LISTEN
"Bloody Potter, bloody Black!"
"What is it this time, Lily?"
A red-headed girl in black robes flopped face-down on her bed, all but ignoring her friend who sat just across from her, book-in-hand. A muffled yell into the pillow did not, unfortunately, answer the question, and Lily's poor friend was forced to ask once again.
"I said," Lily answered reproachfully after lifting her head off the pillow, "I was trying to talk to Remus and they kept ragging on me!"
"Ah," said the friend wisely. He name was Emmeline Vance, a very quirky girl with a good ear for music and a better one for listening. She had a vague idea of what would come next.
"I mean, just because I have my differences with Potter and Black doesn't mean I can't be friends with Remus, right? It's not like they own him! And they don't care if I talk to Peter!"
"Maybe they just want to…" Emmeline trailed off, at a loss for what Potter's intentions actually were.
"Sirius usually isn't that bad, anyway. It's James that needs to keep his ego in check." Lily turned over, spread her arms out wide and stared at the ceiling blankly. "Oh, who am I joshing? This isn't going anywhere. Remus is my friend and they can't do squat about it."
"Amen."
"Although," Lily theorized, "I could get Remus to be angry at them. For bothering me, you know."
"But," Emmeline countered, setting her book down, "Do you really want to put Remus in that position? It could strain everyone's friendship, and that's probably exactly what the boys are worried about."
"You're right, of course -"
"Evaaans!"
Lily scowled, refusing to sit up and glance down the stairs. "Listen to that, Emmeline. It's another annoying toerag by the name of James Potter."