Lily grinned and bounded down the steps two at a time

FOREVER

Year two

Part 4

Subtitled:

Lily grinned and bounded down the steps two at a time. Her shoulder-length red hair flying in her face and her heart pounding, she could win yet… Lily skidded to an abrupt halt and felt her heart slide. Next to her James did the same and smiled nervously. Of all the people to run into when running in the hallways…

"Why hello Professor McGonagall. Lovely morning for a stroll, huh?" James said smiling charmingly at the professor. She raised an eyebrow at his obvious attempts to get out of the inevitable.

"Potter, judging by the speed you were going I think it's safe to say that you don't know the meaning of the word stroll." If possible, Lily's heart slid lower, she was just about to get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness when Professor McGonagall's face softened. "However I'm willing to forget this since you too are late for breakfast." Lily looked at the professor in disbelief as she cracked a rare smile. "Well go on. Before I change my mind." James didn't need to be told again; soon he was walking rather quickly in the direction of the Great Hall with Lily hot on his tail.

"You know you're lucky she showed up when she did." James said trying to bait her. She grinned, ready to play.

"Oh really? Why's that?" Her eyes dared him to tell her.

"Because it's obvious I was going to win." He gave her his best well-isn't-it-obvious look.

"Excuse me but I recall being in front of you oh great one." He looked at her with mock-sadness.

"Denial is a terrible thing!" He shook his head sadly. "I feel for you!" Lily was just about to protest when she realized that they had reached the Great Hall. He made an elaborate bow.

"Ladies first." He said waving her in. Lily pretended to look angry.

"Well if you insist on going first, then I guess I can wait." She heaved a tortured sigh. James shot her a glare but went in side and sat down next to Sirius.

"Whoa buddy, breath." James said to Sirius with concern as he shoveled large quantities of food into his mouth with out pause. Sirius stopped for a minute and smiled widely.

"Guess what?" He said grinning even more. James looked at him cautiously.

"What?"

"For Valentines Day they're giving out candy bags AND we get a party. I can't wait." Lily looked at him strangely.

"Sirius, Valentines Day is almost a month away!" She said looking quizzically at her friend.

"Lil, It's never to early to start thinking about candy!" After that savory thought he dug back into his meal.

*****

"PLEASE Roslyn SPARE me!" Lily awoke to the sound of her friend pleading in the name of god for sleep. " I don't care if you wear the pink or the red! It's early, get a life!" Tina groaned from her bed in the early hours of February fourteenth. Lily could just make out Tina turning over and over to escape Roslyn's protests. Eventually Lily pried her eyelids only to be met with darkness and a raging Roslyn harumping at Tina's sleeping form. Lily envied Tina and she desperately wanted to go back to sleep. After a few failed attempts she deemed her efforts helpless. Half awake, Lily began to get dressed. Her dorm-mates were all sound asleep except for Roslyn. She could hear their collective sighing and snores. She giggled at Roslyn who was modeling several different robes for herself in the mirror. Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed her robes from the large pile accumulated by Roslyn's bed. She threw the robes on without looking first and started to get ready. She was just thinking about how glad she was that she had laid out her red robes the night before when suddenly it occurred to her that they didn't fit right. The hem was much to long, the sleeves ran past her hands, and the buttons felt different than usual. She glanced in the mirror as a look of pure horror crossed over her face. This is the last time I dress in the dark she vowed to her reflection. Instead of the pretty red robes Lily had laid out; she had grabbed bright pink ones from the pile, that were, needless to say not hers. The neon brightness contrasted sharply with Lily's red hair, socks, headband, hat, and shoes. Lily was so transfixed with her terrible reflection that she didn't even hear her friends yawning and stretching. But it didn't last; she was acutely awakened when Anna, whose bed was directly across from Lily's wardrobe, watched her sleepily before adjusting to what she saw.

"Oh there's a sight to wake up to." She said sarcastically, giggling at Lily's obviously mismatched outfit. Lily scowled at her through the twilight even though she knew Anna couldn't see it, and immediately fell to changing her robes. With a satisfied sigh, she observed herself once again. The affect was much better this time; she only hoped that the boys wouldn't hear of her little problem with getting dressed…

*****

"Hello Lily m'dear! I have something for you." He grinned wickedly and he sidled next to her. She braced herself for something really terrible as he reached into his robes. With much more show than necessary, Sirius whipped out a perfectly formed red rose.

"A rose for the rose!" He bowed graciously and held it out to her.

"My name is Lily." She said rolling her eyes. Sirius looked slightly crestfallen.

'I know, I couldn't find a Lily and besides you LOOK like a rose." Lily looked at her quizzically this kind of behavior was way out of character for her friend. His large brown eyes contorted to the puppy dog look could never resist; so with much reluctance Lily accepted the delicate flower, sure that it would blow up or something. She placed it on her lap to avoid dripping syrup or something similar onto it. She needn't have bothered because after only five seconds the rose contorted to an odd round shape she had seen many times before. In a matter of seconds after the transfiguration it blew up all over Lily. The rose was really a dungbomb, which was quite tastefully shaped especially for Valentines Day. She was furious! It had taken her forever to get dressed and now her perfectly matched outfit was ruined. She mouthed wordlessly at Sirius, which he took as a very bad sign and started to get up. She pulled him back down harshly. He stared at her with apprehension written all over his pale face. His dark eyes were looking very nervous but he managed a charming smile.

"Hehe." He laughed nervously. "You know Lily, that is really YOUR scent! You should wear it more often." Sirius feigned innocence. She threw up her hand as though to hit him but thought better of it as a teacher strolled by. Finally, unable to be in the same room as him without taking serious action toward his health; she stomped back to the dormitory. Just as she was leaving she could hear Sirius say to James.

"You know what? Girls are really TOO sensitive about their clothes." And much to her fury, James agreed.

*****

Lily was feeling much better now that she had taken a shower. After all she hadn't really wanted to go to Charms anyway. At least that's what she told herself. The clock by her bed read 10:00 AM. If she really hurried she could still make it to Care of Magical Creatures. With normal black robes on she hurried toward the Care of Magical creatures classroom on the third floor. Lily slipped as inconspicuously as possible into her seat. The jeers and laughs Sirius sent her way were all most impossible to ignore, so it was with a light heart that the class ended. She quickly gathered her things, stopping only to glare at Sirius' grinning face.

"It wasn't funny." She said, on the verge of pouting. His smile only grew wider.

"OK Lil. Anything you say." She sputtered angrily at his retreating form and fought Anna's attempts to pull her to class. Only when she was reminded that she only had ONE more period until the party did Lily allow her friends to drag her into Professor McGonagall's classroom.

*****

Professor McGonagall wasn't really as strict as she seemed and although one of the younger teachers in the school, she wasn't that young either. Well by muggle standards anyway. Professor McGonagall was in fact; quite good at her job, and even if she would never admit it, really did like children. She twirled the chalk around in her hand, waiting for her next class: the second-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. The second-year Gryffindors were definitely one of the more difficult classes to handle. Though, more often than not, the most amusing. Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, were constantly cracking jokes. If she could have picked one word to describe the four it would be incorrigible. Sometimes they even included some of the girls in their antics. She shook her head remembering the little problem Evans and Potter had had with Boots. The funny thing was that even though they were constantly messing around in class, they still had extremely high marks. It was enough to drive anyone crazy. She had, after all, nothing to threaten them with. Their grades were fantastic, Potter and Lupin seemed immune to detention and Black had gone so far as to try to break the school-wide record for most detentions. The craziest part was that they were only in their second year. She didn't think she could five more years of this. Just then the door to her class opened. Potter and Black walked in grinning identical Cheshire cat grins.

"Uh OH!" She groaned inwardly. "Those smiles can only mean trouble." As though reading her thoughts the door burst open with much more force. Evans, pulling Fisher behind her, stormed in. With an earth-shattering glare at Black, who grinned charmingly back at her, she plopped down into her seat and stared broodingly at the blackboard. Professor McGonagall sighed. This was going to be a long lesson.

*****

James fidgeted excitedly there was only a minute until the party. The professor was going on about something that James really didn't care about and he dearly wished she would just let them go early. But with Professor McGonagall as your teacher, the chances of that happening were, oh, slim to none. His gaze fell on Lily who was slowly unwinding. He really couldn't blame her, Sirius, after all was pretty out of line. But her face had been really funny when the dungbomb exploded; he just couldn't help laughing. James was so into his thoughts that he didn't even notice he was staring until it was too late. Lily's gaze met his and he turned away quickly. Just as he felt his ears turn red the bell rang. He breathed a sigh of relief. James has just reached the door when the professor called him and Lily over.

"Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter, could I have a word with you?" He told his friends that he would meet them in the Great Hall for the celebration.

"Yes Professor?" He asked trying to rid his voice of the impatience he felt.

"You are aware that you two have a detention to complete this afternoon?" Her eyebrow was raised and James couldn't help but feel uncomfortable under her piercing stare. Lily cried out in alarm.

"What for!"

"You little, shall we say, experience with Ms. Boots." James groaned. He'd forgotten. Lily and him had detentions to serve every Friday afternoon for a month. He felt like slapping himself.

"But professor, the party--" Lily said her eyes begging the professor to reconsider.

"I'm sorry Ms. Evans but rules are rules." She cut Lily off curtly. James hung his head and didn't even provide any arguments of his own. He knew it was hopeless, he could see it in the Professor's face.

"Come on Lil, we should go to the Trophy room." He said quietly, pulling her toward the door. She started to protest. Her mouth was open to say something but instead she nodded resignedly.

"Yeah, let's go."

AN- J OK sorry if this part is kinda short and I know it took me awhile but this is one of the only parts I didn't write out first so it took me longer. Sorry! Please review it means sooooooo much to me!!

Disclaimer- if you don't recognize it it's probably mine. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.