a/n. So, here we go. My FiRsT oFfIcIaL pOsTeD fIc! I'm stretching my creative and compositional muscles with this story. I hope to become a better writer as this goes on, so bear with me.
Disclaimer: WHOHOO!!!! My first disclaimer!!! Well Mr.Disclaimer, i shall embrace you now, but i know that as this story goes on i shall come to hate your constant monotony. So let us enjoy the happy times we spend together, before we are ripped apart by hate. I do not own any part of the Harry Potter universe. I only own this plot.
Striding quickly down the corridor, Lily was completely absorbed in her thoughts.
Lessons, homework assignments, and prefect duties all floated whimsically around in her head. She turned a corner, absentmindedly flipping her hair over her shoulder, and who should she see but James Potter and Sirius Black, talking in hushed tones near a statue of a one-eyed witch.
Lily's eyes narrowed. They were out of bed after hours, and bound to be up to something. But when were they not. As designated troublemakers, Potter and Black were always making mischief in one way or another. Sometimes accompanied by Peter Pettigrew and even Lily's fellow Gryffindor prefect, Remus Lupin, they caused catastrophes around every corner. Whether it was pranking the younger students or hexing the Slytherins, their pandemonium reigned the halls, and Lily hated them for it. Well, she did not completely hate all of them. Peter, she hated but took pity on (she supposed his so-called friends forced him into a lot of things). Black, she hated but sometimes she was slightly amused by him (he was rather witty). Remus and Potter were different. Remus she respected and Potter she loathed. Puffed up, stupid, Quiddich star Potter with a head the size of a goal hoop. Oh, she loathed him, all right. From the top of his scruffy head to the tips of his scuffed up sneakers. And he and Black were going to pay for whatever rubbish they were up to now.
"What are you two doing?" she called, her brow furrowed as she headed toward them.
Their heads snapped up, and Lily saw their eyes widen in panic. However, by the time she had taken another step, their panic had been replaced a cool casualty that didn't fool Lily a bit. James stuck his right hand in his pocket, using his left to rumple up his black hair, with a bored, arrogant demeanor. Sirius leaned nonchalantly against the statue, his dark hair falling into his eyes, while giving Lily an appraising sort of look.
"What do you want, Evans?"
"I want to know what your doing." said Lily coolly.
"We're standing," Sirius sneered, "sorry, didn't know that was against the rules now."
Lily put her hand on her hip. "Real funny, Black. You and Potter better tell me why you're out so late."
"Who are you to tell us what we'd better do?" said James.
Lily crossed her arms and drew herself up to her full height, "I'm a prefect, Potter!" she said simply,
"And a prig" muttered Sirius.
James laughed, "But a pretty prig, Padfoot."
"Don't you try and flatter me, Potter."
"Why not?" James raised an eyebrow, "are you so afraid of dating that you don't even accept compliments now?"
"I'm not afraid, Potter" Lily said defiantly.
"Could've fooled me," said Sirius under his breath, but Lily heard him.
"I'm not afraid of dating!" she said, louder.
"Then why don't you date, Evans?" James smirked, "your not a les-"
"Shut your bloody mouth, Potter!" snarled Lily, "I have my own reasons for not dating,
and it's not because I'm afraid!"
"Then why don't you go out with me, Evans?" said James quickly, "Go on, prove you're not afraid."
Lily laughed in his face. "One date with you, Potter, and I would be terrified of dating. Now, tell me why you're out of bed."
James looked slightly upset with Lily's answer, but something that Lily couldn't quite identify quickly replaced the hurt in his eyes. "The real question, Evans, is why are you out of bed?"
"Yeah," added Sirius "what is a charming young Prefect, such as yourself doing wandering the corridors at this time of night?"
"If you must know," said Lily, gritting her teeth "I was patrolling the corridors with… Marcus Lorring." It cost Lily something to say this. She knew she was just handing them ammunition. Marcus Lorring was a Ravenclaw Prefect with whom she had been assigned patrol duty. He had been ardently chasing her for several years now. Just that night had tried to make an advance on her.
'Really, Lily,' Marcus had said while trying to pin her up against the wall, 'I'm just what a beautiful girl like you needs. I can give you all you've ever wanted in a relati-'
Then Professor McGonagall had rounded the corner at the opposite end of the corridor, and Marcus had jumped away from her. The Professor had and told them that their patrol was over, and Lily had practically leapt with relief. Under normal circumstances, Lily would have done patrol duty with Remus, but he was absent from school. Apparently, his mother was ill again.
"Really?" said James, and as Lily came back to the present, she finally recognized the look in James' eyes, malice. She could see the ideas rolling in his head. "Perhaps you were out on a late-night snogging session with Mr.Lorring?"
"Ah, no!" Sirius moaned, feigning disappointment, "you should have told me, Evans! I'd have liked to see old Marcus finally get his wish."
"No doubt you'll get another chance, mate" said James slyly, "Evans doesn't date, so she has to satisfy herself somehow. I've always known that Evans was a-"
"I'd stop right now if I were you, James Potter." Lily's voice remained cool, though it shook slightly. Her emerald eyes blazed, and she had her wand out now.
Sirius raised and eyebrow. "What are you going to do, Evans? Hex us?"
"You might loose your precious prefects badge for that, Evans" sneered James, but there was no trace of a smile on his face. He glanced apprehensively at her wand.
"Empty your pockets," said Lily viciously. She had lost her patience now. Her dark red hair seemed to crackle with intensity as she glared at the two boys in front of her. She had simply been on her way back to the common room, when she had run smack into these idiots, who refused, as always, to tell her what in Merlin's name they were doing, and instead taunted her about whatever stupid thing came into their stupid heads. She had had it with their schemes and pranks. She was taking whatever it was they were planning on making havoc with next. Hopefully it would be enough to get them expelled.
"What?!" said James, his eyebrows vanishing into his pell-mell hair.
An unexplainable hatred suddenly shot through Lily's veins. So stupid arrogant Potter was also deaf? She drew back her arm, almost as though it belonged to someone else, and slapped him. His head was whipped around with the force of her blow. He quickly turned back to face her, but she grabbed a handful of his robes and pulled him toward her, so that they were almost nose-to-nose.
James looked down at the bunch of his robes enclosed in Lily's fist, and a smirk spread across his face.
"Just can't get enough of me, can you?"
"I've had enough of you, Potter."
And Lily spat straight in James Potter's face.
"Turn out your pockets!" Lily said as she thrust James away from her. "Hand over everything you carrying, Potter! You too, Black!"
James just stared at her for a moment, his face red where she had slapped him, her spit glimmering on his cheek. Then he looked at Sirius. For a long moment they just stood there, the torchlight flickering on their faces, Lily's features screwed up with anger, James' mouth slightly open, and Sirius' eyebrows drawn into one long line. Then James and Sirius seemed to silently decide something, because with a sudden rustle after the long silence, they reached into their pockets, pulled out everything they had, and handed it, mutely, to Lily.
She took it all, including something silvery white from James. She made no further examinations however, merely stuffed it all into her bag, turned on her heel, and stormed away, her footsteps echoing down the hall.
The nerve of those two, thought Lily as she hurried back to the common room. But even as she raged about them in her head, she knew that they weren't the only reason she was angry. Her day had not been easy, days in sixth year rarely were, and the incident with Lorring had been just enough to set her on edge. Then Potter and Black had to come and hit her when she was down. Stupid idiots, teasing her about things they knew would rile her up. The ways they mocked and hinted had brought out a very ugly part of her. A part she would like to just forget.
The fact was that Lily Evans was very self-conscious about her non-existent love life. It wasn't that no one would date her, no. She was pretty, and popular, so she had no lack of male attention. But Lily's high standards, combined with the fact that she didn't really want to date, made dates with Lily Evans rare. Sure, she accepted the occasional date, but these tended to be so filled with attempts to beguile her, that things never progressed into an actual relationship. Yes, there had been that one time last year when she had gone on a total of four dates with the dashing seventh year, Frank Longbottom. But she had never really felt anything for him, and soon after their forth date, he had politely asked her to end their relationship, on account of his feelings for a close friend of his, Alice Baker. Lily hadn't had anything in the relationship department since then, and as she was rather popular, she received no less then heaps of ridicule about this fact. People loved to gossip about the perfect prefect Lily Evans and her many dark secrets. But it was wise for the gossip prone to watch their backs, for if Lily happened to catch wind of the latest theory about her love life, her temper (which was always on tenterhooks) tended to crack. Fur would usually fly, and most likely a passing first year would end up with a loud telling off.
"Petrels!" Lily snapped at the fat lady.
"Don't be so touchy, dear" murmured the fat lady as her portrait swung open.
Crossing quickly over the deserted common room, Lily mounted the girl's staircase. She soon reached a door with a small brass plaque stating 'Sixth Years'. Sighing, she quietly entered her dormitory.
Everyone else was asleep. The girls were snoring lightly in their canopied four-posters, which jutted out from the walls of the circular room. Lily threw her bag upon her bed, and began to change into her pajamas.
Something was not sitting right with her about the incident with Potter and Black. What was it they had said, that had made her so mad? She went over the argument again and again, but nothing jumped out at her.
'..Late-night snogging session,' how dare they bring up anything like that? she thought angrily as she climbed into bed a few moments later. But claiming she was kissing in broom cupboards did not exactly warrant a slap. '..I always knew Evans was a-' what exactly would Potter have said, had she not stopped him? If he had finished his sentence, would he have deserved spit in the face? Were any of her actions justified? When she thought about the whole situation, however, it seemed she had really let them off easy. If she had intercepted any other student out of bed after hours, they'd have gone straight to their Head of House. But those two, oohhh, she bristled at the thought of them, those two knew just how to tick her off, and she'd forgotten all about procedure. Consequently, she'd ended up letting them off once again. She'd been letting them off ever since she became a prefect and had gained the power to give out punishments. She'd always given them a break, because of Remus.
Remus Lupin was a quiet boy, a close friend of Potter, Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Lily had always felt certain empathy toward him, even before he became her fellow Gryffindor prefect. She had noticed the many absences he took, heard all of his excuses, but something told her there was more to it then just his mother's feeble health. She could only assume that deeper things were going on with his family. It had to be something very difficult for him to manage, as he always returned to school looking worn and sick. However, there was something about Remus that boded no pity. Lily respected that. And, as she knew he would never accept anything she could give him, she helped him in the only way she could, letting his friends off.
Not any more, though, she thought to herself as she rolled over restlessly, Remus needs to see those two get what they deserve, maybe then he'll stop wasting his time with those gits. They only hang out with him so they can copy his homework, anyway.
Her thoughts returned to Potter and Black. She had overreacted; she shouldn't have let the little things they said push her that far. The look on Potter's face after she had spat on him came back to her, and she cringed. Had he deserved that? Even if he hadn't done anything just then to deserve it, surely the fact that he was James Potter justified everything, right?
The trouble with James Potter, Lily thought, is that he is the most enigmatic git on the face of the earth. Potter was a mystery to her. Why he did the things he did, why he said the things he said, were questions she could never answer. Their feud was just as cryptic; it had begun on Lily's part as righteous anger against a bully. But James was no longer the arrogant boy he had been. Sure, he still taunted and teased, but bulling incidents became less and less frequent. He wasn't perfect, but his immature tendencies had begun to fade away. And as his childhood faded away, so did Lily's concrete reason for hating him. But reason or no reason, the two of them continued to but heads. But why? Why did he like her? She didn't know. Why did she hate him? She didn't know. Why did she even care what Potter was in the first place?!?
Thoughts continued to swirl about Lily's head, and, unable to stay them, she sat up and looked about her. She spotted her bag and remembered the items she had confiscated from Potter and Black. Sparked by a sudden curiosity, she lifted her bag onto her bed and dumped out the confiscated items.
There was the usual assortment of dung bombs and sugar quills, but also a blank sheet of parchment and a long, silvery white cloak. She supposed this was the silvery thing Potter had handed over. It seemed completely useless, unless Potter was trying to make a particularly flashy fashion statement. Slightly disappointed that there were no extremely incriminating objects, Lily placed all of Potter and Black's things into her trunk. As she neatly folded the cloak, she had a vivid image of Potter sporting it around the castle, or even to the next Hogsmeade trip. Smiling at the thought, and half wishing she had left Potter's lurid cloak with him just to see him make a complete fool of himself, Lily placed the sparkling robe in her trunk, where it winked innocently at her in the moon glow. She smiled, and without completely knowing why, winked back. It was almost as if the cloak hated Potter as much as she did, and was with her in her efforts to put an end to his and Black's reign of terror… but that was impossible. It was only a cloak, after all. And Potter's cloak, at that. It had no feelings or opinions, how could it help her? Still, she smiled as she closed her trunk, moved her bag off her bed, and sank under the coverlet, tossing and turning slightly, until sleep found her.
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