Oct 19, 2005

Chapter 4: A Wonderful Shade of Emerald

It was raining again that night, the rain lashing angrily at the windows of Gryffindor tower, making the fire warmed common room seem so much cozier. Icy torrents of water drenched the Hogwarts grounds, punctuated by thunder and lightning in the distance and the ghastly swaying of the Whomping Willow in the gale. It had begun pouring without any fore-warning, and James, who had been in the process of conducting a Quidditch practice, had had no choice but to call it a day.

Now he trudged, rain soaked and trailing mud, into the common room, locating his friends at once and flopping down into the sofa next to them. He cast a weary glance at Remus, who was already at work researching their upcoming sleeping potions project, and Peter, who was currently engaged in trying to pry his wand out from the jaws of an extremely realistic looking miniature statue of a griffin, and flailing miserably.

Sirius, on the other hand, was happily and animatedly flirting with the same dark haired girl James had caught him gaping at, and his attentions were not wasted, it appeared, as she was reciprocating to his remarks quite well. Salina, he thought her name was, a friend of Lily's, and not bad looking, in his opinion. Lily and her other best friend Leah were no where to be seen, however, and just as James began to wonder where they had gone, Lily appeared suddenly right in front of him, her robes and hair disheveled, though she was obviously still bitter at his earlier actions.

Not acknowledging his presence with a single glance, she immediately opened her book bag and dropped half a dozen old and dusty volumes onto his lap, causing him to strain forward in an effort to keep them there.

"What the hell are all these, Evans?" He exclaimed incuriously, as half the common room turned in their direction. He picked up the top book and examined it, then pushed the rest of them off his lap and onto the couch next to him. "A Thousand and One Every Day Potions Ingredients," he read, "Where they're found and how to use them. What is this?"

Lily just smiled coyly at him and plopped down onto a chair, crossing her legs comfortably and leaning back. "If you want to work with me, Potter," she began, "you're going to have to contribute." She raised an eyebrow at Salina, who was becoming very friendly indeed with Sirius, but said nothing further.

James just stared over at her in disbelief, but Sirius, who had dragged his attention away from his current 'subject of interest' and who had been looking on with interest, guffawed loudly. "Wow James," he chortled, "You definitely got your money's worth."

Lily ignored this comment. "Start by reading those books. I've got some too and when we're finished we can meet up and formulate a plan. Then we can start gathering materials."

"But Lily," James stuttered, at a disadvantage for once in his life, "I've got Quidditch practice, and prefect duties, and—"

"I've got it all figured out," she said professionally, cutting him off and whipping a roll of parchment out from her bookbag. She spread it out on the coffee table before them and began pointing things out. Apparantly, it seemed, she had forgiven James for his choosing her as a partner, or at least decided to live with his choice. "I've drawn out a schedule for us." She said, indicating the carefully drawn out chart in her own neat handwriting. "You've got Quidditch practice Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you need to patrol the hallways every Monday, while I've got Wednesdays. That leaves us Fridays and Saturdays, with Sunday's off, except when you have a Quidditch game, or if there's a Hogsmede trip, in which case we'll have to make up for that by meeting on Sundays too. Now—"

"Hold on, Lily," said James, overwhelmed. "What, are you crazy? I can't work on Saturdays, they're supposed to be days off."

She gave him a pointed stare. "Well, you're just going to have to give those up, aren't you? I'm not sacrificing my grade just because my partner's a lazy git."

"But—"

"Sludgehorn gave us until Thanksgiving, which makes four months. Sleeping droughts are difficult, and we're going to have to give some things up if we want the grade."

He sighed, then slumped down further in his seat. Four months was an extremely long time, in James' opinion, but he knew there'd be no point in arguing that poing. "Fine," he acquiesced, "Fine. But if I end losing my zest for life, it'll be your fault."

"I can live with that," Lily replied cheerfully to his wry remark. She gathered up her things and stood up, making for the girl's dormitory staircase. "Two weeks should be enough to read those books, so I'm scheduling our first meeting for the twenty-sixth of September. The library, don't forget. Oh, and James? You have a little something in your hair."

James reached up and ran a hand through his damp locks, pulling out a wad of something that looked suspiciously like a large spitball. He groaned in frustration.

Sirius, glancing over at him, raised an eyebrow inquisitively. The girl with whom he had been flirting with was now perched comfortably in his lap, arms wrapped around his neck.

"What do you want, Padfoot?" James ground angrily.

"Oh come on," Sirius replied, amusement showing through his features, "I saw your little exchange with Lily."

At his remark, Remus and Peter both raised their heads, interested, though neither said a word.

James sighed angrily. "There was no 'little exchange', Sirius, she was ruining my life."

"You were all over her, James, seriously. Unless you've been sending me mixed signals, Prongs my dear, I'd say you got it bad for her."

"Oh come on. I don't like redheads."

"Her hair's not red, James, it's reddish brown."

"Auburn," added Remus knowingly.

Sirius smiled. "And her eyes—"

"A wonderful shade of emerald."

"Right Moony, and her face—"

James sighed again, this time in defeat. "Beautiful," he admitted sheepishly. "Her face is beautiful."

Immediately both of his friends broke out in laughter, Sirius slapping Remus on the back in their shared mirth. Even Peter contributed a few chortles of his own. Salina, who had been uprooted from Sirius's lap during his convulsive laughter, was now standing slightly to his right, amusement and excitement playing across her tranquil features.

"I knew it!" Sirius cackled gleefully, play punching James in the arm. "You can't hide anything from me, Prongs, I always know."

"Shut up Sirius," James snapped sheepishly. "Lily's not that bad. She's just…a bit too bookish."

"Bookish isn't bad," replied Sirius, grinning like a madman, "sometimes it's the quiet ones who are the feistiest."

Despite himself, James grinned, watching as his friend drew Salina back into his arms. He was right. Bookish wasn't bad, not in this case at least. Lily was interesting, to say the least, James realized, and she was definitely a refreshing breath from all the other giggly, girlish witches in Hogwarts. It'd be difficult to get her to like him, James knew, but he felt that he could manage it.

Before he could reply, however, he was cut short by a loud bang emanating from Peter's direction, where he had apparently succeeded in blowing up his griffin statue, though how he managed it, no one knew, seeing as his wand had still been buried in its jaws up until that point.

Shards of concrete and copper began sailing every which way, as dust mushroomed into the air and people began screaming furiously. When all had cleared, it was to find half of the Gryffindor house sprawled on the ground, the other half sprinting toward the exits, and an extremely embarrassed and charred Peter Pettigrew staring apologetically around at them all.

"S—Sorry," he muttered sheepishly, as the Gryffindors began to laugh at the source of the disruption, some stepping over the rubble to slap Peter on the back and congratulate him for the show.

James, however, was the one person who didn't find it amusing, for once, being too tired to see the humor in anything. Trudging over to where he had laid his things, he gathered up his wand and his bookbag, and trudged up the stairs to his dormitory, leaving the potions books Lily had given him sitting in a dusty heap on the couch.

--- --- ---

R 'n R! )