The Power of Three

1. Monday

Nobody, probably in the history of the universe, likes Monday mornings. Fact. Gryffindor students in fifth year at Hogwarts however, hate Monday mornings. And Wednesday mornings, and Friday mornings too… all because that's when we have History of Magic. Nobody likes to start their day with a lecture about goblins, least of all sleep deprived teenagers.

I'm one of the first to arrive in the classroom and choose a desk towards the back.

"Lily! Fancy seeing you here!"

I don't have to look up to know who that obnoxious voice belongs to.

"Yes, Potter. Surprising, isn't it? That we'd see each other in this class, as we have since the start of the year," I say, writing my name on my piece of parchment. I pray for somebody, anybody, to come and sit down next to me before Potter –

"This seat taken?" He gestures at the empty seat next to me. Too late.

"Yes, and this one will be too if you sit down."

"Really original, Lils." I look up for the first time, and see he's rolling his eyes. Idiot. "I thought you could do better than that. Come on. Make me hurt."

"Well, if you say so…"

"LILLY! I didn't mean literally! Ouch! You're lucky I'm in love with you." He rubs his red cheek. I'm not surprised to find I don't feel a smidgen of sympathy.

"Lucky? Really? I don't think so; I'd say more ridiculously unlucky." I refuse to believe he's in love with me anyway. I believe it's more of a wanting the thing you can't have scenario. James Potter could have practically any girl in the whole school – except for myself, apparently the only one he wants. Believe me, I'm baffled as to why any girl would actually want him.

Professor Binns floats out of the blackboard to begin the lesson. I look around the room for one of my friends, annoyed. Huh. They're all sat together at the back. I catch Alice's eye and she winks at me, eyeing James. I glare at her; she knows I can't stand him. Hell, the whole school knows I can't stand him. Even Potter must be slowly catching on.

James looks around too before smirking at me. "Looks like your girlies want me to sit with you."

"Yeah, well 'my girlies' are going to get a good talking to later."

"Ooh. Can I 'have a good talking to?'" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. James Potter could make a cup of Pumpkin Juice sound suggestive.

"You're an idiot."

"Does that mean I can sit down?"

"Does 'you're an idiot' usually mean 'hey there, take a seat!' Maybe it does to you Potter, but not to the normal people."

Binns takes out his scrolls of parchment and begins his lecture. Many people put their heads down on their desks, and I swear I can hear snoring already. The ones who aren't yet sleeping look at James curiously. How embarrassing. They're staring at me too; maybe I was talking louder than I had intended to. Talking to James sometimes makes me raise my voice.

"Fine, sit down," I whisper through gritted teeth.

James looks as if I've just told him Christmas has come early. He pulls back the chair and it scrapes along the floor…more stares.

"There…isn't this nice?" he says, edging his chair closer to mine. I push my own up against the wall.

"If by nice you mean excruciating, then sure." I continue to scribble down notes as I speak. I'm living proof that girls can multi-task.

He peers at my parchment. "Wow. You're actually…taking notes?

"Yes Potter, I am."

"But…why?"

"Because I, unlike some, would like to pass my exams."

He chuckles. "Just this once, I dare you to not take notes. Just for this lesson. Will that kill you?"

I make a disgusted noise and continue to write down the key points of Binns' lecture. There's no denying that the man – or ghost, I should say – is boring. But I still have to listen. "I'm not going to stop taking notes because James Potter dares me to."

"Is Lily Evans a…chicken?"

I don't feel the need to justify myself to him…

…until he starts making chicken noises under his breath.

"No, I am not a chicken."

"You have to do what I dare you to do then, Lilykins." I try to stab his hand with my quill (for calling me 'Lilykins', mostly. But also just for the heck of it) but he moves his hand off the table. "…even though this dare is so pathetically lame."

"N O spells no. Surely even you know that, Potter."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why not?"

All the 'why's and the questions in quick succession make my head spin. "Because, Potter…"

"Yes?" he prompts me as I pause.

"One, dares are immature – "

"Maturity's over rated."

"Two, because I actually want to take notes."

"Now that's just ridiculous – "

"AND THREE, I don't have to do what you say, because YOU'RE AN IDIOT."

"Yeah, as you keep saying."

There's silence for a minute. But of course James feels the need to break it.

"Lily?"

"Potter."

"Doesn't that sound nice…? Lily Potter…"

"No actually, it makes me want to throw up. Did you want something?"

"Nah, not really. I just thought…no, doesn't matter…"

I grit my teeth. "What?"

"It's just that I'd never have thought it; Lily Evans, a chicken!"

"I am not a chicken!"

"Prove it."

Now I'm angry. I put a full stop at the end of my sentence before throwing the quill in front of me. It soars over heads and through Professor Binns before hitting the blackboard, probably broken.

Damn. That was an expensive quill. And I just did what Potter told me to do. Well, technically he didn't tell me to throw my quill at the black board, but still.

"LOOK POTTER! I stopped taking NOTES! Are you HAPPY now?"

My outburst surprisingly makes Professor Binns stop talking and look at me. Or maybe not so surprisingly; as I said, I tend to raise my voice whilst talking to Potter.

"Miss Avins, I won't have shouting like that in my classroom. I may be dead, but I am not deaf. Go stand outside."

The very first time I've been told to leave the classroom by a teacher; and it's all Potter's fault.

"Ooh, tut tut, Avins!" James whispers as I stand up, red faced. The entire class is staring at me. Again. "I guess I'll see you later…"

Terrific.

A/N I really shouldn't have started this story. I have numerous other things I should be doing right now, but this started off as a one-shot and sort of grew to a three-shot. Chapter two will be Wednesday's lesson, and chapter three will be Friday's. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter! Just press that little review button down there…

Oh, and if anybody's wondering where the Marauders were, don't worry :) We'll be seeing them later.