The one where Ginny thinks James is charming
The Fat Lady was far kinder when Lily returned to Gryffindor Tower. Someone had told her all about the new student and she gave Lily a smile before asking the password.
'Magic Toes.' The door swung open. 'I'm sorry about the other night...I was a bit tired and got the password mixed up.'
'Of course, no wonder. Travelling does make one tired.'
'Thank you.' Lily stepped into the Common Room and looked around.
It was early morning and no one was up yet. The Common Room looked almost the same as it did in the year 1996. Except, some of the furniture was in a different position, the big armchair she liked because of its cozy grooves was brand new and the coffee table was different. At least it wouldn't be too hard to fit in to the year 1976.
'Hi,'
Lily turned around and saw a girl standing behind her. The first thing she noticed was her hair; shoulder length blonde hair with streaks of pink. Her eyes were brown and soft and there was a smile on her face. Lily smiled too and repeated the greeting: 'Hi.'
'You're the new girl, right?'
She nodded. 'Yes, that's me.'
'Welcome to Hogwarts, then. I'm Janet Downer.'
'Nice to meet you, Janet. I'm Lily Evans.'
'Everybody knows about you now.' Her eyes were twinkling in a fair imitation of Professor Dumbledore's. 'Professor McGonagall came around yesterday and said that you were going to stay here. All the boys think you're mysterious. You'd better watch out or you'll have a bunch of admirers.'
Lily felt like she could be a bit "naughty" with her new persona. No one knew her as Ginny Weasley; no one knew how much she had screwed up in her first year. They could like her. 'And since when has that been a bad thing?'
Janet laughed. 'All right then, you. I'll take you to the sixth year girl's room. All the others have been itching to open your parcels. I had to beat the off with a stick.'
They walked up the stairs and stopped at the door. 'I like to put more wards on the doors. That Sirius Black likes sneaking in here when we're changing. I don't know how he does it. He just appears out of thin air. I think that he has an Invisibility Cloak. That would be just like Sirius. Have a Cloak and use it to catch girls undressing.' Janet removed the wards and opened the door.
Lily stepped in and saw that it, again, was close to the old, or rather, new layout of the room. The quilts on the bed were different, as they always were. The only bed that really stood out was a bright pink one. Looking at Janet's strawberry colored streaks, she thought she had a fair idea about who owned that particular bed. The four poster that she presumed was hers had brown parcels all over it.
'I'm going to wake the others. You open your things.' Janet announced, waving her wand in the general direction of the other girls.
Lily unwrapped the parcels and started putting things away. Much to her delight, none of the items was second hand. Her schoolbooks were interesting, but there was some missing. Dumbledore wasn't letting her use the Time-Turner for her studies. Strangely, this didn't bother Lily as she was hoping she could drop a few subjects without upsetting her teachers. Her teachers didn't even know her now, so she doubted they'd be upset.
Using her timetable to decide which books to put in her leather satchel, she removed the brown paper with a flick of her wand. Hermione had found out about how used the Cleaning Charm was, especially with paper, and had almost gone mental. The idea that people weren't recycling their paper made Hermione mad. This stumped Lily until Hermione had shown her a pamphlet about saving the trees. Wizards didn't think about the environment sometimes.
The last parcel was one with a note on it. Lily opened the note first, a habit she had picked up when all her family wanted her to open her presents and she wanted to drive them nuts. Her brothers especially hated it when she read it allowed, slowly and tonelessly.
Miss Evans,
Perhaps this book may be of use to you. Do not tell anyone, especially a certain Transfiguration teacher,
Professor. A. Dumbledore
Lily raised an eyebrow at the note and put it to the side. She opened the parcel and let out a gasp. The Do's and Don'ts of Becoming an Animagus. Why on earth would the Headmaster want her to become an illegal Animagus? She fought the urge to laugh. Slipping the book into a drawer and covering it with a few sheets of paper, Lily got off the bed and looked at her disheveled looking room mates who had been awoken rudely by being tipped out of their beds.
Janet was applying some bright pink lipstick when she walked over. 'Do you think you could tell me the girls' names and a little about each of them?'
'Sure.' Although her lips were moving, she still managed to finish the lipstick without any smudges. She put the makeup back in her case and turned around. 'The one on the right looking out the window is Annette. She's totally into Stevie Wonder. Don't get talking to her about it. You'll never get away. The one doing her shoelaces is Porcia. Her family is nice. They donate money to the school without even wanting to bribe the teachers. Finally, Alexia. She's reserved. We try and get her to do stuff with us but she won't have a bar of it. Dead smart, too.' Janet finished her description of the girls and looked at her watch. 'Ooh, we'd better head down to the Great Hall. Breakfast will start really soon and you don't want to miss that. There's so much food and it is awfully nice.'
Without thinking, Lily said: 'I know.'
Janet frowned. 'How do you know? You're only new.'
Think fast, numbskull. 'Someone told me when I was in the Hospital Wing.'
Thankfully, she bought it. 'Well, being told is nothing compared to seeing it. Come on.' She took Lily's hand and dragged her down the stairs. They both giggled as Janet stumbled and almost brought them both down. The Common Room had filled and was bustling with people.
'Hey everyone, it's the new girl!' shouted a voice from the other side of the room.
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Janet and Lily.
'Uh, hi.' Lily said, smiling nervously. Taking a breath and telling herself that the quiet and shy Ginny Weasley was in 1996, she began walking towards the door, Janet in tow, ignoring all the people staring at her.
The Gryffindors began talking again. Lily looked up and saw three boys huddled in a corner. It reminded her somewhat of Fred and George, how they'd always been up to something when they talked in hushed tones. Lily let go of Janet's hand and walked up to them.
'Hi, I'm Lily Evans.' At the sound of her bubbly voice, a short, fat boy looked at her with distaste and the two other boys turned to her. Her voice faltered as she said: 'I'm new.'
A boy with an unruly head of hair and a pair of glasses that was frightfully similar to Harry's, said: 'We are...the Marauders.' He finished with a dramatic note and then flashed a grin.
The other boy with dark hair said: 'I'm Sirius Black, Mister Drama over there is James Potter,' Lily looked up at that. 'And this is Peter.' He paused before leaning down and stage whispering in her ear: 'He's really a rat, we Transfigured him last year.'
James rolled his eyes. 'Mister Prongs would like to announce that Mister Padfoot is a liar.'
'Mister Wormtail would like to add that Mister Padfoot is mean.' The fat boy looked hurt.
The Fat Lady swung open and a tired, teenage looking Professor Lupin walked into the Common Room. He looked at his friends and said: 'Mister Moony would like to add his disappointment in Mr Padfoot for telling lies to new students.' How he heard their conversation was beyond Lily.
She grinned. 'Interesting nicknames. I may have to ask you later where you came up with them. Right now though,' She looked at her watch and then looked around for Janet. She had left already. 'I have to go have breakfast.'
'We'll accompany you. Your guide seems to be missing in action.' James said, still grinning.
'Ooh, James has a girlfriend, James has a girlfriend!' Sirius said in taunting voice.
'Behave, Sirius. Or I'll be forced to tell them all about your CRUSH ON SEVERUS SNAPE!' Remus said, grinning wickedly.
'Oh, you are going down, Moony.' Sirius said, lunging and tackling the poor werewolf on to the couch.
'So, how about breakfast?' James asked, holding out his arm for her.
Lily took it, but looked over at the two wrestling. 'Shouldn't we...?'
'Nah, those two always fight.' Peter said.
James opened the portrait and led Lily to the Great Hall. Peter hung back a little, but still tried to act like he belonged.
Lily scratched away at her homework, the essay nearly complete. James had insisted on sitting next to her in the library. To tell the truth she didn't really mind. He was quiet; he worked hard and although he was the Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, didn't talk about the sport constantly.
'Are you ready to go back to the Common Room, Lily?' He asked, screwing the cap back on his inkpot.
As much as she hated to admit it, she was. Her lessons didn't need constant studying. Perhaps the Marauders could teach her to relax. 'Yeah, I guess I am.'
On the way back to the dormitory, they talked about nothing important like which teachers they liked (Professor Dumbledore since he had taken their Charms Lesson earlier) and which teachers they hated (The Potions Master, Professor Vassus since he was like a grumpier, meaner version of Professor Snape). Lily was actually sad when James said good night to her on the steps.
Once back in her room she began to flick through the book Dumbledore had given her. It was fascinating and the author's note hinted that it would help you become and Animagus in less than half the time. Lily already knew all about the Marauders and their animal forms. How many times had Professor Lupin and Sirius Black told Harry and his friends, including her, about their misadventures? She particularly liked the ones where they played tricks on Professor Snape.
Earlier that day she had met Severus. He still looked sallow skinned and had nasty teeth. Severus had looked her up and down, taking in her flaming red hair. 'I'd swear you were a Weasley, except for the fact you've got new clothes.'
James had stepped a little in front of her defensively. That made Lily smile. Most of the differences between James and Harry were subtle. Other than the glaringly obvious one that he liked her and Harry barely noticed her existence, James didn't let things bring him down and if he had a fight with his friends, he'd be the one to go back and say he was sorry.
Janet looked at her and grinned. 'You have a crush on James, don't you?'
Lily blushed almost as red as her hair. 'I do not.'
'It's OK, I had a crush on him too but then I got swept off my feet by my boyfriend and forgot all about him. He's been totally impartial to girls, and before you say anything, boys too, before you came.'
'What's your boyfriend's name?' Lily let curiosity get the better of her.
'Scott Wells. He's that cute Ravenclaw I pointed out to you at lunch.'
'Oh yeah.' Lily placed the book under her pillow and looked at Janet. 'Do you think James likes me?'
She snorted. '"We'll accompany you. Your guide seems to be missing in action."' They both grinned. 'I had to talk to a friend. He totally saw me.'
'I hope he likes me.' Lily said. She realized that as much as she didn't want to fall in love and killed, James really was quite charming.
'I wouldn't worry much about that, Evans.' Janet threw herself on the bed that made Lily's eyes water at the neon pink color.
'You really do like pink, don't you?'
'Almost as much as you like James.' She stuck her tongue out at her and pulled out her diary to write in.
Lily read the book again. She wondered what kind of animal she'd be.
Author's Note: Wowee, thanks for the reviews! I hope this chapter was OK.