'Who's that?' Sirius asked, pointing at Lily, who was forced to sit opposite James.
She was scowling at her tea for being too hot and because McGonagall had just asked James to 'babysit' her for the rest of the year. Sirius, who had just came back from Christmas holidays, was puzzled at the new face scowling at James for no particular reason.
'Lily Evans.
She's under my arm unntil school ends,' James said, looking at Lily intently.
Her eyes were a
little red, for unknown reasons, and a light shade of purple was visible under
her green eyes.
'Hullo Lily!
Sirius Black,' Sirius greeted, sticking out his right hand.
Lily barely even
looked up, but continued to frown at her tea. Sirius turned to James.
'Don't bother.
She's always that way,' James said, sipping some coffee.
'Got our
presents, Jimmy?' Remus grinned.
'Yeah, thanks a
lot. A huge stinkbomb on the Christmas table with Dumbledore staring at me.
Wonderful. I'm so honored,' James said bitterly, recalling the Christmas day
when he unwrapped his present on the table where Dumbledore and the rest of the
teachers were sitting. The stinkbomb had gone right off before the teachers,
earning him another detention from McGonagall.
'It was suppose
to bomb as soon as it was opened,' Sirius shrugged. 'As for Ms. Lily here… so
sorry we didn't give you anything,' he said sweetly.
Lily drank her
tea quickly and ate her eggs.
'Is she deaf and
mute or too stupid to listen and talk?' Remus said in amusement, staring at the
quiet girl.
'Actually, I'm
neither,' Lily said curtly, glaring at Remus and Sirius.
'Ah! She has a
voice!' Sirius said. 'So, what year are you?'
Lily ignored him
and surveyed the Gryffindor table slowly.
'Is she always
like this?' Remus asked.
'What do you
think?' James replied.
~**~
'Evans, what is
the difference of a rat's heart and a mouse's heart?' Professor Cerberus asked.
It was potions
now and Cerberus was shooting his questionnaires at the Gryffindors. Lily
happened to be his victim of the day.
Lily stared at
the air blankly.
'Evans! Answer
me!' Cerberus snapped, banging the table so hardly that the thick potion books
jumped in response. Lily snapped out of her trance and turn to him.
'Yes, professor?'
she asked calmly.
James groaned. Of
all the Gryffindors, Lily just had to be his victim of the day. And it just so
happen that Lily isn't really one to answer any questions.
'What is the main
difference of a rat's heart and a mouse's heart?' He bellowed.
The Gryffindrs
bit their nails nervously as the Slytherins sneered unpleasantly at the new
girl.
'We learnt that
last year,' Lily said.
'Nooo…' James
moaned.
'I asked for an
answer!' Cerberus bellowed.
'A rat's heart
has mor heartstrings than a mouse's. It is much bigger by an inch and has a
darker shade of red,' Lily said automatically without a single mistake.
Cerberus's lips twisted into an ugly sneer.
'I'm afraid you
had that wrong-'
'It's right,'
Lily cut. 'Potions for Starters, page 135, chapter 4. Am I not right there,
sir?'
'What's the use
of the fifteen fungi?' Cerberus snapped.
'But that's at
the very last page!' Lily protested.
'Answer me,
Evans, or marks will be taken,' Cerberus said smoothly.
'It's to make,'
Lily gulped, glancing up in the air, 'a- a- a-'
'C'mon, Lily!'
James whispered.
Lily's face
suddenly lighted up like a mini christmas tree and she turned to the Potions
Master confidently and looked at him right in his eye.
'It is to make
the animagi potion,' Lily finished.
'Right. At least
you'd been doing some reading, Evans,' Cerberus spat spitefully, as if mad that
he couldn't take points off Gryffindor. Lily glared at him sourly.
'He's always that
way. Forget that git,' James whispered, when Lily sat back down onto her place.
Lily grimly clenched her hands tightly.
~**~
The next morning,
Cerberus walked into the Great Hall, drawing amused expressions to himself from
all te four house tables. Professor Hart shot a glance at Lily, who was
ignoring her cousin's looks.
'Look, Lily,
look! Cerberus's face!' James half-cried and half-laughed, pulling Lily's
robes.
'Don't pull me!
And yes, I know,' Lily scowled without looking up.
'You carely even
raised your eyes!' Sirius said.
'It said "I'm a
dolt" right?' Lily said quietly, eating her eggs.
'How did you
know?' Remus asked in amazement.
'…'
'Lily? One
moment, please,' Hart said, clasping a hand on her shoulder.
'I'm fine and I
didn't do anything, Bec,' Lily said, drinking her tea.
'Are you sure?'
'As the sky is
blue, I swear my life,' Lily said.
'Not that
serious, are you?' James chided.
'Let her be,'
Hart said, sighing. Lily murmured something under her breath after Hart left which
James failed to catch.
'What did you
say, Lily?' James asked curiously.
'…'
'Speaking of
Cerberus, how'd you know the answers yesterday?'
'…'
'Not telling?'
'…'
'Fine,' James
shrugges. I'll find it out someday.
~**~
'So, why not tell
us about yourself, Lily?' Remus suggested that night.
'She won't say a
thing,' James replied, seeing Lily doing her essay.
'Why not?' Sirius
asked.
'How should I
know? She's doing her essay? Ask her yourself!!' James shot.
'She's gonna be
that way? If I stay like that, I'd go nuts,' Remus said.
'Hey Alicia!
Janice!' James called to the pair of giggling twins at the other side of the
common room.
'What do you
want?' Janice called.
'Can you do us a
favour?'
'Depends,' Alicia
shrugged.
'Try to talk to
Lily there,' James said. 'That okay with you?'
'Sure, why not?'
Alicia replied, after a short talk with her twin.
'Hey, who're you?
We're Janice and Alicia Moon. Nice to meet you!' Janice said cheerfully,
bouncing to Lily.
'Twins! Yep!' Alicia
chirped.
'… I'm Lily
Evans,' Lily said slowly.
'Why so silent?'
Janice asked. 'Heard you were under James's wing.'
'Yes, I am,' Lily
said.
'You don't talk
much, do you?' Alicia piped.
'… I guess I
don't.'
'Which school are
you from?'
'Epetons. It blew
up.'
'Oh. Sorry. So
how's Hogwarts?' Janice asked.
'Pretty fine.'
'Want us to show
you around? I don't think James makes a pretty good tour guide, does he?'
Alicia offered.
'No. It's okay.
James is fine enough.'
'How's you manage
to answer Cerberus's questions yesterday? For a shourt moment, I thought us
Gryffindors will lose fifteen points!' Janice said in admiration.
'… I, uh, studied
earlier,' Lily said, turning back to keep her parchments and pull out a muggle
story book.
'You must be awfully smart, then! Cerberus
likes to torture us Gryffindors. He hates them. I mean all and not just
one,' Alicia said.
'Oh.' Lily
couldn't see what had that got to do with her.
'You don't talk
much, do you?' Janice asked.
'I asked that
already! And she said yes!' Alicia cut.
'I'll be at the
dorm,' Lily said, leaving without another word uttered.
'What's with
her?' Alicia asked, turning to James.
'I don't know.
She hardly speaks to me. Say one sentence. That would be the maximum,' James
shrugged.
He got up and
went back to his dorm. He took out his Invisibility Cloak and draped it around
himself before standing in front of the mirror to make sure he is really hidden
from view. The last time he used it, his left shoulder was sticking out and he
had earned a detention for wandering late at night in the school halls.
James then set
off for the girl's dorm. Upon entering the second year's room, he went straight
to Lily's bed, which is the nearest to the door. It had to be her bed because
it was the only one with all it's curtains down and the girl was nowhere to be
seen. James peeked in.
Lily was sitting
on her bed, her back facing him and holding a big stuffed bear (about half the
size of her) hard as she murmured under her breath. Feeling curious, James
climbed in to hear what she's saying.
'And they'll all
die. I don't want anyone to die,' Lily murmured silently.
Nothing in James
ever expected the bear to reply, but that is exactly what it did! The stuffed
bear answered Lily in a quiet whisper. He lean closer to hear.
'—and don't
worry, Lil! If you want to talk to me face to face, you can always come to my
office,' the bear said gently in a voice like Hart's.
'No. I'm more
comfortable this way,' Lily said quietly. 'Everyone'll die someday, but I don't
want him to die that way. Is there a way, Bec, to change destiny?'
'I'm afraid not,
Lily. If fate should decide that we should die at that time, we should. There's
no way one can interfere with destiny, so stick that at the back of your head,'
the bear replied rather matter-of-factly. James, straining his ear,
accidentally knocked onto Lily's pillow.
'Who's there?'
Lily called sharply, jerking to where James is standing. James held his breath
sharply and silently wished to his lucky stars that Lily will be not smart
enough as to start feeling around for the invisible person.
And thankfully,
James's lucky star granted his wish.
'Probably one of
them, sneaking up for a trick,' Lily said dismissively.
'You really shouldn't
communicate with them any longer. You mix both present and future now. Hang on,
past, too. See what had happened? What'll happen will happen, Lily, and you
must face it with courage, not fear,' the bear said gently.
'No. I'll have to
go one. What I had started, what I had believed in. It's my destiny, should it
be written in paper, to communicate with them. For if I stop—' Lily stopped at
once. 'Who's there? You're not one of them! Come out! Petrificus totalus!'
Then again, lucky
stars could turn unlucky. James felt his body stiffen as the cloak fell out of
his grip. He fell onto the soft bed, thanking the Heavens that it isn't the
hard floor.
'James!' Lily
cried in surprise.
James did a sort
of gesture, as if to say "Put Me Back!" to Lily.
'Sofus. Were you
eavesdropping at me?' Lily demanded sharply.
'No. I was
wondering what were you doing, talking to yourself. Besides, what am I
eavesdropping? It's only you!' James said. Lily's eyes bore into him. Somehow,
James wished he hadn't tried to make things funny. Jokes don't get through
Lily's head.
And besides,
which idiot would talk to a bear of all things to talk to? Okay, so he
was eavesdropping, but—
'So you were
eavesdropping,' Lily concluded, as if reading his mind.
'I wasn't!'
'Out, James!' Lily ordered curtly, pointing
at the door.
Great. I just
help increase her loathe to boys, James moaned, running out of the dorm.
But why hadn't Lily questioned him what was he doing in a girl's dorm? James
remembered something.
'Uh, can I have
my cloak back?' James asked.
'Here,' Lily
said, giving him the cloak.
~**~
'Where were you, Potter?' Sirius asked, visibly annoyed, when James returned to his dorm.
'Sneaking
around,' James replied casually.
'Where?'
'Lily's dorm.'
'And what? Copy
her text book? You have better things to worry about there,' Sirius said,
rolling his eyes at James. Somehow, that didn't seem like James.
'She was speaking
to her toy bear,' James muttered. 'And I'm smart enough to not need to copy any
essays, unlike you.'
'Like what?'
Remus asked curiously.
'Transfiguration,
Potions—'
'No, not that!
What is Lily saying to her bear?'
'Oh, all sorts.
Tons of things,' James said breezily.
'Yes, but what?'
Sirius demanded.
'Let's make this
short.'
'Yes…?'
'Lily needs to
answer some questions tomorrow,' James said, dropping onto his bed.
No, not some.
Loads of them.
~**~
AN: *clears throat in a dignified way* Hello people!!!!!
Yes, I did notice that this Lily isn't exactly the sort that is portrayed
in the other types of fanfictions we all have known so well and loved. I don't
know what possessed me, but the way Lily [in this story] is acting is how I was
when I was younger [about her age now – twelve]. Yes, I do purposely don't
answer calls, just to annoy people, so this is perfectly true!! Only her
personality, that is. And now, thinking back, I think people think of me the
way James now unfolds the story *grins sheepishly* that's what I now think of
myself back then! Anywayz, I'd love to hear from you all. Criticisms and flames
will be taken not as rubbish or anything, but for my future reference J hopefully, my English can improve this way ^^
ciao!!!
