Chapter Three:
The First Weekend
Most of Lily's first week at Hogwarts, had been spent being told that this year was the most important year of her life. The Professors seemed to like scaring their pupils into thinking that if they didn't work hard enough, that they would end up working for the Night Bus. However, something like this didn't worry Lily, as she was a very able student, especially when it came to charms.
However, today was Sunday and this meant that one week was about to finish and another was about to start. Whilst most of the students were enjoying the end of the summer weather, Lily, Roxy and Vicky were all inside the Gryffindor common room.
Each of the girls had a small book in front of her and a large feathery quill. Vicky was eagerly listening to what Lily had to say but Roxy was staring out of the window, her eyes full of boredom.
Lily rested her hands on her hips. "Roxy. Did you hear any of what I just said?" she asked as pleasantly as she could.
"Yeah—Mondays are Transfiguration preparation days," she stated in her defense.
Lily pouted slightly. "All right. Now on a Sunday we—"
"—Go outside have a nice rest and prepare for the week ahead of us?" Roxy asked hopefully.
Vicky giggled. "Actually, I think Lily thought it would be best, to use it as a day to spend revising everything over the week—but I like your theory better," she told Roxy.
"Thanks for the support, Vic," Lily moaned. "All right—but don't you dare say it's too soon. You heard what the Professors kept telling us."
Roxy nodded. "You know what, Lily? If you weren't head girl and my best friend," she added, 'I would have gone long by now."
"Oh, thanks. You could have at least called me your friend first," the two girls burst into a fit of giggles and Vicky watched them wearily.
"I hate to tell you this, Lily," she stammered, "but your real best friend," she joked, "has just entered the building."
Both Lily's and Roxy's eyes snapped towards the open portrait space. Standing in the doorway with his hands on the beams was Sirius Black; already in the room were Remus Lupin and James Potter. Sirius jumped as the portrait began to close on him.
"Hello, ladies," he said, a huge smirk balanced on his face. Lily tried hard not to laugh. "Now. Why would three," James coughed and it seemed to be to make sure that Sirius was keeping his eyes well away from Lily, "pretty things like yourselves," Sirius continued, "be inside and not enjoying the sunshine?"
Lily was about to answer what appeared to be another Sirius chat up line but Roxy did so first. "Well," she began, "I wanted to but Lily seems to think that we need to start building up revision time tables," she gestured to the small books that Lily and Vicky had been writing in, her own was left neglected on the table.
"Avery good idea," one of the boys said and Lily had assured herself that it had been Remus. She looked up for a moment and realised that the scrawny Remus, was busily talking to Vicky. "Get it made now and you won't have to do it later," he added.
"You miss my point, James," Lily looked disappointed as Roxy spoke. "She actually wants us to start revising," Roxy rolled her eyes and stood up to walk towards James and Sirius.
"Okay—now that is a bit excessive," James looked down at Lily and her eyes squinted, slightly hurt and he appeared to have realised. "So that's the secret of Lily Evans' ability to pass all of her exams with flying colours," he began. "Start revising before you have even learnt the topics," he gave Roxy a nudge.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Lily asked, apparently still unhappy with James and ignoring the fact that Roxy had mouthed something that looked very much like, 'please save me,' to the two standing boys.
Remus had now sunk into the couch opposite and appeared to be pleased about being far away from the suns hot rays. Lily was glaring at Sirius, who appeared to be watching Vicky interestedly, as she sat bent over her notebook and Roxy was whimpering playfully, beside the window.
For a second, Lily's face relaxed because James had wondered towards the portrait hole. She was about to question Remus about a particularly interesting topic that had been brought up in History of Magic on Tuesday but found herself being ignored, as James had started to speak.
"Right then," he exclaimed playfully, "who wants to come outside with me and actually enjoy themselves?" he asked sheepishly, emphasising his final words.
Roxy wasted no time and was by James' side in seconds. "Reporting for duty," she joked, "I have a earning to have some fun," she saluted her friend.
"Maybe you should have some earning for some learning," Lily mumbled under her breath, highly unimpressed with the fact her best friend would rather go outside, than to take revision tips from her.
"So—is that all?" James inquired, pouting his lips sadly and looking across at Lily.
"No," Vicky said suddenly, "I could do with a break—sorry, Lily," she added quickly.
By this time, Sirius had joined his mate's right hand side and Remus—sighing slightly—had also stood up and wondered over to the portrait hole. As Vicky stepped over the gap that the swung-back portrait had left, Lily could see that she had been defeated and joining them outside would be her only form of company.
As lily rested her quill on the table, making sure that the nib was hanging over in the air, she stood up and brushed her skirt slightly. All of the students except for Roxy, were now on the other side of the portrait, waiting to see if Lily would join them.
Roxy, apparently aware that Lily was getting ready to come with them, crossed her arms. "Will you hurry up? The time it's taking, we'll be waiting for you until spring," she moaned and there was a distinctive giggle from the other side of the portrait, supplied by Vicky.
"I'm coming," Lily replied, stepping over towards her friend. They both climbed out of the portrait hole together and Lily made a point of crossing to Roxy's left so that she wasn't beside James, he looked crestfallen but said nothing.
They walked gingerly down the hallway and down two flights of stairs until they reached the main entrance of the school. The main doors were so large; that it was easy for them to all walk out at the same time. Roxy looked relieved, as she took in a deep smell of the air as they wondered passed the courtyard.
Lily also seemed to smile to herself, as the six students walked towards the bank beside the lake. Peter, who appeared to have been waiting for them, scampered over to greet them, with what appeared to be a timid smile at Lily.
James eyed him suspiciously but realised that his silliest friend was no competition. "What have you been up to, Peter?" he asked curiously.
"Oh," the smallest boy mumbled, "nothing much—just scanning the horizon."
Everyone turned to look to see where Peter had been standing and when they looked in the direction that he had been previously looking, they could see that it faced the school bins. James snorted and even Remus couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle, Sirius patted Peter on the back and the three girls seemed completely deluded.
Sirius led the party of students to a shaded area of the bank and fell down into a seated position. He winced slightly, as he pulled a stone from beneath his bum and tossed it into the nearby waters. The others sat down in the same general area as he had done and each of them, ventured into his or her own thoughts.
Lily enjoyed the simplicity of silence but apparently, the two raven-haired boys, could not appreciate its delicacies and so had begun an argument. Lily however, managed to keep their voices shielded from her thoughts and was only brought back to reality when she received a short nudge from Roxy.
"Hey, dream girl," Roxy was stopped by Lily before she poked her again, "so you are alive," she added with a smile.
"James was ready to do CPR," Vicky said curiously, waiting for Lily's reply.
"I'd be amazed if he could even spell it," Lily said rather horribly.
James shouted suddenly. "Hey, what gives?" he asked, facing Lily with his cheeks slightly dented. "I've been nice to you today. Surely you have forgiven me about that little prank on Monday?" he said but sounded unsure.
It was true; James was being strangely polite to her today. "Of course I have," Lily stated, seeing Roxy shoot her a blinding glare, "but your intentions are never good, Mr Potter," she let out a huge sigh of air.
James replied quickly, "that's not true."
Everyone was now watching the two bickering seventeen year olds. Sirius seemed greatly entertained by the proceedings and Peter, who was beside him, watched with mild interest. Roxy appeared angry but at the same time, slightly pleased and both Remus and Vicky were biting onto their bottom lips.
Lily's fiery temper began to take the best of her and the usually sedated girl stood up. "Name one nice thing you have ever done for me, that wasn't an attempt to get me to go out with you," she moaned in a loud voice.
He stood up and she seemed unnerved by the fact he was almost looking down on her, not across at her. "I got you roses," he mumbled.
"On valentines day, last year—in an attempt to lure me to the boys dormitories," she glared.
"Chocolates—I sent you chocolates for your birthday," he argued.
"Chocolates that screamed out your name, every time I bit into one," James appeared to look defeated.
"Lilies. I got you lilies," he informed her," Lily stood back slightly and it showed that she was unsure of what he was talking about. "The day we finished our OWL's," he attempted to remind her.
Lily had no recollection of ever receiving any flowers on that particular day from James. "No, you didn't," she lowered her voice slightly.
James looked angry. "Yes I did. I think that I would remember if I sent you flowers or not," he glared up at the sun for a moment and sneezed surprisingly.
"Don't do that—you'll boil your eyes behind those glasses," she informed him, forgetting that she had meant to shout at him again.
"Oh," he stated, "like you care?"
"Okay—I was just trying to be a bit nicer but I guess that's just beyond me. Maybe you should just forget that I even exist because there is no way that I would ever go out with you. Surely you get that by now," she shouted.
"You know what, Lily?" he growled slightly but his anger did not seem to be shielding his hurt. "There would have been only one good reason for me to have kept my eyes and now even that one creature has turned from the petal into the thorn," he began to pace himself away from her.
For a moment, Lily had been generally impressed by what he had said. It was poetical and beautiful, that was until she realised that he meant her.
Roxy stood up quickly and started to run after James, "James!" she shouted his name as she left and Peter quickly jumped up to follow as well.
Sirius stood up and glared at Lily angrily. "Now you've gone and done it," he moaned at her. "He's going to lock himself in the broom cupboard and not talk to anyone, again," he added and Lily felt slightly guilty. It was the same thing that happened every time. She secretly thought that he enjoyed the attention but it only happened when she was involved.
Eventually, Lily was left standing on the grass with her face emotionless. Remus and Vicky both stood up and looked unsure whether they should speak to Lily or even ask her if she was okay. Lily shook her head after a while and then rolled her eyes.
"He'll grow out of it," she said uncertainly.
"You've been saying that for years, Lily," Vicky reminded her friend.
Remus coughed slightly. "I should go and see if James is okay," he mumbled, somewhat defensively. "But, Lily," he began timidly, "why did you lie about those flowers?" he continued to ask, showing that he was quite shocked by Lily's untruth.
Lily looked slightly hurt. One thing that she had never been was a liar. "Remus. You know me well enough that I would never lie—even to James," she informed him, "I honestly never received any lilies from him," she added.
Remus nodded and Lily understood that he believed her and in her eyes, Remus was the important friend. She couldn't care less if James Potter didn't like her, good ridden, in her mind. It would mean that he wouldn't stalk her every movement or pause to declare his love for her, at any god-given moment.
Remus had finally left and Lily was left standing beside Vicky, who appeared to be troubled by the proceedings. She appeared to want to tell Lily something but her face changed to show that she had decided against it. Lily took a quick, last-look at the lake and then turned back to her only remaining friend.
"So," Lily began, "shall we head back to the common room?" she asked.
"If you would like to," Vicky replied and Lily instantly began to walk back towards the school, without a reply
As they walked past the broom cupboard and into the school, Lily couldn't help but feel slightly responsible that James' friends were banging on the door to try and tempt him out. They continued to walk down the hallways and up towards the Gryffindor common room. Lily did not speak, as she was trying to persuade herself that James was just attention seeking and that he was not really as upset, as he was making himself out to be.