Chapter 2
"Hey, Lily, when did you get up?" Marlene asked me when she came downstairs into the common room.
"Not very early, I just wanted to finish my homework today so that I could have the weekend free of it."
"You hungry? I want breakfast," Marlene said as she sat down next to me.
"Yeah, sure," I said, closing up my work, but leaving it on the table.
We walked down to the Gryffindor Table and sat with some fellow 6th years. I saw Severus get up to leave, and I waved to him, smiling.
"Why do you hang out with him?" Mary asked. "He's so, just, eew," she said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked her.
"Look at him, Lily. He's disgusting, and he's into the Dark Arts. You know that, yet you still hang out with him," Frank reasoned.
"I know he does, but I'm going to get him to stop. Trust me, and you know he's the one who told me about being a witch and that he's the only one I can talk to in the muggle world."
"That doesn't mean you have to be friends with him," Alice said, the whole time Marlene was quiet.
"I suppose you have something to say about this, also," I said to her.
"Just that I think you're leading him on." I was so taken aback I almost laughed.
"How so?" I asked, amused.
"Well, he obviously likes you, and you continuing this friendship will hurt him because you obviously don't like him in that way. I think you should stop this so that he doesn't get hurt," Marlene said.
I laughed. "He does not like me. He's just a close friend."
"He does."
"No, he doesn't and I'll prove it to you."
I got up, Alice, Mary, Marlene, and Frank following, and left the Great Hall to got to the Black Lake where I had seen Severus go. Once we got there, I stopped for a moment, seeing Severus walking up to Potter (who was being that arrogant self again, showing off with that stupid snitch of his) and his friends.
Severus raised his wand, but Potter beat him to it, shouting, "Levicorpus!"
Severus rose up in the air upside down, and Potter and Black got up and walked over to him. Black said a spell that made his trousers fall down and started laughing.
I came storming up to them, and shouted, "Stop it! Let him down!"
"As you wish," Potter said, letting Severus drop to the ground.
"Aw, Prongsy, why'd you have to let Evans ruin our fun?" Black asked.
I went up to Severus and tried to help him up.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, helping him up.
"Don't touch me!" He said angrily. "I don't need help from a mudblood like you!" Severus shouted at me.
I staggered backward.
"Hey!" Potter shouted at him. "Take that back!"
"Make me!" Severus shouted.
I didn't stick around to see what Potter and Black would do to Severus. I just couldn't believe that he had called me a mudblood after all those years of him telling me that my blood status doesn't matter. It was all a lie though.
I walked past my friends, not wanting to look at them, or get their sympathy. Instead I ran up to the Gryffindor Tower where I could be alone. Once I reached my room I shut the door behind me, leaning against it, and I slid slowly to the floor. Rare tears started to pour down my face as I thought about what had just happened. I couldn't believe that Severus would call me that, but I was stupid enough not to. He and his Slytherin buddies use that word all the time, but when it comes to me he refuses it. He is using the Dark Arts more frequently as time goes on, and no matter how many times I asked him he wouldn't stop. That was the last straw, though. My friends were right, he wasn't worth being around.
I stayed in my room all day in my bed, talking to no one who came in, and trying to hide the tears that still came out every time I thought about Severus.
The next day I got up before everyone else and crept down to the common room. There I gathered my homework, which was still down there from yesterday, brought it back up to my room and changed. Once I was out of my pajamas, I left the Gryffindor Tower and took a walk around the castle. I had skipped prefect duties last night with Remus, so I guess I did it out of habit.
I walked outside and stood on the bridge that leads to the owls and Hagrid's cabin. I looked out and watched as the sky changed from sunrise pink to light blue. When people started to appear, I went to breakfast. I ate alone until Potter and his gang appeared. They sat around me, Black on my left, Potter on my right, and Pettigrew and Remus across from me.
"What do you want?" I asked them, annoyed.
"Lily, we're really sorry about what happened yesterday," Potter said, speaking first.
"Yeah, he was a git calling you that," Black said.
I saw Remus give him a look.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to continue eating my breakfast without talking about Severus," I said. "Or eating with the 'Marauders'," I said, mocking the name they call themselves.
"Oh, now that hurts," Black said in sarcastic hurt. "Prongs, what do you see in a girl who doesn't even want to eat with us?"
"Prongs?" I asked, not fazed by what Black said about how Potter was interested in me that way. He's already asked me out at least a thousand times.
"Nickname," Pettigrew said.
"Well, it was really nice chatting with you all, but really. Don't you have something better to do?" I asked them.
"Why, no, we don't. We've come here to make your day worthwhile," Potter said.
I rolled my eyes, took my last bite of food, and got up, but the motion caused them all to get up as well.
"We told you, we're here to make your day a whole lot better," Black said when I looked at them annoyed.
"Fine then, make yourself useful and go jump off a cliff," I said to Black, but he just laughed, placing his arm on my shoulder and guiding me out of the Hall with the other three boys.
I picked Black's arm off of my shoulders as if it were something that would get me sick if I touched it. All of them laughed at my reaction.
"Listen, it was really fun and all, but I really should get going," I said when we reached the portrait of the lady.
I said the password and entered, starting to close the door behind me, but Pettigrew held the door open.
"Not so fast. We're not that easy to get rid of," Potter said.
"Please, enlighten me. What can I do to get rid of you?" I said in a sarcastically pleasant voice.
"Well, go along with everything we tell you to, and then we'll figure something out," Potter said.
I smirked and entered the common room with them trailing behind me.
"Looks like I found some lost puppies," I said to Marlene when I saw her coming downstairs from the dormitories.
She smiled and laughed when she saw the four boys trailing behind me.
"Wanna help me get rid of them?" I asked her.
"No, not really," she said with a laugh.
I scowled at her and she just smiled at me, looking innocent, but she placed her arm in through mine and we walked out of the room with the boys trailing behind us.
"You hungry? cause I already ate," I told her.
"I'm good. Let's figure out something we can do to make this situation worth while," she said with a devious smile.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked her, but she just smiled even bigger.
Marlene made the boys do her bidding like she was the queen and they were her subjects. Even some of the requests were ridiculous they still did them.
"Are you going to just stand there or what?" Marlene asked when she told all of the boys except Potter to go do something.
When they looked scatterbrained, Marlene went with them to get them to go. I stood there awkwardly next to Potter, but he looked as relaxed as ever.
"Marlene is quite the bully," he said in a joking manger.
"I wouldn't be talking if I were you," I said to him, not joking.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked innocently.
"As if you don't know," I said, but had to continue when he feigned ignorance. "Hexing all those people for no reason, it's a wonder you haven't been expelled."
"I haven't done anything wrong," he said.
"You're joking, right?" I asked him.
"Well, at least not to anybody who didn't deserve it," he corrected himself.
"Oh, so Sev-," I started, but corrected myself, "Snape deserved it?"
"I thought you didn't want to talk about Snivellus?" He asked.
"I don't, but he never deserved it," I said.
"That's not true, meddling with all of those Dark Spells," he countered.
"Well, before he started them you still hexed him for no reason."
Potter barely hesitated. "Being in Slytherin is reason enough," he told me.
I remained silent, not wanting to carry on this subject. We were in the courtyard, but I started to walk away, wanting to go to the library where I could take refuge. Potter followed, though.
"You can go, now, you have succeeded in making my day better. Watching Alice boss you four around was entertaining enough," I said.
"Why do you hate me?" Potter asked me.
I stopped and turned to face him. "Why do you think?" I answered his question with my own.
"I honestly have no idea why," he said truthfully.
I looked at him in disbelief. "Gee, I wonder why I would hate someone who insults my friends, hexes people for no reason, is arrogant, and has a head the size of Jupiter?"
He didn't say anything, but continued to follow me as I walked to the library.
"What do you do in here? It's so, boring," he said.
I didn't answer; instead I just walked through the aisles, tracing my fingers along the bindings of the books on the shelves. He sighed, sitting down on a table nearby. I grabbed a book and sat down, leaning against the shelf. I don't know how long I was there, or how long I even read, but I soon fell asleep, the book dropping out of my hands.
"Hey, Evans, wake up," I heard a voice call out to me.
I slowly opened my eyes to see Potter leaning over me.
"You awake?" He asked me.
I looked at him, disoriented, and took his outstretched hand.
"Dinner's being served, we should go find Prewitt and Sirius and everyone else."
I rubbed my eyes and followed him out of the library. Sure enough, dinner was being served when we entered the Great Hall.
"How long was I asleep?" I asked him.
"Not very long, but you must have been tired to have fallen asleep in your sanctuary," he said, smiling.
"Ha ha, very funny," I said, and sat down at the Gryffindor table with Potter sitting across from me.
Not even two minutes had passed when Marlene and the other boys showed up and sat around us.
"Where you been?" Black asked Potter and me.
"Library," Potter answered.
Black, Remus, and Pettigrew all broke out laughing.
"You were in the library?" Remus asked in disbelief.
"Evans dragged me there," he said with a smile.
"I did not make you do anything, you followed me to the library," I corrected him.
They all laughed as we began eating, and even I smiled. Soon, though, I wanted to go to sleep, seeing as I had already been asleep and was still tired.
"I'm going to bed," I said to Marlene.
"Oh, I'll come with you. I didn't do my homework and need to finish it," she told me.
I got out from the bench and said goodnight to Remus, but just nodded to the three other boys. Marlene and I went upstairs to the common room where she sat down on the couch.
"Don't you have prefect duties, tonight?" She asked me.
"Oh, I forgot about that," I said, sitting down on the lounge chair. "Can you wake me up when Remus gets here?" I asked her.
"Sure, honey," she said focusing on her homework.
I pulled my knees up to my chest, and rested my head on the armrest. Soon I was fast asleep.
"Don't you have prefect duties to do with Evans?" Sirius asked Remus.
"Yeah, but for her to be tired enough to forget means she needs sleep," Remus replied.
"I agree, it's not like her to forget something like that," I replied.
"You would obviously know, Prongs, watching her all the time," Sirius said.
"Well, now, you make me sound like I'm stalking her or something," I said with a laugh.
"Full moon's tomorrow night. You ready, Remus?" Peter asked him.
"As I'll ever be. But you guys don't have to do this," Remus tried to persuade us.
"We told you, we're not going to stop just because it's dangerous. That's a risk we take for friends, especially one with a furry little problem like yours," I said and we all chuckled.
"Well, I'm going upstairs, I'm sick of being around you people," Sirius said with a smirk, and I sniggered, but we all got up with him.
We went to the common room where we found Lily and Mckinnon asleep. I smiled to myself and went over to Lily. I kneeled down gently shaking her, and had to bite back a laugh when she jumped up from fright.
"You okay?" I asked her, worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, even though she looked scared. "Where am I?"
"The common room, but you have prefect duties with Remus," I told her. She nodded her head.
"You don't have to come if you're too tire, Lily," Remus said as I got up from my position.
"No, it's fine. I skipped last night's too, so I'm definitely coming tonight," she said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," she said stubbornly.
Remus nodded and he and Lily left the room.
"She sleeps too much," Sirius said and I chuckled, having told him she had fallen asleep in the library.
"Going to bed?" Peter asked us.
"As if! I've got some business with Mckinnon," Sirius said, and I rolled my eyes.
Peter sat down on a chair and I left as Sirius woke up Mckinnon.
"I'm sorry about last night, Remus," I said to him as we patrolled the grounds.
"It's alright, Lily, you can stop apologizing," Remus said once again.
I would have gone on further but we had run into some Slytherins.
"Watch it, Mudblood," one of them, Avery, said.
I glared at him.
"You're not supposed to be outside common rooms," Remus told them.
"And we're going to listen to you? A friend of the Mudblood?" The other, Mulciber, said.
"Come on, guys, just go," Snape said, coming up behind them.
Avery smirked. "Looks like you've just been saved. Don't count on it next time," he said, and he and Mulciber both left.
"I'll be right back," Remus said.
"Can I talk to you?" Snape asked me.
"Aren't I too far below you to even talk to you?" I asked him harshly.
"Please, just a few minutes," he said.
"I'd rather not," I said, walking toward where Remus had gone.
"Wait, Lily!" He said.
"Leave me alone!" I said, breaking into a run.
I lost him after I turned around a few corners. I had run around a last corner when I smacked into something that was there, the force making me fall onto the ground.
"Ouch!" I said, rubbing my forehead.
I looked around, but didn't see anyone or anything. I listened carefully and heard the sound of heavy breathing coming from somewhere in the hallways. I stood up, and moved toward the sound. Whoever was making the heavy breathing sound had walked into a dead end.
"Who's there?" I called out, blocking the way so that whoever it was couldn't get away.
There was no answer, but I saw a flash of something that out of the corner of my eye.
I moved to where I had seen the flash, lifting my arms out in front of me, until I felt something soft. I tugged on it, and Potter appeared out of nowhere, with a cloak in my hand.
"What the-," I started.
"Shh!" Potter said, for there were running footsteps coming down this way. "Get under here," he said, grabbing the cloak and throwing it over us.
"What will this do?"
"Shh, Lily," he said, and I quieted, but only to the sound of my first name.
Snape and some other Slytherins were coming down the corridor, and I stayed as still and silent as possible. I felt like a child who was hiding underneath a blanket for hide-and-go-seek, thinking they couldn't be seen. I guess we couldn't be seen, though, because they were right in front of us but didn't see us.
"I swore I saw her come down this way," Avery said.
"You guys, I told you to go back to the dungeon," Snape said.
"And why would we listen to you? You've been in love with that mudblood ever since you were a first year here," Mulciber said.
At the mention of mudblood, Potter pulled out his wand and was about to hit them with something, but I quickly grabbed his hand and lowered it. I shook my head at him, but he still looked angry. The three Slytherins left, and Potter removed the cloak from above us.
"You shouldn't have done that, they deserved to be hexed," he said to me.
"What is that?" I asked, pointing to the cloak.
"It's an invisibility cloak. My father gave it to me. How did you know I was there?"
"You breathe loudly," I told him. "What are you doing out under an invisibility cloak?" I asked him.
"Nothing, I was just going to find Remus to tell him something, but I saw you and Snivellus back there, so I walked away so I wouldn't eavesdrop, but then you chased," he explained.
"I wasn't chasing you, I was trying to run away from Snape," I explained. "I don't want to talk to him just yet."
He nodded his head and started to walk away.
"Are you looking for Remus, James?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he said with a startled look on his face
"I'll come with you," I said without hesitation.
We walked out of the corridor and down another one where we found Remus coming up to us.
"James, what are you doing here?" Remus asked him.
"I was looking for you, but I found some Slytherins wanting to give Evans some trouble, Snivellus was one of them," he said.
"Why are you holding the, um, your cloak?" Remus asked.
"She knows about it, Remus, she was able to take it off of me," James explained to Remus.
"How did she do that?" He asked as if I weren't there.
James looked at me. "I saw a bit of your foot," I informed them.
"I'm getting too big for this thing," James said.
"Lily, why don't you go to bed, you've had a rough weekend and are tired," Remus said when I yawned.
"No, it's okay, I'm fine," I said, but another yawn betrayed me.
"Lily, go to bed," James said.
"Fine," I said, annoyed, but grateful as well.
I started to leave, but went back.
"Will one of you come back to the Tower with me?" I asked them.
"Sure, I need to keep patrolling, so James will go with you," Remus said.
I nodded and James went with me away from Remus.
"Didn't you need to see Remus?" I asked him.
"Oh, yeah, I'll be right back," he said, leaving me alone in the corridor.
I kept turning in circles, really nervous that someone would pop up out of nowhere, and sure enough, someone did, but it was only James. He placed his hand on my shoulder and I had jumped out of my skins.
"Geez, Evans, you're jumpy," he said.
"You scared me," I said, stating the obvious.
"No, duh," he said with a smile.
We walked to the Tower in silence, not talking until we reached the portrait outside the Tower.
"You going to be okay?" He asked me.
"Yeah," I said, confused why he was talking like this. "Aren't you coming in?" I asked, having opened the door, but he hadn't moved.
"No, I'm going to stay out here." I didn't say anything to this, instead I just started to enter the portrait hole, but he held onto my arm. "You aren't going to stop me or follow me or anything?" He asked me.
"No, you're capable of being good, I think," I added, and started to step through the door, but stopped me, wanting to say something more, but he didn't say anything more. "Goodnight," I said with a yawn.
"'Night," I heard him say as I shut the portrait behind me.
I went straight up to my room, avoiding everyone who was still in the common room. I went up to my room, quietly shutting the door behind me so I didn't wake up my roommates. I went over to my trunk to change my clothes, but after kneeling down next to my trunk for a few minutes I fell asleep right then and there.
