The Portrait

A.k.a. The First in a Long List of Things Belonging to Both of Us

Professor Dumbledore's speech just ended, everyone clapped, and Lily ate far more than she should have. Currently she is waiting at the Gryffindor table, waiting for James as he says goodbye to Remus, who is trying to break off the conversation so he can escort the first years upstairs to Gryffindor Tower. Lily has always had a strange fondness for Remus Lupin because he is such a nice guy. She's never understood what he sees in Potter, and why they are friends, but has nothing to hold against him—After all Remus didn't chase her down the corridors begging for a date to Hogsmeade. She absentmindedly twirls the end of her braid in her fingers, an obsessive habit that Dirk says makes her IQ look thirty points lower. She can't help it though, it's not something she does on purpose, and she often doesn't even notice she's doing it until he whines at her to stop.

Lily is just about to chastise Potter for holding things up, but when she looks up to do so, he is staring at her creepily after having finally released Remus to his duties. She wants to complain but instead just bites her lip. By the time James reaches her, Professor McGonagall is tapping her fingers impatiently on her hip. Lily hadn't even noticed she'd walked up. Which was odd considering her presence in a room, but regardless, the 40-something was waiting, so the girl stood, and accompanied them out of the hall, the last students, Head Boy and Head Girl. The last time too; this was the last time Lily Evans would ever exit the Great Hall after a Welcome Feast. Hm, she thought, What a queer feeling.

At first it seemed as though McGonagall was playing a trick on them. The route to the Head Student chambers was not somewhere either James or Lily had been before. Initially it seemed McGonagall was heading straight for Gryffindor Tower.

"Professor…" Said Potter, "How was your summer?"

"Quiet. It was quite the treat not having to worry about my less than careful students, if only for a few months."

She spoke down her nose at him, but Lily saw a mischievous twinkle in her eye; it was enough to make her wonder if Professor McGonagall was really as stoic as she pretended. Lily mentally chastised herself, she hadn't been paying enough attention. She knew they went up the main staircase towards the Gryffindor common room, but she couldn't remember if it moved once or twice before they got off. She also couldn't remember if it was a left, or a right at the tapestry of the Woman in White, or if they were on the fourth or fifth floor. I'm screwed tomorrow morning when I try to find my way down to breakfast…

"Here we are then," McGonagall cleared her throat, turning to face the portrait at a better angle, staring the matron directly in the face. "Evangeline Orpington, Minister for Magic from 1849 to 1855—"

"The Minister who had the idea for Platform 9 and ¾" Lily beamed. "What an honour, Minister!" Lily grinned from ear to ear. She hadn't known Hogwarts even had a portrait of Ms. Orpington. She'd seen her picture in Hogwarts, A History, but never imagined in a million years she'd get to speak with her, or have the opportunity to see her every day, right outside their door. Even having Potter here, watching her gush, couldn't ruin this for her, and it really appeared that he was going to try. Lily was expecting some remark about how she was embarrassing herself, but he just gawked at her, obviously having no idea she was a history buff, not that one would have to be a history buff to know of Evangeline Orpington. She was one of the most famous Minister's of all time.

"Charmed, I'm sure" was the Minister's response. "Looking forward to another great year. Last year's Head Boy and Girl were very quiet and studious. I'm assuming I can look forward to the same with you two?"

Potter opened his mouth to say something, but Lily interjected before he got the chance to ruin her first impression of them.

"-Absolutely! Old Jamesy and I always have our noses in books!" Lily wrapped an arm around his shoulders and attempted to look chummy. A glance was exchanged between the Minister and Professor, but she wasn't sure what to make of it, so she let the Head Boy go, wondering now if she'd made a worse impression than he was going to.

"The password for this week is 'Honeydukes.' You'd do well not to spread it around too much, the Head chambers are meant for your private use. Guests are to be entertained elsewhere whenever possible. These chambers were designed to facilitate an easy working relationship between two Head Students from separate houses, though that isn't the case this year." She eyed her pupils suspiciously, as if somehow they had already done something wrong.

"Absolutely. No. Funny-business." Were her daunting final words before she stalked off.

Thankful to be free of the awkward moment in the corridor, Lily unpacked her things, getting a head start on organizing her room. It had only been about half an hour before she heard a knock at the door. She was tempted not to answer it, knowing it could only be James, but in the interest of a functional working relationship, she flicked her wand at it, and turned back to her unpacking.

"Lily, I…"

"You can save it if you're asking for a date, Potter. I'm not in the mood. It's too soon in the year for you to be pestering my already. Besides, won't it get quite old for you if you ask every day for the whole year? We'll be seeing so much of each other. Couldn't you at least wait for me to settle in?"

"…I wanted… to give you your scarf." He studied his shoe, which he was digging into the ornate burgundy carpet. Sure enough, in his outstretched hand was her crimson scarf. The exact shade of her cheeks, if the fiery feeling she had was of any indication.

"Oh. I—Er… Thank—Thank you." She couldn't meet his eyes, and thankfully he left the second the scarf was out of his hands. Maybe he was going to ask her out, and that's the reason he was so embarrassed too, or maybe he was just embarrassed for her, but she couldn't be sure.

In fact, James wasn't embarrassed at all. He was about ready to leap from his skin in excitement. He, perhaps wrongly, attributed her blush to a crush. Thinking he had finally somehow gotten through to her about his being a proper candidate for a date. Her words said no, for now, but he thought that perhaps, this was the beginning of a new chapter in their quasi-relationship. The chapter that took them away from childish bickering acquaintances, and at the very least, added up to a friendship.

Later that evening, Lily occupied herself with a book by the fire. The warmth of the hearth engulfed the whole room, which wasn't too daunting a task. The Head Student common room was small, but ornate. Expertly decorated with landscapes of the Hogwarts grounds, soft golden curtains, neutral furniture, and a deep blood red carpet. The decorating scheme would have overwhelmed anyone not accustomed to the Gryffindor common room, and because of this, Lily assumed it was magically redecorated based on it's occupants. Whatever magic it was that had sensed her tastes, had done an outstanding job.

The enchantment, whichever it was, knew that although Lily hated to be cold, she loved the look of leather furniture because her living room at home was full of it. The tan leather sofa reminded her of caramel, or cappuccino, and made her feel warm, especially when wrapped up in the knitted throw that was draped across its back. The colours of certain objects, and a few of the baubles in the room would not have been her first choice, but she knew the enchantment was in place to serve both of it's occupants, and not everything could be about her.

The portrait swung open into the main room where Lily was currently nesting on the sofa. The room was several feet long, and wide enough to fit all of its many objects comfortably. Off to the side, out of view of the portrait hole was a small kitchenette. It had only a bare minimum of objects, all the fixings for tea, a small fridge for cold water and drinks, a bowl of fruit, and some cheese. She was assuming it was restocked by the house elves employed by the castle, but she had not seen any since her arrival, so she couldn't be sure. Past the end of the kitchenette, on the other side of the set of armchairs, and beside the small balcony, were the staircases to their rooms. The room to the left had an ancient wooden plaque that said "Head Boy" and a matching one above the staircase to the right said "Head Girl" and lead up to her room. She wasn't sure what James's room looked like, but as they were both from Gryffindor, she assumed his looked much like hers, if not identical.

As Lily snuggled into the sofa, rolled up in the large evergreen blanket, she couldn't help but be excited. She was back in her favorite place in the world, and even though she wanted nothing more than to visit her friends, she couldn't ditch a nagging feeling that she should stay in their chambers and attempt to make nice. James hadn't been around for much of the evening, at least not in her sight. For much of the time they had been around, she assumed he was in his bedroom, but she had been wrong. The entire time she had been sitting on their tan sofa, waiting for him to descend the stairs and clear the awkward tension from earlier, he had been in the Gryffindor common room (at least she assumed, once he came back) hanging out with his mates.

When he finally came back to their chambers, he fixed himself a mug of tea in their tiny kitchenette silently, while she looked on from the couch. He had been in the room for several minutes when she finally got up the courage to speak.

"I know I really shoved my foot in my mouth earlier. But that's no reason to ignore me now…"

He looked up at her and furrowed his brows, not saying anything. Hurt, Lily looked back down to her book, a muggle story she had brought from home, Jane Eyre, a favorite of hers for the story it told about one overcoming her born position in life. She glared at the pages for several minutes, her cheeks feeling hot again. She didn't look up again until she felt James standing beside her, and his eyes on her face. She was surprised to see that he was offering her tea. Her hands were hesitant to respond, and her face was clouded with confusion long after she took her first sip. She held the mug between both hands, the tag of the teabag tickling her thumb.

"I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot. I want you to know that things are going to be different this year."

AN: Don't hate me! I thought it would be fun to end it somewhere a little bit precarious. I kind of like starting chapters right in the middle of things. It's been about two weeks since my last update, and you can expect updates to take this long on average, due to school and work, and other obligations. Hope you enjoyed reading! Feel free to leave constructive reviews/comments. See you next time! P.s. I'm not going to put a disclaimer on every chapter. This is the last one. I own nothing, I just like to bring J.K.'s characters to life.