BITTERSWEET
Chapter 7: Roommates
September 1976
"Argh!" Lily yelled to the empty hallway. "I hate that stupid, egotistical, bigheaded jerk!"
"Let me guess..." Hermione said, coming up behind her. "James."
Lily turned, her red hair flying over her shoulders in a manner that reminded Hermione of Ginny. "Can you believe him? I mean, first he acts like I should be grateful that he's spending time with me, and then he starts going on about having me change my schedule around so I can be with him more! As if I'd want to spend any more time with him than I had to. I am so glad that the NEWT level classes don't group people by their houses. The first five years were miserable."
"He doesn't seem that bad too me," Hermione said innocently.
"Are you kidding?" Lily shouted. "He's worse than bad! He's--he's--" she fumbled around, unable to find an adjective worse enough to describe James' behavior.
"Popular? Flirtatious? Mad about you?" Hermione said with a sly grin.
"AAAHHH!" Lily screamed, her emerald eyes flashing in a way that reminded Hermione strangely of Harry. "If he asks me to go out with him one more time, I swear I'm going to hex his sorry ass halfway into next week." She paused to take a breath. "Look, let's just forget about guys for now. Everyone will be coming out of the Great Hall in a few minutes, so let's just go up to the dorms and get settled while it's still peaceful."
Hermione agreed, so the two of them walked to the portrait of the fat lady in peaceful silence.
"Now, let me see..." Lily muttered. "What was that password? Oh, yea! Sugar quill." The picture swung open, revealing a hole leading to the Gryffindor dorms.
"I'm glad to see some things never change. Wow, I missed this," Hermione said as she crawled through into the familiar room. The furniture looked newer, and there was a different rug, but the rest was the same common room she knew and loved.
Lily looked at her curiously. "How would you know? You've never been in here before--oh, my gosh, I am so stupid! I'm sorry, it's just so easy to forget that you know this place as well as I do, because I've never seen you in here." She grinned at Hermione. "I'll get used to the idea that you're from the future one of these days."
"No hurry," Hermione said, smiling back. "I still haven't quite yet grasped the fact that I'm actually in the past." And with people that are supposedly dead, she thought to herself.
"Oops!" Lily giggled, slapping a hand over her mouth. "I forgot we weren't supposed to talk about it."
Hermione looked around at the empty common room. "Yea, there's some danger in letting the armchairs know my secret." They looked at each other, and burst out laughing.
"Look at us!" Lily said. "Two sixteen-year-olds, acting as silly as first years."
"Well, while we're at it," Hermione began with a mischievous grin. "Race you to the dorm!" They sprinted, elbowing each other aside in an effort to get there first. After squeezing through the door at the same time, Hermione and Lily collapsed on the nearest bed. "I'd say it was a tie," Hermione said, gasping for breath.
Lily nodded solemnly. "I agree." The two girls looked at each other, then burst out laughing again.
"Okay. We really need to get settled in," Hermione said, trying to calm down. "I really want to get my things unpacked before the rest of the students come in. Speaking of which, how many other sixth-year girls are there in Gryffindor?"
"Three," Lily responded. "Rae Morgane, Jessica Tysanner, and Victoria Valaasan--but whatever you do, don't call Victoria by her full name. She hates it and goes by Tori. Jess and Tori are best friends, and they're good friends with Rae. Rae's really cool. She's kind of quiet, but it's nice to have her around when Jess and Tori are going off on another of their guy craze thingies. Jessica is loud and gets really flirtatious with the guys, and Tori's extremely bubbly and outgoing. They can be extremely annoying at times, especially when they're hyper, but I love them dearly, and I'm totally sure that you guys will get along great."
"Cool!" Hermione said. "Jessica and Tori sound a lot like Lavender and Parvati, two girls that go to school with me. I know exactly what you mean--I hate it when they wake up at dawn to chatter about make-up, but they're great during the day, and if I ever need any advice about clothes and that sort of stuff."
Lily and Hermione sat on the bed, laughing and chattering for a while before Lily looked at the time. "Oh, no!" she gasped. "We've been in here for so long, I'm sure the feast has ended by now." Just as she was speaking, the door opened and three girls walked in.
Lily leapt up, dragging Hermione off the bed and to her feet. "Hi," Hermione began, somewhat shyly. "I'm Hermione Gr--um, Mandelin, and I guess I'm going to be in your house this year. Lily was telling me a little bit about you guys, but I don't really know which of you is which, so forgive me if I forget your names once or twice." She smiled at the newcomers.
Jessica, a lively blonde, was the first to talk. "Hey, what's up. I'm Jess, and I'm the life of this Gryffindor dorm. I mean, honestly, so many people here don't know the meaning of fun, like our Lils here. All study and no boys makes for one dull school year is my motto." She paused for breath.
"Whoa, give the girl a chance to take it all in," Victoria, a tall girl with long, straight honey-brown hair and blue eyes, interjected. "She looks totally overwhelmed. I'm Tori, the one that keeps Jessie sane. Nice to meet you. I was really surprised that it took the hat so long to sort you--it usually places people within seconds, but you were up there for a long time."
Hermione blushed. "Well, yea, it said I was really complex," she said. "It couldn't decide which house would be best for me."
"Well, you know what they say--Gryffindor is by far the best house here," Jessica said.
"Welcome to Gryffindor House, Hermione," Rae spoke up. "My name's Rae." Rae's skin reminded Hermione of cocoa, and she had short, black hair cut in a sophisticated bob.
"Hermione and I were just getting ready to unpack when you guys walked in," Lily said. She and Hermione shared an amused glance.
"You have all year to unpack, Lily. First things first," Jessica interrupted. She turned to Hermione. "Hey, girl, it looks like you've already caught the eye of some people here."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
Tori coughed, "Sirius, ahem, ahem." She grinned.
Lily hid a grin. "He was paying a lot of attention to you, Hermione," she said.
"What, Sirius?" Hermione said. "He can't like me!"
"Why not?" Jessica questioned. "You saw how he was all over you. If he doesn't like you, at least he wants you."
"Oh, thanks," Hermione said. "Besides, he's such a flirt. I'm sure it doesn't mean anything."
"How would you know?" Tori asked. "You've known him for like, three hours."
"He is a notorious player," Rae said. "I've never known Sirius to settle down with one girl when he can have them all."
"Yea, but still, he is the hottest guy in the sixth year. The problem is, he knows it," Tori said.
"I know! Hermione is sooo lucky," Jessica said. "It doesn't matter whether he wants to go out with her or just snog a few times, as long as he wants her. He's sexy when he's acting flirtatious to impress some girl."
"Um, excuse me?" Hermione said. "First of all, I don't think he likes me. Second, I'm not just going to go off with him somewhere and be one of the many girls he's snogged. I'm not like that. If he really does like me, then he'll have to do something other than seduce me into his bed. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to kiss him just to turn around to see him kissing another girl."
Tori and Jessica exchanged a glance. "Whatever, girl," Jessica said. "But if you pass up a chance with Sirius you'd really be missing out. He has major skills."
"Don't listen to them, Hermione," Lily said. "I'm sure Sirius wouldn't disrespect you. I saw how he looked at you on the train. He wouldn't want to hurt you."
"Besides," Hermione started, "I don't even want to get into that stuff right now. Sure, I want to be friends with him, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for anything more."
"That's a good decision," Lily said firmly, her fierce look keeping Jessica and Tori from adding anything else. "After all, looks aren't everything. It also matters if the guy is an arrogant jerk or not."
"Lily doesn't know what she's talking about," Jessica assured Hermione. "James has been asking her out since third year, and she turns him down every time. I think there's something wrong with her."
Lily glared at Jessica. "Just because I won't go out with that stuck up snob doesn't mean anything. Whether Hermione wants to go out with Sirius or not is her decision. It's not like he's asked her to or anything, so it doesn't even matter right now."
"That's right," Hermione agreed. "Let's unpack."
