Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potterverse - it's all the wonderful JKR's. Equally, I don't own what is arguably one of the world's most loved love stories - that's all Jane Austen's. Including the quotes.
A/N: This isn't as long as I intended it to be - the girls are channelling the brevity, it's only James that felt like wallowing. The next one, however, will be good ;)
Lily noticed on walking into the Great Hall that most of the Gryffindor table looked how she felt: tired, cranky, and dehydrated. Abby in particular seemed a little delicate, although that was likely due to the bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky that she'd noticed Sirius Black passing around the common room the previous evening.
The four girls took a seat at the Gryffindor table, and began piling their plates with the required greasy food. Abby, however, pushed her plate away, looking a little queasy.
"So," Mary said, initiating the analysis of the previous evening's events, "You looked like you were having a good time, Abby. Dancing with Black, drinking Firewhisky…"
Abby groaned, and slouched forward to rest her head on her crossed arms. The other girls laughed.
"Looks like she did, indeed," Lily agreed, "Her mother would be proud."
"You know," Abby grumbled into her sleeve, "My mother isn't half as bad as you all think. The Macmillans have married Muggleborns and half-bloods over the last few generations, and when my second sister Georgiana married a Muggleborn, Mum was just as happy as she was when my eldest sister Catherine married a Prewett."
Marlene patted Abby's shoulder, gently.
"Of course we know your mum isn't like that," Marlene comforted her friend.
"But she'd still be pretty chuffed if you mentioned Black in your next letter home," Mary added, causing Lily to burst into giggles again.
"Alright," Marlene said, determined to change the subject, "What about you, Mary? You looked like you were dancing all night."
"Of course I was," Mary said with a wicked smile, "What's the point of a party without dancing?"
Lily gave her a knowing glance, which Mary returned with a wink.
"Anyway, I met a couple of Ravenclaw guys over the summer, and I promised them I'd hang out with them once we got back to school. I had to check out the Gryffindor selection again before making a move like sitting at the Ravenclaw table, didn't I?"
Lily rolled her eyes. Mary was a very pretty girl, and very confident too, so she was never short of suitors. It would be very quiet on the Gryffindor table if she disappeared to spend time with the Ravenclaws, but hopefully, like most of Mary's ideas, it wouldn't last long.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, Miss Prefect," Mary said tartly, "I saw you flirting with both the Prewett brothers last night!"
"Not at all," Lily laughed, tickled at her friend's misinterpretation, "You know Gideon is mad for Dorcas Meadowes, and I tutored Fabian in Potions last year. We were just having fun."
"What, dancing together?" Mary leered.
"And playing music, and chatting to Alice, Frank and Emmeline," Lily added, pointedly. Mary sighed.
"Ok, so your evening wasn't that exciting then."
"It was exciting enough," Lily said a little darkly, her thoughts going back to that horrible moment when Potter had so bluntly revealed his true feelings for her. She wouldn't be able to stand him trying to mock her again, that was for sure.
"Poor Lily," Marlene said, her expression sympathetic, "How horrible to be told you're just 'tolerable'."
Lily grimaced, but in such an exaggerated way that Mary and Marlene were both set to giggling.
"I could probably have forgiven Potter's pride if he hadn't mortified mine," she said.
"I can't believe it," Abby added from the depths of her crossed arms, "I always thought he was such a nice guy. A bit full of himself, but a good guy. And he always seemed to really like you."
"Let's face it," Lily said, "He was always just making fun of me, like he does with everyone."
Mary nodded in agreement, but Marlene hesitated, looking sceptical.
"I'm just not sure I can think that of him," Marlene admitted.
"Don't worry," Lily said reassuringly, "I know you can't think badly of anybody, and I don't think you're a less supportive friend because of it."
"I can so," Marlene said, slightly put out, "I think badly of… oh, You-Know-Who."
This set all three other girls to laughing, although Abby looked rather pained immediately afterwards.
"Of course you do, Marlene: he's only the greatest evil the wizarding world has faced since Grindelwald," Mary said drily.
"Anyway," Lily moved on, her gaze narrowing in on her pretty blonde friend, "What about you, Marlene? I noticed you danced several different times with our lovely Mr Lupin."
"He's… very nice," Marlene said a little lamely, before flushing bright pink.
"Gosh, stop, way too much information," Mary said sarcastically.
"Leave her alone," Lily gently reprimanded Mary as she picked up a slice of toast and began buttering it, "You know Marlene isn't good at sharing her feelings."
Marlene's face lit up with relief as the girls changed the subject.
"So, do you think old Sluggy is having a party for the Slug Club this week, as a welcome back?" Mary asked.
"Maybe," Lily answered, "But you're not in the Slug Club, Mac."
"But I'll definitely be a plus one this time," Mary grinned, quite pleased with herself. Marlene smiled warmly.
"Who's the lucky boy?"
"Well, could be any one of three - I haven't decided yet," Mary replied, causing Marlene's jaw to drop in surprise, much to Lily's amusement, "Better to keep my options open."
"Of course," Marlene said, faintly.
"Timetables, Gryffindors! Take a timetable!" came the magically magnified voice of Professor McGonagall as she marched down the length of the Gryffindor table. As she passed, the girls quickly reached out and took the proffered class schedules, which magically altered to suit each individual girl.
"Brilliant," Lily grinned, "I've got Monday morning off, and the whole of Thursday afternoon."
"I don't have any decently useable free periods," moaned Abby as she finally raised her head to squint at her timetable.
"I have an extra long lunch on Fridays," Mary noted, smiling, "Perfect for lunch dates."
"And where on earth would you go on a Friday for an extra long lunch date, when the Hall is only open for actual lunch?" Lily asked, rolling her eyes.
"Most of my dates seem to end up in the fifth floor broom closet by the stairs, or else that disused Defense classroom on the third floor," Mary said, boldly, and laughed at the way Lily's expression changed.
It was at that moment that suddenly all of the distributed class schedules in the Hall shot out of their owners' hands, skyrocketing towards the enchanted ceiling. They began to fold themselves into origami cranes, and started flying around the replica clouds, chasing each other and forming small group formations as they flew.
Around two-thirds of the Hall started laughing, pointing up at the schedule-birds and generally enjoying the spectacle. Whispers flew around the room as quickly as the birds, and many eyes went in the direction of the four Gryffindor boys who sat, completely unperturbed by the commotion, enjoying their cooked breakfasts. The other third of the students (many of which were wearing green-and-silver uniforms) looked rather put out, their expressions matching that of Professor McGongall, who glowered down at James Potter and his friends with no amusement whatsoever.
"Potter!" she called across the Hall, causing yet more of the students to look towards the infamous group of pranksters known collectively as the Marauders. However, at McGonagall's shout, the schedule-birds seemed to notice her, and as a flock they began to dive-bomb her.
McGonagall was quick with her wand, sending a hex at the oncoming pieces of folded parchment faster than Lily's eyes could follow, knocking out a fifth of the birds in one spell. It really was impressive magic. Professors Flitwick and Thatcher, the Charms and Defence teachers respectively, drew their wands and stood to flank McGonagall. Between the three of them, the flock was quickly and calmly subdued, leaving the charred fragments of parchment floating through the air the only remnant of the students' timetables.
"Students, please return to your common rooms, where your new class schedules will be distributed," Dumbledore announced, standing up from where he had sat blithely enjoying his scrambled eggs throughout the mayhem, his voice ringing around the Hall, "Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Pettigrew, and Mr Lupin, if you would please wait in the Hall. Unfortunately, your welcome to this year's students seems to require some tidying up."
Occupied in observing Remus' interactions with Marlene during their classes that day, Lily was far from suspecting that she was herself was an object of interest in the eyes of his friend. James had scarcely allowed her to be pretty: he had looked at her without admiration at the party; and when they next met in Charms, he looked at her only to criticise the casualness of her wandwork. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he had to admit that it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her green eyes. To this piece of self-discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had pointed out to Sirius with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge to himself in Defence that her figure was light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the girls of the fashionable wizarding world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Of this she was perfectly unaware: to her he was only the boy who spent his life mocking others, and who had not thought her pretty enough to dance with.
The Gryffindor boys were back in the Great Hall, just finishing cleaning the scorched pieces of parchment up by hand, their wands confiscated by the gleeful Mr Filch. All day students had been grinning and winking at James, passing congratulatory notes or clapping him on the back as they passed. It was a great feeling, being liked.
James, like most people, very much enjoyed being liked. People liked him for his skills at Quidditch, his daring pranks, his lack of care about consequences, his good looks, his confident and witty persona. He'd worked hard to cultivate that over his five years at Hogwarts. But what stuck in his mind was the one person he'd tried to impress who really didn't like him.
She had been one of those students rolling their eyes and complaining about missing their first period class, and hadn't looked James' way once over the chaos of breakfast.
He had tried just asking her out. He'd tried impressing her. He'd tried flirting with her. He'd tried making his rival for her affections, that slimy git Snape, into a laughing stock. He'd tried to become a bigger and bigger personality so that there was nowhere she could go where they didn't like and talk about James Potter.
But Lily, it seemed, didn't react to the same things that made other people like him. And after three years of chasing her, that had very much lost its appeal. She wasn't just the one he couldn't have, not any more. He outright wished he didn't care a jot about her, but despite his protestations, she just wouldn't get out of his head.
Filch inspected the cleaning job that the boys had made, and seemed disappointed not to find anything to criticise. He released James and the rest of the Marauders from their task, and they disappeared sharpish.
"I can't believe I ended up in detention on day one of sixth year," Remus bemoaned, "I am such a rubbish prefect."
"You're just easily persuaded," Peter attempted to console his friend, but from Remus' disgusted expression, he guessed he hadn't really accomplished much consoling.
"So worth it though," Sirius said with a satisfied sigh, "I won't ever forget those birds dive-bombing old Minnie."
"It was pretty good charmwork," Remus admitted, looking a little more pleased.
"But we need something more impressive," James mused out loud, "Something that will really make them sit up and notice."
"Um," Sirius looked at James as though his bespectacled marauding comrade had temporarily lost his wits, "Pretty sure the whole school noticed that one. Only thing we could have maybe topped it with was some fireworks when they got hit with magic, but we would have needed to get hold of the schedules beforehand for that -"
"The whole school might have seen it, but it didn't impress them all," James said, slowly, obviously considering something.
Remus and Sirius shared a concerned look.
"Look, mate, don't get me wrong - pranks are great fun. But we don't want to actually get expelled. So we probably want to go low profile for a bit, rather than going up a notch straight away, ok? Especially as Moony, as he keeps reminding us, is actually a prefect, and today we did attack McGonagall with class timetables in the shape of origami cranes."
This was true. But how else could James make Lily notice him?
Damn it. He didn't want her to notice him. He didn't.
"Alright," he conceded. The other Marauders' relief was palpable: Remus let out his breath noisily; Sirius broke into a grin and nodded merrily; and Peter gave a laugh that was obviously the release of nervous energy.
"But," he said, almost sharp with his friends' reactions, "We still need to do something fun."
"I've still got some of that Nose Growing Potion from Zonko's: we could spike some jugs of pumpkin juice for the first meeting of the Charms Club if you fancy?" Sirius suggested.
"It's certainly an idea," James agreed, and the boys made their way back to the common room deep in conversation over new prank ideas.
"Did you see that, Abby?" Lily hissed at her friend. The four girls had commandeered the prize armchairs closest to the fireplace in the common room straight after dinner, and had been holding court there all evening in between attempts at completing their first essays of term.
"See what? Did Terence Ellix try to climb under the table and look up girls' skirts again? Little weasel," Abby growled with dislike that spoke of previous experience.
"No," Lily replied, although she took a moment to look under the table just in case - Terence was nothing if not persistent.
"No, I meant did you just see Potter?"
"Oh," Abby said, realisation dawning, "Yes, I did. He wasn't being sly."
"Imagine him listening in on my conversation with Gideon like that. How rude, " Lily remarked, her expression disapproving, "And he didn't even turn away when I looked directly at him - he just carried on blatantly listening!"
"Must have taken one too many Bludgers to the head," Abby surmised, sweeping a lock of her thick, dark hair behind her ear.
Then, suddenly, as though his name had a Taboo on it, he was there, flopping down into the armchair on the other side of Lily, his great long limbs taking up more space than any one person should have a right to.
"Alright, Evans?"
Abby looked away, trying to hide a smirk, and Lily swallowed her annoyance at both of them.
"Potter," she said, acknowledging him, but trying not to invite any further conversation.
Of course, Potter completely ignored that wish.
"So, I see you've started on the homework already," he said with a grin. Lily's jaw clenched briefly. So it would be her diligent bookworm tendencies that would be up for poking fun at this evening.
"I have indeed. Better to get it out of the way," she said lightly, "Although you'll know that, having heard my conversation with Prewett about varieties of death curses."
"He is good at Defence, that Prewett," Potter noted, before his lips quirked up in an uncontrollable grin, "That's why I have him as a Beater."
"How witty," Lily said, in a tone that implied it was anything but.
They both fell silent. It was strange: Lily wasn't sure that she and Potter had ever been silent like this before. Their entire relationship was based on a fast-paced back-and-forward of insults and quips designed to boost one's confidences whilst destroying the other's. If Potter didn't have any further offensive comments to impart, then why was he still sitting there, watching her, with something like indecision in his eyes?
She must be mad. Indecision? Potter? Mr Cocky Arrogant Both Feet First Potter, unsure of anything?
Whatever it was, she wasn't falling for it, anyway.
"And while you try and recover your brain from wherever you've left it, whatever's left of it, I have to be going," she said, rising from her armchair. Potter scrambled quickly to his feet, too, in an ungainly fashion, but he was only unsettled for a moment before the veneer of smooth, confident Potter was back in place.
"I'm sure it's hiding alongside your sense of humour, Evans, so whilst I'd ask you to grab it for me if you see it, we both know you won't be finding that commodity any time soon," he said, flashing her a grin that showed too much teeth.
She rolled her eyes, grabbing her bag before leaving for the girls' dorms. She forced herself to keep her pace even, and not to run away from the burning sensation of James Potter's gaze at her back.