Chapter 4

-Gasp!- He smiled at me! What am I going to do? Is my hair ok? I better fix it--oh, no, what am I thinking?? I don't love him, the scum. But no, he's a nice guy. I mean, what has he done to me? He just talks to me. And all I do is shoo him away before he can speak...what a pity---no. Must NOT think that. It's more, well, asking for my personal space bubble, yes, that's it. That's exactly it. Ugh, no, it's Gwen again...trying to talk about something all the time.

"What is it?" asked Lily, shooting a confused look at Gwen.

"You like him!!" she squealed in a whisper so that Elizabeth, still trying to catch Sirius's eye, wouldn't hear.

"I do not," retorted Lily, blushing and turning away.

Gwen squealed through her grin again. "You definitely do!! I can tell!" Her smile faltered. "But why?" she wondered aloud, furrowing her brow.

"Shh, I do not like J--" Lily's shoulders slumped as she glared at Gwen. She lowered her voice to a dull hiss and muttered through clenched teeth, "If you tell a soul--"

"All right, all right, I get the point," said Gwen, putting a stop to Lily's threat, but a knowing smile and gleam in her blue eyes were still present.

Lily wasn't conviced, but she wasn't about to put up a fight.

"What? What's going on?" Elizabeth had finally given up trying to meet Sirius's eyes, though it was apparent that she still hadn't gotten enough of an eyeful of his good looks.

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it." Gwen smirked at Lily as she said this.

"Whaat?" Elizabeth demanded.

"All right," said Gwen. And before Lily had a chance to open her mouth, Gwen launched into the story of how their friend was suddenly in love with James Potter.

Elizabeth stared open-mouthed at Lily. "Really?" she asked in an incredulous half-whisper. "I thought you hated the guy." Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at the boys huddled near the beech tree, among which were James and Sirius. (Although she may not have been examining James for any certain expressions; her long stare seemed to have been reserved for Sirius.) "I guess he's good-looking." Then, shrugging, she added, "Suit yourself." Though she seemed pleased enough that one of her best friends seemed to finally be in love with someone. At least James mostly got rid of his balloon-head.

Lily gave Elizabeth a sort of exasperated look before rolling her eyes and looking awkwardly away from her two friends. She tried not to look at James, but she found it quite difficult. And she managed. Unfortunately.

Over the next week, Lily still found it harder than usual to pay attention in her classes. Even her potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, seemed to notice something with her; Lily hadn't been performing up to her usual standards in potions class.

"Oho, Miss Evans, what have you there in your cauldron?" he asked her on Monday, chuckling merrily. His fat belly moved in time with the rhythm of his stout laughter. His straw-colored hair was stacked on top of his head in a disorganized manner, however, a large bald spot managed to peek through the back of his hair.

"Oh, sir, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happened," said Lily, blinking and looking up at her teacher. She had just jerked herself very unwillingly out of her accidental musings about a certain Gryffindor boy who happened to be sitting two tables away from her.

"Well, it certainly seems you haven't been your usual brilliant potion-minded self, have you?" he tisked, shaking a finger at her as though she were a naughty child. He glanced once more at Lily's offending burnt-rubber-smelling potion before turning his back on her and striding away to reprimand Sirius, who appeared to have added the ingredients in reverse order just for the fun of it. She could see Sirius trying not to laugh at his spitting, orange concoction, while the fat professor castigated him.

It happened in a split-second. Sirius caught Lily's eye, Sirius's eyes widened, and he poked the obscured-by-Professor-Slughorn James in his side. Lily could tell that James's head jerked up, causing him to lose concentration of his potion-concocting. James's potion exploded.

There was absolute pandemonium in the potions classroom. When the potion had exploded, it had shot more or less straight up through the stone ceiling, which, thankfully, had not given way. There was only a star-shaped hole that didn't even go all the way through to the floor above. Its edges were firey red. Lily also happened to feel James's gaze on her.

Lily looked down at her potion and realized that it was definitely no good. Coughing, she pulled out her wand and cleared it immediately; Lily couldn't stand the fumes any longer.

Thankfully, there was a minute left until the bell rang, so Lily took the excuse to clear up her work space and gather her books. She tried to ignore James and Sirius talking together those two tables away, but she found it difficult. They kept glancing her way. (Sirius's neon orange concoction no longer glowed in his cauldron. He had finally cleared it.)

To Lily's relief, the bell rang outside the classroom and she dashed away through the corridor and down several flights of stairs. She ended up in the Great Hall for dinner.

"Oh, Lily, what's the matter?" asked Gwen, "You look positively flushed!"

"What? Oh, no, that's nothing," Lily replied, letting her red hair fall over her face to cover her glowing pink cheeks. "Really."

Gwen looked suspiciously at Lily while Elizabeth busied herself in spotting Sirius. "Nothing. Hmmm," said Gwen, still looking at her friend with slightly narrowed eyes.

"No, I'm serious," Lily said earnestly, still making sure her face was hidden enough. "S-someone's potion just exploded last class, that's all."

"Someone, eh? Did that someone happen to have a name that starts with a J, followed by an A --"

"Oh, shut up," snapped Lily, her stomach leaping. "Yes, it was James's potion, all right?"

Gwen smirked. "How. Did. I. Know," she said under her breath, that half-smile still playing on her face.

"Oh drop it, will you? It's no big deal." But the truth for Lily was that it was a big deal. She thought James's potion exploded because of her. Because Sirius had nudged James after catching Lily's eye. That was the only explanation she could think of. But of course, James had liked her for ages. This was not new. So, why did it make her feel that way? And why had James been acting strangely? She decided to let it go. Not think about it.

As always, Gwen gave her one more suspicious smirk before turning to spear a green bean on her fork and ask Elizabeth about her love interests. Or interest. Lily pretended to listen, but didn't really pay attention to, Elizabeth blushing before launching into a hushed monologue that expressed her deep attraction to Sirius. Meanwhile, Lily had this perfect opportunity to dwell on what happened in Potions...