I am reposting this story because I decided to start fresh after making revisions. I would like to thank the people who reviewed to this story the last time I reposted and I promise the newest chapter will be up shortly. I am almost done with the eighth chapter I just have a few more scenes to write and I hope to get it done by the end of the week. So look out for it.
I will also be posting the rest of the edited chapters tomorrow. Thank-you for you patients.
If there are anymore spelling and grammar errors within these two chapters that I have missed, it would be greatly appreciated if someone could tell me specifically where they are. Thanks
Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters in this story are property of J.K. Rowling. The plot is mine and so are the characters Artemis West, Ivory Greenly, Professor Blithe, Professor Calder, Professor Ori and any other unknown characters.
The Previous Generation
Chapter 1: Breaking Through Barriers
"Late again Miss Evans, that's the third time you've been tardy to my class. School only began three weeks ago. Even Mr. Potter and Mr. Black have managed to be on time." The strict looking Transfiguration teacher said as sixteen year old Lily Evans walked into her classroom fifteen minutes late. "I want to see you after class so we can discuss this matter further. Now take your seat."
"Yes Professor McGonagall. I'm sorry it won't happen again. I promise." The red haired girl with unique emerald green eyes said as she took her seat near the back of the large musty classroom.
"Good to hear it. Now where was I…oh yes…? Keep in mind when transfiguring…" McGonagall continued with her lecture on transfiguring common household items into trees and other horticulture.
'This is going to be one of my bad days,' Lily thought to herself as she settled down in her seat and got out the supplies she needed.
Double Transfigurations seemed to drag on for Lily. She found it difficult to take down notes during McGonagall's lecture. She did not have the patience or concentration for it that morning. And the constant whispering of her two best friends and snickering of the four 'annoying" boys, as Lily often referred to them, behind her, did not help either.
This was Lily's seventh and final year at Hogwarts, and it was turning out to be the most stressful for her. After this year Lily would be a fully educated and qualified witch, ready to enter the society of the wizarding world. However, the very thought of being on her own was terrifying. She was not ready for such a dramatic change in her life. She was very content with the way things were. She had the comfort of an unchanging routine.
But nothing ever stays the same for very long and Lily knew change would eventually follow her. Yet her life altering events were still at a distance, at least she had nine months until graduation.
When class finally ended, Lily stood up from her desk, grabbing her heavy bag from the stone floor and placing it on her shoulders. She headed up to McGonagall's desk to receive her punishment. She had already told her friends she would meet them down in the Great Hall after talking to the teacher.
"Professor let me just say how 'extremely' sorry I am for coming to class late and I am willing to accept any punishment you feel is necessary." Lily blurted out before McGonagall could get a word in.
Lily was never the type of girl to be late or even get in trouble. Any sort of rule breaking made her nervous and that's preciously how she felt right now.
She could already feel her legs turning to lead, her stomach was in knots and her hands were shaking so bad that she hid them out sight underneath the sleeves of her black school robes. Lily was amazed McGonagall had not said anything yet, whether it would be regarding her nervous state or the reason she was standing in front of the strict looking woman.
Here she was using all of her strength not to break down and cry while others like the Marauders did this more often than not. How the HELL did the marauders do this every week?
"Miss Evans…," McGonagall replied standing up from her chair behind her desk,"… is there something going on with you? You know you can come and talk to me any time, if you need help." McGonagall offered to her.
McGonagall's statement took Lily by surprise. She thought the severe-looking, middle-aged woman, who always kept her black hair tied back in a neatly placed bun and her green cat like eyes hidden behind a pair of square framed glasses had the ability to chase off the most foulest of beasts with one distasteful glare was more concerned about her than she was angry. Lily took several seconds, which seemed more like minutes, to decide on an answer for her concerned Head of House.
There was a long silent pause between them before Lily finally was able to speak properly again.
"Yes, Professor I'm aware of it and no there is nothing going on with me. I'm fine, nothing to worry about." Lily replied as she secretly wiped the sweat from her palms on the inside of her sleeves.
"Are you sure?" McGonagall asked her again, giving Lily the impression that her teacher did not believe her. Lily nodded her head making her long thick red ponytail bounce in agreement.
"Alright if you insist there is nothing wrong, I'm still going have to give you a detention. You are dismissed. I will send you a note with more information." McGonagall said as she released Lily from the meeting.
Lily left the classroom as quickly as she could; whispering thank you to her professor then hurried off to have what was left of the lunch in the Great Hall.
"How did it go with McGonagall?" the girl with waist length dark brown hair and stunning gray-blue eyes asked Lily as she sat beside her at the Gryffindor table.
"Not well. I'm stuck with a detention plus all the other things I have going on in my life. How does Potter and his band of trouble makers do this every week?" Lily said putting her head down on the table in front of her.
"I don't know, let's ask them shall we. HEY POTTER, BLACK I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU." The girl sitting to the right of Lily called down the table at two boys as she pulled her thick shoulder length black hair into a pony holder.
"Why'd you do that, Tem?" Lily whispered to her friend while keeping her head on the table.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" a deep male voice called. Lily was sure the answering voice was no other than Sirius Black.
"Because you asked a question and I am determined to get you an answer." The girl whispered back then yelling another comment down the table.
"COME HERE FOR A SECOND AND I'LL TELL YOU." Soon after her friend's reply, Lily heard shuffling and four sets of footsteps coming closer.
"Move down, make room." She heard her friends say to all the people sitting around them as they made room for four more people.
After they were settled in their new spots Sirius Black asked the question again "So what'd you want?"
"Lily here" her friend Tem (as Lilly called her) patted her on the back and continued, "as you know got a detention for coming into McGonagall's class late and she was just wondering what its like and how you guys can stand to get a detention week after week."
"Well it's a talent that only some can possess," Sirius Black said in a proud tone.
"Lily doesn't want to get into any more trouble. All she wants to do is get some tips or information on what to expect during her detention." Lily's friend to her left spoke up, which made Lily smile.
Lily sat there listening to every word but said nothing. She remained silent during the whole conversation with her head still down on the wooden table, waiting for the answer but making no effort to be included.
"It depends on who you get the detention with and what they want you to do. You could be doing anything from cleaning the toilets in the boy's loo or in Evans case the girl's loo with Professor Ori, to discarding of ancient ingredients in the potions storage room with Professor Calder. But in Evans' case it will probably be something really simple and won't take as long as our detentions usually do," James Potter explained.
"Hey maybe you'll get lucky Evans and one us might get a detention too. The day is still young and if you want some company with ya, anyone of us will be more than happy to oblige."
Lily finally lifted up her head from the table and stared directly into James' beautiful hazel eyes which were hidden behind thin black wire frame glasses. She could see why most girls found him handsome. His messy black hair, warm looking eyes and his rather tall but fit exterior (earned from all those years of playing chaser for the Gryffindor quidditch team), was what made him one of the most sought-after guys in all of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry along with his best friend Sirius Black.
The two boys looked similar in many ways and could pass as brothers. However, Sirius had tamable dark brown hair and dark gray eyes. Sirius also used his handsome exterior to his advantage while James spent most of his time chasing Lily.
"I think I could make it through the detention without company. I thank you for your kind suggestion but I prefer to get through this on my own," she said, picking up her book-bag from the floor and started to leave.
"Lily, where are you going? Our next class doesn't start for another half an hour," her brown haired friend replied.
"I forgot my book in my dormitory and I have to go and get it. I'll see you there," Lily said and went on her way out of the Great Hall.
"I wonder what's up with her," James said as he took a bite from his buttered bun.
"Oh nothing, she's just goes through these weird moods. She's been putting too much pressure on herself lately. Hey Ivory pass the bread and butter will ya," the dark haired girl said.
"Why has she been pressuring herself?" James asked with a hint of concern embedded in his deep voice.
"Why are you so interested in what Lily does, Potter?" the girl retorted with another question. She finished buttering a piece of her bread before dunking it in her pumpkin soup then taking a bite.
"I was just wondering. Isn't that allowed? Not everyone has to have a reason for being concerned," James said quickly in defense.
"I wasn't accusing you of anything James. Relax. I was just making an observation." The girl replied then took another bite of her bread. The other five people sitting around them had to hide their smiles for fear James would notice and do something irrational.
"I'm going to class, see you guys there," James said as he picked up his own bag off the floor from underneath the table and headed for the exit, leaving his friends wondering what had just happened.
James went to his next class before everyone else and was hoping to have some quiet time to think. As he entered Charms class expecting it to be empty since there was still fifteen minutes of lunch left, he was shocked to see Lily Evans sitting in the almost empty classroom.
She was sitting in her usual seat, just a row in front of where he and his friends sat reading a muggle book called The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley (very good book and very good author). She did not even look up when he entered the room and took his seat right behind her.
Even though he wanted time to sit and think, James found the back of Lily's head to be a much more interesting pastime. He was admiring her long dark red locks wishing he could feel the softness of her hair on his fingers.
He knew she could feel his gaze on her but he did not look away. She looked up from her book and turned around and locking eyes with him. James felt a flip-flopping feeling in his stomach as their eyes stared at each other. Her beautiful green ones staring into his hazel ones, James wished that they could stay like that forever.
Yeah he had a crush on her. Hell he had had a crush on her since fourth year, but it seemed to be different now. Every time he looked at her and even when she looked back at him his heart would beat-faster. He hoped she felt something similar, even though she'd probably never show it.
She was not like most girls he knew. Sure she had her two best friends who were as loyal to her as the marauders were to him. And she was known around the school for her intelligence but also for her kindness. However, she was different in so many ways from the rest of the school. She did not try to fit in with other groups; she was very shy for being Head Girl. She was extremely serious and was not one to take jokes very well. But when it came to getting her point-of-view known, her meek side was no where to be found.
Lily and James had been on okay terms for almost two weeks; well they had not had a disagreement within that time span at least. Lily often disagreed with the practices, he and his counter band were involved in and it baffled her as much as it did James himself, why Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, picked James to be the Head Boy.
Of course, James was the smartest boy in the school, but his history of mischief making was legendary and he thought himself, to be the last person to be chosen for Head Boy. But when he received word by owl earlier on during summer vacation he was more then willing to accept such an honorary position. It did help that he would get to spend lots of extra time with the one girl he adored, even if she did not think much of him. It was something he was determined to work on.
"What are you staring at Potter?" Lily asked in the politest tone she could muster. James could tell her voice had a bit of annoyance.
"I was just thinking and I guess my eyes just happened to wander in the direction of your beautiful red hair," he flirted. He loved to set off her temper every once and a while. He figured it brought some excitement into her life.
"Flattery will get you no where with me," she replied as she returned to her book.
"Well that's not what I heard," he said in a teasing manner. He knew she would overact, she always did and that's half the reason why he bugged her so much.
"What have you heard? I'm sure whatever source you got that malarkey from was completely unreliable. No doubt from one of your misbehaving friends or gossiping fan club girls." She shot back at him without even looking up. James shocked by her reply knew the conversation was heading in a bad direction. But he didn't care. No one, not even the girl he was crushing on, was allowed to say anything about his friends.
"That was uncalled for and a little rude I might add. I was just joking Evans. Lighten up a bit will ya," James replied. He was becoming annoyed with her.
"Oh yeah and let jerks like you take advantage of me. I think not, besides I thought you enjoyed exchanging sarcastic comments. You and your friends seem to be in endless supply of them. Does it hurt you to know that a girl might actually be able to hold her own against the thoughtless ranting and ramblings of the great James Potter or does it annoy you, that I'm not captivated by your boyish charms like every other girl in this school?" Lily questioned in an innocent voice still not looking up at him.
"Yeah well maybe if you removed the stick you've got lodged up your ass and actually began to enjoy life then maybe you would be more observant with the things going on around you instead of always having your nose stuck in a book," he retorted once again drawing her attention away from her literature for a few moments.
She was about to reply to his remark when the class finally began to enter and Lily's friends sat on either side of her while James' friends sat in their usual seats around him.
Instead of any kind of verbal reply, Lily shot James a glare horrible enough to make a dragon run away with its tail between its legs, head hiding behind a wing.
James turned away from her and placed his attention on Professor Flitwick at the front of the class who was discussing the proper hand movement to perform a charm to clean up a messy area.
Throughout the rest of Charms class Lily kept throwing angry glares at James which he pretended not to notice.
Sirius, on the other hand, kept noticing the strange behaviour between the two of them and began to wonder what had happened between them before everyone else had entered the room.
What happened between you and Evans before class? Sirius wrote (in his untidy script) on a scrap piece of parchment and passed over to his best friend.
James looked at the note Sirius had written and wrote a quick response before sliding it back to him.
None of your business was what James had written back.
This reply did not satisfy Sirius one bit. If he could not get an answer from James he decided to get an answer from Lily by writing to her best friend.
Hey Artemis, ask Lily what happened between her and James before class. I tried to get an answer from him but no go. He just told me to mind my own business. Can you believe it? What a nice best friend he is. Anyway try to get an answer out of her.Sirius wrote the note on another scrap piece of parchment and tapped the black haired girl, who sat in front of him on the back. When she turned around he passed the note up to her.
Why do you want to know and how do you know something happened? The girl wrote back (in her orderly script) and passed the note back to him. After reading her message, Sirius was beginning to get aggravated because none of his questions were being answered.
Isn't it enough that I am showing concern for our friends by wanting to know the important points in their lives? He wrote back and passed the note back up to her. She read it over.
Sirius, what you are calling concern for your friends, is what normal people call being nosy and I'm sure if James wants you to know he will tell you. Now stop bugging me and everyone else for that matter and pay attention to the lesson. She wrote.
After reading her most recent message, Sirius could tell that he had just lost whatever battle was going on. He shook his head then tucked the parchment away in his bag and actually began to pay attention to what was left of Flitwick's lecture.
"So what happened between you and Potter before everyone else came in?" Artemis asked her friend as they walked out the door and down the corridor to the main staircase.
Artemis West, unlike Lily, did not spend a lot of her time reading books and doing homework. She preferred the more social aspect of school and enjoyed having an interesting social life. When school work needed to be done and a book or research needed to be read, she was usually on top of the situation but it did not define most of her life like it did Lily's.
Out of Lily and their other friend Ivory Greenly she was the wildest and most fun, however, she did have her own set of limits. She was the one out of the trio who tried to get the other two to have more fun and be outgoing. Her tactics worked most of the time on Ivory because Ivory was always up for fun as long as it was tasteful while Lily would be more than happy to curl up in a corner with a book and hear about it later.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lily answered her friend as she avoided looking in her eyes and continued walking.
"You know exactly what I mean. Your avoidance of my question just gave you away. So spill it or I'll find a way to drag it out of you," Artemis replied.
"Yeah Lily tell us why you kept giving Potter mean looks throughout charms. Your glares sure didn't go unnoticed by the people around you and that includes Sirius Black." Ivory added her input.
"What do you mean my looks were noticed and how do you know Black noticed them?" Lily asked stopping in the middle of the corridor, causing her friends to stop as well.
"Black wrote me a note telling me to ask you what transpired between you and Potter. He wrote he asked James and James' told him it was none of his business. Then Sirius went on about how it was mean for James to write something so vulgar to him or some kind of nonsense along that line. So what was it that Potter did to make you mad? Is it something juicy? Did he try to kiss you or something?" Artemis inquired with a big smile flashing across her model like features.
Artemis was pretty enough to be a model but she wanted nothing to do with prancing around and getting her picture taken so she could have the privilege of being on the cover of a teen witch-wizard magazine.
Personally she found the idea horribly putrid and would shoot a disgusted look at anyone who wanted that kind of life. She might have had the looks for it, the perfect thin body, facial features, tanned completion and hair but she would rather fight a dragon than be on the cover of any magazine. If she was going to be famous she would rather do something noble and meaningful than have fifteen minutes of fame because of her beauty. Her friends for the most part agreed with her on the subject and she was more than content to have their support.
"Get your mind out of the gutter Tem. Any guy that would do such a thing would get more than nasty looks from me. He would get a swift kick in the-you-know-what, so hard that he wouldn't even be able to walk much less think of anything but the pain. Anyone who would suggest such a thing deserves the same fate." Lily said in a serious tone.
"Oh come on Lily don't be so uptight, relax, and joke around once in awhile. It can't be that much fun being a tight ass all the time?" Artemis said as she began to make her way towards the stairs again. Lily just stood there stunned by what her best friend had said.
The same statement had come from two different people in one day. It might not have been phrased the same way but the hidden meaning behind the words was the same and that worried her.
"Ivory am I that uptight?" Lily questioned her other best friend.
Ivory took a moment to think about the question before she finally decided to answer. "Well not all the time. I mean you've had at least one day of fun last year right?"
"I guess Tem is right. How can I stop doing something that is so natural to me though, Ive?" Lily said looking into her friends gray-blue eyes.
"Don't worry about what Tem or anyone else says, Lily. Just be happy being you," she replied and gave Lily a friendly squeeze around her shoulders before catching up to Artemis.
"Ivory, always the voice of reason" Lily said to herself then ran to catch up with the other two.
The rest of the day passed quickly for Lily and James. They both had come to an unspoken agreement as they sat down to dinner in the Great Hall shortly after Double Charms to leave each other alone for the rest of day at least.
Neither one of them had spoken of the incident (if you could really call it that) to anyone, not even their best friends. It's not that they did not want to discuss it; it's just they were both to angry to mention it.
All Lily could think about every time she looked in James' direction was how immature he could be. Yet in the back of her mind the words both he and Artemis had said stirred up something deep inside. And then she also had Ivory's words to think about.
'Am I really THAT bad? Is my life THAT predictable and boring? It must be true if in less than one day two people say almost the exact same thing to me. But if its true then how do I change and why do I care what others think especially if those others are Potter and his trouble-making friends. Why should I change my life style to accommodate those around me? I'm happy and content with my life and I see no reason to change it. If Potter and his annoying friends or anyone else cannot stand me the way I am then that's their problem. I will not change for anyone unless I want to.' Lily finally decided with herself while finishing up her last bit of chocolate cake then headed up to her room to finish reading her book.
James had a similar battle brewing in his head. All he could think about while he was eating his third helping of chocolate cake was Lily's ability to trade comebacks with him. It was a quality very few girls had at Hogwarts and it did in fact shock the hell out of him that she could speak to him with such dislike. Yet do it in such a polite manner. What also got to him was the looks she gave him earlier which he pretended not to notice. It hurt him to know that he was one of the few (if not the only one) to ever receive such a look from the one girl he liked even more than playing quidditch.
These thoughts rolled over in his brain all the way through Charms, dinner and late into the night.
After dinner Lily sat in a scarlet and gold arm chair near the large stain-glass window of her room which she received for making Head Girl, finishing up the last chapter of her book. Both she and James had the privilege of having their own rooms separate from the other Gryffindor seventh years. Both the rooms were decorated with scarlet and gold colours, with the symbol of a lion, typical of any Gryffindor room.
Each room had a wooden-oak desk with a matching wooden chair and three matching dressers, a king-size scarlet and gold four-poster canopy bed and matching armchair. Lily's room however, had a full length mirror. They also shared a small common room which contained a scarlet and gold couch, arm chairs, wooden end tables, coffee-table and rather large bathroom.
"Here in the Summer Country, where the ringstones shadow the mighty Tor and the promise of power remains, I await the outcome of the tale," (last paragraph in Marion Zimmer Bradley's book, The Forest House page 417).
Lily had just finished reading the last paragraph before closing the cover and placing it on her desk. She stood up from her chair, made her way to the window and looked out at the darkening sky outside.
Soon after her change in position a knock and the sound of two giggling girls came from the other side of her bedroom door.
"Come in." Lily said knowing exactly who it was on the other side.
"How can you just say come in with out even asking who it is? For all you knew it could have been your worst nightmare." Artemis said opening the door and then closing it behind Ivory.
"My worst nightmare Tem is seeing you in the morning as you roll out of bed. Thank goodness I can avoid that image this year." Lily said in a joking manner to her friend then took up her seat in the armchair again.
"Hey, you don't look any better, so I wouldn't be talking, Missy. So what are you up to?" Artemis asked as she and Ivory each took a seat on Lily's neatly made bed. Artemis noticed everything in Lily's room was in place. "Man, do you have your own house-elf or something? When you were in the dorm with us, you were never this neat and orderly."
"No, I don't have my own personal house-elf; I just figured what's the point in keeping a messy room when there is no one around to share in the blaming for it." Lily responded. "And to answer your first question, I just finished reading my book a few minutes before you came in."
"That's good, now we can go and do something without interrupting you which was what Artemis first suggested." Ivory said joining in on the conversation.
"Afraid not girls, I have some projects to get started on. They are due in two weeks you know and I don't want to leave it until the last minute like some people." Lily said looking right at Artemis.
"Oh come on Lily, take a night off for once and let's go have some fun. We haven't done that in a while." Artemis suggested but Lily only responded by shaking her head no.
"Well then why don't we just stay in your room and have a good old fashioned girl talk. At least do something besides homework for one night." Artemis was almost begging her friend.
"Fine then, we'll stay here and talk. So what's on your mind?" Lily asked her friends as she crossed her legs and got ready for a long night of girl talk.
"I want to know…" Artemis started to say, giving a sly look over at Ivory before turning her attention back to Lily, "why you were so upset with Potter today? You have yet to answer my question."
Lily just sighed and began telling her friends the whole story about her and James arguing.
Meanwhile at the same time James was sitting on Sirius' bed in the seventh year boys dorm in Gryffindor tower, watching Sirius and Remus Lupin (another one of the marauders), and playing wizard's chess. Sirius was concentrating really hard on the board while James and Remus just looked on with humour.
"Padfoot, if you concentrate any harder, you might just end up hurting yourself. Your brain is not use to that kind of pressure," James laughed at his friend while Sirius shot him an angry glare.
"Be careful Padfoot, I don't think James needs anymore bad looks shot his way today. He got a lot of them from Lily already." Remus told Sirius, which made him perk up a bit and laugh but in return made James scowl.
"Yeah while were on the subject Prongs, why did Evans keep giving you those looks? You know I never listen to what you say anyway, bout me minding my own business, so spill it." James just shot them both a look of death before sighing and finally giving in. He knew he could never keep anything from his best friends big or little they had no secrets.
They had made this pact shortly after James, Sirius and their other friend Peter Pettigrew (who was not with them at that moment); found out Remus was a werewolf in second year. The three boys soon after learning this information began studying to become Animagus for the next three years and finally in their fifth year accomplished it and were able to transform into animals illegally.
James became a stag thus the nickname Prongs, Sirius became a huge black dog and received the name Padfoot and Peter became a rat getting the nickname Wormtail. If anyone ever found out the four boys secret, they would be expelled from Hogwarts and spend the rest of their lives in Azkaban (wizarding prison). In their animal form, however, was the only way the three boys were able to accompany Remus in his werewolf form (known as Moony) without the risk of getting injured or bitten.
The company of Remus' friends during the critical full moons was a god-sent. Without them, he would be locked up in his werewolf form. The transformation was painful enough without adding anymore injuries.
"We just had another disagreement. She started it and I ended it by telling her she was too up tight. I only spoke the truth and she is obviously too stubborn to want to hear it. It was nothing important, just another normal part of life," he said, "I think I'm going to head back to my room I have things to finish. Tell Peter goodnight for me."
He left his friends before they could object and headed off to his own room to get ready for bed and finish the homework he left until the last minute.
The next morning Lily was greeted by her friends as she sat down at Gryffindor table to eat breakfast. She had just started to eat her piece of toast with strawberry jam when a small brown barn owl flew down beside her plate. The owl stuck its tiny foot out for her to rid it of the letter tied to it.
Lily untied the letter then pulled off a piece of her toast and fed it to the owl before it took off again heading up to the school Owlery to sleep the rest of the day away.
Lily pulled off the bindings surrounding the parchment the letter was written on and began reading it:
Dear Miss Evans
There is a Prefect meeting after dinner on Thursday night and you are to serve your detention with Professor Blithe in the Muggle Studies classroom Friday night at 7:00pm.
Prof. M. McGonagall
"What's that?" Artemis asked Lily as she folded her letter back up and placed it in her bag.
"Just the letter I've been dreading since yesterday morning. I have to serve my detention with the Muggle Studies teacher, Professor Blithe. This is not good what am I going to do? I've been given a detention with a Professor I don't know. Iv you took Muggle Studies last year, what is this Professor like?" Lily asked her friend in a whiny voice.
"I don't know. She's a new Professor and because I no longer take that class I have no idea what the teacher is like. Perhaps you could ask around. Artemis, isn't your younger brother Apollo taking it this year?" Ivory asked the girl sitting beside her.
"Yeah, but that means I actually have to socialize with the little rug rat and acknowledge that he exists." Artemis whined to her friends.
It was no secret to Lily and Ivory how Artemis felt about her younger brother. Ever since her brother came to Hogwarts four years prior, Artemis had pretended she was an only child. She refused to talk to her younger brother unless it was absolutely necessary. Lily and Ivory made sure they never brought up the subject of Artemis' brother unless they had to. Artemis did not hate her brother; she just disliked him with a great intensity. Lily and Ivory had no idea what caused the rift between the two but they were not going to ask either. It took Artemis two years to admit to them that she actually had a sibling.
"It won't kill you to talk to him at least once this semester. He's not that bad of a sibling and be happy that you ended up with your brother and not my sister," Lily scolded.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, fine I'll ask him for you." Artemis sighed finally giving into her friends.
"Thank you, Tem" Lily said smiling and giving her friend a hug. "Trust me I wouldn't care much if I was one of the marauders and got in trouble every time I turned around. But I'm not and therefore I care about who I'm dealing with when I am forced to do the first detention of my life."
"I just hope you don't plan on making this a habit or else the marauders might decide to make you a member." Artemis replied and laughed at the look on Lily's face.
"You don't have to worry about that Lily." Ivory said with reassurance. "Even if you started getting a detention everyday, for the rest of the year, you wouldn't come even close to the number of detentions; the marauders have landed themselves in since first year."
"I'm not even going to try. This detention is my first and last one. I can promise you that. I don't even like hearing my name associated with those juvenile delinquents. I mean Remus Lupin is not so bad and Peter Pettigrew you don't know he's there most of the time because he's so shy and quiet, but James Potter and Sirius Black set a bad example for the younger students. And James Potter amazingly is the Head Boy of the school." Lily said to her friends, "he sets the perfect example of what not to do for the first years." Lily was rambling on without even realizing it, but Artemis and Ivory sure did.
"Lily, why is it that every conversation the three of have had over the past few weeks, always ends up leading back to James Potter and how much you hate him?" Artemis questioned her friend but continued speaking not giving Lily a chance to reply. "I mean if you truly do hate the boy why are you so insistent on telling us the same thing everyday. Are you sure the only feelings you have for our Mr. Potter are strictly hatred and dislike or is our little Miss Evans hiding something from u…?"
"Hahaha! Finish that sentence and die," Lily said pointing her fork at her friend. "I don't like him and I never will. So get over this little obsession you have involving me and Potter because it ain't ever gonna happen."
"Okay, okay. God I was only joking. Don't get overly excited now." Artemis said her eyes glue to the fork in Lily's hand.
"What time is it?" Ivory asked her friends breaking up their argument.
"Um…shit…there's about five minutes until Herbology begins," Artemis said looking away from the fork and at her wristwatch. "We better hurry and get to class. I know I don't fancy getting a detention and I don't think Lily wants another one."
The other two nodded in agreement and stood up from the table grabbing their stuff and followed Artemis out of the Great Hall, through the front doors and down to the greenhouses to their first class of the day.
"What are you doing Evans?" James asked Lily as he approached the table she was sitting at in the library. Dinner had just finish an hour earlier leaving James the rest of the evening to get started on his homework.
"Well let's see, I'm sitting in a chair, at a table, holding a book between my hands in the school library. This of course must be some kind of sign or invitation for any jackass to come over and ask me what I'm doing." Lily answered sarcastically without even looking up from the page she was reading. "Just so you know, in case you couldn't figure it out on your own, you being simpleminded and all, I'm reading a book. This involves picking up one of those things that has a paper back or hard cover around lots of pages, which have words on them. They tell stories or have lots of useful information. Maybe some day soon you'll be able to read one that doesn't include pictures."
"The sarcasms been rolling off your tongue lately hasn't it Evans? I always figured you weren't as proper as you come off to be. It's actually a nice change from the little Miss Perfect act you got going. Makes you seem more real," James said.
"What do you want Potter? I highly doubt that you came over here without a purpose, so I suggest you say whatever it is you have to say and then move on quickly because if I have to look at that revolting thing you call a face for very long, I might just lose my dinner right here." Lily said this time looking him straight in the eyes.
The way she was looking at him (evening though she was insulting him) gave James butterflies. He found her to be beautiful even though she was being impolite.
"Well I think you look far from revolting Lily, you may not think the same thing right now but one day you will, I guarantee it. Anyway, down to business. Since we are both the Head students of the school and we are technically supposed to work together, I was thinking we can begin by doing our homework at the same table and maybe helping each other out if needed." James said smiling at her.
"What makes you think for one minute, I want my peace and quiet interrupted by a buffoon whose idea of homework includes an explosion not far behind? Besides why would you need my help, I'm sure one of your partners in crime would be more than willing to give you it. What makes me the lucky candidate?" she asked noticing him shift the shoulder strap of his obviously heavy bag.
"You're beautiful and bright. I figured out of the goodness of my heart I would let you help me with my charms work and I would be more than happy to lend a hand with your transfigurations homework," he told her.
"I don't think so. I can mange my homework fine without your help. So move along. Go and find one of your fan club members, I'm busy." Lily said to him waving her hand at him to leave and returning her attention back to the newest book she was reading.
"What would you say if I told you there was no where else to sit in the library without getting distracted by the people talking?" he asked knowing he would get his way.
"Fine, you can sit down but stay on the other side of the table and don't say anything to me." Lily said finally giving into him and grabbing her school books out of her bag.
James sat down on the opposite side of the table from her and took out his own books, rolls of parchment, quill and began working in silence on his charms essay which was due in a week.
"Hey James, Lily," an average looking short stature girl with short brown hair and brown eyes greeted the two Head students. She was one of Sixth year Ravenclaw Prefects.
"Hi" both Head students said at the same time.
"What are you doing over here by yourselves? Why don't you two come and join me. There is a group of us over behind the historical section." She said while looking directly at James and smiling. "Back there we can talk at a normal tone or basically do whatever we want without Madame Pince, roaring at us for talking to loud and being distracting for others. All this silence has got to be frustrating."
"I don't know…" James said looking around the library trying to pin point where this group of people were.
"I think I'll just stay here, Kora, thanks for asking. But…" Lily began looking at James with a smug expression on her face "… James would love to join you I'm sure. Isn't that right James?"
"Um…" was all James could say. He was caught off guard by Lily's suggestion. He did not want to leave the quiet and comfortable spot he was already at not to mention this was the only chance he had gotten to actually talk much less be around Lily Evans without it breaking out into an argument.
"…um, I think I'll have to pass this time. It's quiet here and I have some assignments due tomorrow, I need to get done. You know me, leave everything to the last minute," he said to the girl telling her a half truth, "maybe some other time."
"Okay," Kora said as the smile dropped to a frown, "I'll talk to you two later." She left the two Head students sitting at their table in silence.
Lily looked at James with a knowing look before returning to her homework.
James was concentrating but kept getting the distinct feeling someone was staring at him. The feeling made him uneasy but he did not look up to see who it was coming from. He did not want to get distracted from his homework any more than he had too. After all, this was his last year at Hogwarts and he had to do good since he was Head Boy and a role model to all the other students of the school. He also had the N.E.W.Ts (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) to look forward to at the end of the year.
Finally annoyed, he looked up from his homework when his eyes met a pair of emerald ones belonging to Lily. She had a huge grin plastered across her face as she stared back at him.
"Why are you smiling at me? Could it be true, Lily Evans has finally come down from her high horse and is realizing the truth that she is in love with me, a mere mortal?" James questioned her in a teasing way but he was also smiling back at her. He knew she was not smiling at him because she fancied him. The smile she had on her face, suggested she knew a secret and was debating about whether or not to tell him.
"No. That thought is absurd. I haven't and will never have any feelings for you other than loathing you with a great intensity." She explained to him in an offended tone. He could tell just by the way her statement came out, she didn't really mean what she was saying even if she had not comprehended it yet.
"Then why were you smiling at me?" James questioned her again.
"Because, I just find it amusing how blind you can actually be." She answered him then began looking over the paragraph she had just written moments before.
"What do you mean by that Evans? I think the glasses I wear, prove I don't have perfect vision like you." He said offended not grasping the true meaning behind her words.
"I wasn't speaking in literal terms Potter. What I meant was you were too blinded to see that Kora was hoping you would join her and her friends. You didn't pick up on the hints she was dropping." Lily explained to him, while trying to hide her giggles.
"She wasn't dropping any hints. If someone's blind here, it's you Evans." James retorted becoming upset.
"Boys are unbelievable." Lily muttered to herself rolling her eyes. "She sure wasn't looking at me when she invited us to join her with a dreamy look on her face. You're the only other one sitting at this table, unless there's an invisible person sitting beside you that only I can't see."
"Are you hallucinating Evans or…" James stopped and smiled at her before continuing his sentence, "… are you using her as cover because you don't want to give yourself away?"
"Dream on Potter," Lily said with a sigh, "there is no way in hell that I would ever like you. So I suggest you get over this little annoying infatuation you have with me and move on. I have to go. I would probably get more done in my room than sitting here debating nonsense with someone who has less of an I.Q. than a slug."
Lily excused herself as she gathered up all of her books, writing utensils, placed them in her bag and headed for the exit of the library. James just smiled, watching the girl of his dreams walk out of the library before returning again to his forgotten essay.
James woke up late the next morning with a horrible headache, stiff back, piece of parchment stuck to his cheek and a puddle of drool all over his large oak desk.
He let out a big yawn and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he attempted to sit up properly in his desk chair. He looked around taking in his surroundings. It took him a minute to finally understand why he was still sitting at his desk in his school robes from the day before and not laying in his bed. He had fallen asleep at his desk after finishing up his potions assignment and began work on his Muggle studies homework which was due in three hours. Not to mention the school day had began two hours ago. The week seemed to be going by slower than ever and there was still two days left until the weekend.
James looked at his wristwatch and groan. It was still early in the day and he just did not seem to have the energy to go anywhere beside his nice warm bed for a better sleeping position. The only question left was whether or not he should go back to sleep and just forget about his homework and school for the rest of the day or to get ready for it.
What should I do? I could go to school and be miserable and tired or I could just crawl into bed and sleep the rest of the day away. But if I do that then what do I tell my teachers tomorrow? However, I probably could do with a day off considering I have had a lot to do these past three weeks with Head Boy duties and organizing and training the Quidditch team since I am the Captain. Yeah I can just get everything from Sirius or Remus later and hand in my homework tomorrow or the day after.
James finally decided sleep would be a much better option than going to class. So he changed into his sleep wear and climbed under the scarlet and gold covers of his nice warm bed and drifted off to sleep within minutes.
The rest of the school day passed rather quickly and before James knew it his peaceful sleep was interrupted by a knock on his door. He rolled over in his bed after hearing the knock, not wanting to get up from his comfortable position. He hoped that whoever was on the other side would eventually get the hint and go away.
After a few minutes of knocking, the person finally stopped to James' relief. But as soon as he turned over and closed his eyes again, his door opened with aloud squeak able too raise the dead and someone jumped hard onto his bed, making him jolt up.
"Time to get up Prongsie," Sirius said to James as he made himself comfortable on the bed.
"What the hell do you want Sirius?" James mumbled from under his pillow.
"Hey Mr. Grumpy, I've just come to see if you were still alive. Isn't it nice of me to show concern for my best friend who didn't come to any classes." Sirius answered in a whiny voice.
"Great, now that you know I'm alive, you can leave." James said with his head still buried under his pillow.
"Why would I do a silly thing like that?" Sirius asked pulling off the pillow.
"Because…" James answered grabbing it back from his friend and then placing it in its rightful spot at the top of the bed and turning back to Sirius, "… I'm trying to sleep. Now get out."
"You've got some bad-manners Prongs. What, no please or thank you? Who the hell taught you them?" Sirius said still keeping his light-hearted tone.
"I learned everything from only one blockhead. Any guess on who he is…" James replied sarcastically staring at Sirius before continuing, "… I'll give you a hint. He's in my room, sitting on my bed, annoying the shit out of me."
"You don't mean me do you?" Sirius asked.
"Ding, ding. I think we have a winner. Your prize is to leave me alone." James answered.
"Gssssss James did something crawl up and latch on to your ass last night? Whatever side of the bed you woke up on this morning was the wrong one. I think you should try the other one." Sirius answered getting angry himself, "I'll come back when my best friend returns."
"Good" was James' only reply.
Sirius made his exit known by slamming the door shut on his way out James gave a simple grunt and turned back over, placing his pillow once again over his head and falling into another peaceful sleep.
However, his sleep did not last long. No more than a half an hour later he was woken up yet again by another knock the door. Only this time the knock was much gentler than Sirius usually banging.
The gentle knocking persisted for a few minutes until James finally got up to answer it.
"WHO THE HELL IS IT NOW AND WHY ARE YOU BUGGING ME?" He yelled as he opened the door to find Lily standing there looking about as confused as he felt.
"I….I…see, I've caught you at a bad time," she stuttered a bit before gaining control over her words again, "I should go."
"N…no …um…it's just a surprise to see you standing at my door. That's all. What are you doing here?" He asked trying to keep her from going.
"I just came by to give you the homework from today, since you weren't in class," she answered.
"Ahh! So you came here out the goodness of your heart?" James asked smiling an evil grin.
"No, I figured you wouldn't get the assignments or information without me telling you. And as Head Girl I felt it was the proper thing to do." Lily answered in a dignified voice wiping the smile right off his face. "Here you are. We have a test in Care of Magical Creatures next week and everything else is written down."
"How nice of you," he said taking the homework from her, "to take time out your busy schedule to come and see those lower than yourself. I mean it must be hard for you to make time for others. Thank you, your highness."
James bowed to her then shut the door on a confused Lily Evans before throwing the parchment in his hands down on his desk and crawling back into bed.
Forcefully his door was pushed opened and slammed shut for the second time that day, as Lily walked in to his room approaching the side of his bed with her arms crossed.
James could tell she was mad because the colour of her face almost matched her hair and her green eyes stared at him in a cold way. This look made him feel unsafe around her.
"Ever heard of knocking, it's more polite than just barging in on people." James yelled sitting up in his bed.
"That might be true, but it's no more polite than slamming the door in someone's face." Lily replied dryly. "Just explain to me one thing, James Potter, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I didn't have to bring you anything but I knew none of your friends would. None of you probably know the meaning of the word homework."
"SHUT UP EVANS," James yelled, his patience running thin. "You know nothing about me and my friends. By the way no one asked you to bring me anything. You probably would never think twice about it if you weren't Head Girl am I right?"
"First of all Potter, your grammar needs work. The sentence should be my friends before me and second, I don't need to justify my actions to you or anyone else. You should be happy I actually thought about you, but I can guarantee you, I won't make that mistake again." Lily retorted back.
"Get out of my room Evans. I'm tired of this senseless bickering. If you want to continue with it I'll have to get back to you." James said turning his back on her. But Lily did not listen to him, she did not leave. Instead she moved closer to him, rather then further away.
"What's wrong anyway? Why'd you miss classes?" She asked him in a softer tone.
"Well isn't this new, Evans actually is showing concern for me," he muttered to himself but loud enough for her to hear. "Does this mean you really care?"
"Of course I care for the well being of a fellow student. Besides, it's unlike you to miss a day of classes, not counting your record of been late. So what's the matter?"
"Nothing, I'm just tired. I was up late last night finishing the assignments due today. I don't even know when I fell asleep. I woke up at my desk this morning after school had already begun," he explained looking at her. Cautiously she sat on the far side of his bed.
"Yeah, I know what that's like. So why did sleeping in late stop you from going to the rest of your classes? I mean it never stopped you before?" Lily questioned letting her worry for him show.
James had to smile at the situation. Here sitting beside him, on his bed, was Lily Evans, the most complex girl he had ever met. A girl who would rather face her worst fear (which was spiders), than show anyone (except her friends), her vulnerable side. He liked that she could show some kind of emotion towards him.
"I don't know I just needed a break I wasn't feeling the greatest when I woke up drooling on my homework." he said making Lily smile as she tried to hide it with her hand. "Is that a smile I see on Lily Evans lips? Did I actually make you laugh? Holly shit I think the world is coming to an end."
"No I'm not laughing; I just think it's funny." She replied in defense.
"Well let me ask you a question, since we are being civil to each other for the moment." James said to her.
"Fine, go ahead. Just as long as it's tasteful and nothing moronic," Lily responded.
"Okay, I want to know why you were late on Monday to McGonagall's class. You are never late nor absent. Also Artemis mentioned you were pressuring your self a lot lately. Why?" He asked her the questions which had been plaguing him for the past few days.
"It's not a big deal. I was late because like you I stayed up most of the night on Sunday and woke up ten minutes before class Monday morning. It's nothing serious. Just the same old boring things," she answered getting up from his bed.
"Why are you pressuring yourself?" James asked her again.
"Look my life is no concern of yours and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't worry about me. I should go. Don't forget the Prefect meeting tomorrow." She said making her way to her door.
"Lily wait why won't you answer the question?" James asked her before she had a chance to leave.
She turned to look at him one last time, "Don't pry in others lives Potter. If I wanted you to know I would tell you, but that's not the case, so I suggest you drop the subject. Goodbye." She said with a hint of anger pushing through her voice then opened the door and left.
James laid on his bed in confusion. What the hell just happened? One minute he and Lily were being civil to each other and the next moment she blew up at him storming out like always. The only difference this time was that James had no idea what he had done to make her mad. Whatever the reason he had not done it on purpose.
"Merlin, why are girls so difficult?" He yelled out to no one, it had been a long day for him even though he had gone no where and by the look of things; tomorrow was not going to be any better. With that James turned over onto his stomach and did the one thing he had wanted to do all day and had done for most of it, sleep.
"Hey Evans looks like we're sharing a detention together." Sirius said to Lily as he put his arms around her shoulders at breakfast the next day.
"Oh lucky me," she replied shrugging him off.
"What'd you do to get a detention for this time, Sirius" Artemis asked him as he took the seat beside Lily.
"Out late last night," he said loading food onto his plate then pouring himself some pumpkin juice.
"What were you doing?" Ivory asked before realizing who she was talking too.
"Well meet me in the Astronomy tower tonight and I'll show you." Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows at the brown haired girl.
"Um…I'd rather not," she answered blushing.
"Suit yourself." Sirius said shrugging it off and stuffing his face with food. Artemis and Ivory just looked at him with disgust as they watched the seventeen year old boy stuff large amounts of food into his mouth and swallowing it with great difficultly.
"Oh great," Lily mumbled and rested her head in her right hand.
"What? What's the matter?" Artemis questioned looking away from Sirius to Lily.
"Nothing to panic over Tem, its just that Potters coming over." Lily moaned, "I really don't feel like getting into another row with him."
"Yeah, you two have really been at each others throats lately, one fight after another." Ivory commented while buttering herself a new piece of toast.
"We all knew it was coming sooner or later. I mean you and Potter made it almost three weeks without a verbal disagreement. That's got to be a new record by the way, and we knew it was bound to happen. It just ended up becoming a daily ritual the past four days." Artemis explained then took a drink from her goblet full of pumpkin juice.
"There is an easy solution to this problem." Lily said.
"Oh yeah, and what pray-tell is that?" Sirius asked while chunks of his breakfast flew out of his mouth, making the three girls groan with repulsion.
"Mind chewing your food before speaking Sirius, not everyone here wants your breakfast spit at them this early in the morning and I'm sure it might do wonders for the lack of manners you seem to be missing." Artemis told him while handing Sirius a napkin to clear up his mess. "You were saying Lily"
"Yeah, well the best way to solve my predicament is avoidance. The less I see of him the happier I'll be." She said standing up from her seat at the Gryffindor table and looking at her friends, "Talk to you guys later, I want to go study for our History of Magic test."
Lily's friends just nodded in agreement and continued eating, only mumbling a "see ya later", "um-huh", and in Sirius' case "we have a test today." Lily just giggled at her friends then turned from the table, only to bump into someone and falling down on top of them.
"I'm sorry." Lily apologized getting up off the person, and not realizing who they were.
She stood up, dusted herself off then looked up to see if they were all right but noticed it was the one person she did not want to see.
"Man Evans, I knew you wanted me but I didn't think it was that bad. I knew you would fall for me one day." James teased after getting back up and gently hitting her on the shoulder grinning, what Lily thought, was his stupid arrogant grin.
"You only wish Potter." Lily said hitting him back and actually making it hurt. James' only reply to the punch was a yelp of pain with his other hand rubbing his now throbbing left shoulder.
"Damn Evans that hurt. Where the hell you learn to hit, a non-magical duel?" James asked in shock while still rubbing his bruised shoulder.
"Well at least it got your attention. Oh and Potter the next time you plan on any physical contact involving me, I would be more careful because next time I won't aim for a decent body part, if you catch my drift." Lily said smiling then walked past him slamming her shoulder into him with force and leaving her two friends and his best friend rolling with laughter on the floor.
"Merlin…I didn't- know girls-could hit like that….Evans sure has an arm on her… James you should have seen your face…when she hit you back-it was priceless. I won't forget it, as long as I live. Geeessssss, where's a camera when you need it….I…. can't stop….laughing….It's just too…funny….hahahahahahaha….ouch….my side it hurts…too…much too…breathe…" Sirius managed to get those words out through all his rolling around and laughing.
James just glared at his best friend. Sirius was too busy laughing to notice.
"Nice friend you are Padfoot, I wouldn't laugh if a girl embarrassed you in front of the whole school," James whined then took Lily's vacant seat.
"If I recall correctly Prongs, you laughed your ass off when Sarah Kendall slapped me and called me a pig in front everyone in the great hall, last year. Remus, Peter and you, couldn't stop for a whole week." Sirius replied in defense gaining his composure.
"Sirius, she did that because you are a pig. We weren't laughing at you, we were laughing with you. The only problem is you failed to see the humour of the situation." James snickered as Sirius sent a scowl his way.
"Shut up," was all Sirius could reply. He turned away from his best friend and began talking to a girl sitting beside him.
James just shrugged and turned his attention to the plate in front of him, which was still empty. He started loading it with all the food he could fit, and began stuffing his face without taking the right amount of time to chew.
"Merlin, James slow down, I don't think the food is going to get up and walk off your plate. You can chew it properly. What is it with boys, food and no manners?" Artemis said to him, with a look of disgust and amazement plastered on her face.
"Where's the fun in that?" James asked her before taking a quick drink from his goblet, then returned to scarf down more breakfast.
"There might not be any fun in it, but at least you don't run the risk of choking," she informed.
"Oh well, I like doing dangerous things rather then safe ones," James answered back. Artemis rolled her eyes ignoring him through the rest of breakfast.
When breakfast finished, the four remaining Gryffindors, got up from their table and headed to their first class of the day, most of them unprepared for the History of Magic test.
James heard the banging of the gabble on the desk as he quietly slipped into the prefect meeting two minutes late, slowly making his way up to the front of the lounge where the Head Girl and Boy began the meetings.
"This week's Prefect Meeting is called to order," Lily said loudly, her voice ringing with power.
"Is there any business that needs to be brought up before we get on with this week's issue?" All the prefects shook their heads no and waited for their Head Girl to continue.
"Good," Lily said then continued, "Now it has come to my attention, the bullying of the first years has become a problem among the older students. Apparently, older students of this school seem to think, initiation is a proper form of welcome and thus, are torturing the first years by doing things like magically untying there shoelaces, stealing their books or pointing them in the wrong direction. I was asked by our Headmaster, to try and prevent these incidences from happening or continuing. I ask for all of your co-operation in putting a stop to the first year initiation, and if anyone in this room is caught doing anything of the sort, will be striped of their badge and punished severely."
"Is there anything, you wish to add James?" Lily asked politely, looking in his direction. James could tell by the way Lily was looking at him she was mad because of his late appearance.
"Um…no, I have nothing to add," James said quickly then turned away from her staring eyes.
"Well then, meeting adjourned, you are dismissed." Lily said then banged the gabble on the desk again. James hurriedly made his way through the chatting Prefects to the door, hoping he could avoid a confrontation with the very pissed off Head Girl. But luck was not on his side at that moment.
"James, I need you to stay behind. We need to prepare for next week's meeting." Lily called to him over the retreating Prefects in the sweet tone she used to address other people that were not him.
James let out a frustrated sigh, turned away from the door and made his way back over to Lily, who was clearing away some rogue parchment on the table she had used to conduct the meeting.
"So what's there to prepare for next week?" James asked her in a-some-what causal tone. He knew Lily was going to give him an earful and was just waiting for her to begin yelling at him, which she never did. Instead, she continued straightening up the Prefect's Lounge pretending he was not there.
There was a long silent pause between the two Head students, before James finally gave in and repeated his previous question, "Um Lily, what was it you needed help preparing for next week?"
He still received no reply from her. "Well, since you refuse to answer me, I'm not going to stay in here and continued to be ignored." James said to her and again started making his way to the exit.
"You know, I wouldn't doubt it if you're the worst Head Boy this school has ever had. You're action sure prove how you feel about this position. I really never expected anything from you so I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed. Now if you'll excuse me, I have things to finish and I can get them done better on my own." Lily said to him in the calmest voice she could muster in his presence while pointing a finger to the doorway issuing him to leave before sitting down in the chair at the one of many desks in the room, with her quill in hand and a blank piece of parchment in front of her.
James stood there, rooted to the spot. He was at a loss for words and struggling with the decision whether to listen to Lily and leave or actually stay and help her even though he knew she was opposed to the idea. Was she right? Was he the worst Head Boy? She was truthful when she said he did not show how grateful he was to be Head Boy. But he thought her words were more hurtful than they needed to be.
"Look Lily, I want to help you," James said walking over to the desk where Lily was working.
"You're still here Potter?" Lily stated more than questioned. "What makes you think I want your help? I've been doing enough work for the both of us for three weeks now and not once have you offered assistance. No thank you, if I got through three weeks without you, the rest of the year should be a breeze."
"I never offered help to you because you never asked," James said now getting frustrated. This was getting ridiculous and Lily (in James' opinion) was being very stubborn. "Not once since the semester began have I even heard a peep out of you requesting me tohelp you. If you would of only asked…"
"I shouldn't have to ask the Head Boy of Hogwarts to help me; it is your responsibility to do it without being told." Lily said interrupting him continuing on again before he had a chance to disrupt her. "You were chosen to be Head Boy and even though your ego is bigger than most, you still have obligations and you should commit to them without someone telling or asking you too."
James' only answer was a sigh of both defeat and aggravation. There was nothing he could say to counter Lily's argument and he knew it. She had won yet another battle and he could do nothing about it. All he could do was admit it. "Your right Lily, I should be more responsible and I promise I will try to be in the future. Now please let me help you."
Lily almost fell out of her chair at James' words. Was that actually James Potter saying them or was there a ventriloquist conducting this change in their conversation. She found it really hard for James Potter to offer his help as freely as he did or even to admit he was wrong. There had to be a reason behind it. What would make him admit to anyone he was wrong? It was a once IN a lifetime thing. However, she was unsure if she had even heard him right.
"What…..what did you say? Did you just admit I was right then agree to be more responsible? Are my ears playing tricks on me?"
"You don't have to be that dramatic," James said taking the seat across from her.
"Yes I do. It's not everyday James Potter, King of Hogwarts, shows any other side of his personality other than his arrogance. I have to be sure about the sincerity behind your words." Lily said teasingly while at the same time being serious.
"Are you sure about it? Do you think I am being sincere?" James asked hoping she would say what he wanted to hear. Hoping she believed him and their constant quarreling would finally come to an end after four days.
Lily did not answer for a few minutes taking the time to think about her answer carefully. She knew he was being honest but she just wanted him to suffer for awhile and make him wait for her answer as long as she could.
"Well, I guess you couldn't look anymore pathetic if you weren't being truthful. So I believe you. Now if you are going to help me then I need your undivided attention." Lily said as she moved from her original seat to one closer to James.
She placed the parchment she was using in front of both of them and got out an extra quill from her bag for James to use.
"So what do we have to do?" James asked looking over the point-form writing on the parchment in front of them. It was already full of scribbles from Lily writing and rewriting ideas which had come to her.
"We have to come up with ideas on how to decorate the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast and also maybe plan out a few activities to keep the younger children satisfied while the third years and up are at Hogsmeade that day." Lily answered while rereading her ideas then continued crossing more out.
"Umm Lily none of the other Heads ever planned activities for the younger years or even decided to decorate the Great Hall for that matter. The teachers and Hagrid do those things and I think they do a fine job. Why make more work for ourselves?" James pointed out to her.
Lily sighed at his question, not because she was frustrated with it but more so because he was right. Why make more work for them if it does not need to be done? However, she thought about it for a few minutes and came to the decision she was not making more work for herself or the others, she was merely trying to differentiate herself as Head Girl from those in the past. 'What was wrong with being slightly more ambitious then the past Head students of the school?'
"I figured the school was due for a bit of change is all. Besides, every Halloween the school is decorated in the same way and when the rest of the student body is in Hogsmeade for the day, nobody even gives a second thought about what the first and second years might do for fun. Naturally I decided I would have their best interests at heart and prepare an exciting day for them while the rest of the years are off enjoying themselves with pigging out and shopping."
"Isn't that kind of you? Exactly how do you plan to pull this off Miss Evans? I mean you will of course be enjoying yourself in Hogsmeade as well, who will be setting up these activities and then supervising the younger students? None of the Prefects will want to stay behind to do it." James again pointed out to her making her rethink her plan.
"Well I suppose after I bring up the topic with the Headmaster, he will be more than willing to suggest one of the faculty members to get my plan in full swing. He will probably be happy I have actually thought about the younger years and might actually be willing to do so himself. As for the decorating we could get co-operation not only from the faculty but the Prefects as well and can do so before breakfast." Lily said secretly admitting to herself of how brilliant she actually was and how well thought out her ideas were coming to her in mere seconds. "We just have to plan these events to the fullest before bringing them to Professor Dumbledore."
"Okay I'll help you out since you seem so determined to do this," James' replied smiling his arrogant grin in Lily's direction. Lily did not find his smile so repulsive this time around; actually she found it to be charming without his extra egoistical attitude behind it. She was happy James could be more than what his reputation perceived him to be.
"Thanks for your help. It only took me ten minutes to convince you to lend a hand. Oh well now that you agreed to do so, there is no getting out of it so we should get going on it." Lily said smiling back at him as she wrote yet another idea onto the piece parchment in front of her.
Two hours later James and Lily sitting in the same place in the Prefect lounge had come up with a full plan and instructions for executing it on Halloween.
They were prepared for just about every possible catastrophe imaginable which might occur for the first and second years fun filled day. The decorating of the Great Hall however, was not as easy to arrange.
"What if we talk to Dumbledore about serving only healthy food at the feast? Have the house elves create the dishes to be tasty but without all the candy and sweets. It would be better for everyone and a change from the usual Halloween feast." Lily suggested looking skeptical about her idea.
"Do you honestly think Dumbledore would go for a sweet free Halloween? He is one of the biggest muggle sweet lovers around. That's like suggesting Christmas without presents. None of the students or even the faculty will be to keen about the idea. They won'treact well to it," James said while shaking his head no.
"It was only a thought. I didn't expect it to be considered but I have to cover all aspects, after all I am Head Girl." Lily said in an annoyed tone which disappear as soon as the words left her mouth.
"You're the Head Girl, of Hogwarts?" James said, his statement dripping with sarcasm. "Wow, I guess people do learn something new everyday. I can't believe I finally have the opportunity to meet you. Can I have your autograph?" James pushed a spare piece of parchment across the desk with her quill lying on top of it and giving her a puppy-dog eyed look.
You could tell the Head students had been hard at work by the condition of the Prefect lounge. The desk, which was clear when they sat down, was now littered with crumpled up balls of parchment. The floor did not look much better.
It did not help when they took a small break to have a paper fight, the reason why the floor looked like a battlefield.
This was the first time Lily had actually enjoyed being in the presence of James for more than a few minutes, without having their friends or anyone else around to interfere with their slowly blossoming acquaintanceship. It was too early to say they were friends but they were at least getting along for the moment. Of course they exchanged sarcastic comments but something about sitting, in a room by themselves seemed to allow them the freedom to have an easy-going attitude about it.
"Hahaha! Very funny! Stop goofing off so we can finish this." Lily said trying to conceal her smile from James. She had to admit the look he was giving her was cute, even though it was coming from an arrogant jerk. She found it nice he was not being a 'self-centered, egoistical, chauvinistic, imbecilic idiot.'
"I will as soon as you sign your name for me. Come on I want to be able to say, 'I knew Lily Evans when she wasn't famous,'" James said prodding her give him her signature.
"Fine, I'll sign it for you but don't expect me to remember you when I'm famous," she joked then picking up the quill signing the parchment with her neat and loopy signature, Lily Evans, then slid the page back to James.
"Thanks, I'll treasure this forever," James replied holding it close to his chest and giving her a teasing dreamy look before laughing and stuffing it into his bag. "Well let's finish the planning shall we?"
"Mmmm!" was the only reply Lily gave, as she sat there in a daze for a few minutes before finally letting out a huge sigh. "Maybe we should just leave it alone. I mean it looks amazing how they decorate it every year anyway. Why should we interfere with tradition?"
"Another shocker," James said trying to look surprised, "Evans is actually not going to try and change something or interfere with it. You're full of surprise tonight aren't you?"
"You're one to talk Potter; I'm not the only surprising one in this room." Lily said as she playfully shoved him then got up from her seat and went to sit down on one of the brown couches.
"Someone finally penetrated my over-sized head. So I have no choice but to surprise you, hell I'm even surprising myself." James said taking the seat on the couch beside her.
"Well the person who managed to get something to sink into your rather enormous head must be nothing short of a miracle worker," Lily said.
"Um…what's a miracle worker?" James asked Lily. Lily could do nothing but let out a giggle when she saw the very confused look on his face. How could she have forgotten? He was from one of the oldest and purest wizarding families in England and therefore had little or no recollection of muggle things and phrases.
However, the thought still made her laugh because even though she was a Muggle-Born witch and she understood both the wizarding world and muggle world, she still found it funny that predominate families like James' knew very little about the world she grew up in.
"Miracle worker is a phrase used for when something impossible becomes possible by a person," Lily explained still trying to stifle her giggles.
"Interesting," was the only reply James' could give. He was still a little confused but it did not seem important to him to explore the topic any further. The truth was he really did not care. He was more interested in sitting there with Lily then learning about different muggle phrases. Maybe sometime in the distant future he would care more but that was not now and so he searched his brain for another topic for them to talk about instead.
"Since we are sort of on the topic anyway, how was it growing up with a muggle background and then one day all of a sudden finding out you're a witch and different from the rest of your family?" James asked her. That was a question he had always wanted to ask a Muggle-Born witch or wizard but never wanted to sound rude about asking someone such a personal question. He was not even sure Lily would answer him but hell at least he took a shot and asked, even if she gave him a vague or no response at all.
"Well, I suppose it was similar to how you grew up, the only differences is I grew up without the knowledge of magic until I was eleven and you grew up knowing about it. I don't know what there is to explain and I really don't feel like getting into a discussion with you about the difference of growing up with and without magic. There is just too much to go through," Lily explained to James. It was not that she did not want him knowing about her past, no it had nothing to do with that. There was just too much to explain to him because he did not grow up in a muggle house hold and everything she would mention, for example a television set, James would either know absolutely nothing about it or would have only heard about.
"That is true. I probably wouldn't understand most of the things you describe to me. I don't get how muggles can live without magic, it just seems like an impossible feat to me but still it does sound fascinating to learn about. However, I can barely sit through muggle studies." James said agreeing with her.
It was nice for them to be getting along for a change and it was a bonus for James because he was sitting across from, in his opinion, the most beautiful and smartest girl in the school and maybe even in the entire world, having a friendly conversation. This was indeed a rare occasion and he was trying his best not to say something that would offend her or make her upset. So far his efforts were working. She seemed content with them talking and from what James could tell she had no objections to any of the topics they were discussing.
"What's your family like?" James asked Lily, hoping he was not being to bold asking about something which was none of his business.
"Why are you so interested?" Lily questioned instead of answering him.
"We never really had the opportunity to get to know each other, you know us not being civil and all, so there's no better time than the present to get out everything we want to know about the other person. Besides, its better conversation topic than, so what do you want to talk about? Don't you think?" James answered while shifting to a more comfortable position.
"I guess that is a reasonable request. It's not like I'm going to tell you my whole life story so a little mention about my home life should not be too bad. Well, my family is similar to everyone else's family I assume. My parents have been married for twenty-seven years and they are still madly in love and I have one sister who is two years older. I'm sure your family life is more exciting than mine." Lily said to James as she too shifted to a better position and still able to talk to him without the sound of her voice getting all muffled.
"Why would my family life be interesting? My parents have been married forever, they travel and work a lot so I don't get to see them too much and I am an only child, well that was until Sirius moved in over the summer. Now I have to share everything with him. Trust me it is not fun going from an only child to having a brother in a short time, especially when he is six months older," James complained in a whiny voice and crossed his hands over his chest as if he were a six year old who did not get the toy he wanted.
'Poor baby,' she thought sarcastically 'he has to share things with someone else for a change. It must be extremely hard for him.' Lily was never one to give sympathy for children who came from only child families. She always thought of them to be spoiled rotten and to be a little egocentric; James was the perfect example to support her theory. However, Ivory and Remus were the examples that debated it.
"Want some cheese to go with that wine? You would think living with Sirius and the other maunders for the past six years would have prepared you for it. At least it was only one summer and he is your best friend. I had to deal with a sister for sixteen years and she is no picnic. She can be quite a bitch and I'm not exaggerating." Lily said to him without going into anymore detail than she had too.
Lily's sister, Petunia Evans was not even worth mentioning to people that were not her close friends (in Lily's opinion), because half the time Lily wished she herself was an only child though she found most of them to be spoiled brats.
"Was she always as bad as you say she is?" James asked in a sincere voice. He was interested to know anything about Lily. He would take any information he get from her. The funny part was he never usually cared but when it came to Lily he wanted to know everything.
"No but I really don't want to talk about her especially to James Potter." Lily said signaling it was the end of that conversation and James better find another one if he wanted to keep her there.
"What time is it?" Lily asked after a few seconds of silence. She let out a yawn then stood up from the couch and stretched out her arms and legs.
"Um…1:30am," James said looking at his gold plated wristwatch. Lily could tell it was not bought in a muggle store because the clock hands were broomsticks. "Wow we've been here for almost 9 hours."
"I don't know about you but I think I'm heading off to bed. It's getting late and we still have classes tomorrow," Lily said making her way to the door.
"Hold on and I'll walk with you since we are going in the same direction and all." James said following her to the door after he got off the couch and stretched his own legs.
"Alright but hurry up because I'm tired and I don't want to wait all night for you," Lily said walking out the door and into the dark corridor with James hot on her trail.
It took them fifteen minutes to walk up seven flights of stairs and reach the Head dormitory with only one encounter with the caretaker Filch who upon protest let them go because Lily was able to come up with a clever excuse even Dumbledore would believe.
"That was the greatest excuse and it wasn't that far from the truth." James said as they entered the Head common room and sat down on one of the couches.
"See it is good to be honest even if you have to stretch the truth a little but did you see the look on Filch's face when he didn't get his way. I bloody well thought the man was going to throw a tantrum and start crying as if he was a toddler," Lily said giggling then became serious as a thought just crossed her mind and was fighting the urge to ask it. James could tell just by looking at her that she was battling with something, so he decided to push her to it.
"Something on your mind?" James asked her.
"Yeah, actually there is. I was wondering why every time we are alone without our friends, you seem to get a nice streak and we manage to be civil to each other?" Lily asked voicing her thought..
"I don't know maybe our friends are bad influences when we are all together. Why does it matter?" James questioned.
"It doesn't I was just curious that's all. Well I am heading to bed; if I don't go to sleep soon then I will be late for class tomorrow. So goodnight," Lily said heading to her room and shutting the door.
"Night Lily," James whispered to the empty common room before getting up and heading to his own room to turn in himself. The last thing on his mind as he crawled into bed and fell asleep was the girl just across the hall from him. Their relationship if you could call it that, was actually heading in the right direction for once and hopefully he would not screw it up this time.
© By Mythology, June 4, 2004
Reposted June 27, 2005