Chapter 8: Not That Bad.
The February air cooled the corridors of Hogwarts. Outside, most of the snow had melted, however the crisp grass was painted with a touch of frost. The sky was bare, not a single cloud obscured the sun rise. The sun painted the sky in different colours, those of a light pink and orange haze. Lily squinted as the sun shone n her face. It was barely even dawn and she was awake, 'God…no sane person would be awake at this hour.' She thought bitterly. She tried blocking out the suns light but moaned as it always seeped through to her. 'I have officially chosen the worst ever bed in the whole of Hogwarts,' Lily thought and threw her covers off. She got up and stretched. She heard the light snores of her room mates and sighed. It was too early to wake them up, and she wasn't feeling cruel this morning. She gathered her black robes and wore them over her pyjamas. She then brought out her red and gold scarf and wrapped it around her neck. She stepped out of the girl's dorm and carried on up the stair case towards a window. She climbed out the window and grabbed the ledge jutting out. Hoisting herself onto the ledge, she came upon the conical shape of the Gryffindor Tower roof.
This was Lily's favourite spot in the whole of Hogwarts. She had discovered it shortly after she returned to Hogwarts from Godric's Hollow. Next to the Astronomy Tower, Gryffindor Tower was the highest tower and gave a breathtaking view. Lily would often stay there, whenever she woke up first, whenever she was bored, whenever she was angry or upset, or when ever she just wanted to be alone. No one bothered her up here, but then again, no one knew she came up here. These moments were the times Lily really felt like herself.
She noticed how the chimney started to produce some smoke, the fire had been started, indication that others were up. Lily made her way back into the tower, swinging herself into the window. She discreetly made her way to the girl's dorms and got ready for the school day.
***
"Gladys! I'm doomed!" Lily complained and dropped her head on the desk in defeat. They had been studying in the common room for their up-coming exams after the Easter Holidays.
"Really Lily! You give up too easily once it comes to studying!" Gladys commented and rolled her eyes and turned the page of her Herbology book.
"Well, you try finding out where O'Rien would be during the months February, August and November when we're in the middle of March!" Lily said huffily.
"I've already found out, and no you can't copy my answers." Gladys said with a tone of finality. Lily started grumbling under her breath but Gladys just smiled to herself.
"You should ask Remus for help, he's really good at Astrology. Actually, he's really good at every subject but he seems to excel most in Astrology." Gladys pointed out to her, while scribbling more notes out of her Herbology textbook. Lily considered it for a moment and thought she could use all the help she could get. James and Sirius weren't around but she noticed looming about the fireplace.
"Oi! Peter! Where's Remus?" Lily shouted from her couch.
"He's in our dorm." Peter called back but then cowered under the glare of a prefect for disturbing the hushed silence in the common room. Lily headed for the boy's dorm and without even thinking, barged into the boy's dorms. Remus was putting on a t-shirt, but as Lily came in, he rushed, hurriedly into it.
"Hey! Relax Remus! I've seen you, Sirius and James change before in Godric's Hollow." Lily offered a quick wink.
"Nice things I saw too," Lily said suggestively and grinned as she saw a blush make it's way onto Remus' face.
"I'd really appreciate it if you knocked next time," he said rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed gesture.
"Sure, sorry 'bout that." Lily apologised with a sincere smile. Remus nodded and smiled at her. It then struck Lily. Remus looked…well…awful. His skin was unusually pale and his mysterious eyes had lost their sparkle. Remus looked tired, no, exhausted. As if he had enough and just wanted to lie down. Remus sat down on his bed with his lamp light illuminating his face. He looked almost vulnerable.
"So, what' up Lil?" he asked with a smile. A tired smile, but a smile none the less.
"Are you ok Remus? You look ill." Lily asked with concern and made her way to sit beside Remus. "I mean, maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey because frankly, I've seen snow with more colour than your skin right now," Lily said in a light hearted manner. Remus chuckled.
"I'll be fine Lily. It's just been kind of stressful with all these exams coming up and revision. My mum has fallen ill and I'm going to go see her tomorrow, through Professor Dumbledore's request." Remus explained, his fingers crossed behind his back. Remus hoped Lily would believe him and not see through his façade.
"Aw, I'm sorry Remus. Send her my wishes ok?" she said in a comforting manner.
"Sure Lil. So, were you looking for someone on your way here, or just came here to startle me half to death whilst I was changing?" Remus asked jokingly.
"A bit of both actually!" Lily grinned and nudged him on the arm in a playful way.
"I was actually going to ask you for some help with Astrology. Gladys is being unreasonable and not letting me copy her answers." Lily explained. Remus chuckled again.
"Sure, I'll help. Let me just go get my star chart." He said and walked over to his trunk. As he searched for it, Lily examined the boy's dorm. It was the exact same replica of the girl's dorm except just messier. Or…in other words, exactly the same as her part of her dorm. Clothes were strewn all over the place and object reminiscent of used pranks were scattered everywhere. Finally, Remus cam back holding his complete star chart and explaining it to her, in terms Lily thought were more reasonable then what Professor Madrigal, the Astrology teacher used. As Lily worked on the bed, Remus started to clean up a little. As he worked, Lily noticed how he got tired quite quickly, and how he remained a far away from the window as possible. He had a stony expression on his face, something that scared Lily a little. That expression of no emotion did not suit Remus one bit. Remus started to clear some of the things from his nightstand. He carried as many books as he could t his trunk. As he passed by, Lily noticed something flutter to the floor and picked it up.
It was an old photograph. It was crumpled and slightly torn at the edges, which had faded into a murky yellow over the years. It seemed quite fragile, so Lily took care in handling it. Remus didn't seem to notice Lily stop working, either that or he ignored that fact. However his ears perked up at the sound of Lily handling something. He turned and saw Lily looking curiously at a picture, an old old photograph. He stopped what he was doing and sat down beside Lily.
"Is that your twin brother?" Lily asked curiously. Remus peered at the picture and saw that old photo. A photo given to him a long time ago. It was a picture of his mother, slightly younger than she was now, a picture of himself and of his father.
"I'm an only child Lily. That's me in that picture." Remus replied.
"But you're eyes are blue in this photo." Lily said and looked up at him. Right now, they were bright fiery amber, with very faint light specks of blue.
"You're not blind? Are you? How many fingers am I holding up?" Lily said sticking up 4 fingers. Remus laughed a little and replied with 4.
"So, you're not blind. What's with the colour change in eyes, I've never heard of that happening before." Lily asked curiously, staring at Remus with anticipation. Remus was raking through his brain, trying to think of a reason. 'Why'd I always get into situations like this?' he wondered and sighed. Just then the door barged open with a grinning Sirius pounding into the room.
"Remus! You should have been there, it was so funny! Hi Lil…but…hey! What are you doing on my turf. This is the boy's dorm!" Sirius started.
"Yeah, so?" Lily replied. Sirius' eyebrow rose and the he grinned a little too evilly for Lily's liking.
"Doesn't matter Lil, you're welcome here," he said angelically. Lily was having a feeling that she'll soon regret anything that may happen.
"Anyways…it was too funny! Me and James we gave Snape a wedgie and then made him sing 'Man, I Feel like a Woman' in his new high pitched voice courtesy of the previous wedgie." Sirius said quickly through his laughing. Lily and Remus looked at each other and then burst into laughter themselves. The photo was then forgotten, to Remus' extreme relief.
***
SPASH!
"Blllaaarrrgggghhhh!"
Gales of laughter were heard after the incoherent cry. Lily sat bolt upright in her bed, dripping wet. Her red curls were darker and curlier. Lily's eyes darted the room and saw a laughing figure running away. She scrambled out of bed after the person, who just so happened to be Sirius.
"SIRIUS! YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING PRICK! COME BACK HERE!" Lily yelled in a growl similar to that of a tiger's. She caught up with the hem of his robe and pulled him back. As he fell back on to her, she looked ready to punch him. But he grabbed her wrist before she could strike the blow. The force from running made her topple forward, and the two first years tumbled down the staircase, like tumbleweed in the wind. Both of them landed sprawled on the common room floor, Lily coming off worse from the tumbling. She groaned as she rubbed her shin. Sirius saw her ruffled expression and burst out laughing. She hit him upside the head.
"YOU STUPID GIT!!" She yelled.
"Sorry Lil, but ever since Remus suggested throwing water over you back in Godric's Hollow, I couldn't resist." Sirius managed to say through his wheezing laughter. A laughing figure came up to them.
"You're not even supposed to be in the girl's dorm!" Lily huffed angrily.
"And I quote… 'Yeah, so?'" Sirius quoted from when she had been on the boy's dorm. James stumbled upon them.
"It was hilarious Lil! We got the water, courtesy of the lake." James continued laughing. Lily glared daggers at him.
"YOU were in on it too?" Lily asked almost defeated. James nodded proudly and continued laughing.
"YOU TWO SICKEN ME! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!" Lily exploded and she stomped off to her dorm, slamming the door.
"I'm happy, are you?" James asked.
"Never felt happier." Sirius replied and they burst out laughing.
As the day went on Lily started to plot her revenge. And had it all figured out by charms. She had slipped some Fillibuster Fireworks into two Whoopee Cushions. She placed them on James and Sirius's chair before they sat down in Charms. As soon as they sat down, the cushions exploded and fireworks blazed from Sirius and James. Once the smoke cleared, the boys were sitting on the floor with stunned expressions on their faces. Their hair was all spiked up and blackened even more by the explosion. The whole class laughed at having the two most infamous pranksters pranked on. She had promptly got a detention for her antics, but she was as happy as ever with her achievement, no…her revenge.
Soon enough, the exams came and even though Lily didn't study as much as she as others had, she had scraped up some good marks. Gladys got honours in all her exams and Lily was happy for her. She had worked hard and achieved what she had wanted. Remus had come up just as equal as Gladys did. Sirius and James well, they had surprised the whole school with their good grades. They were never seen studying and people were wondering if they had vaguely cheated, but that wasn't possible as they had anti-cheat quills.
Soon enough, the school year had ended, and as Lily thought back on it; it wasn't that bad.
***
A/N: I don't know about you, but I thought this chapter was kind of pointless! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed writing it, but it was hard! I needed something interesting to happen between Christmas and the Summer. And those were the only things I could come up with! I'm quite happy with the Remus bit though! Right....it took me eight bloody chapters for the first year! God…if I continue writing like this until Lily's 7th year…that'll be something like ::does her math::…56 Chapters?!?!?! Ack! And I was considering carrying on till a little bit after Hogwarts! Eeekk…Ok…well…yeah. I'll need your reviews to keep me going! Second Year will be more exciting! It's all in my head!
But do you know what else is in my head…that new H/H fic I've been promising Gary. It's plaguing my mind…and I want to write it now, but I'm gonna finish this first. Last time I tried to do more that one fic at a time, I completely lost it! Never again am I going to do that!
Oh, and Lis! You're a star! I remember reading that quote in a book a long time ago and I loved it. But I forgot who the person was and I got all confuddled! Thanks so much for your help!