Chapter Two (Revised)
By Dinkee-Dino
Disclaimer: All the stuff (excluding characters you don't know and the plot) belongs to the richest woman in the UK until tax time.
Lily
That Potter was going to lead her to an early death. Imagine! Snatching that raspberry creme out her hands like he did! Manners of a hippo, that one. Facing the Slytherin table, Lily waved at Grayer. He caught her eyes and grinned back, rolling his grey eyes toward his prattling friends to show that he was bored with them.
She smiled and turned towards her food. He had asked her to lunch three times already when they were out at Hogsmeade and she still didn't know if they were officially going out yet. Sometimes he'd act like he was already her boyfriend, but other times, he just seemed like a friend. She wouldn't mind getting closer; it wasn't uncommon for Gryffindors to date Slytherins. Both houses were equally prestigious and first year students usually prayed to get into, first, Slytherin and if not, then Gryffindor. School lore said that the Slytherin House had the strongest, bravest, fastest, and smartest students, something the some of the Slytherin members liked to remind the others of from time to time. Gryffindor was good too, but considered just a notch below. Students frequently used the comparison of a first class seat on a plane as being in Gryffindor and a first class window seat was the equivalent of being a Slytherin.
Despite Gryffindors, slightly lower status, it still had the best Quidditch team, hands down. This was mainly due to James' help as a Seeker and the Captain. Lily wasn't one who was quick to compliment James, but his skill on the Quidditch pitch was unmistakable. To say that he was anything less than amazing would be an understatement. Through the six years that she had seen James play, she'd seen him zip in and out, and save the team from what seemed like an inevitable loss just in the nick of time.
Grayer was a Beater on the Slytherin team, and an extremely good one at that. It was the general consensus that both were equally skilled and equally good-looking. James with his brown hair, striking hazel eyes and the "bad-boy/prankster" attitude. Grayer, sporting pale blonde hair and grey eyes, had the "strong, silent hero" stereotype going for him. But if you asked Lily, she'd say that Grayer was most indefinitely the better of the two. She'd like to think that maybe Grayer would like to be more than friends, but she wasn't sure. After all, didn't he hang around the pretty, popular goddesses of the school everyday?
Not that she wasn't unpopular either. The school seemed split on her looks though. The people who had heard her called beautiful were disappointed when they finally saw her. Those who had heard her called plain, saw her and wondered what in the world the others had seen.
Dumbledore's quiet, commanding voice broke her reverie. "Students, may I please have your attention." The room simmered down. "I have a very important announcement to make. Many of you may have noticed that Professor Thicket was absent from teaching today. The fact is, he had just found out that he has developed osteoporosis." This created a stir of murmurs from the crowd.
"Not to worry," Dumbledore continued. "He will be fine, and even though the condition wouldn't have stopped his teaching, he has decided to retire anyway. In his place, you will have Professor Robert Powell. Come on professor, don't be shy. Everyone, please give our new professor a round of applause."
Robert Powell. Robert P. . . . Who was that? Lily jerked her head in remembrance. The man she met in Professor Thicket's office! Well, boy really. He was supposed to be teaching Muggle Lit? And she'd said 'arse' in front of her new teacher! And she'd used it in a threat, no less. Craning her neck trying to get a good look along with the rest of the school, what she saw surprised her. The man standing on the stage wasn't the same person she saw earlier that day! This man was in his late forties with greying hair. By now, the usual hum of the Dining Hall had returned.
Relieved, Lily sat back and went back to eating her muffin, the sad remains of her once glamorous dessert. If the boy in the room wasn't her new professor, she couldn't get into trouble for saying 'arse'. He was probably one of the visitors. But... But that would mean he might not have gotten her paper! The boy she gave it to didn't look to honest. Something about his smirk. . .
She had to find him before he left the school! Jumping up, she knocked over her goblet of pumpkin juice, but she didn't care. Her grade depended on that term paper! Getting a failing grade on it would mean loads of extra work to make up the grade, that was if the new professor even gave extra credit work. She couldn't afford to do extra work. Her marks in History of Magic were barely enough to let her pass that semester. Extra work meant less studying which meant a failing grade. They'd take away her Head Girl status! The embarrassment!
With this last thought, she dashed out of Dining Hall, not knowing that in her hurry she banged the door so loudly, causing everyone to wonder where exactly Lily Evans was going at 8:30, headed towards the main entrance.
Grayer
Lily Evans had a crush on him. Not that she knew that he knew. Actually, he mightn't have noticed at all if he hadn't watched how she acted around other guys. She constantly excused herself from the presence of others just to strike up a conversation with him. Of course, it usually lasted for only a minute or two before other jealous girls would shove her aside and claim him all to themselves. And Lily didn't do a thing about it. She was obviously too nice for her own good. He didn't like that in a girl.
The first thing you'd notice about her was her hair, then her eyes. He didn't think she was that pretty at all; she seemed pretty plain. Nothing special about her. The usual studious, over-achieving girl. But she actually had a social life. Lately, he'd been leading her on. Asking her out to lunch and whatnot at Hogsmeade. Making her believe that he was remotely interested in her.
This obviously wasn't true, but what else could he do? She came in handy when he was accosted by various girls. Priscilla? Too blonde. Doris? Too giggly. Nicole? Now there was a girl. No, a woman. Every guy he knew of wanted to nail Nicole Jordan, though Lily had a pretty decent following herself. He didn't see it. The auburn hair? The green eyes? Too Christmasy for him.
Weeks and weeks ago, when the first mention of the Yule Ball had come up, numbers of girls had followed him around, constantly asking him who he was taking to the dance. Tired of waiting, some even sought to corner him in empty classrooms. Like that oaf of a girl, Brenna. One day, a couple weeks into October, most of the girls had ganged up on him and pestered him about the Yule Ball. Before he quite knew what was going on, they had formed a circle around him and adamantly refused to let him get to lunch before he answered.
"Why don't you ask me to the Ball?"
"As if he'd ask you. He's so into me! Aren't you Grayer dear?"
"Stop wasting your time, girls. Grayer is obviously going ask moi. Run along and find someone else."
On and on it went. Barrages from every corner. Finally to shut them up he had said, "I've already picked a girl. But you'll have to guess who it is."
"Oooh! Me!"
"It's me for sure!"
"Erhm ladies, actually, it's someone who's not here right now," he half-yelled over the ruckus they were making in the hall. Some teachers had come out of their offices and shut their doors loudly to show their annoyance at being disturbed.
He had looked at each of the girls and seen the look badly-hidden disappointment in every face. "Good", he had said to himself. They would probably leave now. Their curiosity far outweighed their displeasure, however, and they pressed him further.
"Is it Katrina?"
Too skinny. "Nope."
"Is it Ginger?"
Too smiley. "Definitely not."
Girl after girl was named and each time he'd say no. He knew the list of potential girls was running short, but he didn't have an exact idea of how short.
"I know. It's Lily Evans."
Who was she? He remembered hearing her name somewhere. Maybe he'd even see her once or twice. Right now, though, her face slipped his mind. Better not take his chances with a weird girl. "Sorry, but no."
"Oh but it has to be! There aren't any other girls left. Unless you're taking a teacher," Doris spoke up.
Alack! Alack! He was really cornered this time. He didn't respond, but listened to other girls whisper.
"She's so pretty! No wonder he picked her. I wish I had eyes like hers. Maybe a special charm I could find. . ." He hadn't bothered to listen to the rest. If people thought that this Lily Evans was pretty, he had absolutely no risk with being stuck with an ugly date.
"Alright. You caught me. I'm going to ask Lily to the Yule Ball. Now, can you all leave? I must away to my lunch."
Satisfied with having an answer at last, the girls moved on. At lunch, he had asked Severus to point out Lily Evans to him. She was passable, but not quite up to Grayer Standards. He mentally graded her on his Grayer Girl Test, and she barely scraped by with a passing grade.
Still, he couldn't go back on word now. If he did, he would come off as some sort of snarky liar. He'd started introducing himself to her that very day. And so here he was, three weeks before the ball and he still didn't ask her to be his date yet. In the beginning, he was afraid that she might turn him down as she had a fair amount of male suitors "wooing" her in the first place. But as he started to spend more time studying her, he realized that she already had a crush on him. This would make it easier to snag her, and this was mostly the reason that he'd been procrastinating. He hadn't wanted to ask her too soon; he might seem too eager and that would ruin his chance at other relationships with other girls during the rest of the year.
It all came down to this. He would have to ask her sometime this week. Everyone knew that it wasn't gentlemanly to ask a girl out on too short of a notice, and he certainly wanted everybody to think that he was the perfect gentleman. It made it so much easier for them to give him presents in "the land down under" if the girls thought they could trust him.
The Dining Hall was filled by the time he got down. He immediately searched for Lily, meaning to ask her to be his date that very night, but she hadn't arrived yet. When she did arrive, however, she seemed very intent on something at the Gryffindor table and right before his eyes, he saw James Potter- his main rival for the position for best-looking in the school- take something out of her hand. Even from across the hall, he could tell that Lily was fuming. James' back was toward him so he couldn't see what his counterpart was doing, but a few moments later, Lily said something and spun off on her heel.
Couldn't she tell that James Potter was sweet on her? Not that either of them had noticed it. They'd been fighting like cats and dogs since third year. Really, if they'd only stop bickering for a minute, they'd realize that they, in fact, liked each other. A lot.
No kidding. Lily was sweet and nice. It was going harder to dump her after the ball, but he didn't feel too bad about it. She'd get over it. And if she didn't, well, it wasn't his problem.