November dawns bright and crisp, the season's first snow merely a light dusting on the rolling emerald hills. Frost gathers on the window panes in Lily's quarters as she putters about, enjoying her last free morning of the weekend. Hallowe'en had fallen on a Saturday and while she was over the moon that her little project took off so well, helping half the Hogwarts population make 'authentic' costumes filled most of her day. By the time the feast rolled around, there were muggle monsters, ghouls, and cinema favorites filling the benches.
And later, when she walked back to her room in the vacant halls only to hear James' slightly stuttered, "Nice work, Evans," she might have felt warmed to her toes.
Now, not even James Potter's cheeky grin and hazel eyes could drive the chill from her bones. A fresh mug of tea, woolen tights, socks, and a sweater seem to be working alright so far, but her morning prep time was severely delayed by the harsh weather that seemed to crop up overnight, so breakfast was limited to some slightly crumbly shortbread cookies from Minerva.
After lingering over her tea and lazily reading a few more chapters, Lily dog-ears her book and tugs on her soft leather boots. A careful look around assures her she's tucked the necessary items into her satchel and then she's off, cloak in hand should the icy air run through the faculty meeting as well.
Hopefully, the collection of warm bodies will alleviate the icy fingers of winter somewhat, but Lily's not taking chances - she'd like to leave the school year with the same number of fingers and toes she started it with.
She runs into a few dedicated students on their way to the library and offers a smile and wave before trotting down the last few corridors and sliding into the faculty lounge. Her coworkers are still milling about, all similarly bundled and nursing steaming drinks. With one notable missing face.
Sirius wanders over and links his arm with Lily's. "Top o' the mornin' Evans."
"Hangovers make you feel like trying out new accents?" Lily chuckles.
"Excuse me, I am not hungover," Sirius gasps.
"Dunno you boys seemed to be set on having a pretty wild time," Lily drawls as they claim two seats - avoiding anything near windows that don't seem to do much in the way of keeping out the cold.
Remus settles on Lily's other side and she nearly moans at the increased warmth. "Actually, we were quite tame."
"Relatively speaking."
Sirius tilts his head, thoughtful. "What is wild, if not a relative term?"
The banter continues and Lily finds her muscles relaxing somewhat, warming as her cohorts are, until she catches Remus' expression. It's that slightly obnoxious, knowing look he gets when he thinks he's so much smarter than you. Which wouldn't be too terrible except it almost always precedes an intrusive pronouncement nobody really enjoys receiving.
He slants his gaze her way. "James couldn't make it today, had to go see his mum and dad."
Lily doesn't let her eyes waver, nodding. "Hope all's well."
Remus' brow twitches but he doesn't press it. Sirius, however, is either a pushy little thing or completely oblivious, and decides to provide some unrequested information. "Oh James is a little Mum's boy - he loves Dad of course but - well I always view it as the complete opposite of my relationship with mother dearest."
He pauses, and Lily's debating the best way to ask for more information as she feels unaccountably nosy about the whole situation, when Remus takes pity. "Sirius' biological mum - well she's the type that leads sons to have a distinction between 'biological' and 'real' mums."
Sirius snorts. "I really live up to my initials - "
In the dark, Lily glances at Remus who mouths Orion just as she catches the allusion without all the information and lets out a surprised laugh. "Shouldn't a hangover dampen your cheek?"
"Oh, we have so very much to teach you."
Though her lessons don't commence immediately, as Dumbledore calls the meeting to order, eyes twinkling at their mischievous expressions. Lily elbows Sirius and mumbles, "Don't get me in trouble - "
"Afraid of a little mischief, Evans?" Remus teases out the side of his mouth.
"The best troublemakers only get caught when they want to."
Sirius grins.
By the time the meeting disperses, Lily's sides ache with suppressed laughter and her stomach growls for sustenance. Preferably something flaky and buttery followed up by a decadent mug of hot chocolate.
Mostly, she finds herself in need of a few stolen moments of solitude and seeks out the kitchens for a quick bite to warm her bones. The house elves comply with her request easily enough, more than happy to provide a sampler platter of their preparations for lunch. Lily puts away a healthy bit of food - dunking her grilled cheese into creamy tomato bisque and demolishing a jacket potato - before she finds she's stuffed to brimming.
Satisfied though she is, Lily feels like she should be rolled through the castle and into her bed for a nice, long kip. Instead, she finds herself wandering the corridors and eventually out into the slowly waning sunlight.
Students are sparsely spread over the grounds, bundled up to enjoy the decreasing winter sunlight while they can.
Her deep inhales draw the woody, fresh scent of pine into her lungs and though her full belly doesn't allow for the deepest of breaths, Lily already feels the exercise reinvigorating her. Besides, she never sleeps better than after a nice, brisk constitutional.
Just as she breaks into a light run, hair blowing in the wind as her cloak billows behind her like some dramatic period romance set on the moors, she nearly trips over a long lanky form sprawled across her path.
Shocked as she is, Lily doesn't rethink the appropriateness of her shouted, "Oi!"
Her would be stumbling block jolts to a sitting position and sends his companion - a gorgeous, shiny, bear of a dog - running.
"Sorry Evans."
"Professor."
He grins and rights his glasses. "Sorry Professor Evans."
"You - you must have been what a cheeky nightmare," Lily says with a roll of her eyes as his furry companion wanders back over and butts his head against her palm.
James pushes to his feet and twists to examine his likely snow-damp trousers. "Excuse me, I am still a cheeky nightmare."
As she scratches at his dog's chin, said bear-ish animal lets out an almighty sneeze and snorts uncomfortably. "Aw, you're a little snuffled aren't you?"
The dog seems confused and James is biting back some sort of response so Lily leans into it because she's a pretty cheeky nightmare too. "If your master won't talk - I'll just have to name you myself. Snuffles ."
Now, the dog seems decidedly unhappy and James is positively gleeful so Lily's more confused than ever. "So is this your familiar?"
James ruffles the dog's ears. "Nah. He's a mutt that likes to follow me around sometimes."
The dog huffs and honestly Lily thinks Snuffles rolls his eyes and this really doesn't seem like a playful stray situation. "Nice, clean dog for a wild one."
"He's a priss pot."
That earns James a growl.
"With remarkable command of the English language," Lily adds and Snuffles preens.
James glares at the 'priss pot' and stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Where are you off to?"
Shrugging, Lily begins picking her way toward the forest again and James follows alongside her. "Just out for a walk. Maybe I'll visit Hagrid. He's alone too much."
"Love a good afternoon with ol' Rubeus."
"Friends?"
"Served many a detention under his watchful eye," James explains as Snuffles trails along at his hip.
"So you played hooky to make snow angels?" Lily says after a moment of silence, flakes crunching beneath her boots, the crisp white blanket already turning to sludge.
"If I play hooky, I play hooky - no snow angels ," James gasps, affronted, "I drum up life-altering, unforgettable hijinks."
"Avoiding my question, but I'll allow it for the time being," Lily says with a wink, elbowing him.
"So how was the meeting?"
"So clunky, that subject change - I can't believe you expect me to believe you're a successful prank mastermind."
"How else would I become so endeared to the students?" James says, knitting his arm through hers. When she glances at it, and then him, with a raised brow, he shrugs and blows his breath into his free hand. "It's cold and you're freakishly warm."
"It's called dressing for the weather."
"Where's the fun in that?"
He pulls the gate open and they step inside Hagrid's garden, winter veggies Lily can't identify without a closer look growing tall and strong in the cold air. Wind whips from the lake's shore and Lily can't help but drag herself closer to James. "Hope Hagrid's got tea on."
"Though that's practically a guarantee for rock cakes."
"At least they're warm."
"Just hold me close, Evans."
When Lily notices student's exchanging an increased number of house-related barbs and sporting more than a few purpling bruises, she knows they're either on the verge of inter-house war or Quidditch season is upon them.
She'd known it must be gearing up, but schools have differing timetables - Beauxbatons started the school year almost a full month earlier than Hogwarts - and it slipped her mind to ask with the faculty meetings as jam-packed with information as they were.
A few Gryffindors are lingering in the doorway after she's long since dismissed class and it's suspect enough that she can't ignore them in the hope they'll leave.
"Alright, you three?"
Pratchett pipes up first, apparently their elected spokeswoman if the nudging and shoving are anything to go by, and smiles nervously, "We - well Professor Potter said you might have - "
Lily quirks her brow, already bracing for whatever Professor Potter volunteered her for, when Pratchett girds herself and continues, "We want to work on stamina? For the season. Our first game is coming up and, well it's probably too late now - "
Stevens rolls her eyes and shoves Pratchett none too gently, apparently regretting her vote, "We want to add some muggle fitness exercises to our training regimen."
Smiling, Lily tilts her head and invites them back inside. "Pratchett is right, it might not change much for your first game this close to the big day."
"'S good enough," Stevens says with a shrug and Johnson nods his agreement, "We had another request."
Lily pauses, hand hovering over the bookcase. "Yes?"
"Could you keep this - ah - between us?"
Johnson nods again, "We want the advantage - can't have the other teams catching on."
Biting back a grin, Lily pulls down a few tomes on calisthenics and other fitness related topics. "I can't promise I'll refuse if I'm asked - " they look every bit the kicked puppies, " - but I won't volunteer the idea. Fair?"
They grin and stuff the books away into their bags, disappearing down the hall.
Given her slight contribution to the game, Lily feels a bit silly for feeling so excited the morning of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match but then again, she's always been a sucker for Quidditch. It's one of the things that remains the same school to school, country to country.
It might seem a bit poetic for a game that involves pelting enchanted metal balls at fellow students, but there really is a gracefulness to the whole thing. The stands are crammed with students, all eager to take part in the first game of the season, so Lily's more than glad to see Sirius waving her over from what appears to be the faculty box.
Flitwick waves his sparking Gryffindor pennant cheerfully as she passes.
"Happy you arrived early - I was beginning to think I'd have to watch from the castle."
Sirius smiles and passes over a bottle of Butterbeer. "His Royal Highness ordered me to come snatch up a row while he continued getting dressed."
"How long can it take? Does he even own a brush?" Lily ignores the niggling thought in the back of her mind that says she's considered the state of James' hair entirely too much and the idea of it requiring more brushing has never really taken center stage.
"James is a bit of a -" Sirius pauses, thoughtful, " Priss pot about these things."
Before Lily can ask for more details, said priss pot arrives in elaborate face paint, matching sweater, and scarf, all while toting what appears to be some sort of animated banner. Lily can't help but take in the spectacle that is James Potter the Quidditch Fan and thus misses Sirius' not-so-subtle shifting down the bench, leaving the only empty space at her side.
James doesn't hesitate to park next to her, handing a pennant over to Sirius that he produced from god knows where. He's grinning when he turns to Lily. "Gorgeous day for a game, eh?"
"Clear, crisp, and only a light wind," Lily agrees, "Ideal, you could say."
Somehow, his grin widens further as he finally grasps for the rolled up banner at his feet.
"Why do I have the feeling that I'm about to be conscripted?" LIly asks Sirius when James leans forward.
"Join the club," Sirius drawls, waving his little flag.
James sits back, handing Lily one end of the banner and glaring at Sirius. "You love any chance to flaunt your Gryffindor-ness."
The banter would have continued had Hooch not just taken center field and called the crowd to order. Instead, James sat up straight as an ironing board and suddenly his arm is pressed along hers.
It really shouldn't be such a big deal, one that sets alarms blaring in her brain, turns her cheeks red and flushed. But his warm, woody scent flits over the breeze and his arm is firm and heated against hers, and neither of them pull away. That has to be odd - even to the non-Lily masses. Normal people don't just sit this close when they're just. Just colleagues . Hell he's going to drive her mad.
And then, as if it couldn't get worse, he is the most adorably endearing fanatic she has ever witnessed. His running commentary on the game picks up pretty early on, drowning out the student in the announcer's box. Sirius bops him on the head with his pennant after Gryffindor scores a third time and James' excited ranting seems to increase. "Oi! I'm going to tell Remus you're doing it again?"
Lily grins. "What?"
"When we were in school, James here would talk over Remus' commentary - his commentary from the box."
James smiles and winks at Lily, "That's why Remus volunteered to be faculty supervisor - couldn't handle the competition."
A roar rips through the Gryffindor students - and consequently Lily's little section of the faculty box - when the chasers pull off a perfectly executed Parkin's Pincer against Hufflepuff and regain control of the ball. After, Stevens sinks a perfect shot and is cut off mid-victory lap by an unusually spiteful Hufflepuff beater's attack.
Hooch's shrill whistle pierces the air and once Stevens has received a pitch-side nose mending, she's taken to the air, quaffle clenched between her palms.
As she winds up, James elbow presses into Lily's and he takes a long, deep inhale almost in exact unison with Stevens. Lily nudges him. "You're a little mother hen, eh?"
James rubs at the back of his head and glances LIly's way once the quaffle has flown home. "Well I am their faculty sponsor and I taught Stevens that little inhale trick because she gets so - sorry I guess have a lot of teaching related angst."
Sirius laughs and peers around James. "Dunno which of us Mum was more surprised became a teacher."
"I have heard James was a nightmare."
"Oi!"
" You are the one who told me, James," Lily teases.
Sirius throws one arm around James' neck and ruffles his hair. "Yeah don't get all offended muffin."
As November winds to a close, Lily finds the weather becoming less inviting for those inclined to long outdoor walks and turns to indoor exercise. Although as she tugs her cloak tighter around her shoulders, LIly finds the chill isn't lessened much by the thick castle walls.
Particularly, when she wanders down toward the dungeons, eventually lingering outside Sirius' classroom. She knocks on the half open door, peering inside to find Sirius hovering over a broad cauldron with Remus lounging against the bookshelves, eyes gaunt even as they laugh together.
When his eyes find hers, Sirius' face freezes, his hand hovering mid-stir. It's tense for a moment, until Remus sighs. "She knows, Padfoot."
"She - "
Lily wanders closer, propping herself on one of the many stools gathered around each table. "Remus can be a bit clumsy this time of the month as you likely know."
Sirius is biting back a grin when Remus picks up the thread of the story. "I may have accidentally spilled one of your brews when we were flatmates and I'm rubbish at potions - "
" Excuse me," Sirius sniffs, giving the potion another expert stir, "How was I never notified?"
Sighing, Remus half melts toward the floor, lying prostrate with his eyes half closed. "Co-dependent as we are, I do have some secrets."
"Well what are they?"
Lily bites her lip as Remus groans, "Are you trying to tell me you don't keep anything to yourself - no wait I know the answer to that."
"I am brutally - "
"Painfully," Remus amends.
"Honest and forthcoming," Sirius continues, as if he hadn't been interrupted.
Not quite sure where the little repartee is headed and even less sure she wants to see it, Lily gently nudges the topic back, "So where do you go?"
The boys - because they may be professors but Lily is beginning to think they could be septuagenarians and still seem like cheeky teenagers plotting some prank or mischief - share a long look before Sirius answers, "He has a place he goes to uh- stay."
"Nice, clear answer," Lily says with a raise of her brow, "I'll leave you both to it then."
And really, Lily would like to say she lets the subject drop after that. Mostly she does, or at least to the casual observer. She doesn't press for more information, doesn't follow Remus when he goes to 'prepare', and doesn't ask Dumbledore to send her on an errand to James' quarters.
Plus, when she stumbles on an adorable photo of James with that 'stray' dog in a photo frame that reads Best Friends with little paw prints, she does not steal it or duplicate it for teasing purposes later. She simply sees it, notes that James is the most adorably goofy thing she's ever experienced, and departs with the titles Dumbledore requested.
Though when she hands them over in his office, lemon drop tangy against her tongue, Lily can't help but notice Dumbledore seems a little underwhelmed with the books and even a bit disappointed when she notes that James wasn't in his room.
She'd written it off when the boys missed dinner, assuming they spent the evening holed up - somewhere while Remus dealt with some of the preliminary symptoms of his condition - but missing breakfast as well is an entirely separate issue. In their months of acquaintance, Lily's never seen all three miss two meals in a row.
So once she's chatted to Flitwick and had her fill of hot cereal, Lily packs up a little basket of toast and muffins and stops by the kitchens for a fresh pot of tea before making her way to James' office.
It's dark, save a bit of light from the slim windows, so Lily finds one of the desks closest to the door and sets her parcels down before flicking her wand to light the room.
"Ugh, you're a witch," someone - presumably Sirius - groans from across the room.
"Well spotted," Lily teases, picking her little picnic back up.
"Don't be cheeky it hurts my head," Sirius moans, pitiful and still invisible as yet.
Snorting, Lily clears a space on James' desk and begins unpacking the meal while her eyes search the classroom for her hidden companion - or companions. "Someone doesn't want their breakfast."
James finally makes himself known with a clatter of one of the desk chairs and a low grumble. "Yes, someone really does."
Slowly, they rise and amble over like a couple of zombies. James pours a generous cup of tea for himself and sighs happily as his hands wrap around the heated china. As he settles in looking content and relaxed, Lily pounces - so to speak. "So that dog's a stray?"
James freezes, proverbial deer and all that, while Sirius' grin widens like she'd not expected given his earlier grouchiness. His presumed hangover seems easily overcome by a good opportunity for ribbing James.
"It's a - uh - " James ruffles his hair, "Rescue."
Stroking his jaw, Sirius pauses his delicate toast buttering to put in, "Though I do often wonder who rescued whom."
James shoves him and takes an overlarge bite of his muffin, crumbs tumbling down his jumper. "Sorry we never sleep well on Remus', well."
Resisting the urge to lay a comforting hand on James' arm, Lily mindlessly butters a bit of toast for herself. "I understand - and presume he updated you?"
Nodding, James swallows another mouthful of tea. "Sleeping like a baby when we - uh - flooed."
While she's far from believing the completeness of their tale, Lily can tell the most information or confirmation she will receive at the moment is Sirius' eyerolls and decides to let the matter drop for the time being. "Well, give him my love."
Sirius' brows rise. "Sure thing, Evans."
James meanwhile, blushes and suddenly needs to check whether his next pop quiz is still locked away safely, so Lily takes her leave. "I'll - I'll see you boys later."
James glances up with a soft smile. "Thanks, Evans."
