Mudblood.
The moment the word comes out of his mouth, she feels like she has been slapped. She almost wonders, childishly, if he has even said it. She prays that he hasn't. She wishes that it is her imagination.
But one look at James Potter's angry face, and she realizes with a horrible sinking feeling that her best friend has, in fact, said it. In that instant, Lily does not know what to do. What are you supposed to do when your best friend calls you a Mudblood? She thinks.
She blinks and says the first thing that comes to her mind, "Fine, I won't bother in the future. I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus." She says this with as much spite as she can muster. But this is Sev, her friend, and spite was something she usually saved for James Potter. Also, the thing is, she is more hurt than she is angry.
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She rushes into her dorm room, her eyes filling up with tears. She crawls into her bed, under her comforter, and waits as the tears flow down her cheeks. She doesn't want to be crying, but the tears keep coming. How could he say it? Severus, who had been her first teacher of magic, who had been her first best friend, who had sat with her through hours of her "Potter-rants"…
"Lily?" Lily looks up to see Dorcas standing near the dorm room's doorway. Dorcas walks in, drops her books on her own bed, and then proceeds onto Lily's. "Oh, Lily," she says softly, wrapping her arms around her friend. Lily lets out a sob, and cries harder.
"I've lost him, Dorcas." Lily says when her sobs subside. "I've lost my best friend."
"No, Lily." Dorcas says. She reaches over and tucks a strand of stray hair behind Lily's ear. "Look at me, Lily." Lily looks up, her big eyes still filled with tears, her cheeks tear-stained. "No. He lost you."
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She feels his gaze on her the entire time she is trying to work on her Charms essay. She wonders, annoyed, if he doesn't have anything better to do. Once or twice she stares back at him, willing him to look away, but she finds that this is useless. He looks away for only a second, embarrassed, but the next second he is back to staring at her again. His Gryffindor tie hangs loosely around his neck, a couple of buttons on his white dress shirt are undone from the top, and the shirt is not tucked into his black pants. His glasses are a little crooked, and his hair is the usual mess. He is looking at her as if he is afraid that she will break down any moment. And she is frustrated by this. He is distracting her from her duties.
When she is finally done with the essay, she gets up, yawning. Dorcas sits across from Lily, working on her own essay, while Mary is at the library working on a Herbology assignment.
"Done already?" Dorcas asks looking up at Lily.
"Yeah, but it isn't my best work." Lily says honestly, glancing over at him to see his gaze not wavering from her. Dorcas follows her friend's eyes, and says –
"You know, he was asking me about you just before you came down the stairs…" Dorcas looks at Lily warily, waiting for her friend to explode. "Wanted to know how you were doing after the… the incident." When Lily doesn't say anything, she goes on to add, "Lily, you do realize that the poor bloke has been eyeing you the whole evening?"
"Nope, haven't noticed." Lily lies casually.
"Well, he has, and it would do you some good to give him some attention."
"And why is that?" Lily asks.
"Because it seems like he won't give up until you do." Dorcas says and then glances behind Lily. "Heads up, Lover-boy is on his way over here."
Lily turns around, and sees him walking towards her.
...
