…
"Guess what?" James said to his friends in an undertone.
The four boys had each settled in the center of the Gryffindor house table for breakfast. Remus was carefully pouring pumpkin juice into his mug. Peter took two huge bites out of his bacon.
"What?" asked Sirius eagerly, his mouth stuffed with eggs.
"We're patrolling the castle at night this whole week!"
His eyes were visibly glowing, and it took his friends a few seconds to understand where his enthusiasm came from.
"Oh," said Sirius awkwardly, "We as in you and Evans?" He sounded disgruntled for some reason.
James nodded, and threw his head back when his friends didn't express the kind of enthusiasm he was expecting.
"You guys are no fun," he grumbled, scowling.
"That's great, Prongs," Peter piped shrilly, obviously trying to please James.
James couldn't help but laugh, and the others joined in.
"Shush," Sirius hissed suddenly, and pointed inconspicuously at a crowd of girls entering the hall. "Incoming," he said under his breath.
The girls were completely unaware of the four boys that were trying very hard not to look at them. They were prattling to each other lightly, giggling.
"Hello, Lily," Remus said to her politely; she had seated herself a few inches away from them, on the side opposite from James.
James shot him a quick glare. Remus was making everything much more obvious than it needed to be.
"Hi," she said, smiling shyly at them before turning back to her friends.
"See, she likes you!" Sirius hissed in James' ear. "Isn't it obvious?"
"What do you mean?" James whispered back.
"She smiled at you," Sirius explained.
"She smiled at all of us!"
Sirius shook his head, exasperated.
"Prongs, you don't see what I see – "
"Of course I don't!" James interrupted.
Sirius smiled but otherwise ignored his friend.
"She's always liked you – she just doesn't want to admit it to herself! I have a better grasp of these things than the average bloke," Sirius said, grinning.
James glared at his friend distrustfully, sure he was teasing.
"I'm serious!" Sirius growled.
"Yes, you are, Sirius," James agreed, laughing.
"What are you two hissing about?" Peter asked.
"Nothing," James and Sirius said, grinning at each other.
Remus opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but then quickly eyed the dark red hair beside him and thought the better of it. James gave him a look that clearly said, "Good choice."
"C'mon," Remus said, getting up from the table. "We're going to be late."
"Relax, Moony," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "No one else is leaving yet."
"They're all going to be late."
Sirius leaned in and whispered, "Has Evans ever been late?"
Remus folded his arms across his chest stubbornly, but after a few seconds, he finally admitted, "Alright, you have a point."
He sighed and sat back down.
"I always do," said Sirius, unperturbed. "By the way, I wonder who our new Defense teacher is…"
Remus groaned. "Weren't you paying any attention at the feast yesterday?"
"Nope," said Sirius, flicking away a piece of bacon that had fallen from Peter's plate.
"Professor Munitio," Remus informed him.
Sirius snorted. "That's not what I meant. I wonder what he's like."
"Guess we'll find out," said Remus, shrugging.
Just then, Lily was rising from her seat, hastily slinging her book bag over her shoulder.
"That's our queue to leave," said Remus, standing up.
"You worry too much, Moony," said Sirius, but he stuffed the last bit of his omelet into his mouth and stood up as well.
"I'm still hungry," Peter complained.
"There's still lunch, Wormtail," Sirius joked.
The four boys followed Lily, Alice, and Marlene to Defense Against the Dark Arts (nearly all the Gryffindors in their year were taking the subject).
As they lined up in front of the classroom, they heard the unpleasant voices of the approaching Slytherins.
"Great," Sirius groaned. "Just what we needed."
Lily seemed to agree with his assessment – she involuntarily folded her arms across her chest.
"Ooo," came Bellatrix Black's nasal, sneering voice. "Potter, are you sure you want to stand so close to the Mudblood? You don't want her sliming up your hair, do you?"
James' hand clenched into a fist, and he involuntary reached for his wand. Lily patted his arm and whispered, "Don't."
His had relaxed slightly under her touch.
"That's rich, coming from you," he responded, using all his strength to sound unruffled. "You're the one standing next to Snivellus."
Sirius, Peter, Alice and Marlene all snickered. Only Remus kept his eyes down, his forehead slightly creased. Lily looked shocked, as if she wasn't quite sure how to respond. The corners of her mouth twitched into a slight frown.
James felt a twinge of regret. He probably shouldn't have used that one in front of her. He'd have to come up with something else to use while she was there.
"You idiot," hissed Remus, "didn't you know Snape used to be her friend?"
James was silent. He did, in fact, know that they had been friends – he was the one who had met them together on their first train ride.
"Hello, students," A voice greeted them.
A short, chubby teacher was walking to the classroom door, smiling. His long front teeth somewhat reassembled a walrus.
"Hey Wormtail, meet your future self," Sirius said under his breath.
Several people within earshot laughed; Peter turned a shade pinker. Professor Munitio, oblivious, opened the door and let the students in, greeting them in his wheezy voice.
As they settled down, Professor Munitio walked up to the front of the class and introduced himself, beginning with a lecture about class procedures. James wasn't listening. He quickly tore a piece of parchment and wrote:
Evans,
I'm really sorry about what happened outside the classroom. Didn't mean to offend you. Please don't be upset.
-James
He folded the paper in half and discreetly placed it on the desk next to him. He tried not to watch as she unfolded the note, read it, and wrote a reply. Finally, when James thought he would explode with impatience, she handed him the note. Until his hastily scribbled apology, she had neatly written:
Please don't worry about offending me or anything of that sort. I was simply shocked that you would say such a thing. I really thought you were past that kind of immaturity.
James felt the regret take over him again.
I'm really, really, really sorry. I know he was a friend of yours. I just couldn't stand that nasty Black girl saying things like that; I was obligated to reply. Sorry.
He passed his response back to Lily, who was attentively taking notes. He tried not to look at her much in an attempt not to give them away, as some students were already looking suspicious. He noticed that she was very adept at making at seem like she was simply taking notes. Was it because she was used to this note-passing thing? She didn't seem like the type…
You didn't have to do that for me.
James looked up to see her staring at him, she eyes full of unspoken emotion.
"Ah. Miss…?"
"Evans, sir," Lily said, looking quite shaken.
Damn. Professor Munitio had noticed them.
"Miss Evans. May I see what you have here?"
"My notes?" She asked artlessly.
James noticed that her lying skills weren't nearly as good as her note-passing ones. Thank heavens the note was still with James. He hastily shoved it into his pocket.
He watched Professor Munitio scan her notes. James peered over at them and almost gasped aloud when he saw that it contained a near-perfect transcription of the lecture, although each sentence was clearly re-worded. How did that girl manage?
"Hmm," Professor Munitio's tone was confused. He looked at Lily and finally said, "Well, I'm quite impressed! Evans, you say?"
Lily nodded slowly.
"Any relation to…" He placed his hand on his forehead, as if it would fortify his memory at all.
"Sir," Lily interrupted, and James noticed the extra effort she was putting in to sound polite. "I'm Muggle-born, sir."
"Really?" He said, almost skeptically, as if he thought she was fooling around. There were several snickers from the Slytherins.
James couldn't contain himself any longer.
"Why? Is that a problem? What difference does it make if someone's Muggle-born? It doesn't make a person any less smart, or – "
"That will be enough, young lad," said Professor Munitio, cutting him off. He gave James a very stern look. "Detention, this evening in my office. Hopefully, it shall teach you how to be respectful in my class."
He then turned to Lily and said, "You mustn't think I'm prejudiced, dear," he said kindly to her.
She nodded to acknowledge his statement, but she, like most people, where staring at James. The Gryffindors all looked proud, while the Slytherins looking mocking – the one exception being Severus Snape, who looked so uncomfortable, it was as though he wished he could disappear. Everyone else simply looked astounded.
James sat through the lecture impatiently, his mind elsewhere. What had Lily thought about his outburst? He was dying to find out, but they couldn't risk note-passing again. He would have to simply wait and see.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Professor Munitio dismissed the class. James gathered his things slowly, wanting to wait for Lily.
"Professor?" she called.
"Yes, Miss Evans?" He asked, coming over to their desks.
"I was just wondering," she hesitated, took a deep breath and said, "Can James be excused from his detention tonight? It's just…none of this is his fault…" she trailed off, probably realizing how bizarre it sounded.
"That's very generous of you, Miss Evans," Professor Munitio said, looking very startled. "However, Mr.…"
"Potter," James muttered.
"Mr. Potter has interrupted my class, and I don't appreciate that kind of behavior in my class."
He smiled.
"It's alright, Lily," James told her, "I'll be fine."
Lily looked desperate.
"But…"
"Miss Evans, surely you don't want detention, do you?"
"No, but –"
"I suggest you take the night off, then," Professor Munitio cut her off.
Finally, Lily seemed to give up; she picked up her book bag and started walking towards the classroom door. James hurried to keep up with her.
"What was that all about?" James asked her.
"I'm so sorry!" she burst out. "I really didn't want that to happen…"
"What do you mean?"
"That was all my fault! You wouldn't have gotten detention –"
"Relax, Evans," Sirius said, joining them. "James gets detention all the time, don't you?"
James grinned and nodded. "It's no big deal, really, Lily."
"You don't understand!" Lily sighed impatiently. "I've never gotten anyone in trouble before! I should have taken the blame, I'm so sorry!"
"No, Lily," James said firmly. "I contradicted him because I wanted to. You've got nothing to do with it. Just don't worry about it."
Lily looked like she wanted to say more, but she just sighed.
"My goodness, that was so horrible!" said Alice, catching up with the three of them. "This whole Muggle-born prejudice has to stop soon. It's becoming so old and it's ridiculous."
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!!! As some authors do, I tend to write ahead, and only upload new chapters when I get a decent amount of reviews for the previous (I'm working on Chapter 5, but just uploaded 3), so the more you review, the faster I'll update. Please? I know there are many readers; I check the hits for the story nd they're pretty high...it's just that most people don't review. Please? Just let me know how the story's going...you only have to type a word at the minimum!
By the way, random question, but I want to know how many people ship Sirius/Lily (Of course I'm not going to add it to this story…but…just out of curiosity). So, if you do ship them, please put a Y at the end of your review, and if you don't, put an N.
Please! Even if you don't want to review the story, at least review and type one letter, please??? Just so I know you readers are out there…
