For disclaimers see Prologue. For author's notes - scroll to bottom.
chapter 6: a different way
"James? Lily?" Remus asked, turning around. The three Maruders had been waiting for James and Lily to come back to the Tower for ages now.
There was no answer, only the sound of a girl (lillian, of course) sniffling and holding back what could possibly be sobs.
"Where've you two been?" Peter asked, getting up from his spot and walking towards the two standing side-by-side in the door. "You okay, Lily?"
Lily seemed to flinch at the sound of her own name. James glanced at her when she did so.
"Why don't you go up to bed, Lil," James said, giving her a nudge toward the girl's dorm.
"I think I will," she muttered, moving away as if in a dream, her red hair flying behind her as she went.
They were all quiet until they heard her door quietly shut. Then James turned on them.
"How could you do something like that?" James asked the three silent Marauders.
"Don't you think she's overreacting just a bit?" Sirius asked, pushing himself up from his chair. "She should be happy...so should you. Aren't you happy?"
James nodded in reply.
"And don't you think its stupid that she's acting like we did something horrible to her? I mean, we didn't make you two fall in love with each other - you did that by yourselves. We just...set it up, is all."
"She doesn't have any other friends..."
"Lily?! No way..."
"Yes, way. We're the only friends she has."
"How is that possible?!"
"I don't know... She told me the other day that she didn't have any other friends," James, again, trailed off...
"What about the girls up in her dorm?" Remus asked, somewhat confused.
"No, at least if what she says is true."
"I can understand Beatrice and, maybe, Katie. But what about Natalie?"
James cleared his throat and looked away. "Natalie...sort of has...a crush...on me."
"What?!" all three boys said in unison.
James nodded. "That's what I thought."
"But...she's..." Peter stammered.
"Incredibly shy and sort of scary?" James guessed what Peter was about to say.
"No! I was going to say gorgeous!"
The room was quiet for a very short while.
"Can we just forget about this, James? It really is...well, stupid."
James sighed and looked towards Lily's dorm.
Sirius sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, "I promise you she'll get over it. It's late - we need to get going, if we plan on getting my new plan in action by sunrise..."
James's eyes widened. "What plan is that?"
"Well, I was thinking..."
***
"Hi," Lily sniffled, upon entering the dorm. It was late and all the lights were off - but she knew that they were waiting up on her.
"What kept you?" Beatrice asked, sitting up and letting her thick blonde hair fall over her shoulders.
"Bet you were making-out with James in the Astronomy Tower," Katie said, a slight bit of jealousy and girlish-flare apparent in her voice.
"Oh no, Lil - NOT in the Astronomy Tower... Frank and I have always preferred..."
"What makes you think she cares about what you and Frank do?" Beatrice snapped.
"Besides...she's with James Potter," Katie said matter-of-factly, "he's a Quidditch star, not some little Prefect-freak."
"For your information," Natalie said, sitting up in her bed. "James IS, in fact, a Prefect."
"Shut up, Natalie. Lil's got him now; you don't stand a chance."
Natalie sobbed. Lily felt horrified.
"It HAS to be the best plan Sirius has EVER come up with," Beatrice said, nodding toward Katie.
Kate nodded. "That boy is such a genius."
Lily had to resist shrieking. Instead she composed herself, sniffling. "It isn't any business of yours where I've been or what I've been doing."
"Honestly - what is wrong with you, anyway?" Beatrice cried in disgust.
"We did you a favor getting you together with him and here you are acting all...stuck-up." Like Katharine knew nothing of being stuck-up.
"And running out of the Common Room like we'd hexed you or something," Beatrice said, again rolling her eyes.
All the while, Mara watched with widening, interested eyes. Lily looked toward her for help but Mara only shook her head; as if to say, 'Don't you dare look at me for help'.
Natalie couldn't bear to even look at her.
"Bitch," someone whispered, though the voice was uncharacteristic for anyone in the room. It was a loud whisper and it bounced through the dorm, like a frantic snitch. 'Probably Natalie,' Lily thought, trying hard not to laugh. She, in fact, did laugh but it was, actually, more of a bitter-choking sob.
Mara's voice rose in the darkness, quiet yet oddly sweet. "Shut up and leave her alone," it said, a voice of reason in a sea of chaos. "Get some sleep - it isn't like she cares about any of you, anyway."
This seemed to shut all of them but Natalie up. Lily stayed up all night, listening to her toss and turn and moan.
As the sky became pearl gray, Natalie sat up and sniffled. She looked toward Lily's bed, where Lillian lay silent but awake. "He doesn't even like me, does he?" she said, bitterly.
Lily didn't answer right away.
"Well?!" she demanded.
Lilly sputtered, knowing neither answer would make Natalie feel better. "We never talk about you..." She paused before adding, "...Much."
"He doesn't even know I exist!" She cried, breaking back into wild sobs.
Lily became almost frantic, herself - trying to shut the dark-haired girl up. "Natalie... Nat... Natalie, you have to be quiet. You'll wake the others."
"So! Let them wake up if they want!" Natalie hissed bitterly. "It's your fault, anyway - it's all your fault!"
"Natalie - shut up."
"No!"
"Yes."
"You've ruined my life, Lily Evans - you've ruined my life!"
She wanted to laugh, to say 'What life?!' and 'You never had a chance with him, anyway' but decided against it. It was cold and hypocritical. She wasn't about to be a hypocrite. "Don't blame me, blame Sirius Black," she smirked.
***
The boys were up early for breakfast. Together they marched into the Hall and took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table, beginning to eat and sip Pumpkin Juice immediately. Lily entered about twenty minutes later, looking a little messy to be Lily-the-usually-organized. She took a seat in front of Remus, sighing and putting her head into her arms.
"What's wrong, Lil?" Sirius asked, while munching on toast.
Lily brought her head out of her arms and shook her head. "Natalie kept me up all night."
The boys exchanged glances - all smirking except for Peter, who looked concerned.
"Is she okay?" Peter asked.
"Oh yeah - she's fine. But I'm not - no sleep."
They all gave her their sympathies, as she began her own breakfast.
Neatly, she scraped butter onto her toast.
"Do you always have to be so...neat?" Sirius asked, still half-chewing toast as he spoke.
Lily laughed. However hard last night had been, she was forgetting it in the company of her only friends.
Just seconds after Lily finished her first piece of toast and was buttering her second; Mara and Frank walked in. Lily watched Mara whisper something to Frank sharply and pulled him in the direction of Lily and the boys.
"Sirius, Remus, Peter, James..." Frank greeted each of them, before turning lastly to Lily "And the lovely Lillian."
Lily couldn't help but smile, even though she thought Frank's words were a little too-much put-on. She knew how much Frank wanted to make an impression on his fellow students. He wanted to be Head Boy. Mara was always ranting and raving about Frank being Head Boy some day.
"Lily," Mara smiled warmly. What a couple those two made, the awfully stunningly nice couple who were rather clumsy but sweet all the same. You knew that they'd grow up to have either (a) lovely children who were so polite it made your teeth hurt or (b) children so clumsy and forgetful they'd be coined idiots during the first week of their first year of Wizarding School. "Boys!"
The boys put on a big show of waving at Mara, who simply smiled. "Lillain - I wanted to tell you to not take the other girls seriously."
Lily's green eyes locked with Mara's own large, light blue ones.
"They're just jealous and I know it. That's how they were when Frank and I first started going out. It'll wear off - I promise."
Lily nodded, noting that Beatrice and Katie still did not like Frank, no matter how nice he was to them.
***
Potions seemed to last forever in the misty dark of the dungeons. Lily worked with James, as always. His worst class was Potions. That day she watched as James made several careless mistakes with the cauldron they were doing their monthly project in. Fortunately, she was able to easily repair them even in her half-dead state of mind.
"No James," she said, "it's supposed to bubble and change to a neon-green color. Not orange."
"But...we did Color Potions in first year... All that yellow and blue stuff..."
"James, this isn't a Color Potion."
"Oh - what kind is it?" he asked.
"Numbing potion," she said.
"A medi-potion?"
"I guess."
She took out her wand and conjured up a bottle perfect for the red potion swirling in the yellow, turning it slowly to orange. Using a simple Separation charm, the red potion was moved to the jar. Unfortunately, Lily was caught in the act.
"Miss. Evans!"
Lily and James BOTH jumped as Professor Croll appeared before the two of them. Professor Nickclaus Croll hated every other type of magic except the 'Fine Art of Potions'. He had specific rules about using other types of magic in his classes; it was looked upon as a sort of crime in the dungeons. He also didn't believe in doing any type of homework in classes - that was meant for the dorms or the library.
"You know how I feel about homework from other classes," the Professor said, angrily. The entire room fell silent, Slytherin and Gryffindor - turning to watch Lily and James.
"It's not homework, Professor."
"Oh - is it not?"
"No Professor Croll, I was simply trying to fix the mistakes of my partner," Lily said, attempting to be brave and look him directly in the eye.
Professor Croll glanced at James. "What mistake was that?"
"He spilled a red Color Potion into our project, Professor."
His eyes swept again to James, cold and accusing. "Did you do this on purpose, Potter?"
"I thought the potion called for it, Professor."
The room was deathly silent.
"Are you almost finished with your project, Evans?"
"Yes," Lily felt the color draining from her body as she realized what the Professor was about to do.
Croll smiled. "Well - why don't you demonstrate to us the way the project is SUPPOSED to look, when finished - Evans."
Lily gulped. "Um - okay."
Professor Croll looked slightly offended.
"I mean, yes Professor."
Croll now nodded and gestured toward the cauldron. "So..."
"I have to find the proper potion to add to the cauldron," Lily fumbled, looking wildly at she and James's worktable for a closed beaker of blue liquid-solution.
"You can borrow some of ours," Sirius said, motioning to he and Remus's cauldron. Before the Professor could say a word, Lily was ladling out a small portion of the proper blue potion.
Turning back to the large cauldron, she held the beaker filled with blue solution slightly over her head - letting it capture what little light the room held. Now, she dumped the contents into the pot.
"Quick, James, stir. No, clockwise," she whispered and he began to stir, rapidly. Within seconds, the potion bubbled and became bright neon green. It set off an odd glow and the Gryffindors in the room cheered. Well, most of them anyway. Natalie scowled, Beatrice and Katie looked unemotional.
During the commotion, the Professor slunk back to his desk. As the cheering, which the Professor obviously was ignoring - on any other day he would have raised bloody hell if someone clapped their hands, came to an end he rose once more from his seat. "Miss. Evans - can I have a word?"
James looked at her, giving her an oh-my-god-I'm-so-sorry-look - she got up and, nervously, walked to the front of the room.
Nickclaus leaned over his desk. "Wonderful save, Evans. You work well under pressure?"
She hadn't anything to say to this - so she simply nodded.
"You brewed a wonderful example of the Numbing potion, Miss.Evans - with little to no help from your partner."
She wanted to come to James defense, but didn't know if she should in front of a Professor. She nodded, again.
"I'm awarding thirty points to Gryffindor..."
Lily took a deep breath in surprise. Had he really just said...
"But I'll also be taking five away for doing Charms work in my class. You use Potions methods to make Potions, not charms - understand Evans?"
"I understand, Professor."
She expected him to tell her to go back to her seat but he didn't. Instead he motioned to a book in front of him, "I'm giving you and Potter a new project." He handed her the book and she skimmed the page. "A re-growing potion for human bones. Madam Pomfrey and Madam Pratt upstairs have some use for this Potion." His lips curled up into a nasty smile. "Good luck."
She turned on her heel immediately and walked back to her seat, clutching the book to her chest, unaware of the eyes all upon her.
As soon as she reached their worktable, James leaned in, "What'd he say, Lil?"
"Twenty-five points," she whispered, hardly able to control her smile.
"Twenty-five points? You lost us twenty-five points!? Lily - how do you expect us to win the Cup if you keep up with this! And you're smiling!?!?"
Lily shook her head, laughing. "No - I WON twenty-five points."
"Oh. Oh! Lily - that's wonderful!!"
"Yes! I know - oh, by the way we have a new project." She showed him the page in the book.
"Bone re-growing? As in, re-growing an entire skeleton."
"I think so," she said, looking up at him with bright green eyes. "They already have plenty of bone-mending potions."
"Hmm..."
"Professor Croll said that the Hospital Wing needed some," she said.
"Well - what does the recipe call for?"
"Purple...mermaid scales?" James read, his voice turning slightly disbelieving toward the end.
Her eyes widened. "Purple?!"
"Do you have Purple mermaid scales?" he asked. She shook her head, no.
"I've got blue," she offered.
He sighed. "Maybe I have a little red left..."
"Perfect - we can mix the two together and dissolve the mixture in water." She seemed delighted at her own intelligence.
James began to make the assignment chart - Professor Croll insisted on major assignments being charted, as Lily began to crush the red and blue scales together. She watched him quickly write with a spare quill all of the ingredients they were missing from the Potion, so the Potions Master could check their progress.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he stood and walked toward the cabinet where the Professor was waiting on him. The Professor checked the list and nodded in a this-should-be-interesting-way. While he was walking back to the worktable, someone tall, thin and dark-haired appeared in front of him.
***
After being at school with Natalie Rigel for five years, it was strange that James Potter had never looked her in the eyes. Until she stepped in front of him, wide blue eyes light and intoxicating. Today she was looking especially lovely, as if she'd been expecting him to speak to her all along and she had readied herself for it.
She was incredibly pale, paler then even Lily; who didn't tan at all, only burnt, and her long, dark hair (which usually fell around her face in a limp, unexplainable grace) was piled up atop her head, three long curls hanging down to her waist. She smiled at him. "James - what're you doing over here in the extra ingredient section. Come here - I'll get you some quality stuff out of my own little traveler's apothecary."
"So - what ingredients do you need?" she smiled, leading him to her table.
"Oh," he mumbled, "um - purple mermaid scales."
She smiled. "Solution or just raw scales?"
"You mean there's a difference?!"
"Yes, of course there's a difference."
"I guess it'd be easier to take the potion."
"Then the potion it is," she said, fishing a bottle of purple-y liquid out of her bag. "Here - I know it's a small bottle but if you need more you know where to contact me."
She flashed him that look again - all light blue and rimmed with darkness. He could have sworn the rims of those light blue eyes were pure sapphire. Natalie had the eyes of an enchanter, the eyes of a woman desperate.
She did something quite strange, quite beautiful - stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, softly.
The sad part was, he felt nothing for her. Absolutely nothing. She was creepy and shy; the exact opposite of Lily, who was friendly, outgoing, and fiery. Not only that - but she just wasn't as drop dead gorgeous as Lily. Yes, she was pretty. She'd be a nice girl for Peter. Yes, Peter. Or maybe even Remus. But never, ever James.
His heart belonged to the Lily.
***
He walked toward their usual table and Lily looked up at him, flashing him a smile. "Got some stuff for us to work with tomorrow?" It was the last fifteen minutes of class and everyone was cleaning up.
"Yea."
"Good..."
"I got mermaid scales," he declared.
She raised an eyebrow. "Purple ones."
"In liquefied form," he smirked; handing her the bottle Natalie had given her.
She studied it, turning the small bottle topped with a cork over and over in her hands - watching the purple liquid slide inside its container. "James - where did you get this?"
"Natalie."
"Well - our mixture of red and blue scales is dissolving away in our beaker," she said, pointing toward a cabinet that Croll was locking. "He's got our project in there."
"Come on, Lil - I'll look stupid giving her back this tiny bottle."
"Well, tomorrow - we'll test both of the potions and see which one is stronger," she said. "We'll use the strongest one."
She'd added the last part for good measure.
Chapter Title: a different way: "You could say this was an independent love song/it's nothing like to us what love meant to them/that's not to say the love we have isn't big or that strong/I'm doing it a different way/I'm doing it a different way "
Croll - the name of an author of children's books.
Nickclaus - I have a friend named that ^^
Rigel - means 'blue'
chapter 6: a different way
"James? Lily?" Remus asked, turning around. The three Maruders had been waiting for James and Lily to come back to the Tower for ages now.
There was no answer, only the sound of a girl (lillian, of course) sniffling and holding back what could possibly be sobs.
"Where've you two been?" Peter asked, getting up from his spot and walking towards the two standing side-by-side in the door. "You okay, Lily?"
Lily seemed to flinch at the sound of her own name. James glanced at her when she did so.
"Why don't you go up to bed, Lil," James said, giving her a nudge toward the girl's dorm.
"I think I will," she muttered, moving away as if in a dream, her red hair flying behind her as she went.
They were all quiet until they heard her door quietly shut. Then James turned on them.
"How could you do something like that?" James asked the three silent Marauders.
"Don't you think she's overreacting just a bit?" Sirius asked, pushing himself up from his chair. "She should be happy...so should you. Aren't you happy?"
James nodded in reply.
"And don't you think its stupid that she's acting like we did something horrible to her? I mean, we didn't make you two fall in love with each other - you did that by yourselves. We just...set it up, is all."
"She doesn't have any other friends..."
"Lily?! No way..."
"Yes, way. We're the only friends she has."
"How is that possible?!"
"I don't know... She told me the other day that she didn't have any other friends," James, again, trailed off...
"What about the girls up in her dorm?" Remus asked, somewhat confused.
"No, at least if what she says is true."
"I can understand Beatrice and, maybe, Katie. But what about Natalie?"
James cleared his throat and looked away. "Natalie...sort of has...a crush...on me."
"What?!" all three boys said in unison.
James nodded. "That's what I thought."
"But...she's..." Peter stammered.
"Incredibly shy and sort of scary?" James guessed what Peter was about to say.
"No! I was going to say gorgeous!"
The room was quiet for a very short while.
"Can we just forget about this, James? It really is...well, stupid."
James sighed and looked towards Lily's dorm.
Sirius sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, "I promise you she'll get over it. It's late - we need to get going, if we plan on getting my new plan in action by sunrise..."
James's eyes widened. "What plan is that?"
"Well, I was thinking..."
***
"Hi," Lily sniffled, upon entering the dorm. It was late and all the lights were off - but she knew that they were waiting up on her.
"What kept you?" Beatrice asked, sitting up and letting her thick blonde hair fall over her shoulders.
"Bet you were making-out with James in the Astronomy Tower," Katie said, a slight bit of jealousy and girlish-flare apparent in her voice.
"Oh no, Lil - NOT in the Astronomy Tower... Frank and I have always preferred..."
"What makes you think she cares about what you and Frank do?" Beatrice snapped.
"Besides...she's with James Potter," Katie said matter-of-factly, "he's a Quidditch star, not some little Prefect-freak."
"For your information," Natalie said, sitting up in her bed. "James IS, in fact, a Prefect."
"Shut up, Natalie. Lil's got him now; you don't stand a chance."
Natalie sobbed. Lily felt horrified.
"It HAS to be the best plan Sirius has EVER come up with," Beatrice said, nodding toward Katie.
Kate nodded. "That boy is such a genius."
Lily had to resist shrieking. Instead she composed herself, sniffling. "It isn't any business of yours where I've been or what I've been doing."
"Honestly - what is wrong with you, anyway?" Beatrice cried in disgust.
"We did you a favor getting you together with him and here you are acting all...stuck-up." Like Katharine knew nothing of being stuck-up.
"And running out of the Common Room like we'd hexed you or something," Beatrice said, again rolling her eyes.
All the while, Mara watched with widening, interested eyes. Lily looked toward her for help but Mara only shook her head; as if to say, 'Don't you dare look at me for help'.
Natalie couldn't bear to even look at her.
"Bitch," someone whispered, though the voice was uncharacteristic for anyone in the room. It was a loud whisper and it bounced through the dorm, like a frantic snitch. 'Probably Natalie,' Lily thought, trying hard not to laugh. She, in fact, did laugh but it was, actually, more of a bitter-choking sob.
Mara's voice rose in the darkness, quiet yet oddly sweet. "Shut up and leave her alone," it said, a voice of reason in a sea of chaos. "Get some sleep - it isn't like she cares about any of you, anyway."
This seemed to shut all of them but Natalie up. Lily stayed up all night, listening to her toss and turn and moan.
As the sky became pearl gray, Natalie sat up and sniffled. She looked toward Lily's bed, where Lillian lay silent but awake. "He doesn't even like me, does he?" she said, bitterly.
Lily didn't answer right away.
"Well?!" she demanded.
Lilly sputtered, knowing neither answer would make Natalie feel better. "We never talk about you..." She paused before adding, "...Much."
"He doesn't even know I exist!" She cried, breaking back into wild sobs.
Lily became almost frantic, herself - trying to shut the dark-haired girl up. "Natalie... Nat... Natalie, you have to be quiet. You'll wake the others."
"So! Let them wake up if they want!" Natalie hissed bitterly. "It's your fault, anyway - it's all your fault!"
"Natalie - shut up."
"No!"
"Yes."
"You've ruined my life, Lily Evans - you've ruined my life!"
She wanted to laugh, to say 'What life?!' and 'You never had a chance with him, anyway' but decided against it. It was cold and hypocritical. She wasn't about to be a hypocrite. "Don't blame me, blame Sirius Black," she smirked.
***
The boys were up early for breakfast. Together they marched into the Hall and took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table, beginning to eat and sip Pumpkin Juice immediately. Lily entered about twenty minutes later, looking a little messy to be Lily-the-usually-organized. She took a seat in front of Remus, sighing and putting her head into her arms.
"What's wrong, Lil?" Sirius asked, while munching on toast.
Lily brought her head out of her arms and shook her head. "Natalie kept me up all night."
The boys exchanged glances - all smirking except for Peter, who looked concerned.
"Is she okay?" Peter asked.
"Oh yeah - she's fine. But I'm not - no sleep."
They all gave her their sympathies, as she began her own breakfast.
Neatly, she scraped butter onto her toast.
"Do you always have to be so...neat?" Sirius asked, still half-chewing toast as he spoke.
Lily laughed. However hard last night had been, she was forgetting it in the company of her only friends.
Just seconds after Lily finished her first piece of toast and was buttering her second; Mara and Frank walked in. Lily watched Mara whisper something to Frank sharply and pulled him in the direction of Lily and the boys.
"Sirius, Remus, Peter, James..." Frank greeted each of them, before turning lastly to Lily "And the lovely Lillian."
Lily couldn't help but smile, even though she thought Frank's words were a little too-much put-on. She knew how much Frank wanted to make an impression on his fellow students. He wanted to be Head Boy. Mara was always ranting and raving about Frank being Head Boy some day.
"Lily," Mara smiled warmly. What a couple those two made, the awfully stunningly nice couple who were rather clumsy but sweet all the same. You knew that they'd grow up to have either (a) lovely children who were so polite it made your teeth hurt or (b) children so clumsy and forgetful they'd be coined idiots during the first week of their first year of Wizarding School. "Boys!"
The boys put on a big show of waving at Mara, who simply smiled. "Lillain - I wanted to tell you to not take the other girls seriously."
Lily's green eyes locked with Mara's own large, light blue ones.
"They're just jealous and I know it. That's how they were when Frank and I first started going out. It'll wear off - I promise."
Lily nodded, noting that Beatrice and Katie still did not like Frank, no matter how nice he was to them.
***
Potions seemed to last forever in the misty dark of the dungeons. Lily worked with James, as always. His worst class was Potions. That day she watched as James made several careless mistakes with the cauldron they were doing their monthly project in. Fortunately, she was able to easily repair them even in her half-dead state of mind.
"No James," she said, "it's supposed to bubble and change to a neon-green color. Not orange."
"But...we did Color Potions in first year... All that yellow and blue stuff..."
"James, this isn't a Color Potion."
"Oh - what kind is it?" he asked.
"Numbing potion," she said.
"A medi-potion?"
"I guess."
She took out her wand and conjured up a bottle perfect for the red potion swirling in the yellow, turning it slowly to orange. Using a simple Separation charm, the red potion was moved to the jar. Unfortunately, Lily was caught in the act.
"Miss. Evans!"
Lily and James BOTH jumped as Professor Croll appeared before the two of them. Professor Nickclaus Croll hated every other type of magic except the 'Fine Art of Potions'. He had specific rules about using other types of magic in his classes; it was looked upon as a sort of crime in the dungeons. He also didn't believe in doing any type of homework in classes - that was meant for the dorms or the library.
"You know how I feel about homework from other classes," the Professor said, angrily. The entire room fell silent, Slytherin and Gryffindor - turning to watch Lily and James.
"It's not homework, Professor."
"Oh - is it not?"
"No Professor Croll, I was simply trying to fix the mistakes of my partner," Lily said, attempting to be brave and look him directly in the eye.
Professor Croll glanced at James. "What mistake was that?"
"He spilled a red Color Potion into our project, Professor."
His eyes swept again to James, cold and accusing. "Did you do this on purpose, Potter?"
"I thought the potion called for it, Professor."
The room was deathly silent.
"Are you almost finished with your project, Evans?"
"Yes," Lily felt the color draining from her body as she realized what the Professor was about to do.
Croll smiled. "Well - why don't you demonstrate to us the way the project is SUPPOSED to look, when finished - Evans."
Lily gulped. "Um - okay."
Professor Croll looked slightly offended.
"I mean, yes Professor."
Croll now nodded and gestured toward the cauldron. "So..."
"I have to find the proper potion to add to the cauldron," Lily fumbled, looking wildly at she and James's worktable for a closed beaker of blue liquid-solution.
"You can borrow some of ours," Sirius said, motioning to he and Remus's cauldron. Before the Professor could say a word, Lily was ladling out a small portion of the proper blue potion.
Turning back to the large cauldron, she held the beaker filled with blue solution slightly over her head - letting it capture what little light the room held. Now, she dumped the contents into the pot.
"Quick, James, stir. No, clockwise," she whispered and he began to stir, rapidly. Within seconds, the potion bubbled and became bright neon green. It set off an odd glow and the Gryffindors in the room cheered. Well, most of them anyway. Natalie scowled, Beatrice and Katie looked unemotional.
During the commotion, the Professor slunk back to his desk. As the cheering, which the Professor obviously was ignoring - on any other day he would have raised bloody hell if someone clapped their hands, came to an end he rose once more from his seat. "Miss. Evans - can I have a word?"
James looked at her, giving her an oh-my-god-I'm-so-sorry-look - she got up and, nervously, walked to the front of the room.
Nickclaus leaned over his desk. "Wonderful save, Evans. You work well under pressure?"
She hadn't anything to say to this - so she simply nodded.
"You brewed a wonderful example of the Numbing potion, Miss.Evans - with little to no help from your partner."
She wanted to come to James defense, but didn't know if she should in front of a Professor. She nodded, again.
"I'm awarding thirty points to Gryffindor..."
Lily took a deep breath in surprise. Had he really just said...
"But I'll also be taking five away for doing Charms work in my class. You use Potions methods to make Potions, not charms - understand Evans?"
"I understand, Professor."
She expected him to tell her to go back to her seat but he didn't. Instead he motioned to a book in front of him, "I'm giving you and Potter a new project." He handed her the book and she skimmed the page. "A re-growing potion for human bones. Madam Pomfrey and Madam Pratt upstairs have some use for this Potion." His lips curled up into a nasty smile. "Good luck."
She turned on her heel immediately and walked back to her seat, clutching the book to her chest, unaware of the eyes all upon her.
As soon as she reached their worktable, James leaned in, "What'd he say, Lil?"
"Twenty-five points," she whispered, hardly able to control her smile.
"Twenty-five points? You lost us twenty-five points!? Lily - how do you expect us to win the Cup if you keep up with this! And you're smiling!?!?"
Lily shook her head, laughing. "No - I WON twenty-five points."
"Oh. Oh! Lily - that's wonderful!!"
"Yes! I know - oh, by the way we have a new project." She showed him the page in the book.
"Bone re-growing? As in, re-growing an entire skeleton."
"I think so," she said, looking up at him with bright green eyes. "They already have plenty of bone-mending potions."
"Hmm..."
"Professor Croll said that the Hospital Wing needed some," she said.
"Well - what does the recipe call for?"
"Purple...mermaid scales?" James read, his voice turning slightly disbelieving toward the end.
Her eyes widened. "Purple?!"
"Do you have Purple mermaid scales?" he asked. She shook her head, no.
"I've got blue," she offered.
He sighed. "Maybe I have a little red left..."
"Perfect - we can mix the two together and dissolve the mixture in water." She seemed delighted at her own intelligence.
James began to make the assignment chart - Professor Croll insisted on major assignments being charted, as Lily began to crush the red and blue scales together. She watched him quickly write with a spare quill all of the ingredients they were missing from the Potion, so the Potions Master could check their progress.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he stood and walked toward the cabinet where the Professor was waiting on him. The Professor checked the list and nodded in a this-should-be-interesting-way. While he was walking back to the worktable, someone tall, thin and dark-haired appeared in front of him.
***
After being at school with Natalie Rigel for five years, it was strange that James Potter had never looked her in the eyes. Until she stepped in front of him, wide blue eyes light and intoxicating. Today she was looking especially lovely, as if she'd been expecting him to speak to her all along and she had readied herself for it.
She was incredibly pale, paler then even Lily; who didn't tan at all, only burnt, and her long, dark hair (which usually fell around her face in a limp, unexplainable grace) was piled up atop her head, three long curls hanging down to her waist. She smiled at him. "James - what're you doing over here in the extra ingredient section. Come here - I'll get you some quality stuff out of my own little traveler's apothecary."
"So - what ingredients do you need?" she smiled, leading him to her table.
"Oh," he mumbled, "um - purple mermaid scales."
She smiled. "Solution or just raw scales?"
"You mean there's a difference?!"
"Yes, of course there's a difference."
"I guess it'd be easier to take the potion."
"Then the potion it is," she said, fishing a bottle of purple-y liquid out of her bag. "Here - I know it's a small bottle but if you need more you know where to contact me."
She flashed him that look again - all light blue and rimmed with darkness. He could have sworn the rims of those light blue eyes were pure sapphire. Natalie had the eyes of an enchanter, the eyes of a woman desperate.
She did something quite strange, quite beautiful - stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, softly.
The sad part was, he felt nothing for her. Absolutely nothing. She was creepy and shy; the exact opposite of Lily, who was friendly, outgoing, and fiery. Not only that - but she just wasn't as drop dead gorgeous as Lily. Yes, she was pretty. She'd be a nice girl for Peter. Yes, Peter. Or maybe even Remus. But never, ever James.
His heart belonged to the Lily.
***
He walked toward their usual table and Lily looked up at him, flashing him a smile. "Got some stuff for us to work with tomorrow?" It was the last fifteen minutes of class and everyone was cleaning up.
"Yea."
"Good..."
"I got mermaid scales," he declared.
She raised an eyebrow. "Purple ones."
"In liquefied form," he smirked; handing her the bottle Natalie had given her.
She studied it, turning the small bottle topped with a cork over and over in her hands - watching the purple liquid slide inside its container. "James - where did you get this?"
"Natalie."
"Well - our mixture of red and blue scales is dissolving away in our beaker," she said, pointing toward a cabinet that Croll was locking. "He's got our project in there."
"Come on, Lil - I'll look stupid giving her back this tiny bottle."
"Well, tomorrow - we'll test both of the potions and see which one is stronger," she said. "We'll use the strongest one."
She'd added the last part for good measure.
Chapter Title: a different way: "You could say this was an independent love song/it's nothing like to us what love meant to them/that's not to say the love we have isn't big or that strong/I'm doing it a different way/I'm doing it a different way "
Croll - the name of an author of children's books.
Nickclaus - I have a friend named that ^^
Rigel - means 'blue'