Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the not-very-original plot.
II. A NEW ALLY
Lily was under the impression that this particular Ancient Runes lesson was ridiculously long. She was impatiently drumming her fingers on the desk and glancing at clock every other minute, hoping that the bell would finally ring. Unfortunately it didn't help at all in focusing on the subject they were currently discussing. Ancient Runes - normally one of Lily's favourite subjects - today seemed to be unbearable. On the second thought everything seemed unbearable to her.
She rested her chin on her head and lost herself in her own thoughts. How was it possible that she was still annoyed by the unfortunate incident on Charms? After all it was only one project. Well, maybe she had such a bad luck that out of all Gryffindor students she was paired up with Potter but it wasn't the end of the world. Well, maybe it wasn't. Actually when she thought about all of the meetings, hours spent in the library and all of the other things they would have to do together it suddenly seemed like the end of the world.
Finally her thoughts were interrupted by the salutary bell ringing. Fortunately for her Ancient Runes were the last lesson today so she could just grab all her things, storm out of the classroom and run to the Gryffindor Tower.
"Mandragores" she murmured in the Fat Lady's direction who let her in although not without a great deal of complaining.
Lily just decided to ignore it. In fact she had every intention of passing the Common Room in a few steps and disappear in her dormitory for the rest of the day. Unfortunately for her plans, she suddenly noticed a pair of third years engrossed in some kind of magical duel. One of them had green hair and the other's ears were twice the normal size. Lily sighed. It was obvious that she couldn't just left them on their own since they could easily get injured. She took out her wand and with one swift move restoring the boys to their normal appearance. Then she gave them a warning and took ten points from Gryffindor. She was about to enter the stairs leading to her dormitory when three new people joined the group already occupying the Common Room. And of course they were Sirius, Peter and Remus. Lily was slightly surprised when she noticed that James wasn't with his fellow Marauders but she certainly didn't complain. She was about to continue her journey up the staircase when Sirius spotted her.
"Oi, Evans" he called from the other side of the Common Room.
She turned to him with the best glare she could muster.
"What do you want, Black?"
"No need to jump at me like that" Sirius chuckled at his own joke for which he got an elbow in the ribs from Remus. "I just wanted to ask how excited you are at the prospect of your, as I believe, successful work with our dear Prongs"
At first Lily had no idea what in the name of Merlin he was rambling about and it took her a while to realise that he meant Charms project. She momentarily became angry as he had absolutely no right to mock her like that.
"You think it's so funny, Black?" she asked in a dangerously low voice.
Sirius opened his mouth to answer her but Lily never got to know what he wanted to say as Remus chose this exactly moment to chime in.
"Enough, Sirius. Leave Lily alone. I'm getting an impression that she didn't have a lucky day today" he told his friend, at the same time dragging time to the stairs leading to their own dormitory. "Let's go find James."
Lily didn't listen to the rest of the conversation and instead run to her dormitory where she dropped her bag in the corner and jumped onto her bed. She was already angry and unfortunate meeting with the Marauders only made matters worse. She hid her face in the pillow. At least now she had some peace. Well, almost.
"Lily, everything okay?" she heard a voice from the other side of the dormitory.
Even without raising her head she knew perfectly well that it belonged to one of her best friends, Alice Prewett.
"No" she moaned into the pillow. "How could he be so cruel to do it to me?"
"Who again?"
"My uncle Brain" she replied sarcastically. "Flitwick, who else? We made me work with Potter. Oh sorry, I forgot that Potter is incapable of performing work of any kind"
"Don't you think that you're exaggerating a little bit?" her other friend, Jenny, joined the conversation. "I mean, his friends somehow don't have problems putting up with him."
Alice didn't say anything but her facial expression suggested that she thought that Lily was doing a lot of exaggeration. However, the redhead had a different opinion on the subject. She shot her friends a look full of disbelief as if they just said something crazy.
"Jenny, he's friends with Sirius Black, for god's sake. And he is just as bad."
"And what about Remus?" Alice pointed out.
"Well, he's an angel when it comes to patience" Lily replied uncertainly. "But anyone else in their right mind won't be able to work with Potter. And especially me. We're practically contradictions! We can't work together, it's just unhealthy."
"Ha!" Alice jumped on her bed and raised a finger. "And here I disagree with you. I think that you would make a perfect couple. You complement each other. He is full of crazy ideas, you rarely do something out of ordinary. He breaks the rules, you make sure other obey them. He loves Quidditch, you prefer to spend the whole days reading in the library. He…"
Her monologue was interrupted by Lily's loud groan.
"Stop! Just stop!" she put her hands over her ears, not wanting to hear any of this. "I get the point and you don't have to nag me about it. First Black, now you… What is wrong with you, people?!"
At the sound of Sirius' name Alice visibly perked up although Lily didn't even notice this as she was too busy slamming her head on the pillow in utter despair.
"And what did Black do again?"
"He was being an asshole as usual. And he called mine and Potter's work successful" Lily snorted just remembering this nonsense.
"An asshole indeed" Alice agreed with her although she was already busy thinking about something else. "Okay, Lily, however lovely it was talking about your relationship with Potter, I have a Transfiguration essay which wouldn't just write itself, would it? I'm going to the library, maybe I'll find some inspiration there. See you later and don't panic too much!"
She swung her bag over her shoulder and waved to her friends cheerfully, exiting the dorm. Jenny also lost interest in the conversation which without Alice didn't have much sense whatsoever and went back to one of her magazines. Lily just sighed again. She felt that it was going to be a very long few months.
Remus was entirely sure that he was very close to losing his patience. Maybe Sirius wasn't the most intelligent person ever but even he should know better than to undermine other people's intelligence, especially if those people were as bright as Lily. Clearly, his sudden interest in her and James's project was too suspicious for it all just to be a coincidence. Thank god, he managed to pull Sirius away from Lily before she started realising that something was wrong. He dragged his friends to the corner of the Common Room which was a secluded spot in which no one will be able to eavesdrop on them.
"Have you gone nuts, Padfoot?" he scolded Sirius the moment they were out of hearing. "Lily's not an idiot. And with you interest in this whole Charms thing she will know that we had something to do with it! And we don't want that"
Sirius made an attempt to look sorry but failed miserably.
"But her expression was priceless" he tried to defend himself. "And at least now we know what Lily's attitude to working with Prongs is"
"But I already told you that she hated him" Peter pointed out, proud of being right for once and hoping that Sirius would appreciate it."
Too bad that Sirius didn't seem to appreciate it at all.
"Wormtail" he hissed. "You're undermining my authority again and I precisely told you not to do that!"
Remus scoffed at that and shook his head. As if Sirius ever had any authority anywhere and with anyone. Especially in the moments like this when he was only unbearable.
"I'm with Peter on this one" he announced. "We knew perfectly well that Lily hates James, she always did, and everyone tried to get this idea across to you and it's not our fault that you just won't bloody listen"
"How can you say something like this, Moony?" Sirius gasped, clutching his chest. "You're breaking my heart. Not to mention that you're undermining my authority which is precisely what I told you…"
"Not to do" Remus finished for him, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."
"Oi, why do you have to be so mad? It's not like something bad happened."
Remus raised his hands to the skies.
"No, luckily it didn't. But think about the consequences. Consequences, Sirius. What if Lily figured this whole thing out and told James? He would kill us! Speaking of James, we really need to find him. Come on."
Remus decided that the best place start was their own dormitory so he headed straight there, two boys on his tail. Two boys out of which one, namely Sirius, was still complaining. The werewolf sighed, trying to compose his thoughts which with Padfoot's cries of how nobody loved him was not the easiest task. It was far too quiet in the dormitory for James to be there because the boy had a strange habit of breaking things when he was angry. And Remus didn't like that at all. Because where else could James go?
But when they opened the door to their dormitory, they discovered that James was indeed there. He stood in the middle of the mess of empty Butterbeer bottles, old pieces of parchment and various clothes and appeared to be absorbed in cleaning it all. It was so unusual that all the Marauders just stood there, mouth agape, staring at him in shock. Even Sirius stopped talking bur only for a little while.
"Prongsie!" he shouted in horror. "Are you ill?! You're cleaning! And you even made up your bed! Are you sure that you don't have a fever or anything?"
It was only then that James noticed his three friends crowded in the doorway. He turned to them with a very serious expression on his face. He was holding one of his white shirts probably picked up from the floor.
"I don't have a fever" she stated. "I have a depression"
He turned his attention to the chest of drawers and put a neatly folded shirt inside. Sirius, Remus and Peter exchanged worried glances. Remus was the first to say something.
"James" he said nicely but in a firm voice suggesting that arguing was not an option. "Sit down for a moment and tell us what the problem is."
James obediently plopped down on his bed, the long forgotten shirt still in his hands. He looked rather miserable.
"The problem is rather obvious" he stated, looking at his friends expectantly but they didn't seem to catch a hint and just stared at him blankly so he decide to be more precise. "Hello? Me and Evans? Charms project? Have you already forgotten?"
"James, you don't need to wave your hands in front of our eyes" Remus said, sounding not amused at all. "We get it. However, I think that you're exaggerating a little bit. Sure, Lily practically hates you which can makes things difficult at times but she's really not that bad. I had a patrol with her once or twice. She can be kind of… nice even."
"Nice?!" James shouted, jumping up and starting to walk around the dormitory. "Lily Evans is anything but nice! There wasn't one conversation between us which didn't end in an argument. It's her fucking redhead temper!"
Peter sympathetically patted James on the shoulder as the boy stormed past him in yet another circle around the room.
"Maybe it's not her temper but the fact she just really doesn't like you"
The comment was apparently meant to lift up James's spirits but clearly failed to do so as said Marauder only put his head in his hands and groaned. The rest exchanged worried glances.
"But Prongsie" Sirius exclaimed cheerfully, trying a different approach. "I won't say that that Evans doesn't hate you but she is kinda hot too. It is a good thing, right?"
He stopped when Remus shot him a glare clearly telling to shut the fuck up as he was not helping at all.
"You're barking mad, Padfoot" James murmured.
"And how about you make an effort, James?" Remus asked tiredly.
"An effort?" James echoed. "Like to do what? Beg for her forgiveness for whatever I did to make her hate me so much?"
"Maybe she hates because you've been asking her out every other day for fucking five years, mate?" Sirius suggested and James shot him a deathly look.
"Actually" Remus clarified dryly. "I meant making an effort to actually work with her. I know that he hates you, James, but she had a reason to… Good god, James, stop pacing! Anyway… You really used to behave like an arrogant berk in the past and even though you changed during the holidays Lily can't see it as the only thing you do is snap at her."
James finally stopped in his tracks. He considered Remus's words for a second and came to the conclusion that his friend might have a point if only he didn't choose this exact moment to add:
"Besides, apologising to her also wouldn't hurt you, James."
"No fucking way!" James shouted, clearly offended. "I'm James Potter! I don't apologise, let alone beg for anyone's forgiveness."
"Maybe an apologetic snog would be better?" Sirius suggested.
James looked at him in disbelief, every passing minute more and more convinced that his theory about Sirius being barking mad wasn't that far from the truth.
"No" Remus said in horror. "Don't do anything that Sirius's perverted mind has made up!"
"I'm not that perverted" Sirius said in defence. "There's nothing perverted about snogging. Sodding werewolf!"
His voice was so offended that it made all the others, even James, laugh out in disbelief.
"Hi, Alice"
Alice Prewett jumped up at the voice which literally came out of nowhere, disturbing her thoughts. She was standing in the middle of the corridor, trying to figure out which door led to the Marauders' dormitory. Honestly, couldn't boys put some kind of tags on them?
"I'm sorry if I scared you" the voice said again from behind her back.
Alice turned around and, just as she was expecting, stood eye to eye with Frank Longbottom. She smiled at him with that special smile reserved only for people she particularly liked and she had to admit she was quite fond of the shy sweet boy in front of her.
"Don't mention it" she replied nonchalantly with a wave of her hand. "And hello to you too, Frank."
He returned her smile.
"Anyway… can you tell me which dorm belongs to the Marauders?" she asked hopefully.
She could swear that she saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes but he very quickly hid it.
"Oh, so you came to see them" he said coldly. "It the one behind you"
"Thanks" Alice said but he had already turned on his heel and walked away.
He didn't even say goodbye to her which made Alice think if she had done anything to upset him. However, she had no idea what it might have been so she just shrugged and knocked on the door. It was Remus who answered her.
"Oh, hi, Alice, nice to see you here" he greeted her politely and indeed, he sounded as if he was pleasantly surprised by her visit. "Any particular reason you are here?"
"Actually I was hoping I could talk to Black" she said.
At the sound of his name Sirius's head suddenly appeared over his friend's shoulder.
"Did anyone just call my name?" he asked theatrically, ruffling his hair in true James Potter fashion which just made Remus and Alice roll their eyes simultaneously.
"O, Prewett" Sirius acknowledged the girl in front of him. "Do you want to go on a date with me or something? Because I know some pretty good snogging spots"
"Bet you do" Remus mattered under his breath. "Anyway, I'm going to leave you two"
Before any of them could protest, he slammed the door in their faces. Alice wasted no time to drag Sirius down the staircase and into the Common Room where she sat on one of the couches and motioned to the spot opposite her which Sirius gladly took.
"Now, will you finally tell me why you dragged me here?" he asked.
"I wanted to talk"
"Well, then you probably should have come to Moony. He's the one to talk, I'm the one to snog. Simple as that"
"Whatever you say" Alice joked but then put on a more serious expression. "Anyway, I wanted to talk about Lily"
Sirius cocked his head to the side, implying that he didn't get what Alice was talking about. What did she want from him? He didn't have any contact with Lily. The redhead seemed to have hated him since day one.
"I don't know anything about Lily" he shrugged. "You are friends with her, not me"
Alice looked at him with an amused expression and raised one eyebrow (Sirius still didn't know how she managed to do that).
"So it's a total coincidence that James and Lily are doing their Charms project together, right?"
Sirius didn't know how she managed to work out that they had something to do with it but he decided that it would be better if he didn't directly confirm that.
"Well, you're asking the wrong person" he joked. "You should go to Flitwick"
"Cut the crap, Black. I know that the three of you are up to something."
So after she knew. Sirius decided that it was too late to play dumb and time to use his personal charm to convince Alice that they were doing the right thing.
"We're not doing anything wrong. We just want to…'
"Get them together?" Alice asked in a voice which was, much to Sirius's relief, rather amused than angry.
"Please, don't tell Flitwick" he made his best puppy face at her. "It's for James's own good. And Lily's too. Really. Believe me"
Alice just smiled and shook her head.
"What makes you think that I would tell Flitwick?"
"So you won't?" he asked hopefully, suddenly hopeful again.
She nodded.
"And you won't tell Lily either?"
She nodded again and smiled even wider. It was only after a while that she spoke again.
"I won't tell anyone. But…"
Mental triumph which Sirius was experiencing suddenly died down. Maybe his persuasion skills weren't quite as good as he thought.
"In exchange you need to let me join you"
Alice is in the game! And yes, I will be focusing a little on Frank/Alice romance as they're totally adorable. Also, I'm leaving tomorrow so I won't post anything in the next few weeks :( Sorry
