School was over, and the days of the summer holidays passed by Lily like fallen leaves that fly past the window in the flowing breeze. Each one seemed so lengthy and important, until it left.
Every morning was a cup of tea with breakfast and homework and then something with her family in the evening until the weekend arrived, which she could spend as she pleased, usually with Marlene, and then the week would start again, and although it was monotonous routine, Lily didn't mind. She was a creature of habit. She had always found something beautiful in the repetition of days, weeks and months. At repetitious times like these, her life was on autopilot. Her actions were merely muscle memories of what she was supposed to do, like the way one makes tea and their hands move like a puppet's because hey, they're British and they've done it a thousand times before.
However, what Lily loves and despises is that each day isn't exactly the same. When Lily makes tea in the morning, it's always a slightly different shade of brown and never quite right, and James Potter pops up on the most unexpected of days. When she's been lulled into a false sense of security and relaxes into automatic weekend mode, when she tricks herself into settling into routine life so that she barely has to pay attention to anything. That's when he barges into her, spilling her drink at a get together, or knocking books out of her hands at Diagon Alley, and wrecks her perfectly balanced system and she has to think, dammit! And because of that stupid deal with the devil she had made, she could no longer yell at him, and she must endure it, and it was like pulling her hair out one strand at a time. She just couldn't deal with him.
Potter, arrogantly forcing his way into becoming a regular, if unwelcome, part of her life.
Potter, his black hair like an ink stain on Lily's calendar, always popping up, like an unexpected gift from Mother Nature, at the worst times.
See, one thing Lily noticed was that James Potter couldn't stand monotony. He put a different amount of sugar in his tea each morning and erratically orchestrated crazy ideas and lived with the goal of creating a slightly different James shaped ink stain on each day.
Lily would find it admirable if he didn't use her as his way to create interest. Every time he saw her, he had a different nickname for her and she had a different scathing reply for him before he asked her out again, each time in a different way, of course.
It grew more aggravating each time.
But Lily just sighed and allowed herself to be whisked away by the gentle current of summer, full of long, warm days of lounging about and sharing time with friends, with little to no responsibilities.
Lily enjoyed the taste of freedom that the holidays carried, but it was bitter on her tongue. She wasn't truly free but tossed back into the cage of her house and her family, with their plans and their crippling normality. Lily loved them so dearly but she hated that they seemed so shocked and repulsed when she let her guard down; when she showed a hint of her magical capabilities.
Her father tried to hide his surprised expression, his eyebrows shooting up and his low voice babbling on about something or other to mask the fear that his daughter was changing into something he couldn't ever understand. Her mother was eager to talk about her magic, trying to learn more, to be more, so that maybe one day she could understand.
Her sister took it as a disgusting personal offence that was like a pin stuck into Lily's heart. Lily was used to it now, and could stand the pain of a little prick, but the pins build up, and when a million pins are stuck in you all at once, it's hard not to feel the sting. She simply bore her pain as she could.
But at last, or too soon, the 1st of September had arrived and Lily's heart was like a pulsing stone covered in a layer of lead. She was so ready to just get out of the house, but who wants to go to school?
The handle of Lily's trunk was hurting her fingers, heart beating fast and lungs burning from the run to and from the car as she hurried along the platform, Marlene at her side, glaring but trying not to laugh at the same time.
"I can't believe you left your owl in the car!" She chortled.
"She's a quiet owl! I didn't notice!" Lily defended.
"She's your owl!" Marlene cried, letting laughter spill through.
"Shut up! We're late!" Lily laughed in reply.
They hurried onto the train moments before it left the platform. Leaving their trunks in a storage car, they wandered up and down the train, searching for an empty compartment. Their usual one was taken by some giggling first years, which, red faced, asked Lily if she was James Potter's boyfriend. Lily had slammed the door shut faster than Marlene could say, "she wishes". But as they walked up and down and up and down again, it was clear that there weren't any free ones, nor even any partly full ones.
Marlene looked pointedly at Lily.
"You know there's one that's... Less than full." She said, nodding towards a compartment near the back of the train. It was a sunny, spotlessly clean compartment with an uninterrupted view of the countryside, generally known by the students of Hogwarts to be avoided, as it was the exclusive compartment of the Marauders, since their very first train ride.
"You know we can't go in there Marlene!" Lily said, exasperated.
"Please! As if Potter would turn you away! Besides, you are on speaking terms aren't you?" Marlene turned, looking pleadingly at Lily, who snorted.
"We're on not trying to kill each other terms, and I was bribed and kidnapped!"
"Same thing." Marlene laughed.
"Please Marlene, you know how much he irritates me!" Lily stared pleadingly at her friend.
"Well, Lily, it's either that one, or it's back to our old one and the eleven year old slumber party." She smirked.
"And you know how much I love talking about gorgeous boys like Potter and Black." Marlene continued, turning resignedly toward their normal compartment. Lily contemplated the idea for a moment, but a sarcastic glare from Marlene made her give in.
"Fine! But if they say no, we're trying to fit into Joan and Mary's compartment!" Lily snapped.
Marlene laughed.
"Joan and Mary could barely fit into Joan and Mary's compartment." She chuckled, before walking over to the marauders compartment and confidently sliding the doors open on four shocked faces. A square of golden sunlight danced across the floor, bathing the marauders' toes in light as they stretched their legs out in front of them in the epitome of relaxation. Black and Pettigrew sat on one red, cushioned seat, Lupin and Potter on the other.
"Hi boys!" The blonde said brightly, walking in and sitting next to Sirius. Lily remained in the doorway, her arms crossed, her shoulder brushing against the polished deep brown wood of the doorframe.
Black put his arm around Marlene's shoulders with a grin, his fingertips brushing gently against her arm.
"McKinnon! Evans! To what do we owe the pleasure?" He spoke with a genial grin on his face, the mask of a perfect gentleman.
"Well since we have nowhere to ride on the way to school and you're my favourite Black, we figured we could share with you for today." She spoke with a cocked eyebrow, her face a mask of confidence and her eyes glittering dangerously towards the dark haired gentleman.
"Now, McKinnon, you know this spot's exclusively boys only." He grinned with one corner of his mouth, in an almost mocking sneer, but his eyes danced with mischief.
"Did I mention the favourite Black part?" Marlene cooed, fluttering her eyelashes at him with an innocent smile.
"Well, having met your family, that's really not much of a compliment." Pertigrew butted in. She glanced to Lily in the doorway for help, but she wasn't offering any support. She turned back to Pettigrew.
"You wouldn't deny two ladies refuge now, would you?" Marlene turned her pleading gaze on the short wizard. His glassy blue eyes lowered to the floor, muttering something about evil witches.
"I suppose it's our duty." Interjected Potter with his signature snarky grin, who had barely taken his eyes off Lily leaning on the doorframe, her soft, pale arms folded delicately and her hair falling down her shoulder in shiny red waves.
"It's our pleasure." Said Remus warmly, gesturing for Lily to sit beside him. Smiling, she obliged, but was unfortunately wedged between him and Potter, who was staring at the lock of hair that had fallen on his coat amongst her squeezing. Lily waved a hand in front of his face.
"Potter, it's just hair. Get over it." She whispered with a roll of her eyes that James was becoming too familiar with.
Black grinned from across the cabin.
"I like her!" He proclaimed.
An awkward silence descended on the compartment, the only noise the thunder of wheels against tracks as the train sped over a bridge.
"So, what were you lovely gentlemen just talking about?" Marlene asked, breaking the silence.
Sirius opened his mouth, unspoken words lying delicately on his tongue, ready to escape.
"Nothing fitting for a lady's ears." Lupin quickly interrupted, cutting him off with a sharp look.
Lily just snorted.
"Marlene's far from a lady. She's terribly... ill mannered."
"Really Marlene?" Black drawled, raising an oddly neatly trimmed eyebrow.
"I suppose you could say so, playing Quidditch and all." She replied, Black's arm on her shoulder lightly bouncing with her casual shrug.
"What makes one a lady?" Piped up Pettigrew, causing five pairs of eyes to turn and stare at him in astonishment, eyebrows raised.
Lily opened her mouth to speak, but Marlene cut her off.
"Being born with the right parts." She said sharply. Black snorted.
"No, that's what makes one a woman." He said, looking at them as if it were obvious. It was his turn for an incredulous stare.
"What? Being a lady obviously requires skills such as proficiency in sewing, drawing, playing a musical instrument, a second language, preferably French, a large vocabulary and an elegance in dress and decorum." He stated. The others continued to stare incredulously at him.
"What about a gentleman?" Asked Pettigrew.
Black shrugged. "Much of the same."
Marlene burst out laughing.
"And these ladies actually exist?" She chortled.
"Only in polite society, Marlene, so nobody you know." Lily joked, giving Marlene a fake sympathetic smile.
"Proper question, Black, isn't that definition a bit... Dated?" The red-haired witch asked, glancing at the gentleman with a small smile.
"Not for the great and noble family of Black, apparently." He sighed, a bitter note to his voice.
"I love holidays!" Potter piped up from next to her, grasping for attention before an awkward silence could cling to the group.
"Me too, I can't wait for the next annual Potter marathon!" Said Lupin brightly.
"What's the Potter marathon?" Marlene butted in.
"Every year, my family holds a marathon and for each... Kilometre we run, money is donated to a charity." Potter announced, grinning.
Lupin cleared his throat. Potter sighed.
"Okay, so it's actually a movie marathon. We watch muggle films, and for each one we watch, sponsors pay us money. It's not a huge thing, this year only about forty people participated, muggles and magical folk put together." Potter admitted, a little sheepishly.
Lily turned to him in surprise.
"You watch muggle films, for charity?" She said, shocked.
Potter grinned sheepishly again.
"Yes, they're really quite entertaining." He said, his eyes lighting up again.
"You should come next year!" He said, bright hazel eyes staring hopefully into green. Lily dropped his gaze and shook her head.
"Thanks but I doubt it. As fun as it would be to watch films with you four idiots, my family wouldn't let me. They barely let me see Marlene in the summer hols." She said, her downcast eyes betraying her optimistic tone.
Potter nodded. He understood family commitments, having a healer for a mother who could be called to work at any moment. He turned back to Sirius with a grin.
Remus turned to Lily, brushing her shoulder for attention when she stared for a few moments past normal out the window.
"How's the sister been?" he asked her quietly, as conversation continued around them.
"Getting better, I suppose." Lily sighed, her green eyes clouding over.
"I tried to patch things up, and she was a lot nicer to me. It's just- it seemed superficial, a little like she'd treat a sister who'd been to prison, not school, for nine months." She continued, murmuring softly to stop Potter from overhearing her private problems. She trusted Remus with her family affairs after their long chats during their rounds last year. He was an excellent listener.
"Maybe you should make one last try at patching things up with her?" He suggested hesitantly.
Lily shook her head in defeat. "I'll keep trying, but there's only so much rejection a girl can take."
Remus took a breath to offer another comforting word when a loud voice drew their attention back to the conversation around them.
"WHAT?" James thundered, his hazel eyes wide, his glasses nearly falling off his nose, and his eyebrows shooting towards the heavens.
Sirius rolled his eyes.
"I was talking to this lovely lady over here, Prongs. So McKinnon, what do you say? You, me, Hogsmeade, next Saturday?" Sirius asked, grinning hopefully at Marlene's slightly shell-shocked face. She thought for a moment, folding her arms and biting her lip.
"Alright, Black." Came her nonchalant reply. Now Lily and Potter both stared at them with wide eyes. Remus and Pettigrew just shared a confused look.
"Marlene, did you just agree to that?" Lily asked her friend with a deep sigh. Marlene shrugged.
"Yes, I suppose I did." She challenged, glaring at the other inhabitants of the cabin, daring them to question her.
"Yes, you did!" Sirius gloated, tightening his arm around the blonde witch. She gave him a coy smile.
"Meet you at nine in the entrance hall then?" She inquired.
"Definitely." He answered.
"So, how were your holidays, Wormy?" Sirius asked, with another genial grin. After a general confused look between the rest of the group, conversation resumed as normal, floating around the sunny carriage, filling it up with the rise and fall of voices, words that created ideas and made them soar, words that held Lily prisoner and forced her to re-examine the rebellious troublemakers she'd known and disliked for years.
When the train arrived at the glorious stone castle, night had swept over the deep blue sky, stars twinkling brightly through the clouds, their reflection dancing across the lake.
Lily grabbed her trunk and Marlene's hand and nearly ran towards a horseless carriage, urging it to move, which it did, despite the few passengers.
"Were you ever going to tell me about your crush on Sirius, Marlene?" Lily interrogated, her bright green eyes glaring eerily at Marlene, whose wrist was still clasped tightly between Lily's fingers. Marlene shook it loose.
"Calm down, Lil. I was going to tell you, tonight actually. We've been owling during the holidays, and yes, I do like him and I'd like to get to know him better." She explained earnestly, her eyes pleading, her hand clutching Lily's. Lily sighed.
"I just wish it wasn't such a shock. I should've picked up that you were interested. I should've seen it." She stuttered, eyes downcast.
"Lily, don't be stupid. If you had, it'd be guesswork. I'm not someone who wants to be read and analysed." Marlene insisted with a grin.
"I suppose I'm someone who likes to read and analyse." Lily replied, a smile growing on her face.
"You can analyse me whenever you like, Marlene."
Marlene laughed, and tied her long hair into a ponytail, her mouth full of merriment but her eyes full of mischief.
"Oh I will, Lily. I will."