Chapter 18

The New Guy

The next morning Lily went to her classes as if nothing was wrong, although everyone had

noticed the giant circles under her eyes and the listlessness in her attitude towards everything.

Somehow Holly continued to look and feel perfect, she was totally unphased by the late night of

the night before. Lily sat in her usual seat in the breakfast hall and didn't even look at Nicky.

Holly whispered to her, "where is last nights cutie?"

"Over there." Lily looked in the other direction and didn't look at him as she spoke. Holly

turned and scanned the table.

"Where, I don't see him. Is he in Gryfindor?"

"Yup."

"Well....Nope, that can't be him, but they do look sort of similar."

"Who?"

"The guy sitting with the losers."

"That would be him."

"What?"

"Yup, now you know, he's a nerd."

"That sucks. Now that I see him in the light he does look sort of familiar. I think he might be

in my Astronomy class. Geek times ten."

"Who?" Caroline entered the conversation.

"The guy Lily has a crush on."

"Holly." Lily shoved her and gave her an evil look.

"Chill out, Caroline she doesn't really have a crush on him, I only said that because James

was listening and I wanted to make him jealous."

"Good call. Caroline, he's just some guy I met the other day."

"Are you gonna kiss him to prove to James that you're not his property?" She said slyly.

"Don't look at me like that, you're the one who did it. You knew that people would talk. It's the

latest gossip, but it's been really exagerated, just so you know. Everyone thinks that Sirius

punched you and James deffended you or something like that. There are lots of stories. Jessica,

in Hufflepuff, she asked me if it was true that you and Sirius had been togehter all while you and

James had been dating. I told her that was ridiculous."

"Yeah, speaking of that Lily, you kissed my ex boyfriend."

"Holly, if I avoided every ex boyfriend of yours, I would never date again."

"Are you saying I'm easy?"

"Not at all, just that you like to experiment with different types of guys and that you...um,

well, are very choosy with the ones you stick with."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you date a lot of guys for very short periods of time, giving you more

opportunities to date even more guys."

"Lily, I don't really care, I was just teasing, good save though."

"Thanks. Anyway...what have we got now?"

"You have Ancient Runes, it's a mystery to me why you bother with that garbage. I'm just

going to marry someone rich and live my days in compfort without ever doing a stitch of work.

That Nicky boy is in that class, yes?"

"Yup, and it's people like you Holly who totally undermine everything that women have

worked for. How are we supposed to be treated as equals when-" Holly was spared a lecture

by the bell. She turned and walked away, blowing a kiss over her shoulder. Lily shook her head

and walked in the opposite direction, continuing to ramble on to herself about womens rights in

her head. Perhaps it was because she had distracted herself so that she found herself splayed on

the ground with all of her books around her.

"Watch where you're going!"

"I'm so sorry!" Lily called after the hunched back of whoever it was who had bumped into

her.

"Lily! Lily! Are you okay? Do you need help?" Lily looked up and saw Severus pushing his

way through the crowd. Excellent, Mr. Loverboy to the rescue. I hope this isn't one of his mean,

hurtful scemes. Lily was about to give Severus the brush off, insult him, and call him on the fact

that he had called her a mudblood when she was saved the trouble by a large, hand firmly

gripping her elbow and pulling her up. Lily looked around, still confused from her fall, and saw

Nicky on the ground gathering her books for her. She met the eyes of Severus and turned

around, bending to help Nicky with her books.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, I was just surprised, not hurt."

"Good. Who was that guy? I feel like I've seen him before."

"That would be Severus Snape."

"Right, he's a bigger loser than me, he's the defense against the dark arts geek who knows

every hex, but is too bad at dueling to use them."

"Really? I dated him for 2 years and he never even mentioned defense against the dark

arts."

"Probabally because he thought you wouldn't like it. It's not a very attractive habbit is it?

He's a bully. He looks small but he's always going around hexing people from behind because he

can't duel face to face. I don't know, maybe he likes the attention or maybe he just has

something to prove."

"I never knew, now I really don't regret dumping him now."

"We're late." Lily glanced around her again. The hall was deserted, even Severus was gone.

"Let's go to class." They walked in, but Professor Bluebell hadn't showed up yet. Everyone was

sitting in a circle on the desks, on the chairs, or lounging against walls and desks. Professor

Bluebell hated it when people put their feet on the furniture. She also hated when people sat on

the desks, they all knew her rules, and that the desks could break at any minute. Maryanne

Wheimen was the center of attention, speaking louder than everyone around her as usual. She

was very pushy and bossy. She always got her way, whether because she was right, or because

she yelled louder and threw fits when she didn't get it. Normally the latter. She was talking now,

Lily perked up her ears, Maryanne, although controlling and obnoauctious always knew

everything worth knowing about everyone worth knowing anything about.

"Well yes, he's got the broom, but the question is, can he ride it?" Lily had obviously come

in at the wrong point in the conversation. "We could always ask Lily, she knows how well he

can ride it." Maryanne looked up at Lily. In the moment that their eyes met Lily got a strong vibe

of evil, malicious, cruel intentions.

"What are you talking about." It was not a question. The room went silent. Everyone who

had been involved in their own disscussions stopped talking and looked at the unfolding drama

between Maryanne and Lily.

"Oh just James Potter and Quiddich, amoung other things."

"Might those other things include, I don't know, maybe me?"

"Why yes, as a matter of fact we were. Maybe you can help us out with a little problem we

were having. See I told everyone that you and James Potter are sleeping together, but some

people wanted your first hand acount. We have a little bet going. See I say that you don't have

any personal pride or self respect, as you have shown on many occasions. Others seem to think

that you are too prude for sex. Enlighten us, please." Maryanne was one of the many jealous

girls who liked to spread nasty rumors, but she normally just bashed the appearance of the girls,

sometimes said they were all desperate, but she had never called Lily a slut before. She was

jealous, maybe she wanted James for herself. Lily took a deep breath and took in Maryanne's

greesy, wannabe hair. Lily had seen that exact haircut on a supermodel in one of this summers

vogues, but Maryanne couldn't pull it off. She's jelous and unoriginal, don't let her get to you.

Lily looked at all the eyes staring at her. She looked back at Maryanne, who cares if she's

jealous, that doesn't change what she said.

"You bitch. What the hell is wrong with you?" Lily slapped Maryanne hard across the face.

A crack resounded throughout the room, but it was not from the slap alone. Everyone who had

moved into a circle around them went to their respective seats. The ones who had been sitting

on the desks watching were not so lucky. As Lily and Mayanne jumped on eachother, pulling

hair, biting, and scratching, Professor Bluebell walked in.

"How many times must I insist that you do not sit on the desks? I warned you about what

would happen next time. I don't sit on your desks when i go to your house, nbot that anyone

ever invites me." The desks had been broken in half, their occupants thrown to the floor.

Professor Bluebells's wand was smoking at the tip. "Let me see-" She waved her wand again,

and the desks repaired themselves. "What-" She stopped as she saw the fight going on.

"STOP!!!!" She grabbed Lily, who was on top of Maryanne, and pulled her off. "I never

expected something like this from you Lily. Would either of you care to explain what this is

about?"

Lily had a bruise on the side of her arm in the sape of Maryanne's fingures, and her lip was

cut, other than that she was unscathed. Maryanne, on the other hand, was bleeding from her

nose, had several long, red scratches down her cheeks and arms, and was holding a chunk of

her own hair. She also had the begginings of a black eye. She looked at professor Bluebell, her

eyes turning red and puffy. She had started to cry.

"She slapped me proffessor!" Maryanne showed her the red handprint on her other cheek.

"I only hit her out of self defense. I didn't do anything, she just attacked me out of nowhere."

"Is this true Lily?" Proffessor Bluebell pushed her spectacles to the end of her nose to look

more closely at Lily. She was a tall thin woman who was more fiery red head than old white

haired woman, at least her personality was. Her hair was always pulled back into a tight bun,

and combined with the glasses she looked like a stern matron. Lily had however heard the other

teachers talking about how she had gotten drunk once. From the sound of it she had a fun loving

side as well. "Lily." She was not having fun now. She was peering at Lily over the rims of her

spectacles, one of the gray hairs had popped out of her bun.

"Well, if Maryanne says it, then it has to be true, right?" Lily gave Maryanne a pitying glare.

"No Lily, I am asking you now what the truth is, tell me how you think it happened." Lily

could not bring herself to look her Proffessor in the eyes. She could not bring herself to say what

Maryanne had said about her reputation. What if Professor Bluebell believed that what

Maryanne had said was true? No. Lily would not say.

"Yup, thats what happened professor. It's exactly how Maryanne said it." Maryanne looked

at Lily, confused. Professor Bluebell looked at her, but Maryanne quickly turned her haed,

sniffling and making puppy dog noises.

"Maryanne, you go to the hospital wing, Evans, come with me." Evans? This was something

new, some of her teachers adressed students by their last names, but Professor Bluebell had

always called her Lily, on the first day of school she had said she liked her name becaue it was

also a flower. They had been friends since then, Lily also liked the fact that they were both

tempermental red heads. She did not care about the impending punishment, what hurt her more

was professor Bluebell's disappointment. They walked down the corridor, Lily was thankful that

it was almost Christmas break in two days, so whatever punishment she got, it wouldn't last

long.

"Lily, I am very disappointed, and what I want you to do is think about what you've done, I

want you to write me a paragraph about what really happened. I don't beleive you attacted her

for no reason, so tell me in the essay, to be handed in to me tomarrow.

"Alright professor."

"And Maryanne will be punished as well, she will also write a paragraph, it will be an

interesting experiment, maybe I will also ask a witness for a first hand acount..." She trailed off,

thinking, running her hands over the top of her head and fiddling with the bun. This was

Professor Bluebell, a very interesting, slightly crazy, woman. But everyone liked her. She had

been at Hogwarts for years, and was the head of Griffindor House, as well as the deputy

headmistress. She was a very powerful ally, and everyone liked to stay on her good side. Lily

thought how easily she had gotten off as she went back down the corridor to her room, she had

been excused from the rest of the class.

She went into he common room and started to write the paragraph. Nothing really pleased

her, so she decided to just take a leaf out of Carolines book and state the blunt facts.

James Poter and I have become friends this year, and while some gossips, Maryanne

especially, hink that we are more than friends, this is not true. We are not sleeping

together, we are not even dating, but this morning I walked into class to find Maryanne,

surrounded by a crowd of people, talking about my sexual activity regarding James. She

was making rude comments and slandering my reputation. I told her that she was wrong

and slapped her. She then hit me back and we got into a fight. When you walked in, she

started to cry and say that I had atacked her for no reason. She gave me dirty looks,

frusdtrating me to even greater heights and causing me to take out my frutration on you.

I appologize for being rude, but I am not sorry for hurting Maryanne.

Lily was not pleased with the paragraph, but she had to get to her next class, History of

Magic with Professor Binns, and did not want to be late. They were studying goblin wars, and

she found the polotics behind the battles very intersting. Goblins were intriguing creatures, they

were much smarter than wizards, and yet they had always been treated as stupid creatures. Lily

had often gone into Gringots just for the sake of chatting to the goblins. Once she had dreamt

that the goblins united with the wizards for a short period of time against a terrible foe. She had

considered a career in banking for the sole purpose of working in close relations with goblins.

Lily thought all of this while rushing along the corridor to History of Magic. Professor Binns was

a ghost, and had been for as long as anyone at Hogwarts remembered. Some said that he had

talked himself to death, others said that he had bored himself to death, some said he just woke

up one morning as a gohst and went on as normal. No one really knew what had happened, and

Professor Binns was not a very social person. No one liked to ask him how he had died,

assuming it would be a sensitive subject. The corridors were colder than ever. The floors echoed

with her footsteps, and every breath hung in front of her. The torches were lit, but many had

gone out due to the drafts. Lily noticed a shutter flicking in the wind, and thought how strange it

was that a window should be open in weatehr like this. Who opens windows in the middle of

winter? Lily crossed the corridor, shivering slightly, and went to open the window. She looked

outside, and saw someone crossing the grounds towards the forest and the Whomping Willow.

Lily shivered in a sudden gust of wind and pulled her cloak closer to her chest. She peered at the

two figures, it was a boy, and could that be Madame Pompfrey? Yes, it was. Who was the

boy? Lily squinted, leaning forwards. Who on earth would be out in weather like this? Lily

suddenly recognized the boy, it was Lupin of course, and she was about to call out to him when

she sensed someone behind her. She slammed the window shut and turned, facing Severus.