aiden.c provided today's chapter. Thanks!
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It was far from a common occurrence for Lily Evans to be willingly standing beside James Potter at any given time. Yet beside the raven-haired Gryffindor was where she found herself, listening to the lecture substitute Herbology professor, Seth Fairfax, was giving in the torrential rain by the Black Lake.
There seemed to be many not-so-common occurrences happening around her, she observed. Sirius Black, notorious player of Hogwarts, was making eyes at a blushing auburn-haired Ravenclaw, and clutching a soggy piece of parchment as if it was his sole lifeline, Remus Lupin had put away his book to save it from the rain and didn't look completely heartbroken, and Peter Pettigrew was actually taking notes. Now that was strange.
She snuck a glance at her neighbor and noticed not only that his hair was plastered to his head, lying flat for once in his life, but also that he couldn't see anything. Raindrops raced down the lenses of his wire-rimmed glasses, dripping off the edges onto his strong cheekbones and over the masculine features of his face.
Lily tugged at the sleeve of his robes, grabbing his attention. He looked down at her with eyebrows raised in question. "Can you actually see what he's describing, Potter?"
"Honestly?" he asked, and continued at her nod. "Nope, not a thing."
She withdrew her wand from an inner pocket of her robes and aimed it at his spectacles. "Impervius," she whispered and the water disappeared.
"Impressive, Evans. Thanks."
"My pleasure," she replied. "You know, I haven't forgotten about my promise to help you with potions."
"I thought that had been retracted due to my horrid tactlessness." She chuckled.
"I suppose it was, temporarily. But you can see that I've cooled down. I'm talking to you, aren't I?"
"That you are," he agreed with a smirk. Soon, the smirk slid off his face and his eyes darkened slightly. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something, Lily." She was thrown off by his use of her first name, but replied with a nod of consent nonetheless. "I've never agreed with anything Snape's ever said, and I probably never will again, but I think there's some truth to what he said about Fairfax. He's not a good guy, Lily."
"Who are you to say that he isn't?"
"I doubt you've heard about some of the things he did while at school, and even putting those aside, I'm not getting a good vibe from him. Something's off."
"Oh, so now you're an expert at reading auras? Pardon me if I don't place all my trust in that."
"It's not just that," he pleaded. "Look, I was talking to Dorcas and she said that he has a reputation for playing girls. I don't want you to get hurt."
"I appreciate your concern, but I'm more than able to take care of myself." With that, she moved next to Marlene.
"I assume," Marlene began, "that your minor explosion over there means that you don't intend to tutor Potter any time soon?"
"You've assumed correctly."
"I'll tell him after class. Until then, shall we plan ways to sabotage Frank's big date with Alice tomorrow? I'm thinking using something to do with lasagna. There's simply too long between Lasagna Days in the Great Hall."
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Peter Pettigrew was on a mission. Not only had James trusted him most explicitly, but he now had a reason to stop by the kitchens for some delish baklava. He really had a craving for the stuff, yet it never seemed to be served at dinner in the Great Hall.
You see, Peter was Greek. He loved his roast pig, his pastitsio, and most importantly, his baklava. Yet, he was only able to feast upon delightful Greek cuisine for the two weeks that his family would stay with his grandparents in Athens. Just the year prior, he decided that two weeks every summer wasn't enough Greek food to hold him for the year, and took it upon himself to teach the house elves of Hogwarts to properly prepare traditional Greek dishes.
Peter was so lost in his thoughts of the baklava that awaited him in the kitchens that he missed the passage that led to the greenhouses. He was walking down the entirely wrong corridor, humming the national anthem of Greece softly to himself, when voices startled him from his daydreams. He deducted that they were coming from the closed door of an empty classroom.
Resting his head against the wood of the door, he listened to the argument transpiring inside.
"I can't believe you, you two-timing jerkface!"
"No, Margaret, it's not what you think-"
"Like hell it isn't! I heard her talking about you, about your little 'relationship'. How do you think that made me feel? You keep stressing that this needs to be kept a secret, but if little miss Perfect Lily Evans can go blabbing to the whole school about your romantic exploits together, why can't I?"
"Because it's different with you, Margaret. Anyway, there is nothing going on between Evans and I."
"No, Seth, don't touch me! I'm in a rage!"
Peter withdrew his ear from the wood, content with the amount of evidence he'd collected. James would be pleased. Satisfied, he embarked on his journey down to the kitchens for some well-deserved baklava.
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What will happen next? When does plan procreation for dummies come back into play? Why is Seth messing around with Lily? Will James and Lily stop this on and off mouse and cat relationship? Will Marlene doodle again? And why does Dorcas know that Seth's a player?
Spazzeh's a Hufflepuff has reserved chapter 11, but I can take reservations for chapters after that.