Lily Evans and James Potter were a perfect match for each other. They drove each other crazy and there were definitely days where they hated each other. But they brought the best out in each other. Sometimes.
Lily and James had known each other since 1 September 1971, where they had met on the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. James hadn't left a great impression on Lily and in all honesty, he couldn't have cared less. He didn't care about girls, at least not then.
Over the years Lily and James spent a lot of time together.
Due to being in the same house, they ran in the same circle of friends and attended most classes together. For the first four years of their Hogwarts careers they tolerated each other more than anything.
It was during their fifth year when they really started to become friends. Not close friends, but Lily appreciated James's sense of humour. He appreciated her intelligence. She didn't settle for his bullshit and he liked that.
As Lily's friendship with her best friend Severus Snape started to deteriorate, her relationship with James continued to grow. But even then, neither of them expected anything more to come from their friendship. They just didn't see each other in a romantic light.
In fact, it wasn't until their first kiss that James knew he really wanted to be with Lily. He fancied her so he'd asked her on a date.
Towards the end of their date, Lily had leaned in slowly and pressed her lips against his, her eyes closed, almost scared of being rejected. When she felt him relax into the kiss and open his mouth ever so slightly in response, she smiled. James knew that he never wanted to be with anyone else. Lily knew that she didn't want to stop kissing him.
She was the one that he wanted to be with. He wanted to spend his life kissing her lips.
She couldn't believe that she was kissing James Potter. The James Potter. What would her friends think?
After that first date, James knew that he wanted to be with Lily.
She didn't even think they'd go on a second date. A real date.
But their love story, as intense as it was, was cut short fives years later. It was by all accounts a rollercoaster ride. They loved and they lost. But to really understand their relationship you need to go back to the beginning of their love story.
In fact, you need to go back to a balmy night in 1976. 1 September is when their love story really began.
###
Laughter erupted in the Gryffindor common room, yet of the nine students huddled around one of the coffee tables no one really knew why they were laughing. Two empty bottles of firewhisky lay discarded under the coffee table, a line a shot glasses on the coffee table.
Sirius Black, still chuckling, cracked open another bottle and filled the shot glasses up, spilling some of the firewhisky on the table. "Whoops," he took a swig from the bottle before closing it, "all right then, who's next?"
He looked around the circle at the faces of his classmates. His fellow Marauders, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin sat with Lily Evans, Vanessa Jones and Cecelia Lai, other sixth years. Andrew Howell, a fifth year and the youngest of the group sat between Lorelai Shacklebolt, a seventh year, and Sirius. "Lor, who shall it be?"
It had been Lorelai's turn last round so she got to choose who went next.
"Potter," giggled Lorelai, nudging him with her shoulder, "truth or dare?"
James rolled his eyes, "Dare, of course. It's like you don't even know me."
Lorelai hiccoughed. "Uhh…" she looked around the circle for ideas.
"Do a nudie run," cried Cecelia, "around the seventh floor." She brushed her long, straight black hair behind her ears and grinned at James, "unless you're shy of course?" Cecelia was the biggest flirt of the group and was shameless in her attempts to get the boys to take their robes off.
James grinned back, "now we're talking." He reached out and took a shot of firewhisky off the coffee table drank it, before standing up and starting to strip. Within moments James was butt-naked. "Shall we?" He looked around at the group, hardly phased by his lack of clothing.
The group couldn't help but stare. James Potter was an attractive young man. As the new captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team he'd spent the summer working hard to get in shape. It showed. The girls had trouble averting their eyes. As did Andrew. He looked up to James Potter, so he was impressed more than anything.
The other Marauders had seen James naked before. They were less interested than the rest of the group.
James turned around and walked right out of the portrait hole. A few members of the group exchanged bewildered looks before everyone rushed to follow him out. James was standing outside the portrait hole, pretending to warm up for a run.
"Well?" asked Lily, the last to climb out the portrait hole, "what are you waiting for?"
"Didn't want you to miss the show, love," James winked at her. He took off. Silence fell over the group as he disappeared around the corner. The tipsy teenagers swayed in their places. For a few moments no one heard anything as James's footsteps could no longer be heard.
And then the unmistakable sound of Peeves' laughter erupted. The cheeky poltergeist loved an excuse to cause trouble.
"Oooooh, Mr Potter," he cackled, "wait until I tell McGonagall what you're doing," he said in a sing-song voice.
The group outside the portrait hole stumbled over one another to get back inside the common room. Seconds later James came tumbling through the portrait hole and dived behind one of the sofas. "Clothes!" he called out.
Peter tossed James's robes behind the couch right as the portrait swung open just as the portrait opened up and Professor McGonagall stepped into the common room.
Her usually tight bun was loose, with strands of hair falling in front of her slightly rosy cheeks. "Ah, I suspect you guys have been having a little start of year shindig, no?" She looked around the room.
Lily nodded, "Yes, professor. But we were just about to go bed."
"Oh, I'm sure you were Miss Evans," McGonagall smiled, "Try to keep the noise down though, you all have classes first thing in the morning." McGonagall turned to leave. "Oh, and tell Mr Potter to put his clothes back on or I'll have to start deducting points," she called over her shoulder as she left.
As the portrait swung closed everyone sat in silence for a moment before bursting into laughter again.
"Was she drunk?" Vanessa asked as they started to settle down.
"I think she was," Peter responded.
It was reaching one am and a few members of the group decided it was time for bed. Vanessa and Cecelia headed up towards the girl's dormitories while Peter scattered upstairs to the boy's sleeping quarters.
"Well, Evans," James stood up from behind the sofa, pulling his robes on. "Looks like it your turn. Truth or dare?"
Lily swallowed a shot of firewhisky before answering, "dare."
"Oooooh," Sirius sang, "someone's feeling brave."
James nodded, "Well, since you saw mine, it's only fair…" he trailed off and raised an eyebrow, "we'll understand if you back down."
Lily rolled her eyes, "You can't bully me, Potter. What's my dare?"
"You wound me, Evans," he put his hands over his heart and threw his head back pretending to be hurt, "I would never hurt another Gryffindor."
"You're such a drama queen. What am I supposed to be doing?"
He paused for a moment, took the bottle of firewhisky from Sirius and swallowed a mouthful. "Skinny dipping," he said finally, "in the Black Lake."
Lily and James locked eyes for a few moments as Lily considered the dare. Sirius pushed a shot glass towards her. If she didn't want to complete the dare she had to knock back a shot, those were the rules.
"Pass me the bottle," she said.
James grinned, "Knew you didn't have it in you, Evans. Don't feel bad, not everyone-"
Lily took a swig from the bottle and stood up. She started marching towards the portrait hole, cutting James off. "So, who's coming?"
Sirius clapped his hands together and the group stood up to follow. Lily, Sirius, Remus, Andrew, James and Lorelai slowly crept through the corridors, careful to avoid the ghosts floating through walls, trying to make as little noise as possible for a group of six tipsy teenagers. Fortunately, the Marauders were quite accustomed to stalking the halls late at night so they knew the fastest route to get outside.
When they finally reached the entrance hall Lily's confidence faltered. "How do we get outside?" she whispered.
"That's what doors are for, my dear," Sirius whispered in her ear, placing a hand touching the small of her back.
Lily shoved an elbow into Sirius's ribs, "Thanks, Sirius," she hissed, "but it's not exactly like we can open those big oak doors and waltz outside."
"Ah," James leaned in, "that's what the caretaker's door is for," James pulled a key out of his pockets, "follow me."
Lily wondered why the door needed a key, but then thought perhaps it was enchanted so that students couldn't magically unlock the door. But how did James get the key?
As the group slowly made their way to the caretaker's door, the smaller door to the left of the grand oak doors they heard another door creak open and a light appeared.
"Is someone there," the rough voice of Argus Filch called out. The 20-year-old had been working as the Hogwarts caretaker for the past three years. No one really knew much about him, except that he took his job very, very seriously.
"I know you're out there." Filch peered around as far as his light would let him. Fortunately for the Gryffindors, the light didn't extend very far. It was dim and gave Filch a small circle of sight around him, but the entrance hall was almost pitch black.
In the rush to hide from Filch, the six students separated themselves into two groups. Remus, Lorelai and Andrew ended up on one side of the entrance hall. James, Sirius and Lily on the other.
James grabbed Lily's hand and he pushed her up against the wall. Her heart was racing. She'd never been this close to James before. The firewhisky was making it hard for her to think clearly. She could smell him. Why did he smell so good?
Sirius fell in next to her and the three of them waited a few seconds. They could no longer see Lorelai, Andrew or Remus. Evidently neither could Filch. Filch was slowly walking forwards, his circle of light creeping closer and closer to them.
Filch took another step out towards them, waiting for any sign that there were students in the entrance hall.
"Three, two…" Lily heard Sirius whisper, "go." There was a loud bang and a cloud of smoke erupted.
James pulled Lily with him, and with a quick swift movement - as though he'd done it countless times before - he stuck the key into the door and threw it open. Sirius followed quickly and pulled the door shut. The trio started running.
Remus, Andrew and Lorelai hadn't made it out the door but James and Sirius were confident they'd slipped behind the tapestry of the haunted widow. Remus knew it well. He also knew the diversion tactics that Sirius and James usually used, so when he'd heard the bang he would have known to disappear.
By the time the three Gryffindors had reached the lake they were a little puffed. Lily was still holding the firewhisky in one hand, and she took a sip before passing it to Sirius. James and Lily stood, still holding hands, staring at the lake.
"Well," James said, looking down at Lily, "it's now or never Evans."
"Evans," he repeated when Lily didn't respond.
She exhaled slowly, trying to steady her breathing. She let go of his hand and started to pull her robes off.
"Eyes closed, no peaking," she said, although she didn't think much about making sure the boys had shut their eyes. They hadn't.
She took a few steps into the lake, shivering at the temperature of the water.
"You know that's not the best way to get into the lake," Sirius said.
Lily glanced over her shoulder back at the two boys, realising that her arse was on full display. Then she dived under the water.
It was strangely relaxing to be under water in the middle of the night. When she came up for air she saw James and Sirius were pulling their robes off as well.
"What are you doing?" she called.
"You didn't think we'd let you have all the fun," Sirius responded, before the two boys ran into the lake.
The three of them splashed around for a while, laughing and talking. When they started to get cold they climbed out of the water, used their wands to dry themselves off , before they started to make their way back up to the castle.
"You know, Evans. You're not half bad," James said, slinging an arm around her shoulders.
Lily snorted, "Wow, Potter. I'm honoured."
"You know what I mean. I mean, you're such a goody-two-shoes. You've never really joined in on our festivities, not to this extent anyway. Plus you're a prefect, what would McGonagall say?"
"Just because I've never stayed up until the early hours of the morning with you doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun. But you're right, I shouldn't make this a habit. This was a one time thing."
James nodded, "Sure, sure."
"But I guess you're not half bad yourself," Lily said.
"I know."
They fell quiet again. James's arm still around Lily's shoulders. She wrapped an arm around his waist and they continued their walk towards the castle. The trio entered the castle through the door they came out of and started to climb the stairs slowly. They didn't want to run into Filch again.
While on the first floor Lily came to a stop.
"What's up?" James turned to face Lily, finally disentangling himself from her.
"Black," Lily said, turning to Sirius, "truth or dare?"
"Seriously?"
Lily nodded.
"Dare."
Lily nodded towards the door to their left, "that's McGonagall's office. Reckon you can go and get me something."
"Seriously?" he asked again. "I mean, yeah, easy," Sirius pulled out his wand and tapped the door handle. "Alohamora," he whispered. There was a soft click and Sirius opened the door, creeping inside.
"I'm sorry," James whispered.
This caught Lily off guard. She looked over at James, who was leaning against the wall. "You're what?"
"Sorry," he repeated, "for what happened last year."
Lily paused for a moment, before responding. "You were a jerk," she said carefully, "but what he said wasn't your fault."
"I know, but I feel responsible."
"Well you shouldn't. He and I-"
"Ooowwwwwwww," Sirius cried out.
Lily and James froze as McGonagall walked out of the office, holding Sirius by the ear. "I swear to Merlin," she exhaled, "you two boys will be the death of me," her eyes landed on Lily, "and Miss Evans! I expected better of you."
"Sorry," Lily mumbled, too embarrassed to meet McGonagall's eye.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor for each of you Miss Evans and Mr Potter, and seventy-five for you Mr Black. Detention. For all three of you. Be outside the entrance hall by 5.30 in the morning. Now get to bed before I start taking more points off Gryffindor." She disappeared back into her office, not bothering to make sure they made it back to Gryffindor tower. She knew that's where they were headed before Sirius's detour into her office.
Students never thought their plans through. Her office door was enchanted to set off an alarm if opened by someone else. There was a tunnel from her office that lead to her sleeping chambers, so she was able to catch Sirius before he'd escaped back out the door. Why were they wet? McGonagall thought to herself as she made her way back to her bed.
"Oh, my god. Oh my god," Lily groaned, "I can't believe that just happened. I can't believe you guys talked me into this. I can't have detention. I'm a prefect. I can't have detention. I've never had detention before."
"Breathe, Evans," Sirius said, putting a hand on back.
"You breathe," she hissed back, shrugging his hand off her back. "You've probably had detention a hundred times before. I've never had detention."
"We heard you the first time. It'll be fine," he continued. James didn't say anything, just watching Lily.
Lily continued to freak out as the trio made their way back to the seventh floor dormitory. The Fat Lady was unimpressed when they woke her up to get back into the portrait hole. "I swear, you kids will be the death of me," echoing McGonagall's words.
They climbed through the portrait hole and Lily went to clean up the mess that had been made earlier in the evening. "Don't worry about it Lily," Sirius said, "We've got it." He picked up a the empty bottles as James collected the empty shot glasses. "Go to bed, we've got an early morning tomorrow."
It had just past two am, which meant they had to be awake in just over three hours for detention. As Lily started to make her way up the spiral staircase towards her dormitory, Sirius called out to her. "Catch!"
Lily spun around and saw a small silver object flying through the air. She flicked her wand, "modero," she whispered, and the object slowed down enough for her to catch it. It was a small silver cat.
"Nicked it before McGonagall grabbed me," Sirius grinned, "Night," he said before disappearing up the stairs to his own dormitory.
"Lily," James lingered on the staircase.
Lily sighed, "what?"
"Friends? I'd like to be your friend."
She nodded. "Friends," she agreed.
The next morning, Sirius and James entered the common room at quarter past five. They looked surprisingly chipper for that hour. "Evans isn't up," Sirius noted, falling into a sofa, "that doesn't seem like her.
"Mmm," James grunted, falling into the sofa opposite Sirius.
After a few minutes, Sirius pulled a piece of parchment off the table and folded it into a paper airplane and tapped it with his wand. "Volavitto ad vittamero." It took off up the staircase and a few minutes later Lily stumbled out.
"Good morning, sunshine," James said, "don't you look like a princess." He grinned at her. Her normally perfectly kept hair was pulled into a mess on top of her head, with fly aways in every direction. She'd hastily pulled on a clean set of robes, which sat crooked and twisted on her. She looked like she was going to be sick.
Lily flipped him off."How the hell do you two look so fine?" she grumbled.
"Here that, Prongs? She thinks we look fine," Sirius ran a hand through his hair as if to show off how fine it look. "You forget, love, we've done this before."
"Ugh," Lily slumped down the stairs and the three of them made their way down to the Great Hall. They found Professor McGonagall standing outside the door, a large mug of coffee in her hands.
"Usually we get the house elves to do this," she said, not greeting them properly, "but considering your late night antics last night, it seemed as though you three are having trouble sleep. So I thought you might like a chance to polish some of our silver, might tire you out a bit, help you sleep better."
James and Sirius groaned.
McGonagall ignored them, "Follow me."
She lead them into a small room, just off the Great Hall. Inside was a table with a large pile of silverware and a few cloths. "Pass me your wands," she held out her hand, "you'll get them back in two hours. Now get polishing." McGonagall closed the door behind her, leaving the three Gryffindors to split the pile of cutlery three-ways and polish.
"This is a new one," Sirius commented as he took a seat at the table.
Lily wondered what other punishments the boys had had to endure over the years.
They didn't talk much as they polished, all too hungover or too tired to function properly. Although James and Sirius had seem well put together when Lily had woken up, she realised they were just as tired as she was. As they sat in silence polishing the seemingly never ending pile of knives and forks they're exhaustion became more and more apparent.
The two hours felt like four, but eventually McGonagall appeared at the door again. "Good job," she said, admiring the pile of silverware, now perfectly clean. "Hope you enjoyed that because you'll be doing it for the next two weeks. Two hours, every morning." She handed them back their wands. "You're free to go."
James and Sirius slipped out without another word, but Lily hung back a moment. "I want to apologise, Professor."
McGonagall smiled at Lily.
"Just don't do it again, Miss Evans. As a prefect you need to set an example for the rest of the students. Being a prefect is a privilege, not a right and I can only look the other way this once."
Lily nodded. "Of course, Professor. I really appreciate this. It definitely won't happen again."
"Better get going. I believe I'll be seeing you in my class in an hour."
Lily nodded and disappeared out the door.
Later that morning Lily collapsed on the floor outside the Arithmancy classroom, wrapping her arms around her knees and closing her eyes. Her hangover was getting worse, if that was possible.
"You don't look like you're recovering well," said Remus, who was sitting next to her. He had his nose buried in his Arithmancy text book. Lily groaned at him. Her head was killing her and she thought her body was going to give up on her at any minute.
"Here," without removing his eyes from his book, Remus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tablet, "this'll help."
Lily looked at him skeptically. "What is it?"
"Not entirely sure. Some sort of strong prescription. Madam Pomfrey gets it for me on the low. It helps with my condition." Madam Pomfrey was the young nurse who worked in the Hospital Wing under the supervision of Master Black, the resident healer.
Lily took the tablet from Remus and inspected it carefully. She didn't know too much about Remus's condition. Aside from the fact that he often missed a lot of school, she knew he always looked pale and beaten up.
"It couldn't possibly make you feel any worse," Remus reasoned with her, although she hadn't said anything. He still had his head buried in the book.
Lily had told herself as much and popped it into her mouth, swallowing it dry. It made her gag a little - she hated dry swallowing tablets - but within minutes she seemed to have regained some of her colour and was chatting away at Remus while he continued to read.
"This is incredible," Lily said, "it's not a muggle drug, is it? Surely not, otherwise I would have heard about it before. But that makes it a wizarding drug - but why isn't it a potion? And how does Madam Pomfrey get it for you? Is it legal?"
Remus didn't say much as Lily continued to think aloud. He shrugged every now and then, but kept his nose in his book.
"Hold on, Remus," she said, pausing, "Remus are you listening?"
"Hm, what?" Remus finally looked up and lowered his book just enough for Lily to glimpse a roll of parchment sitting between the pages of the book.
"What's that?"
"Nothing," Remus slammed the book shut. "Letter from a friend."
"Who's Jake?"
"Who?"
"I saw his name scrawled at the bottom," Lily explained, "it said, and I could be wrong, but I could have sworn it said, Speak soon, with love, Jake."
Remus's cheeks flushed.
"Oh, merlin, Remus have you been seeing someone?"
Remus didn't say anything, but a small smile danced on his lips.
"Ooooh, why didn't say you anything? Where did you meet him? Can I meet him? Does he go to Hogwarts? Probably not, otherwise he wouldn't have written you a letter. Oh, he's already written you a letter. You've only been gone 24 hours, Remus, that's adorable. Although maybe it's a little needy." Whatever had been in that tablet had definitely helped Lily feel better.
"He works at the Leaky Cauldron," Remus said when Lily stopped to take a breath. "That's where we met." Remus had worked at the Leaky Cauldron this past summer.
"I remember him!" Lily exclaimed, "When I came through a few weeks ago. The cutie with the beard, right?"
Remus nodded, "Yeah, that's him." But that was all Remus was going to say about the matter. Lily kept asking questions, but Remus just shrugged or smiled at her. He was a private person, but usually he confided in Lily.
They had always been friends, but when they had both been appointed prefects the previous year they'd spent a lot of time together patrolling the corridors. Remus wasn't close with a lot of girls. In fact, he wasn't really close with a lot of people.
He had the Marauders and that's all he needed. But Lily provided another perspective, another level of support. She didn't see the world like the Marauders did. They wanted to protect him and help him experience life in a way only they could. But while most people saw Remus as the weird, sick boy in Gryffindor, Lily just saw another person, another friend.
Remus appreciated that.
Professor Neagle strode past them and into the Arithmancy classroom, signalling that it was time for the class to start.
When Lily and Remus entered the Great Hall after their Arithmancy class, James and Sirius were already slumped over the table, feeling the full effect of the previous night.
"Didn't Remus give you one of those magical pills?" Lily asked.
Sirius waved a hand at her without lifting his head to look at her and groaned.
Remus chuckled, slid in close next to Sirius and started piling food onto his plate. "These boys aren't allowed any of my help," he explained, "they've abused the magical tablet one too many times. Their hangovers are their punishments." He looked up at Lily, "and you shouldn't get used to me bailing you out either, Lil. That was a one time thing."
Lily nodded, "Well, lucky for me, so was last night."
"No it wasn't," James said, face still buried in his arms, "you loved it, Evans. The danger."
"Danger," Sirius hissed, his head still buried in his arms not he table.
"You'll be back."
Lily pulled a face at James, although he didn't see it, and she wandered off to meet her friends further down the table.
Lily and Vanessa were deep in discussion as they walked down towards the dungeons for their Potions lesson. Vanessa was telling Lily all about Derek Halfstadder, a member of the Puddlemere United reserve team, whom she had dated over the summer.
"Seriously, his body. Lil, you should have seen it."
Lily giggled, "Well get me a photo of him. Without his shirt, preferably."
"Lily!" The girls came to an abrupt stop as Severus Snape stepped in front of them. "Lily, please. Just talk to me." He locked eyes with Lily and for a moment no one said anything. The rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins fell quiet as they waited outside the dungeons for their potions class.
Vanessa grabbed Lily's hand and pushed past Severus. "Move it, slime ball," she said, "we're not interested in talking to you."
"Well I'm not interested in talking to you either," Severus snarled.
"Why? Because I'm a mudblood?" Vanessa turned back to face Severus, "think you're going to catch cooties or something?" She stepped closer to Severus, "You don't scare me, Snape. You don't scare Lily either, but I'm telling you to back off. She doesn't want to talk to you."
For a minute Severus looked like he was going to argue with her. He looked over Vanessa's shoulder to look at Lily. "Please, Lily."
"I said back off, Snape," Vanessa's voice was low and threatening.
Lily didn't look at Severus and he finally stepped back. The Gryffindors and the Slytherins had Potions together so he knew he'd get another chance to talk to her. The other students slowly started to talk among themselves again. Some discussing what had just happened, others returning to their conversations about their summer breaks.
"I didn't need you to do that," Lily said when Vanessa turned back to face her.
"I know," Vanessa lightened up and shrugged, "but that's what friends are for, Evans. You know that. I've got your back."
"Oh, hello there," Professor Horace Slughorn opened the door to the Potions' dungeon and popped his head out. "How long have you all been standing there?"
When no one responded he shook his head. "Ah, never mind. Sorry about that, first class of the year and we're already running late. Got a bit a distracted with the first years. You remember what it's like, don't you?"
The first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws slowly filed out of the dungeon and Slughorn disappeared back behind his desk while the sixth years shuffled in and took their seats.
"Now, normally for the start of your sixth year, the start of your N.E.W.T classes, I have a little something planned. But I got a bit carried away and haven't really prepared for that so let's jump straight into it, shall we?"
He looked around the room. "Stand up," he cried suddenly, "stand up! No time for sitting. You all know the drill. Grab your partner and set up."
Everyone grumbled before slowly, standing up and partnering up.
"Ah wait!" Slughorn cried out again, "I forgot, this year you all have assigned partners. I worked hard on pairing people who I think will complement each other," he waved his wand at a piece of parchment, which lifted up and stuck itself to the chalkboard, "Partners on the board."
As the sixth years bustled around the room to find out who their partners were, Slughorn continued to talk. "Today you'll be crafting the Draught of Living Death, you'll find the recipe in your textbooks. Now this is just one of the potions you'll need to know for your N.E. and oh, it's quite a hard one. I don't imagine any of you will get it quite right today, but don't stress."
Lily went about setting up her cauldron station, assuming her partner would come find her.
However, when no one approached her Lily looked up to see Severus standing in front of her.
"You've got to be kidding," Lily sighed and marched up to Slughorn. "Professor, I think there's been some kind of mistake."
"Mistake? What mistake Miss Evans?"
"My partner? You said we would be partnered with someone who would complement us? Wouldn't it make more sense for me to be partnered with someone who I could help?"
"Nonsense, m'dear. You and Severus are my top students. You'd get bored with another partner. You two can really push each other to get better," Slughorn seemed pleased with himself. "Why? Is there a problem?"
Lily hesitated before answering. "No, there's no problem." She returned back to her bench. "Well," she said to Severus.
Severus started to collect the ingredients they needed from the store cupboards. He brought them back to the bench and the two of them set to work prepping for the potion.
Lily and Severus had spent years working together as potions partners. Slughorn was right, their skill levels would complement each other.
Lily wouldn't have to hold his hand or pick up the slack in the partnership. The pair were exceptional potion makers. They didn't even need to talk while they worked. There was a certain rhythm to the way they worked and while in the past they would have chatted away endlessly, the incident from the previous school year had soured their relationship.
"Mudblood."
Severus's words echoed in Lily's ears, as they had many times over the summer. It made her feel sick.
They didn't speak again until it came time to add the Sopophorous juice.
"What are you doing?" Lily hissed as Severus started to crush the Sopophorous bean, "the recipe says to slice it and pour its juices into the cauldron."
"Trust me, crushing it releases the juices more efficiently."
"Trust you?" Lily spat, "Trust you?!" Her voice was starting to rise.
"Yes," Severus hissed, "just watch."
Lily was fuming, and while she was loathe to admit it, she knew he was probably right. She watched as he crushed the beans and the juices escaped. He added the juices to the cauldron and the pair watched the colours start to change.
Lily started to stir the potion anti-clockwise as the recipe asked for. So far the potion seemed to be going well. It didn't seemed to be the right colour, but it wasn't hissing and spitting at them in the same way some of the other potions were.
"Hm, try turning it clockwise" Snape said, his brow furrowed, biting his lip, "just once."
Lily glanced up at him, but did what he said. They both watched in awe as the potion started to turn purple.
Severus nodded. "Keep stirring anti-clockwise. I'll tell you when to stir clockwise again."
Lily didn't say anything. She stirred slowly and waited as Severus counted. After twelve counts he said, "now." She turned stirred it clockwise again and the shade of purple started to change.
"Mmm, maybe not so many. Try eight this time."
Lily did as he said and after the eighth time, she stirred it once clockwise. The shade of purple continued to change.
"Hm, that's better," said Severus, he dipped his quill into his ink and started to scratch notes down in his book.
Lily pulled out her own roll of parchment, quill and ink and started writing up her report.
Slughorn was walking between desks and admiring people's cauldrons. He let the occasional "hmmm," or "oh, very nice," or "deary me," escape his lips but he didn't offer any advice. "This is only the first time most of you are making this potion, so don't worry if it's not perfect. You'll have plenty more chances to recreate it throughout the year. Don't forget to start work on your reports while your potions are simmering. At the end of the class I want a vial of your potion and by next lesson I also want twelve inches of parchment about the history and uses of the Draught of Living death plus your report. It's really a fascinating potion." Slughorn had reached the front of the class.
"I'll be back," he quipped and disappeared out the door.
Severus seemed lost in his own notes, before he started on his own report. After a few minutes of silence between Lily and himself, Severus started talking again. "Where were you?"
Lily looked up at him. "What?"
"Over the summer, you weren't home. At least, not whenever I came around."
Lily nodded, "Oh, yeah." She returned to her notes, not answering the question.
"So?"
Lily shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you. Sometimes I was home, sometimes I wasn't."
"I didn't see you coming or going from the house," Severus regretted the words the second they left his mouth.
Lily turned to face him again. "You were spying on me?"
Severus looked a little sheepish. "I - I just," he stammered, "I just wanted to see you. I wanted to apologise. I still want to apologise."
"Well I don't want to hear it, Sev!" Lily's voice started to rise, "I don't care about your apology. I care that you said it-"
"I didn't mean to!"
"Then where did it come from? Huh, Sev? That sort of hatred doesn't come from no where."
"I was just upset and angry, you'd been spending a lot of time with him and he's just so awful. Lily, he's a git and-"
"And you were my best friend, Severus. I was just trying to help you."
"I know," Severus looked down, ashamed. "But I-"
"I don't want to hear it." Lily realised the noise from the other students had died down. Everyone was listening to them and her ears started to burn red, embarrassed. "Severus, I've had enough." Lily turned back to her report just as Slughorn came back to the room.
He looked around the room, confused. "Has everyone finished their work?" The sixth years quickly returned to their cauldrons. No one wanted to say anything, but everyone had something to say.
When no one said anything Slughorn started to make his way between the desks again.
"Things are feeling a bit tense over here," he said as he reached Lily and Severus's bench. "I hope it's nothing to be worried about."
Lily looked up at Slughorn, "It's nothing, Professor."
"I hope that's right," Slughorn reached into his pocket and pulled out two lilac pieces of parchment rolled into scrolls, "these are for your two. Open them after class."
Lily knew they were invitations to Slughorn's first dinner party of the year. She took hers and put it in the pocket of her robes. Severus did the same.
Severus and Lily didn't talk for the rest of the class. They spooned the potion into their vials and Lily took them up to Slughorn's desk.
"Miss Evans, these are looking pretty good. No one's ever gotten this potion quite right, but you and Mr Snap definitely look like you've come the closest. I'll let you know how it tests next class."
By the time Lily had made it back to her bench, Severus had already cleaned up.
The rest of the day passed by without much incident for Lily. It wasn't until the prefects meeting later that evening did she have another run-in with Severus. By the time dinner rolled around the effects of Remus's magical tablet had started to wear off. She and Remus made their way to the fifth floor for the prefects' meetings. The pair settled in one of the sofas in the room, Lily resting her head on Remus's shoulder.
The prefects had their own common room, located on the fifth floor. It was quite a spacious room, filled with sofas, bean bags and cushions. The walls were lined with bookshelves with hundreds of books. When Lily had first seen the room the year before she'd fallen in love with it. It was almost like her own personal library. She often visited the prefect's common room when she needed to study away from other students. The room was decorated with the colours of each house, coming together as a show of unity.
As the Head Girl Alice Greengrass started to speak, Lily found herself struggling against the call of sleep. It would just be so easy to drift off.
"This year we're going to try something different," Alice said, looking around the room. "I know in previous years you would partner up with the other prefect in your year and house. But this year, Mervyn and I have decided that we want the houses to work together a bit more. You'll be patrolling in alternating partnerships with prefects in the other houses."
Alice looked around to see how the prefects would respond, when no one did she continued. "As prefects you're expected to lead by example and our headmaster would like a little more inter-house cooperation. Any questions?" Still, no one said anything. "Great. Merv will now hand out the rosters. You'll get the opportunity to work with everyone in your year."
Alice fell quiet as the prefects studied their rosters.
Lily shook her head slightly as she saw that she would be partnered with Severus once a week - every Sunday night. She sighed. She was too tired to deal with this.
"Is there a problem Lily?" Alice asked.
"No, Al. I'm just tired is all."
"Well, we'll make this meeting quick. I'm pretty exhausted as well. First day of my seventh year, it's crazy. Just wait until next year. You won't know what hit you."
Lily nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm sure," Lily said rather absentmindedly. She wasn't quite sure how her first day next year could be any worse than today.
"Anyway," said Alice, returning her attention to the rest of the group, "I've got one more thing I'd like to run by you all. This year I'm starting a social club," she paused, as though for effect. "I've spoken to Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore and they both think this is an exceptional idea. I'd like to host a number of social events throughout the year and I think it would be best if they were run by students. I can't force any of you to join, but it would look good, as prefects, if you participated. Our first meeting will be Sunday afternoon, so if you're interested let me know. Otherwise, spread the word. I'm looking for any students, third year and up."
Alice fell quiet again and looked around the room. No one else said anything. They all looked around at each other, waiting.
"Well," Alice sighed, a little disappointed. "If no one else has anything else they'd like to raise," she paused again, and looked at Mervyn. "Anything?"
Mervyn shook his head, "Nope. You've pretty much covered it all."
"Good. Well then, I look forward to working with you all this year. Good night."
Alice stayed in her place, watching the prefects shuffle out. They each said good night to one another, talking between themselves about the new rosters.
There were six prefects from each house, two from each of the fifth, sixth and seventh year classes, one male student and one female student from each year. In past years this meant that prefects would patrol the halls with the prefect in the same year and house as them. The new arrangement was definitely going to shake things up, but Alice was confident it would be for the best.
Alice was a big advocate of inter-house cooperation. She was a straight O student and as well as being Head Girl, she was also captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team. She was one of the team's chasers.
"Lily," Alice called out, as Lily and Remus made for the door, "Can I talk to you?" Lily told Remus to go ahead without her. She knew he was tired as well.
"I'll see you back in the common room," she said, turning to Alice.
Lily and Alice had been friends since Lily's third year. Despite Alice being in the year above her, the pair had found they enjoyed studying together and over the years their friendship and grown. Alice pushed Lily to be the best version of herself, while Lily often helped to ground Alice when she set her sights too high.
"What's up, Alice? We didn't really get a chance to catch up today. How was your summer?"
Alice shrugged, "Oh, you know," Alice waved her left hand in front of her face as though to brush past the topic, but Lily's eyes caught sight of the rock on her bony finger.
"Merlin's beard," Lily reached out and took Alice's hand, "When did this happen?" Lily inspected the ring.
"Two weeks ago," Alice beamed, "Mason said he couldn't wait any longer. He didn't want me going back to Hogwarts without it."
"Congratulations! Seriously, Alice. Everyone always knew the two of you would rule the world one day," Lily said, looking up at her friend. "You're going to be unstoppable."
"Lily, I'm so excited. You'll have to be one of my bridesmaids, right? You can't say no."
"Of course I will!"
Alice threw her arms around Lily, hugging her.
"Now," Alice said as she stepped out of the hug, "this isn't the only reason I asked you to stay back. I wanted to know if you'd join the social club."
"Oh," Lily sighed, "I don't know, Alice. I don't know if that's really my thing."
"What do you mean? Of course it is! You're one of the best in your year, you're on track to be Head Girl. This could be the thing to put you ahead of anyone else in the year. I know Sophia has her eye on the prize, you should too."
"Sophia Perkins?" Sophia was one of the sixth year Ravenclaw prefects.
Alice nodded, "We had a little chat earlier. She's joining the social club. Her grades are just as good as yours, Lily."
"Yeah, but in Divination and Care of Magical creatures," Lily pointed out, "why would she want to be Head Girl?"
"Why not?"
"I don't know. Why are we having this conversation? I've got all year to focus on becoming Head Girl." Lily was having trouble finding a reason to care. She was so exhausted.
"The year started today, Lily. And you're already lagging behind. You've got detention for two weeks. How did you get detention for two weeks?"
"You don't want to know," Lily hated that she had detention and she hated that everyone knew.
"I really think joining the social club will help get you back on McGonagall's good side," Alice said.
"Maybe. Can I think about it?"
"Of course. Our first meeting is Sunday."
Lily nodded. "Shall we?" Lily nodded towards the door, "I really need to sleep."
Alice grinned. "Study session on Saturday? I've got try-outs first thing in the morning, but our usual time at 10? Back here? We'll have no distractions."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world. You can harass me about the social club then," Lily smiled. As soon as the two girls left the prefects' common room they ran into Severus.
"Sev!" Lily cried, "What are you still doing here?"
"I need to talk to you," he sounded so desperate.
Alice looked at Lily, "Do you want me to stay?"
"No, you go on. I'll see you on Saturday." Alice left without another word. She wasn't Severus's biggest fan, but as Head Girl she knew better than to let her personal feelings get in the way of her school career.
"Sev, I need more time," Lily said, before Severus could even open his mouth.
When Remus returned to the Gryffindor common room he fell into an armchair by a window, staring out at the moon. It was just over three quarters full, which meant he had less than a week until his next transformation. He had a love/hate remove with the big orb in the sky. Every month it brought him pain and anguish, turning him into a monster. Yet, it was so beautiful, Remus often had trouble taking his eyes off it.
Tonight, while his eyes lingered on the moon, Remus's mind travelled back to the summer just past.
Remus knew that his affliction had taken its toll on his parents. They loved him, but he scared them. As he grew older, his wolf form became harder to control, therefore putting his parents lives and the lives of those in their community at risk once a month. Remus couldn't put them through another summer of having to look after him.
He decided, towards the end of his fifth year, that he wasn't going to spend the summer at home with his parents. Instead he would find a job and somewhere to live and spend the full moons at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. They had an area designed to keep wolves locked up during the full moon, with healers available to monitor them pre- and post-transformation.
Remus had spent time at St. Mungo's as a child and knew their facilities had only gotten better since then. His friends, however, would not hear of it.
James begged him to spend the summer at his parents property. "Sirius is coming to stay with me," he'd explained, "and we can have Peter over all the time. It'll be amazing."
But Remus felt as though he needed some space from his friends. They spent more than three-quarters of the year together. He didn't feel the need to spend the extra two months with them.
Remus had done some research into the type of place he'd like to work and decided the Leaky Cauldron was his best bet.
He approached Tom the barkeeper and told him about his situation. Remus advised Tom of his condition and explained that he wasn't a danger to anyone. He would be with the healers at St. Mungo's long before the full moon appeared. He would likely only need to take two to three days off each month.
Tom had a reputation of tolerance and acceptance. You almost had to be so accepting to man the pub that acts as the gateway between wizarding London and muggle London. He was understanding of Remus's situation and offered him a job and a room for the summer.
The first full moon of the summer was only two weeks into the break and James and Sirius had shown up to the Leaky Cauldron before Remus could disappear to St. Mungo's.
"Didn't really think we'd let you get yourself locked up at Mungo's, do you?" Sirius said, sitting down and ordering a drink from the bearded bartender.
Remus didn't know what to say.
The Potter's property was quite large. There was enough space for Remus to transform, along with Sirius and James, and spend the night roaming the property. He appreciated that his friends didn't want him to spend his transformations alone. He might not want to spend the entire summer with them, but his friends made his transformations slightly more bearable.
The best part of his summer, however, was meeting Jake.
"You all right, Remus?"
A voice broke Remus's day dream. "Hmm?" He looked over and saw Cecelia Lai sitting across from him. "How long have you been there?"
Cecelia shrugged, "About ten minutes. I like to look at the moon. I find it relaxing."
Remus smiled, "I know the feeling." Although, he wouldn't say the moon relaxed him.
"Anyway, I asked if you were okay? You seem a bit distant."
Remus nodded but didn't answer immediately. Cecelia went back to gazing up at the moon. She wasn't going to push Remus to talk.
"Have you ever been in a long distance relationship?" Remus asked Cecelia, breaking the silence. It wasn't unusual for students to be in long distance relationships. After all, the Hogwarts was a boarding school, so it was quite common for students to date outside of the school.
"Girl troubles?" Cecelia smirked.
"Boy troubles."
"Ah, yes. My favourite kind of trouble," Cecelia laughed. "I'm not really a relationship kind of gal, as you might have noticed."
Remus knew that Cecelia had dated a lot of guys. James and Sirius were among her list of exes. She'd never hit on Remus though. He wasn't really her type. Remus and Cecelia got along well enough. But aside from being in the same house and sharing friends, they didn't have a lot in common.
The pair continued to watch the moon.
"Did you want to talk about it?" Cecelia asked after a few more moments.
Remus shrugged. "I'm not sure there's much to talk about. It was a summer romance, I guess."
"Hot, heavy and over before you get your heart broken? Remus, that's the best kind of relationship," Cecelia joked.
"Maybe for you," Remus laughed, "but it doesn't feel over. I'm not really sure. We agreed it would end, but I feel like it was just beginning."
"So you guys broke up?"
"I guess."
The conversation fell quiet again as they returned to their moon gazing.
"Sev, I need more time," Lily said, before Severus could even open his mouth.
"But time is distance, and I don't want there to be distance between us," the desperation was still present in Severus's voice, but Lily could tell he was feeling more confident than earlier in the day. He was going to say what he needed to say.
"Maybe that's what we need," Lily sighed, "maybe our friendship has run its course, Sev. Maybe it's just time to let it go."
"No, Lily, I won't do that. I'm not giving up. I fucked up, I know I fucked up. You don't know what it's like hanging out with those guys," Severus was referring to his friends Avery and Mulciber. "They just got in my head. I don't think like they do. I don't believe that stuff. And Potter! He embarrassed me. I was hurt and confused and you'd been hanging out with him and, Lily, how do you think that made me feel?"
Lily frowned, confused, "What do you mean?"
"Potter and Black bully me," it pained Severus to say those words out loud, but he knew if he wasn't brutally honest with Lily he might as well not try. "They've bullied me ever since that first Hogwarts Express ride. You remember?"
Lily nodded. The first time they had met James and Sirius had not ended well for Severus. It had been the start of years of teasing and taunting.
"I hate them," Severus continued, "I hate them so much. I want them dead."
The hatred in Severus's voice scared Lily.
"But I love you, Lily. You're my best friend, so I didn't say anything when you started getting closer to them. You're my best friend and you were hanging out with the boys who make my life a living hell."
Lily was starting to understand.
"The morning of that exam you didn't talk to me, do you remember?"
Lily nodded. She and Severus had fought the night before. "We'd had a fight," she reminded him. "About your choice of friends."
"Exactly. I hadn't said anything about your friendship with Potter and Black and you had the audacity to criticise my friends."
"Your friends believe in the "ultimate cause"," Lily used air quotes, "your friends want me dead."
"Right," Severus brushed past what Lily had said, "right, we had a fight and I was upset and you wouldn't talk to me. Then Potter strung me upside down and I was embarrassed."
Lily understood. "So you were mad at me and you were mad at James and, what? It just slipped out?"
Severus nodded.
"Sev, I understand that much. I understand that you were hurting, but I'm hurting now too. Because my best friend thinks of me as a filthy mudblood."
"But I don't. How can I? You're one of the most brilliant witches I know. You've got an amazing mind, Lily. You're so powerful and intelligent and beautiful."
Lily's heart skipped a beat and Severus reached out, putting his hands on hers. "I regretted those words the second they came out of my mouth. I never meant to hurt you. I don't believe that you're a mudblood. I don't believe that you're inferior to me or my friends."
The pair stood in silence for a few moments.
"I've got to go to bed," Lily finally said. "I've been awake since five and I've got to get up at five again tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Detention."
Severus smiled, "You have detention? How is that possible?"
"I won't bore you with the details. McGonagall caught us outside of the Gryffindor common room around two am this morning."
"Us?"
Lily nodded. "James and Sirius and I."
Severus nodded. He held back on commenting on how the pair were already having a bad effect on Lily. She wasn't the type of girl to get detention.
"McGonagall has us polishing silver," Lily continued to explain, "two whole weeks of detention."
"Can I walk you to your common room?"
Lily nodded. She was too tired to argue with him.
"I need to think about this," she told Severus as they neared the Gryffindor common room. They'd walked so far in silence. "I need to sleep and then I need to think about what you've said." She turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady, "Flitterbloom," she said and disappeared inside the portrait hole, leaving Severus without another word.
The common room was still buzzing with life. Remus and Cecelia were sitting by the window, gazing outside the window. A group of first years sat huddled in the corner, watching everyone else in the room, as though they were trying to learn something. Frank Longbottom and Lorelai Shacklebolt sat huddled over several pieces of parchment. Lily assumed they were swapping notes. Being in their seventh and final year they likely had a lot of homework to prep them for the N.E.W.T level exams.
Lily's own friends sat by the fire. She considered joining them, but in all honesty was too tired to have a conversation. While she had a lot to talk about, she needed sleep. When Vanessa waved her over, Lily shook her head and gestured that she was going upstairs to sleep. The last 24-hours had been a pretty crazy ride and if it was setting a tone for the rest of the year, Lily wasn't sure she'd be able to keep up.
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Ok, so that brings us to the end of the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Join us for the next chapter to:
- Find out more about Alice's new fiancee.
- See Remus's first transformation of the school year.
- Understand exactly how James Potter will run the Gryffindor quidditch team.
Reviews are most definitely welcome! I would love to hear your thoughts.
Witchy,
xo