Class was over and for girls like Lily Evans, the real test of sorcery was about to start once again: walking to and from class without getting stuck with unwanted boys crowding her footsteps.

Plenty of girls sighed, preparing themselves for a hasty escape. The ones that had planned classes nearby were lucky, knowing that a brisk walk would elude the clever hunters. Others dreaded the long run to the other side of Hogwarts Castle, thinking of which staircases to take to avoid.

Classes like Septima Vector's Arithmancy were filled with girls. Through the quiet, sprawling grapevine that wove throughout the girls' dormitories, these older professors knew their duty and did not rebuke the witches. At one point, it had baptized them and they passed the escape knowledge down the ranks so letting the class be a breather from ogling eyes was fine by them. The idea of letting the girls focus entirely on education was beyond a lot of male understanding, so it was kept under wraps.

Lily had two escape plans when moving between classes: dash straight there without looking back or linger with the professor until the clock wound down. Now that the hormonal, empty-headed boys with wagging tongues learned a few spells to keep up with her running, the young witch opted to stay behind more and more.

"The number seven is, of course, considered lucky. But if it's used in certain instances, is it so lucky?" Vector drew on, pressing on her slow emphasis. "Miss Evans, while the muggles believe in random luck, we know that probability is a concrete form."

"Exactly my point, Professor," Lily said, eyeing the grains of the hourglass. "But when seven is used against—"

Whoosh! A stampede of feet and there they were. Lily was going to hex the older boys who taught them those "fast feet" spells. Make them hurry head-first into a bog or force lead shoes on their feet—ought to show them!

Vector paid it no mind, but she knew the game was up. "Miss Evans, take care. Hurry along to your next class. Don't let them drag you down."

While Professor Vector or any other woman could dispel the sinister boyish charms in quick work, it would cause problems amongst the staff. Turns out, holding teenage boys to some consequences wasn't proper.

Lily set up her stoic look as two familiar faces popped into the room.

James Potter and Severus Snape. Of course. The eternal contest of wills and measurement of growing manhoods. Had Lily allowed vulnerability, she would have let her eyes roll out of her head and watched the two jump at the opportunity to ' comfort' her.

"Lily! I thought you'd be here," James declared, as if he was passing by and thought to grace her with attention. "Mind if I tag along? Our classes are near each other."

They're not. James would need the sandals of Hermes to get to his next class on time—not that he cared for scheduled arrival or being considerate of others' time. More pressing matters, like his hormones and quivering touch, were taking priority over education.

Lily had a devastating remark ready before Severus piped up.

"She doesn't need you to escort her around as if she's an invalid. Why not take a walk into a moat and do right by her for once?"

That sort of self-awareness was always out of reach for Severus. Right there, on the precipice, before falling back into his selfish desires. It aggravated Lily that the snippy teen learned about feminism just enough to appear friendly, yet cared little for her wants and needs. Worse yet, using it to defend her when Lily did not need his help to berate her own cat-callers.

James straightened up, throwing a charming smile towards Lily.

"I think Lily can decide for herself if she wants me around or not." he said, his teeth hard against his gracious proclamation. "Ah! Maybe too many escorts would be overwhelming. Why don't I take the first shift and you dunk your greasy head into a pile of centaur dung?"

He was too proud of that juvenile insult. Severus sneered at the idea, but Lily was faster at the retort. To them, the young witch was playing hard to get or unrealized in her love. No in-between gray areas or some depth outside their validation. There was nothing more to Lily than what they wanted and what they envisioned in their bunks late at night.

"I don't need any escorts and I don't need any help to get around," Lily said, flicking her wand to levitate her books. "Good-bye."

Short and sweet, giving them nothing to chew at. James's smirk melted into a frown as his generosity remained overlooked. He expected a parade, complete with dancing troupes and screeching trumpets, just for treating Snape with the bare amount of dignity.

Snape's grimace grew deeper, drawing on the endless "woe is me, poor me" pity waters. The "nice guy gets spurned again" rhetoric, par for the course in his mind and libido. Fairytales and romance tropes—something he rejected as nonsense—told him that pretty girls went for the nice guy when the handsome one was a jerk.

Professor Vector pointed them out as the young witch blew by the boys, making the two boneheads churlish at the thought of double rejection. Severus was faster this time, throwing up his wand to disarm her levitation charm.

A bounce back, flinging his ill intentions right at his crooked nose as blue sparks. Lily mastered her charms ages ago, especially this one, and Severus was no match. She wished she could turn around and watch his hands bat at his face, but that was giving too much attention.

James had hearts swimming in his eyes. To him, it was a prank and a call for his notice. Obviously, Lily had learned and mastered a spell (along with a fail-safe) just to garner his prized scrutiny. She set this whole scenario up to amuse him and show him she secretly wanted his love all along. Everything was a ruse up to this point.

"Serves you right!" he hissed to Severus, racing past him before pulling out his wand. One long flick and a tight bubble encapsulated the hovering books, preventing them from moving.

Lily stopped, uttering a rusty groan. James Potter always finds a way against the current and it always served his nefarious purposes well. Born bastard and training to be a better bastard. Too thick to take a hint and too smart to let it get to his ego.

She gave up after two hard wand jerks, dropping her façade into aggravation. "Remove it so I can get to class."

James showed his teeth under the bright grin. "I'll remove it if I can walk you to class."

Negotiations. Damn negotiations. It wasn't enough to only bother her, but now Lily had to barter for her freedom to walk alone in favor of having her books. A fleeting thought of leaving her comrades behind crossed Lily's face, but she knew her next professor wasn't as understanding.

It was getting close to winding down, and Lily had to decide.

"Let them go, Potter. I'm not interested. I told you before."

"I'm much nicer now than before."

"It was two days ago."

"Do you know how much happens in two days? Sirius got together and broke up with a girl in two days. Two more days, I could get snatched up—gone, in a blink of an eye!—and you'll wonder what could have been."

Lily wondered how much free time she'd have if she wasn't dealing with this. She'll lose house points for this, but it was worth it. Severus had batted the sparks enough, so he might not snitch on her to the first male authority figure he saw.

"Colloshoo."

James felt his shoes bind to the ground, making it impossible to lift his feet. With every victim of the stickfast hex, there was denial, anger, and acceptance in a minute. One trip, a hard grunt, and the boy had to eat crow.

"Let me up," James demanded, wavering between groveling and hurt.

"I think you belong there, like the little worm you are." Lily said, pointing to the bubble. "Release my books."

Pop! The bubble dropped her textbooks on the ground. Severus now drowned in thudding heartbeats and intense fantasy. Lily Evans embarrassed his nemesis and rival—obviously, to prove that she was not like the other girls to him!

"Serves you right!" Severus said, stepping over James. "She didn't need your help, like I said."

James countered the hex after some trouble, causing his feet to loosen and bounce back up with vigor. Being walked on by Severus Snape was unforgivable in his book, so the act would not last.

"Can you not take a walk, Snape? This is between us, not you."

"I beg to differ!"

Lily grabbed her books as the boys argued, seeing the hourglass sands trickle down. She'll be late, but her headache might subside by that time. Wasted moments on boys—a sad state indeed!

These boys. They'll turn into men who believe the same thing, but better at hiding it. Lily wasn't a fool. Every woman, from paintings to notebooks to professors, warned her about the dangers of a man's manipulation.

They'll fight for the heart, but only if they could get the bed as compensation. To Lily, both were nauseating. She suspected all men would be this nauseating until she was seventy years old and too old to be a trophy.

But what a life that would be afterwards, free from the men. Lily could wander through her old lady garden, caressing the blooms for potions and firing off charms to lure the caterpillars away. A run-down cottage hut deep in the dusty woods, filled with singing cauldrons and dancing candlesticks to wake her for her morning tea.

She could wear a wardrobe that was filled with tattered clothes and holes. Let her hair grow stringy and white. Even grow a hunchback and a fat wart on her nose! Dispel a few tongue-in-cheek doomsday prophecies to deter the lone wanderer before waving them off into the dark forest.

Lily could work on her old witch cackle. She had time to do it instead of tolerating this pissing contest between the two teenagers. And better time would be spent!

Severus noticed her wandering off first. "Where are you going?"

Where else in Hogwarts? Lily didn't bother answering, focused on her forming her excuse for late arrival. James took a leap and pushed his so-called rival aside, dropping the tough act for now.

"Lily! Lily, come on, the bubble was a joke—"

"I said I was—"

"It's all his—"

From the back of her throat, Lily wretched out her first old-witch lady cackle. It dropped low and hard, ripping across the hallways. It was not a voluptuous cackle like more seasoned professionals, but it still rattled the spines of her peers. The added shrill at the end was a last second choice, but it satisfied Lily to see the boys fly out of their shoes and left speechless.

They won't be able to fantasize about having her tonight with that in mind.

Good enough. Being late was worth one night away from their dreams.