Two great golden eyes stared down at her.
On closer inspection, they belonged to an owl. It was not a personal one, but one of the school's. Lily wondered what it was doing up there, until she noticed the letter attached to its leg. "Well, go ahead and deliver it, then," said Lily aloud. She felt rather embarrassed to be talking to the owl, but as she glanced around, she saw no one was near enough to hear her.
The owl didn't move. Lily stared up at it. The owl stared back. She decided that the owl must be injured, or else it would have delivered the letter and flown away already, unless the owl hadn't found the right person. But if it hadn't, what was it doing here? There was no one else nearby.
Deciding that the only way to get the letter was to see why the owl hadn't delivered it, Lily stood up. She searched the tree until she found a nice branch within easy reach. She pulled her bag under the branch, and then stood on it. Using the bag as a stool, she grasped the branch and hauled herself up. When she was straddling the first branch, she moved onto another.
At last, she was within reach of the owl. "Come here," she called to it. The owl didn't move, just turned its head and looked at her. Sighing, Lily reached over and grasped it.
Then the owl blew up.
Shrieking, Lily fell out of the tree. She landed on her back with a loud thud. Gasping for breath, she sat up, wincing. Her back ached, as did her head. She hoped she didn't have a concussion. As Lily was checking to make sure she was all right, she gradually became aware of a dull roar. Looking up, her heart almost stopped. Everyone on the lawn was staring and laughing at her. From behind her came a shout of "Got you now, Evans! Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew strike again!"
Lily turned, to look into the grinning face of Black. Potter was right behind him, trying to hide a smirk. She stared at them, unable to do or say anything. "Why, Evans, aren't you going to congratulate us on our successful prank?" She started, and then gathered her wits. You needed them, when dealing with Potter and his friends. "Oh, yes, Black. After all, Potter and the Prats need ego inflating, since it seems they feel rather inadequate about something," she snapped back. This was better, more familiar territory.
Black's eyes narrowed, and the whole thing would probably have escalated into a full-scale war, until Potter stepped in. "Lily, please. Don't be that upset. It was just a prank," he said, trying to be reasonable. "It isn't as though it was that horrible… though it was rather funny, when you fell out of the tree."
Lily just stared at him, unable to think of anything to say. She could still hear the laughter, though most of it was suppressed by a collective need by the student body to hear the outcome of the debate raging by the trees. Her face flushed, as she imagined how she must have looked. Potter, taking this as evidence he had gotten through to her, said, "Well, to make it up to you, how about you and I go with each other next Hogsmeade weekend?"
That was absolutely the wrong thing to say. Fortunately, Lily prided herself on being quick in the uptake, and had a retort ready. "Oh Potter, I'm sure going with you will just make things much better. Nothing like a boy who's an absolute prick to brighten up a weekend, I always say." Potter's face flushed. "Evans-" he said warningly, but was cut off by Lily. "And of course, Potter, the weekend will be that much better, considering you're the Ultimate Prick."
Black snarled, "You take that back!" and would have cursed Lily six ways from Hogwarts had Lupin and, strangely enough, Potter, not stopped him. "Let it go," said Lupin. "She's not worth it." Potter didn't say anything, but he held an arm in front of Black. Lily looked from one boy to the other and took this as her cue to leave. She reached over to pick up her bag, only to discover her Fellowship of the Ring book missing. A search of the area disclosed that it was floating in the lake, some five feet away. Lily gasped. For all the charms put on it, she had forgotten to put a basic water-repellant charm on the book. It was ruined.
Trying to suppress her emotions, she crawled over to it and picked it up out of the water. Still not saying anything, she picked it up and tucked it under her arm. Then she turned and walked stiffly away.
Making her way across the lawn, she could hear students whispering and giggling. Some students were shouting congratulations to Potter and Black, who stood there looking rather proud. Everyone was sniggering, and she almost couldn't take it. But she was Lily Evans. And as such, she would not allow herself to be easily rattled. But it hurt, knowing she had been made a fool, and no one cared. As Lily opened the doors to the hall, one thought crossed her mind:
Potter wasn't going to get away with this.