Second year started with a bang thanks to the newly christened Marauders. In the final weeks of the summer it transpired that they had spearheaded the idea of a prank at the welcome feast and had executed it well. Smartly enough they chose not to victimise the Slytherins quite so early in the term; perhaps not so intelligently their victims were the innocent Gryffindor first years, after the second-year boys hovered pumpkin pies over their heads before exploding them in a sea of orange sparks. McGonagall was on her feet in an instant, preventing a food fight, at which Sirius sighed forlornly, before she angrily gave all four boys their first detention of the year.
This gave Lily all the ammunition she needed after a tame train ride, and Alice rolled her eyes as she departed the Great Hall still listening to Lily's raging. This left Frank and Chris to reunite with Kerris, Mackenzey, Ruby, Troy and Hunter after half the hall had emptied.
"Off to a good start," Troy commented dryly.
"I happen to agree," Hunter said brightly, no hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Those poor first years," Ruby murmured.
"You know half of them will be eagerly following them round all the time by Christmas," Mackenzey laughed at the idea.
"Aw, their first disciples," Ruby grinned.
"Let's hope they're not as troublesome," Chris grimaced. "I have to live with them too!"
The seven had gathered in the centre of the Gryffindor table, desserts still on the tables although many of the students fourth year and below had disappeared. Both Jack and Alixx were still in the hall, laughing with a group of friends at the Ravenclaw table, although Ruby noted that Jack was mostly hanging out with the Ravenclaws, his best friend, Bastian Malloy, the only other Slytherin present.
"You'll just have to create a few disciples of your own," Mackenzey smirked at him.
"Like I don't have enough to do!" Chris replied.
"Like what?!" Kerris snorted.
"Maintaining these good looks, obviously,"
A bout of laughter exploded from the table and the friends settled into discussing what had happened the rest of their holidays, as Ruby subtly stared over at her sister, before doing a double take when she realised Mackenzey was staring at Bastian.
Smirking to herself, her eyes glinted as she stood and wandered over to Alixx and her friends.
"Yo homies," the ever confident twelve-year-old greeted the older students.
"Rubes," the fourth years greeted her warmly, asking her how her holidays had been. Ruby subtly made her way over to Jack and Bastian, smiling widely as she looked up at the taller boys.
"Hey Jack, mind if I just confirm a theory?" she asked mischievously. Jack, always one to get into mischief, returned the smirk and his own glint of the eye, as Ruby turned to his friend.
"Baz," she started, looking up at him under her eyelashes. "Would you consider dating a younger woman?"
Bastian looked a rabbit caught in headlights. "Errrr," he stumbled over his words.
Ruby laughed, laying a hand on his arm lightly. "I think my friend likes you. I'm just teasing her. But I mean, if you think she's cute she'd be up for it," Ruby would have winked if she had the ability.
"I don't understand what is happening," Baz stuttered.
Ruby laughed, glancing in her friends' direction, and noticing straight away the death glare being sent her way.
"This is so much fun!" she said gleefully.
"You're a menace," Jack told her, although he was clearly also enjoying the drama.
Ruby rolled her eyes playfully. "Wouldn't be able to tease the girl if she were subtler now would I,"
Jack nodded his head in acquiescence. Ruby turned back to Baz.
"No pressure," she said to him in a more serious tone. "Just put it under consideration or something,"
Baz blushed. "She's cute but…"
"She's too young," Ruby nodded knowingly. "Give it time," she giggled one more time, for effect Baz supposed, before walking purposefully off with a swing of the hips.
"That girl is far too grown up for her own good," he commented to Jack.
"She is," Jack mumbled, looking after her. "I don't know where she got it from but damn, she's good. I'm impressed," he whistled.
The subject of the twelve-year old's somewhat advanced sexual prowess was soon forgotten, as Halle and Kaley Cormicon sidled over to Jack and it was his own turn to stumble over his words.
It took Ruby less than a second to work out that Mackenzey wasn't speaking to her, and so the next morning instead of badgering her friend she left for breakfast before Mackenzey had even got out of bed and waited eagerly at the Hufflepuff table for the fireworks.
Mackenzey had momentarily forgotten her upset when she woke up but remembered in time to turn and glare at Ruby's bed, feeling a moment of disappointment at the empty space. Huffing through her morning routine she had worked herself up by the time she entered the Great Hall and anger burned through her at the sight of Ruby sat with Abbie and Chantelle.
Controlling herself she sat down on the other side of Abbie, as far away as she could be from Ruby without isolating herself from the Hufflepuffs. Ruby inwardly smirked and turned her head to hide her amusement. Neither Chantelle nor Abbie noticed anything wrong between the friends and Ruby happily gossiped with them until the timetables were handed out.
"Chaaaaarms," Mackenzey squealed, again forgetting her annoyance.
"Mate, there is far too much excitement in your voice right now," Chantelle said flatly.
"Would you rather start the term with McGonagall or Slughorn?" Mackenzey threw back.
"I'd rather start the term with a free period," Ruby drawled.
Mackenzey didn't even look at Ruby in response. Abbie finally clicked that Mackenzey had yet to say a word to Ruby directly but one glance at Ruby and she realised that Ruby was merely playing with her friend and she shook her head.
"Lovers quarrel?" Chantelle commented, tact as usual at the forefront of her conversation.
"I have no idea," Ruby said innocently, staring straight at Mackenzey daring her to meet her eyes.
"You know what you did!" Mackenzey finally exploded, anger sparking from her as she turned to her friend.
Ruby laughed. "I have an idea, but as you have yet to breath a word to me can't say I've done anything wrong at all,"
Mackenzey snorted as she realised that Ruby's pedantic technicality was true. "I hate you,"
"I know," Ruby smirked.
"You shouldn't play with people like that!" Mackenzey argued, but the anger had gone from her voice.
Ruby felt slight remorse. "I'm sorry for playing with your feelings," she said sincerely.
"I still hate you," Mackenzey told her as she tucked her arm into Ruby's, both girls slinging their bags over their shoulders and heading to Flitwick's classroom.
The term had started equally well for the Gryffindor students. Frank and Chris had arrived at the dorm to the news that the Marauders had scored themselves three days detention starting the next night.
"This must be some kind of record!" Sirius bounced enthusiastically.
"Why do you say that as if it's something to be proud of?" Remus asked dryly.
"Because it is!" Sirius replied completely seriously.
"I don't know why I asked,"
"Means we've just got our own record to beat next year," Peter added cheekily.
Remus, Frank and Chris stared at him in disbelief whilst James responded instantly with a resounding yes!
"I'm leaving you guys to it," Remus said tiredly, kicking off his school trousers, his pyjama pants already neatly laid out on his bed.
"Don't be a spoil sport," Sirius told him.
Remus rolled his eyes. "You know full well I'll be there,"
"Would you consider doing something that won't incur Miss Evans wrath?" Frank asked.
"Breathing incurs her wrath," Sirius replied contemptuously as James said, "What would be the fun in that?"
"She does bring it on herself," Remus added hesitantly.
"Aye," Frank agreed. "But you don't have to deal with the fallout and she's a stubborn one," he laughed.
"Probably one of her better traits," Sirius mumbled unkindly, but no one felt the need to counteract. Perhaps Lily Evans wasn't as bad as they were making out, but neither was she easy to defend.
That put an end to the conversation however and, suddenly drained by the day, all six boys climbed into bed and were asleep within minutes.
The next morning at breakfast Remus and Peter looked on with interest as Mackenzey blew up at Ruby over something or another, frowning in befuddlement as they walked off together, arms linked, and tension immediately forgotten.
"Wonder what that was about," Peter remarked as his eyes followed his sister. "Probably Rubes causing trouble, let's be honest," he answered his own question as he took a big bite of his toast and jam.
Remus laughed. "More than likely!"
The two compared their timetables with the other boys at the table, groaning over having McGonagall first period for Transfiguration.
"It's too early for Minnie," Sirius sighed, timetable already discarded, wrinkled and covered in orange juice on the table.
"I get the feeling you'd think that was always the case," Remus said.
Sirius gave him a side glance in response, having no denial.
"I like Transfiguration though!" James chimed in. "And y'know, it could be History of Magic,"
His last words were met with a groan from the rest of the table, and they all stood slinging their bags over their shoulders, Chris pushing Sirius in jest for somehow getting blobs of jam all over his new bag.
They entered McGonagall's classroom in a flurry of noise, noticing slightly too late that everyone else was already seated and had quills out, McGonagall peering at them over the rim of her glasses in undisguised annoyance.
"Glad you could join us, boys," she spoke. She let them take their seats, at the back of the classroom naturally, before she spoke again. "Five points from Gryffindor. Each,"
"BUT!" James cried out immediately.
"Would you like me to deduct more points, Mr Potter?"
"No, Professor," James mumbled.
"Brilliant, thirty points down on the first day. Fantastic," Chris breathed in the direction of the others and they all shuffled uncomfortably. For the Marauders detentions were one thing, but how could they win the House Cup over Slytherin if they so easily lost house points?
For the remainder of the lesson, both James and Sirius were more focused than their friends had ever seen them, and under normal circumstances McGonagall might have considered giving them points for their effort. However, this was not her first rodeo and she was aware of the boys' motivation and decided not to reward such short-sightedness; her job as a teacher was to play the long game and maybe, if the boys continued to actually knuckle down, then their behaviour would be rewarded. Until then, however, they would have to sleep in the bed they made.
She nodded satisfactorily at this train of thought, noticing out of the corner of her eye the incredulous look Sirius was giving her that she had failed to acknowledge their effort.
"Bloody waste of time that," Sirius grumbled.
"Yes, the focus on your education where you were the first person in the class to transform a rat into a chalice was a complete waste of your time," Remus replied sarcastically.
Sirius stared back at him. "Yeah!"
Remus laughed in disbelief. "Okay,"
"What's his problem?" Sirius asked Peter. Peter merely shook his head and continued trying to change his rat. So far, he'd succeeded in transforming it into a chalice with ears and a tail, and he stuck his tongue out to the side in an effort to concentrate on completing the transformation fully.
Sirius shrugged, effortlessly waving his wand and watched his chalice become a rat then a chalice again.
It was Lily who tried not to let the resentment of his ability get to her. She watched from across the room, still furious about the prank the night before the sight of the Marauders had her smouldering, and after watching them saunter in late and then Sirius Black, of all people, beating her in Transfiguration had her in uproar. Potter was a close second, his rat a shiny gold chalice with rubies twinkling at her and she slammed her hand down.
"I can do this," she mumbled, and Alice looked at her sideways.
"We've been at this for five minutes,"
Lily didn't reply, intent on letting no one else beat her. Alice shook her head with a sigh. The girl needed to find some way to relax.
A few minutes later Lily jumped up with a scream. "I DID IT!" she shouted excitedly.
The rest of the class just stared at her. Lily Evans achieving something long before the rest of the them was hardly news and her excitement elicited more contempt than congratulations from the rest of the second years. Lily sat back down, a flush on her cheeks as she stared at the table burning with embarrassment.
"You see what they make me do?" she hissed across at Alice, who didn't bother to reply. She was fast getting tired of the contention between Lily and the Marauders and was choosing to instead ignore any reference to it. It was working out well so far.
Sirius was smirking over in Lily's direction, knowing what had caused her outburst. It was a small win though; he knew in himself competing with and beating Lily Evans academically wasn't something he could maintain. Still, he twirled his wand happily as he slouched across his chair, ignorant to anything for the remainder of the class.
Over in Charms, the Hufflepuffs were paired with the Slytherins and Hunter was sat with Mackenzey at the back, where Ruby and Troy sat in front, Abbie and Chantelle to their left. Professor Flitwick had chosen to start the year off with a theory lesson, the magic of first year no longer necessary in hooking the students to the subject.
Mackenzey happily settled into the lesson's activity, always much more content with theoretical knowledge than practical. Hunter grinned at her enthusiasm and the two were in a deep discussion about the etymology of the muffliato charm.
Chantelle was staring at the questions in front of her, brow furrowed, and Abbie groaned inwardly.
"Some of these are really hard," Abbie noted as she looked down the list of questions Flitwick felt they were able to answer.
"Not really," Troy replied, throwing her hair over her shoulder as she looked at the Hufflepuff. She didn't intentionally put the note of condescension in her voice, but everyone heard it and Abbie said no more, scribbling down answers to the questions, sharing her parchment with Chantelle so she didn't have to voice her thoughts.
"Be careful," Mackenzey said quietly from behind her. Ever the voice of reason, Mackenzey felt for the other girl, though she knew her friend hadn't meant to be cruel.
Troy shrugged, feeling little guilt for what she had said, and the conversation halted as the class continued. Mackenzey noticed later that, when Flitwick asked them to share their ideas, Abbie didn't answer a single question but was furiously writing down everything that was said and Mackenzey smiled sadly.
The same pairing of houses was next in Potions, and Abbie sat as far away from Troy as possible. She also ensured that Chantelle could not be her partner in this class and she silently just got on with reading her textbook and making notes even whilst the rest of the class got into a heated debate about the use of Wolfsbane.
By the time break rolled around, however, she appeared to be over her hump and was happily discussing the contents of a magazine with Mackenzey and Chantelle. There was a slight commotion as James, Remus, Peter and Frank entered the courtyard and everyone looked up at the second years. The students in older years looked away in disinterest, but, true to Mackenzey's prediction, the Gryffindors already had some first-year followers.
"Have you heard?!" James shouted gleefully.
"Heard what?" Troy answered, eyebrow perfectly arched, and arms crossed, as she stared across at the Gryffindor.
"Warwick Oliver attempted to turn Aubrey Bertram into a rat in Charms!"
"Apparently, Bertram had been bullying Oliver's little brother and he decided to teach him a lesson,"
"Except, Oliver's not the brightest Ravenclaw in the tower and the spell managed to backfire,"
"He's currently in the hospital wing with whiskers and a tail!"
"How…?" Hunter stuttered.
"Who knows! It's hard to do human to animal transformations,"
"He can't be that dumb if he part-managed it then," Ruby acknowledged, a slight look of concern on her face.
"He's more arrogant than genius," Kerris said, rolling her eyes. "Commendable for trying to defend his brother though,"
"Why are you making it so serious, you're ruining the fun," James pouted.
"Where are Sirius and Chris?" Ruby asked, suddenly changing the subject.
"Ah, well," Frank shifted uncomfortably.
"Sirius wasn't paying attention to what was going on and managed to get caught up in the fight,"
"It was hardly a fight," Lily, appearing from nowhere, sighed.
James ignored her. "So, he's also in the hospital wing…"
"Oh, Merlin!"
"… with a black eye,"
"A black eye?" Ruby repeated incredulously.
"Yeah, Oliver threw a punch but apparently the effects of his spell threw him off and he ended up pushing Sirius off his chair. He hit his head on the desk,"
"Which, if he'd been sitting properly, probably wouldn't have happened," Lily muttered.
"So why aren't you with him?!" Ruby cried, pushing against James' shoulder with her hand.
James looked affronted. "I got told to stay out of it. Flitwick asked Chris to go with him to the hospital wing,"
Ruby pursed her lips. "Are you in Charms now?"
It didn't dawn on James what she had been implying as he watched her hurry off, until Remus said, 'Aren't you coming?" and James smacked himself in the head for being a dolt.
There were far too many of them to be let in the hospital wing at once, and even James accepted that Ruby could go in his place for his lack of concern in the first place.
Lily had trailed behind the others, unsure of what to do when her friends weren't around. Snape was busy writing a letter to his mother but had promised to see her after school, which basically just left Alice, and with Alice running after Black Lily felt she had little choice but to follow in her wake.
Seeing Potter slumped against the wall, slightly apart from the others, Lily sighed and turned away. Glancing back at him, she wrinkled her nose but asked anyway.
"What's eating you?"
James looked up at her. "Why do you care?"
"I don't," Lily answered honestly.
"Then don't talk to me," James spat.
"Happily," she sneered back, brushing past him and resisting the urge to kick him as she went past.
Shaking in anger she stood next to Alice and tried to listen to the conversation around her, but Potter had her blind with rage and, without thinking, she made a comment that stopped the conversation short. Everyone stared at her, but she held their gaze without any trace of red gracing her cheeks, so was her fury so strong.
"What did you say?" Mackenzey asked, disbelief etched into her face.
"I said, he deserved it. He deserves more, he deserves to be permanently marked for the way he treats other people,"
"I think you should leave," Troy said quietly.
"Am I wrong?" Lily asked boldly.
"Yes!" Ruby replied, her quiet fury exploding. "He has fun! Something you know little about, with that stick up your bum,"
Lily took a step back, shocked. "He's reckless, he's immature, he's a bully and he doesn't give a monkey's damn about anyone but himself!"
Remus stepped towards Lily at this point. "You should be very, very, grateful that he's not here to hear you say that,"
"And you really should go," Peter nodded at her.
"Why do you all love him so much?" Lily frowned.
"There are a lot of reasons,"
"Maybe one day you'll understand. But, for now, I think you should stay away from us,"
"All of us," Ruby emphasised, with a pointed look at Alice.
Alice didn't know what to do or how to defend her friend. For as much as Lily could be a pain in the bum, she was also a fantastic friend and brilliant to do homework with, and Alice didn't want to not be her friend. But she also didn't want to not be friends with Sirius and how could she choose? In the end, Lily made the decision for her when she walked away, and Alice failed to follow.
With tears in her eyes, Lily walked aimlessly down the corridor. She wished she knew where Severus was, but instead headed to the library, wandering down to the back corner, where she dug out her Charms book and stared at it blankly on the desk in front of her. She sat there for hours, subconsciously doodling on the parchment in front of her, as she blinked away tears and her anger at Potter and Black.
"Merlin, child, you scared me!" Irma Pince, the librarian, stood with a hand on her chest looking at Lily.
Lily herself jumped. "Sorry!" she mumbled.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?" Pince eyed her suspiciously. "Wait, Evans?" she questioned.
"Yes, Miss," Lily smiled sadly.
Pince came closer, concerned about the girl in front of her. "Why are you hiding out here in the middle of the day?"
"It's not the middle of the day," Lily argued. "It's break!"
The librarian shook her head. "My dear, it's fifth period,"
Lily was mortified. "Oh my god, I can't believe I skipped class!" She started shovelling her things into her bag before Pince stopped her.
"You're too late to make it. Why don't you just calm down and we'll go to see Professor McGonagall?"
Lily stared up at her, eyes wide. "I don't want to be in trouble,"
Pince smiled slightly. Despite working in a school, she had little time for children who did not respect books or quiet, but she had a soft spot for those like Lily Evans, the ones who would stare in awe at the knowledge present in her library and treat it like the Holy place it was.
"You won't be," she reassured the child. "Come on now,"
Five minutes later Lily and the librarian were outside McGonagall's office. Madam Pince knocked for Lily, giving the redhead a small smile to comfort her.
Professor McGonagall was sat in her office, concentration on a mass of papers in front of her, and as Lily looked closer, it appeared McGonagall had magicked a quill to write out homework schedules for the fifth year Transfiguration students.
Quiet and uncomfortable, Lily struggled to make eye contact with her Head of House but couldn't help listening to Madam Pince explaining what had happened.
McGonagall offered Lily a seat and bade Madam Pince goodbye, as a plate of sandwiches appeared out of nowhere.
"The kitchen elves are always happy to assist," McGonagall offered as explanation, and Lily managed to lift her head to look at her professor.
"Thank you," Lily mumbled.
"So," McGonagall started. "What's been going on?"
Lily was reluctant to explain to an adult what exactly had happened, especially to someone so severe as McGonagall. Yes, McGonagall had as little patience for her fellow Gryffindors as Lily herself, but Lily didn't think McGonagall would understand.
Instead she chose to say, "I had an argument with my friends,"
McGonagall did not inquire more. Instead her voice took on a soft tone. "Nothing that having taken this afternoon to cool off won't have fixed."
Seeing Lily's mouth open to offer a rebuttal, she continued. "I guarantee whatever happened your friends will be just as upset as you about it. I won't ask, it's not my place," Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "But I will tell you that anything that has caused you of all people, Miss Evans, to skip class, whilst it may not seem fixable, will be absolutely fine after some time and perhaps some apologies. Now take a sandwich with you and return to your common room. See for yourself," Suddenly she gave Lily a warm smile, and Lily, despite having a liking for McGonagall, was unnerved.
"Thanks, Professor," she smiled back, not sure she believed what had been said.
Slowly she dawdled back up to Gryffindor Tower. Unsure what time it was she gave the Fat Lady the password (Quidditch Rules) and climbed through the portrait hole. With a sigh of relief, she saw none of the other second year Gryffindors and headed up to her dormitory. There, she pulled One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi from her stack of textbooks and unrolled some parchment to make notes on which ingredients were useful for their second year Potions curriculum.
Lily had reached eight inches when a small cough interrupted her and she glanced up to see Alice, looking thoroughly uncomfortable, hovering in the doorway.
"I'm sorry," Alice started straight away.
Lily shrugged. "They're your friends, too. What were you supposed to do?" The way she said it didn't quite come across as though she meant it and Alice blanched.
"Look, Lily, I am sorry, but you're right. You put me in a tough position because they are my friends, and I can't keep the peace all the time,"
"Okay," Lily replied.
"Jeez, don't help yourself," Alice muttered and by the time Lily looked up she had disappeared. With a sigh Lily tucked her notes into her book and went to face the music in the common room.
At the bottom stair she saw Alice with Frank and Chris, who were discussing something with their textbooks open, surrounded by parchment, whilst James, Remus and Peter were a foot away playing Exploding Snap.
Stiffening her resolve Lily stepped down into the common room and walked over to the others.
"How's Black?" she asked quietly. All six of her friends failed to acknowledge that she'd spoken, and her cheeks tinged red in anger.
"Is Black okay?" she asked again, a defiant tone in her voice.
Peter fixed her with a cool glare. "Now you care?" he asked.
His fixing his attention on her had caused James and Remus to also look up at her, and the conversation next to her also stopped. Catching a glance of Alice's face looking wary, Lily felt a sudden surge of anger.
"I never said I didn't care,"
"Only that he deserved it," James responded shortly.
Lily was silent, her cheeks still flushed.
Chris, evidently aware of what had happened although he hadn't been present, attempted to diffuse the situation. "Where were you today?" he asked Lily kindly.
Lily was too angry to really appreciate the kindness, but replied, nonetheless. "In the library," she shrugged, as if her skipping class was nothing out of the norm.
"Why?" Chris asked, his face puzzled.
"I, errr, I didn't realise the time,"
"Don't tell me our little argument upset you," James laughed nastily.
Lily's cheeks flushed, again, and she balled her fists. Without letting her speak, James continued. "Don't you find it funny, Evans, how you're so insistent that we're worse than anything you'd find on the bottom of your shoe, and yet, it's you who continually irritates literally everybody else,"
Lily felt her eyes well up and, adamant she wasn't going to let James Potter make her cry, looked up at him, opening her mouth to speak, although she had no idea what she wanted to say.
She was saved the trouble, however, by the portrait hole slamming open and Sirius barrelling his way into the room. "Black is back!" he announced cheerily. "Cor, it's frosty in here,"
Lily had used the interruption to blink away tears, not noticing the look Remus gave her, a look that contained an ounce of sympathy even if, in his opinion, she deserved the harsh words.
"Evans was just leaving," James said blithely. "And she's taking her negative attitude with her. Temperature will soar without her here to bring it right down,"
Sirius, unaware of her words, frowned in confusion as to what had caused James to be quite so irate but didn't offer a counterargument.
Lily stood, surrounded by her housemates still giving her frosty looks, and was trying to weigh up whether it was worth it to swallow her pride.
"I was with McGonagall," she blurted out.
James couldn't seem to get enough of Lily-bashing today, sarcastically responding "Can we expect detention soon then?"
"No," Lily said furiously. "She saw I was upset," Lily saw James' proud smirk at this, "And told me you'd just need time to cool off," she finished lamely.
"Fat chance," James deadpanned. Although the frost seemed to be melting away from the others, still no one went up against James to defend her.
"She also said apologies are necessary," Lily continued, losing some of her bluster so the words came out more quietly than she'd intended.
Met with silence, Lily gauged the atmosphere had become more hostile again. Without understanding why, she angrily realised her eyes were welling up again and, refusing to allow any of them to see her cry when they clearly didn't even care, she quickly turned and left the portrait hole, the tears streaming down her cheeks by the time the portrait closed behind her.
Sobbing loudly, she headed towards the dungeons, where she knew Severus would be only too happy to see her, even if she was a blubbering mess. It was only as she turned the corner to where she knew the Slytherin common room was that it hit her.
McGonagall had meant the apology was to come from her.