3 - When things get started.
"So where are we going?" Lily asked the boy before her.
"To the head dorms." He responded absently, his hand reaching for his mussed hair as his wand swept a path of light beyond.
"Patently. I got that much,"she rolled her eyes. "But where are they? How come Dumbledore saw fit to tell you and not me?"
"Because Dumbledore has been responsible for not expelling me every time I've been somewhere in the school at a time I am not supposed to be there. It is reasonable to assume that confidence in my ability to find my way around the school is not misplaced, since I have spent so much of the past six years running around it in minimal light."
"How very responsible. Dumbledore should throw you out as soon as possible." Lily replied nastily.
"I have tried to change." James told her in a resigned voice. They walked in silence, only hearing the sound of their footsteps as they trod softly on worn carpets, floorboards and stone floors, and the occasional creak as a curious suit of armour turned to look at them.
A ghost appeared suddenly from a wall, causing Lily to shriek and fall daintily into James's arms. They were strong arms, she noted, with well-formed muscles from Quidditch, and the muscles on his torso were also defined, because floating around on a broomstick is guaranteed to give any boy great abs. He also smelled nice - a musky scent of cologne. She pushed herself off him, turning pink in the dark, and they were silent for several minutes more, until Lily punctuated the quiet air:
"This is taking ages. Why is it so far from the Gryffindor tower?" Lily asked as they passed a loudly snoring portrait.
"Because not all heads are from Gryffindor." James explained patiently (but with obvious arrogance). "It's just at the other end of this corridor. I doubt you've ever been up here." indeed, Lily had not ventured into this part of the school before. It suddenly became apparent exactly why Dumbledore saw fit to give James the instructions. Not that she planned on admitting this aloud.
"It's miles away from the great hall. I'm going to have to leave ten minutes earlier for breakfast. I suppose it's near enough to arithmancy though, and the astronomy tower - although that isn't any use since astronomy isn't one of my NEWT options." Lily half expected him to make a quip about putting the astronomy tower to better use, as some romantically-minded pupils did, but he merely said-
"I can show you a quick way down to the great hall."
"Yet you didn't see fit to use it tonight."
"Well no. It's a bit one-way, and I thought you would rather acquaint yourself with the mainstream way before learning the shortcuts. They get quite dark at night." She did not reply to this. She was very uncomfortable with the dark, unlike him, and glad that here at least there was the occasional moonlit window and candle as well as the wand light. James had stopped suddenly at a small portrait, no bigger than an A4 piece of muggle paper. "This is so remote, I doubt there's much chance my friends will find me here." James commented, rummaging in his pockets for the slip of paper with the password on it. The hound that had been asleep in the painting awoke at the sound of his voice, and stood with a slowly waving tail. The fox it had been sleeping next to lay with its chin resting on its paws, but looked at Lily through dark intelligent eyes. (A/N What to choose for the portrait? Decisions, decisions. Perhaps a painting of the first heads, who fell in love of course, or the school founders, or maybe something 'meaningful'.)
"I thought you were like brothers," she mused.
"I'm sure you don't want to spend all of your time with your sister. Okay, I've got it." James told her, adjusting his glasses. "Pride of Gryffindor." Lily gaped at the painting as it expanded to the size of a piano. The fox turned and disappeared down the now enormous hole behind it. To Lily's shock, her hand was suddenly in James' and he was tugging her down the hole after the fox. She let out a brief squeal, before she found herself landing on James' knee atop a long sofa. (A/N Oh, heart-fluttering moment!) She scrambled off quickly, heart thumping, and busied herself with looking around the room they were now in.
It was a vast room in red and gold tones (A/N Obviously), with an enormous set of red silk curtains, presumably covering a large window, on the wall to their right. In the wall opposite this was a fireplace big enough to roast a hippogriff, should they feel the need, and two magnificent red sofas in front of it, with a large table between them. The third sofa in the room was the one they had landed on, placed below a portrait of a forest floor with a hole in it, which was undoubtedly paired with the fox and hound picture they had stepped into. They had fallen out of it and onto the sofa, and the same intelligent fox was standing watching them. The wall opposite had several portraits, accompanied by two regal oak doors with their names carved in the lintel. What Lily noticed last about the room, but which delighted her most, were the filled bookshelves on either side of the fox painting. She let out a little 'Oooooooooh!' of delight, and floated to examine the bindings. After a minute had passed, she noticed James watching her with a smile.
"I'm just going to see my room. And sleep. Shall we meet here tomorrow morning?"
"Why?"
"I thought you didn't know the way."
"Oh. No. I don't. Yeah, okay. Erm, thanks." (A/N note how Lily is randomly incapable of speech.)
"That's okay. Goodnight Lily." He turned and disappeared through his door. The kindled a curiosity in Lily, and she immediately paced the distance to her door.
Her room exceeded all expectations. It was exactly how she had always imagined her perfect bedroom - large and airy, with drawn lacy lavender curtains, a deep pile purple carpet and an enormous four-poster bed hung in lavender silk. Everything was purple or white, with pretty paintings of flowers on the walls and aesthetic knickknacks with frilly bits. There was also an enormous walk in wardrobe, which dwarfed Lily's limited collection of clothing. Suddenly taking note of another door, Lily entered it, discovering a large marble bathroom on the other side. The bath was a swimming pool, and the shower was a glass-encased waterfall. The toilet was a throne. It was all splendid, until Lily realised - horror of horrors - that the head boy also had a door to this bathroom suite, and there were no locks! This would, of course, lead to many inevitable embarrassing and yet scintillating meetings with the head boy who she did not fancy. (A/N Clearly, it was impossible for the accomplished head girl to use a simple locking charm.) She ran back into her room, and flung herself upon the bed with a happy squeak of delight.
The next morning, Lily rose early and was ready with plenty of time to spare. 'I wonder if Potter is ready yet.' She thought disapprovingly, opening her door to find that, surprisingly, he was.
"Shall we go?" He said promptly, and she nodded in faint bewilderment as he turned to the expanding portrait. She followed him down to breakfast, and by the time they had arrived, it was evident that most of the school had also.
"I thought you were going to show me a short cut." She stated in irritation.
"I forgot." He told her lamely, before she stalked off to meet her friends. In truth, he thought as his eyes misted over dreamily, he had not forgotten. In truth, every second with Lily Evans was precious.
"Oi, Prongs!!" Sirius yelled, a bit of bacon flying from his mouth as the surrounding females swooned with delight.
"Hey Sirius." James replied distantly. He went to join his best mate at the Gryffindor table, where he proceeded to scarf down breakfast in a revolting fashion, as Sirius and Peter were doing. Remus, of course, was too gentlemanly. Lily noted this gentlemanlike behaviour with approval at the same time as she observed the disgusting behaviour of his friends. If only he could have been head boy, rather than revolting Potter, who could not even discipline his own masticating, let alone other students. At this moment she was distracted by Professor McGonagall handing her a new timetable, which she perused with anticipation. That she had been distracted at such a moment was lucky, for had she not been she would have noticed a sudden addition to the ranks of students in the hall, as a girl in her own year entered.
This girl was not one of Lily's friends, oh no. She was a tall, glamorous, willowy blonde of excessive beauty. (A/N They're always blonde. I'm blonde. I'm not sure whether to feel perturbed or gleefully delighted.) Her eyes were vast and icy blue, with long dark eyelashes that seemed to dance erotically as she blinked. Her lips were large and begging for plenty of kisses. Her complexion was pale and flawless. Her curves somehow managed to shine through the unflattering Hogwarts robes, causing all boys around to sigh pathetically. She was a rich pureblooded Slytherin, her name was Summer Winters and Lily Evans was her worst enemy. In fact, thought she with a sinister smile, Lily would be dead were it not for the fact that Lily was uglier than her. Lily was the one thing that stood between her and What She Wanted, which was James Potter. He was perfect for her- good-looking, rich, pureblooded and... and currently eating his morning meal in an utterly uncouth manner! But that didn't matter. She would go out with him, and marry him and change all his nasty little imperfections, such as the fun-loving personality which made him an endearing character.
She sauntered over to afore-mentioned James with her hips swaying, and bent over next to him, eyelashes fluttering and a coquettish smile fastened firmly in place.
"Hey Jamie-poo. Which lessons do we have together?" She cooed.
"How should I know?" James asked her, matter-of-factly. "I'm not your secretary." Summer looked abashed for a second, before rebounding.
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooh! You do transfiguration too! And we're in the same class! With McGonagall! Don't you just hate transfiguration?"
"No, I kind of like it actually."
"Oh. But duh! Silly me! You're the top of our class! You must love it, since you ace it! Speaking of love, do you want to take me to Hogsmeade on the first Hogsmeade weekend?" She waited expectantly for an enthusiastic 'yes!', but discovered, to her chagrin, James had become distracted by a conversation with Sirius over how they could use raw bacon in a Quidditch match to their advantage. She huffed, flipped her hair and pranced away, tossing a "Bye Jamsey-wamesy!" behind her, that went unheard. Unbeknownst to her and her mortal enemy, two pairs of male eyes were fastened on Lily as she conversed with Dorcas Meadows. They were the warm hazel eyes of James Potter, and the cold, black eyes of Severus Snape, which contained both a glimmer of hope and despair.