s still being stalled by that first year?” Remus called over to Peter, who was crouched over the Marauder’s Map. Remus was leaning over Sirius’s shoulder, watching as the grey-eyed Marauder scribbled a letter on a piece of parchment.
“Still being stalled, but I think you will only have ten more minutes, max,” Peter called back, watching the Map like his life depended on it.
“No, no, no!” Remus yelled at Sirius. “We’re trying to get James a date with a girl that’s good for him, not trying to hook you up with a girl to snog!” He ripped the paper up and pushed Sirius out of the desk. “What was I thinking, asking Sirius to write a thoughtful, kind-of-person-a-Lily-like-girl-would-want-to-date letter?” Remus muttered as he sat down to write the letter himself. “He doesn’t know how to be thoughtful! He couldn’t be thoughtful if his life depended on it!” He finished writing the letter, and tossed it over to Sirius, who scanned it before nodding.
“You were right, Remus. Much better then mine!” he said, bouncing on the bed.
“Let me see it!” Peter said, scrambling over to them. Remus and Sirius looked at each other. There were sometimes when they realized just how rat-like Peter was, and it threw them for a loop every time. Suddenly there were footsteps on the stairs.
“He’s coming! Peter, why weren’t you watching the bloody map?” Sirius whisper-shouted.
“How could I? I was over here with you guys!” Peter whined. Sirius only glared, and stuffed the letter under the bed. When James came in, the other Marauders were sitting on Remus’s bed, playing Exploding Snap, calm as could be. At least, Remus and Sirius were calm. Peter was looking extremely guilty.
“What’s up with him?” James asked, motioning toward Peter, who was sitting completely upright on the bed, an odd expression on his face.
“Something at lunch disagreed with him,” Sirius lied smoothly. “We’ll take you down to the Hospital Wing, Wormtail. Come on, Moony. We’ll see you in Transfiguration, James!” The last part was shouted, because they were halfway down the stairs by that time.
****
“Got the fireworks, Wormtail? You know what to do, right?” Remus said, looking nervous. He hated to break the rules in McGonagall’s class, because she was downright scary when she was mad, but since this was to help James, he was forcing himself to overcome his nervousness.
Peter nodded and patted his bag, where their means of distraction was located.
“Okay, let’s go over Operation Get James Over Lily one more time,” Sirius said quickly. They only had a few minutes before James showed up. The Marauders bent their heads as Sirius quickly went over the assignments. Then the bell rang and they went into class.
****
“This is the right book, isn’t it?” Sirius whispered to Remus. They were hovering over a desk in the Transfiguration classroom. The rest of their classmates were up at the front of the room, staring at the fireworks soaring around McGonagall.
“Yeah, the blonde Ravenclaw was sitting over here and looking through it at the beginning of class. Let’s just put the letter in here,” Remus said, looking nervous. Sirius put it in the middle of the book, sticking it up a little at the top. The bell rang as they were walking back to their seats, and all the students rushed out to dinner. The blonde, however, lingered, and to Sirius and Remus’s horror, gave the Transfiguration book to a tall Ravenclaw. She was talking, and they strained to catch her words.
“Thanks for letting me borrow your book, Kevin,” she seemed to be saying.
“No problem,” he said, blushing. The blonde walked away, and Kevin looked in a daze for a few moments before he snapped himself out of it. Sirius and Remus watched, wondering whether he would find the letter or not. They never found out, because Kevin left the room, and James walked back in, wondering what was taking them so long.
****
As Kevin walked towards the Ravenclaw Common Room, he encountered a trick step, and because his thoughts were so caught up with Lisa, he tripped. His books slipped everywhere, including his Transfiguration book. The letter slipped out of his book and lay forgotten on a step, where it lay until the next person who was caught in the step would pick it up.
***
Lily headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, her head buried in an Ancient Runes textbook, but her mind dwelling on the scene at dinner. What had Severus been thinking? I haven’t talked to him in two years, and he hadn’t seemed that bothered by it, so why was he suddenly talking to me now? Surely he didn’t think that I’d forgive him, not after all this time! Sev was smarter than that! So why was he trying to talk to me? She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the trick step until it was too late. She was stuck.
What a funny picture she must have made, stuck in a step up to her waist, her legs dangling down. “Help!” she cried, but felt it was futile. After all, everyone else was at dinner. The Ancient Runes textbook lay a few feet away, and she glared at it, even though her thoughts for the last few minutes had been far from Ancient Runes. ‘Stupid Ancient Runes, stupid Sev, stupid trick step. Why couldn’t I have waited with Leah and Char? They wouldn’t have taken very long, maybe ten or fifteen minutes, and then I wouldn’t have been stuck in the step. Why did I have to go rushing out of there like a maniac, just because a guy spoke to me? Granted, this was Sev, not just any guy, but still, I didn’t need to react that way.’
She continued her mental rant for a few minutes, enjoying the self-indulgence of blaming her problems on others, when a folded piece of parchment caught her eye. She picked it up, figuring that it might be something interesting, but if it wasn’t, then it was probably someone’s homework, and she could do them a favor by returning it. Lily opened it to find a very unusual letter.
Dear whoever is reading this,
Hopefully this is a girl. If it’s a guy, please pass this to the nearest girl, and stop reading immediately, because this could get a little awkward.
This is a girl now, I trust? Good. Now, onto the real point of this letter. I’m a nice guy, whose looking for a nice girl to go out with. The problem is, I’m shy. Every time I try to ask a girl out, I freeze up and usually stutter some nonsense syllables. So I’m trying a new approach.
I’m leaving a letter trail. Every letter will have a random fact about me, and will lead you on to the next letter. After ten letters, it will tell you a time and a place to meet me. Sound good so far?
Here’s the catch. You’ve got to write letters back. You also have to tell me a random fact about yourself, and leave the letter in a place that I tell you.
Interested? If you are, please leave a letter under the big willow tree near the lake.
I’m a nice guy, I promise you, but I’m unlucky in love. I hope you give me a chance and leave a letter under the tree.
See you soon…I hope,
Anonymous
Her jaw dropped open. What was she going to do now?
Finding Someone New by LilyGinnyWrites92
Chapter Notes: Thanks to my betas, jenny b and voldy_mort!
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