Chapter 3: Hope

After the Quidditch tryouts James and Sirius were confident with their new Chaser and Beater, both promising 2nd years. James, Sirius, Penny, and Allyson went together to dinner afterwards. Lily wasn't hungry and was in a pretty bad mood so she went straight to her room. She found it empty with the exception of Kerri reading on her bed. Kerri was quiet and she knew would probably not start up a conversation with her, but for some reason whenever she felt particularly lousy about boys or problems with any of the other girls Kerri was the one she went to.

"Hey Kerri, got a minute to advise me?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, of course," she replied, putting her book down. "What's going on?"

"Okay, so I was just talking to Allyson and she thinks both James and Sirius like Penny. Any thoughts on that? You always seem to have a good grasp on who likes who."

"Well, my first question for you is going to be who you like. Obviously it's one of them if you care about who they like. My guess is James. That would explain why you got so freaked out in truth or dare when he and Penny had to hook up."

"I'm lucky everyone else isn't so perceptive," Lily said. "Okay, so here's the thing. I liked James back in like 2nd and 3rd year, but that was before I realized how much of an arrogant ass he is. Everyone said that he liked me 5th year and maybe he did, but I had no interest in him then. And then at the end of last year he started going out with Janie and I saw a whole new side of him. He was a gentleman and he really cared about her. The whole time they were together I was so jealous and all my feelings from four years ago came back. So here I am. And now I'm hearing that he likes Penny who told me that she liked him on the train ride to school by the way."

"Oh, hmm. Well honestly I think James might be interested in Penny, but I'm not sure he would actually do anything about it because of her history with Sirius. The thing is though, do you think Penny will do anything to try and get with James?"

"Well actually she told me after the truth or dare incident that she didn't want any more from him and then she goes and hooks up with some random Ravenclaw guy today so I don't think she's looking for anything serious."

"Okay, so I guess we'll just have to see what happens. I'd say try and spend some time with James alone."

"Alright, I can do that," Lily said as she stood up and started to walk towards the door.

"And Lily?" Kerri said.

"Yeah?"

"Just be nice to him. If you want him to think he has a chance with you then no more of your aloof or sarcastic remarks."

"Right, be nice," Lily repeated under her breath as she walked out of the room.

Lily walked down the stairs to the common room with a renewed sense of hope. She was disappointed to find it empty except for a few 1st year girls. Lily smiled at them as she passed by and left through the portrait. She decided to walk around the castle in the hope of running into someone.

After twenty minutes of wandering around mindlessly, Lily ended up in the library. She decided to read to try and get her thoughts off of James. She grabbed the first book that she found in the romance aisle and sat down at a table.

About forty-five minutes later she heard someone approaching her table. She glanced up to see a familiar face.

"Hey Remus!" Lily chimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, just looking for a way to pass time. How's your book? I almost didn't come over here because you looked too absorbed in your reading." Lily quickly became embarrassed as she realized the book she was reading was titled The Real Deal and had a picture of a couple kissing.

"Oh, this thing? No, it was just the first book I grabbed. Anyway, I came here because I couldn't find anyone. Do you know where everyone went?"

"No idea. I know James and Sirius had Quidditch tryouts and Peter may've gone to watch, but I haven't seen any of them since they left for that."

"Hmm, that's really weird. Well I guess I'm gonna head back to the common room. Maybe some people are back from dinner."

"Okay, well I'll be here doing some reading so let me know if anything exciting is happening."

"Okay. I'll see you later Remus." Lily discreetly tucked the book under her arm and went to check it out hoping that Remus didn't notice. When she walked into the common room she was happy to see James, Sirius, Peter, Penny, and Allyson. Sirius and Allyson were playing Wizard's Chess and the other three were cheering them on. When
Penny saw Lily she jumped up from the couch and dragged her towards the stairs. They both ignored Sirius as he made a comment about girl on girl action, but Lily noticed Allyson hit him flirtatiously.

"Hey, where have you been?" Penny asked once they had gotten into their room.

"I was in the library."

"You loser! On a Friday?"

"Well, I couldn't find any of you guys and I was bored." Lily defended herself. "So I think you owe me some details about Josh."

"Oh, right. Well first of all, AMAZING kisser." Lily started laughing; she knew that Penny had high standards. "But yeah, I had barely even taken off my shirt when I had to go because of stupid Quidditch tryouts." Lily rolled her eyes.

"So do you think anything else will happen with him?"

"I honestly don't know. But enough about me, you are supposed to be seducing a certain Mr. Potter."

"I wouldn't say seducing is the best term to describe it. But I've hardly even spoken to him all week. I think you have a way better shot than me with him."

"Well, if that's true than it's only because I actually TALK to him and he thinks you hate his guts."

"Well, there you go," Lily said. "I have no chance."

"That's not what I said. Maybe you should just work on being friends first. I was thinking about it the other day and I think you guys would actually be great together."

"You do?" Lily asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I mean you have a lot in common and you've each liked each other in the past. But seriously Lil, just work on being the guy's friend and then see where it goes." Lily and Penny went back down to the common room to find the game in high tension. A few minutes later Sirius had Allyson in a checkmate and her king took a brutal beating by one of his horses.

"Nice one Padfoot," James praised Sirius.

"I want a rematch," Allyson scowled.

"No, give the rest of us a turn," James said. "So who wants the privilege of playing me?" He looked towards Lily and Penny.

"I don't want to play against you, you get way too smug and competitive," Lily snapped at him and instantly regretted it. In her heard she heard Kerri's voice say "just be nice to him".

"Just as sweet as always aren't you, Evans?" James shot back.

"I'll play," Penny said to end the arguement.

"Okay, good," James said. Allyson and Sirius got up to let James and Penny take their seats at the chess table. Sirius sat down on the couch where James was sitting and Allyson went over to Lily.

"Hey, you're not gonna sit with me Ally? I saved you a seat." Sirius proceeded to give his best puppy face. Allyson rolled her eyes and sat down next to him, Sirius then wrapped his arm around her. "Don't worry hun, I'm sure you'll win the next game." He then removed his arm. Allyson looked shocked but then started grinning.

A few minutes into the game Lily began to feel very out of place. Penny and James were very into the game and it looked to her like James was flirting with Penny. Sirius and Allyson were enjoying some kind of conversation between the two of them and Peter was awkwardly cheering on James by commenting on all of his moves ("good one Prongs!"). Lily got up suddenly and walked up to her room. She doubted anyone would notice for a while.

"I'm such an idiot," she thought. "Why am I always so mean to him?" She began to tear up a little bit but wiped her eyes immediately. She got out her book and began to read to take her mind off of everything. An hour later the room was still empty. She saw that it was almost 9 so she decided to go to sleep, hoping she would feel better in the morning.

A/N: Sorry it took me a while to get this up. I'll try and be better. You know you wanna review!