Disclaimer: Rowling is the genius.
Note: Written for Prompt 188 on the hpfanfictionprompts Tumblr.
"You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."
"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on . . . Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."
"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid, " said Lily.
It certainly seemed like the beginning of any other day.
Slytherins walking upstairs from the dungeons, fifth-year Ravenclaws studying during breakfast, a scattering of Hufflepuffs at their own table, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew charming the suits of armor on the third floor to swear every time a teacher walked past...
It certainly seemed like the beginning of any other day.
But it certainly wasn't – at least, not for Lily Evans.
She woke to Mary poking her head through the crimson bed hangings.
"Lily, you really should get up."
She groaned and rolled onto her stomach, burying her head in her pillow.
"I don't want to go downstairs," she said, though it sounded more like, "Mmphwannaohstairs," to Mary.
"I have no idea what you just said, but we have the History of Magic O.W.L. in an hour and you need to eat something beforehand."
Mary received no response.
"Fine. I didn't want to do this. Marley! Come help me!" she called.
Marlene appeared at Mary's shoulder, smirking.
"Time for Lily-kins to awake, eh? On the count of three, then, Mary. One, two, three – "
Lily let out a yelp as her sheets were yanked from underneath her, sending her crashing to the cold floor on the other side of the bed.
Mary and Marlene leaned over the bed and smiled at her, looking pleased with themselves.
"Really?" cried Lily incredulously.
"Really," said Marlene. "If that's all you needed, Mary, I'm going to head down to breakfast. I'd better see you down there soon, Lily." She left the dormitory, grabbing her book bag on her way.
Mary turned back to her redheaded roommate, who was now attempting to crawl under the bed.
"Evans, don't you dare!"
The girl sprawled on the floor stopped moving and slowly turned her head to direct a glare at Mary.
"Oh, don't give me that look. You know as well as I do that you can't stay up here all day. You can't hide from everyone forever. You're being absolutely ridiculous." Mary sighed and perched herself on the end of Lily's bed as Lily herself stood and started gathering pieces of her school uniform.
"Well, I didn't say anything about forever, did I? Just until the term ends and we all go home, just a week. Definitely not forever, last time I checked," Lily muttered.
"Lily Evans."
"Alright, alright," Lily sighed, buttoning her shirt and pulling her robes over her head.
It took her but a few moments to collect her books and find a pair of matching shoes. The two girls were about to leave the dormitory when Marlene burst back through the door, face flushed, curly hair flying. Her eyes widened when she saw them heading for the door and she looked around wildly, as if asking for help. The room was empty, of course, except for Mary and Lily, as their two other roommates were already at breakfast. Marlene threw her arms out, blocking the door with her body.
"Um . . . Marley? You doing okay?" Mary inquired with a bemused look at her friend.
"Yes. I'm fine, fine and dandy. Absolutely grand, actually. Nothing's wrong. How are you two? What do you think of just skipping breakfast? We can just stay up here. Study for History of Magic, have a nice chat, you know," Marlene said in one breath, her panicked expression never wavering.
Lily crossed her arms and said, "You're babbling, McKinnon. Tell me what's happening downstairs and why you don't want us to see it or I will march down there faster than you can say Gryffindor. "
Marlene opened her mouth to respond then, seeming to think better of it, closed it. "Really, Lily, you don't want to know. Not after all the drama yesterday. Trust me, alright? Just this once, you can skip breakfast, Lil'. Please?"
Mary scowled. "After all I did to get her out of bed and looking decent, you want her to skip breakfast for no good reason? She's going."
She put a hand on Lily's shoulder and started to steer her past Marlene, who was obviously in the midst of a great internal struggle.
Mary and Lily were nearly to the top of the stairs leading to the common room when they heard –
"Yesterday you said you'd rather go out with the squid than James – sorry, Potter."
Lily turned back to Marlene so fast that the tips of her red hair hit Mary in the face.
"Yeah, I did, and I meant it," said Lily, scowling. "Why are we talking about this?"
"Potter's in the Entrance Hall and . . . he's dressed as the Squid, Lily."
Mary winced.
"He's what?"
"Giant Squid," squeaked Marlene.
"I'm going to kill him."
Marlene nodded weakly.
"Dear Merlin, you have got to be kidding me."
"I told you."
"Go out with me, Evans?"
Author's Note: That was immensely fun to write. It's a little shorter than I would have preferred it to be. Sorry about that. Leave me some feedback if you read, please! Negative or positive, I truly don't mind. I'd love to hear anything you have to say.
Until next time,
- mckinnoned
(and of course, full credit to J. K. Rowling for the first section in italics.)