Chapter 1: I hate James Potter
Lily Evans was curled up, cat-like, in a cushy armchair by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. The embers in the fireplace were glowing orange and throwing gentle light across the carpet. Lily sighed, brushed a few stray strands of dark, red hair out of her eyes and closed her textbook with a snap. Stifling an enormous yawn- where did that come from? - she got up from the chair and was walking slowly towards her dormitory when a sharp sound caught her attention. It was the unmistakable clang of the portrait slamming against its frame. Turning, Lily looked wildly around. The room was resolutely empty. Who had caused that noise?
At that moment, there was a flurry of movement on the other side of the common room and Lily found herself staring in confusion at James Potter's disembodied head lying on the rug.
"Pott-?" Lily's questions were silenced before she could get them out. James had launched himself at her, and was now covering her mouth tightly with one hand.
"Evans, you have to stop squirming so much." James whispered urgently. His eyes were pleading with her. Lily frowned at him, but stopped struggling against his grip.
"I should have known that this had something to do with you the minute I…" Lily burst out indignantly the second James ceased to prevent her from speaking. James glared at her, holding a finger to his lips. She rolled her eyes. The sound of the portrait swinging forward on its hinges to admit someone caused them to jump slightly, and James pulled something shimmery and soft over both of their heads. Through the rippling folds of cloth, they watched Filch the caretaker enter the room, a mangy cat at his heels.
"Where did that boy get to? Is he in here?" Filch said gruffly to himself, or perhaps, to the cat. His eyes roved over the common room. "Must've hidden somewhere along the corridor. We'll find him and his accomplices. We'll get them this time." Filch marched back to the portrait-hole and climbed through it.
"James Potter! What the hell was that about?" Lily exploded, breaking free of James' hold and whirling to face him, hands on hips.
James looked at Lily, grinning sheepishly. "I-" he started, but Lily cut him off, eyeing the silvery material crumpled up by his feet.
"And when did you get an invisibility cloak?"
"I've had it since first year. My Dad gave it to me." He trailed off, examining his shoes. James seemed relieved to be answering an inquiry unrelated to the incident that had just occurred. Maybe she won't ask anything else…
"Well! Explain yourself! What did you do?" The petite redhead glowered up at him. Despite that fact that James was almost a foot taller than her, he found that Lily could be quite intimidating when she wanted to be.
"We… The Marauders, that is... we reckoned it'd be pretty amusing if we let a niffler loose in Filch's office…" He tried to say this as quietly as possible, as if that might make the coming reprimand softer, too.
"Oh, you did, did you? Did you have to do it at two in the bloody morning?" She demanded. Before James could begin to answer her, she spoke again. "Why couldn't you have just let me go to bed, James? Was it really necessary to…ambush… me like that?" Her voice was no longer raised; her tone was weary. She sighed heavily for the second time, threw James one last withering look, and headed once more towards the dormitory stairs.
"I had to! He would've questioned you! And you'd have told him about the portrait opening and closing. Filch would've known I was here!" James called after her, finally finding his voice. But it seemed that Lily had had enough of James for one night. She pointedly ignored him, disappearing around the curve of the steps, her head held high, eyes averted from the common room.
James scowled and sank into the same chair Lily had so recently occupied, trying hard to stay angry with her. However, all he could think of was how nice it had been to be so close to her, even if it was only for a few moments. He shook himself mentally. Stop thinking about her!
James was sleeping soundly when Remus, Sirius and Peter tumbled through the portrait hole early the next morning.
"James, m'boy, excellent job luring Filch away from the scene of the crime!" Sirius said, patting a groggy James on the back heartily.
"Yeah- the look on Filch's face was priceless!" Peter added. James opened his eyes, taking in the sunlight streaming in the windows.
"Is it… breakfast time?" James asked disconcertedly, scratching his head and blinking.
"You bet it is!" Sirius answered. With that, Sirius bounded back out into the corridor and towards the Great Hall, dragging the other three boys with him.
Meanwhile, in the sixth year girls' dormitory, Lily and one of her roommates slept on. The third girl, one Imogene Ashbridge, was already awake and showered. Imogene combed out her long, blond hair and hummed softly to herself. A particularly loud snore coming from Zooey Reid's bed caused her to smile slightly. She glanced at the clock. Almost 8 a.m. An earsplitting alarm shook the silence just as the minute hand clicked into place. Zooey sat straight up in bed and wrenched open the hangings.
"Imogene! Did you have to turn up the volume thatmuch?" She yelled, exasperated. A single curl bounced into her face. Zooey hastily pushed it away, but it flopped back. Zooey's eyes blazed as she held the unruly ringlet flat against her head with her palm. Imogene giggled. Zooey attempted to keep a straight face, but failed completely, bursting into laughter.
"Hey…Why isn't Lily awake yet?" Zooey asked Imogene as she slid out of bed. Lily was usually the second one up. Imogene shrugged, and continued to comb her hair. Zooey strode purposefully over to Lily's bed, and pulled the hangings aside.
"Lily?" Lily's breathing remained steady and she did not answer. "Oh my god! She slept through that noise!" Zooey exclaimed in surprise. "Lily! Lily, wake up!" Zooey shook Lily's shoulder gently. Lily's eyes opened slowly. "Just a few more minutes..." She said sleepily, yawning.
"And why are you so tired?" Zooey inquired innocently.
"It was Potter. Stupid Potter." Lily mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
"James kept you up all night?" Zooey asked, raising an eyebrow. Lily nodded. Zooey and Imogene exchanged a knowing look across the room.
"I hate him!" Lily burst out suddenly. "I hate James Potter!"
The girls had been at breakfast for ten minutes or so when the post owls appeared over their heads. None of them paid the owls much attention; they hardly ever received mail, aside from the occasional note from their parents. They watched with interest as two owls swooped down on James, one landing on his plate and the other knocking over his orange juice. These were quickly joined by three more owls. Within five minutes, ten letter-bearing owls had converged on the table in front of James. The scene was attracting curious stares from around the hall, but James looked just as bewildered as everyone else. Cautiously, he untied the first letter off of the owl currently sitting on his plate, and tore it open slowly. Onlookers craned their necks to watch as James unfolded the letter, read the first line, and all color drained from his face.
Chapter 2: