Being friends with James Sodding Potter was bloody impossible, Lily decided as she stormed past a group of giggling first years, shaking a gloop of frogspawn that was still somehow attached to her hand, onto the floor. How had she ever convinced herself that it was in any way a sane thing to do, accepting his friendship? Was she barking mad? 'Would it be to bold of me to ask?' Yes. Yes it would Potter. Okay, so maybe she was overreacting a touch, but what kind of friend thinks it would be funny to launch an entire tub of frogspawn across the potions classroom. Not a good friend thats for sure. And Sirius and Peter just thought it was so hilarious, as she had stood humiliated in front of the entire class, dripping in stinking slime. Reaching her dorm, Lily wasted no time beelining straight for the bathroom, ignoring Mary (who luckily managed to avoid taking potions and had a free period) and slammed the door shut. It was only when she had used up her entire bottle shampoo, and most of Dorcas' soap, that Lily finally emerged from the bathroom, firmly wrapped in a fluffy towel, feeling clean and much less disgruntled.
'Please just kill me.' Lily sighed as she flopped onto her bed, arm dramatically flung over her brow.
'I'm not sure if I want to know what an earth happened to you, but lets just say I'm glad I didn't take potions this year if it requires you to wear the ingredients.' Mary replied without so much looking up from the magazine she was pondering.
'Yes, well fortunately for the majority of the class, they weren't bonkers enough to call themselves friends with Potter, therefore they all avoided the embarrassment that comes with that title.' Mary stayed quiet for a moment before finally turning her attention from her article to Lily, who was now perched on the end of her bed.
'I've always found that being friends with James usually tends to achieve the opposite result , call it immunity if you will. Besides I'm struggling to find a logical reason as to why he would sabotage his newfound friendship with you?' Mary cocked her head to one side, trying to catch Lily's eye.
'He "tripped" apparently. On air.' With a roll of her eyes Lily stood to dress herself in a fresh uniform. Unfortunately potions was the period before lunch that Friday, so as much as she didn't want to, she still had a class to attend. The only perk of this was that it was Arithmacy, a Potter free lesson, meaning that Lily stood a good chance at avoiding the boy for the rest of the day.
'Hey girls." The two occupants of the room looked up at the arrival of Marlene.
'Whats your excuse for ditching potions?' Lily enquired, doing up the last buttons of her blouse and straightening her tie.
'I just had to gossip with someone and I couldn't do it with Dorcas because she was on the other side of the room flirting with Jeremy Stunt and who am I to interrupt that. Besides there were fifteen minutes left, I just told Sluggy that I wasn't feeling well.'
Ignoring the slightly outraged looks from the other girls, Marlene made herself comfortable on the end of Mary's bed.
'That is the most ridiculous reason to skip a lesson Marlene Mckinnon!' Lily exclaimed as she squeezed herself onto the little remaining space of mattress. ' We have lunch in ten minutes, couldn't you wait until then.' she finished with what she hoped was a stern look.
'No I couldn't because you won't be alone at lunch and he's going to try and talk to you, which lets be honest is probably going to backfire so I wanted to get to you first. Now listen up.' With a shake of her head and a 'go on then' Lily lent back against the head board waiting to hear this oh so important news.
'Okay, so after you'd stormed out of the classroom and the laughter died down, 'cause I'm sorry Lils it was kind of funny, James was fuming, honestly the way he rounded on Sirius and Peter, I mean I was scared for them.'
'But why would he round on those two if he tripped? Yeah they were laughing but so was everyone else?' Lily interrupted.
'Unless…' Mary chipped in, sitting up straighter.
'No, no, no I'm telling the story McDonald, pipe down.' Marlene flapped her hand in the other girls direction before continuing on.
'So James was all 'you idiot' and Sirius was all ' I don't know James, your the one who looks like an idiot.' and then James sort of lunged at him and said a few choice words which I will not bestow on your innocent ears. James then says 'Why would you do that' which I think is bizarre because he's the one that tripped, but then it dawned on me, James didn't trip.' she finished this statement as if she had dropped a massive bombshell on the girls.
'What do you mean he didn't trip, of course he tripped.' Lily exclaimed. Marlene gave and exasperated 'gah' and threw her hands up in the air.
'Merlin Lily, you're meant to be the bright one. Yes he 'tripped', but he didn't trip.' Marlene rolled her eyes as Lily only stared blankly back at her.
'It was a jinx Lily, Merlin, Sirius sent James a tripping jinx, hence why the whole frogspawn down the face incident even occurred in the first place. Sirius' defence was that he didn't realise that frogspawn would fly that far across the room, apparently you were just 'in the way' as he put it.'
'In the way, In the WAY. He shouldn't of even been jinxing people in the first place. I should give him detention, in fact, I think I will.' Lily stood up, ready to storm down to the great hall and give Black a piece of her mind. In the way, how dare the insufferable, immature toe rag even say that, in the way indeed, she'd make him in the way.
'Too late for that Lily, Slughorns beaten you to it, gave James and Sirius detention tonight for 'aggression and foul language'. So anyway thats why I wanted to get to you first, before you went all batshit crazy on James, because really it's not his fault, and you guys have been doing so well.'
Lily thought back to all the laughs in the common room, the study sessions in the library and the banter over dinner. Marlene was right, Potter and her had been getting on well over the past few weeks, it had been a refreshing change to the usual dynamic. Was she really ready to backtrack after one accident? Everyone would be expecting her to, she was sure of it, why else would Marlene rush to straighten things out? She remembered the flash of panic that crossed his face when he had seen where the frogspawn had landed, he was waiting for her to lash out at him, and why wouldn't he, that was their thing, he did something stupid and she would shout. Well not today, she thought stubbornly, today she was going to prove them all wrong.
'Look I'm not going to go 'batshit crazy' on him okay, it was just and accident, I mean the spawn could have landed on anyone.' Lily said as she reached for her book bag and cloak ignoring the surprised looks on her friends faces.
'That's very mature of you letting them off the hook Lily.' Mary patted Lily on the shoulder as she passed through the door and out onto the stairwell, Marlene following, nodding in agreement.
'Oh I'm not letting them off the hook, just Potter. Sirius on the other hand, I'll get him back.' She said smugly as they crossed the common room and climbed through the portrait hole.
The journey down to lunch consisted of the girls coming up with elaborate and quite frankly ridiculous ways to get back at Sirius, and it came as a shock to the Marauders, who were expecting glaring daggers, to see the group of girls entering the Great Hall in fits of giggles. As Marlene and Mary made their way past the Marauders to Dorcas, Lily was sprung with a burst of inspiration. She could see out of the corner of her eye the wary look she was receiving from Potter and Remus, she could see how Potter made to get out of his seat and the way Remus put a restraining hand on his arm. Black however was blissfully unaware, back to her and shovelling his lunch into his fat mouth. She knew this was her chance. With a quiet 's'cuse me' to bunch of third years, she leant over and picked up the fullest jug of pumpkin juice she could find. She then strolled down the length of the table and just as she came to the Marauders she upturned the contents of the jug over Blacks head. With a clattering of cutlery and a 'what the fuck' Sirius spun in his chair to see who had just dowsed him in the sticky liquid.
'Oh sorry Black, you were just… in the way.' Lily said in a sickly sweet voice, a giant fake smile plastered on her face, and with a quick wink in the others direction she sauntered off to her friends who were rolling around with laughter along with the majority of the Gryffindor table. Only when she was sat down and helping herself to a jacket potato did she dare a glance back to the boys. Peter was mock reenacting the incident whilst Remus laughed on at Sirius' disgruntled attempt at cleaning himself up. Potter however was looking right at her with a bemused expression on his face. Before she could stop herself Lily sent him a little wave, with a bright smile, and the warm feeling she got when he sent a thumbs up in return stayed with her for the rest of lunch.
With the luncheon hour coming to an end, the group of girls, who had had quite the entertaining time taking the micky out of Sirius, went their separate ways to their respective afternoon classes. Giving Dorcas a final 'see you later' as her friend took the staircase to the divination tower, Lily continued on her own down the corridor that would take her to Arithmacy. She arrived early, the classroom still locked from the lunch break, so Lily leant back against the wall opposite and waited for her classmates to join her. Remus was the first to arrive, and her only friend in this particular class.
'I have to say Lily, that was quite the lunch time entertainment, thank you.' Remus greeted her with a mock bow earning an eye roll and a laugh in return.
'He had it coming, although I have to ask, should I be expecting retaliation anytime soon, if so I'd appreciate some fair warning.' Lily asked, half jokingly, half serious. It had occurred to her that Sirius may attempt to get her back when half way through lunch she had caught him glaring at her from across the table.
'Nah, you're good, deep down he knows he deserved it, although I wouldn't be surprised if he gave you the silent treatment for a while, I think you bruised his ego, especially with Emily Lockwood laughing at him.' Emily Lockwood was a popular 7th year, and it wasn't a surprise to hear that this would cause Sirius embarrassment, as she had captured the hearts of most of the upperclassmen boys with her curvaceous figure and pretty face.
'Well that boy needed to be knocked down a peg or two, so I'm glad I could be of assistance' Lily laughed as Remus nodded in agreement with a snigger of his own.
'However, more surprising than you dumping a jug of pumpkin juice on our friends head, you didn't shout at James?' Well he doesn't beat around the bush Lily thought to herself, avoiding Remus' questioning stare and instead focusing on the arrival of the professor and making her way to her assigned seat. Remus sat himself down next to her but instead of following suit and taking his parchment and books out he just continued to stare, waiting for an answer.
'What, no comment?' he pushed, giving her a cheeky grin. Lily who was busying herself flipping through the pages of her textbook trying to find the one her professor had written on the blackboard, replied as nonchalant as she could manage.
'I had every intention of giving him a piece of my mind, but after Marlene made it clear that it was an accident on his part, there really wasn't any reason to.' She smoothed out the binding of her book and began diligently taking notes on the topic assigned. 'And anyway…' she continued before Remus could begin to respond. 'I don't see why your bringing it up, do you want me to shout at him, surely he's happy that I didn't so can't we leave it at that.' It made Lily feel awkward when her friends pressed the topic of Potter, she wasn't sure why but she always felt more comfortable when the conversation moved on.
'Oh he's happy alright, counting himself right lucky, dodged a spell there. We were all just a little surprised that's all, it wasn't the reaction we were anticipating. Honestly the glare you gave him in potions. I was scared for my life let alone his.' Remus joked, finally following Lily's suit and beginning the class assignment. Before Lily was able to reply though, she heard a stern 'Mr Lupin, Miss Evans, lunch break is over and therefore your conversations must be over, now please take notes from page 74. In silence.'
'And don't think I missed that little wave and thumbs up interaction Lily Evans.' Remus whispered as he turned back to his parchment. The flush that spread across Lily's face had little to do with being reprimanded by a professor.
After that the class dragged on at an annoyingly slow pace, as if it knew the students within were eager to begin their weekend. Lily always found it hard to concentrate in this particular period, with it being late January the night came crawling in early, and the dark sky and candle lit classroom always made her feel drowsy. When the bell rang she was the first to stuff her work books back in her bag and practically raced out of the classroom. She wouldn't admit it but she was hoping to get a head start on Remus, with the aim of avoiding more Potter talk, but it was to no avail, as his long legs easily caught up with her. Thankfully he seemed to have gotten bored of their earlier topic and instead made idle chit chat about what he hoped was for dinner. The lazy chatter continued until they were all the way back at the common room.
'Circe is not one of the best chocolate frog cards Lily, I'm sorry but we are going to have to disagree. ' Remus said with an exasperated sigh as he held the portrait open for her to climb through. The warmth of the common room flooded through her as they made their way to the usual sofas by the fire.
'Maybe not but I like her method, turning sailors into pigs, it's got a nice touch, I'm inspired.' Lily joked as she plopped down in a plush armchair and kicked off her shoes.
'Hey Evans can I have a word?' It was Potter, he'd loosened his tie and his shirt was untucked, the top few buttons undone. Another New Years flash back came to her, of him stood in the doorway to his father office, roguish grin on his face and in a similar state of dress. The Potter in front of her now was looking uncharacteristically awkward, shifting from foot to foot, she noticed his jaw clenching. Remus excused himself, leaving the two alone by the fire place, Lily in the armchair and Potter stood uncomfortably behind the back of the sofa. Lily gave a nod towards the sofa, and watched as he sat down, leaning forward so he was resting his arms on his knees, leaning towards her with a serious look on his face.
'So about earlier, look, I'm really sorry.' He started.
'Oh, Potter honestly, it really doesn't matter…' Lily cut in, trying to assure the agitated boy in front of her.
'No it does matter, I'm so mad at him for it and I'm sorry that you got in the way of him being a git.' Potter continued on, his jaw clenching again in a way that was becoming very distracting to Lily. 'I just don't want you to have that opinion of me you know, I don't pull those kind of stunts anymore.' In that moment it hit her just how much Potter was trying to prove to Lily that he'd changed, that he wanted this friendship to work. She experienced a brief flicker of self-loathing, how must she have come across to him and others over the years for him to be so ready for her to pull the plug and call it quits over one mistake. Then she remembered how she had felt earlier, when she had done just that and questioned the friendship before she even knew the truth of the situation. Lily found she was quite embarrassed of herself and was all of a sudden very desperate to assure Potter that they were fine.
'It was an accident, really I'm not mad at you, it wasn't even your fault for God's sake' she said with a chuckle. 'If I'm annoyed at anyone it's Sirius for being a massive prat, but hey what else is new. Seriously James, we're good.' She hadn't even realised she'd said it until she saw him pull back slightly a flicker of shock, before a cosmic grin crossed his face. Oh bloody hell Lily, she thought. She half expected him to comment on it, but apparently James Potter was full of surprises recently as instead he chose to gloss over the use of his first name.
'Well I think you got Sirius back alright.' he said with a chuckle, running his hands through his hair. ' He's going to be sour about that for days, honestly you got him good, it takes a lot to embarrass that kid. I'm just glad I wasn't on the receiving end of that one.' He laughed again, and Lily joined him.
'Oh don't, I'm kind of embarrassed myself, It was pure impulse I swear and so immature.' Lily buried her head in her hands in mock despair.
'Don't be it was brilliant, I was truly inspired.' he put a hand on his heart beaming like a proud teacher. 'And the comment, wow that really topped it off, slightly petty but it worked.' Lily let out a giggle and whilst Potter had his usual roguish grin back.
'James, we have detention.' Speak of the Devil Lily thought as Sirius descended the dorm stairs and stood behind the sofa that James resided.
'Ah Sirius, you're looking lovely and clean' Lily said sweetly as James let out a snort of laughter.
'Bugger off Evans' Sirius grumbled as he turned back to James. 'Come on Prongs hurry up, I want to get this over with.' and with that he turned round and began his way to the portrait hole. James shook his head and with a 'see you around Lily' he followed his friend to detention. Lily smiled in the direction that the two boys had left and couldn't help but think to herself that maybe being friends with James Sodding Potter wasn't that impossible after all.