Chapter 5

"Lily! Oi! Head Girl!"

Lily turns around to see Benjy pushing his way through a thick group of first years towards her. His forehead is creased in a frown as he says "Were we ever that tiny? Or are kids these days shrinking?" jerking his thumb back at the crowd behind him.

"I dunno, I was tall. Always have been. You were tiny though," Lily replies.

"Bullshit. I was never that small. Where are you going? We have class." The corridor is busy and loud and Benjy is struggling to keep up with Lily.

"I know. I need to use the loo," she says. Benjy shakes his head in resignation as they take a turn into a completely deserted part of the castle. He stops. "You're not going into Myrtle's loo, are you?" He asks in panic.

"It's the closest one!"

"Good Lord," groans Benjy. Lily rolls her eyes. She continues walking and he follows.

"So what happened with Mulciber and Avery and the lot?" He asks cautiously. He turns to look at her face as she answers. She's frowning. "Well, the kid is fine; turns out Mulciber's really bad at branding spells so that kid's escaped with just some minor scars. The bad part is that he's in Slytherin, so this isn't the last he's gonna see of that lot."

"So they really were trying to brand him?" Benjy voice sounds hollow.

"Yes."

"With the Dark Mark? I thought only Voldemort could do that."

"Well, yeah, it wasn't the real Dark Mark, it's not like it would've actually worked; they were just trying to scare him. Apparently, Mulciber was giving some sort of sermon on the Dark Lord's Way and how Muggles and Mudbloods have ruined Magic and all the usual shite in the Slytherin Common Room. The kid – his name is Joshua Zegwalter – stood right up and asked him how much Muggle blood he had –"

"That kid should be in fucking Gryffindor!" Benjy laughs incredulously.

" - I know! And you should see him, he's this tiny second year! Anyway, it didn't take much for them to beat him up." Lily sighs out.

"It's a good thing they decided to beat him up in the corridor or you guys wouldn't have been able to stop it."

Lily simply nods in reply.

"And what did Dumbledore say?"

"I dunno what he said, but he's suspended Mulciber from Hogsmeade forever and from this term's exams, and the whole lot have gotten themselves detention, so – "

"Detention? That's it? What the fuck is wrong with Dumbledore? Why doesn't he just expel them!?" Benjy's voice echoes in the empty corridor. A few of the paintings turn to glare at them as they pass. One even tries to shush them.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lily says, "Dumbledore expels them, they'll just go straight to Voldemort. This way at least he gets to keep an eye on them, at least for a while."

"That doesn't make sense; they could leave whenever they like. They don't care about school. Dumbledore's detentions aren't bloody going to stop them from joining him. In fact, I don't even know why they bothered to attend this year."

"To learn new stuff. To study, why else. Voldemort might be psycho, but he is an extremely powerful wizard. And they're bloody idiots! Couldn't even do a proper branding! Fat chance of them becoming 'death eaters' if they continue on like this! He's not going to want idiots joining him, is he?"

"Only idiots join him Lily. What are you even blabbering?" Benjy wheezes through his laughter.

"You know what I mean," Lily says, laughing. "Have you even seen the stuff we're doing this year? The unforgivable curses, the Patronus charm, all thirteen shield spells – "

"There's thirteen?" Benjy cries out, incredulous.

"Yeah and you have no idea how difficult the other twelve are. And that's only a little bit of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Don't even get me started on Potions and fucking Transfiguration. God," Lily sighs. The entrance to the second-floor bathroom is empty as always. "Give me a sec," she says and goes in. Benjy can hear her and Moaning Myrtle exchange hellos. He grimaces.

"Myrtle was asking about you," Lily emerges after a few minutes, smirking. "Where is that handsome curly-haired boy?" she crows in imitation of Myrtle's voice. Benjy flips her off. Lily winks back at him, grinning mischievously. "Well, at least you have someone pining for you. Good to have back up, isn't it?" She laughs.

As they set off again, this time towards the Dungeons, Benjy says, "So you reckon they're here to learn more stuff. The curses and what not." Lily looks up at him, her expression very serious. "Yeah. And then they'll leave. Probably just before our N.E. begin." Benjy only nods in response, as though processing what she just said.

"It's all going to go to shit pretty soon, isn't it?" He says presently.

"Yeah, it's going to be bad," Lily sighs.

"We have our first Defense today, right? It's that McKinnon lady, isn't it?" He asks.

"Yep. I hope to God she's good." Lily replies.

"She must be. Dumbledore wouldn't have gotten her if she wasn't." Benjy stares at Lily for a few seconds, frowning in concentration.

Suddenly an impish smile breaks out on his face. "You like her, don't you? She's the one you were staring at, at dinner yesterday." Benjy says, grinning widely.

"Shut up! I don't like her. What bloody bullshit."Lily splutters.

Benjy laughs loudly at the sight of her cheeks reddening. "Of course you do. She's totally your type – curvy and pretty and brunette – " He says but Lily cuts him off -

"Oh shut it, don't even get me started on your crush on Remus, alright, God – "

To which Benjy gives a her a look of mock-horror and says, "How could you, Lil! I told you I was over him!" And so, bickering and laughing they finally reach the Dungeon.

"Ah! Lily, my dear girl. What took you so long? Come in, come in, I was just about to start class -," Professor Slughorn booms out loudly as the two of them try (and fail) to enter class as surreptitiously as possible.

Benjy mutters "And I don't even fucking exist," behind her and Lily tries to control a laugh from breaking out.

" - I have assigned partners for this year, let's see where we can put the two of you, Ah yes, you, my dear boy, please sit over here – " Slughorn drones on, pointing Benjy to a seat next to Millicent Edwards.

"Nice to see he remembers my name", Benjy says to Lily as he passes her. Lily shushes him in response.

"Lily, my dear, you can sit right here in front, next to Mr. Potter, yes, where was I – " Slughorn turns back to the blackboard and picks up a piece of chalk. All the laughter drains out of Lily as she makes her way to the front.

"Hi," she says, smiling a little as she sits down next to James Potter. She's not sure if it's because of the class or what, but her ears are buzzing and her stomach does that annoying flipping thing that it always does when in close proximity to Potter. He nods in reponse, his eyes focused on the board. She'd hoped they'd be back on talking terms after their wonderful team effort against the future death eaters just yesterday, but he doesn't even turn to look at her properly. Now she knows for sure that he is still pissed off. And now she's pissed off because how could he still be? They had a proper moment after and everything. Fuck. Fuck this idiot. Focus, she tells herself; but her heart's thudding and she's disproportionately upset over the fact that he refuses to even properly acknowledge her. A couple of years ago she would've been grateful for being ignored by him. Sighing at her stupid life, she opens her textbook to page 394, as directed.

The class seems to go on forever as Lily tries (and fails) to focus. Twice Slughorn nearly catches her dozing off and when he finally does stop talking, Lily jumps up from her seat, thinking it was time to leave, but then sees everyone cleaning their cauldrons and groans. Potter shoots her a look as he chops up the dried beetles. She checks her watch. Half an hour to go. She huffs as she wipes her cauldron and puts it down on the table with a loud clang. Potter gives her another annoyed look. She stares at him resentfully for a moment and catches Severus' eye by mistake. He's a few tables behind them and staring at Potter's back as though trying to burn holes into it.

Lily sighs.

They're supposed to make the Draught of Peace and Lily is too busy trying to avoid brushing against James Potter's elbow to care about her cauldron. Every time he reaches across her to pick up some herb or the other, she freezes. Fifteen minutes in, Severus is done with his potion and Slughorn claps loudly, praising its 'near perfection'. "I'd be hard pressed to improve on this. Well done, my boy, well done. Twenty points to Slytherin!" The students clap grudgingly; Sirius just scowls. Severus looks at his cauldron without smiling and then looks up at Lily. Potter turns around at that exact moment and catches their silent exchange, his face stony. He goes back to his potion. Severus busies himself with cleaning up his counter. Lily suddenly wants to laugh at how absurdly typical this is. Instead she bites her lip and gets to work.

Ten minutes later she's done and Slughorn is thumping her back loudly. "Well done Lily! It is perfect! I was wondering why you hadn't finished with yours yet. Very well, twenty points to Gryffindor. Off you go!"

The class claps a teeny bit louder this time; Mary smirks at Lily. Lily smiles at the professor as she thanks him and quickly cleans up her side of the table. She's dying to get out of there and barely even looks at a wildly gesticulating Mary. Potter looks up just in time to see the back of her head making its way to the door. He looks down at his cauldron again. He doesn't see her turn around to look at him just before she leaves.