PREVIOUSLY ON "LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS": James and Sirius (and, consequently, Nate) go to a funeral. On Halloween, the Marauders play a "tame" prank, Isabel dresses as a lion instead of a fairy which upsets Mary, Lily and Nate are together, James gets drunk and then has sex with Kate McDermott, ex-girlfriend of Samuel Hoskins.


The Club


(Lily Evans)


I open my eyes that morning to find a seemingly endless supply of blond hair covering my face and neck. Spitting it away and propping myself up on my arms, I look down to find Nicole passed out on the lower half of my body. My head is still a little achy, I knew Black had something to do with all those drunk fourth years. Leaning past the half-naked girl (oh, did I forget to mention? Nicole has no sense of personal modesty), I check my alarm clock. Thank god it's Saturday, and there isn't a Hogsmeade weekend so there's nothing happening around the castle. I let myself fall back onto the pillows, but the bed shakes and I sense Nicole waking up.

She groans, cracking one eye open.

"What?" She croaks.

I laugh. "You speak French in your sleep."

"What'd I say?"

I grin. "Something like 'tu es trop sexy, maintenant embrasse moi!'"

She pokes my stomach, grunting, "Shut up."

"Put some clothes on."

She stares down at her naked chest, shrugs, and then grabs a shirt of Mary's that had been sitting right at the edge of my bed for at least a month.

Pushing herself up, she leans next to me against the headboard. "So, how was your Halloween? Did you and Nate get frisky?" She asks, pulling her hair out of the collar.

I finger comb through the ends of my hair, looking at her guiltily. "Lily! You tart! How far'd you go?"

"Just some snogging, promise." I say, nudging her. That was the truth, though it seemed like Nate had wanted something more. We'd been making out in the staircase, and he asked if I wanted to go to his room, and I made up some excuse about needing to make sure that Mary had gotten back ok.

Speaking of Mary, she was no where to be found.

"Good. I'll not have you turning into me or Mary, though she is determined to corrupt your virginal ways!"

I kick her, she yelps. "Well, then Miss Sex Kitten, what did you do last night?"

Her mouth molds into a cat-like grin, and she leans in and whispers in my ear, "I made out with Tommmmmm!"

"Tom Jenkins?"

"Why so surprised? Tom's hot." She says. "Bloody brill snogger too. But I'm pretty sure it was just a casual one-off type of deal."

"And you're ok with that?" I ask tentatively. Nicole always talks about boys a little like Mary, like they're not important. She's dated a few boys over the years, but none have ever lasted very long.

She snorts. "I'm fine, Lil. I'd rather have a right good snog than a naggy boyfriend anyway."

I look around the room, spotting Isabel's curtains pulled closed. She must have come back sometime in the morning, I didn't see her before I fell asleep. Dorcas was also in her own bed, but the curtains were hanging open, and it rather looked like Dorcas had just simply fell, and hit the bed by accident. Her limbs were twisted every which way, and her black hair is in a knot at the base of her neck.

A shoot another glance over to Isabel's bed and Nicole groans.

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about her right now."

"It was just a costume."

Nicole looks at me incredulously. "Lily, if she had calmly informed us of the fact that she did not wish to be a fairy, then this would not have been a problem. However, she decided that she would not dane to give any of us that information, which was extremely rude and sort of selfish."

At that moment, Mary came padding through the doorway, still wearing her fairy costume, hair matted up and makeup gone. She ripped off the dress quickly, rooting around for a t-shirt and pajama pants.

"And where have you been?" Nicole asks slyly.

"With Remus." Mary replies, pulling a shirt over her head.

"Oooh la la, looks like Mary was the one getting frisky last night." Nicole says teasingly, propping herself up and watching Mary shove her legs into the pajama pants.

Mary stays silent, face blank. Something's definitely wrong.

"Mary what happened?" I ask.

"Lily, really, I'm sorry, I just need to sleep right now." She says, climbing into her bed and shutting the curtains.


Nate and I walk along the path outside the castle. The air is steadily getting colder, and November is around the time it starts snowing at Hogwarts. That's the best, when there's buckets of snow all decorating the castle, perfect for snowball fights.

"We're going to Hogsmeade, right?" I ask him.

He grimaces. "Well… I told the Club that I'd be at the meeting… and it's sort of the same time…"

I feel my calves stiffen in anger.

"Sorry Lily. I know it's been a while since we've actually spent time together…"

"Why don't I come?" I ask before I know exactly what I'm saying. But then I agree with myself, if he's got these friends that he cares about so much, I should meet them too, shouldn't I?

"What?" He says, sounding a bit bewildered.

"Why don't I just come to that club thing you're going to." I say. "You can be with your friends and we can spend some time together."

He smiles. "Um, well… I don't… um… sure."

I smile back at him firmly. "Good. It's settled then." I say, kissing him chastely on the cheek.


I'm starting to regret worming myself into this.

I stand in front of the closet, trying to pick something to wear. I've seen the people Nate talks to. The type that wear pastels, always skirts and headbands and such.

I eventually end up with a cliché sort of sweet pink outfit that I feel ok about wearing. I'm sort of nervous though, I know for a fact that all those in "the Club" (the name itself feels elite) are all pureblood. I try not to let it bother me, but this year it's become less like an underlying disapproval to a roaring cause for insults.

I push a pink headband onto my head, staring in the mirror.

My clock says it's 10:50, and I hurry to pull on my white flats before hurrying out of the dorm.

"Good luck!" Dorcas calls from the couch on the common room as I fly by. Mary says it too, but with her it sounds rather sarcastic like it means, "Good luck Lily. You're going to need it."


Nate and I walk down the grass to where he says they meet, and as soon as I see over the hill, I'm so regretting with my overly-fussy outfit choice.

Sitting on a long picnic bench are two girls and five boys, all wearing wizard robes in different colors. I had these things from when I had to go to tea with my mum (she always used to drag me along to all her friends' houses), but apparently I should have just worn my school robes.

Nate is greeted warmly, and then all seven eyes turn to me.

"Um, this is my girlfriend, Lily."

I smile, but they don't stop all staring at me. I'm practically choking under all the attention, so I perch at the edge of the bench where Nate's just sat.

"Hi. I'm Leslie." A boy with an unnaturally high voice says. He's got a shaved head, I notice immediately, and he smiles blandly at me.

"Leslie? Isn't that a –"

"Leslie. It's unisex name." He says tensely. His expression sort of curves into that resembling a duck face.

"Sorry." I mutter, desperately biting back my laughter. Luckily, the boy with the perfectly-coiffed blond hair decides to acknowledge my presence. Really, I should at least try not to be rude. Where are my manners?

"Samuel Hoskins." He says pompously, extending his hand to mine. I shake it awkwardly. He leans until his back hits the chair, studying me for a moment. Then, he seems to snap back to reality. "This is my girlfriend –"

"Kate McDermott." The girl with the diamond bracelet on says. She's got long, chestnut brown hair that looks like she's just walked out of a salon. I notice her eyebrows look meticulously plucked and her skin is tan and smooth. We shake hands for a moment. I notice her fingernails are short but manicured. She's really pretty, but in that prissy chihuahua-esque way. If that makes sense.

"Dempsey, Colin." The boy to the left of Nate says. He turns and just looks at me without any acknowledgement.

"Er… hello." I say, trying to smile. He squints at me for a minute, and then goes back to the book he was reading.

I look over to the girl tapping her foot against the leg of the table. "Oh!" She exclaims, smiling broadly. "I'm Ruthie, Ruthie Caldwell."

Her clammy hand reaches over the table and shakes mine quickly. I smile back at her.

"Elizabeth Burke. Slytherin." The girl with black hair says coldly. I turn towards her, and I notice that she's sort of sneering at me. "Evans. You're in Gryffindor, correct?"

"Yes." I say, squirming a little. I sneak a glance over at Nate, but he's not looking at me.

"Oh." She says. The table is quiet for a moment, and it feels like literally no one wants me here.

A boy with dark brown hair and tan skin coughs. "Ray Wolfe. Also Slytherin." He says. "I know you. We've had potions together. You really are quite good."

"Oh, thank you." I say, trying to fight off the awkward blush creeping up on my cheeks.

I watch Elizabeth Burke shoot a glance over in his direction, but he ignores it and continues to talk.

"I find potions quite challenging, but also quite enjoyable." He says, looking down at his nails while he says this. Although he sort of gives off an air of superiority, I'm glad to have an opportunity to speak.

"Yes, so do I. Especially with Slughorn teaching the class."

This, however, seems to be the end of the short-lived conversation, for after I finish my sentence, the boy Colin Dempsey says,

"Have you heard the Minister of Magic is getting chosen soon?

"Thank Merlin. Honestly, it's about time. Guzman has been getting old, it's time for someone new to take over."

"Who would it be do you think?"

"No, Guzman's got a year left of his term. Unless he gets impeached, or steps down."

"Keller's been angling for his job for a while."

It went on for a while like that. Talking about people I had never met. Mostly stuff about the pureblood society circle.

I put on a smile, of course. But it was strange seeing Nate with his friends. He was different. Fake, sort of.

"Nate –" I try.

"In a second, Lily." He says, waving me off. "Now, about Leonard –"

It became obvious that I didn't belong here. They all just kind of forgot about me, including Nate, which makes me furious. Except for Kate kept glancing over at me.


After about an hour of being outright ignored, I hissed at Nate that I was going to leave, and he just waved me off. What the hell? I offered to meet and hang around his friends, just so we could spend some bloody time together!

I was stomping off up the hill when I stomped face first into Alice Smithson.

"Blimey Lily!"

"Oh god, Alice, I'm so sorry." I apologize, helping her up off the ground.

She laughs. "It's fine, I was just heading to see if Emmeline was down on the pitch. Have you seen her?

I shook my head. Though Alice and I weren't very good friends, we'd always remained mates (ever since I got bitten by a plant in Herbology and she had to take me to the hospital wing second year). Alice Smithson had blond hair and round face, and seemed to always be either smirking or smiling.

"I see you've met the Club." Alice says, gesturing down to the group still arguing on the picnic bench below.

"Who?"

"The people you were sitting with?" Alice prompts, snickering. "We call them the Club because they never talk to the rest of us and stay in their little circle. Those girls, Kate and Ruthie? Yeah. They both turn up their noses at me and the other girls in the Ravenclaw dorm. Walk around like they've got a giant stick up their arse."

I laugh loudly at that. "They do seem a bit... pretentious."

"So what do you think of them?" She asks, leaning in.

"They're… nice…" I say, before dissolving into laughter again. "No, no, really, they seem nice, their conversation topics are a bit dry."

"Didn't like 'Guess-who's-marrying-who' game?"

"Not really my style, no."

"Hello Lily!" Frank's voice exclaims over the field. I turn my head and see him walking past us. His eyes keep bouncing over to Alice, and as he came up to us, they exchanged a glance.

"Hi Frank." I say.

"Alice." He says gruffly.

"Frank." She says back, smiling.

A brief pause passes.

"Um… James wanted me to tell you he might be a little late for patrol, but to go without him and that he'd catch up." Frank says, hands in his pockets.

I grit my teeth in annoyance, but I don't want to take it out on sweet Frank Longbottom.

"Alright." I say. "Thanks Frank."

"Well… I'm… er… going to the library! Yes, I'm – I plan to – I'm going to study for a test. I mean – the test on Friday. Yes, Friday. Ok, well, goodbye!" He practically yells at us, and catapults himself over the hill.

"Sorry… erm… what were we talking about?" She asks, still staring at the hill. "Oh! Right: Kate McDermott."

"Do you know Frank?" I ask as innocently as I can.

"Er… yes. Sort of." She says quietly. "We had lots of classes with each other last year."

It felt like she was leaving out something, but I decided by the looks of her reddening cheeks that we'd have to be closer for her to tell me about it.

"Anyway, what about her?"

"Oh, yes, right. Don't mess with her. She's one crazy bitch. Once I borrowed her hairbrush and she went ballistic, running around telling everyone I was a thief and if I ever stole one of her things again there'd be consequences…"

It was hard to imagine the same prissy Kate McDermott that I'd just met doing that, but I'd take Alice's word for it.

"…Anyway, don't get her mad at you. She may look like a perfectly-manicured daddy's girl, but in reality… she's so much more than that."

I laugh a little bit. "Alice. She's harmless."

She raises her eyebrows at me. "Ok maybe I'm overreacting. Just… don't get on her bad side. For me, ok?"

"Alright." I say.

She stands up.

"I'll see you Lily." She says. She moves to walk away but pauses.

She turns. "And… er…tell Frank I say hello." She says, before walking away.


I trudge into the Head's office, exhausted, but searching for the book I'd left in here a couple days ago. I vaguely registered Potter's dead-looking form sprawled out on the couch.

I moved to look under the desk, and suddenly, my vision locks with a pair of big, bright green eyes.

"Oi!" I yelp in surprise, jumping slightly.

Out of the darkness trots a little black cat, still staring intently at me with its giant eyes. Its fur is shiny, but a bit messy and a little tangled, and its whiskers are comically bent in different directions.

It stops about six feet from me, and stares at me.

It's a bit unnerving.

"Potter!"

His head perks up, and he turns, looking at me over the back of the couch. He's been exhausted lately, working the Quidditch team ragged. He's fallen asleep more than once sitting in front of the desk.

"Yes Evans?" He says, perfectly nonchalant.

"What the bloody hell is that?" I say, pointing at the feline and glaring accusingly at him.

His eyes dart over to the cat, and then back to me.

"Felix." He says, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?"

"Felix. He's my cat." I look back over at the cat, who is apparently named Felix. He's still sitting perfectly stock still, black tail the only thing moving as it sweeps across the floor behind him.

"You have a cat?" I ask in disbelief. "Named Felix?"

He grins. "Yes, I do. He's lucky, like Felix Felicis." He frowned. "You're not allergic are you?"

"How come I've never seen this cat before?" I demand, ignoring his question.

"He was sick. Couldn't bring him to Hogwarts in September. Got him back when I went home over the weekend."

"You went home over the weekend? Students aren't allowed –"

"I was an exception. My father spoke to Dumbledore, so I got to leave."

I scoff. Of course James Potter was allowed to do something strictly forbidden by school rules. Though this was different, usually instead of getting permission, he'd just do it himself.

"I had to go to a funeral." he says flatly, turning his head back around and sinking down into the couch.

I immediately regret the scoff. I look down embarrassedly.

"I'm sorry –"

He waves his hands conversationally. "Nah, it's alright. Was my great Aunt Martha. She always hated me."

I felt myself crack a smile. "Why's that?"

His mouth morphed into a full grin again. "Well, whenever Padf – I mean, Sirius would come over, which would usually be in the summer when she stayed with my family, we weren't exactly as… invisible… as she might have wished."

"I can imagine." I snort. "So, why's the cat not back in your dorm?"

He grins sheepishly. "Well, while I love cats… Sirius isn't exactly…er… of the same mindset."

I look at him incredulously.

"He just doesn't like cats. He's a dog through – er, a dog person through and through."

I sigh, putting my hand on my hip. "Alright. Felix is going to stay here then?"

"Unless it bothers you."

I actually smiled. "No." I say, walking over to the cat.

His pupils grow smaller, and he looks at me sort of judgmentally for a moment. I move my hand to pet him, and he stops. I let him sniff my hand for a moment before he rubs his cheek against my hand, fur incredibly soft. Despite myself, I let out a little coo and pet the cat again.

I can feel James' eyes at my back.

"Good." He says firmly.


"Are you finally ready to tell me what's got your knickers so in a bunch?" I ask Mary, wrapping up my crepe tighter and taking a bite. The house elves have gotten really creative this year with the variety of breakfast meals, yesterday we had a full breakfast of Russian cuisine.

She let out a breath, and cracked her knuckles. "Ok. I had sex with Remus on Halloween."

The crepe slips out of my hands and into my lap. I hurry and retrieve it, luckily nothing's spilled out, but the impact of what Mary just told me is still shocking.

Without meaning to, my eyes skate straight down to where Remus is sitting, currently fighting with Peter over whether or not Peeves could be susceptible to Polyjuice Potion, or any potion for that matter.

Turning back to her, I splutter, "Um... w-what?"

Mary's face remains blank, passive. She's always like that when something's bothering her. Most of the time she's exuberant and outwardly vivacious, but when she's stewing about something she immediately becomes stony.

"Well... well... are you upset about it? Is it a bad thing."

She shook her head.

"Have you guys talked about it?"

"He's tried... I've avoided him."

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh... Mary. You can't do that."

Another thing about Mary: she can face hundreds of Slytherins, but she avoids personal confrontation like the plague.

"I don't know how I feel about it quite yet, so... yeah."

"Mary it's been two whole weeks since Halloween."

"Look, Lily, not everyone can be as sure and pragmatic about boys as you can." She snaps. I feel like she's punched me in the gut. I'm not... pragmatic about boys. I'm not!

Her face softens. "Sorry. I just... it was good, you know. Like... physically, it felt good. But then after, he sort of... he sort of tried to, you know, cuddle with me, and every cell in my body was telling myself to run, to get out of there. I don't know why."

I open my mouth to speak, but she cuts me off, "The actual sex was good though, especially since a girl's first time is supposed to be rubbish."

"Wait, how's it supposed to be rubbish?"

"Well, if you've never done it before, you're not... stretched. And that's why it hurts the first time." Mary explains.

That sounded outright painful. Everything about sex to me was a theoretical abstract, not a reality. I'd never... been in the position that I could have actually done it, except when Nate asked me on Halloween. Ever since then... I mean, we've snogged, oh yeah, and obviously with that there's been some feeling up. But the reality was that I was seventeen, and seemingly everyone around me was shagging like bunnies. It was rather like a wake up call. Maybe Nicole was right, maybe I did have virginal ways.

"Anyway," Mary continued. "I don't know what to do. I'm pretty sure you're actually supposed to want to cuddle with your boyfriend, not run the second sex is over. And... I don't think I fancy him much."

"How can you not fancy him? You've been dating since September."

"Well, being together a long time doesn't automatically make you fancy a bloke. And besides, I'd been feeling this way a lot before. I think I should just break up with him."

"But it's Remus. Won't it crush his heart?" Remus seemed to genuinely like Mary, every time I saw them together, it was in his eyes. The idea that Mary (who sometimes, bless her, wasn't very tactful) could seriously hurt him was sad. I always liked the idea of them as a couple.

"That's life." Mary says.

"What do you mean 'that's life'?"

Mary sighs, putting down her crepe. "Well, if you go through life without your heart being stomped on a few times, then obviously you haven't been living. Part of life is pain, and if you're too afraid to inflict that on others when it'll be better in the end, then you're just hurting yourself."

I turn and sneak a peak at Nate, who's sitting with Sam and Kate. He's pouring some strawberries onto his plate, laughing quietly at something either of them said.

He was attractive. There was no doubt about that. Hair, lips, eyes, teeth. He looked a little like a more buff Cupid. His voice was perfect, he had full washboard abs (even though he didn't play Quidditch, which was confusing), incredibly smart, from a rich family background (not that it mattered to me, but all the same). He was also... talented at snogging (not that I had much to compare it to). Any girl would agree that he was a bloody amazing catch.

So why was he starting to edge away from a perfect boyfriend in my mind?

"Evans." Potter's voice says, rousing me out of my inner stewing.

He's standing without robes, just his uniform, hands shoved in his pockets and smirking at me.

I gulp, shaking my head and trying to stamp out all inner Nate-related thoughts. "Potter. What's up?"

"Timestables this week. Hufflepuffs say they won't do the after dinner shift Thursday, they have the pitch booked then." He says.

"Just switch them out with the Slytherins."

"Oh sure. Because that'll go over so well."

"Fine, have Remus do it."

"He's already doing the late shift Thursday."

"Alright, the Ravenclaws then."

He hesitated, before saying, "You're going to have to tell them, they don't take me seriously."

"And who's fault is that?" I ask with raised eyebrows.

He scowls. "You're lucky you're so pretty Evans. Fine, I'll tell them." He says, walking away towards the Great Hall doors.

"You're lucky you're so pretty Evans." Mary mimics into my ear, prompting me to elbow her in the gut.

"Ow! Sorry, it's not my fault the bloke is in love with you."

"He's not in love with me." I say.

She snorts. "Yeah, and I've can juggle while riding a unicycle reciting the ingredients needed in Amortentia."

"He's not."

I thought about the last time James and I had talked. It had been in the office, I was reading a passage Slughorn had leant me about moonstone and it's relevance to most modern potions. I sat across the couch, legs stretched out. He'd walked in with a couple of textbooks, spewing some rant about the fact that McGonagall had compared the team to the Chuddley Canons, and had nudged my leg with his knee. I hadn't moved, knowing that he wanted to sit down, but I was perfectly comfortable.

After a long while of trading glares, he'd simply lifted my legs off the couch, sat back down, and put them back, but over his lap. We both worked like that until it was time for dinner.

If anyone had told me a year ago that I'd be calmly reading while my legs were resting in James Potter's lap, I would have laughed myself into next Wednesday. But we were, as it seemed, good friends.

"We're friends." I say honestly. Chums, mates, friends. James had actually helped me with some Transfiguration homework when I'd been having trouble (though it was a serious blow to my self-esteem, it had been worth it).

"Alright, alright." She says, holding up her hands in defeat. "Look, I'm supposed to meet McGonagall before class today."

"What are you going to do about Remus?"

She stands, biting her lip thoughtfully. "I have no idea."


A/N: Hi! So wow this is a quick update for this story! I hope you all are enjoying.

I've received a lot of messages on tumblr/reviews/comments disapproving of the fact that James has supposedly "had sex" with Kate, saying that he wouldn't do that if he was in love with Lily.

What you've got to understand is that I'm trying to portray James as who he really was. A straight, horny seventeen year old boy. Though he is also loyal and kind and caring, he had just spent the night seeing Lily get all-up-on a guy that wasn't him, so he's feeling pretty low. Add that to being intoxicated, and it seems like a pretty instinctual moment (not that that excuses it in the least, it's still kinda skeevy).

He might love Lily, but he's still a human, and he fucks up every now and again. This isn't meant to be a cookie-cutter story where James follows her around like a lovesick puppy.

(Nicole's French: "tu es trop sexy, maintenant embrasse moi!" is "you're too sexy, kiss me now!") (Translation courtesy of anon reviewer "Victoria")

Please review!