FOREVER
Year five
Part two
Subtitled: He likes her, She likes someone else, and that someone else is confused.
Dedicated: To my friends. Thanks guys for always being there for me. And to Meg, for being just as devious as I am.
Lily was ready for school. More than ready, in fact, her sister was annoying her and the day just would not end. Sighing, she tucked a stray strand of her red hear behind her ear and bit her lip in thought. She had everything packed but there was still something she was forgetting. She mentally went over the list in her head. She had her robes, her books, her cauldron, her scales, her owl and cat, her broom…suddenly a glimmer caught her eye and she slowly turned to find the object. Lying carelessly on her bed was her prefect badge. She moved quickly to it and snatched from the bed. The cool metal lay in her hands and she stared at it thoughtfully. She hadn't asked to be a prefect. She had a good idea of what that entailed and even though she had really become a lot more outgoing over past few years, the idea of public speaking still made her blood run cold. Lily's eyes brushed over a photograph of her year. Suddenly it occurred to her that there were always one girl and one boy prefect from every year and every house.
"Oh god." She thought. "Which one of the boys is going to be with me?" Lily relayed her options quickly in her head. "Well, so long as it's not James." She said aloud and began to get ready for bed.
*****
"From there we could go to the Forbidden Forest." James said in a hushed voice to his three best friends. His hand lay on the makeshift map of Hogwarts he had written for the sake of figuring out the basic events of the night.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Peter asked shifting uneasily in his seat.
James nodded in agreement, mistaking Peter's fear for foresight. "He's right." James said. "The trees are really close together it might be a bit difficult to run around in the forest."
'Who says we're going to be running?" Sirius asked as he gazed at the diagram James had drawn.
"Well we are animals. It's a bit unrealistic to think that we'll be walking in an orderly fashion the whole time." Peter pointed out.
"Yeah but we'll have regular thoughts." Said Sirius. "We're only switching bodies, not minds." He persisted stubbornly.
James glared at him. "It's not us I'm worried about." James said pointedly, jerking his head in Remus' general direction.
"I appreciate your concern, James." Remus said dryly as he stared out the window. Outside the scenery flew past as the Hogwarts Express chugged steadily along the track.
"Remus-" James started, his face coloring.
Remus turned slowly back to his friends. "Don't worry about it." Remus said dismissively with a smile. James couldn't help but notice that the smile, as usual, didn't reach his eyes.
*****
Meanwhile - elsewhere on the train
"Have you seen the guys yet?" Anna asked as she settled back into her seat after changing into her robes.
"Nope." Lily said, shaking her head.
"Not yet, have you?" Roslyn asked as she rebraided her black hair.
"Nah." Anna said quietly.
Roslyn and Lily exchanged looks. "Do you want to?" Roslyn asked finally.
Anna opened her mouth to answer when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Anna hopped up and pulled open the door to the compartment. A boy walked in with a smile on his verifiably gorgeous face. Lily's jaw dropped and Roslyn just stared.
"Hey Anna." He said after a rather awkward silence.
If possible, Lily's jaw dropped further. "She knows him?" She mouthed silently to Roslyn. Roslyn shrugged in absolute shock.
"Hey Harry." Anna said calmly, watching her friend's reactions with more than a little amusement. "This is Lily and Roslyn." Anna said gesturing vaguely to her friends who continued to stare unresponsively at Harry. "So…what house do you want to be in?" She asked after another pause.
Harry's face lit up. "I've been researching it," he said excitedly. "and I think Ravenclaw sounds really interesting. Have you read about its history? Its fascinating, I mean Elf Scenes practically originated there." He continued to chatter a bit longer about the many rewards Ravenclaw had to offer. "Oh I'd better change." He said, noticing the girls' robes for the first time. He got up and shut the door quietly behind him.
"Oh my god!" Roslyn gasped in appreciation.
Lily just whistled.
"Wow, he was hot." Roslyn said, still staring at the door.
"Yeah he was." Lily said. "How do you know him anyway?"
Anna grinned. "He was in my potions class over the summer and we sat at the same lunch table." She said casually. "He was pretty cute though, wasn't he?" She asked, suddenly giddy.
Roslyn raised her eyebrows. "Honey, I think he's just a little bit passed hot."
"If he was in my potions class I'd hurry to every class." Lily said dreamily.
Roslyn laughed.
"What?" Lily asked.
"I'd like to point out that you only have one class with your boyfriend, and that's potions." Roslyn said wryly.
"Schedules change." Lily said sheepishly, her face flushing.
"Speaking of boyfriends, "said Anna. "are you STILL going out with Snape?" she asked looking rather put out by the idea that her friends had gone out with him at all let alone was still with him.
"Was I still with him when you owled me yesterday?" Lily asked sounding rather annoyed.
Anna nodded, a look of disgust on her face. "Yeah, unfortunately."
"Well then why wouldn't we be together today?" Lily asked, exasperated.
"Luck?" Roslyn offered.
"Interference from god?" Anna suggested hopefully.
Lily rolled her eyes.
*****
Lily settled into her usual spot at the Gryffindor table and waited patiently for the sorting. Beside her, Anna fidgeted nervously and kept glancing up to the stage.
"Are you okay?" Lily asked her.
"Yeah." Anna said, distracted. Her eyes never leaving the stage where the first years and Harry were assembled.
Lily looked at Anna and then followed her gaze to the object of her nervousness. A grin slowly grew on Lily's face. Harry. It seemed that Harry was fourth in line and as the children in front of him began to dwindle Anna began to her wring her hands more frequently. Lily glanced back at her friends as Harry climbed on the stool. Anna's eyes were large and expressive. "Please Gryffindor. " she whispered quietly. Lily grinned and turned back to the stage.
The hat deliberated for sometime on Harry's head. Harry himself, was staring blankly into the audience, his face screwed up in thought.
"Ravenclaw!" That hat shouted finally. Harry jumped up and took the stairs from the stage two at a time. The Ravenclaw table erupted in cheers. Lily turned back to her friend. Anna's face was crestfallen and she stared into her empty plate.
"You know, there is such a thing as inter-house dating." Lily said trying to cheer her up.
Anna gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?" she asked, looking at Lily strangely. They spent the rest of the sorting in silence.
*****
Meanwhile
"Hey, I'm Belle." The girl next to him said, her hand extended.
"Belle?" Harry asked, eyebrows raised.
Belle blushed. "Annabelle really, but my friends call me Belle."
"How did that get started?" He asked, not really meaning to infer that Belle didn't fit her but it came out that way anyway.
She flushed even more. "Well Annabelle does sort of sound like a cow, doesn't it?"
Harry stared at her for a minute before bursting out in laughter. "A cow?" He asked in between laughs.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts." Professor Dumbledore said as he stood up to make the traditional start of year announcements. Harry and Belle turned to face the stage. "I'd le to start with the usual restrictions. " He pulled out a piece of parchment and began to read it.
"1)The Whomping Willow is off limits.
2)The Forbidden Forest is forbidden if you have trouble remembering that please just consult the name." There were several dry chuckles.
3) Mr. Filch has extended the list of banned items to 530, a complete list has been provided for each student as to avoid any misunderstandings. They should be on your beds.
4) Curfew is going to severely enforced this year. You are all to be in your common rooms be ten and third years and below must be in their dorms by 11:15." He rolled the parchment up and handed it to Professor McGonagall. " I'd also like to introduce two new students. Harry Cooper who has been sorted as a 5th year Ravenclaw and Sarah Phillips, also a 5th year Ravenclaw. All right then, now would our head boy and girl please stand up. First years please take note of who they are, they will be happy to help you if you have any questions. Now will the prefects please stand up."
Lily stood up proudly and straightened her robes. She glanced around the table to see who the other fifth year would be. Her gaze fell on James who was also standing up. Lily groaned quietly and took her seat. She looked over at Anna to see if she had noticed who the other 5th year prefect was. Anna, however, was too busy glaring furiously at Annabelle, who was joking around with Harry. Lily turned to Roslyn.
"Its going to be an interesting year, isn't it?" She asked her friend while she eyed, Anna. Roslyn followed her gaze and sighed.
"Oh yeah."
*****
"Hey Snape!" A voice called from down the corridor. Snape whirled, expecting James and his friends. Instead several boys in the various years ran quickly up to him. "You're Snape, right?" The first one puffed.
Snape eyed him suspiciously. "Yeah." He said cautiously after a moment.
"I'm Michael Avery." The first one introduced himself. "That's Aaron Lestrange 5th year Ravenclaw." He pointed to a boy of rather large build with brown hair and blue eyes. "Lucius Malfoy, John Goyle, Brian Crabbe, 4th year Slytherins. That's Hunter Nott, 6th year Ravenclaw, and Jerry Macnair 5th year Ravenclaw."
"SO?" Snape growled.
"So," Avery said, smiling evilly. "We have a proposition for you."
*****
"That's Lily Evans, Anna Fisher and Roslyn Smith." Belle whispered to her new dorm mate, Sarah. "Lily's the one with the red hair. She's really nice, kind of shy but nice. She's going out with him Severus Snape. He's in Slytherin. Roslyn is the one with the really long black hair. She's really smart and fairly quiet. Anna's the one next to her. The really tall one with the brown hair. Anna's really funny and really loud. She's also really opinionated it's kind of funny. You should hear her when she's angry, she'll scream for about five minutes and then suddenly be normal."
"Who's she going out with?" Sarah whispered back as the girls walked past tot heir table.
"No one but its rumored that she likes Sirius Black."
"Which one's Sirius?" Sarah asked, eager to know which guys weren't taken.
"Umm." Belle gazed around the room until her eyes hit Sirius Black and his friends. "That one." She pointed to a boy with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a roguish smile.
"He's cute!" She breathed.
"Yeah except that he's broken every heart this side of France." Belle laughed.
"Who's that? He's really cute!" Sarah asked pointing to the boy next to Sirius.
"Oh that?" Asked Belle. "That's his best friend, James."
Meanwhile - The Gryffindor Table
"Harry!" called Anna. "Come sit with us."
He walked calmly over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Anna. "But aren't we supposed to eat with our houses?" He asked as helped himself to some pancakes.
"Yeah." Said Remus as he sat down opposite Harry. "but they don't really enforce it or anything."
"Yeah, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter break the rules all the time!" Roslyn grinned in the seat next to Remus.
"By the way, I'm Remus." Remus said sticking out his hand.
"I'm Harry."
"Hey, I'm James." James said on the other side of Remus as he sat down.
"Hey." Said Harry.
"This is Sirius." James gestured to Sirius who was sitting down next to James.
Sirius took one look at Harry glanced at whom he was sitting next to and glared at him. He waved sullenly and piled on the potatoes.
"Oooh Schedules!" Peter cried as a thousand owls swooped in all at once and dropped each child's schedule in front of them. This was the Gryffindor fifth year's.
Monday-Friday
8am-9am: Joint potions/Ravenclaws.
9:05am-10:05am: Arithmancy/Muggle Studies/Magical Communications/Divination/Ancient Runes
10:10am-11:10am: Joint charms/Slytherins
11:10am-11:20am: Break
11:25am - 12:25pm: Joint Transfiguration /Ravenclaw
12:30pm-1:30pm: Lunch
1:35pm-2:35pm: History of Magic
2:40pm-3:40pm: Defense Against the Dark Arts
3:40pm-4:40pm: Herbology
midnight Wednesday: Astronomy.
Saturday
10am-11am: Care of Magical Creatures.
*****
"What is with you man?" James asked as he ran to catch up with his best friend.
"What do you mean?" Sirius muttered, suddenly taking a keen interest in the floor.
"Why were you so mean to that new kid?" James asked still having to trot to keep in step with Sirius' strangely fast pace.
"I wasn't being mean." He scowled at James.
"Yeah, okay you just refused to talk to him and glared at him all breakfast." James said sarcastically. "Seriously Padfoot, "James grabbed his arm to slow Sirius down. "What's going on. "
Sirius wrenched his arm out of James' grip. "Nothing okay?" He said defensively and hurried into class.
"So what did you find out?" Remus asked suddenly coming behind James.
James sighed. "Nothing, apparently he isn't upset."
Peter snorted as he joined them. "Yeah, right."
James shrugged. "That's what I said."
*****
Belle and Sarah jumped up and were the first ones out the door. "I hope Aaron's okay." Sarah gushed as they bounded out of the corridor to the infirmary.
"He should be, Jerry Macnair said that the nurse was going to cure him right away." Belle assured her.
"Is James Potter always that much trouble?" Sarah asked sounding rather put out.
"Oh yeah, just wait til Sirius Black is in the mood, he's even worse."
"I don't really like the potion's professor." Harry told Anna as they left the dungeon.
Anna laughed. "No one does. He's a jerk.
Behind them Sirius was glaring daggers as he and Peter filed out of the room. Peter was chattering to him about something but he wasn't listening. He kept hearing Anna's laugh and knew it wasn't directed at him. He used to be the one to make her laugh.
James watched Lily leave the room and sighed. He wished he hadn't broken up with her, just the idea of Snape with his arms around her made him see stars. He clenched his fists as he waited for Professor Avery to finish putting the ingredients away. Maybe he shouldn't have put that dungbomb in Lestrange's potion after all… Oh well the most he'd get is a weeks detention. Then again, it was Professor Avery.
