Chapter 2

The Beginning of Terms

I unfolded the paper, which listed my classes for the rest of the year. First thing that morning I had Double Potions with Slughorn, Charms with Flitwick, and then a break before lunch. Shoving the schedule away I chewed on some toast before heading off to Potions. I had awoken late so didn't have much time for breakfast.

"Good morning Ms. Evans!" Slughorn called from his desk. I nodded at him and took a seat in the front of the class where Krissy already sat.

"I can't believe I'm still in this class Lily," she groaned flipping through the pages of her textbook.

"You do fine in this class," I said and threw my bag under the table.

"Yeah because you're always my partner." She stated. Which was partly true. I have a knack with potions.

"True but I don't do all of your work. You don't give yourself enough credit," I said smiling at her. Before she could reply Mr. Slughorn had stood and cleared his voice. His walrus mustache twitched as he smiled down at us.

"Nice to see you all again! Ms. Evans, Mr. Snape, you're invited tonight for the annual 'Welcome Back Dinner' of course." Slughorn said acting if the rest of the class weren't there.

"Yes of course I will," I said with a fake smile. His parties really weren't much fun, but how could I say no to a teacher.

"I'll see if I can join," Snape muttered before sticking his nose back into this potions book.

"Great! Okay then class, turn to page 325 in your text books and let's good started." He called and the class obeyed. We spent the rest of the two periods making an extremely difficult potion. I again scraped a perfect while Krissy struggled a bit but came out with an okay.

We parted our ways as I made my way to Charms. I was almost to the room when I heard a commotion behind me. Turning around I see a group of students in a tight circle. Seeing as it's my job as head girl is to stop such things I made my way towards them. I was stunned at the site.

Snape was pinned to the ground struggling against unseen ropes and mouthing unheard words. Sirius stood over him laughing while James stood against the crowd smiling. I walked over to him, grabbing his arm.

"What are you doing standing there Potter do something!" I yelled angrily. He was not taking his job seriously at all. "I don't see anything wrong here," he said continuing to watch Sirius hex Snape.

"You're such a git Potter!" I say smacking him upside the head.

"Merlin, Evans if it's that important to you I'll stop it, okay?" He grumbled rubbing his head. "Oy, Padfoot! That's enough mate Evans is having a fit over here." James called.

"Aw come on Lils I was just having a bit of fun," Sirius called back to me.

"Sirius if you don't let him go I'll hex you to next year," I growled pulling out my wand.

"Fine." Sirius said and flipped his wand letting Snape go. "Now get out of here Snivellous!"

"You'll pay one day Black," Snape said before hurrying down the corridor.

After Charms, Krissy, Lynn, and I went to the common room. As I entered James came up to me.

"Lily, Dumbledore wants us to meet him in the entrance hall."

"When?" I asked.

"Now," he said as I followed him out the portrait hole.

"Do you have any idea of what he wants?" I asked.

"No, he just sent an owl to me this morning and told me to tell you. But seeing as..."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I demanded.

"Chill... I was just getting to that. Seeing as you were a little, how should I say this, livid when we last met, I figured I'd let you cool off a bit before I'd talk to you again," he said shrugging.

"I would have rather you told me earlier," I muttered.

"Hmm? What'd you say?"

"Nothing."

When we got there, Professor Dumbledore was already waiting. He was smiling as he greeted us, "Hello you two. I have a very pleasant surprise in store for you. Now, if you'd follow me, I'd like to show you something."

We both did as we were told. We followed him to the second floor where we took a right and saw a painting of a prince and princess in a passionate embrace. I had to hold back a laugh.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Lemon Drops. You two can change the password to anything of your liking. But here is your new common room and living space. Miss Evans your room is to the right and Mr. Potter, yours is on the left. There is a bathroom that connects them. I expect you two to work together and hold prefect meetings in this room. So I hope you two will enjoy having your own rooms. But please, don't do anything. I'm letting you have these because I trust you."

Okay, sorry but that was kind of funny. 'Don't do anything!' Like I'd even want to do anything, especially with James. The room was nice and cozy. It was like a normal common room but a little smaller and more personalized. There were cream colored couches with maroon and gold decorative pillows. There were two end tables that were white wood. Two arm chairs were placed in front of the fire with the fabric the same as the pillows. Also the curtains where like the pillows. I loved it. It was so well decorated and pretty.

Dumbledore left and I went to the room he told me was mine. I opened the door and was amazed. It was how I'd always wanted my room. The bed cover was beige with white flowers on a pale green stem. The walls were painted the same green as the stems and had pictures matching the flowers. There was a white dresser where, when she opened it, were her clothes neatly folded and packed in there. There also was a desk made out of the same wood as the dresser. There was an armchair that was a little darker than the color of the bed cover.

I opened the door that led to the bathroom and was impressed. I stepped in and looked at the granite countertop that was large enough to put all my necessities on and had two large marble sinks. In one corner there was a white marble Jacuzzi tub that was about the size of a twin sized bed. In the corner beside the tub, was an all glass shower that was tinted so you couldn't see into it. I smiled. This is what I wanted all my years at Hogwarts... and it came true. There was only one thing that I wanted even more than this.

James opened the door and was holding something that I thought was just a coat. "Don't you like it Lily?" he asked handing it to me.

"Oh my gosh! It's a puppy! Is it yours?" I asked looking down at the Yorkshire terrier.

"No, it's ours. I found it lying on my bed when I came in," he said shrugging.

"She's so cute! What's her name?" I asked looking lovingly at the dog.

"How do you know it's a girl?" he asked. I thought he was joking at first, but he was serious.

"Well... let's see how can I explain this? There is a certain part that males have which females don't. And I don't see that part on this dog, do you?" I asked almost laughing.

"Oh, I get it. So what should we name HER?"

"Hmm... I don't know," I said looking at her carefully.

"How about Sparky?"

"A typical dog name... no thanks," I said still examining her. "How about Crystal?"

"That sounds like a human's name. It should be something that sounds a little like a dog but not Puppy. It kind of sounds like we're naming a baby or something."

I laughed. "You would only be so lucky." Alright that was kind of flirtatious. I can't let myself be like that. "But, umm... how about Gracie?"

"Yeah that's fine," he said as he petted the top of Gracie's head.

After lunch, Krissy, Lynn and I went up to my common room.

"Lil, you are so lucky you have your own room. Especially since you get to share it with James!" Krissy said for about the millionth time.

"Will you please stop going on about that? You may wish that you got to, but I don't. He is such a jerk," I said a little harshly.

"What has he done in the past twenty-four hours that makes you say that?" Lynn asked reasonably.

"Did you see how he was treated Snape in the hall?"

"But he stopped it, didn't he?" she asked trying to make me feel bad.

"Yeah... but..." I couldn't think of anything else to make my argument with.

"Just give him a chance. Talk to him. I'm almost positive that he's not as bad of a guy as you think he is. Trust me," Lynn said.

That statement made me think. Why did I really hate James? I mean, most guys my age were just like him. I really couldn't think of a good reason. I mean he's the perfect guy according to my friends. He has got the looks (even though I said I hated him, I always noticed that), he's got the personality (according to my friends), he's pretty smart... Then it hit me. The reason was that I was jealous. Never would have seen that coming, huh? The thing I was jealous about was that he was filthy rich and was an only child, meaning that he got all the attention. That's something I desperately longed for. Attention from someone who I knew would love me forever, unconditionally. But where I would get that? I did not know.