Gigi94: Thank you. I'm very glad you liked it! I LOVE writing Lily, and I'm relieved that you don't think her bad qualities outweigh her good ones. I don't like it when she's portrayed as the little good girl, because after all – she's Harry mum!
FantasyDreams: HAHA – Remus, rebellious? You got that right – he will be a Marauder, so he has to have his background. Alice is the sweetest thing, and I love writing her, too. Here is your update!
Five: Fluffy Pink Feathers and Rays of Sunshine
I never thought school could actually be as interesting as this, thought Lily Evans as she marveled at the curving feather which Professor Flitwick had just levitated for their Charms class. He only points his wand at it, mutters that spell, and it flies!
Lily examined her own medium-sized willow wand from her school robes. That was another thing about being a witch, but one that she felt comfortable with: wearing robes. They reminded her of the princesses and pirates in the tales she had read when she was a little girl, so she was actually quite happy wearing them, especially since they tended to billow as she walked. And having a wand - well, that was directly out of fairytales. Except I'm not living a fairytale...
She knew that her wand held a hair from a female unicorn's mane, which for some reason was extremely powerful for Charms, as Mr. Ollivander had told her with his strange, expressive gaze. But she didn't know what that actually meant at the time, and she now wondered if it would let her become better at Charms than at anything else. It's worth a try..
"Now, students," Professor Flitwitck said in his high-pitched voice, his arms trembling in the anticipation he always had when he saw his students achieve their first charm, "Let me see you attempt this spell! Remember that the wand movement and enunciation of the levitation charm is highly important!"
Taking a deep, excited breath, Lily picked up her wand and pointed it at the feather in front of her, flicking her wrist in imitation of the movement the professor had made. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Nothing happened. The innocent feather stared back at her, its plumes swaying softly from Lily's sigh. With her other lessons, Lily cared enough so as to receive the good grades she wanted, but with Charms, as with all things she was interested in, she put her heart and soul into it, and was upset when she didn't receive her expected success. Though she'd never admit it, Lily rather enjoyed figuring out the puzzle of the correct movement and words for a charm, and then waiting to see if she'd get it right. It reminded her of home, of the comfortable Sunday evenings when she would pore over puzzles and riddles with her father…before everything else that happened afterwards, that is. She forced herself not to remember, and returned to her practice.
The classroom's deep mahogany walls and expansive windows looked over the northern lush grounds of the castle. Yet none of the day's cheeriness was inside the room; instead, it echoed with cries of the charm, groans of failure, and loud whacks of wands desperately tapping the feathers on desks. Professor Flitwick's beam slowly melted into one of those encouraging smiles teachers give their students when they're trying to believe that their pupils had been listening.
"Never mind everyone, this was, after all, your first try!" said Professor Flitwick bracingly over the din of levitating charms. "Practice makes perfect!"
Alice Kennicott, who was sitting next to Lily, poked her pine wand at her own feather with accusing eyes. "Maybe it's been tampered with."
"Probably," Lily agreed, attempting to cause her feather to levitate again. "Or maybe it doesn't like us. In a magical world, I wouldn't be surprised if feathers had feelings."
Bursting into the lively laugh that never failed to cause anyone around her to smile, Alice shook her head. "Don't worry, feathers don't have feelings here. Neither do tables, chairs, some quills, and a few tapestries. Beware of books though."
A heavy stomp on the desk behind them made both girls jump. "That's what I think too! Books are dangerous."
"Only because you don't like to read," said James Potter, glowering at his stagnant feather in front of him.
Lily and Alice turned around irritably, for neither of them liked eavesdroppers. Their eyes met the scowl of an aristocratic-looking boy behind them, who was sitting between James and Remus Lupin. Lily wracked her mind to remember his name. Oh yes, Sirius Black…the bloke who's treated like an outcast by the Gryffindors… As she examined his defiantly sour look at Alice and her, she wasn't sure if she should pity him or agree with the rest of the Gryffindors.
"Who told you I didn't like to read?" Sirius demanded James.
"You did," said Remus distractedly, re-reading the chapter on levitation in their book, Magical Theory. "The first day we met, you declared, 'books are for squares.'Maybe you can't get your feather to levitate because the book doesn't want you to learn the spell, since you always say how much you hate books..."
"Stop growling, Sirius," James ordered as Sirius's scowl deepened, setting down his wand with a thud. "It's been a week since the Sorting, so you might as well give up, mate."
"Give up on what?" Lily asked.
"On getting your nose out of other people's business," Sirius snapped.
Lily's eyes flashed. "Look who's talking – you started this conversation by nosing into our conversation and griping about bloody books."
"Who have feelings," added Remus, frowning as he followed the instructions for the wand movements again. Lily had a feeling that Remus was used to such bantering between his new friends, and that he was listening with a keen ear all the while he was researching the correct way to practice the charm.
"Books don't have feelings," Sirius retorted, just as Professor Flitwick dove down from his desk (from which he had been standing upon to give his short stature advantage of looking over the room) and scrambled to pull out several feathers that had flown into one student's nostrils.
"Oh, yes they do," said Alice in her serious tone, which sounded more like she was reciting something. "Some books can't stand their owners. Whenever we're in the process of collecting books for our annual donation to the Magical Children with Needs association, Mama finds a book that ignites itself whenever she's in the library. It always sets fire to the entire third floor and nearly burns poor Mama to death. So far, it's happened five times."
Lily stared at her in horror, immediately pushing her own book away. Magical books being dangerous? Just wait until she told her dad – but then she remembered what had happened the night she left, and her spirits dampened at the thought of even speaking with her family…
"Don't worry," said James, grinning at Lily, mistaking her palenessfrom a fear of books. "Those books Alice is talking about are only ones that are really, really old and have been passed down generations. New laws state that books can't be enchanted to have feelings, and the Ministry is doing a pretty good job at keeping books in line."
"Well, that's good…I think…" Lily murmured, wondering whether it was any more comforting to believe that books needed laws to be kept in order.
"Reading is dangerous," Sirius maintained, eyeing Remus's book darkly. Lily was beginning to get annoyed with that look. And, although she wasn't sure, Lily could swear that Remus was snapping the book's cover at Sirius's hand whileSirius wasn't looking.
"Yeah, I think so too," Alice nodded, a slight flush settling into her soft complexion as she glanced at Sirius from below her fluttering eyelashes. "I mean, especially with what happened to Mama."
Biting down on her bottom lip to keep from smiling, Lily turned around and opened her book with tentative fingers, flipping to the third chapter on how to levitate feathers while glancing occasionally at Alice, who was still attempting to catch Sirius's eye.
"What's next?" Alice asked Lily, looking over Lily's shoulder as Lily examined their class schedule once Charms ended. She still hadn't gotten the hang of their schedule yet (Memorizing wasn't one of Alice's fortes). Professor Flitwick had dismissed them (for no one but a chubby first year girl succeeded in merely lifting her feather by an inch, only to have it fall back on her desk again – "She cheated, I saw her," Alice had whispered to Lily), feathers stuck to his untidy white hair, with the caution to not practice their homework while they were eating, in case they inhaled their feathers.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Lily replied. "I'd like the class if we had more hands-on work, wouldn't you? Professor Warpupple thinks we're too young for any experience," At this she rolled her eyes. "But it'd be exciting to meet a real, live vampire for instance."
Alice straightened the satin bow she had placed in her hair this morning, this one bright pink. It severely clashed with the crimson and gold of her Gryffindor colors, but she had put it on in direct defiance of the color codes of fashion, especially those of her mother's. She's not here to criticize me anymore, and I'm going to take full advantage of that. For the first time in her life, Alice didn't have to keep looking over her shoulder or involuntarily cringe whenever she thought of doing something her mother wouldn't approve of. And it feels delightful!
"Not unless the vampire is particularly thirsty," Alice continued, descending back to earth to answer Lily's comment. "Besides, getting bookwork isn't that bad…it's a lot easier than dueling with vampires. And I don't like the class that much either; Herbology is my favorite. I love plants, don't you?"
"Not really, since I've had to endure all the flower jokes ever since I was born," laughed Lily, throwing her head back slightly and basking in the warm rays of the bright sunlit afternoon that were peeking in from the hallway's windowsills, tempting them with the joys of being outside on such a beautiful day.
"But Professor Sprout makes the class really interesting," Lily added quickly, sensing Alice's hurt once she looked back at her.
Alice smiled in reassurance. For some reason, without Alice saying anything, Lily could tell what she was feeling with rare intuition. This was one of things Alice didn't particularly like but admired about her, since Alice had been accustomed – and enjoyed – to spill out her personal feelings in minute detail. But maybe she knows what I'm feeling because our bond of friendship is growing stronger, Alice thought with a thrill of excitement.
Cries of glee and indignation from behind them abruptly burst the busy noise of students making their way to classes. Alice and Lily darted out of the way just as James shot between them, running down the corridor with a silver pendant of an odd shape in his hands.
"GIVE IT BACK, POTTER!" came Sirius's bellow, and the boy soon jetted after James, who had sprinted down the staircase and out into the courtyard, laughing his head off.
"You can't avoid the subject, James!" Remus shouted, running after the two while clutching his knapsack. "You still owe me five knuts!"
Lily giggled, shaking her head. "Gambling already, are they? Why am I not surprised?"
Alice chuckled, remembering the Sorting. "If you only knew what they had been
gambling about…" Her gaze drifted into a dreamy one as she and Lily, as well as half of the students in the hallway, watched Sirius and Remus run after James's racing form across the grounds, the three boys yelling at the top of their lungs.
"What are you talking about?" Lily frowned, stepping down the Grand Staircase.
"He wouldn't gamble on you, I'm sure," said Alice with a faraway look in her glowing blue eyes.
Quirking an eyebrow, Lily followed Alice's wistful gaze, smiling as she saw who was her object of such romantic affection.
"He wouldn't be a boy with dark black hair and smoldering eyes, would he?" Lily sang.
Blushing to the roots of her blonde hair, Alice modestly looked down, but she took the last steps of the staircase with the broadest beam on her plump face. Even though she would never admit it, she liked being prodded and teased for what she was thinking. She only pretended to not hear what Lily had said bydusting off some invisible yarn from her robes with a nonchalant air that would've made her Etiquette instructor back home proud.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Right, of course you don't," Lily teased, adjusting the books in her arms. "It's perfectly obvious how you've been mooning over Sirius Black ever since he bumped into you when he 'accidentally' took the wrong staircase and tried to go up to the girls' dormitories. Myself, I don't really go for guys who crave attention…"
"Then what sort of boys do you like?" Alice asked, primly changing the subject, as only a polite girl would do. Besides, she was quite curious to know more about Lily, who was unlike any other polished girl Alice had ever met. Because she had grown up with girls who never stopped talking about themselves, their houses, their families, or again, themselves, she wasn't prepared for a girl like Lily, who only offered what was asked of her, and never gave any extra juicy details. Alice had been trying to become best friends with her ever since they found out they were going to be roommates - but something always inhibited Lily from getting any closer than just the friendship of two roommates who didn't know anyone other than each other for companionship.
Lily lifted her shoulders in a vague way, tucking a loose thread of hair from one of her French braids behind her ear. That was another thing Alice didn't understand: Lily never changed her hairstyle, always wearing the same French braids in the same position – behind her ears and down her back – as if Lily had never imagined any other way of doing her hair. One thing at a time, however! Alice thought as she gave Lily an encouraging smile.
"I guess…" Lily began, just as they arrived at the floor where their classroom was supposed to be, "I haven't really thought about it. My…parents are quite strict, you know, and say I'm too young to think about dating. And they don't allow me to go out with boys, or even go out to play with them, without chaperones. Anyway," she continued, as if they had gotten too close to a subject she wasn't confident talking about, "I suppose I would like a boy who's my friend, first of all, and who certainly didn't crave attention like Sirius Black plainly does. He gets into those gloomy moods because he just wants to continue the bad boy image he received ever since he was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin."
Alice peered at Lily, hesitant on whether to pursue asking about her family, but deciding against it. She didn't want to push her away, after all. Instead she chose a safer subject. "Well, you don't know Sirius. I think you're judging him too quickly…he may be a big softie underneath, you know."
Lily cast her a skeptical look; Alice by now knew that Lily tended to be a bit judgmental, yet she merely shrugged this off. Besides, she has nicer things to dream about: she knew for a fact that Sirius was in their Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Once they reached the dimly lit classroom,Alice immediately pulled Lily into the back, since she had noticed that Sirius, Remus and James tended to take those same seats in their other classes.
As the desks served three chairs and almost every desk was now full, Alice was hoping that Sirius might get left with an odd seat and take his place beside her, but in spite of her wishes, a girl with a long black braid took the seat instead, setting her books on the table and her hands on her lap, looking bored and impatient. Wait, isn't that the Riona girl? Alice wondered.
Trying not to be annoyed, Alice faced the front and examined the room instead. It was as large as her sitting room at home, which was a considerable comparison; the classroom managed to fit a little more than a dozen desks, their chairs, a long counter of oak drawers at the front of the room, one wall with built-in bookshelves that were stuffed in a neat and orderly manner, and two commanding oak armoires at either end of the room. Like all the other classrooms, the walls were of plain mahogany paneling, but the lighting was quite faint. The room was starting to fill by each passing minute, but Alice didn't see Sirius, James or Remus anywhere.
Sure enough however, the boys trampled inside a second after Alice's assessment. All three of them looked exhausted as they sat down, sweat glistening from their brows; only James was wearing a grin – a quite triumphant one to be sure. He winked at Alice as he noticed her look, and elbowed Sirius on the side. Sirius apparently wasn't paying attention, because he and Remus were whispering and glancing at the front of the room at sporadic moments. The boys had somehow gotten seats directly behind Alice, Lily, and Riona, and since class hadn't begun yet, they figured they were entitled to be as annoying as they wanted to be.
"Oy, Princess Alice," James hissed, poking her in the back as Remus and Sirius continued to talk quietly while examining something inside Remus's knapsack.
Alice sighed. She detested nicknames for herself. Nonetheless, she turned around – if only to scope out Sirius, who was sitting beside James. "Yes?"
"Are your heartstrings singing for a certain arrogant bloke we all know and try to love?" asked James, his hazel eyes twinkling mischievously.
A crimson flush spread over Alice's complexion as if a fire had ignited inside her head, and for a moment she was too flabbergasted to come up with a comeback for James's cheekiness.
"She doesn't know what you're talking about," Lily put in, turning around as well.
Glorying from Lily's sudden defence, her bright blush dulled into a faint pink and Alice raised her chin in defiance of James's knowing smile. "That's right. Besides, even if I did, I wouldn't talk over such things with you."
"Why not?"
"Because you're a boy," Alice responded primly. "Girls don't talk about such things with boys. It isn't proper."
James gawked at her as if he had never before heard anything like Alice's simple yet baffling – at least to him – explanation.
"What, do I have half a brain or something?" asked James, scowling.
Lily gave him her sweetest smile. "That question proves your brain capacity exactly, James Potter."
Giggling, she and Alice exchanged amused looks and swiveled around in their chairs to face the front. Riona, Alice had noticed, turned her head swiftly away, as though not to be caught listening to their conversation. Slytherins. They never change. Alice shook her head.
"Oy, Princess!"
Boys never change either. "What?" Alice asked in exasperation, not bothering to turn around.
"I can help you out with your bloke, you know," James said in a stage whisper. "I am his friend and all –"
"What bloke?" Sirius suddenly asked. Alice could have sworn that the floor had gone out beneath her as she stood frozen in her chair.
"A bloke I know and you don't," was James's smooth answer as Alice and Lily whipped around in their seats. "So go back to planning a way to get into Slytherin house, Black – your useless planning, anyway."
"It's worth trying," said Remus, shrugging. He looked as if he didn't believe in whatever plan they were working on, however. "Besides, Professor Warpupple might lend us a hand…he's nice to students."
"And why are you being so nice to me?" Alice countered, now that she was safe in knowing Sirius didn't suspect her of being his most adoring fan. He and Remus had taken James's advice and returned to their mysterious whispers.
James lifted a hand carelessly, as if to say, Why not? But Alice sensed, or rather suspected, that he had his own plans of extending a helping hand to her.
It seemed that Lily had the same feeling, for she murmured to Alice underneath her breath, "He's up to something."
What, did they temporarily forget that I'm right in front of them? I can hear their whispers, James thought irritably. "I'm not up to anything. Have a little faith, will you? What's happening to the world? No one can even try to trust anyone, even if they try to do an act of kindness…"
He shook his head in great imitation of his Great-Uncle Homer, who was always complaining about the fall of humankind and other trivial matters. Girls are too suspicious for their own good. Besides, even if I do have my own plans for helping Alice, doesn't she get something in return? What's the big deal?
But he decided not to push too far, in case his marvelous plan might backfire on him. "Well, if you ever get down from your pedestal and think that you might need help in, uh, getting what you want, you know where to find me." James finished off with a wink and titled back in his chair, giving the air of a finished conversation. The girls, with a last look that was mixed with some admiration (James's wink never failed), finally turned around.
Right, so I have Alice in my pocket. Girls are so easy to manipulate whenever they fancy a bloke. All that's left is for the main target. At this his clever gaze drifted to Sirius, and he grinned.
Ever since the night of the Sorting, all Remus and James had heard in their dormitory – besides Peter Pettigrew's snores at night – was Sirius's insistent growling: Why didn't I get into Slytherin? or What did I do wrong? or All you Gryffindors stink! Literally stink! Never mind that Remus and James, whom Sirius had speedily befriended, were Gryffindors; no, all Sirius could think about was getting re-sorted into Slytherin and the acceptance he would receive once he was there.
Well, James had had enough. It seemed as though he were the only one who knew that Sirius belonged in Gryffindor; Remus was helping Sirius because he claimed to feel sorry for him – but James knew he only wanted Sirius to shut up about his re-sorting – and the rest of the Gryffindors had given Sirius the cold shoulder so often that James wondered why Sirius hadn't been permanently hexed yet. James was determined not to feel sorry for Sirius, since he knew that was what Sirius wanted so that James would help him.
In his eyes, Sirius demonstrated all of that courage and nobility the Sorting Hat had been prattling on about. This had been plainly proven in the last several days. Who else would've been bold enough to find a way up into the girls' dormitory without fear of getting caught (even though James had dared Sirius to)? Who else would ignore the antagonism that engulfed the Gryffindor common room whenever Sirius came in alone or with anyone else?
James had turned a deafened ear to the whispers and scowls of the Gryffindors who had advised him to stay away from Sirius, a boy whom everyone knew (even James, in all of his blind trust) came from a family that was rumored to be sinking into the dark arts. James Potter, the son of a respected and leading Auror, knew better than most of the danger the dark arts held for anyone who didn't like them, but he felt that Sirius didn't fall into that category. Or rather, he wanted to believe so. And when James set his mind on something, nothing could move him. Whether Sirius liked it or not, Sirius was staying in Gryffindor.
And a little...persuasion wouldn't hurt in the process, James thought, placing his chin on his upraised palm as he looked over at Remus and Sirius, who were now counting the amount of gold they had, "just in case," as Sirius had told them, their original plan wouldn't work.
But James's strategy were momentarily thwarted as Professor Warpupple hastened into the room with his bony arms filled with mismatched papers. The class, which had been reveling in the rare minutes of the professor's tardiness, promptly became quiet. In the week the students had attended Warpupple's class, the taunts of the professor's name had ended because, somehow, no one could really make fun of Warpupple. He was different from the rest of their professors because students realized that Warpupple actually valued what they thought, which was good and bad: sometimes thinking was hard to do.
"I apologize, everyone," said a gasping Warpupple, tossing his papers over his shoulder and collapsing on his chair. "I have been in the process of gathering specimens for class study, and I was stalled in my search by…"
At the word "specimens," the class's spirits soared with anticipation, but the professor seemed to sense this, and quickly squashed their hopes. "Well, no need to go into further explanation," he said cheerily. "You all know that you will practice your lessons when you are ready, nd you're almost there!Please turn to page thirty-six in your text. We will be starting on hexes today - see, we're getting somewhere - Gideon Prewett, your quill doesn't go belong in Valeria's hair, son - although it does make a nice hair ornament, doesn't it?"
Ah, hexes. Now this is something very educational, James thought, smiling and actually lifting his head from the class textbook to pay attention for the first time in the entire week.
"Do you have a quill I could borrow?" whispered the black-haired girl sitting next to Alice. Her pale face had turned to James, Sirius and Remus, ducking so that Warpupple couldn't catch her. This was unncessary however, since Warpupple was assisting poor Valeria in taking out the quill tangled in her hair while explaining the remarkable stickiness of the quill.
James and Sirius ruffled through their bulging, jumbled knapsacks, but in the end Remus (most likely because he actually knew whether he had a spare quill or not) handed the girl a blue-feathered quill from his robes' pocket.
"Thank you," the girl murmured, taking the quill with her eyes cast down. Yet even though she was attempting to calm her wavering voice, James noticed that her fingers were trembling slightly, as though she wasn't used to asking anyone for anything.
As Riona turned around to face the front with the boy's quill in her hand, she fought to hold back a blush treacherously creeping over her face. Even if it was quite embarrassing to be asking for anything, Riona was satisfied that those boys hadn't played a joke on her, as she thought they would if she asked to borrow a quill. At least, she thought, jotting down the notes Warpupple was finally dictating to them, they were nicer than the girl next to me would've been. She gave a wary glance at the girl whom the boy behind them had called Alice; Riona had never gotten along well with girls, and it seemed as if attending Hogwarts wasn't going to change that pattern. But not like it matters if she likes me or not, she thought with a toss of her head, ignoring the lingering doubt that picked at heart.
Slytherins aren't supposed to care what other people, much less foul Gryffindors, thought of them. Slytherins were above such mundane concerns. Slytherins were above everyone else, and need not wonder of whom they're stepping upon in order to reach for their ultimate goals.
Or so the Slytherin prefect, Eugene Bane, had declared to them as soon as the Slytherin first years had arrived in their common room, a week ago. And while every first year promptly nodded his or her aristocratic head with murmurs of approval, Riona had been wondering when they were going to be shown to their dormitories, for she had felt exhausted from her journey.
She had never been one to fancy the lengthy discussion of bloodlines, genealogies, or whose dead great-uncle had left them the most expensive trust fund. That was one of the reasons Riona had never adapted to her family's social circles very well, and why all the children back home accused her of being too snooty, even for a pureblood. As if that were possible, Riona thought, rolling her eyes.
What Riona did care about, however, was getting what she wanted, at the time and place she desired. She didn't care what she had to do to catch whatever whim wandered into her mind. Even the Sorting Hat knew this when Riona had been sitting on the stool with a thick sense of foreboding drumming in her ears: Ah, you seek desires to be fulfilled, and crave for means to get to them as quickly and as efficiently as you like. Slytherin will help you in this journey…
What did she care if she was placed in Slytherin? If the Sorting Hat was right, and her House was able to help her find the answers she longed to discover one day, then Riona was content. She had no loyalties, preferences, or friendships with any other House at Hogwarts, so she didn't see why entering Slytherin was such a big deal. In fact, she was rather pleased with being a Slytherin so far: no one in her House asked her nosy questions or pestered her into joining "outings" (even as she thought this, Riona mentally cringed) with her fellow Slytherins. Riona was left alone when she wanted to be, and was welcomed whenever she had a fancy to chat. That was all she wanted.
Leaning her head against her palm, Riona wrote down the indications to the Bat-Bogey Hex, drawing little bats as dots for her I's as Warpupple distractedly told them how a student permanently sprouted wings by using the hex in an incorrect manner. The bats she was doodling somehow reminded her of home – not that she lived in a cavern; oh no, her father would be horrified of even that implication. He always made sure to insist that the Dyrdras were a prehistoric pureblood family, whatever that meant. But the bats she was drawing looked back at her with the same small, hollow eyes Riona's father had…the same gaze of accusation mixed with unease that she had received ever since she was five, when it happened.
Riona always referred to that moment as it, as if everything else that had happened before was part of someone else's life, an imaginary girl in an make-believe world, filled with paper flowers and hand-painted sunsets. After it happened however, the paper flowers crumbled and the sunset's paint was streaked with blank gashes in the shape of fingers, which had tried to erase any recollection of its existence.
But she could still remember. Riona fought to remember, if only for the reassurance that she had lived at a time when she didn't know fear, death, or sorrow; if only to know that she had not dreamt of those days in her sleep.
Lily picked up her books as soon as Warpupple dismissed them, following Alice (who was stalking Sirius and Company) out of the classroom. But the girl who had been sitting next to Alice didn't appear to have heard the professor's dismissal, for she was still doodling on her piece of parchment.
"Hey, class is over," Lily told her, putting a hand on the girl's narrow shoulder.
The girl jumped at Lily's touch, startled. She glanced at Warpupple, who was mumbling to himself while crawling on his knees, apparently searching for something on the floor. As the girl stood up, Lily noticed thatshewas as "lean as a beanstalk," as her Grandfather Harry would say whenever Lily had gotten too thin. Her fingers stained with quill ink, the girl peered at Lily with caution.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome," said Lily, unsure of why she was looking at her with such suspicion. As she always did when she was nervous however, Lily tried to talk the awkwardness away.
"I don't blame you for not paying attention – the bat-bogey hex doesn't seem to be that interesting...I'd rather some experience with it, wouldn't you?"
The pale girl shrugged. "I suppose. But I was paying attention." She held up her parchment, which was jammed pack with scribbled notes. "It's just that I had more important things on my mind." And with that, she walked past Lily and out the door to join the crowds of commuting students.
Okaaay, so I guess my small chat isn't that popular with her, Lily thought. Better find some new lines. She trailed into the corridor, where Alice was waiting for her with great impatience.
"He's already walking to his next class!" Alice moaned, bouncing on her toes, her bow fidgeting excitedly on her head. "If we hurry, we can catch up to him!"
Lily pulled back on the end of Alice's robes' sleeve just as her friend was getting ready to shoot after Prince Sirius Black. "Hold on, Alice. May I give you a piece of advice?"
"Sure," Alice said, clearly trying to contain her haste as she tapped her right foot. "But make it a quick piece of advice, all right?"
"Yes, sir," Lily saluted. "Let me tell you what my older, and more experienced, cousin Gwen told me: if you chase after a boy, you'll look like a fool. If you don't, you'll look like a girl that he could be interested in. Quick enough?"
Alice stared at her with an open mouth. But she remembered yet another rule of etiquette, and she promptly clicked it closed.
"Yes, quite."