Chapter 6

Their trunks had already been brought to the fifth year girls' dorm. Lily, Rae, Camille, and their two other roommates, Alycia Ferguson and Julianne Melvin each selected a four-poster bed. Feeling quite tired, they decided to go to sleep.

Lily curled up under her red satin sheets, shivering, and tried to sleep. She felt so exhausted. It had seemed like ages had passed since only a day earlier when Lauren and Chris passed away. Yet it stuck in her mind so vividly. She closed her eyes, and before she knew it she was crying. She tried to sob into her pillow so no one would hear her, but soon she heard someone walking around outside of her curtains.

"Lily?" Camille's soft voice whispered. "Lily, are you crying?"

"Go away," Lily muttered.

"No, Lily, I think we should talk." Camille pulled back her curtains.

"Stop that," hissed Lily.

"I know why you're upset," said Camille. "You live in Surrey, and two of your best friends were killed yesterday. I knew your name sounded familiar when I heard it, and now I know why."

"How in the world do you know that?" Lily was starting to become suspicious.

"I read it in the newspaper. Your name was in it." Lily raised her eyebrows.

"You read the muggle newspaper?"

"Yes, I am very interested in muggle affairs," replied Camille. "I am very sorry for you Lily."

"Well don't be," said Lily coldly. "Leave me alone."

"You're just upset," said Camille. "I think you should tell your friends. They could maybe make you feel better. If you want I can tell them."

"No! Stay out of my life!" said Lily angrily. "If you please, I'm trying to sleep."

"I was just trying to help you. But if you insist, I'll go away," said Camille, closing her curtains. "Goodnight Lily." Lily was fuming. How dare she act like she could fix everything? And how the hell did she know about Lauren and Chris? It was awfully suspicious. And then she went and acted all sympathetic about it. Obviously a cover-up, thought Lily. She got a sickening feeling. What if Camille was in on it all along? What if she'd killed Lauren and Chris? It made perfect sense! Now she was just being nice to cover it up. She was probably secretly a Death Eater! I'll figure her out, Lily vowed to herself, fuming. Her anger soon exhausted her and she fell asleep.

The next morning came sooner than Lily would have liked.

"Lily, Lily, wake up. Classes start soon." The thick French accent made all of Lily's anger come rushing back, but she knew she had to keep her cool.

"I'll be up," she replied civilly.

"Okay. Rae and I are going to breakfast. We will see you." Lily moaned and got up, feeling slightly angry with Rae too. They usually went to breakfast together in the morning. She prepared herself and headed downstairs to the Great Hall.

She sat down across from Rae and Camille to find them deep in conversation.

"Hello," said Lily. Neither of the two of them noticed her. She sighed, taking two slices of toast. She was feeling hungrier this morning. She pulled out her schedule. Charms first, Lily's favorite class.

"Oh, hey Lily. I didn't see you there," said Rae. "What class do you have first?"

"Charms," replied Lily.

"Oh, we all do," said Rae. "Great."

"Yeah, great," repeated Lily sarcastically.

A half an hour later, the Gryffindors were seated in the charms classroom, tiny Professor Flitwick standing to address the class.

"Today we will begin by learning an invisibility charm." They listened intently as the instructions began. Lily felt confident in making her book invisible, and was just about to wave her wand when Professor Flitwick cried out.

"Amazing! Miss Honnete has done it already! Look at this, class!" Camille smiled slightly as everyone looked in awe at her empty desk, where her book had been sitting. Lily rolled her eyes, feeling angry. She was always the one to get the charms right first.

"Wow, Camille's really good at charms," whispered Rae, who was sitting next to her.

"She's not that great," muttered Lily. She was determined to prove she could do the charm just as well as Camille. She raised her wand and gave it a violent swish. At once, flames rose up from her charms book.

"Miss Evans!" cried Professor Flitwick, waving his wand to put out the fire. "What on earth do you think you're doing? You've got to learn to be more careful!" The class laughed. Sirius cheered. Lily turned a bright shade of red and stared at her desk, her anger raging. One thing was for certain. She didn't like Camille at all.

After charms class was Transfigurations, which Gryffindor had with Hufflepuff. Lily walked to class alone; Rae and Camille didn't even bother asking her to walk with them, and that was fine on her part. She thought maybe she could talk to Adrian and Caleb about it since they were in Hufflepuff, but when she walked into the classroom she found that they'd already sat with Camille and Rae. Caleb gave her a small wave, but she ignored him and sat down in front.

Camille was the best in class at Transfigurations too, they soon found out. She even earned five points for Gryffindor. As they walked through the hallways after class, all Lily could hear was conversation after conversation about Camille.

"She's so good at transfigurations!"

"She must really be smart!"

"She's a genius!"

"She's really nice, too."

"And pretty."

Couldn't anyone else see her for what she really was? They must all be blind, thought Lily. She had the next period off, so she headed back to the dorm to mope about.

"Lily!" she heard a voice call her name as she was walking down the hallway. She turned around.

"Hi Annica," she said to her friend.

"Hi, how's your day been so far?"

"Not so good, yours?"

"Not bad. I had charms second period, and I heard about Camille being able to do that charm on the first try. She must really be talented."

"Sure she is!" exclaimed Lily sarcastically, stomping off.

The rest of the day passed by with Lily being angry, though no one seemed to really notice. In fact, she felt like she was invisible. Camille had taken her place with her friends, and they'd forgotten about her. And it had only been a day. But I'll get Camille, Lily vowed to herself. I know there's something about her that isn't perfect like she pretends. I just don't know what it is yet.

The week passed by rather uneventfully for Lily. Camille continued to do best in all of their classes. Occasionally Lily's friends would acknowledge her, but it never lasted long, and Camille was always included.

Friday night, Lily was feeling like she could use a little fresh air. She realized that she hadn't flown since she'd arrived at Hogwarts. She pulled her Cleansweep 7 out of her trunk, and yanked open the large window. Mounting her broom, she soared off towards the setting sun. She zoomed around outside in the damp evening air, feeling free and relieved for the first time in a long while. She flew up and down, around in circles. She plummeted towards the ground, only to immediately soar upwards as she almost made contact. She slowed up and watched the stars begin to appear, before speeding up to fly fast again.

"Lily!" a male voice called, startling her. "Lily!" She looked down. James Potter flew up to her on his broom.

"Hey there. I couldn't help but notice you're a really great flyer."

"You were watching me?" asked Lily, slightly annoyed.

"Well, yeah," said James. "And I think you'd make a great seeker. You seem like you love flying. Would you try out for the team?"

"No, I can't," said Lily.

"Why not?" asked James.

"Look, I don't want to," said Lily irritably.

"I'm going to be completely honest with you, Lily. I've worked with lots of people at quidditch, and I believe you have got to be the best flyer I've seen in a long time. Now, I'll tell you this. If you try out, I can nearly guarantee you you'll make it." Lily took this into consideration. She really did love to fly. And if James thought she was good at it. Not just anyone, but James, then maybe she should give it a try.

"Okay," she said shyly. "I'll try out."

"Fabulous. Tryouts are in three weeks," said James, smiling at her. "Fly back to the castle with me?" he asked. "It's getting dark. We probably shouldn't be out anymore."

"Alright," Lily agreed. James flew with Lily to her window.

"See you," he called.

"Bye," she replied, climbing in the window. She smiled to herself. She'd just talked to James, and she was going to try out for quidditch! If it hadn't been for the circumstances, she might have actually been happy.

Lily enjoyed flying in the evenings. It began to become a daily routine for her. Every evening, just after dinner, she flew out and around the grounds, clearing her mind of everything. Sometimes she cried, just to feel the wind blow the tears from her eyes.

This was the case one particularly warm night, when she found someone else flying as well.

"Hi Lily!" called a voice she recognized. Lily quickly tried to blink back her tears, but it was hopeless. "Lily, will you come and talk to me?" It was James. He landed on the ground and she flew down to him. There was no use in trying to run away.

"Hi," she said, rubbing her eyes as she dismounted her broom.

"So, you really like flying, don't you?" asked James.

"Yeah," Lily replied meekly.

"You're crying, aren't you?" James asked. Lily opened her mouth to say no, but a sob came out instead. She felt like running, but her feet wouldn't carry her. "Is there anything you want to talk about?" asked James. Lily silently shook her head. "Sit down," James took her hand and made her sit next to him under a large tree. "Now, why don't we talk?"

"I don't even know you," Lily sobbed. "You don't feel like listening to my problems."

"Well, maybe it's time we get to know each other," said James. "And I'll listen as long as you want me to. Look, I've been upset before, and I know it always helps when you talk about it."

"Your idea of being upset is losing a quidditch game!" Lily sobbed.

"Just talk," said James softly.

"Okay, fine," Lily answered. Before she knew it, everything she had bottled up inside her came spilling out, from Chris and Lauren's deaths to Camille. James listened patiently without a word.

"Wow," said when she finished. "You've been through a lot. I'm sorry to hear about your friends. I'll bet you feel better now, don't you?"

"Yeah," Lily answered honestly.

"See, I told you that you would." James grinned. Lily forced a smile back. He was really a nice person, she thought.

"I should probably go now," said Lily.

"Yeah, it's getting late," agreed James. "Hey, anytime you need a friend to talk to, you can talk to me, all right?"

"Thank you," said Lily. "Just please don't say anything to anyone else."

"Don't worry, I would never do that," said James. "Fly back with me again?" he asked.

"Sure," replied Lily.

"Bet I get there first!" James took off flying.

"No way!" Lily called back, taking off after him. James beat her by a few seconds.

"No fair! You got a head start!" Lily called.

"I still won!" shouted James. "Good night, Lily."

"Good night." Lily climbed back through the window, feeling better than she had in a very long time.

It was good to have a friend, Lily found. Her other friends talked to her occasionally, but usually became irritated because she didn't want to be around Camille. James, on the other hand, hardly knew Camille, so she didn't pose any problem. Besides, Lily couldn't see James being the type of person who acted that way; he was too friendly to everyone.

She met him nearly every night when she went out flying. He was really nice to talk to. She remembered back to the days when she used to like him, but now he felt more like a friend than anything. Every night they raced back to the castle, and on several occasions, Lily actually won, and James pretended to sulk.

The night before quidditch tryouts, James wished her good luck and told her he'd look forward to having her on the team.

"I think you'll be the best seeker we've had on the team in a long time," he said.

"I'm not that good," said Lily.

"Sure you are," replied James. "You just need to have more confidence in yourself."

"I've got nothing to be confident of," said Lily.

"Sure you do. You're smart, friendly, talented, beautiful…" he leaned forward and kissed her. She jumped back in surprise.

"I-I've got to go now. Bye," she flew off on her broom.

"Bye!" James called. Lily was shaking so hard she could barely control her broom enough to fly back to her dorm. She felt so confused about what James had done. She wasn't really happy, but she wasn't angry. She didn't know what to think. She pondered until she drifted off to sleep.