A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter up! And sorry that this chapter is kind of short :( I had writers block for the longest time. I really didn't know what I wanted to have happen in this chapter. I'll try to get on a schedule as far as updating goes! Thank you Noel Ardnek and Jayniebop for reviewing!
Lily Evans sat by the peaceful lake as she lazily perused her Transfigurations book. She was always getting on Athena's case to study more, but the weather was so uncommonly warm for October that she couldn't help but go outside with the rest of the Hogwarts population. She figured that if she at least brought her books out, she might be able to get some studying done, but so far she was unsuccessful.
There was a loud splash, and Lily looked up in alarm. Rolling her eyes when she saw Sirius Black in the lake with his uniform on, and Remus, James, Athena and Peter laughing hysterically on the shore, Athena was laughing so hard that James was holding her up. Lily grinned a little bit, she tried not to condone the things that Athena and her friends did, but she had to admit that sometimes they were pretty amusing. She also kind of admired the friendship that Athena had with the boys, they were all so close. Lily wondered what it would be like to be best friends with a group of boys. She knew that Athena even had her own room at the Potter Manor.
Not that Lily wasn't friendly with the boys, but she knew that they thought that she was uptight and definitely not fun to be around in the way that Athena was. Although, she did know that she would probably get sick of Sirius and James and their immaturity very quickly.
I wonder how Athena puts up with that? Lily thought to herself as she absently flipped through the pages of her book. She knew the answer, it was because Athena was just as immature as they were. Lily sighed, Athena was one of her best friends but she wished that she would just grow up. She had gotten hope last year, when Athena had been dating Gideon, that she would finally mature a little, and she did. But now that Gideon was gone, she was back to her old ways.
There was a chorus of laughter, and Lily saw that Sirius had Athena upside down with a Levicorpus, payback apparently for pushing him in the lake. After a few minutes of dangling the laughing blonde upside down, James put a stop to it, and ran over to check on her when she hit the ground with a soft thud. As much as Lily disliked James Potter, it was obvious that he had a real soft spot for Athena. Unfortunately, he caught Lily looking at him, and he dropped Athena's arm as he was helping her get up, causing her to fall back to the ground, glaring at him. Lily blushed and hurridly gathered her things, and walked back to the castle as fast as she possibly could.
Even more unfortunate, was that just as she was passing the entrance hall, she heard two Ravenclaws from her year, Jackie Heran and Tammy Glass sitting on a bench and talking loudly about 'The Marauders' and Athena. Curiosity getting the better of her, Lily ducked behind the corner and listened closely.
"Well, I heard that Athena has her own bedroom at the Potters, so if you were to date James long-term, you'd have to deal with her over the summer." Jackie said matter-of-factly and Lily rolled her eyes, neither of those girls had a fighting chance of being with James 'long-term'.
"Thats fine. It would be worth it to be able to date James." Tammy said dreamily.
"I don't think she would be that much trouble though, she doesn't have any girl friends. She'd probably be glad." Jackie said. Lily frowned.
"That's not true, she's friends with that Gryffindor Lily Evans." Tammy said, and Lily hated that fact that she suddenly felt better because they knew who she was.
"Oh please. That's just because she's a charity case. Everybody knows that the only reason Athena and James even bother with her is because she's muggle-born and they know that she needs protecting." Jackie said nastily, and Lily felt her stomach drop.
"Yeah, that is true. That must get so tedious after a while, always having to look out for her. It's good of them to do it." Tammy said standing up and picking up her bag. "Let's go outside, Carlie Butler was in here a little while ago and said that Sirius was swimming around in the lake, I'll be he's taken his shirt off." She said excitedly, and the two girls walked, giggling, out of the hall.
Lily stood there, frozen. Was that really what people thought of her? That she was the muggle-born charity case who was weak and needed protecting? Now that she thought about it, anytime she had ever had trouble with Bellatrix or the other Slytherins, Athena had always been there to defend her, and to fight for her. In fact, that was how she evan began speaking to Athena, after she had defended her from Bellatrix when they were in first year. Had people been talking about her behind her back like that for the past six years? She felt the uncontrollable urge to run to the dorms,jump into bed, and sob until she was twenty-five.
No. She thought firmly. Frantically wiping an errant tear the slipped down her face.
She would not cry. She would not allow herself to feel bad about this. Besides, who cares what they thought? Lily had come here to do well in school, and that's what she was doing. She was an unflinchingly dedicated student and that was reflected in her near perfect grades.
Damnit Lily. Not everything in life is about grades! When are you going to stop obsessing? This is why people think you're weak, because all you care about is grades. You never allow yourself to get angry, or to have a bit of unregulated fun.
A few people walked past her in the hallway, giving her odd looks, as she was just standing around the corner, nearly shaking in anger. Anger at those girls, but most importantly anger at herself. She had been so focused on doing well in school and making her parents proud, proud so that they wouldn't think that she was a freak the way that Petunia did, that she was all too happy to let Athena and the Gryffindor boys defend her. She was just glad to not have to deal with the detentions or loss of house points that their efforts usually got them, and now she was considered a coward.
Not anymore. Lily thought savagely. Nobody is going to defend me anymore.
She suddenly had the desire to scream at Athena and James. She knew, logically, that they were only trying to help her. But now she was in this awful position, and she hated them for it. She dropped her books to the ground, and stormed back out of the castle, carrying only her wand, over to the lake, where Athena was sitting with her feet in the water, leaning against Peter.
"Ello Lils!" Athena said cheerfully. Lily narrowed her eyes.
"You." She said in a deathly quiet voice. Athena finally registered Lily's rage, and looked up at the redhead in surprise.
"What's the matter Lily?" Athena asked, tenatively standing up, her eyes on the the wand that Lily held out in front of her, pointed directly at her chest.
"Oi. Evans? What are you playing at?" Sirius asked, standing up as well, getting in his usual place behind Athena's shoulder. James joined him on the other side silently, looking at Lily as if she'd gone mad. Lily wondered for a moment if she had in fact gone mad.
"Shut your big fat mouth Black!" Lily said, her voice surprisingly steady, in contrast to her shaking body.
"Lily, What's happened? What's wrong?" Athena said, her voice was soft and even. Lily now understood why Bellatrix would get so incensed when they would be arguing and Athena would respond with that calm, confident voice, like you weren't frightening or worrying her in the slightest.
"I've just heard Tammy Glass and Jackie Heran gossiping about me. Saying the only reason you even talk to me is because I'm a muggle-born charity case, who needs to be protected because I'm to weak to fight for myself!" Lily shouted, sparks flew out of her wand at the end of her sentence, punctuating her anger.
Athena took a step back. She obviously had no idea what was going on. "Tammy and Jackie are idiots. They don't know about anything except for Sirius and James." Athena said smiling slightly. Lily could tell that she was trying to maker her laugh, but for some reason that only made her angrier.
"Don't belittle how I feel Dumbledore. Just because I don't have The Marauders falling at my feet doesn't make my feelings any less important." Lily said viciously, and the look that passed across Athena's face made her regret it on the spot. She had looked so surprised and so hurt. But she masked it instantly, and now she was staring at the Athena Dumbledore who dueled with Bellatrix Black on a weekly basis. Her eyes were narrowed, and her wand was out of her robes in a flash.
"Oh hello Dumbledork, Mudblood. I'd been planning on teaching you a lesson today Dunderhead, but seeing you with your wand raised to a Mudblood gives me hope for you yet."
Wonderful. Lily thought to herself. Just what this situation needs, Bellatrix and the Slytherins.
"Don't call her that!" Athena roared, pointing her wand at Bellatrix now.
Lily, once again, stood there mutely. It was one thing to fight with Athena who Lily knew deep down would never really hurt her, but quite another to fight with Bella.
"How boring! Getting Dumbledore to do your dirty work again Mudblood?" Bellatrix said smirking. Lily wondered why she always knew just where to poke to hurt people. Then suddenly it dawned on Lily what she had to do.
"You know what Black. FUCK. YOU." Lily said, and with a sharp wave of her wand, Bellatrix was sent, falling backwards into the lake.
There was a collective gasp, and Lily was now acutely aware that the majority of Hogwarts was staring at her open mouthed. Athena had her eyebrows raised, but otherwise had a small smirk playing about her lips.
"Lily Evans!"
Oh Merlin. Lily thought in a panic, her palms sweating profusely, as Professor McGonagall tore across the grounds to where Lily and the other Gryffindors were standing. This was her worst nightmare coming true, she was going to loose points and get detention in front of all of these people!
"What in heavens name are you thinking Evans!" McGonagall shouted. Athena went to open her mouth but Lily sent her a scathing look, and a shake of the head. She had done something wrong, and now she was going to pay for it.
"I-I'm sorry Professor." Lily said, looking down at the ground. She hoped that she at least looked ashamed of herself, because she certainly didn't feel it. She'd send Bellatrix into the lake a hundred times over. She looked over at the Slytherins pulling her out of the lake. She shot Lily a look that clearly meant 'I'm coming for you.' but Lily was unfazed.
"-and I'd never expect behavior like this out of you. Twenty points from Gryffindor and you'll be serving detention with me tonight." McGonagall finished curtly, before walking over to the group of Slytherins where Bellatrix played up her shivering, and pretended to limp into the castle.
"So." Athena said, after the rest of the school population had realized that the show was over and gone back to doing whatever they had been before.
Blushing, Lily looked up at her. Stowing her wand immediately. She noticed with a jolt that Athena had stowed hers away already.
Lily opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when Athena lunged at her, Lily was taken aback and immediately tried to prepare herself to fight her, but was caught even more off guard when she realized that the beautiful blonde was actually hugging her.
"I'm so proud of you Lily! That was wonderful!" Athena said beaming. When Athena finally released her, the boys echoed her sentiments and gave her pats on the back. Lily noted with annoyance that James was staring at her unflinchingly, with a look of renewed adoration.
"You're not angry with me? I don't know what came over me. I just heard those girls talking, and it just made me so angry." Lily said, wringing her hands. But Athena merely laughed lightly.
"Course I'm not mad at you! Everybody gets upset once in while. Yours was just this bad because you never allowed yourself to do it before." She said grinning.
"I'm really sorry Athena. I just really don't want people to think that I'm weak, and it just caught me so off guard." Lily said, nervously scanning the faces of the five other Gryffindors, worried that they would all think she was a nutter now, but they all looked happy, thrilled actually.
"Well, I doubt you have to worry about that anymore."'
"What do you mean?"
"You just sent Bellatrix Black flying into the lake in front of the whole school." Sirius said smirking, and Lily stared at him wide eyed.
"I did..didn't I?" She said incredulously.
"Indeed you did. Couldn't have done it better myself I must say." He said, pushing his hair back off of his face. Lily blushed, finally understanding what all of those girls saw in him.
"You were brilliant Lily." James said nervously. Lily smiled slightly at him. He wasn't so bad when he wasn't being an arrogant jerk, or hitting on her.
"Thanks." She said, simply, but it seemed to have made his day.
"I forgive you for being a trigger happy jerk, and in return I would like you to lighten up a bit. Especially since you just got your first ever detention." Athena said smirking. Lily rolled her eyes.
"I'll work on it Athena, you'll have to help of course, but I really feel great. It feels good to stand up for yourself." Lily said confidently.
"Oh no." Sirius groaned.
"What?" Lily and Athena said at the same time.
"Lily Evans just asked Athena to help her lighten up. There is no good that can come from this." He said shaking his head.
Athena laughed maniacally, sending James, Sirius, Remus and Peter into fits of their own laughter, and Lily had to wonder what in the world she had gotten herself into.