DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own any of these characters, places, etc. They belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.
A/N: This is my first ever fanfiction. Please leave your honest opinion, good and bad. I'll only continue if you guys want me to.
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CHAPTER ONE: IN A HURRY
Lily Evans stomped the snow off her boots and glanced side-long at Mairan. The dark-haired girl, seeing her best friend's impatience, took another deep drag on her cigarette and motioned towards the doors of the castle.
"Go ahead, go in to dinner, I'll be in in a second," she said weakly, coughing a little as she exhaled.
Lily looked wistfully towards the castle, where the brilliant gold lights of the Great Hall twinkled invitingly, promising warmth and excellent food. "I don't know…" she said warily, glancing around. "If Professor Sprout or Hagrid comes by, you could use a Prefect's help."
"I'll be fine, go, go on in. Maybe I'll catch Bella Black trying to nick mandrake leaves again and earn us some points," Mairan teased. The girls laughed together at the shared memory of the Slytherin girl's horribly botched attempt to brew her own Contraceptive Potion, which resulted in the worst episode of PMS Madame Pomfrey had ever seen, as well as a particularly gruesome case of acne.
"Alright, I'm going in, but I have my doubts that Miss Bellatrix is the Black you're waiting for." Lily waggled a suggestive eyebrow at her friend, and then dodged the light smack that followed. Still laughing, the Gryffindor girl started off towards the school, trudging through the heavy snow. It was a short walk from the greenhouses to the castle, so Lily didn't bother magically melting the snow as she had most of the way back from Hogsmeade.
Upon entering the Great Hall, she couldn't help but laugh as Sirius Black, glancing furtively around, slipped past without noticing her. Lily knew her mischievous best friend well enough to know that the pleasure of a forbidden cigarette wasn't enough to keep her shivering behind the greenhouses in the bitter cold. The Gryffindor Chaser, however…well, that was a different story. Lily didn't particularly care for Sirius, but if anyone was a match for the notorious womanizer, it was Mairan.
"Lily!"
Lily jumped a little, having been so intent on getting to the Gryffindor table and sitting down to devour her dinner that she hadn't even noticed Florean jump up from his seat at the Ravenclaw table and begin making his way towards her.
"Hello Florean," she said cautiously.
"I've been looking for you," her fellow Prefect told her, taking her arm without a thought and leading her to his House table. "How was Hogsmeade?"
"Oh, it was fun. I'm sorry you missed it…Florean…I can't sit with you tonight."
Florean paused and looked at her in surprise. "Why not?"
"I need to have a word with Frankie about Dueling Club, and then I really need to find Professor Slughorn and ask him some questions…about an assignment." She was lying, and her throat felt a little dry with guilt, but she didn't think she could stand being polite and nodding along with Fortescue as he eagerly told her all about his latest Transfiguration experiments. He was brilliant, and friendly, but when he got into his research, he really couldn't stop talking. She'd be stuck beside him as everyone left the hall and the plates started disappearing, and she really wasn't in the mood. Besides, she really did want to talk to Slughorn.
"Oh," Florean blinked in surprise, then shrugged. He paid little attention to the social goings-on around the school, and to Lily's relief, didn't see her rebuff for what it was. "I'll see you tomorrow in the library, then?"
"Umm, yes, I'll be there after the Quidditch match."
Florean blinked again. "Quidditch?" He said the word in his trademark bewildered tone, as though he'd never heard of such a thing.
"Yes, my friend Mairan is Keeper for the team," Lily explained.
"Oh, well, see you later then…" He wandered back to his table, looking disappointed. Lily hid a smile, knowing it was a captive audience he was missing, rather than her company. With a sigh of relief, she saw that the seat next to Frankie Longbottom was open, providing convenient backup for her excuse. She sank into the empty seat and began doling mashed potatoes from a nearby bowl onto her plate.
"Hello Lily. I saw you at Rosmerta's earlier but it was too crowded to say hello," Frankie smiled apologetically in his sweet, simple way that reminded Lily why she enjoyed his company so much.
"That's alright, I'm sure you were a little preoccupied. I saw you with Alice Malkin," Lily liked to tease her shy friend just for the pleasure of watching him blush fiercely. "I thought she was studying at the Auror Academy?"
"She's home for holiday break. And anyway it's nothing really, our families know each other, so we spend time together sometimes…oh, stop smirking at me like that!" Frankie grew a little defensive. "I'll have you know, I saw you talking to Potter as well."
Lily gave a rather unladylike snort and swallowed a mouthful of food. "Hardly. He was boasting to anyone who would listen how he plans to single-handedly take down the entire Hufflepuff team tomorrow. Arrogant git."
Frankie shrugged. "He's not so bad. Remus likes him."
Lily opened her mouth to reply when movement from the staff table caught her eye. Slughorn, laughing uproariously, smacked Professor Flitwick a little too hard on the back and sent him flying into a platter of dinner rolls. Professors Sinistra and Sprout immediately jumped up to assist the small man, Slughorn apologizing profusely between hiccups.
Lily dropped her fork with a clatter and stood up. Now was an excellent time to speak to her Potions professor alone. She paused and looked down at a bemused Frankie.
"Need to talk to Slughorn…Oh, before I forget, can we reschedule tomorrow night's practice? Most of Ravenclaw's got some sort of mild dragon pox going around and it's probably pretty contagious."
Frankie shuddered and nodded. "See you at the match tomorrow?"
"Definitely, see you then."
Lily hurried out of the Great Hall, pretending not to hear the several hails she received from her classmates. She was well-liked, and she certainly wanted to stay that way, but right now she had more important things on her mind.
Slightly out of breath, Lily skidded to a stop in front of the Fat Lady. "Kneazle," she wheezed.
The Fat Lady smiled and swung forward. Lily clambered through the portrait hole and set off briskly across the common room. Luckily, she'd finished dinner before most of her Housemates and wouldn't have to make any excuses in here. She took the steps up the girls' tower two at a time, and threw open her dormitory door. She tossed her bag onto her bed; she'd unload the things she'd bought in Hogsmeade later. Rifling quickly through the rolls of parchment on her desk, she grabbed the simple Muggle notebook she'd been looking for and set off for the dungeons.
