Chapter 11 - An Unknown Letter

Lily was the first one to wake up, too excited to go back to sleep, she got up, put on her robes and went down to the common room. At once, she saw Remus, James, Sirius and Peter. They all huddled up in one corner whispering something to each other. Not much people were there yet. Lily thought it was one of those 'quiet its Lily' time. Therefore, she cleared her throat to get the boys attention and as she guessed, they all looked up quickly trying to hide a parchment.

"Good morning Lily, nice day isn't it?" said Sirius, pretending to act normal.

"Yes. Good morning boys, what are you all doing?" said Lily trying to stand on her tiptoes and see what were they hiding.

"Err-"… "Ah-"…"Umm-"

The boys were all speechless and trying to figure out what to say, but Lily noticed they were having difficulties and changed the subject. It wasn't long, when a couple of students were coming in from their dormitories talking loudly. Lily and the boys had stopped talking and joined the crowd that was walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast. The Great Hall was filled with students yawing and rubbing their eyes.

The four long tables were loaded with porridge, mountains of toast and dishes of eggs and bacon. Beneath the enchanted ceiling was going to be a bright sunny day. Lily sited her self on to the same spot she sat on last night and waited for the boys to come. Sirius sat on her right and James on her left. They were eating their breakfast when James spoke to her.

"Post's due any moment, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Do we get deliveries? By postmen?"

Sirius snorted. "Post who?" asked James.

"They're these people who deliver Muggle post, James," said Sirius. "Don't worry Lily, you'll find out," he let out a small weak smile.

"Sirius-"

"Hmm?"

"How do you know about postmen?" asked Lily.

"Oh, I read it some where. Why?"

"Nothing. I was just-"

Lily was about to finish her sentence when she heard rushing sound overhead and a hundred or so owls streamed in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd. Lily was impressed and started to watch owls swooping down. A small envelope dropped in front of Lily. Surprised, Lily looked at the envelope, it was addressed to her: "To Lily Evans".

James and Sirius leaned closer. Lily opened the envelope slowly but puzzled, there written in green ink again it says:

"Dearest Lily,

Congratulations on getting into Gryffindor, although I would've preferred if you went to the same one as me…"

Lily thought. 'Well that cancels out anyone from Gryffindor.'

"… That will be it from me, for now. Take care Miss Evans and I'll see you around."

Lily smiled, but James and Sirius weren't too happy.

"Who's that from?" asked Sirius.

"I don't know, it doesn't say". Lily looked around the hall.

"Lily! Your head seems to be getting bigger," commented James. "I'm just kidding. Someone likes you, already? You've become popular around here. Wonder who it is? Hmm…" and he jerked his head towards Snape. He snorted trying to control his laughter, but he couldn't help it and he and the other boys burst out laughing.

Lily slightly elbowed him on his stomach. "Ouch!" he was still laughing "Sorry… Ok! (They stopped laughing), but that would be funny though…"

"Hi! Good morning to all," greeted Jenny, as she walked in with Cassidy and Sebastian. Cassidy sat next to Remus who went red. "What are you all laughing about?"

"Lily got a love letter from… ouch!"

Lily elbowed James again. "…From nobody! We don't know," said Lily firmly, finishing James' sentence. Lily had remembered her dream. "Hey! Did you guys hear any howling last night?"

"No. We haven't," they replied.

"Oh okay, never mind then."

Just then, Professor McGonagall was moving along the Gryffindor table, handing out timetables, Lily saw she had double Herbology with the Ravenclaw first. As they finished their breakfast, Sirius, Remus and Peter waved good-bye to them and walked off to a different direction as the others. James, Jenny, Sebastian and Cassidy all had the same timetable as Lily, which she was happy for, at least she knew she had friends with her.

They all walked out of the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. As they came closer to the greenhouses they saw the rest of the class standing outside, a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout was waiting for them. "Good morning class," she stared at James, "and good morning to you Mr Potter, I hope you won't cause me trouble this year."

James smiled cheekily. "Miss! I would never," he replied, innocently.

Professor Sprout smiled and walked in one of the greenhouse and the students followed. The lesson was fascinating, to Lily's opinion that is. James who knew all about these was bored. In a way, Lily felt sorry for James for repeating, but it also disturbed her. After the lesson had finished they all started to walk back up to the castle, but Lily held James back and told the others they would follow on later.

"Yes?" said James, "is something wrong?"

Lily hesitated to ask, but she blurted out, "James, do you know what we were doing in class?"

"Of course, I did it last year!" he was now smiling.

"Why do they teach the same things then? And if you know it all, why can't they just give you a test for you to get to second year?"

"You really want to get rid of me that bad, huh?"

"No, it's not that. I mean, if you find the lesson so easy and if you've learnt it already, what's the point of learning again?"

"Whoa! Lily, calm down. I don't make the rules. I'm just a poor boy who was framed. So calm down, I don't know why. But there's a way to get into a higher class, you have to get top marks in the exams at the end of the year."

Then without saying a word, Lily and James started to walk back up the castle and headed for their next class, Potions with Slytherins. Even though Lily was still not satisfied at the answer James gave her, she didn't continue it any further. Lily, James, Cassidy, Sebastian and Jenny all sat at the back of the classroom and waited for the teacher to come.

"My name is Professor Abbott," introduced a man who was coming inside the classroom. He had square shaped glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose, dark brown hair, quite pale and baggy eyes. He wore a black Wizards robe and held a manner in which indicates that he should not be tampered with. In a way, Lily was quite afraid of him since he looked pale around the face, bitter and emotionless. "And I will be teaching you," he continued, "the fine science and exact art of potion-making. Today, we will be doing theory work and tomorrow we will try out if it works."

At the end of the class, everyone was too sore to do anything. James had been explaining to Lily what Professor Abbott was talking about and by the end of the class he was too tired to tease Lily, Snape was waiting for her after class, but saw James and moved away. In some respects, Lily felt sorry for Snape, but there was something about him that made her doubt about him. During the Potion class, Lily finally understood that James didn't really need to try hard in making through the classes. She understood that James was actually smart, who was just struggling to hide it from the rest.

It was their brake and they started to walk up to the Great Hall, Sebastian, Jenny and Cassidy all went somewhere and left James and Lily by themselves. Once a while one of them would open but nothing would come out.

"Umm. Lily?" said James, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes James?"

"I… I … I'm really…really… umm…"

"You're really what, James?"

They had moved in closer now.

"I'm… I'm really happy to see you happy," he stepped backwards with a weak smile and walked in front of Lily.

As Lily walked towards the Great Hall, she couldn't help thinking what James was suppose to say or what he meant. Lily had become really close to James lately and they have been getting along very well, but somehow Sirius walks in whenever they were close.

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Next Chapter: After the little conversation Lily and James had, they had suddenly become distant, but as Lily faced death, some might say, 'Fate' stepped in…

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Sorry everyone, I gotta go. Have to do chores, yada yada yada… until next time! Don't worry I hope I won't be gone too long! Ja!