Disclaimer: We swear it's not ours!
Key to Author's Notes:
L/N A note from Lucy
P/N A note from Penny
A/N A note from both
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update (What's it been? Three, four weeks...a million years...?), but it was the holidays.
And seeing as how Penny and I write this story during Geo, it was a little difficult to collaborate...what with me being on one side of Sydney and her being on the other.
But school has resumed (um...yay?) and we are back to ignoring out Geography teacher. No disrespect, Mrs H.
So here it is, the long awaited (cough) Second Chapter.
Chapter Two: A Definite Lapse in Judgement
"Hey, Evans," James said, before walking right past her.
Sirius, Remus and Peter followed suit, each greeting her with a polite 'Hi'. Lily ignored the suggestive wink Sirius sent in her direction (apparently the fact that his best mate had been lusting after her since he was 14 made no difference to him) and continued the stare at the back of James' head, thoroughly mystified. The boys walked away without so much as a backward glance.
Lily was completely pole-axed.
James Potter being...civil?
He hadn't asked her out. He hadn't bragged about his latest achievement. He hadn't pulled some attention seeking stunt. He hadn't even messed up his hair - a habit which intensified whenever she came near.
No hexes, no curses, no stupid pranks...
Nothing.
Just "Hey, Evans".
The world had gone mad.
Lily was shaken from her reverie by a short scream, followed by a loud thump and a string of muddled up curses, hexes and profanities. Recognising the voice, Lily rushed to the nearest compartment, where the sound had cone from, fearing the worst...
Only to find Georgiana Pommeroy, one of her two closest friends, lying flat on her back, scowling at ceiling. Textbooks, parchment and quills were scattered all over the place, along with smashed bottles of ink, owl feathers and various pieces of the Hogwarts uniform.
P/N: Not much different from old Lucy, who can't get up without falling over.
Lily surveyed the mess before her, struggling not to laugh.
"Dare I ask how you managed to wreak this much havoc before school has even officially started yet?" Lily asked the girl who still lay unmoving (save for blinking and breathing) on the floor.
"It's all the bloody owl's fault," Georgiana grumbled, gesturing rudely at the luggage rack over head.
Lily looked up and saw that it was not the ceiling that her large blue eyes were fixed on, but Georgiana's tawny brown owl, Ulula.
The bird raised and lowered its wings in the owl equivalent of a shrug, regarding Lily with a solemn amber gaze.
"She has it in for me, I swear!" Georgiana insisted.
"Are you trying to tell me that your owl - who is conspiring against you - scattered your clothes, books, parchment and other school supplies all over the place...and then pushed you over?"
"Fuck you, Lily"
Lily laughed as Georgiana fought to look angry and failed miserably. The girl's heart shaped face broke into a broad smile. Lily pulled Georgiana up from the floor and the pair set about cleaning the compartment
(L/N: Methinks I have an obsession with the word 'compartment').
Georgiana - or Ana as she preferred to be called - came from a rich, Pureblood wizarding family (unlike Lily, who had to endure the stigma - at least in the Pureblood fanatics view - of being Muggleborn) and was a fellow member of the Gryffindor House.
Georgiana topped Lily's height of 5 foot 2 by three inches and had an athletic build - complete with sinewy, cat-like muscle and quick reflexes, attributed to playing Chaser on the House Quidditch Team. Her wavy hair was an unusual blend of blonde, brown, red and black strands (a colour Ana had dubbed "Confused") and was tied back its trademark ponytail; the only way Ana could get it to stay in place.
Ana's dark blue eyes - wide and expressive - were set beneath slightly arched brows. She had ivory skin and a ruddy mouth. Georgian's nose had a small bump in the middle showing it had been broken.
"Where's Chloe?" Lily asked, referring to their other friend, Chloe Nurullah.
"God only knows."
"Helpful."
"Anytime."
Lily was used to Ana's vague replies - Chloe would turn up eventually.
"You didn't reply to my last letter," Lily said, shuffling parchment into a neat pile.
"Yeah, sorry about that..." The girl made a face as she folded her robes and thrust them back into her bags. "Max was being difficult."
Max - Maxim - was Ana's twin brother.
"I'll reply now if you want, "Ana grinned. "Dear Lily, I'm bored out of my skull and Max is a stupid git. He stole my wand and owled it to my cousin, Artemis, in Australia, who didn't send it back until yesterday..."
Lily smiled. "It's okay, Ana. I wasn't serious...I was just saying. It's not as if anything exciting happened to me. Petunia was being her usual, lovely and supportive self-"Ana sniggered. "-I got my books, studied a bit, was appointed Head Girl..."
Lily trailed off as Ana's eyes came close to bulging out of their sockets.
"Yes, Ana, I get it. You have big eyes."
"Oh, my God," Ana whispered, staring at Lily. "Oh my God! I cannot believe this. Wait until you see who's...oh, God, it'll be good."
Ana looked ready to jump around the compartment in glee, as Lily watched her, bewildered.
"Well, you would have made it a lot harder for me if you'd just up and told me what you were on about." Lily paused for a moment, comprehension dawning on her features. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...you know who Head Boy is?"
Unable to speak - she was laughing so hard - Ana nodded vigorously. In true Ana style, tears were running down her face; the girl couldn't get past something funny without crying in mirth.
This situation seemed to be no different.
Lily folded her arms in front of her. "Well, are you going to tell me?" she asked mildly.
Ana shook her head, still shaking with laughter. "Fine. Be that way. I'll guess."
"You'll never guess," Ana wheezed. "Seriously - never."
"We'll see about that, Pommeroy," Lily retorted, throwing herself into one of the Express' comfy seats. Ana managed to stop giggling long enough to get herself seated across from Lily. "Now, let's see...is it...Remus Lupin?"
Ana's smile faltered.
"No," she said quickly, a blush rising in her cheeks. Lily smiled to herself - her friend was terrible at hiding her crush on the most sensible Marauder. Though, somehow, Remus himself remained oblivious.
"Dammit. Michael Debevec?"
"No."
"Ely Riggio?"
"God, no."
Lily tugged at her bottom lip.
"Keats Delaplace?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Your brother?"
"Unless Dumbledore has gone insane - no, definitely not." Ana grinned wickedly at her, blue eyes dancing. "You'll never get it..." she said in a sing song voice.
"Shut it," Lily snarled, growing impatient. "Peter Pettigrew?"
"What, are you kidding me?"
"Yeah, yeah. It was just a guess...Malcolm Dow?"
"Nope."
"That Ravenclaw guy, the one with the bad - "
"No."
"Closer to home?"
Ana nodded, her smile still firmly in place.
"Lily thought for a moment. "Sirius Black?"
"Close, my friend...but no."
Lily frowned. "But that only leaves..." She gasped. "No, it isn't - he wouldn't is it ..." Lily gulped. "It couldn't be...Potter?"
Please, please no. Please don't let it be Potter...please...
Lily's stomach sank and her throat tightened when Ana's evil smile broadened.
"Takes the cake, Lily."
Lily felt like she was going to scream.
James Potter was Head Boy?
But-he-that is to say-not suitable-she...but Potter? Ridiculous-unbelievable-not even a lick of sense-pranks-Marauders-bad behaviour-not even a Prefect-it-she-they-was...had Dumbledore lost his mind?!
James Potter was Head Boy? The James Potter?
The same James Potter who was on detention every other day?
The same James Potter that, along with his fellow Marauders, had turned the hair of the entire Hogwarts teaching staff green in Fifth Year?
The same James Potter that hexed people because he felt like it?
The boy who strutted around as if he owned the school?
That James Potter?
WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD APPOINT THAT AS HEAD BOY?!
Lily's mind was reeling. She had thought James Potter treating her like a normal person - instead of potential date/shagging material - was confusing, and now she was hit with this. This alone was enough to convince her that her initial thoughts were correct - the world had indeed gone mad.
Completely and utterly mad.
No doubt about it.
Lily groaned and rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache coming on.
"Potter?" she squeaked, her voice hoarse. "James Potter?"
Ana leant over and gently patted her on the head. "Yes, Lily. James Potter," she said, as if addressing a small and not particularly bright child. "You know...male, around six foot three, Quidditch pro, untidy black hair, glasses, your mortal enemy and not-so-secret admirer of the last three years...ring any bells?"
Lily hit Ana lightly on the arm. "Please tell me you're kidding, "she begged. "Please tell me this is a really, really poor joke."
"It pains me to say so, Lily, but this is no joke." Ana sighed, looking at Lily in what could have been described as sympathy...had it not been for the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. "James is your prestigious partner in Head Student-ship."
Lily wanted nothing more than to hit her head slowly against the window.
And to think I thought this year would be fun, Lily thought darkly.
(L/N: There was too much thinking in that sentence if you ask me...)
"Aw, come on, Lily," Ana said, slinging an arm around her shoulder, "he's not that bad..."
"Yeah, says you."
"Exactly - and we both know that I'm always right. So you've got nothing to worry about."
"Whatever..."
"Chloe'll die when I tell her about this."
"Fuck off, Georgiana..."
When the Marauders were safely back in their own compartment, and the four were seated, Sirius, Remus and Peter all looked at James expectantly.
Waiting for him say something.
After three years of him being smitten with Lily Evans, James' friends were more than ready for the rants that usually followed an encounter with the fiery redhead.
"Did you see how nice her skin is? How soft does her hair look...don't you love her eyes? God, does he look hot or what...she didn't say hello, though. I guess she still hates me...but what is up with that, anyway? I mean, it's not like I've ever done anything to her - just Snivellus. And he deserves it, greasy git that he is...but who cares? She's beautiful, she's fantastic, she's perfect..."
And so it continued until someone had the sense to put a Silencing Charm on him.
That had been the way since Fourth Year, when James had realised that Lily was a girl - and an attractive on at that.
Not just the know-it-all teachers pet.
Today strayed from that expected order of events, though.
There were no confessions of undying love, no stupid grins at the sight of her, and no soppy love poems dedicated to her left eyebrow.
The only sound was the steady chant of the train's wheels against the ground and Peter's loud breathing.
Sirius and Remus exchanged puzzled glances.
Something was very wrong here.
Sensing their eyes on him, James asked, without looking up from his Transfiguration textbook:
"Is there a reason why you're all staring at me?"
Just as Sirius and Remus were denying that they had been looking at him ("It's not you...it's that...thing...on the wall...just beside tour head...don't look!"), Peter nodded animatedly, watery eyes wide, and gave a squeaky "Yes!"
Remus rolled his eyes at the boy's lack of tact and sense, while Sirius chose to thump him hard on the arm. When his yelps of pain had subsided, James raised an eyebrow at the three in question.
"Moony?" he asked.
Sirius and Remus exchanged glances once again.
"Well, Prongs," Remus began,"The thing is, whenever we meet with the lovely Miss Evans..."
"Right babe she is, too," interrupted Sirius. Remus glowered at him, before continuing.
"You tend to-"
"Go all googly eyed and act like a lovesick git," Sirius interjected again, "and rave on about how pretty her ears, or whatever, looked today for half an hour."
Peter nodded in agreement.
"That's one way of putting it," Remus remarked dryly, "But it's come to our attention that after today's run in, in which she didn't even-"
"Tell you where to get off like she usually does."
"-you haven't said-"
"Jackshit."
The three boys watched James intently, waiting for his reaction.
James shrugged broad shoulders, laying his book aside.
"So?" he asked.
"So?!" Sirius shouted. "What do you mean 'so'?! This is Evans, Prongs - last I heard of it, you were obsessed with her."
Ah, Padfoot," James said, "that's where you're wrong."
Remus, Sirius and Peter all wore the same disbelieving expression.
"Are you quite all right there, mate..." Remus asked warily.
"I'm serious. I am totally over Lily Evans."
His friends' faces remained unchanged.
"I mean it!" he insisted. "Why lust after a girl that hates me? And besides-"He smirked, "-I have a girlfriend."
Remus still looked sceptical. "Who?"
"Chloe Nurullah."
"Chloe Nurullah?" Peter asked, forehead furrowed in thought. "Isn't she that bird with a really excellent rack - OW!"
He rubbed his arm where Sirius had hit it - again - whimpering.
James ignored Peter and turned to Remus who had just asked, "When did this happen?"
James shrugged again. "We got together over the summer..."
"And why did I not know of this?" Sirius demanded looking scandalized.
"We went out when you were off making arrangements for your flat, Padfoot."
"What? And I didn't come back all summer? You could have told me, Prongs. I do live with you and your family. It's not as though you never saw me."
James adjusted his glasses.
"What's your point?"
Sirius sighed impatiently. "The point is you didn't tell me. What kind of friend doesn't tell his best mate when he gets a girlfriend? Answer me that, Jimmy."
"A friend that likes his privacy - and don't call me Jimmy."
"I'll call you whatever I like, Francesca. You're supposed to tell me these things. Otherwise we can't do all that male bonding crap, like comparing shags and tits and stuff..."
"We haven't shagged yet, Padfoot, "James said hotly. "We've been dating for less than a month."
"What's your point?" Sirius asked.
James blinked at him, his jaw clenched.
"Just because you shag everything in a short skirt within two seconds of catching sight of it, Padfoot, doesn't mean we all do," Remus said loudly. He gave James a meaningful look. "Isn't that right, Prongs?"
"Exactly," James replied without taking his eyes off Sirius.
Sirius gave a bark of laughter. "Just because you can't even tell Georgiana Pommeroy that you like her, let alone get her to shag you, doesn't mean we're all like that, Moony," Sirius said mockingly. Remus' pale face to on a pink tinge. Sirius fixed his piercing grey gaze on Peter. "What d'you think, Wormtail?"
Peter bit his lip, not knowing whose side to take. Either way, he was going to piss one of them off with his response.
"Um..." he mused.
Sirius brushed him off, annoyed.
"Never minds, Wormy. Bloody hopeless..."
Peter clamped his mouth shut.
"I'm going," James said, standing up abruptly. "I have to go to the Prefect meeting. I'll see you guys later."
He pulled open the compartment door and walked out, running a large hand through his already messy hair.
"Touchy," Sirius muttered when he was out of earshot. He immediately turned to Remus and Peter.
"Now that Prongs has given up on Evans...so you think I could shag her?"
Ten minutes later, Lily and Ana were reclining on their seats eating Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, purchased from the food trolley. Their compartment showed no sign of the mess it had been earlier, thanks to some well aimed cleaning spells.
"I mean, jeez, Lily," Ana said, exasperated. "Just look at him. Messy hair and his sexy grin and those eyes, and I swear to God when he moves during Quidditch I can see the muscles in his back rippling under his shirt, and - "
Not giving Ana a chance to continue, knowing that once she got started she'd never stop, Lily reached into her book-bag and pulled out a tissue.
Without a word she held it out to Ana.
Ana looked from Lily, to the tissue and back again.
"What the hell is that for?"
"You were beginning to drool," she told the other girl, straight-faced.
Ana cast Lily a dark look. "Ha-freaking-ha, Lily," she muttered, batting the hand holding the tissue aside. "I don't know why you're wasting your time with this whole witch thing when you could be such a successful comedian."
"This isn't helping me with the whole Potter-is-Head-Boy-Oh-God-Somebody-Kill-Me-Thing."
"Right, right..."
They sat in silence - both girls deep in thought.
"But seriously," Ana began after a few minutes," if you'd just look past the stupid, immature, irresponsible, egotistical, pranking crap, I'm sure you'd see that James is really a sensitive, down-to-earth guy having trouble expressing himself."
"Or, alternatively, he really is just a stupid, immature, irresponsible, egotistical, pranking prat with a bad attitude and complete disregard for the rules," Lily said, voice falsely cheerful.
"That too...""He's a complete pain in the arse, and you know it, Ana," Lily said matter-of-factly.
Ana grinned and jumped at the opportunity. "Speaking of arses..."
Lily groaned out loud. Here we go, she thought.
"...did you get a look at James'? My God, it is just so - "
"Okay, Ana, too much information...way too much information..."
"-perfectly shaped - "
"Enough! Just stop right now, or I'll - "
"-I could just..."
"Silencio!"
Lily had pulled her wand from the pocket of her robes.
Ana didn't get the chance to tell Lily what she could just do to James Potter, as the spell had temporarily muted her.
The taller girl was gesturing wildly at her and mouthing words that Lily couldn't hear.
Just as well, Lily thought, because if she's commending me on my spell work, I'll eat my hat...
"Get. Rid. Of. The. Spell," Ana told Lily slowly and silently. "NOW."
"Only if you behave," Lily replied in a stern tone, not unlike that of their Transfiguration Professor, Minerva McGonagall.
Ana slumped back in her seat, nodding resignedly.
"Finite Incantantem."
Ana cleared her throat and glared at Lily.
"What's he ever done to you, anyway?"
Lily gave her an incredulous look.
What has he-what has he ever-what has he ever done to me?!
"Well," she began, imitating the famous Potter smirk, "it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean..."
Ha, ha. Very funny. You should take what I said earlier into account, you know, about the comedian thing. But seriously, what has he ever done to you?" Ana crossed her arms and leant backwards.
Lily waved her arms around in exasperation. "You know what he's done to me. You've been there for most of it. He's always hexing people and treating them like they don't matter and humiliating them - "
Ana cut her short. "No, Lily. I asked you to tell me what he's ever done to you - you being Lily Margaret Evans, in case you've forgotten - not Severus Snape - who is NOT you for a number of reasons."
"Oh." Lily bit her bottom lip. "Well, he always..."
"He always...?"
"Um..."
"Yes?" Ana was smirking at her now.
"He always asks me out!" Lily snapped, unable to think of anything else.
Ana clapped a hand over her mouth in mock horror.
"He asked you out? The nerve of that boy." She shook her head. "Bastard," she muttered.
Lily suppressed the urge to hit her.
Ana raised an eyebrow. "So the guy asks you out. Is that all you've got?"
"He only does it because he knows it annoys me," Lily said defensively.
"Maybe he does it because he likes you."
Lily didn't reply.
Not at all liking where this conversation was going, she quickly changed the subject.
"I hope Potter takes this position seriously."
Ana's smirk turned into a wicked grin. Seemingly satisfies with knowing she'd hit a nerve, she said nothing, opting to pull out a thick textbook rather than reply.
For the next twenty minutes the pair sat in a comfortable silence. Ana, who was more comfortable reading, had her nose buried in her Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook. Ulula sat perched on Ana's shoulder, large eyes unblinking as it stared at the pages. Every so often Ana would murmur the incantation for a spell but otherwise she said nothing.
Lily stared out the window, watching as the English countryside passed by. She absentmindedly stroked the top of Morganna's head and she sank deep into thought.
She was glad to be returning to Hogwarts.
Beyond glad - she was ecstatic.
Granted, she missed her parents and the familiarity of her own room and belongings...but one summer was more than she could bear to spend around Petunia.
The only thing her sister had been able to talk about for the past month and a bit was the man she had met at the "World's Prissiest People Convention" or whatever.
It was always "Vernon this" and "Vernon that" and "Sorry, but Vernon and I think that..."
Quite frankly, Lily had heard enough about Vernon Dursley to last her a last time and prayed (as unlikely as it was to happen) that both Vernon and Petunia would disappear off the face of the Earth.
"He's quite well to do," Petunia had informed Lily. "He's making something of himself. Not like all those blokes from your lot. Running around being Auroras and Winditch players and what not. Vernon's going to do something that will help him in the real world - not in your stupid little fantasy realm, with the pixie dust and the unicorns..."
Petunia had no clue. "Auroras" and "Winditch", for heaven's sake...
In the last couple of weeks of the holiday, Lily had taken to muttering nonsense words under her breath ("horrid M-A-G-I-C-A-L curses!" Petunia would shriek) to ward the older girl off before she could get started.
As her final year at Hogwarts and the year she came of age in the wizarding world, Lily smiled at the thought that at the end of it, she would finally be able to escape Petunia for good and start her own life.
She was going to make her 7th Year at Hogwarts her best ever.
Although...this business with Potter being Head Boy concerned her. Hadn't Dumbledore taken his past behaviour into account? He was a prankster and troublemaker - not Head Boy material.
Sure, Potter got good grades, but he was just so...irresponsible.
You couldn't judge someone's character on a bunch of test scores.
Lily sighed loudly, her warm breath fogging up the window glass.
People don't make sense...
As if sensing her mistress' unrest, Morganna yowled loudly and adjusted her position in Lily's lap.
I wish I was a cat, Lily thought. Cats don't have to put up with arrogant seventeen year old boys and lapses in the Headmaster's judgement...
Her mind drifted and she stared into space.
"Lily?" Ana's voice roused her from her daydreams.
"Mmm?"
"You're Head Girl, right?"
Lily's head snapped around to face Ana, who was looking at her wristwatch.
"Yes...I thought we'd already established this..."
"Well, we have, but I was just thinking..."
"What?"
Ana met Lily's green eyes with her own blue ones. They were sparkling with amusement.
"Aren't you meant to be a conducting a Prefect meeting right now?"
L/N: Has anyone noticed my obsession with eyes? I hadn't realised that I had such a preoccupation with them...
P/N: (say something here, pen)
A/N: Well, there's Chapter 2 done...it was a bit longer than originally planned...but whatever.
It's finished.
That's what really matters.
It might take a while for Chapter 3 to be put up, because we have our Yearlies this week and the studying involved in that is somewhat time consuming.
Wish us luck...
Lucy O'M & Penny D.