*FEBRUARY*
"Mr. Black, if you would please take your seat I can begin my lesson."
Sirius sat down with a grin on his face. He was telling the class about James and his latest prank on the Slytherins. He was just getting to the climax when McGonagall walked in.
"Now today class, I would like to try turning these shamrocks into roses. It involves some tricky wand movements. Watch closely."
But Lily's eyes were out the window. She saw two distant figures making their way from the forest back to the school.
"How odd…" she thought. Lily looked around the classroom. Then it clicked: Remus was missing. Lily silently took out a roll of parchment that had the recordings of the full moon.
"I can't believe I forgot!" She thought to herself. Lily started to fell guilty. She hadn't thought about becoming an animagus for months. She decided to get back to work that very night.
*That Very Night*
Lily was taking one step at a time. Her arms were filled with books and she couldn't see where she was going. She was very eager to get researching again. The last thing she remembered reading was how to predict what animal she would become. She knew she had little control of the process, but at least wanted an idea to see if it was really worth it. She cringed at the thought of the possibility she could become a rat or something in the pest family. She figured she would be a member of the cat family, but that was a very broad topic.
Lily finally got to a table in the common room. She took out a Muggle notebook and a pen. She still missed some of her old way of life. This action earned a few stares from some of the people there, but she was too preoccupied to notice. She immediately got caught up in her notes and readings. It didn't stop until she was interrupted.
"Lily, what are you still doing up?"
Lily glanced towards the boys' staircase. James was standing there looking half asleep and confused.
"Just some last minute homework. What are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep. I thought I'd come sit by a fire for awhile."
"Oh, well don't let me keep you. I really should head up to bed anyway." Lily said as she closed her books etcetera.
"Hey Lily I got a question."
"Okay, shoot."
"Well…do you know what's up with Remus? You guys seem pretty close and all and he's been acting so weird lately," James asked.
Lily dropped the three books she was holding. Her mind ran as she tried to think of something convincing. Her voice shook as she said, "I don't know anything. I mean I could try and talk to him and ask him what's wrong. I can't promise anything tho-"
James cut her off, "Really? Well only if you want to go ahead. But I don't know…it's just…never mind. I'll let you go to bed. Goodnight Lily."
"Night James." Lily said and quickly left the common room; leaving James to stare intently into the fire.
*
Valentine's day came quickly to the students. Lily was getting sick of hearing Jack talk about the holiday and spent most of her time with Maggie who despised the holiday.
The boys (as in James, Sirius and Remus) gave the girls (as in Lily and her friends) different types of flowers. Lily got a Tiger lily. Her other roommates each got a rose that changed colors. Lily didn't bother with any gifts. She thought it would be a bit silly. All she would have gotten was the candy hearts with sayings like "I like you" on it.
That evening in the common room everyone was surprised to see decorations hanging up. There were red, pink and white balloons tied onto chairs and other pieces of furniture. Streamers of the same theme were thrown all over the place, hanging around the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Paper hearts with every Gryffindor were taped up onto the staircases. Lily laughed when she saw candy hearts absolutely everywhere. But as everything else in the wizarding world, they were charmed. The words would change. Sometimes into insults. There were pitchers of pumpkin juice on tables as well as some finger foods. Gryffindor house had a mini party but most of the students went to bed around eleven to eleven thirty, being a school night. Lily was one of these people. She was exhausted. She had participated in a dance contest between some girls. Lily surprisingly came in second, which wasn't bad since most of the girls were above her (4th years etc.). She slowly got changed into her pajamas and slid under the covers. She glanced at her flower then drifted into a dreamless sleep.
The next day Lily woke up in a good mood. But by the end of breakfast she was getting frustrated. All of the girls were complaining about how terrible Valentine's Day was for them. Lily got fed up and left the Great Hall. Maggie, who did not want to listen to people whine either, followed her. They walked slowly to their first class, transfiguration, talking about the latest prank of James and Sirius. They had hexed Malfoy and Snape's robes to constantly changed colors. The hex seemed to have an odd effect though and their skin kept changing colors with it.
The bell rang signally that breakfast was over. Lily and Maggie were just by the classroom. They entered and took their seats in the second row from the back. Soon everyone was settled in and Professor McGonagall walked into the room.
"Okay class, books away. Time for a pop quiz on your animal transfigurations."
The entire class groaned as they pushed their books off their tables. McGonagall came around handing out the written part, only five questions, then called each student up to transfigure a brown mouse into a perfect silver tea kettle. Lily's teakettle was almost perfect but when you picked it up, it started to squeal. The class left at the end of the period very unhappy.
*
That night, Lily was playing with her ring (the rose one. She still wears the other one on a chain around her neck). She was only twisting it halfway to each side so she would not look into the rose. She wanted to see Kerrie again. She twisted the ring some more so she could start to see the outline of a petal when…
"Hey Lily! What are you up to?" Sirius said. He has snuck up behind Lily's char and pushed her in the back. Startled, Lily turned the ring back around and faced Sirius.
"Hi Sirius. I was just thinking."
"Oh well we were all wondering if you would be interested in playing a few rounds of Exploding Snap." Sirius said as he came around the chair in front of Lily. He grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the chair then dragged her over to the carpet they were playing on.
"I guess I don't really have a choice huh?" Lily said as she laughed
"Of course not. Now sit." Sirius pushed down on her shoulders.
They played a few games but once Lily set the end of her hair on fire, she declined another game and decided to work on her animagus research in her dormitory. She said goodnight to all her friends and slipped up the stairs. She got changed, grabbed one of her research books, her notebook and her pen. She closed the curtains around her bed and took notes by an inflammable flame. * Author's note: if that makes any sense, which I doubt, it means one that won't burn anything* She heard her friends come on and they got quiet after a while. Lily figured they fell asleep. She realized it must be late so she closed her notebook and extinguished the flame. Curling up under the covers, she felt restless and lied awake for quite a long time.
