A/N: I only feel like writing when I think people are interested in reading this, which is my conniving way of saying please R&R!
Lily took her time heading to breakfast on the first day of class. In her opinion, it was unspeakably early for any teenager to be fully functional, but as usual, she was the first one in her dormitory to get up. If you were to ask the redhead, she would attribute her daily early wake-ups to the fact that her bedroom at home was inconveniently located right next to the loo, where her sister insisted on taking very early and very loud showers every morning.
She didn't really mind being an early riser since it guaranteed her a good spot at breakfast, and a chance to catch up on some reading. As it were, Lily was surprised to see a dark-haired figure sitting at the Gryffindor table that morning, piling egg and sausage onto his plate. Despite her better judgment, Lily headed toward the table and took a seat across from him.
"Good morning, Black."
"Evans," he nodded cordially, buttering the pile of toast he had laid on his plate.
"Where are the Three Stooges?"
Sirius' handsome face creased in suspicion. "What?"
Lily smiled innocently as she reached for her own piece of toast. "Nothing, I'm just surprised to see you without your friends."
"I like to give the impression that I'm brooding, since it adds another layer to my personality." He smirked cockily at her, though the effect was slightly ruined with his excessive blinking. In fact, if Lily wasn't raised with a hypochondriac and knew the actual symptoms of a stroke, she might have thought his odd blinking was an epileptic fit.
"Fascinating. Is the twitching eye another layer of your persona too?"
"Cow," Sirius glared, before leaning above their plates toward her. "Is there something in my left eye? It's itching like mad."
Lily leaned toward him too, focusing on his grey eyes. She shook her head and took her seat again. "No, but you do have very nice eyelashes."
Sirius rubbed his eye irritably. "They're not bloody helping now though. I thought the stupid things were supposed to protect your eyes from dirt, not invite some over for tea."
Lily sighed wistfully, ignoring him. "If you were a girl, you'd barely need mascara. I hope my future off-springs have eyelashes as nice as yours."
Sirius' hand dropped from his face and he grimaced. "Are you flirting with me, Evans?"
"Don't be daft."
"Well, if someone were to overhear our conversation, they would assume that you were flirting. With me."
"Just eat your breakfast."
"Because if you are flirting with me, I'd tell you that you're deluded. And too eccentric for my liking."
"That's flattering, Black. You should write a book about winning people over since you seem to be such an expert."
"I would, but you might start fancying me even more when I'm rich and famous."
"Or when pigs fly."
"They taught us how to do that in first-year Charms, which just proves my point."
"Arse."
"Who's an arse?" James asked as he and Peter took their seats across from Lily.
"Evans, for fancying me."
Lily threw a piece of crust at Sirius as hard as she could. "I do not fancy you."
Sirius shook his head. "She offered to bear my children, mate. The bird is insatiable."
"If you don't stop, I'll make sure you're never capable of having children."
"That's a lovely conversation to have over breakfast, Evans. Please tell us more." James mumbled, splattering pieces of masticated breakfast everywhere.
Lily glowered, wondering what possessed her to sit next to Sirius in the first place. She turned her attention to Peter, who she assumed would be the least threatening person to have a conversation with.
"Good morning, Pettigrew." Lily smiled sweetly at the short boy. "Where's Remus?"
"Why? Do you fancy him too?"
"Will. You. Shut. Up. Black."
"And don't bat your eyelashes at Peter, he's an innocent. He doesn't need you disturbing him with your womanly wiles."
The three boys guffawed loudly (though she wasn't sure why Peter was laughing, since it was at his expense), drawing the filling room's attention toward them.
"I hate you lot." Lily grumbled. She turned around and surveyed the room as the boys rattled on about her faults, and wasn't surprised to see Sev alone at the Slytherin table. Her eyes moved on quickly, and she hoped he hadn't seen her sitting with the Marauders as that would only result in more glares in her direction. At the Ravenclaw table, Robert Fawcett caught her eye and waved. She smiled pleasantly at him, and was about to turn her attention back to the flamboyant boys next to her when she felt another pair of eyes on her. She blinked at the figure that sat at the staff table as he unabashedly returned her gaze, and she immediately started to wonder if she had done something wrong. When she assured herself that she hadn't, she started to blush at the attention. His face was expressionless, except for the slight upturn his lips took as soon as she started turning red, his deep-set eyes glimmering with what she hoped was amusement. Lily ducked her head quickly just as Marlene and Remus settled next to her.
"Morning Lil," Marlene said, not noticing her friend's flushed appearance. "Any good dreams?"
For reasons that were completely foreign to Lily, Marlene had an obsession with dreams, and was the only one in the girls' dormitories that continued on with Divinations after their O. , even though they all realized it was bloody useless half way through their third year.
"I vaguely remember something about an otter and raspberry jam." Lily said, puckering her lips as she tried to remember the dream. Was the otter swimming in jam or eating it?
"This is why you need to write down your dreams as soon as you wake up." Marlene chastised her friend, before turning her attention to the owl that had dropped a letter on her plate.
"Oh, it's from my brother," she said, stroking the barn owl. "It's probably a badly disguised effort to find out if you've asked about him."
"Why would you ask about Terry McKinnon?" James asked Lily suddenly, bringing the rest of the Marauder's attention back to her as well.
"Because she stayed with us for a week this summer, and he told her being away from her tears his heart asunder," Marlene replied.
"He said no such thing, you lying cow." Lily laughed nervously, darting her eyes from James' frown to Sirius' badly disguised glee.
"Oh all right, he said she's a snitch amongst quaffles, which isn't nearly as romantic."
"You're dating Terry McKinnon?" Remus asked interestedly.
"No! Of course not."
"Don't tell him that," Marlene snorted, reading her letter out loud. "Could you tell Lily that I have an extra ticket to see Marmaduke Podmore? Unless she doesn't like Marmaduke Podmore. If she doesn't, don't say anything. But if she does, tell her it's two weeks from Monday, and I can meet her in Hogsmeade, and we can get dinner, but only if she wants to. If she doesn't, it's perfectly all right. But, she said I'm her friend, right? And friends go to dinner and shows together all the time, don't they? I mean, if she wants to call it a date, or just a friendly get-together, it's up to her-"
Lily groaned loudly, burying her face in her hands while Sirius Black cackled.
"How many different love potions did you feed the bloke?" Peter frowned, eyeing Lily and then his goblet nervously.
"None, he just saw her in a bathing suit." Marlene snickered, folding her letter away.
"Some blokes have all the luck," James shook his head regrettably.
"He was probably blinded by how pale you are, Evans. He might as well have stared straight at the sun."
"You're really not very fond of your bollocks, are you Black?"
"That is no way for the Head Girl to speak at breakfast, Miss Evans."
Lily cringed as McGonagall came up to the group to hand them their class schedules, and only blushed harder as the Marauders and Marlene snickered.
"Sorry, Professor." Lily whispered, trying to shield her face with her hair.
"Double Potions, Defense, then Ancient Runes after lunch," Remus said, looking at the piece of parchment McGonagall handed him. "That's not too bad."
"Speak for yourself," James scowled at his parchment. "I have Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures after lunch."
Lily got up from her seat. "I suppose I'll head to Potions now, I want to get a good seat. Coming, Mar?"
"You go ahead," Marlene shook her head. "I need to head back to the tower before class anyway, I didn't bring my Potions book."
Lily shrugged before heading toward the Entrance Hall. "Suit yourself," she yelled out, dodging a pair of Hufflepuff third-years as they hurried to grab breakfast before class.
She walked the empty path to the dungeons slowly, humming nondescriptly. Lily slipped into the Potions classroom, sat at the front and took out her notebook. She decided it was high time for her to clean up her long life goal list, since it was obvious that she could not accomplish everything that she had put down. She worked her way down the list slowly, pausing at items like 28. Learn a musical instrument. Violin? Piano? And 56. Take dance lessons before crossing them out neatly. She felt Marlene slip into the seat next to her when she was halfway down her list, but she did not acknowledge her friend as she contemplated whether 112. Ask Dirk Cresswell if he thought they would have intelligent, attractive children too was worth scratching off. By the time Lily reached the end of the list, the class had gotten noisier, and she finally looked up to smile at Marlene. It was then that she started, realizing that the person sat next to her was a far cry from the outgoing Gryffindor. Before she could react, Slughorn's booming voice signaled the beginning of class.
She didn't say anything to Severus as Slughorn instructed them to brew a Wit-Sharpening Potion as a review. Lily worked silently and efficiently, slicing her Ginger Roots finely before moving on to grind Scarab Beetles until they made a fine powder. She had always found Potions soothing, as it reminded her very much of baking. Her mother had always instructed her and Petunia to follow recipes very closely when it came to baking cakes, and she said all the ingredients made a "fine balance". Potions was very similar, as all the elements needed to be measured carefully, and instructions were to be followed meticulously. Lily concentrated on her cauldron, and it was only after she mixed the Armadillo Bile into her potion that she allowed herself to relax. She readied her Ginger Root and watched as the liquid turned an attractive violet, completely forgetting that she was sat beside Snape until he spoke up.
"Your hair is shorter."
She was so startled by his comment that she forgot to ignore him. She blinked owlishly at him. "What?"
"You cut your hair," he said quickly, his dark eyes gleaming. "I like it, though."
"T-thank you." Lily nodded, and then glanced behind her. Marlene was sat next to Geoffrey Spleen, a squat Slytherin. To her left, James Potter and Sirius Black were comparing Potions, looking completely confused as to why their concoctions were both red.
"I've been meaning to speak to you, Lily." Severus said, drawing her attention back to him. "You haven't returned any of my letters."
"I told you, Sev," Lily said, sprinkling her roots into her cauldron as it bubbled into a dark orange. "I really have nothing to say to you."
"But if you would just listen to me," he said quickly, "I just need to explain-"
"I don't want to hear it." Lily interrupted, her heart hammering violently against her chest.
"Lily, please-"
"Lily my dear!" Slughorn boomed, and she had never been more grateful to hear his voice. "Let's have a look at your Wit-Sharpening Potion, then! Ah, well I can tell you now that you won't need to take it, it was brewed excellently!" Slughorn beamed, and Lily tried to return his smile despite the pang her heart gave. When Slughorn signaled the end of class, she bottled her potion quickly and bolted out of the dungeons, heading straight to the girl's bathroom before Severus could follow her. She only emerged ten minutes before her Defense class, and she raced up three flights of stairs and hurried to take a seat. However, as soon as she did, she saw Snape head toward the empty chair beside her and she blanched. But before Snape could reach her table, James slipped into the chair and grinned mischievously at her.
"Alright, Evans?"
"You're in my seat, Potter." Severus growled at James.
"This is the first day of class, Snivellus, and seeing as you have never sat at this table before, I would say that it's my seat."
"You saw me head over here. I was sitting next to Lily at Potions,"
"Well, it's not Potions now, so I'm going to sit with Lily, if that's alright with you."
"She doesn't want to sit next to you, Potter."
"She doesn't want you to be anywhere near her, not until you take a bath you greasy git."
"It's none of your business what she wants!"
"Seeing as I'm in her house, and I'm her fellow Head, I would say that she is more of my business than you are."
"What seems to be the problem here, gentlemen?" The professor approached their table, his eyes flickering from Lily's crimson face to the two squabbling boys.
"Potter's in my seat, Professor McLeod."
"No, Snape wants my seat, Professor."
"I sat next to Lily at Potions-"
"Again, that was two hours ago, and I think Evans is allowed to sit with other people too."
Professor McLeod raised his hand to silence the boys, and his gaze steadied on Lily. "You seem to be very popular, Miss Evans." He spoke slowly, his eyes studying her face closely as if deciphering a puzzle. "Do you have a preference on whom you would rather be seated next to?"
"I-" Lily's nervous gaze flickered from Severus' angry one to James' laughing expression. Before she could answer him, however, the professor began speaking again.
"Because Miss Evans doesn't seem to have an immediate preference, I am rather inclined to ask her to move to a less dangerous seat. Mr Snape and Mr Potter, since you two seem to be very fond of this table, you can share it. As for you, Miss Evans, perhaps you might safer next to a female student."
Lily shuffled quickly to the empty seat next to Laurel Plunkett, trying to ignore the snickers of her classmates.
"Now, I would like to begin teaching this class, unless someone else has some grievances to share?" He looked at James and Severus, who were both sitting stiffly at their table.
"Good," he nodded at the silent class. "My name is Professor McLeod, and I will help guide you through your last year of Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am an academic researcher for the Department of Mysteries, and have taken this teaching position as a sabbatical while I try to write a book discussing the Dark Arts. I am very familiar with the materials that will be covered in your examinations, since my Defense N.E.W.T wasn't that long ago." He smiled at the class.
He went on to draw a list of what they would be covering that year, and what they would be expected to know for their N.E.W.T.s. As the class ended, the students filed out slowly, and Lily was about to follow when he called her.
"Miss Evans, a word, please."
Lily looked at Marlene anxiously, who merely shrugged. She made her way nervously to his desk, and was surprised when he smiled down at her, bearing very straight and white teeth.
"Miss Evans, I was wondering if you would be willing to assist me during my research. I was looking for an upper-classman who would be prepared to sift through my notes and materials with me in order to make my life slightly easier."
Lily was so surprised by his pronouncement that she could only think of one thing to say. "But- today, with Snape and Ja- Potter…"
Professor McLeod's smile slid off his face quickly. "Your social life doesn't interest me, Miss Evans. And despite today's theatrics, you do come highly recommended by your Head of House as well as the other staff members who have encountered you. If you are willing to take this position, it will only aid you in whatever future career you choose to pursue."
"Oh- yes. Of course." Lily nodded, smiling uncertainly.
"Good," he inclined his head. "Are you free after dinner tonight?"
"Oh, no." Lily shook her head quickly. "I have rounds with James Potter."
"Ah," the professor smiled thinly. "I'm sure he's thrilled. Tomorrow night then, at 7 sharp, Miss Evans."
"Yes, Professor." Lily smiled briefly before hurrying toward lunch, wondering what had just happened.
A/N: Ta for reading!