'Lils! Lils, guess what!'
'What, Alice?' Lily said, turning with irritation. It was late and she only had another two inches to write on her Potions essay. Lily's icy expression melted at the sight of her ecstatic, round faced friend. 'Sorry. I... I'm just tired. What happened?'
If she had been placed in one of the other houses, she would never have met her best friend, Alice Prewett. Alice was a pure-blood witch, and Lily was a muggle-born, but that didn't matter to either of them, and it never had.
'Frank!' the other girl squealed, 'He just asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him this weekend!' In one of the plush armchairs by the fire, Frank, red faced, was beaming at Alice's excitement.
'Oh Alice! That's great!' Lily smiled, but she was already writing again. She was happy for her friend, but she really wanted to finish her essay.
'You don't seem very happy,' Alice muttered, looking put out.
'I am! Alice, I am! It's just... this stupid essay, and I'm nearly finished.' Lily grimaced, 'It's not due until Friday, but I have duty tomorrow night and...' Alice held up a hand.
'Lils, don't you ever think you might be working too hard?'
'Finally, someone who agrees with me!' said a boy, who flopped down onto a chair across from Lily. Alice sighed and walked off. Lily wanted to go with her.
There were only three things that Lily didn't like about Gryffindor; Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. To her annoyance, all three of them were there now.
'I always agree with you Prongs,' said Sirius, a tall boy with long black hair and grey eyes. He looked offended, but the mischievous glint in his eyes told Lily otherwise.
'No, Paddy, you don't. Remember this morning, when I said that I lov...' To Lily's amazement James blushed. 'Never mind.'
'What do you want, Potter?' Lily asked icily.
Sirius waggled a finger, 'Manners, Lillian,' Lily felt her face redden at the use of her full name. 'You didn't say hello to me or Wormy.'
'Hello, Black,' Lily's emerald gaze flicked to Peter, a short watery eyed boy with mousy hair, '...Wormy.' James laughed.
'That wasn't so hard,' Sirius said, looking pleased.
'Paddy,' Sirius and James shared a look. Lily watched, torn between annoyance and amusement as Sirius seized Peter's arm and marched him away from Lily's table.
'What do you want, James?' Shock covered Lily's face when she realised she had called him by his first name. 'I mean Potter.' James' hazel eyes lit up.
'Evans, Evans, Evans... May I call you Lily?' he asked, running a hand through his messy black hair.
'No, you may not,' the girl answered stiffly.
'Oh,' James' almost perpetual smile disappeared. 'Well then...Evans,' Lily hid her surprise at finding he had listened to her. 'I was wondering if...' Lily had a fairly good idea where this was going. James Potter had asked her to go out with him every day since second year. Every day except today. Not that Lily kept count.
'If what?' Lily sighed. She gave up on her essay and looked at him instead.
'If you would accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend? Word of mouth is that Alice is abandoning you.' Lily frowned as she realised he was right. She had been so intent on her homework she had not stopped to consider the implications.
'I don't like you, Potter! How many times do I have to tell you! I realise now that your enormous head cannot possibly be deflated without removing some of your thick skull! Let me make this very clear to you, Potter, I'd rather go alone than with you!' Lily snapped.
'Lies!' Sirius bellowed from across the room. He was, as always, coming to the rescue of his best friend. The few Gryffindors left in the common room looked at him in surprise. Lily did too, and realised she had been yelling.
Head hanging, James shuffled off to the boy's dormitory stairs and disappeared. Lily felt a twinge of guilt, knowing that their Head Boy and Girl duties would likely be uncomfortable tomorrow. She shook her head. How an arrogant toe-rag like Potter had ever been made Head Boy astounded her. She was sure Dumbledore was going senile in his old age.
'Thanks a lot,' Sirius said gloomily, appearing next to her. As far as Lily was concerned, anything that made Sirius upset was a good thing.
'You're welcome,' Lily said pleasantly, 'Though might I ask what I've done?'
'You turned James down. Again. Thanks to you, Remmy, Pete and I will have to listen to Prongs mope for Merlin knows how long.'
'He'll get over it,' Lily said, pulling a strand of her red hair away from her face.
Sirius looked at her for a long moment, before shaking his head slightly and following after James.
