Disclaimer: Characters/Setting borrowed from JK Rowling, and Plot (with some famous quotes) from Jane Austen. Two fantastic and clever female writers that I have simply mashed together...
The Welcome feast had been fantastic, as always, and the girls were so full of food that they were putting off getting changed for the party in the Gryffindor common room. Abby, Mary, Lily and Marlene slouched about on their beds, sharing gossip they'd heard at the feast and feeling, all in all, rather pleased to be back.
The fifth and sixth inhabitants of the Gryffindor sixth year girls' dorm, however, were already getting dressed. Caroline Bramley and her partner-in-crime, Julia Fawley, had roomed with Lily and her friends for five full years, and yet Lily barely knew either of them. They didn't have time for the other Gryffindor girls - they had friends in Ravenclaw, and, of course, ran in the same circles as Potter and Black.
Caroline stood in front of the large mirror, pinning up her fair curls so that they fell artfully around her finely featured face. Lily watched her putting the final touches to her makeup, and then suddenly fond Caroline's gaze meeting hers through the reflection of the mirror.
"Problem, Evans?" Caroline challenged, with a honeyed smile. Lily swallowed the urge to smirk back at her.
"Not at all, Bramley. Heading to the party?" she attempted to diffuse the other girl's dislike.
"Of course not," Caroline laughed, as though Lily's suggestion was the funniest thing she'd heard all evening, "Nobody actually goes to those anymore, not unless they're thirteen years old or haven't had a better offer."
She suddenly turned round, a look of faux shock and embarrassment on her pretty face. She raised a hand to her lips, as though trying to stop the words coming out, but too late.
"Oh my goodness, you aren't going, are you, Evans? I'm so sorry. I'm sure you'll have a great time," she gushed, but Lily saw the smug look that replaced the polite embarrassment all too soon.
"I'm sure we will," Lily replied with a slightly forced smile, "As long as you promise me you're taking Potter and his gang with you to your far superior party."
"I'll definitely be keeping him busy, anyway," Caroline smiled sweetly. Lily sent a saccharine smile of her own back to the fair-haired girl, as she and Julia swept out of the dorm room, giggling as they closed the door behind them.
"Bitch," said Mary, gruffly.
"That's unkind, Mary," Marlene said gently, "Caroline apologised the moment she realised what she'd said."
The other three girls looked incredulously at Marlene, who blushed softly.
"It did seem a little forced, " she admitted, "But remember Caroline isn't used to apologising. She might have felt really awkward."
"I'm sure she felt as awkward as Snape at a wet t-shirt contest," Mary said drily.
Lily joined Marlene in the disapproving looks this time.
Snape was a touchy subject for Lily. Not only had they been best friend for years, surviving their Sorting into rival Houses and their completely different groups of friends, but she was fairly sure his feelings for her had been more than just friendly. She had even fancied herself half in love with him too at the start of her fifth year, but she had had her eyes forcibly opened to his growing obsession with the Dark Arts, his unsavoury friends and his innate bigotry.
The word 'Mudblood' would always hurt worse since he'd said it to her.
It had hurt Lily hugely to cut her ties with her friend: the one who had told her what she was, and that she had shared those beautiful, magical childhood experiences with. However, she couldn't have stayed friends with him - not without compromising her own morality. But still, the loss of him hurt her, and she could see it hurt him too: he had never been good at hiding his emotions, especially not from Lily.
"Anyway," Abby interjected, sidelining her friends before yet another argument over Snape and whether or not he could still be redeemable erupted, "Has no one noticed the importance of Bramley's revelation?"
The other girls looked blankly at the tall brunette.
"For goodness sake, I do wonder about you lot, you know. I sometimes think Bramley and Fawley have a point about you all being freaks."
Mary sent a pillow hurtling at Abby, who loudly screeched "UNAPPRECIATED!", much to her friends' amusement.
"Ok, ok. Go on. What was so important?" Lily said, her curiosity piqued. What on earth could Caroline Bramley have said that was so important?
Abby looked a little smug now that her friends were finally listening.
"Just that Potter won't be at the common room party."
"And?" Lily asked. To be perfectly honest, she would enjoy the evening much more without having to endure his constant attempts to make himself look good by making other people look bad. And it wasn't just the first years she felt sorry for: every time he highlighted her lack of social status by mockingly asking her out, Bramley became ten times as smug and taunting, and an evening free of that would be bliss.
"AND?!" Abby exclaimed, looking shocked and slightly appalled at her red-headed friend. Lily looked to Mary, who looked equally bemused, and then to Marlene, who coloured very slightly. Then it hit her.
"Oh, no. If Potter isn't there, then…"
"Then Lupin isn't, either," Abby finished for her, looking rather put out. Lily supposed that Abby's heart was in the right place, but it was a little weird how desperate she seemed to be to engineer her friends' love lives. Abby was obviously more like her pureblood, marriage-obsessed mother than she'd ever admit…
"Look," Marlene said, her smile pinned back to her face, "That doesn't matter at all. Let's go and have a good time, us girls."
Abby was a little reluctant, but the other two agreed quickly and cheerfully. Several moments later, Abby brightened rather suddenly.
"What's up with you?" Mary asked suspiciously.
"I've just realised something: the boys may not be there, but at least if they aren't there we can spend the evening talking about them without worrying."
The other three girls groaned, and yet more pillows hurtled towards an astonished looking Abby.
James was waiting impatiently for Sirius to finish using the mirror.
"Sorry, mate, but yours will look a right mess no matter what you do: my hair will actually look better when I'm done, hard as it is to believe that this could get much better."
Sirius continued artfully arranging the individual strands, and James was tempted to Stun him.
Remus was ready to leave, and lay waiting on his bed, the Marauder's Map (the rather excellent aid to magical mischief that the boys had lovingly created in their fourth year) open beside him. He watched it, and frowned.
"I think Filch is on to us, lads," he said slowly. James and Sirius turned simultaneously away from the reflective object of their desire, and Peter sat bolt right upright on his bed in alarm.
"How?" Sirius asked, baffled, "That old Alchemy classroom is perfect - there's nothing else important on the sixth floor back corridor, but its not far enough out of the way of the main classrooms to need checking regularly."
"Well, Filch has been walking up and down that corridor for twenty minutes, and has been in and out of that classroom twice," Remus said, gesturing at the Map, "I'd say the jig is up."
James swore.
"Well I refuse point blank to take Caroline and the girls to the Room of Requirement, " he stated stubbornly.
"Well where else are we going to move an inter-House alcoholic party to at the last minute?" Sirius countered. James pushed his glasses further up his nose, and scowled. Remus sighed, loudly.
"What about just going to the common room party?" Peter piped up, his head tilted slightly to one side in a fashion that made him look somewhat like a confused puppy.
James and Sirius scoffed, but Remus sat up slowly, his eyes brightening.
"You know, Wormy, that's not a bad idea…" he said, thoughtfully.
"No way," James vetoed, "I have no intention of having my evening ruined by prissy prefects confiscating my Firewhisky, and being surrounded by gawking third years."
Remus raised one eyebrow.
"I am one of those prissy prefects, Prongs, remember?"
"Not as prissy as some prefects one could mention," James grumbled under his breath. Sirius, however, was close enough to hear him, and he chuckled.
"It always comes back to her, doesn't it, mate?" he said cheerfully. He did find his friend's continual failure with the one girl he was really interested in rather amusing.
James scowled, and grumbled something rather more profane at Sirius. He wasn't thinking about her. He wasn't. He'd had enough.
"Well," Sirius said, brightly ignoring the evil look coming his way, "I agree with Moony. We haven't been to a common room party on the first night back since they were cool - let's take some pranking essentials with us, and plenty of Firewhisky, and we can always go and let some fireworks off in Filch's office if it's boring and he's still lurking on the sixth floor."
Remus smiled, and Peter nodded fervently in agreement. James let out a long-suffering sigh, but finally agreed.
"Ok. But Padfoot is breaking it to Caroline."
Lily was thoroughly enjoying the common room party, despite Caroline Bramley's distaste for it. Gideon Prewett, one of the seventh year boys, had taken over control of the music, and had the Hobgoblins playing at full blast, and whilst Lily had spotted the case of mead that had been inexpertly stashed under one of the tables near the window, as all the younger children had headed to bed and no one seemed to be making a fool of themselves, she had turned a blind eye.
The boys had cleared the armchairs and tables from one side of the room, and students had started dancing on the makeshift dance floor - Mary amongst them. The pretty, petite girl was never short of a dance partner at a party. Lily, Abby and Marlene, however, were happily sat on the armchairs, drinking Butterbeer and chatting.
"I see my cousin Alice and Frank Longbottom are still together," Abby commented as they spotted two seventh years dancing together.
"How sweet," Marlene gushed, "They are such a lovely couple."
"And watch Gideon showing off in front of Dorcas Meadowes, despite her not being remotely interested," Lily pointed out, as Dorcas and her friend Emmeline continued dancing, blithely ignoring the tall blonde boy who was desperately trying to catch her eye.
"I love people-watching," mused Lily out loud, "People themselves alter so much that there is something new to be observed in them for ever."
The girls nodded sagely, but all of a sudden, Abby's elbow went hard into Lily's ribs.
"Ow, you mad bint, what was that for?" Lily asked, crossly.
"Don't turn around!" Abby hissed quickly. Lily and Marlene both froze, looking straight ahead.
"Oh, act natural for goodness sake, just don't turn around. Despite a certain haughty witch's declarations to the contrary, a certain group of boys have just climbed through the portrait hole, and are heading towards the seats right behind us!"
Lily suppressed a groan. She's been having such a fab night, and now Potter and his friends would ruin it by acting superior to everyone else, and making fun of people, and making stupid mocking comments about her.
"Hang on - Remus just said Marlene's name!" Abby whispered, and suddenly all three girls were listening very intently to the conversation that was going on behind them.
"Ok, I agree, Moony - McKinnon's not bad looking, and Macdonald is pretty enough, if you like that sort of thing. But there really isn't another attractive girl in the room. That's the trouble with single House parties," Potter stated knowledgeably.
"I call you on that lie, Prongs," Black laughed, "Evans is definitely on that list too."
Potter made a sound of disgust.
"Not at all. She's not ugly by any means, certainly tolerable to look at, but she's not pretty enough to tempt me."
Lily felt like a bucket of ice cold water had just been dumped over her head. She's always known that Potter was mocking her when he kept asking her out so publicly - but to have his total lack of interest in her so bluntly displayed definitely hurt her pride. And he's said it loudly enough and casually enough that anyone else sitting out the dancing like the girls had would have heard him.
How mortifying.
However Lily hadn't had a moment to recover before a smiling sandy-haired boy stood in front of them.
"Hey, girls," Lupin said with a bright smile, "How were your summers?"
He was met with a chorus of "good"'s from the girls, and he seemed genuinely pleased by the response.
"Well, since the music is actually half decent tonight, and you girls are looking just great, why don't we go and dance?"
Lily noticed how his gaze slipped to Marlene like his eyes were magnetised. She smiled.
"What a great idea, we love dancing, don't we, girls?" she laughed, and put a hand on Marlene's arm, "Why don't you take Marlene up, Remus?"
Marlene blushed, and Lily saw Abby squirming with happiness in the corner of her eye. However, her moment of happiness for her friend was very short-lived.
"Well, there's three of us, and three of you," Lupin said brightly, his eyes not leaving Marlene, "So let's all go."
Lily felt the dread settle like a cloak around her shoulders. She looked desperately to Abby, her green eyes pleading for some way out of this. But she was too late: Abby was already grinning up at the handsome Sirius Black (her mother's dream catch, Lily was sure) looking rather pleased.
Lily felt a presence at her shoulder, and she turned slowly, feeling like a condemned man walking to the gallows.
"So. Dancing," Potter said, taking a deep breath and running his hand through his messy black hair. She could just imagine how annoyed he was by his friends forcing him into dancing with someone he didn't even like. The fact he hadn't even thrown a mocking comment at her surely showed how irritated he was. He was just too proud to stand on the sidelines by himself whilst his friends had fun.
She refused to let him save face.
"Actually, Potter, I don't dance," she said sweetly. Potter looked confused.
"But, didn't you just say…"
"Well, I don't anymore," she amended, raising her chin to meet his accusing gaze defiantly. Go on, she thought, just try me.
"Right," he said, slowly, "Ok, then. Thanks, I guess."
He went to sit down on the armchair beside her. Lily felt her stomach drop - she didn't really want to have to keep him company for the length of a song, either, if she was perfectly honest. She looked around wildly, before meeting the gaze of Fabian Prewett, Gideon's little brother. She had done Slughorn a favour last year by tutoring the boy in Potions, and she was sure that meant he owed her one.
"Oh, look, " she said, standing up as she gestured towards Fabian, "There's Fabian. I promised him a dance, earlier - I really have to go."
Potter's eyebrows went heavenward as she strode off across the room towards the bemused but delighted fifth year, but he said absolutely nothing at all.
James couldn't believe it. For a moment, he'd been thanking his lucky stars that Remus was not only so observant, but, unlike Sirius, knew when to keep his mouth shut - why else would he have gone straight over to Lily and her friends to get them up to dance, if not so James could dance with Lily?
His plan of ignoring her had been a resounding failure: he'd spotted her the moment he'd entered the room, and had that flame-red hair in the corner of his eye ever since. So Remus' intervention seemed like a gift from God - especially after he'd completely denied his feelings for her in front of Sirius. Not that Sirius likely believed him, but as convincing Sirius was often as good as convincing himself, it was a plan worth pursuing.
Then he'd clammed up. Normally, regardless of how nervous she made him, he could pull out his 'confident James' persona and make some charming or flirty comment. But tonight, for whatever reason, he hadn't known what to say. Maybe it was the way her eyes reflected the light off the fire, or the haircut she'd got over the summer, or the new colour of lipstick she was wearing: he wasn't sure, but something had put him off his game.
And she'd rejected him. Not just rejected him, either, but in a very obviously insulting way. That was obviously what came of being natural. Next time, it would be 'confident James' or bust.
No! He ran a hand through his messy hair in frustration. There would be no next time! James Potter had had enough of Lily Evans. And that was that.
He had had enough of the common room party, too. Even the Firewhisky Sirius had stashed in his inside pocket and now seemed to be sharing with Abby Macmillan couldn't tempt him to hang about. He strode to the portrait hole and quickly left the common room.
Outside, he pulled his Invisibility Cloak from his pocket, and pulled it on. He needed to go for a walk. Alone.