AN: This is supposed to be close to the end of their fifth year. If I got the date wrong, just let me know.
April 19, 1976
"You know what your problem is, Prongs?" Sirius plonked himself into the chair next to where James was studying, displacing a large amount of books and papers in the process.
"We have OWLs in two weeks?"
"Wrong again. Your lack of girlfriend."
"You know what your problem is? Your abundance of girlfriends."
"Shut up. Just listen to me."
"Not now, Sirius. I do need to study."
"No. You need to study less. And I know just the thing for you.. A girlfriend!"
"What are you? Some kind of salesman?"
"Well, actually..."
"Don't answer that."
"Sirius, I don't know if it's possible for James to study less." Remus poked his head out from behind his large pile of books. "He's just starting to organize everything now!"
"Oh! Hi there Moony! Didn't see you there behind all those books." Sirius' face curled in mock-disgust. "Come on you guys; I really need a distraction after all this studying!"
"Studying?" James looked incredulous. "Weren't you off with that Hufflepuff girl? Sarah?"
"We're study partners."
"Studying what? Anatomy?" Three of the four boys snorted into their books and were immediately rendered serious by one look from the librarian.
"James, I don't even take anatomy." This set off another round of laughter that only stopped when Sirius got the joke.
"What I do in my free time is completely irrelevant, anyway." Sirius crossed his arms, stuck his nose in the air, and turned away, causing Peter to fall out of his chair, and James and Remus to choke back laughter.
Sirius whipped right back around as soon as he realized this wasn't going to get a reaction. "Please humor me? I need some kind of a distraction before I go insane!"
"Fine." James dropped his quill. "I've studied for two hours already, I think I deserve a break. Moony?"
"Oh, all right. I suppose we could all do with a bit of a break. Coming, Wormtail?"
"Of course. Where are we going, Sirius?"
"Common room. The environment there is, uh, slightly less studious."
That was an understatement. The common room was completely full of students blowing off steam before exams. A couple of sixth years had invented a game using exploding snap cards which they creatively named 'giant exploding snap.' They had gathered as many card decks as they could, and were attempting to create the biggest explosion possible. So far they had blown off about three eyebrows. Some of the fourth years were trying to charm a radio to receive muggle stations. There were plenty of magazines, games of hangman, and chess out, but not a textbook in sight. Everyone with even the slightest intention of studying had abandoned the common room. If it weren't for the occasional prefect reminding everyone to go study, and the conspicuous lack of newt students, you would hardly have guessed that exams were so near. Even those with O.W.L.s coming up seemed to want to celebrate the end of the year being so near.
"Alright Prongs." Sirius had already kicked some first years off his favorite couch and was sprawled out, somehow maintaining the air of a psychiatrist. "Who do you think is the prettiest girl?"
"I think that Hogwarts is seriously lacking in attractive girls, and there is no one here I have any interest in dating." James' face remained straight, but his eyes were sparkling with laughter.
"Hey! Sarah is damn hot. Who says Hogwarts doesn't have pretty girls?"
"Yeah, she's pretty, but she's madly in love with you and wouldn't have me even if she was my type."
"Well, what about Evans? You're always asking her out and generally annoying her." Sirius waggled his eyebrows in what he thought was a suggestive way, but just made him look like a fish.
"Evans? I suppose some people might think she's hot, but she is certainly not attractive enough to be my girlfriend."
"Oh, looks like Prongsie-boy has high standards. Well, how about..."
The Lily Evans in question was walking down the stairs from the girls dormitory when she heard them talking about her and paused to listen. She immediately wished she hadn't when she heard what Potter had to say about her.
Despite his constant badgering, cheesy pick-up lines, and his habit of hexing everything in sight, Lily had always been fairly flattered that James had taken notice of her and no one else. And here was the truth that he didn't even find her remotely attractive? Annoying as he was he really gave Lily quite the ego-boost.
Lily held back tears until she was safely in her bed, where she curled up with the curtains closed and cried until she realized she wasn't supposed to care what James Potter thought anyway. Wasn't she the one that regularly told him his hair looked like birds lived in it? And besides, if even Sarah Williams, allegedly the best looking girl in their year, wasn't good enough for Potter, he was never ever going to find himself a girlfriend, whether he wanted one or not.
Unfortunately for Lily, her self-isolation did not go unnoticed by her friends.
"And I thought I had an early night last night." Alice poked her head through Lily's drawn curtains to find an almost awake Lily sitting up in bed. "When did you come up? And why on earth so early?"
"Oh ... I ... uh ... wanted someplace quiet to study."
"In the dark. With your books downstairs."
"Well ..." The pattern of stars on Lily's duvet started to look every interesting.
"I came upstairs at eight for my transfiguration things and your curtains were already drawn with you inside."
"How do you know?" Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh, alright."
"So what happened?"
"I overheard Potter and Black, and, well, it upset me a little."
"They said something that upset you? Wow, it must have been bad."
"I suppose it wasn't that bad. Black asked about girls, and then me specifically, and Potter kinda trashed me."
"What do you want with that pompous prat anyway?" Alice gave Lily a comforting squeeze.
"Haha, yeah." Lily smiled weakly. "I suppose you're right."
"Come on Lily. Let's go find Marlene and treat ourselves to lava cakes for breakfast in the kitchens."
"Sounds brilliant."
AN: Please review! This is going to be a long fic; props to anyone who can guess what it's based on. Chapter 2 will be up soon, as it's already written, and after that I'll try and update regularly, depending on the reception this gets. I'm really excited to write this (it's my first long fic), and I hope you guys like it!
~K
