Author'sNote – Okay, does anyone really want to hear about how I can't even remember how long its been since the last time I updated this? Mmhmm, that's what I thought. Leave any comments/questions about such things or the story in your review. On with the story…
Chapter 7: The Agreement
Despite her sweet and kindly nature, Lily Evans had always had a very specific vice. While, she was quite the rational thinker and had always been marveled at for her extreme patience, she was also infamous among her friends for being decidedly…stubborn. She had a very sharp stubborn streak in her that, when tested, seemed to make even her infallible sense of rationality and patience deteriorate before her very eyes. This trait of hers was not only bothersome to her friends, but to be quite frank…well…it annoyed the hell out of her.
While, the stubborn streak could be brought out by anyone really, there had always been specific individuals throughout different periods of her life that could really bring it out in full force. When she was a very small child, that person was her older sister, Petunia. Petunia had never been keen on letting Lily in on anything her and her friends ever did. Lily, however, being the eager little girl that she'd been, had never missed a chance to be a part of her sister's life. The more Petunia pushed her away, the more Lily insisted on being included. As she grew up, though, Lily slowly learned that the best way to show her sister that she cared was, quite simply, to ignore her altogether. Yet, it wasn't long before another evoker emerged in Lily's life. By the time she reached the age of 12, Lily had fully realized that, while she completely adored her mother, they would never again fully agree on anything until she was at least 18. The reason for this was not because Lily and her mother no longer got along, but more-so Lily's hopes of achieving a certain sense of independence. Within about a year, Mrs. Evans even came to recognize this quality in her daughter and began to not only respect it, but value and appreciate it also.
However, neither of those two women could bring out the streak quite as efficiently and without fail as a certain hazel eyed Gryffindor chaser. No one brought out the stubbornness in Lily Evans in the way that James Potter did.
Almost two weeks had passed since Leila had made the rather deliberate, yet not-so-wise jab at Lily over a possible infatuation with James Potter.
For some impossibly irritating reason, Lily could not stop thinking about it. This was a rather ironic twist to the situation, considering that Lily could not stop thinking about the fact that she had been accused of not being able to stop thinking about James Potter. More so, she could not stop thinking about the fact that she could not stop thinking about how she had been accused of not being able to stop thinking about James Potter. It was all very confusing and utterly infuriating.
For one, the concept of her even being slightly fond of James Potter was enough to make her laugh out loud. In fact, she had, several times within the presence of her friends done such a thing. While, it could be covered up as normal when the lot of them were simply hanging about, it was hard to explain why she burst into laughter during a rather lengthy lesson on Giant Wars in Professor Binns's class.
Beyond that, Lily saw no reason at all for Leila's disgustingly false accusations. At first she had been able to write it all off as humorous prodding for entertainment's sake, but when Leila corrected this assumption by informing Lily that she had been dead serious, she'd begun to worry for her friend's mental stability. Perhaps she was a compulsive liar?
All of her suspicions, confusion, and nervous anxiety were especially fresh in her mind on the 15th Post-James-Jab day.
On the morning of that day, Lily could be found sprawled out across her bed, lazily tracing invisible patterns on her sheets as she read up on the uses of essence of belladonna for a particularly grueling Potions essay. Frustrated that she wasn't picking up some of the information that she needed for her essay, she began to quickly flip through the pages of the book, scanning each with rapid-fire precision. She was yet to find the name of the wizard who was given credit for its discovery. Therefore, the ordeal went on for several minutes. Flip. Scan. Flip. Scan. Flip. Scan. Flip. Scan.
Rather abruptly, Lily's eyes focused on a specific sentence found in the very center of page 624.
After many years of intense study and even more of fruitless research by a myriad of the most competent and brilliant wizards of that time, one man stumbled upon the very discovery that so many had dedicated hours and hours of their time to find. James Joseph Tennyteller, while honeymooning with his wife—
Lily did not get the chance to finish reading about the less-than-interesting honeymoon exploits of James Joseph Tennyteller, for she had slammed the book shut as soon as she had seen his first name.
How could she not think of the damn prat when his damn name was in her book. Okay, well it was technically the library's book, but even so, Lily was tempted to reopen the book to page 624 and perform a simple spell to erase the James from the man's name. He could simply be Joseph Tennyteller to anyone who read the book after her. No one needed that silly 3 name status anyway..it was unnecessarily redundant. She was however, rather skeptical about defacing school property and even more so, on a larger scale, history itself.
The only other person in the room at the time, Lola, observed Lily's strange behavior with mild amusement.
"You all right, Lil?" She questioned, arching one eyebrow in an inquisitive fashion.
"I would be..and I was..until Leila had to butt into things that have nothing to do with her and, by doing so, completely addle my brain!"
"So, should I assume it would be a bad move to ask to you to come with me to meet Leila for a late breakfast?"
"Assume away!" Lily encouraged with a dismissive gesture.
Lola emitted a small laugh and got up off her bed, heading for the door. Before she exited the dormitory, however, she turned thoughtfully and asked, "Hey, Lily—would you mind doing me a favor?"
Lily gave her a sardonic smile. "Please say you want me to check myself into St. Mungo's, because I could really use the encouragement."
Lola laughed again. "While, I intend to fully support this little goal of yours, that's not quite what I was implying. Would you mind if I kept your Charms notes for one more night? I know I've had them for almost a week, but I've been so busy and I thought that I'd finally have a free night tonight, but James has scheduled practice again and…and why are you looking at me like that?"
"Lola, why is it that whenever you're trying to not think about something, it pops up everywhere?" Lily sighed in suppressed defeat.
Lola grinned. "Were you trying not to think about your notes? Because if you could try just a bit harder for just one more day I promise they'd be safely back in your possession by tomorrow night."
"Oh, no! I mean..well, yes, you can keep them for another day, but—."
"Oh, thanks so much, Lily!" Lola cut in, an enormous smile stretching across her face.
Lily shook her head slightly. "No problem."
"All right, well, if you get hungry—you know where I'm at and that I'm where the food is, so you'll have some company! I'll see you in a bit!" Lola raised her hand in a small wave and then left the dormitory.
Alone, Lily sunk back onto her bed with a deep sigh. If only "no problem" applied to every aspect of her life!
"Ah, checkmate!" Sirius Black announced proudly. With a delightful flourish, he patted the head of the knight responsible for the capture of Peter's king, who promptly swatted his tiny sword at him. Sirius winced rather sensitively and glared at the small figure.
"How could this have happened?" Peter eyed the chess set incredulously and whined, "I just beat Moony earlier and he's loads better than you!"
Sirius looked, as always, rather undaunted. "Just pay up, Pete."
"What?"
"You heard me—10 galleons on the table."
"Padfoot, we weren't playing for money."
"Yes, we were."
"No, Sirius, we most definitely were not. I haven't played you for money in anything since you cheated that time when--."
"OK, enough!" Sirius was now looking a bit miffed and in a huffy, yet quieter voice proclaimed, "I hate that your memory's gotten better."
"Ah, well, you're just going to have to find other resources for cheating me out of my own money. I'm sure it won't be too difficult for you."
Sirius sighed. "Yes, I know, but I hate having to put out an effort."
"The feeling is mutual." A gruff voice proclaimed from the bed next to Sirius's.
"Aww, Prongs, you poor dear. You're getting a bit sad drowning in all things pathetic over there. Do I need to give you another hug?" Sirius had adopted a cute little chirp for his tone.
"No, Padfoot, the first seven were enough for today."
"Jaaaaaaames," Sirius drawled, "these arms will not be available all day. They have a very busy schedule. I mean, really, how couldn't they when they belong to me?"
"I love it when he thinks aloud." Peter remarked dryly.
"While I'm quite sure this suggestion isn't too Moony-friendly, I've decided to say it anyway. Prongs, man, you have to get back out there. You're turning into a social pariah."
"Pariah, Sirius? Do you even know what that is?" Peter raised his eyebrows in a speculative manner.
"Yes, Wormtail, I know exactly what it is. If you would like for me to put it in perspective for you, it would be the kind of person you're going to be if you keep questioning me."
"Is that a threat, Padfoot?"
"No, not at all. Consider it an oral pat on the back." Sirius's voice, as usual, was dripping with sarcasm.
"Doesn't matter anyway--," Peter mumbled, "whatever it is, James certainly isn't it."
"In my own defense…I agree." James nodded.
"Prongs, you are one step away from listening to sad music while eating 2 lbs of chocolate and asking me if you're fat."
James considered this for a moment and then gestured pointedly to his sides. "I am gaining a bit of weight."
"It is almost February, James. You could still be carrying a little holiday weight." Peter reasoned with a shrug.
"I'm sorry ladies, but tell me again which page this was on in Witch Weekly. I'd like to bookmark it for further reference."
"Shove off, Padfoot. I have the right to be a bit depressed every now and then."
"But, when you're depressed you're not fun…and when you're not fun, we don't do anything fun…and before you know it, my whole world is thrown off balance!"
"Sirius, you don't know what this is like. Everything I do is rejected by this girl! Have you noticed she's been ignoring me lately? All because I innocently tried to start that tutoring club with her, I bet! She always thinks the worst of me…always assumes I have the worst intentions!" James's face had turned slightly pink from his small outburst.
"Well, your ultimate goal is to snog her after all this right?" Peter asked.
"Well…yes, but I wouldn't mind if some people learned a few things, too. It's not selfish when it's a win-win situation for everyone." James reasoned.
"If Moony were here, I bet he'd think otherwise." Sirius piped up.
"And why is that?"
"I dunno…it's like his job description: 'must think otherwise'."
"Must be all that..good sense in him." The words rolled off of Peter's tongue like the mention of an Unforgivable Curse.
"You reckon Evans fancies good sense?" James questioned in a slightly smaller voice.
"Well, not that we know her much or anything, but I'd reckon that she's pretty keen on anything you don't possess."
"Hey, speaking of Moony--." Sirius began.
"We aren't anymore." Peter interrupted.
"Pariah, Peter, pariah." Sirius chanted.
"Stop being so sensitive just because I didn't let you rob me blind earlier."
"Wait—what?" James looked considerably confused.
"I beat him at chess and he tried to say that we had made a bet, but we hadn't and I remembered that."
James laughed rather loudly. "Sirius—beat you—at chess?"
Sirius looked indignant. "What exactly is that supposed to mean? I regret those hugs, Prongs, I really do. And you are getting a bit fat."
James ignored the nonsense coming out of his best friend's mouth and simply laughed again. "No offense, Padfoot, but…well, you play chess like a girl."
"…and how…exactly…is that?" Sirius wasn't quite following.
James thought for a moment. "Doesn't really work with that one, does it?"
"Nah, not even a little bit." Sirius admitted honestly with a shake of his head. "Not to worry, though! Back to what I was about to say before. Where the hell is our better half? It's no fun even trying to get into trouble when he's not around to shake his head at me."
James shrugged. "Probably in Hogsmeade helping old women cross the street or setting all the owls free in Eeylops."
"Actually," Peter clarified, "he's at a Prefect's meeting."
Remus, was indeed, at a Prefect's meeting. Professor McGonagall had spontaneously arranged one for the purpose of alerting all 8 of them to the fact that someone was, once again, causing all the toilets to overflow in the bathrooms every time someone attempted to wash their hands. While, she slightly admitted that it was a rather clever bit of magic, she insisted that the sheer preposterousness of it all stopped her from being impressed.
"So, in conclusion, if any of you—," she paused here and regarded them all (stopping quite noticeably longer when her gaze came to rest on Remus, which, incidentally, caused him to redden), "have an idea of who this person is or through some feat catch this person or maybe even hear a bit of speculation…I would like you to report to me immediately. This cannot go on. A 2nd year girl came into my class crying because her new socks were soaked with toilet water. It is getting to be quite a problem."
Remus almost felt like looking away. He respected Professor McGonagall and he hated the fact that he had to stand in front of her and lie so blatantly. He had tried consoling himself with the fact that even if he did tell Sirius to stop charming the sinks and toilets, he would get minimal to zero cooperation. Even that did not help, however, when his mind began to wonder back to the real reasons as to why he would never tell McGonagall of his friend's antics. He, rather ashamedly of course, thought them to be quite funny. Sure, the fact that less and less people were now washing their hands because of the charm was alarming and altogether unsanitary, but the part of him that was usually smothered by his sensibility found it all greatly amusing.
Remus tuned back into the present just as McGonagall was dismissing them. Before he could turn to leave, however, he felt a slight tug on the sleeve of his robes.
He turned to see Lily Evans looking at him rather pointedly, her eyes narrowed.
"Which one of them, Remus?"
He pretended to be daft. "Which of—who, Lily?"
Lily raised her eyebrows at him. "Listen, Remus, I try to give you as much space as possible when it comes to dealing with your…friends. I simply cannot allow myself to just sit back and allow them to terrorize students and I can't believe that you can!"
"This has nothing to do with them." Remus's tone had hardened slightly.
Catching Remus completely off-guard, Lily let out a slight shrill.
"Why does EVERYONE think I am some complete and utter moron?"
"Everyone being…?"
"You…and Potter." She seethed in a very impatient voice.
Remus began to get slightly defensive. "I'm sorry, I forgot that we made up half the population of Hogwarts these days! Is enrollment down? Has Dumbledore started charging tuition?"
Lily crossed her arms and took a deep breath, attempting to compose herself. She hadn't meant to make Remus cross with her and it was starting to look like they were heading down that path.
"I'm just saying that I happen to be a fairly intelligent specimen and I don't like being treated like dirt."
"Lily--."
It was then that she began to yell. "NO, REMUS, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! I'M TIRED OF IT! I'M SICK OF POTTER THINKING THAT HE CAN TREAT ME LIKE AN IDIOT! I'M SICK OF DOUBTING MYSELF SOMEIMES! I'M SICK OF CONSTANTLY HAVING TO KEEP MY GUARD UP! I'M SICK OF ALL POTTER'S LIES AND MANIPULATION! I'M SICK OF HEARING THAT I COME DOWN ON HIM WAY TOO HARD—BECAUSE I DON'T! AND I'M REALLY SICK OF—"
"James in general?"
Lily took a steadying breath and smiled ever so slightly. "Actually, I was going to say yelling."
"Now, what were you going on about? Lies and manipulation?"
"Potter lying about that damn tutoring club just to pull off some big spectacular prank of his!"
Another voice cut sharply into their conversation. "Mr. Lupin, Miss. Evans—I'm sorry to interrupt you like this, but I forgot to question you earlier, Miss. Evans. Mr. Lupin, if you would mind, could step out for a moment."
It was Professor McGonagall, who had just stepped back into the empty classroom that the previous Prefect's meeting had been held in.
Lily, looking just a bit daunted, shook her head. "Oh, I—I wouldn't mind if Remus stayed."
"If that suits you, Miss. Evans, very well. I wanted to speak with you about the tutoring club that Mr. Potter spoke of to me a few weeks ago. He agreed to my one specific condition, which was that either he did it with you, as he asked to, or not at all. I haven't received word from him yet, but I actually have several younger students right now who would benefit greatly from a bit of tutoring. So, Miss. Evans, if you did, indeed, agree to begin such a club with Mr. Potter, I was wondering if I could meet with you both to arrange times and designate you a specific classroom to hold meetings in. I also need to put together a list of all the students right now who require some extra practice in some of their subjects, so you can have some form of a preliminary meeting with them, also."
Given that Professor McGonagall had blurted this all out in a clipped (not cold, just sharp) and hurried tone, Lily had not managed to get so much as a word in. However, by time she had finished, Lily couldn't seem to even put a coherent sentence together. The incredible revelation that was the fact that James Potter had been telling her the truth weeks ago was so completely shocking that she couldn't quite get her mind around it.
"Miss. Evans, do you have an answer for me?"
Looking over quickly to Remus, Lily noticed that he had a slight, yet knowing smile etched across his face.
Out of what she would later blame to be pure shock and amazement, Lily looked back to Professor McGonagall and slowly nodded her head.
"Yes, yes—I'll do it. I mean..we'lldo it. I'll speak to Potter—er, James…about it."
"Very well. Then, I'd like for the two of you to meet me at 7:00 in my classroom tomorrow evening. I assume that this time would suit both of you well enough?"
Lily quickly agreed, knowing full well that she had completely no idea as to what James's plans were for the following night. Honestly, though, she really hoped that he would have the audacity to pitch a fit about her agreeing to a meeting that conflicted with his beloved quidditch practices. It would be so like Potter to do that.
Professor McGonagall then bid them each a good day and promptly left the classroom.
Upon her departure, Remus turned to Lily, his previous smile having morphed into a grin.
"Lies and manipulation, huh?"
"Oh, come off it, Remus!"
Remus thought for a moment. "All right, but on one condition. Since you were wrong about that, how about you consider the fact that you could be wrong about my handling of the bathroom situation."
Lily bit her lip. "Mmm…all right, I suppose that will do. Just…uh…Remus?"
"Yes?"
"Why is it that whoever it is…must go into the girls' bathrooms also? Do you think you could fix…that aspect of it?"
"Hmm…well, I happen to know that this hypothetical person is extremely curious. It would be pretty difficult to dissuade them."
"Remus—I'm really getting out of the habit of washing my hands after I use the loo and its…err…it's really a bit disgusting."
Remus laughed in a muffled sort of way. "I would agree."
"Just please try to—control the situation a little."
"Will do, Lily, will do."
At dinner, Lily could be found eating more than she could remember eating at one time in her entire life. She continuously shoveled food into her mouth, barely giving herself time to breathe. It was when she began to crack a pistachio that someone finally spoke up.
"Lily, stop!" Leila commanded.
Lily, emerging easily from her daze, blinked a few times. "Hmm?"
"You're allergic to nuts!" Leila gestured wildly to the pistachio that Lily was about to insert into her mouth.
Lily made a face at the pistachio in question and casually tossed it aside.
"What is wrong with you?"
"Hmm?"
"Lily, you're not showing any emotion. You're not sad, happy, pissed off…you're not even angry with me anymore! Not that I'm complaining, but…why are you so…stoic? It's…scary."
"I'm…delaying the inevitable."
"At this point, the inevitable is every piece of food on this table, Lily."
Lily nodded in a distracted sort of way, not really comprehending Leila's words as much as she let on.
"Potter was telling the truth. I told McGonagall that I'd do the tutoring thing. Must go tell him eventually." Lily annunciated in short, clipped sentences.
Leila looked positively delighted.
"Well, then…go on, now!"
"Must I?" Lily asked in a pathetic sounding voice.
Leila nodded eagerly, a bright smile on her face.
Her face still devoid of emotion, Lily got up from her chair and began to walk toward James with sloth-like speed.
She vaguely heard Leila whisper from behind her, "Speed up a little, Lily! For Merlin's sake, you're not walking to your death!"
When Lily finally reached the other end of the table where Potter and his friends sat, she decided to try and make the agreement as painless as possible.
"Potter."
James brightened up immensely when he heard her voice.
"Lily! I mean—er---Evans."
Lily stared at him blankly for a moment. This made him incredibly nervous for reasons that he couldn't quite explain. He quickly glanced around to try and find something to talk about with her. She rarely ever spoke to him first and lately not at all, so he found himself with an overwhelming urge to show her his amazing skills as a conversationalist. He tried his best to think of the list he had made up with the help of Lily's friends—the one that had detailed all of her likes and dislikes that they'd known of. Feeling pressed for time, James decided to go with the first item that he spotted. He snatched up a little bowl that had been resting next to his dinner plate and brandished it.
She raised her eyebrows at him.
"It's…jello." He pathetically explained.
"Yes…um…it is. Anyway, well--."
James pressed on. "Would you…like some?"
Lily eyed him speculatively. "Well, I really just--."
"You like jello!" He exclaimed.
"What?" Lily was now rather confused.
"Er…um…I assumed that…because, well, who doesn't? It's jello!"
Lily did not seem interested in his feeble attempts at conversation.
"Listen, Potter, I—."
He once again cut her off. "It's strawberry jello."
"Yes, Potter, that's wonderful, but--."
"It's…uh…definitely a favorite of mine. How about you?" James asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, actually it is, but--."
"That's something we have in common, then. What other--."
Lily never got the chance to hear what James was about to ask her, for she simply could not take it anymore.
"Potter, must you be so infuriating? If you would be quiet for 30 seconds, I would be able to tell you that I have agreed to help you with the tutoring club. I talked to McGonagall about it and she wants us to meet her at 7:00 in her classroom tomorrow to discuss the details. Enjoy…your jello."
Without so much as another word, Lily pivoted and made her way back to Leila, leaving behind a happily shocked James.
"Can you believe that just happened?" He asked his friends, his voice conveying amazement.
Peter flashed him 2 thumbs up and Remus grinned knowingly at him, as Sirius mockingly picked up a leg of chicken off of his plate, studied it very carefully and then proclaimed in a shocked voice, "It's…chicken."
Disclaimer: The usual routine…
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