Chapter 3: Breaking the Ice
The sun shone brilliantly down through the windows of the great hall as Lily, Alice and Wilona entered for breakfast. They strolled over to the Gryffindor table, chatting and laughing merrily, despite the fact that today was the first day of classes.
Lily stopped at their usual spot at the table, looking at the first years who were sitting there staring at them with huge, liquidated eyes. Seeing how terrified they looked, Lily and her friends compassionately told them that they would sit somewhere else.
Glancing down the table, Lily spied empty seats down towards the middle and dragged her friends along towards it. She stopped short, however, noticing that these empty seats happened to be right next to a few boys whom were the last people she wanted to sit next to this morning, or EVER for that matter.
Wilona, on the other hand, couldn't have been more pleased. Before she knew it, Lily was whisked off and plopped down on the bench right next to Remus Lupin.
"Good morning, Lily. Ready for classes?" Remus said cordially, buttering a piece of toast slowly. "I would imagine you'd be excited, being best in the class and all."
Even though Remus was probably the nicest of the Mauraders, Lily said good morning and then tuned out. She glanced at James and saw him grinning pointedly at her, his hair looking disheveled as always. She looked away and focused on Sirius, who was shoveling pastries and scones into his mouth very rapidly, pausing occasionally to down a gulp of pumpkin juice. Wilona sat next to him, staring in fascination at his eating antics. Though Sirius was good-looking, Lily had to admit that she found him revolting at the moment. She looked down at her own empty plate and realized she was not very hungry.
"Lily, you have to eat," said Alice, putting some toast on her friend's plate.
"Yeah, Lily, gotta keep your figure in shape and such, we wouldnt want anything bad happening to you, would we?" said James, as if he was part of the conversation.
Lily chose to ignore him and did not speak to anyone but Alice and Wilona the whole breakfast, though Wilona wasn't talking much herself. After a while, James gave up on trying to speak to her and resumed talking and whispering to his own friends until it was time for class.
In the hallway on the way to Charms, Lily smiled to herself thinking about how she had five N.E.W.T. classes this year. While the thought may have made any other student cringe, Lily loved it. She shared all of her classes with Alice, but only one with Wilona (which was transfiguration).
On their way to Advanced Potions (double period), the last class of the day, Lily commented to Alice about how three of the Mauranders happened to be in all their advanced classes as well (Peter was in only andvanced transfiguration.) Both girls found it very disturbing and perplexing and then convinced themselves that the boys must have cheated their way in, except maybe Remus, for he displayed much more intelligence than the other two.
In the potions dungeon, they took their customary seats at the front and waited for the teacher to assign directions. After listening to a long lecture about the NEWT tests for 7th years, the two girls were thrilled when he told them they would be working with partners for the first potion, which was complex and required teamwork. Alice and Lily immediately looked at each other, but their grins faded when the teacher said he would be assigning partners, saying that they would need to get used to working with unfamiliar people because they would surely be doing that somewhere down the line in their careers. Lily was fine so long as she was not paired with James Potter.
"... And Miss Evans you will be with Mr. Potter."
So much for that.
Of all the people in the whole entire classroom WHY did he have to pick Potter, Lily thought. James, however, was beside himself and Lily caught Sirius giving him a little wink and a nod before he came walking over.
"Well, what do you know, Evans, we're Potions partners!" he said, smiling brightly.
"Right. How about we skip the talking and just get to work," Lily said commandingly and she began to read the complicated directions on the board.
"Aww, I thought we might be able to chat a bit, you know, break the ice a little. I'm an interesting fellow. There must be something we can talk about," he said cheekily. He began sorting out the ingrediants into neat little lines across the table, making Lily raise her eyebrows in surprise. She had to stifle a little laugh that almost came out, because the last person in the world she expected to be neat-freak was James Potter.
"Erm, how about I do everything that needs to be done to the ingrediants and you brew the potion?" Lily said quickly when it looked like James expected her to do the actual brewing. This was no time for him to discover her Potions weakness.
"Er, sure." He looked a little confused, but began kindling the fire under his cauldron anyway. Lily exhaled in relief and reached for the first ingredient in the line on his table, noticing that he also put them all in the order they need to be used. She tried hard not to smile.
"Fine then. Just one question for you and then no more talking," Lily began tentatively. She knew she'd probably kick herself for this later, but she was just too curious. James was looking at her expectantly, so there was no backing out.
"How come you're in Advanced potions? It's a difficult class, so I've been told. Not many people end up passing, especially with that old bloke for a teacher." Her eyes widened when she realized that she had been speaking a little loudly, and she quickly flicked her eyes to their grumpy, old Potions teacher, who luckily hadn't heard her. James was laughing quietly now, although at first he had been surprised by her comment.
"Quiet!" she hissed at him. She did not want to get in trouble for fooling around. Especially not with Potter.
"Okay, okay. Sorry. Go on," he prompted, supressing a smile while he prodded the flames beneath the cauldron a little more. Lily felt trapped; this wasn't supposed to be any sort of conversation, yet he was acting like they were old friends having a chat. She had wanted to ask a simple question and receive a simple answer, not have a full-fledged conversation with this prat. She reached for the next ingredients in line before she continued grudginly.
"No one ever takes this class unless its a requirement for some job, like a Potions teacher... or an Auror..." she trailed off, quickly chopping up the roots in front of her.
"Which is precisely what I want," stated James, eyeing her rapidly moving knife a little anxiously.
Lily faltered and stopped chopping. "You...You want to be a Potions teacher?" she asked, extremely taken back. What an odd thing for him to want to be, she thought. The boy could play Quidditch for England, yet he wanted to be a Potions teacher. She shook her head.
"No, Evans," he said, looking a bit disgusted, "I want to be an Auror." He picked up her roots and held them above the bubbling cauldron for a few seconds, waiting.
"What are you d-" Lily started to say, but then he dropped the pieces quickly into the water and turned back to her.
"Had to wait for the right time..." he said with an expression that meant he thought it was obvious. Lily said 'of course' and tried not to blush and make her ineptitude in potions brewing unnoticable. She desperately wished Alice were her partner, so that she wouldn't have to feel so uncomfortable..
"So, er, A-Auror, eh?" she said suddenly, her voice cracking as she tried to break the awkward silence. That had definitely surprised her. She always figured he'd go on to play Quidditch somewhere. He probably wasn't that serious about being an Auror anyway.
"Yes, Ma'am," he responded proudly while expertly sprinked a dash of powdered batwing over into the potion. "All I've ever wanted to be. Why do you think Remus, Sirius, and I are in all these advanced classes?" He chuckled once again, as if the answer had been obvious.
Lily stared at him disbelievingly and then looked down at her feet. She felt so exposed all of a sudden, even under her concealing, dark robes.
"Oh." She paused. "Yeah, me too," she squeeked out quickly. She immediately felt light-headed out of sheer horror, and her insides jumbled up into a tangled mess. She had just told him that she wanted to be an Auror, even though she promised she wouldn't make her goal a public thing. Wonderful, the whole school will know by tomorrow, she thought as she closed her eyes and waited for him to burst out laughing. But he didn't.
James Potter was quite surprised to hear that Lily wanted to be an Auror, but he was much too please with himself to think anything of it. She's actually talking to me as if I'm a human, he thought jovially, as he stared at Lily.
He actually looks like he's listening to what I'm saying, Lily thought incredulously, but then she began to fidget under his unwavering stare and quickly looked away. Eye contact was not her forte.
In a couple seconds she flicked her eyes back and him and saw that he was still looking. She blinked furiously and looked away again. She mentally scolded herself for stepping out of her tough outer shell and talking to him. He's probably going to think that we're friends now, she thought helplessly. Note to self: Never talk to James Potter again.
"I just love your eyes, Evans," James said suddenly, in a strange, admiring tone. Lily's eyes went round and she looked at him again. He wasn't looking at her though, so she stared at the back of his head. She liked it better this way anyway.
"They're so... vibrant. Like emeralds that always sparkle. And there are so many different shades. They're nicest when you're happy though."
He paused and glanced at the chalkboard to check if he the time increments for the potion right. He seemed to not notice Lily gaping at him, or how she had almost poured an extra liter of bubotuber pus into a vial she was holding. She opened and closed her mouth slowly, digesting the random compliment. She wildly thought to herself that perhaps he had changed, that maybe he was nice now. But yesterday had proved otherwise. She was so confused.
And he wasn't finished. "They make you so easy to read though, Evans. You can tell anything about you by just looking into your eyes." He turned to look at her smirked.
Any change of heart that she might have had about James disappeared quicker than one could say "Chocolate Frogs," and she was annoyed, not only at him, but at herself as well.
"Easy to read?" She began quietly, looking at his haughty face. It was time to crack out the old Lily again.
"EASY to READ? JAMES POTTER, if you think you know ANYTHING about me, THINK again! WHO do you think you are?" She slammed a vial of smoking red liquid down so hard on the table that the bottom broke and red splashed everywhere. Oh bugger, she thought glumly, now look what you'v done.
"OH MY GOD! Look what you made me do!" she shrieked quickly, looking like a bloody mess. Red liquid was splattered all over her flushed face and some began dripping down her neck.
James was tiny bit shocked at the outburst, but smoothly recovered in a matter of seconds. "Eh, a little more red doesnt really make any difference, " he said eyeing her hair.
Lily's eyes widened and she threw her head back; he had never made fun of her hair before. She seemed to grow a couple inches and the red liquid on her facing began to boil and steam, creating quite an interesting effect. Students began backing away from her with whispers of "Oh Merlin, she's steaming! Get away from her!"
James seemed nonplussed though, as he stood there with his eyebrows raised and a curious expression on his face.
"You disgust me," Lily whispered simply, before she was whisked away by the potions teacher and sent up to the hospital wing because of the ugly red burns on her skin.
On her way out the door, she heard Sirius say to James loudly, "Yep, Jamesie, you really got THIS one in the bag!"
The sun shone brilliantly down through the windows of the great hall as Lily, Alice and Wilona entered for breakfast. They strolled over to the Gryffindor table, chatting and laughing merrily, despite the fact that today was the first day of classes.
Lily stopped at their usual spot at the table, looking at the first years who were sitting there staring at them with huge, liquidated eyes. Seeing how terrified they looked, Lily and her friends compassionately told them that they would sit somewhere else.
Glancing down the table, Lily spied empty seats down towards the middle and dragged her friends along towards it. She stopped short, however, noticing that these empty seats happened to be right next to a few boys whom were the last people she wanted to sit next to this morning, or EVER for that matter.
Wilona, on the other hand, couldn't have been more pleased. Before she knew it, Lily was whisked off and plopped down on the bench right next to Remus Lupin.
"Good morning, Lily. Ready for classes?" Remus said cordially, buttering a piece of toast slowly. "I would imagine you'd be excited, being best in the class and all."
Even though Remus was probably the nicest of the Mauraders, Lily said good morning and then tuned out. She glanced at James and saw him grinning pointedly at her, his hair looking disheveled as always. She looked away and focused on Sirius, who was shoveling pastries and scones into his mouth very rapidly, pausing occasionally to down a gulp of pumpkin juice. Wilona sat next to him, staring in fascination at his eating antics. Though Sirius was good-looking, Lily had to admit that she found him revolting at the moment. She looked down at her own empty plate and realized she was not very hungry.
"Lily, you have to eat," said Alice, putting some toast on her friend's plate.
"Yeah, Lily, gotta keep your figure in shape and such, we wouldnt want anything bad happening to you, would we?" said James, as if he was part of the conversation.
Lily chose to ignore him and did not speak to anyone but Alice and Wilona the whole breakfast, though Wilona wasn't talking much herself. After a while, James gave up on trying to speak to her and resumed talking and whispering to his own friends until it was time for class.
In the hallway on the way to Charms, Lily smiled to herself thinking about how she had five N.E.W.T. classes this year. While the thought may have made any other student cringe, Lily loved it. She shared all of her classes with Alice, but only one with Wilona (which was transfiguration).
On their way to Advanced Potions (double period), the last class of the day, Lily commented to Alice about how three of the Mauranders happened to be in all their advanced classes as well (Peter was in only andvanced transfiguration.) Both girls found it very disturbing and perplexing and then convinced themselves that the boys must have cheated their way in, except maybe Remus, for he displayed much more intelligence than the other two.
In the potions dungeon, they took their customary seats at the front and waited for the teacher to assign directions. After listening to a long lecture about the NEWT tests for 7th years, the two girls were thrilled when he told them they would be working with partners for the first potion, which was complex and required teamwork. Alice and Lily immediately looked at each other, but their grins faded when the teacher said he would be assigning partners, saying that they would need to get used to working with unfamiliar people because they would surely be doing that somewhere down the line in their careers. Lily was fine so long as she was not paired with James Potter.
"... And Miss Evans you will be with Mr. Potter."
So much for that.
Of all the people in the whole entire classroom WHY did he have to pick Potter, Lily thought. James, however, was beside himself and Lily caught Sirius giving him a little wink and a nod before he came walking over.
"Well, what do you know, Evans, we're Potions partners!" he said, smiling brightly.
"Right. How about we skip the talking and just get to work," Lily said commandingly and she began to read the complicated directions on the board.
"Aww, I thought we might be able to chat a bit, you know, break the ice a little. I'm an interesting fellow. There must be something we can talk about," he said cheekily. He began sorting out the ingrediants into neat little lines across the table, making Lily raise her eyebrows in surprise. She had to stifle a little laugh that almost came out, because the last person in the world she expected to be neat-freak was James Potter.
"Erm, how about I do everything that needs to be done to the ingrediants and you brew the potion?" Lily said quickly when it looked like James expected her to do the actual brewing. This was no time for him to discover her Potions weakness.
"Er, sure." He looked a little confused, but began kindling the fire under his cauldron anyway. Lily exhaled in relief and reached for the first ingredient in the line on his table, noticing that he also put them all in the order they need to be used. She tried hard not to smile.
"Fine then. Just one question for you and then no more talking," Lily began tentatively. She knew she'd probably kick herself for this later, but she was just too curious. James was looking at her expectantly, so there was no backing out.
"How come you're in Advanced potions? It's a difficult class, so I've been told. Not many people end up passing, especially with that old bloke for a teacher." Her eyes widened when she realized that she had been speaking a little loudly, and she quickly flicked her eyes to their grumpy, old Potions teacher, who luckily hadn't heard her. James was laughing quietly now, although at first he had been surprised by her comment.
"Quiet!" she hissed at him. She did not want to get in trouble for fooling around. Especially not with Potter.
"Okay, okay. Sorry. Go on," he prompted, supressing a smile while he prodded the flames beneath the cauldron a little more. Lily felt trapped; this wasn't supposed to be any sort of conversation, yet he was acting like they were old friends having a chat. She had wanted to ask a simple question and receive a simple answer, not have a full-fledged conversation with this prat. She reached for the next ingredients in line before she continued grudginly.
"No one ever takes this class unless its a requirement for some job, like a Potions teacher... or an Auror..." she trailed off, quickly chopping up the roots in front of her.
"Which is precisely what I want," stated James, eyeing her rapidly moving knife a little anxiously.
Lily faltered and stopped chopping. "You...You want to be a Potions teacher?" she asked, extremely taken back. What an odd thing for him to want to be, she thought. The boy could play Quidditch for England, yet he wanted to be a Potions teacher. She shook her head.
"No, Evans," he said, looking a bit disgusted, "I want to be an Auror." He picked up her roots and held them above the bubbling cauldron for a few seconds, waiting.
"What are you d-" Lily started to say, but then he dropped the pieces quickly into the water and turned back to her.
"Had to wait for the right time..." he said with an expression that meant he thought it was obvious. Lily said 'of course' and tried not to blush and make her ineptitude in potions brewing unnoticable. She desperately wished Alice were her partner, so that she wouldn't have to feel so uncomfortable..
"So, er, A-Auror, eh?" she said suddenly, her voice cracking as she tried to break the awkward silence. That had definitely surprised her. She always figured he'd go on to play Quidditch somewhere. He probably wasn't that serious about being an Auror anyway.
"Yes, Ma'am," he responded proudly while expertly sprinked a dash of powdered batwing over into the potion. "All I've ever wanted to be. Why do you think Remus, Sirius, and I are in all these advanced classes?" He chuckled once again, as if the answer had been obvious.
Lily stared at him disbelievingly and then looked down at her feet. She felt so exposed all of a sudden, even under her concealing, dark robes.
"Oh." She paused. "Yeah, me too," she squeeked out quickly. She immediately felt light-headed out of sheer horror, and her insides jumbled up into a tangled mess. She had just told him that she wanted to be an Auror, even though she promised she wouldn't make her goal a public thing. Wonderful, the whole school will know by tomorrow, she thought as she closed her eyes and waited for him to burst out laughing. But he didn't.
James Potter was quite surprised to hear that Lily wanted to be an Auror, but he was much too please with himself to think anything of it. She's actually talking to me as if I'm a human, he thought jovially, as he stared at Lily.
He actually looks like he's listening to what I'm saying, Lily thought incredulously, but then she began to fidget under his unwavering stare and quickly looked away. Eye contact was not her forte.
In a couple seconds she flicked her eyes back and him and saw that he was still looking. She blinked furiously and looked away again. She mentally scolded herself for stepping out of her tough outer shell and talking to him. He's probably going to think that we're friends now, she thought helplessly. Note to self: Never talk to James Potter again.
"I just love your eyes, Evans," James said suddenly, in a strange, admiring tone. Lily's eyes went round and she looked at him again. He wasn't looking at her though, so she stared at the back of his head. She liked it better this way anyway.
"They're so... vibrant. Like emeralds that always sparkle. And there are so many different shades. They're nicest when you're happy though."
He paused and glanced at the chalkboard to check if he the time increments for the potion right. He seemed to not notice Lily gaping at him, or how she had almost poured an extra liter of bubotuber pus into a vial she was holding. She opened and closed her mouth slowly, digesting the random compliment. She wildly thought to herself that perhaps he had changed, that maybe he was nice now. But yesterday had proved otherwise. She was so confused.
And he wasn't finished. "They make you so easy to read though, Evans. You can tell anything about you by just looking into your eyes." He turned to look at her smirked.
Any change of heart that she might have had about James disappeared quicker than one could say "Chocolate Frogs," and she was annoyed, not only at him, but at herself as well.
"Easy to read?" She began quietly, looking at his haughty face. It was time to crack out the old Lily again.
"EASY to READ? JAMES POTTER, if you think you know ANYTHING about me, THINK again! WHO do you think you are?" She slammed a vial of smoking red liquid down so hard on the table that the bottom broke and red splashed everywhere. Oh bugger, she thought glumly, now look what you'v done.
"OH MY GOD! Look what you made me do!" she shrieked quickly, looking like a bloody mess. Red liquid was splattered all over her flushed face and some began dripping down her neck.
James was tiny bit shocked at the outburst, but smoothly recovered in a matter of seconds. "Eh, a little more red doesnt really make any difference, " he said eyeing her hair.
Lily's eyes widened and she threw her head back; he had never made fun of her hair before. She seemed to grow a couple inches and the red liquid on her facing began to boil and steam, creating quite an interesting effect. Students began backing away from her with whispers of "Oh Merlin, she's steaming! Get away from her!"
James seemed nonplussed though, as he stood there with his eyebrows raised and a curious expression on his face.
"You disgust me," Lily whispered simply, before she was whisked away by the potions teacher and sent up to the hospital wing because of the ugly red burns on her skin.
On her way out the door, she heard Sirius say to James loudly, "Yep, Jamesie, you really got THIS one in the bag!"