A/N Hi everyone. Thanks for reading my story. Really quick, I know that there is a story called Gathering Lilies, but in my defense I thought of that title years ago, before I ever got on . Enjoy!
Picking Lily's
Grumpiness and New Teachers
When I woke up on the first day of my 7th year, my very first thought was, 'I'm grumpy'. I didn't particularly care that I sounded like a two-year-old. I was grumpy at Dumbledore, and my friends, but most of all at a certain James Potter. Hmmph. Other than the fact that Potter didn't have to work at all to make me irate with him, my main stem of grumpiness that morning was because now, thanks to Dumbledore, I'm Head Girl, which I am unbelievably excited about, but the problem was that he made that toerag, Potter, Head Boy. That alone is enough to bug me on any regular day, then our Headmaster made it worse by informing us that we had to share a common room. The set up was similar to the Gryffindor Common Room, and to my knowledge the other 3 as well, with the Living Room type thing, and then the 2 staircases leading to the boys dorm on one side, and the girls on the other. Instead of the girls and boys dorms, the staircases lead to my room, and Potter's room. There was also another room leading off into a little kitchen.
Being in the Heads Dorm, as it was called, didn't even let me hang out with my friends as much. I reminded myself that I wasn't happy with them either. My bffs Alice Carver and Jenna Rolands thought that I should "Just give James a chance, Lily." Potter, the boy who almost knew more about me than I did, the one who asked me out about eight bazillion times a day, who always had these stupid pickup lines, the one that, when I was still friends with Severus, made fun of and bullied him. Yeah, I was likely to give him a chance. Or not. And they thought it was hilarious that I was stuck in a dorm with him.
I held back a growl and got in the shower. The hot water felt good, and by the time I was out and dressed I was much happier. That's probably the reason I didn't start crying in frustration when I went down the stairs and saw Potter on the couch waiting for me. Particularly when he blew me a kiss and said "And how is my most gorgeous Lily doing on this fine Summer day?"
I glanced down at my jeans, t-shirt and tennis shoes, but held back the many not very nice replies that zoomed into my head. Instead I just nodded. No point in starting that this early. I pushed open the portrait door, on which a picture of a slender lady in blue resided, and started walking downstairs to breakfast, ignoring that Potter decided to walk next to me. We walked in silence, and once we reached the Great Hall I ran over to where Jen and Alice sat.
"Hey guys." They both acknowledged me with a nod and then went back to their conversation.
"I'm telling you," Alice continued. "That Ryan kid was so ogling you."
Jenna rolled her eyes, and I wondered how much of the conversation I had missed. "I've told you already! He's not 'that Ryan kid', and he's on the team with me. I'm not gonna date someone on my team!"
Alice spread her hands in defeat. "Fine. But when he asks you out, and you say yes, then we'll see who's right." I had to roll my eyes myself at this. Mental note to self: NEVER let slip to Alice that a boy is cute.
Our conversation was cut short when none other than Sirius Black came over and plopped down right next to Jenna. "Hey ladies. Lily." He said with a grin. I had to laugh. No matter how obnoxious he, and really all of 'the Marauders' were, they joined Jenna and Alice in the ranks of my best friends. Not counting Potter, of course. And not so much Peter either. Ok, so I was good friends with Sirius and Remus. And Jenna and Alice. Though really, Sirius was more like my brother, and Remus the close friend. And Jenna a sister. With Alice as the friend. But I digress.
We all chorused our greetings to Sirius, though Jen's was more in the form of "Move over you big dummy. Can't you see that you are practically sitting on me?"
A second later, my other prementioned guy-friend sat next to me, and soon we were talking about N.E.W.T.s, while on the other side of us Alice chatted across the table to Potter, who I hadn't noticed was there until I saw the movement of him stealing a glance my way out of the corner of my eye, and Jenna and Sirius discussed the Gryffindor quidditch team, whom they both seemed to think had good chances of winning the house cup. All conversation was cut off as Professor McGonagall came around with timetables. We all exchanged information and were pleased to find that we all had almost the exact same schedule.
Another look at the sheet of paper showed that we had Defense Against the Dark Arts in 10 min, so off we went into the throng of other students also making their way to classes. I was stopped once by a little 1st year Gryffindor boy, by the name of Dedalus Diggle, who needed to know how to get to Charms, and then I was whisked off again by Alice's hand grabbing my arm, and the rush of the crowd.
We made it with 4 minutes to spare, and us girls took the first row, while the boys lounged behind us. The 7 of us continued to chat happily, until the class filled up. When our new teacher came in, the room quieted. None of us knew this teacher yet. Would he be as strict as McGonagall, or as, for want of a better word, not, as Binns? And then the lesson began.
"Good morning class. I trust you all had a good summer," He began. There was a slight murmuring throughout the class, but it was cut off again as he resumed speaking. "My name's Kastor Pollix, obviously Professor Pollix to all of you. As I do not know any of you, this first class I am going to pass out a piece of paper, and then you will answer all the questions on it. Be sure to be truthful, as I want to individually know you all. You have 10 minutes, and then it is homework." With a flick of his wand our papers zoomed to us.
Name:
Now tell me your full name:
What you want me to call you:
Fave and (if possible) why-
Color:
Food:
Animal (is it the same as your patronus?):
Gemstone:
Flower:
Class:
Spot at Hogwarts:
Book:
Song:
Family-
Siblings:
Where you are in the order of children:
Pets:
Where you live:
Parents:
What you want to learn this year:
If you had a son, his name would be:
If you had a daughter, her name would be:
If you had one wish, it would be:
Your dream (there is a difference between this and your one wish):
If you know what the difference is:
A secret:
Now a good, juicy secret:
Anything else you want me to know:
I knew that I wouldn't finish it in class, and I certainly wouldn't want to fill in a couple questions where peeping eyes could see it, but instead I started doodling on the side. By the time I had covered the right side in random drawings there were only 2 or 3 minutes left. I took this time to study our teacher. He looked to be about 26 years old, with chocolate brown hair that reached the top of his ears and his eyebrows, and lay on his neck a little. I looked carefully and saw bright blue eyes. He didn't have any distinctive birthmarks or things of the sort, but he did have a scar from his ear, all the way along his jawbone, to his chin, but it was faded to a not very noticeable white line. He was slim, but not skinny, and well muscled. Our professor had the air of someone well taken care of, though perhaps not spoiled. I looked again at his face, and his eyes had the same twinkle in them as our headmaster's.
Right then I decided that I liked this man, and that if I had a problem, he was the one I would take it to. He must have felt me studying him, because he looked around the room before landing on my face. He gave me a questioning look, and when I merely shrugged and smiled. He grinned back at me, a smile that lit up his whole face. Just as quickly it was gone as he fell back into teaching mode, but I noticed the sides of his mouth twitching a bit, as though a grin was the natural expression that it itched to be in.
And then the 10 minutes was up. "Now class, I would like to go through and have each of you tell me your name, and just one thing about you. Then you can all ask me whatever questions you want. Ok? Ok."
He began going around the room, pointing in turn at each person. Beginning with Alice, who sat to my left. "My name is Alice Carver, and I have the awesomest friends in the world." My face lit up with a grin, and I knew that on my right Jenna's had too.
"I'm Lily Evans, and I am one of Alice's awesome friends."
"Jenna Rollands. Other awesome friend." She said briskly.
This continued around the room. The Marauders said:
"Remus Lupin. I try my best on class work."
"I'm Sirius Black, and I don't. No, just kidding. I despise the Dark Arts." To which Polix once again grinned widely.
"My name is James Potter, and my 3 brothers go to Hogwarts."
"My name is Peter Pettigrew, and my favorite color is purple."
Soon class was over, and we had a free period. Jen, Alice, and I hurried to the Heads dorm, and went into my bedroom. There I discovered the very cool way that it had been designed, so that if you need anything (obviously other than food, which is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration) you can just tell the room, and that thing will appear. Thus, we were not short of space and were able to all sit in our own cushy recliners. Apparently we had all had the same thought during class, so we all pulled out our unstarted 'tests' and worked on them. When I was done I reread mine.
Name: Lillian Evans
Now tell me your full name: Lillian Marie Evans
What you want me to call you: Lily
Fave and (if possible) why-
Color: Sky blue- I love looking up at the sky, and I sometimes gaze at it for hours at a time, just thinking.
Food: My mom's German Pancakes- Cause their good, duh.
Animal (is it the same as your patronus?): Swan- They are absolutely gorgeous birds.
Gemstone: Pearls- I love the way they are created and think they are really pretty.
Flower: White rose- I have always loved roses, and white roses don't mean love or whatever, they just look pure and clean.
Class: DADA- The teacher seems cool, and I hate the Dark Arts almost as much as Sirius.
Spot at Hogwarts: Where ever my friends are at the moment- I think this one speaks for itself.
Book: Non-fiction: History of Magic- It's fascinating. Fiction: A Wrinkle in Time- It's an amazing book.
Song: I wanna dance with you, By: George Strait (an American Singer)- It's special for me and my dad.
Family-
Siblings: One sister, Petunia, who hates me
Where you are in the order of children: Petunia is older than me.
Pets: My owl, and a dog at home.
Where you live: Hogwarts
Parents: Brandon and Daisy Evans
What you want to learn this year: As much as I possibly can
If you had a son, his name would be: Harry
If you had a daughter, her name would be: Victoria
If you had one wish, it would be: Voldemort, Grindelwald, and everyone like them, to never have existed. (Including Muggle versions, like Hitler.)
Your dream (there is a difference between this and your one wish): To be an auror, but more than anything else, to be a mother.
If you know what the difference is: Your wish could be impossible, your dream is (or at least should be) realistic, more like your career.
A secret: Over the summer I read my sister's Diary. And on the Hogwarts express I might have read my friend's too. Shh!
Now a good, juicy secret:Not gonna happen, buddy
Anything else you want me to know: You are our 7th DADA teacher, and I think you might be the best. We'll see.
I finished rereading it and had to laugh at myself. When we had all finished we went to Transfiguration, as free period was over. An hour later we left our Head of House's classroom with a 10 inch homework assignment on changing animals into furniture. The rest of the day continued similarly. So did the next day. And then it was Thursday, and DADA. I double-checked that I had my paper, and I noticed Jen, Alice, Peter, and Remus all doing the same, and into class our little group went. This time we all sat in the front row, and waited for the remainder of the class to file in.
"Good day! I hope you all have your assignments done! You there," Pollix pointed to Sirius. "Please collect them for me, there's a good chap! Now, I am going to read these aloud for this class! Won't that be fun?!" Our professor must have slept for about 15 hours last night, then woken up this morning, drunken several Cokes, and then maybe added sugar to the syrup on his pancakes. All that amounts to a more clever way of me saying he was way too enthusiastic and hyper this morning. As I handed my paper to Sirius, I realized that I truly did not want my paper read aloud.
Apparently he didn't care, for as soon as the papers had been given to him, he started with Peter's. When Peter heard his name, he immediately stood up, and ran out the door, yelling, "INEEDATOILET!!"
We soon understood his reaction, as his paper was read aloud seconds after he had left the room. I learned things about him that should never have happened, let alone be spoken aloud, like that he had eaten a dead rat raw that had been run over in front of his house in the streets, and that he liked dressing up in girls clothes. I soon realized that I was right to not list him as a friend.
Thanks again for reading, and please review! This is my first story, and I want to make sure it isn't terrible. And thanks sooo much to my amazing cousin, friend, and beta, Mikayla.
EDIT Also, if you would vote in a review if you want all of the 'tests' of the main peeps, as in the Marauders and Alice and Jenna, or just the highlights, it would be very appreciated. Currently I can do either, but I don't want to bore you, or not give you enough info.
Thanks,
WolfGirl