When Lily first began Hogwarts, she thought that every day would be interesting and full of fun. However, she soon saw that that was not the case.
It was a dreary day, and hardly anyone was paying attention to the History of Magic class, or even displaying signs of consciousness. As Professor Binns droned on about the formation of the Ministry of Magic, Lily glanced ahead of her, in a vain hope to see anything more than tilted heads and slight patches of drool. Exasperated, Lily peered to her right and left, straining to see each of her dorm-mates: Lupita, Anjali, Amelia, and Mary – all, sadly, fast asleep. Disappointed, Lily then turned behind her in desperation. Surely she wasn't the only one determined enough to give the class a fair trial before admitting defeat!
After a few moments of blind hope, Lily finally found what she so desperately wanted to see. Sure, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew were all sound asleep, but the boy beside them –Remus Lupin – was , he was scribbling down notes, his quill moving with a ferocity rivaling that of Lily's own quill.
When Remus finished his paragraph, he looked up. For just a moment, his eyes met Lily's, and she blushed and turned back to the front of the class. By the time she had herself convinced that it was safe to look back again, his head was bent over his notes, and he did not look up.
At the end of class, as the other students were leaving (looking not a little relieved to escape), Remus raised his hand to give Lily a wave. She inclined her head in reply.
As Lily began to walk to her next class, she wondered idly when she would meet Remus Lupin again.
For the next three days, he was nowhere to be found. Just when Lily had all but convinced herself that seeing him on the train and in class were only wild figments of her imagination, she turned a corner to go to Transfiguration and there he was, leaning against the wall by the door.
Lily's first impulse was to walk past him to her seat, but a voice in her head stopped her.
Okay, it said, you need this, you know you do. And you know you can. You are in Gryffindor. It will be okay.
Before her mind changed again, Lily marched directly up to Remus Lupin, who looked over at her in questioning interest.
"So," she began, "I see you are looking for notes for the days you missed."
His face blanched and began to show concern.
"No, it's okay," Lily said. "I'm sure you have a good reason for missing class. I just meant that if you would like notes, here mine are."
With shaking hands, she held out her notes to Remus, who took them eagerly.
"I will give these right back," he said. "Thanks, Lily. James and Sirius are good students, but they don't take quite so many notes. And none in History of Magic."
Lily merely pushed the notes into his hand and headed to her seat, wondering as she did so why her tongue had seemed too clumsy to reply.
Remus and Lily saw each other many times after that, exchanging notes and studying together in the library. Remus was away for a family matter a few days each month, but Lily was too excited about having a friend in her House to steel herself to bring it up.