"Ah, yes, here they are!" exclaimed Dumbledore, his always slightly ironic voice echoing, magnified around the entrance hall. Lily had stopped at an distance that would be highly unhelpful for introductions and was, to put it quite plainly, gawking. Luckily for her, it was not completely noticeable as the only physical change was that her green eyes bugged out while she took in the other girl's unreasonably perfect appearance. What irked Lily most was that there didn't seem to be a spot or wrinkle on her robes, which were a very pale blue, obviously the uniform of Beauxbaxtons.
Lily's unsocial seeming action of stopping escaped notice by their new classmate because James, realizing Lily was falling behind him, put a hand on the small of her back and pushed her forward. Lily had the lovely experience of having both uncomfortable feelings of almost tripping over her own feet and shivering in disgust from James' touching her at the same time. Her loafers squeaked against the floor and Lily felt her face threaten to blush.
Soon enough Lily and James were facing Dumbledore and their new French classmate. Lily chanced a smile to hide the fact that this meeting was quickly becoming very awkward and received a wide smile in return.
"Ah, yes, and now as you may have guessed Aria, this would be Lily Evans and James Potter, our Head Girl and Boy, both of Gryffindor." Dumbledore began introductions. "They will make themselves rather important in your acclimating to our school here. Lily, James, this is Aria Shoshani."
"Pleased to meet you," said James suavely. Lily felt herself begin to wince, but then stopped her reaction. James' style of flirting always turned her stomach; it was almost plain good manners. Lily had never figured out the difference except for one never failed to make her feel sick. Lily's reflections of the ickiness of James were interrupted when during their handshake Aria leaned forward to kiss the air beside each of James' cheeks. Lily was more than amused to see them turn pink; in her experience James did not know how to blush. As Aria moved to greet Lily, Lily thought she caught the Headmaster's eyes twinkling a little more than usual and knew he had also noticed James' upresidented reaction.
"It's nice to meet you, Lily Evans," Aria said pleasantly, and then completely bypassed Lily's hand to give Lily the two air kisses she had given James. Lily was surprised, but she caught on quickly enough to reciprocate the gesture, mentally deciding that she wouldn't categorize Aria as overly flirtatious before she got to know her.
Dumbledore turned to Aria. "And now, Miss Shoshani, I must bid you adieu. If you ever wish to speak to me or need a lemon drop, please do not hesitate to visit my office." Aria's full lips pinched in and Dumbledore continued, "James will be more than happy to help you find it. He is rather familiar with it." Dumbledore bowed down over Aria's hand, nodded to James and Lily and swept out towards the doors. "Now, I'm off to visit Hagrid about some rare creature he seems to have come upon in the Forbidden Forest," he added over his shoulder, "Lily, James, would you please accompany Miss Shoshani to her dormitory, and I will need details on the ball." With that he swept through the doors and out into the gathering dusk.
Lily felt as if she had been transfigured into a goldfish. She wasn't breathing, her mouth was hanging open, and she seemed to have acquired a selective five second memory on the subject of balls. She continued to stare at the door, hoping either Dumbledore would come back and not say the part about planning a ball or that it would reveal an extremely painful way for her to kill James Potter who was making amazingly sheepish sounds behind her back, clearly indicating this was something he had forgotten to tell her.
Instead Lily's sojourn as an aquatic animal was interrupted by none other than her new worst enemy (who had been given the title for the fourth time that week). "Lily," James said rudely, "are you done? We'd like to leave."
Lily swung around, hand raised half way as she considered using her momentum to slap James across his face, which looked just a bit worried. Instead, Lily forced herself to drop her hand to her side, where both her hands curled into fists and answer tightly in the affirmative.
The trio headed to the stairs, with Lily and James staring straight ahead, each pretending that the other didn't exist with Aria between them glancing back and forth, her brown eyes sparkling with amusement. They reached the first staircase just as it began to move away from the landing and Aria began to tilt off balance. Lily looked away as James shot his arm around her to keep her from falling. "A little surprised?" James asked with his usual rakish grin. Lily glared across Aria's shoulders as James' arm slowly receded, deciding she really was going to kill him, or at least scream at him in the common room.
"The staircases at Beauxbaxtons do not move." Aria said emphatically, smiling at him. Lily rolled her eyes. She could tell she was being inched out of this conversation, mostly by James. She was still trying to like Aria. "You have good reflexes," the French girl continued as they began their ascent up the stairs, turning to give Lily a lovely view of her glossy black ringlets. Lily let out a mental wail at losing the new girl to the seduction of James so early in the fight.
"I play quidditch." James answered, his cocky streak hitting Lily in waves.
"James is captain of the team," Lily interjected as if she really didn't want to push James into the sticky step that was coming up and leave him there. Instead, James leaped over the step and offered a hand to Aria, who gracefully took it and sailed over the trick step.
"Oh, do you play quidditch also, Lily?" Ari asked from beside James, two steps above Lily.
Before Lily could answer, James inserted himself back into the conversation. "Evans is not remotely talented at flying."
As her blood surged, Lily noticed Aria's cheeks had pinched in as if she was trying not to laugh. "I wouldn't deign to play under you, Potter, even if I could," Lily snapped.
The two verbal assailants stared at each other until Lily caught sight of Aria's form shaking with giggles to the left of James. She settled back down on her heels; she had been standing on the balls of her feet to better glare at James, who was towering over her in quite an inexcusable fashion. "So, um, do you play quidditch?" Lily asked Aria, feeling her cheeks turn red.
"Yes I do. I play, ah, how do you say it, hunter? No, chaser." Aria answered.
"Too bad you didn't make it for try-outs," exclaimed James, "We could have used some fresh blood. There wasn't much to choose from." Lily rolled her eye, wondering if it was possible to think about quidditch as much as Potter did and still be sane. He obviously couldn't remember about balls. Lily meditated on that as they continued their ascent, while trying to figure out how long it would be before she got to scream at Potter again. "Wait," James continued, "What house are you in?"
"Oh, that's right. You two are in, ah, Gryffindor. That curious hat of yours put me in Ravenclaw. I'm rather confused; it said something about loving books." James and Aria shared a laugh, while Lily considered which hex would be appropriate to use on James on their walk to the Gryffindor common room. "So, with being Quidditch Captain and Head Boy, do you even have time for studying?" she continued lightly.
Lily was quite put out at this point and had learned in seven years never to waste a good opening as James was unfortunately very skilled at avoiding her. "It's sad really," she said saccharinely, "but with Quidditch and endless infuriating pranks there isn't any room left in James' brain for useful information for his classes or things that the headmaster tells him that he's supposed to tell me!" Lily's tone had gone from sticky to icy in a matter of seconds. She turned to James and was accorded a clear view of him as Aria leapt up a step to avoid the fight.
"It wasn't really my fault!" James bellowed back, stepping closer so he could use his height over Lily.
"How so?" Lily shrieked before he could continue, "Don't you have any sense of responsibility? How are we supposed to have a bloody ball if you don't take the time to tell me about it?"
"You know, Evans, its not like EVERY SINGLE TIME I was within five feet of you this week you were screaming at me for breaking some imaginary rule! And if you mean to say I'm incapable of doing anything, why don't you plan the BLOODY BALL yourself?" James shot back.
"I guess I will! Its not like its anything new! Everything that we're supposed to do is done BY ME, unless you've forgotten something else."
"Coming through!" someone else screamed from the top of the staircase, the voice male. Lily looked away from James to see the blurred form of Sirius Black come zooming at them at a most unsafe speed, closely followed by a panting Peter Pettigrew. Sirius skipped a step just as he neared the trio of students and went flying into Aria. With Sirius' momentum the pair toppled against the staircase railing, Aria arching back so far that Lily thought she would fall over. Unluckily for her, Lily noticed the only thing preventing her from a very far fall was the fact that Sirius' body was pushed smack up against hers.
"Oh, terribly sorry," Sirius started to say, then a look of amazement came over his face. "Aria? Qu'est-ce tu fait ici?"
"Sirius? Sirius Black?"
"C'est moi."
"Mais, je pense que tu aller au Durmstrang !"
Sirius laughed bitterly, dropping back into English, "No, luckily my parents are so bloody pleased to be fucking English purebloods. Couldn't send me overseas, might look funny."
"You know each other?" James asked cautiously, staring at the pair. Sirius still had Aria trapped against the stairway railing, and she didn't look like she really minded.
"Oh, of course, James. Little Aria here and I were great childhood buddies, actually from before I met you. Parents used to go off to France to do whatever twisted things they did at that time and they'd dump me with her family." Aria laughed and smacked Sirius lightly upside the head. "Haven't seen her since she was eight, although she's still about the same height." Aria laughed again, looking up at Sirius who was easily a foot taller than her, and Lily felt like crying. To lose the new girl to the masculine charms of James Potter, as questionable as those were, was one thing, but to for the same to happen in relation to Sirius Black was worse.
"Oh, and speaking of when we were eight," Sirius continued charmingly, his Cheshire-cat grin getting wider, "I've still to collect on that bet we made."
Aria opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius prevented her from getting any words out by leaning down and kissing her open mouth.
Lily gasped and looked away, remembered her duties as Head Girl, and let out a scream. "Sirius Black!"
Two voices sent the dark-haired boy's name echoing off the walls, and Lily was horrified to realize she had had the same thought as James Potter. The pair of head students looked at each other in surprise and horror, then quickly back at the couple who had separated to stand side by side against the railing with Sirius' arm draped over Aria's delicate blue robed shoulders. "Evans, Evans, Evans," Sirius clucked, black eyebrows raised into his shaggy hair, "You simply can't reprimand me for 'inappropriate public displays of affection' as that was simply the payment of a bet that I was a long time in receiving."
There was a cough from farther up the stairs, and all four turned to look at Peter, who had been forgotten in the melee.
"Don't even think about it Peter," the grinning boy continued, "And for you James, yes, Aria is taken, so you should go find someone else."
Aria smacked Sirius in the arm, causing Sirius to look around for his assailant in mock confusion. "As I remember, I did pay up on our bet," she commented.
"I have a very clear memory of the incident, and you did not. I had just thoroughly proved to you that no one could fly 10 loops in a row faster than Sirius Black, and just as I was going to claim my prize that horrid brother of you dragged you inside and then came out and jinxed me."
"I don't think so," Aria returned, "I had just kissed you when Sebastian dragged you off me."
"That may be true, but I hadn't kissed you yet," cried Sirius.
"Fine, you win." Aria conceded, crossing her arms in an attempt to look intimidating.
"Of course I do," Sirius replied staring blankly over her head, "Now what was this about James being an irresponsible bastard, Lily? It sounded quite amusing."
Lily just glared at him, while Peter snorted in the background. "What did you do now, James?" the smallest boy asked.
"Actually, Aria, we should get you to your common room, curfew is coming up."
Sirius looked slightly worried. "And so is Filch. I can hear that wheeze a mile away. We better move."
The group of students scuttled up the stairs, Lily trailing behind. They entered a hall way that Lily wasn't familiar with, but then turned onto the hall that ran past the library.
"Don't tell me you're not in Gryffindor!" Sirius gasped.
"I'm afraid I've been put in Ravenclaw," Aria answered lightly.
"Bloody lot of book readers, rather disgusting Quidditch team, you'll go insane," Sirius predicted. "You haven't turned studious on me or something?"
"Oh no, come now. The only thing books are good for are hitting you with." Aria answered. Lily frowned, earning herself a push from James.
"Aria, you better not abuse books too much around Evans, she may end up hitting you with one," James answered.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the French girl cried, "Do you like to read?"
Lily was surprised at her sincerity, and rather amazedly answered "Yes."
The three boys laughed, and Lily winced. She watched, dumbfounded as Aria smacked both James and Sirius on the head.
"Ow woman, that hurt!" Sirius yelped.
Peter, who had remained unscathed, added "But not as much as when Lily smacked you with her transfiguration book."
"Shut up, Peter! Oh, Aria, this is Peter Pettigrew, Peter this is Aria who has defected to Ravenclaw on us."
"I heard," Peter answered, "Nice to meet you,"
"The same. Lily, did you really?"
"Of course," Lily answered firmly.
"Oh good, maybe it deflated his head a little," Aria answered, and Lily felt her lips crack into a smile. Things didn't look so bad.
"Ah, here we are," announced Sirius, stopping in front of a painting of a rather snooty looking Wizard surrounded by books. "Try not to die of boredom with this bookish lot. Do come and visit us, password's flibbergibblet, I'll show you where the painting is later."
"Black!" Lily shrieked.
"Oh relax, Evans," James said tiredly, "Dumbledore wanted us to give her the password anyway."
"What? Do you ever tell me anything Potter?" Lily snapped. The boys rolled their eyes, while Aria looked on with a mix of pity and shrewd calculation.
Seeing that Lily was about to start on James again, Aria reached out and took both her hands, pulling her way from the offensive sight of James Potter. "Lily, you better give it a rest for now, I think it's almost curfew," Aria said gently. Lily glanced at her watch and discovered that they had been expected in their dorms for ten minutes.
"Rule breakers!" cried Peter in an attempt to distract Lily further, finger pointed at a couple that was emerging out of a classroom farther down the hall.
"Hey!" James cried after the retreating couple, obviously against his will and only to preserve himself from another Evans tongue lashing.
The couple stopped, and in the dim light nothing was visible but that it consisted of a rather tall boy and a much shorter girl. "Hello James," the boy said coolly.
"Remus!" exclaimed the boys, while Lily greeted her friend Bethany. The couple joined the rather large group assembled in front of the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. "Now, who is this?" Remus enquired.
Sirius's head whipped back and forth as he peered up and down the dark hallway. "I'd love to introduce you, Moony, but I think Filch is coming."
"Who is this Filch?" Aria asked as Sirius scooped up her hand and kissed it.
"Nasty bloke. Not introducing him for the life of me." Sirius tossed over his shoulder as he began pelting down the hall. The rest of the group joined him, James grabbing Lily's hand to avoid leaving her behind.
"Okay," Sirius announced calmly as they rounded the corner at top speed, both girls already gasping for breath, "We're taking the passage at the statue of Benivere the Befuddled."
"That's not a passage!" Peter gasped, slowing down. Lily almost tripped over her feet in surprise at the existence of secret passageways, quickly figuring out that this was how the quartet managed to avoid endless detentions. She was yanked back on her feet by James, who dragged her through the hole.
Once everyone was inside, the group paused to catch their breath. "When did you find this?" James breathed. "We checked here a million times."
"It was sadly simple," Sirius explained, "There's a concealment charm on it." He waved his wand half-heartedly at the entrance. "Bloody annoying, really, you have to put it back up each time, otherwise its rather obvious."
"We shouldn't be using this." Lily said.
Everyone groaned. "Evans, please just thank me and then shut up or you'll be going to this ball with Potter here." Sirius said, starting down the passage way, wand lit.
"I'd rather go with Snape," Lily muttered.
There were some surprised coughing noises from all four boys and Sirius turned around again. "Evans, I know you're crazy, but at least James washes his hair. Don't mention Snivelus again or I swear I'll hex you. Oh, and James, please stop touching her."
Lily realized that James was still holding her hand and dropped it, wiping her palm off on her skirt. James did the same with his pants leg. "At least Sn-" Lily began, only to have James clamp his hand over her mouth. Lily ended up with her head in a vice grip between James' arm and hand. Wiggling and not escaping, she resorted to kicking James in the shin.
"Bloody hell Evans!" James gasped.
Remus theatrically gave a long drawn-out sigh. "Okay, children, separate," he commanded, taking James' arm, while Bethany pulled Lily backwards to walk beside her. The group reached the end of the tunnel and the group clamored out into the hall that was directly above the entrance to the Gryffindor tower.
"Sirius, bad idea," Peter whispered. Lily notice he was peering at some scrap of parchment, which Sirius also moved over to look at.
"Oh well, lets just move then." Sirius answered brightly, again setting off a sprint. He lead them around a dizzying montage of turns, up a staircase, and then down two flights of stairs in quick secession before they finally arrived infront of the Fat Lady.
"What have you all been up to, out so late?" she queried.
"Oh, just let us in, Flibbergibblet," Remus gasped, and they all quickly piled through the portrait hole, James lifting up Lily so he could get in faster.
Once in the safety of the common room, the group flung themselves onto the furniture. Lily looked at her watch and gasped; they had missed curfew by a full half an hour. She watched tiredly from her position on the floor as James and Sirius, who had picked the same couch, squabbled over who had the rights to it. The argument ended when Sirius tackled James onto the couch and pretended to go to sleep with his head on the other boy's chest. James immediately shoved him off the couch, causing Sirius to fall onto of Remus and Bethany, who were curled up on the rug directly below them.
"Owwwwww!" moaned Bethany, extricating herself from the jumble of bodies on the floor.
"No threesomes," muttered Remus, and Sirius promptly caught him in a headlock.
"I don't know about you, but my feet hurt and I'm tired and I've been assaulted by Sirius here," Bethany announced stabbing Sirius in the knee with a pointy toe, "I'm going to bed."
"Ow, woman! Those things are instruments of death," Sirius complained, staring at Bethany's stilettos.
"That's Miss Harris to you," Remus growled as he pulled the standing Bethany down for a good night kiss.
"Ewwwww," cried Sirius, mimicking a three-year old, or as Lily thought, himself. Remus promptly punched him in the shoulder.
"Okay, have a nice fight, we're leaving now," said Bethany, pulling Lily with her.
Upstairs the pair found their roommates up waiting for them, both sitting on Lily's bed. "Move," Lily gasped, collapsing face first into her pillow.
"Ooooo, where have you been?" teased Cassandra. Lily peeked up at her and noticed she was wearing her most annoying pair of pajamas which had charmed flying quaffles on them and turned back to her pillow. Cassandra grabbed Lily's sides and squeezed, and Lily flew up into a sitting position with a shriek.
"You're evil!" she exclaimed.
"So, where were you?" asked Eleanor from her own bed as she compulsively brushed the long brown hair that she wore in a braid down her back every day.
"We don't need to know where you were, Bethany, that's obvious, but Lily what in the world could you be up to this late at night?" Cassandra added.
Lily thought back to what exactly she had been doing and unguardedly muttered, "I cannot believe I was breaking rules with that quartet of nincompoops," more to herself than to the other girls.
"Oh, you were with James!" Cassandra yelled, bouncing up and down on Lily's bed. Lily smacked her with a pillow. "Oh you so were!" Cassandra reprimanded, straightening her short hair.
"Lily, you're starting to act like them!" Bethany commented from the edge of their bathroom, mouth full of toothpaste.
"What's going on?" asked Eleanor as Lily made threatening gestures with her pillow towards Bethany.
"Lily and James had to meet the new student from France, Aria wasn't it?" Bethany explained, waving her toothbrush as if she was conducting and orchestra, "Then they must have run into Sirius and Peter somewhere. They met me and Remus when they were dropping Aria off at the Ravenclaw common room, and then we all had to run from Filch."
"So," said Cassandra brightly, "You skipped curfew with the Marauders, how entirely romantic!"
Lily smacked her with her pillow and pushed her off the bed, as the other girls laughed.
Once Cassandra had retreated to her own bed on the far wall and Lily's thoughts were free of violence, she thought to ask "Who are the Marauders?"
"James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter," Eleanor answered.
All three girls stared at her. "How'd you know that?" Bethany and Cassandra asked at the same time.
Eleanor shrugged and blushed.
"Oh no, you don't," Cassandra began, but quickly refocused on Lily, "You know, if you paid any attention to them, you might be able to catch them breaking the rules instead of making us listen to your endless rants about it."
Lily sighed and went off to brush her teeth. There was that to consider.