First Year – Part Two
"James Potter, come down here this instant and set me right!" came a screech from the first year girl's dormitory, which could be heard from all across Gryffindor Tower.
James Potter, who was currently daydreaming up more plans to make Lily Evans' life at Hogwarts miserable, chuckled softly to himself as he heard Lily scream at him.
Sirius, his best friend, frowned slightly. "Maybe you should give Lily a break, James," he said seriously.
"No way! Torturing Evans is way too fun to give up. Besides, she's the one who tricked me into thinking that small bottle of water was a Truth Potion! I swear that I'd get her after that."
Remus smiled and said, "Well, James, the teachers are still calling you 'Lily and James Potter'. The name goes quite smoothly."
James colored. "I told you, the teachers are howling mad. McGonagall obviously wants revenge of some sort, and she's being nice to Snape!" All three boys shivered, and Peter, who was still sleeping, stirred awake.
"Who screamed?" he asked wearily, sitting up.
"You heard Evans," informed James, grinning at the little boy. "She wake you up? That gives me another reason to kill her."
"Not exactly," said Peter, frowning. "I thought I heard her voice—and yours—and she was singing a lullaby to a baby."
Before anyone could say another word, Sirius gleefully cried, "A ha! I told you Jamie-boy, that you and Lily were going to get married and have a kid! Didn't I?"
James blinked. "Peter," he said, ignoring Sirius and turning to the sleepy boy, "did this dream seem—real?"
"I think so," replied Peter. "I mean, I don't know why I dreamt it, but I saw myself cowering as two men tried to kill me, but this boy—he stopped them. I was yelling, 'Remus, Sirius, have mercy, I never meant to betray Lily and James', and the boy saved me. He looked exactly like you, James, but his eyes were like Lily's—they were green." He shook his head. "I don't know what kind of dream it was, but—it seemed so real."
There was silence all around the dormitory. Peter felt frightened, Remus was thoughtful, Sirius was confused, and James was bewildered at the dream. Peter…betrays him and Lily? What madness was this?
Then the silence was shattered, again by Lily's voice.
"That James Potter!" she was yelling. "I'll get him one day! And the teachers call me 'Lily Potter'. Completely mad!"
"Lily," said Violet's voice. "Calm down. We'll all help you get revenge from James Potter. Don't worry, and come down and have some breakfast."
The girl's dormitory door burst open, and Lily was flying out of it. She stormed right into the boy's dormitory, despite her friends' protests, and started to scream right in front of James' face.
"James Potter, you idiot, look at my hair!" she screeched.
It was a very funny sight indeed. Lily's hair, instead of its redness, it was dark brown and shining like gold. It would have looked very nice indeed, but it clashed horribly with Lily's iris-like delicate complexion. Her green eyes were sparkling malevolently.
"Change it back!" she demanded.
"Not unless I get a kiss," said James, pouting. The effects of these simple words were astounding. Sirius, Remus, and Peter all rolled over on their beds, laughing, while Lily slapped James with all the strength she could muster. That sent the three boys laughing even harder, while Lily looked as if she were going to cry.
"If I kiss you," she said, shaking with anger. "Will you turn my hair red again?"
"Depends," replied James smugly, "but most likely."
Lily, now blushing beet red, kissed James gently on the lips, which sent Sirius, Remus, and Peter into hysterics again. James, flushed with pleasure, waved his wand, and Lily's hair turned red again.
"My God, Lily, were you that desperate?" asked Sirius, still chortling.
"Yes," huffed Lily, and stalked away, still red, back to her dormitory. Shouts of laughter could be heard a few seconds later, and Violet, Arabella, Jennifer, and Lily burst out of their dormitory and into the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was still red from rage, but the rest of the girls were laughing.
"Hello Lily," came an oily voice from behind them. Severus Snape was hurrying down from the steps of his dungeon common room, beaming.
"Severus," said Lily, nodding curtly.
Snape's smile faded a little at Lily's cool manner towards him, but he smiled pleasantly at the four girls. "So, why the laughing faces? Pleasant dreams?"
"Lily just kissed James!" gasped Arabella, unable to conceal the information any longer. "Oh, it was hilarious!"
It was amazing how someone could change moods so fast. Snape's face twisted in anger, and he glared coldly at all of them with his empty black eyes. "Did you?" he asked, directing his question to Lily.
"Well, Potter changed my hair into dark brown," said Lily carefully, "so I was mad. Then, for some particular reason, he said he'd turn it back if I kissed him. And I was not to go into the Great Hall looking like a hag, so"—Lily was now blushing to the roots of her hair—"I kissed him."
Snape frowned. "Potter likes you then?" he asked softly. "I mean, why would he have asked you otherwise?"
"Oh, probably to embarrass me in front of all my friends and his friends," replied Lily bitterly.
Snape, sensing Lily's bitter tone, said brightly, "Lily, would you—well—care to accompany me to—" He was interrupted by James, along with his friends, talking loudly on their way to the Great Hall.
"My God, Jamie-boy, are you in love?" crowed Sirius in delight.
"Nah, he just wanted to embarrass Lily in front of us," said Remus sympathetically.
"You know, Moony, I sometimes think you're a mind-reader," said James.
"Oh no, look, there's trouble," murmured Peter, distracted, as he saw Snape with Lily and her friends.
"Snape," said James coldly, as they approached the girls. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard Lily kissed you here," replied Snape, his tone equally cold. "I suppose you want Lily? Well, too bad, she's mine." The words went out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
Everyone stood there, stunned for a minute, but they started laughing the next minute.
"Oh, Snape that was a good one!" cried Sirius, slapping his knee. "Lily—yours?" He started laughing again.
Lily smiled wryly, but she had a temptation to burst out laughing like Sirius had done. "Since when have I been yours, Severus?" she asked coolly. "I don't remember belonging to anyone like I'm a piece of property."
Snape was beet red. "Well, what I meant Lily, was that—" He trailed off, looking quite embarrassed, but controlled himself and strolled over to his friends.
"What have you been doing?" they heard Rosier demand.
"Torturing Potter and his fan club," came Snape's oily voice.
"Good, good. Severus, we must discuss your—er—feelings for the Evans girl…" Their voices trailed off, as James, Lily, and their friends sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"Don't worry, Lily, we won't tell what happened," said Violet sincerely, as she spread butter over her bread.
"Oh, won't we?" teased Sirius.
"Sirius," warned Violet in a dangerous voice.
"Oh, all right," said Sirius in a would-be disappointed voice. Then he added gleefully, "Still, I can't believe old Snape thought that you were his, Lily! Oh, it would have been a perfect opportunity for blackmail if we didn't have a camera."
"I've got one in our dorm," said Jennifer suddenly. Then her eyes glinted mischievously.
"Oh, I have an idea! Lily can pretend to seduce Snape and make him believe that she loves him, or something. Then we can take a picture and blackmail old Snape! What do you all think?"
"Jen, you're a genius!" breathed Violet. "What do you boys think?"
"Ingenious!" the four boys chorused.
"Hey, no one asked for my opinion!" demanded Lily.
"Don't be such a spoilsport, Lily, we don't need your opinion," snapped Violet good-naturedly.
"What? Why not?"
"Because we know you'd say no."
"Fine, I'll be considering, but as long as I don't have to kiss Snape. Yuck." She made a face.
"Of course you have to kiss Snape," said Jennifer practically. "That's part of seduction, right? Oh, and maybe you could be really extreme and we can lock you two into a room with a bed all night…" She grinned wickedly.
"I can't imagine a baby who looks like Snape with green eyes," put in Sirius.
"Ugh! You two are so disgusting! Me, sleep with Snape? You have got to be JOKING!" Lily shook her head furiously.
"We are, Lils," reassured Violet, laughing. "We just wanted to pull your leg, that's all. You think we'd make you kiss Snape and sleep in bed with him? That's evil beyond Slytherin-evil."
"We also wanted to make Jamie jealous, too," added Sirius.
"Why would I be jealous?" asked James.
"'Cause you love Lily too much."
"Sirius, you little—"
"Now what would eight Gryffindors such as yourselves be saying that must be loud enough to scream the Great Hall down?"
They all turned around to see Professor Hurst sneering at them. No one spoke.
"Dear, dear, Evans, I expected better from you." He tutted scoldingly, then returned to his seat at the High Table.
"Miserable bat," muttered Sirius, as he shoved sausages into his mouth.
***
Lily and James were in Dumbledore's office. McGonagall, for some particular reason, had sent them there, and the two puzzled Gryffindors settled down and looked at all the strange objects in the office. A phoenix was fluttering its golden plumage, looking at them with beady eyes.
"Why were we sent here?" said James, cursing angrily.
Lily tutted loudly. "Language, Potter. This is the headmaster's office."
"Hey—what's that?" He pointed to a crystal ball on Dumbledore's desk.
They scurried over and peered inside. It was a crystal ball, but it didn't look like the ones they saw in the pictures of thick books in Flourish and Blotts, and unlike regular crystal balls, it wasn't foggy. Instead, it was clear, and pictures were moving vividly.
As they peered closer, pictures began to form. A girl, who looked like an older version of Lily, was running through a meadow. A handsome man much like an older James Potter was chasing after her, laughing. Then they drew in for a kiss, which went on for quite some time. The pictures blurred again, and formed a new one. An older version of the girl before was bending over a baby. It had jet-black hair that stuck in all directions, and bright green eyes. Then the man bent over the baby and the couple began to laugh. Then this picture disappeared as well, and a new one appeared. A boy, who looked much like James, except for the eyes, was flying on a broomstick, obviously pleased about something. Another boy and a girl were standing on what looked like the Quidditch field, cheering on the boy in the air. The boy on the ground had bright red hair, and the girl standing next to him had bushy brown hair. All three of them started laughing, having a good time. Then the picture dissolved together, and the crystal ball went blank.
"What was that?" said James aloud.
"Looks like a crystal ball," said Lily. "Maybe it shows the future."
"Yeah, me and you kissing," said James sarcastically. "I suppose that will happen in the future."
"Must be our nightmares, then," snapped Lily.
"I wonder who that boy was, though," said James thoughtfully. "You know, the one on the broomstick. He looked a lot like me, but he wasn't me, though. His eyes are green, like yours, and he had a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead."
"And the boy and girl standing weren't familiar, either," put in Lily. "Maybe they're just people that are coming to Hogwarts later on."
"So what does that concern us for?"
"I don't know! You think I'm a Seer or something?"
Before the two could say another word, however, Dumbledore had just entered his office. He smiled at Lily and James, and gestured them to sit down.
"Now, why have you been sent here?" he asked, still smiling.
"Er—" The two looked at each other and James admitted, "We honestly don't know. Professor McGonagall just told us to wait here for you, sir."
"I see." He looked between the nervous kids, and glanced over to where the crystal ball stood. "I think I know what it's about."
He went over and tapped the ball lightly with his wand, and it began to glow. "You see, Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans. This ball is no crystal ball. It tells the future to anyone who looks at it, even people who are not destined to be Seers. It is very rare, and—let me ask you something. What did you two see when you looked through it?"
Lily hesitated. "Well," she began, "we first saw older versions of ourselves—er—kissing." She blushed furiously. "Then I saw my older version holding a baby, with James bending over it, laughing. Then—I saw a boy that looked like James, except he had green eyes like mine and a scar on his forehead. He was on a broomstick, and he and the red-head boy and brown-hair girl below him were laughing together." She frowned. "I don't know what it has to do with me."
Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled behind his half-moon glasses. "Ah, Miss Evans. It is because that it showed the future—your destiny. The boy on the broomstick—he is your son. And he is James' son as well. But I cannot tell you anymore than this. You'll have to find out for yourselves." He ushered them gently out of his office. "Now, why don't you head off to dinner while I examine this ball more."
Still puzzled, Lily and James went out of Dumbledore's office, when James broke into a tirade.
"I'm marrying you? And we have a son together? Am I mad?"
"Hey, I'm confused too," snapped Lily.
"Obviously. But we'd better not mention this to anyone, Sirius will never let me hear the end of it."
"Deal," agreed Lily.
Their friends were rushing towards them, grins plastered on their faces. "What was that about?" asked Sirius loudly. "Did Dumbledore yell at you or something."
Lily and James exchanged nervous glances. "Er—McGonagall made some sort of mistake," lied Lily. "Dumbledore had no idea what we were doing in his office."
"Right." You could tell that they didn't believe a single word Lily had said.
"So Lily," began Arabella, "did you make up with James?"
"No!" chorused the two enemies.
The rest all sighed. "So much for that," muttered Sirius.
"Hey, I tried," argued Arabella.
"I wasn't blaming you, Bells. Those two are just so stubborn sometimes!"
"Hey, it's not like we can't hear you," stated Lily. "We're still here you know."
"I know," said Sirius, irritated. "Just leave me alone." He waved his hand casually and left for Gryffindor Tower.
"What's eating him?" wondered Jennifer as they climbed through the portrait hole.
"Maybe it's a boy thing," suggested Violet.
"Who knows."
As the four girls scrambled into their dormitory, Arabella stopped. "I think I'll go see Sirius," she said, ignoring the whistles that followed.
"Aww, I didn't know you liked Sirius, Bella. Why didn't you tell us?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," replied Arabella loftily.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just tell us if any saliva is exchanged between you and dog boy."
They all giggled, leaving Arabella stomping off to the boys' dormitory. Minutes later, James entered the girls' dormitory to find three girls giggling furiously.
"What do you think is happening?" asked Lily excitedly.
"They're probably having a kissing session," said Jennifer disgustedly.
"How romantic," said Violet dreamily.
James cleared his throat, and the girls turned around.
"What are you doing here, Potter? I didn't remember inviting you."
"I didn't think I needed an invitation," said James dryly. "Though I do think you would want news of how my best friend is doing with your best friend."
Lily's eyes sparkled. "All right then. I'll be civil to you, and you can tell us what's happening."
James grinned. "As Jennifer predicted, they are currently kissing"—he grinned at Lily's delighted face, Jennifer's disgusted one, and Violet's dreamy one—"but it took quite a lot of convincing." He explained the whole story, and Violet sighed dramatically.
"That's so romantic," she sighed. "It's just like it's out of a fairy tale!"
"Violet, please," scolded Jennifer. Then she added, "We wouldn't want Lily and James to be next."
"Not this again," groaned Lily. "I told you guys, I hate Potter."
"Then you could marry Snape—"
"Ugh, what do you take me for? I'm not marrying that slimy, greasy hairball git!"
"You're right, Lily Potter sounds much better," said Jennifer, trying not to laugh.
"Jennifer Dean, you've got some nerve—"
"I'll be leaving now," said James loudly. He turned to go, but then the door burst open and Arabella walked in with a dazed expression on her face.
"Ah, finally done, are you?" he said teasingly, watching Arabella's face twist in fury and horror. "Don't worry, the girls already know." He left without another word.
"You guys know?" asked Arabella, rather shakily.
"'Course we know, Lily did a bit of coaxing," said Jennifer, grinning. "So…give us the details! Potter would never tell the more juicy parts to us."
"Tomorrow," promised Arabella, trying not to laugh. "Guys—I think I'm in love."
"At age eleven?" questioned Violet, raising her eyebrows. "I wouldn't know, but it's just a minor crush."
"Yeah, whatever."
***
The snow was finally melting, and spring was in the air, which meant another Quidditch match was approaching. James and Sirius, though they desperately wanted to get on the team, finally stopped pestering the Gryffindor captain and decided to try out next year. Lily was excited and nervous as well. It would be Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, the second match of the season.
She was quite nasty to Snape as well. Though it wasn't against Slytherin House this time, Severus had been trying to keep the team players out of action along with his Slytherin gang, causing Lily to slap him harshly one day in the corridors. Sirius had howled with laughter after that, and Snape never taunted any of the Gryffindors in front of her after the incident.
Of course, Lily and James continued to pull pranks on each other. Lily, furious at James for turning her hair into brown, had performed a little charm to make Deanna Jackson, the girl James always mooned about to make Lily jealous, to fall in love with James for a day. This had caused James into one of the worst days of his life, having the second year Gryffindor girl follow him around like a puppy. He had gotten his revenge, however, by declaring to the whole Great Hall that Lily liked Snape, performing charms that sent shooting stars into the bewitched night sky. Lily, who was already fuming by then, had stood up and declared that James Potter was a liar and that she hated Snape as well as all Slytherins, then storming out of the Great Hall amid the shouts of laughter heard afterwards.
On this particular day, however, Lily seemed nervous. Her friends had demanded what was wrong, but she wouldn't say.
"Fine!" she snapped, after the fifth time they asked her. "The exams are in three months, what if I don't pass?"
Violet burst into laughter. "Are you still worrying about that, Lils? Lily, they're ages away! If James Potter isn't worried, then you shouldn't be, since you're much cleverer than he is."
"Oh, I suppose," sighed Lily, but she was in a lighter mood after that.
Meanwhile, James was complaining in the boys' dormitory about Deanna.
"If Evans hadn't put that charm on her, then she wouldn't be following me around!" he whined.
Sirius, who was sick of James' complaints, had said, "Oh, come on Jamie-boy, it's not like Jackson's the only girl that's fighting over you. A group of Ravenclaw girls had a catfight in the corridors because they were arguing if you liked them or not, and one of them ended up in the hospital wing with a bloody nose." He shook his head. "Honestly, James, get yourself a girl and settle down."
"I don't even like girls!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, sure Arabella, Jennifer, and Violet are my friends—sort of, but that Evans." He shuddered.
"Lily's nice," cut in Remus, who was interested in where this conversation was going. "You should be friends with her, James, she has a side to her that you probably never expected."
"She actually studies?" suggested James.
"No. She's actually really funny, and can really help you in your times of trouble. Really, Lily makes me laugh all the time. You guys should get together as friends, James, or else you'll be missing a lot of great times."
"I couldn't have said it better myself," agreed Sirius.
James turned to Peter, and the little boy nodded, showing his assent, which made him groan loudly.
"So how come Evans hates me so much?" he demanded of his friends.
The three boys looked at each other. Finally Remus said in his gentle voice, "Because, James, you hate her. If you two made up, I'm sure Lily wouldn't hate you so much."
James laughed at the irony of this statement. Lily had once threatened to tear him apart from limb to limb if he embarrassed her again. Soon their dormitory door opened and Lily walked in, grinning. James groaned again. She must be planning a new prank, he thought to himself.
"Hey Lily," greeted Sirius, grinning at the redhead appreciatively. James scowled.
"What do you want, Evans?" he asked.
"I just wanted to see my friends, Jamie," replied Lily, pouting. "Is that such a crime?" She shot him a smile, which made him relax a bit.
"See Potter, I'm not so bad," she said, nodding and smirking at the black-haired boy.
"Right." James crawled onto his bed and drew the curtains so that everything was hidden from view.
"You know, Potter isn't so bad," remarked Lily.
James couldn't believe his ears. Had Evans gone mad?
"Really?" he heard Sirius' voice say.
"Yep. Pretty cute, actually. I can actually imagine why those silly girls chase after him like wolves."
James, much to his horror, found himself grinning like a Cheshire cat. Oh, now Evans was humoring Sirius.
"You know, Lily, James can hear you," said Remus.
"I know," he heard Lily say. "I'm just going to see what Potter's reaction to this is –"
James panicked. What if Lily saw him listening through his curtains intently? He quickly lay in bed and pulled out a battered old copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, and began reading. Soon Lily pulled the curtains back, and disappointingly, James was reading, not paying any attention to their conversation. Or so she thought.
"Oh, hi Evans," said James, looking up from his book and speaking nonchalantly.
"Potter," she said, smirking. "Nice book?"
"Oh yeah," he replied quickly. "Very, um…interesting read."
"Is that why you're reading it upside down?" she asked, smiling sweetly. James blushed. So this was why she was grinning.
"I was experimenting," he said grumpily.
"Sure you were," said Lily, still grinning.
"I was," said James, aggravated.
"Do you normally read books upside-down? I didn't know even wizards were capable of that."
"Oh, well—I'm special," said James proudly.
Lily snorted. "Yeah, well, I'd better get back to my dormitory. I have to put some common sense into Violet, since she secretly 'likes' you. Ridiculous!"
"You're just jealous," said James smugly, sounding oddly like a five-year-old.
Lily snorted. "Of what?"
James scratched his head before answer. "Er—I forgot."
Lily laughed.
***
That night, she had the strangest dream.
Lily was softly humming to a baby, which she recognized to be the same baby that she and James were laughing over in Dumbledore's crystal ball. An older version of James was standing next to her, his arms around hers, and he was whispering to a tear-streaked Lily. They were both whispering and comforting the crying bundle in Lily's arms, and there was a loud bang that shattered the silence. Then James' voice began to panic.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off…" Then he stumbled into another room while Lily rushed to the kitchen.
There was a high-pitched cackle, and then silence. All of a sudden, a scream echoed through the night, and there was a thump as something heavy hit the floor. Lily could only guess that her husband was dead.
Then the cloaked figure who had killed James advanced towards her. He was ready to attack, to kill, as he held up his wand.
Then Lily's voice rang out. "Please, not Harry, have mercy…"
"Stand aside, you silly girl, stand aside now…"
"Please, I'll do anything, kill me, kill me instead…"
Then Lily was screaming like she had never screamed before, and fell to the floor with a dull thump. The cloaked figure had advanced towards the baby boy named Harry, but could not kill him. He let out a piercing scream, there was a blinding flash of light, and an eerie silence afterwards. The baby boy was still alive and fast asleep.
Lily woke up with a start, sweat pouring down her face. Now she understood what Dumbledore had said. She and James were to die, but her son—Harry, he was to live. But what did this all mean?
"Lily?" She heard a muffled voice, and Arabella was slipping on her school robes, looking exhausted. "Was that you screaming?"
"I screamed?" asked Lily, confused. Arabella nodded, and Jennifer and Violet began to stir awake, too.
"What did you dream about?"
"I dreamed—I dreamed about this…wizard. He came to my house and he—he killed James. Then he killed me, but only because I wouldn't let him kill a baby boy. But he couldn't kill the baby boy, who was probably my son."
There was a nasty silence after her story. Arabella, Violet, and Jennifer were too stunned to speak. Then their dormitory door opened and James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter filed in, looking as tired as the girls. Sirius looked grumpy, while Remus and Peter were yawning. James, however, was wide-awake with round eyes.
"What are you guys doing here?" asked Arabella curiously.
"Well," said Sirius, his voice full of agitation, "I was sleeping soundly, when James here started yelling like a maniac. This woke me up out of my dreams, and then we heard one of your scream. So we came here to investigate."
"Lily said something about a wizard coming to kill James and herself, but he couldn't kill her son," said Violet, frowning.
"That's what I dreamed about," said James, looking terrified.
Lily choked back a sob, and Bella put her arm around her best friend. "Don't worry, Lil, it's all right…" She glared at the boys. "What do you think you're doing, scaring Lily like this? Now, either we all send James to an insane asylum or…"
"Hey, your friend dreamt the same thing!" pointed out James angrily. "I'm not the only one who's insane!"
"Lily's not insane!" screeched Arabella.
"What in heavens is going on here?" They slowly turned around, only to see Professor McGonagall turn up in a flowered nightgown and holding a lit up wand. She was frowning.
"Boys!" she cried. "What do you think you're doing in a girls' dormitory? Potter, Black, you two should have known better!"
The bowed their heads. Then Lily said, "Please, Professor, J-James and I, we had a bad dream and the boys came here to see w-what was wrong." Her voice was shaky.
McGonagall looked astonished. Then she said swiftly, "Well, you all get on back to bed. Potter, Miss Evans, I would like a word with you two." She marched out of the portrait hole and near the stone gargoyle with James and Lily at her heals.
"Sherbet Lemon," she barked, and the stone gargoyle jumped to life and sprang aside. She marched into the office and Professor Dumbledore was hurrying out of the dark in his robes, looking concerned.
"Minerva," he said, frowning. "What is this?"
Professor McGonagall nodded her head to Lily and James. "Those two—they just had a dream about you-know-what."
Dumbledore nodded, relaxing. "Very well, Minerva. You may return to bed now. I will speak to them."
When McGonagall left, Dumbledore turned to the two. "I want you to tell me exactly what your dreams were about," he said, in a gentle, but firm voice.
Lily and James told the headmaster exactly what they dreamt about, and Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "I knew you would dream this sooner or later," he said, smiling at their stunned faces. "You two have a long destiny together and will change the course of the world. Of course, you probably think it's perfectly ridiculous right now, seeing how much you—er—rather loathe each other. But time will come when you will understand what the right thing to do is. Now"—he glanced at the watch on his wrist—"I think it is time for you two to return to bed. And please do not mention what I have told you to anyone. It's dangerous to share secrets these days."
They both nodded and left the office, whispering to each other.
"What did Dumbledore mean, 'change the course of the word'? Dad must've known something like this would happen, that's why he told me to be nice to you in the letter."
"Letter?"
"Yeah…he sent me one just before Christmas yelling at me and telling me to be nice to 'the Evans girl'. I tried, but you're obviously not easy to get along with."
"There's no point of trying if it's impossible," snapped Lily.
James was amazed. "Still—it's pretty bad to disobey my dad. He can be powerfully mad when…hey, who's that?"
There was a shadow moving along the walls, and Snape came out, very red in the face.
"Oh, hello," he muttered, carefully not meeting their eyes. "I was—er—taking a stroll…"
"In the middle of the night?" interrupted James. "Really, Severus, you out of all people to break school rules—" He tutted the way Lily would when someone broke a school rule.
"I—" Snape now looked extremely uncomfortable. "You're out of bed," he said instead.
"The headmaster wanted to see us," replied Lily hardly. She was rather cool to Snape after the match against Ravenclaw.
"Oh, well, that—that's different, then," stumbled Snape. "W-well, I m-must be off." He ran off, not to another corridor, but to the direction of where the Slytherin common room was.
"I took care of him," said James proudly. Lily scowled.
"I helped!"
"Yeah, well, I did most of the work."
"Arrogant pig."
"Withering flower."
"Daft—" began Lily, but her eyes filled with tears. "I am not a withering flower!"
"Well, I'm not an arrogant pig and a daft whatever-you-were-going-to-say!"
"Yes, well, a withering flower—" She suddenly ran off to Gryffindor Tower, sobbing. James halted. What had he said wrong?
By the time he got into the common room, all three of Lily's friends were glaring at him menacingly, their arms around a crying Lily. When he saw his friends, they were also staring at him coldly and shaking their heads.
"Why is everyone mad?" he asked wonderingly, strolling over to where Sirius, Remus, and Peter stood.
"You called Lily a withering flower," said Remus quietly, not looking at James.
"So? She called me an arrogant pig!"
"Yes, James." It was Sirius speaking, and he was looking serious, for a change. "You know how strong Lily is. A withering flower would indicate that she was weak and cannot face the world. And you know how that's not true. Lily's stronger than all of us, and can go through many hardships."
James' heart sank and he suddenly felt terrible. "Well, I didn't mean…what I meant was…" He trailed off, looking away.
Remus patted his shoulder. "I know you didn't mean any harm when you said it, James, but next time, be careful of what you say to Lily. She's one girl you shouldn't mess with."
James gave his friend small smile. "You can say that again. I've had too much experience to mess around with her."
Sirius laughed and Remus chuckled. "You're right about that, Jamie!"
Then James walked over to where Lily was still crying. But before he could say one word, she rushed up to the girls' dormitory, tears coursing on her cheeks.
"You should go after her and apologize," said Violet quietly, watching her friend disappear. "That was a really mean thing you said, James."
"I know," said James, his head bowed. "I—I never meant any harm…"
"Of course you didn't," said Jennifer swiftly. "Lily's just a bit stubborn, but she'll get over it. Just watch your mouth next time, sonny." She grinned and Arabella stepped forward.
"I'm not mad," she reassured. "But I'll be happy again if you'd apologize to my best friend."
"I will," he promised, and rushed up to the girls' dormitory. Then the girls started to grin at each other excitedly.
"D'you think they'll kiss and make up?" whispered Violet.
Arabella shook her head. "Nah, I know Lily too well, she and James will still stay enemies after James apologizes. But they'll become friends later, for sure."
"It happens when both people are as stubborn as mules," agreed Jennifer.
Back in the girl's dorm room, James was apologizing endlessly to Lily.
"Look, Lily, I'm not forcing you to be friends with me, but I really want you to forgive me for calling you a withering flower. I was really mad at that time, and I wasn't thinking properly and…well…" Seeing that Lily was looking away and not speaking, he tried again.
"Lily, I think you're beautiful. I've thought that ever since we first met at King's Cross and, well, I've never told anyone. I know that Sirius would tease me to no end, and your friends would probably say 'we knew it'. So—I've kept it to myself. But now I'm telling it to you, and…can you please not tell anyone that I've said it?"
Lily turned around, and James was astonished to see a smile plastered on her face. "Sure James. You know, you're not such a bad guy after all. When I first met you, I thought that you were the worst thing since rules, but I guess I was wrong and Remus was right. There is more to you than I've ever imagined. But we're still enemies, right?"
Lily grinned mischievously. "Right. Much to our friends' disappointments of course."
"Naturally."
"So…let's go down to the common room."
They marched down to the common room again, where their friends were waiting eagerly.
"Did you make up?" asked Arabella, though she knew what the answer would be.
"Nope," they both replied.
"And you two would have made such a cute couple," sighed Sirius, pretending to be disappointed.
James laughed. "Come on, Sirius, we know you don't want us to be friends. When we play pranks on each other again, you'll have the pleasure of egging us both on."
"Jamie-boy, sometimes I think that you can read minds."
"Funny thing really—I was thinking that Remus can."
They all laughed. Then James went over to Lily and said, "Enemies?"
"Enemies…for now," said Lily, hiding a smile.
"Hey!" exclaimed Sirius suddenly. "You didn't say, 'Enemies forever'!"
"That's right, Sirius," explained Lily, smiling. "Because James and I know we won't be enemies forever."