Solidarity
By Kimmy
Summary: In the midst of war, Dumbledore calls for "a show of solidarity among the authority figures of Hogwarts." James Potter tries to get Head Girl Lily Evans to cooperate.
Author's note: Well, it's been a while. This is going to a multi-chapter story, though it won't extend past 4 chapters. It will most likely end in 3. We'll see. You know how it goes. Anyhow, here it is, hope you enjoy!
Earlier that day, Dumbledore had stood at the head of the table in the Prefects' meeting room, unusually grave in the midst of fresh Death Eater attacks, and called for "a show of solidarity among the authority figures of Hogwarts."
There had been too many fights breaking out because of the tension of the war, he said, even among individuals of the same house, and it was a duty of the prefects, Head students, teachers, and staff to set an example for the students.
At this point, he had met the eyes of James Potter and Lily Evans over his spectacles. Quietly, he said, "I don't believe I need to remind you, Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, that this is an especially important task for the Head Students. There will always be younger ones watching you for cues concerning how to act, and you must learn to shoulder that burden with grace." His eyes focused pointedly on the three feet of tense space between them. Then he looked again at both of them. "Do you understand me?"
James Potter had understood very well. In fact, he had been trying to "shoulder that burden with grace" for three weeks prior to Dumbledore's meeting, but the new Head Girl had just brushed him off every time he approached her to call a truce.
She had done a splendid job of avoiding him, considering they were technically supposed to be working together, until Dumbledore had called them out on their inaction. After the meeting, perhaps shamed sufficiently to overcome whatever it was that was driving her to walk out of a room whenever he walked in, she took a seat in front of him at dinner.
"Hello," she said, staring down at the empty plate in front of her and folding her hands in her lap.
James stopped chewing on his chicken leg in surprise. "Hello," he said, after a pause. "Are you not hungry or something?"
She looked up, but only to the dishes on the table. "Not right now," she mumbled. Then she looked down at her hands.
James was not used to this Lily Evans. He was used to the vivacious Lily, the one who laughed readily and spoke loudly and was ready at a moment's notice to turn her wand on him if he stuck a toe out of line. But that Lily was not the Lily in front of him. This Lily wouldn't even turn her eyes on him, much less her wand, and though her eyes would in all probability contain some barely-concealed rage if she raised them up to his, he still had to admit he'd rather have that than this fraction of a Lily.
He put his chicken down and wiped his hands. Then he kicked her shin under the table and watched as she jumped in surprise and finally met his eyes in a stunning glare. "Potter - !" she started, but then seemed to think better of continuing. She settled for twisting her mouth into a scowl.
He smiled charmingly. "You really should eat, y'know."
The Head Girl seemed to struggle with her words, her eyebrows lifting and furrowing as unknown thoughts spun through her head. Then she gave up, heaving a large sigh. She wouldn't look at him anymore. "Yes, well," she said tiredly, "I'm not hungry." She stood and then threw an unexpectedly soft, "Good night," over her shoulder as she walked away.
James frowned after her. She had been all sorts of strange ever since they'd returned to school, but by far the most alarming part of her newfound strangeness was the fact that she couldn't seem to make up her mind as to whether she despised him or not.
They had owled each over the course of the summer; sending letters lighthearted and full of inquiries about each other's lives - one of Sirius's better plans, James had to admit, though one which hadn't planned for what would happen when the time for letter-writing was over.
The newly-appointed Head Boy had returned to school with a confident spring in his step, believing like he never had before that this year would be the year he would finally get Lily to look at him as something other than a spoiled prat. Her last letter had given him cause to be hopeful, as she wrote, "I find that I'm really looking forward to working with you, James."
But when he'd stumbled across her on the Hogwarts Express, she'd only blushed and ducked her head before hurrying past him. At the start-of-term feast, she'd sat as far away from him as possible, and when Dumbledore had introduced the pair of them as the year's Head Students, she'd avoided his eyes completely.
And it was just like that that the first delicate threads of a friendship had broken, because it seemed Lily felt the exact opposite of what she had told him in her letter. Disappointed, but still acknowledging that he had responsibilities as Head Boy to fulfill, he tried to speak with her on numerous occasions, if only to establish a working relationship.
All attempts had failed, and this dinner's conversation had been the first words she'd spoken to him in the month they'd been back at Hogwarts. And they weren't exactly earth-shattering words. Though James did have to wonder about the peculiar way she had bid him a good night.
He sighed heavily, not unlike Lily had done only a few minutes prior. Then he pushed his plate away and followed Lily's path back to Gryffindor tower.
It was the next morning at breakfast that he found himself puzzling over how exactly to give the school the "show of solidarity" that it needed when Lily didn't seem to want to cooperate. He was chewing contemplatively on his third piece of toast when Lily herself appeared in front of him again.
"Hello," she said once more, settling herself in before loading up her plate with eggs. That was all she seemed to want to say.
James exchanged a confused glance with Sirius to his right, whose eyebrows had risen into his hairline. After a while, James ventured a curious, "Hello," as well.
Lily waved her fork in acknowledgment. She kept eating and wouldn't look at him.
The Head Boy decided to try and prompt a little conversation. "So what did you think of Dumbledore's speech yesterday?" he asked, feigning casualness as he buttered another piece of toast.
Lily was doing the same. She was really speeding through breakfast, James noticed. "Well," she started, putting down her knife and taking a bite. "He's right, of course." And then she finally met his eyes and gave a small smile.
The first smile of the year, James noted with victory. He returned the smile, then asked, "Is that why you've been sitting with me, then?"
She stopped chewing. "Well," she said, blinking. "Yes, I guess so." Then a small shock seemed to jump through her. "I mean, yes, of course." She dabbed her napkin at her mouth, and then stood in a great hurry. She smiled again, though in a distracted manner, then offered a rushed, "Well, see you," before grabbing up her book bag and leaving in a decidedly faster way than she had entered.
The two boys watched after her. Sirius shook his head slowly. "You've finally driven her mad, Prongs," he said sympathetically.
James looked at her full plate of eggs and bacon, the half-eaten toast, and had to agree.
Potions was not James's best subject, but even his less-than-stellar knowledge of concoctions could tell him what it was that made his knees buckle upon breathing in the air of the dungeon.
"Amortentia," Professor Slughorn crowed when a number of students exclaimed at the scent. "Takes on the smell of the things that you love." He winked at Lily, who was just entering the room. James noted in admiration the pink that tinged her cheeks when the fragrance wafted around her. He wondered what it was that she smelled, and whether that was too personal to ask her the next time she came around for a show of solidarity.
She sat at the table in front of him and then swept a hand over her eyes as if she were tired. As James watched, Lily's lab partner leaned in to whisper loudly, "You okay?" Lily murmured something that James couldn't hear, but her friend's smirk as she leaned back told James that perhaps Lily was not so much tired as affected by the Amortentia.
As the last of the students filed in, Slughorn took his place, beaming over the cauldron of pearlescent liquid. "Amortentia," he said again, obviously enjoying immensely the effect it had on the classroom, "The most powerful love potion ever made." He took a great whiff and sighed. "Takes on the scent of the things we love most powerfully, and I can see just by the looks on your faces that you've already figured that out. Why, Miss Evans here looks very troubled!" He chuckled and peered into Lily's face, who, as best as James could tell, was trying and failing to look nonchalant. Slughorn winked. "Would you be so kind as to tell us what you smell, Miss Evans?"
Lily laughed nervously. "I – well, with all due respect, Professor, I'd rather not say…"
This seemed to amuse the Potions professor. "Ohoho, seems like a big secret she's keeping! But let's not embarrass her, eh?" The class laughed.
James was remarking to himself that Lily already seemed plenty embarrassed when Slughorn turned to him with a jovial bounce. "Mr. Potter, what about you?" and if James wasn't already stupefied by the potion vapors, he was most certainly so now.
"Er."
The class laughed again at James's less-than-intelligent answer, but Slughorn was not to be deterred. "Come now, my boy, you're not going to get off as easy as Miss Evans!"
James grappled with the answer, for he most certainly knew what he smelled, but wasn't sure he should say it out loud, what with Lily already having been put on the spot. He opened his mouth, not quite sure what was going to come out -
"No need to ask, Professor," Sirius interrupted, clapping James hard on the back in mock-affection, "We already know what he loves, eh?"
Sirius's charm had won Slughorn over a long time ago, and he laughed loudly. "Oh, of course, of course! Silly of me to ask! We all know Mr. Potter loves – "
"Treacle Tart!" Sirius said smoothly, effectively sending the class into stitches because they all knew James hated Treacle Tart.
As James chuckled good-naturedly, he could see that the only person not laughing was Lily Evans.
After class, Lily dashed out faster than she had done at breakfast. James and Sirius, the former obviously put-out by the events that had transpired, went to the hospital wing to visit Remus. He was sitting up playing Exploding Snap with Peter. "Hello, you two," he said, then upon seeing James's gloomy expression, added drily, "Yes, I'm glad to see you, too, Prongs."
Sirius heaved a dramatic sigh. "Sorry, Moony, Prongs has been a bit distracted by the lovely Evans recently. Wormtail, I say, that's a good look you've got going on there."
The cards had exploded right as Peter drew the cards closer to his face to hide an amused smirk. His fringe was now smoking, and he was decidedly less chipper. "What's going on now, then, with Evans?"
Remus handed Peter a glass of water to put himself out. "She still avoiding you, then?"
"No, she's – "
"Still ignoring you, then?"
"No, she's actually talking to me now. She's just been a little…"
"Loopy," Sirius supplied, helping himself to some of Remus's chocolate. "She's finally gone mad."
"What does he mean, Prongs?" Remus asked mildly.
James opened a box of Every Flavor Beans and choked on a combination of ear wax, dirt, and cabbage. "Ugh, dammit, I hate Bertie's," he grumbled, and finally, "She won't look at me when she talks to me."
"At least she's talking to you," Peter ventured. "Better than where you were two weeks ago."
The Head Boy shrugged. "Not really…I don't even know if she even wants to be talking to me, or if she's just trying to put up a "show of solidarity" like Dumbledore wants." As much as he didn't like her not speaking to him, he found that he disliked even more the idea of her doing it when she didn't want to. "I don't want her to feel forced to talk to me."
"That's very mature of you, Prongs," Remus said approvingly.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "After you're done growing up," he interrupted, "You should just go and find out what's going on."
"And how do you propose I do that?" James asked.
Sirius waggled his eyebrows at James's book bag. "Don't you have something in there that could help out…?"
Remus groaned. "Merlin help me. Wormtail, wake me up when they're out of detention."
And that ends chapter 1! I've already gotten chapter 2 written, but I want to get a little further in chapter 3 before I post it up. Remember to review! I'm an English major, so I run on words. :D
