Brief Introduction:
The story is set in their sixth year and Lily is just beginning to like James. The story starts on their first night back!
"Ok everyone. It's time for a little truth or dare. Except this time, you can't get out of the Dares and you have to complete them before the end of the term, or well…" Veronica smiled evilly as she delayed the punishment.
"You have to do something worse. Something mortifying, and trust me. You won't get out of it. In fact it will most likely send you to a Professor begging them to send you home. So let's begin. Jenny you can go first." Jenny was a pale girl with blond hair and green eyes she looked both startled and worried when she was call on. She bit her lip and nodded her head.
"Ok, Truth or Dare?" Veronica looked bored as she said it and took out a nail file and started to file her nails.
"Truth." Veronica sighed and looked up at the girl slightly deflated, though everyone knew that it wasn't likely that she would've said dare anyway.
"Have you ever done anything with a boy? And what?" Jenny blushed nervously and spun a strand of hair around her finger.
"I-I once kissed a boy." Her blush deepened and her voice grew quiet. "Peter Pettigrew to be exact." Veronica's eyes flashed and she smiled deeply amused.
"I asked you if you had ever done anything with a boy, Jennifer. Not a worm." She shook her head and waved her hand at Jenny as if to dismiss her. Jenny looked like she wanted to cry or at least leave the room, and frankly, Lily didn't blame her.
Lily was sitting Indian style in the very back of the group, the ends of her long red hair falling into her lap. She was there because Jenny and Minerva had wanted to come, and now she was watching as Veronica insulted her best friend. Veronica was considered the Queen of Hogwarts, or at least that's how she thought of herself. Veronica was one of those perfect looking people, who knew they were perfect, and so therefore no one else was as good as them unless they were themselves. The only two people that Veronica looked at, as equals were James Potter and Sirius Black.
"Well if you're not going to dare anyone. I'll dare someone for you." Veronica snapped as she looked around the group. She spotted Lily within a few seconds and smiled. It was a pretty smile, even Lily had to admit that, but it was an eerie smile, a demonic one almost. Lily wanted to jump up and run, but she knew she could never stand up no matter how much she wanted to because her legs had turned into jello.
"Lily, truth or dare?" Lily bit her lip nervously. She knew she couldn't pick truth. If Veronica ever found out that Lily had never been kissed, or had a boyfriend she'd never let Lily live it down. She would use it as an excuse to pick on her. So she was left with dare. Lily gulped and opened her mouth, which felt like it was lined with glue.
"Dare." She heard some of the others whisper in surprise and Minerva looked over at her in alarm. Veronica just smiled sadistically.
"Lily Evans, I dare you to make Sirius Black fall in love with you by the end of term." Lily's jaw dropped and she couldn't help but stutter.
"You can't be serious?" Veronica's eyes just flashed and she smiled down at the girl sadly.
"I'm quite serious."
"Truth or Dare, Veronica?" Lily said forcefully. She wasn't going to let Veronica get away with this without fighting back. Though she wished she could rip the other witch's head off, she knew that wouldn't go over very well. So she had to settle with an attempt to embarrass the other girl which was something very few people could do.
"Dare of course." Veronica said offhand. She rolled her eyes at one of her fan girls who giggled. She had a big fan group and they followed her around everywhere worshipping the ground she walked on. They were all suck ups and posers who were hoping that some of her evilness and cruelty would rub off on them.
"I dare you to shave that ugly fat head of yours and keep it shaved for the rest of the term." Lily stood up and left the dorm room her red hair swishing behind her. She was smiling now; the horrified look on Veronica's face was enough to make the rest of her year wonderful. She sighed and sat down on the girl's staircase and wrapped her arms around herself. Today had turned out horribly, first Potter had made her look like a fool, and then Sirius and Lupin had bugged her during lunch about why she was ignoring him. How come they couldn't see how much she did like him? Except… except he had to go and drive her insane, and then other times he had to make her feel like an idiot. He just couldn't seem to be normal for once. If he could just leave her alone for a day… well it would be heaven. Lily sighed as she heard Veronica's laughter from the dorm room and walked downstairs into the common room. She needed to get away from that horrible laughter. It was enough to make you want to cry and beg someone to kill you now and end your misery. Lily sat down on the coach and folded her legs underneath her before looking into the fire. She needed to think.
She had to get Sirius Black. The Sirius Black to fall in love with her, well that was never going to happen. He didn't hate her, from what she knew, he found her odd and funny and annoying. Every time she talked to him, he managed to change the subject to James. Now she was going to have to make this same guy love her? Well this was going to be impossible.
"Eh hem." Lily looked up and saw Remus and James looking down at her with a curious expression.
"Oh, hello there." Lily bit her lip and scooted over as they sat down. James attempted to sit closer to her, closer than she was comfortable with.
"You alright there, Evans?" Lily looked up at him slightly surprised to hear him ask a question verses make a perverted remark about her appearance or transfigure a rat into her hair.
"I'm perfectly fine." Lily bit her lip and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. For some strange reason she wasn't able to look him in the eye.
"Which is code for you feel like crap." Remus added. He was stretching himself out on the coach and propping his head up with his arm. He looked quite comfortable and considerably tired, like he hadn't slept well in nights. Lily just shook her head and sighed.
"No, honestly I'm fine. And if I wasn't, Potter. I certainly wouldn't be telling you about my problems." She couldn't help adding the last bit, because she knew it was his fault. She couldn't help but feel slightly angry with him about it. If he hadn't liked her she could have avoided tonight. She never would have been dared to get Sirius to fall in love with her, she never would have met Veronica, or at least not personally since Veronica wouldn't have cared about her. She would've been too insignificant to care about.
James looked at her slightly taken back. He hadn't been expecting that, but then again it hadn't been the nicest thing to say. Lily sighed again and lifted her head to look him in the eyes.
"Sorry. It's just you're such a git sometimes, and you don't even realize it. Please just leave me alone, Potter. You can't help me." Lily stood up and headed towards the portrait hole. "I'll see you later, I guess." She walked out into the hallway. She leaned up against the wall before she realized what time it was. She had to get out of the open, if she didn't want Mrs. Norris to come and find her. It had to be near 11 and curfew was 10 but Lily didn't care. She just needed to get away from them all. She headed towards the Astronomy tower, figuring that it would be empty this late at night. She walked up the stone stairs and opened the hatch that led onto the tower before sitting down and looking up at the stars. It was freezing and she hadn't brought a cloak with her, but she didn't care. She couldn't go back and get one. Not with James there, not with Veronica. She sighed and hugged her knees and set her chin on them.
A few minutes later she felt something brush her shoulder. She looked up and smiled, it was a snowy owl. One that she had never seen before but was incredibly beautiful as it flew through over the tower. It flew over her head once more before landing at her feet and sticking out it's leg which had a piece of parchment attached to it. She frowned at it and took it off. She pet the owl, and thanked it before it nipped her fingers and flew off.
Lily,
Filch is on his way. Better hide fast.
Lily blinked and turned it over trying to see if it said anything else. How could anyone possibly know she was out here? How could they know Filch was coming? She paused as she listened. She could've sworn she heard footsteps on the steps. She looked around for a moment and bit her lip; there was nowhere to hide. The only things up there were a bunch of telescopes, and one box that she doubted she could fit in. Though apparently she was going to have to try. The box was used to store the telescopes during storms, and was about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. She jumped in it, and tried to suck in her breath to decrease her size, though it didn't help much.
"No one up and wandering the castle tonight Mrs. Norris. Oh no, all of those cretins are in bed, for once, Mrs. Norris and that's the way it needs to stay. If only Dumbledore would expel Potter and his friends. Then all I would have to deal with is Peeves. No more dung bombs in my office, no more fireworks in my desk, oh no." Lily peeked out of the box and saw Filch gazing out of the tower with Mrs. Norris sitting next to him purring. He was shaking his head and then he headed back down the stairs with Mrs. Norris following him closely. Lily sighed and quietly clamored out of the uncomfortable box. She wiped off her jeans and looked up forlornly at the sky. She could've sworn she saw the white owl flying off into the distance.
Lily walked as quietly as she could down the steps. Luckily the Astronomy tower wasn't to far away from Gryffindor, so she didn't have far to go. Lily glanced around the corridor and then sprinted towards the other portrait of the fat lady who was snoring quite contently in her frame. "Sneezing Doxies!"
"What? Oh, Lily, why you're up late! Shouldn't you be in bed?" The fat lady yawned as she swung open obviously happy to go back to sleep, and forgetting that Lily hadn't answered her questions. She stumbled a little in the entrance and headed upstairs not noticing four faces that were watching her curiously.
She changed sleepily and then flopped down on her bed. She didn't even bother to pull up the covers. Her hair hid her face from view and she turned over before falling asleep.
James Point of View"Well can we bloody go to sleep now?" Sirius asked. His eyes were red and he was yawning. James had forced them all to wait up with him so he could make sure Lily got back all right. She had never seemed so frustrated with him before. Sure, she had always displayed a lot of hatred and disgust his way but never quite in that matter. Besides, before tonight he had figured she was just playing hard to get. Though now he wasn't so sure.
"Yah, sure Sirius," answered James. He shook his head and stood up before heading upstairs, followed slowly by very sleepy Remus, Sirius, and Peter. James flopped onto his bed without changing into his pajamas and stared up at the ceiling.
"How come the one girl I'm stuck fancying, would "Rather snog the Giant Squid" then go out with me?"
Sirius and Remus exchanged looks. Remus rolled his eyes, and Sirius just shrugged. They both knew the exact reasons why Lily refused to go out with James since she had made it quite clear to everyone many times, but neither of them wanted to voice their opinions on the matter. Remus poked Sirius in the back, who just shook his head only to be poked again. Remus mouthed the words "Tell him now!" and Sirius just cursed under his breath before sitting on his bed.
"Well you see here James, there's this little thing called manners…" Remus rolled his eyes and shoved Sirius off the bed.
"Fine you prat, I'll tell him." Remus sighed and eyed James nervously.
"Well, you see James, girls, well…they like to be treated nicely, and err… politely. You tend to do neither." Sirius looked at Remus and rolled his eyes.
"Oh yah and you said it so much better." Sirius snapped.
James just laid there with a completely doomed expression on his face. Polite? That was one thing he could never be.
Lily's Point of ViewLily walked into the common room and spotted Minerva and headed right over to her. She was reading a book and had her black curly hair pulled up into a sloppy bun. In front of her was one of the small coffee tables scattered throughout the common room used for studying. She was waving her wand and mumbling the spells that went with each wand motion. Several times her wand admitted bright red sparks though she paid them no mind.
"Minny! Oye, Minny!" Lily yelled as she walked over. Minerva looked up and blinked in surprise as she watched Lily collapse into the seat next to her.
"Don't tell me you've already eaten breakfast?" Lily shook her head in disgust and amazement at her friend. Minerva was a morning person, and was always up around 5 AM or 6. She had never slept in, once in her life, and Lily was just waiting for the day when Minny was in bed till 7:30. Minny just smiled and shook her head yes. Lily let out a groan and stood back up.
"Fine, make me eat all alone."
"Oh you won't be all alone, Lily." Mage said as she flounced into the common room, her dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Mage was wearing old-fashioned red glasses with fake jewels in the corners today and was using her scarf as a belt. Mage was big into theatrics and had decided in her third year that she was bored of the school uniform and that it was up to her to make it more interesting. Lily couldn't help but grin when she saw Mage.
"Well then do you want to head down to the Great Hall? I'm starving."
"Sure thing." Mage said airily. She followed Lily out the portrait hole and down the corridors.
"So do you think Professor Cambridge is going to go through with his threat and force us all to dissect flubber worms today? He promised us he would last you before school ended."
"Well, know one ever seems to know with him. I guess it will depend on if he remembers." Mage answered knowingly. Professor Cambridge taught Care of Magical Creatures and when he was in his 6th year of Hogwarts he got hit with a memory charm that now made it almost impossible for him to remember what he said five minutes after he said it. There had even been a few lessons the year before that he had forgotten about and never shown up. Though no one ever seemed to mind since it gave them plenty of time to work on their homework or just talk.
The girls entered the Great Hall and headed towards their usual seats near the end of the Gryffindor table, farthest from the teachers. Lily sat down next to Mage who started looking around for the fruit. She had decided to become a vegetarian the year before and would have become a vegan if her Mum hadn't threatened to kill her if she gave up milk. Her Mum was a muggle doctor and was a big believer in a healthy balanced diet. Lily chuckled as she looked around for the muffins and was about to grab an unusually large chocolate one when she felt someone tickling her neck. She yelped and started laughing hysterically as the person began to tickle her more and more.
"Stop it, please, please stop it." Lily cried out gasping for air as her attacker continued to tickle her.
"Say you'll go out with me and I'll stop it." Lily suddenly got a horrified expression on her face before she started to laugh again.
"James Potter! Stop! Please." She looked up at him giving him her best puppy face though she had a feeling the effect was ruined because of all the laughter that was pouring out of her mouth. He grinned at her playfully and ruffled his hair with one hand.
"Aww, come on Evans, you know that's not fair." Lily just stuck her tongue out and giggled.
"Neither is tickling."
"Ok, ok you win this round Evans. But I'll be back!" He winked at her and walked back over to Remus and Sirius shaking his head in mild disappointment. Lily just rolled her eyes at Mage who giggled nervously.
"Lily, you do realize you were dared to capture the heart of Sirius Black? Don't you? How do you expect to do that if you are being stalked by his best friend?" Mage asked quietly.
Lily shook her head still giggling. She couldn't help it but the idea of going out with Sirius Black wasn't a very exciting or happy one. It was one she knew would never happen which made it almost funny.
"I don't know, Mage. I just don't know."
"Ello, ladies." Craig Adams said as he sat down. He was one of Lily's best friends and Mage's twin brother, though he looked nothing like her. He had light blond hair that contrasted splendidly to Mage's dark hair. Lily pounced on him, giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek ignoring the jealous glare of another housemate.
"How are you? I haven't seen you since we got here! I was beginning to think you had abandoned me with your sister. Have you seen Griffen yet?" Craig just started laughing.
"Abandon you, with Mage of all people? Never! And no I haven't seen Griffen yet. Though knowing him he probably isn't awake, lazy arse." Craig grabbed the plate of sausages and gestured in the direction of James.
"Ah. I can see your real reason in wanting me here. Wonder boy still in love with you?"
He arched his eyebrow skeptically and tapped his foot. Lily just blushed and nodded her head.
"You didn't honestly hope that he would just have forgotten you during the summer?" Lily bit her lip and sighed.
"I guess it was a bit to much to wish for." Mage and Craig just looked at each other and burst out laughing. Craig gulped down a laugh and shook his head.
"Just a bit." He managed to croak out. He patted Lily on the shoulder in a very poor attempt to counsel her when a dark unhappy figure sat across from them. The new boy grabbed a piece of toast bit into it and cringed. Lily just smiled at him and would've given him a hug too, if he hadn't been on the other side of the table.
"Hello there, Griffen." Griffen nodded his head in acknowledgement and continued eating. His brown hair was sticking up in odd angles, and he had obviously just waken up and walked downstairs, forgetting a little something called personal hygiene. It was one of the many things Lily loved about Griffen. He was just so…laid back would be a nice way to put it. Or maybe a nighttime person considering he could stay up till midnight or later but could never manage to get up in the morning. Mage looked at him and rolled her eyes before turning back to her fruit and then to Lily.
"So are you trying out for Keeper?" Lily blinked and eyed her suspiciously.
"Yes, why?" Mage just looked over at Craig and smiled mischievously.
"Oh no reason. Just wondering, since tryouts are today you know. Actually if you make the team you'll be the only girl, though I doubt that will matter much. Though you'll probably become the envy of the rest of the school." Lily just blinked and set down her fork.
"Why do you say that? I mean it's not like there are any other girls in Gryffindor who could play the position." Mage just smiled again and twirled her fork in her hand.
"No reason. So when do you think the next trip to Hogsmeade will be? I'm hoping soon, I really would like to go visit Honeydukes. Restock my candy supply." Lily and Craig smiled at each other before launching into their own plans for the next Hogsmeade visit, with a few words from Griffen who was beginning to look like he belonged with the living again. Lily couldn't help thinking that it might turn out to be a good year after all.