Seeing it This Way

Disclaimer: Everything you love about this story isn't mine… but I'm going to keep writing anyway in hopes that you'll like the tales I weave as much as the characters that make them.
Author's Note: Still, I apologize for the long paragraphs. I haven't given up on trying my hand at detail with this story… but at the suggestion of some very wise readers, plot development has become a new focus for this particular chapter. As always, your opinions on my attempts (this time at both detail and plot development) would be greatly appreciated.
Vibrant emerald eyes scanned the Great Hall, for what, an expectant blonde sitting beside the owner of those lovely eyes was uncertain. As was often the case in the mornings, Lily was far less concerned with Alice's attempts at conversation than letting the familiar sounds of breakfast wash over her… and, on that particular morning, letting herself search unabashedly for whatever figure she was interested in finding.

It was springtime at Hogwarts; the last icy hand of winter had finally drawn back a few weeks before. Even as the final layer of ice and snow melted, already the beginnings of green grass and lovely flowers had replaced it. An unspoken understanding is all that left Alice content to allow Lily her moment of solitude despite the constant roar from each of the House tables.

"Alright, Evans!"

And the moment of contentment shared between the pair of friends was instantly interrupted.

Emerald eyes set on hazel as the vivacious red-haired witch glanced sideways at the intruder. Her voice was even-toned, though Alice could detect her friend's disdain from the subtle undertones, "Potter."

It had simply been her acknowledgement that the raven-haired leader of the Marauders had seated himself beside her. She'd taken only a moment to note, inwardly of course, that perhaps it could be contested that James was actually the leader of his group of friends… there was always Sirius to consider, after all. Alice's glance had drifted down the table towards the three remaining Marauders and Lily did her best to keep her expression unchanged; her standard scapegoat, and yes, that person was Alice, was currently not paying her any mind.

"Err – I've been meaning to ask for a while," he began, pausing to run a hand through his painfully unruly hair.

"No."

Alice hid the faint beginnings of a smile behind her hand as she daintily refilled her glass of pumpkin juice from a pitcher that had been situated on the table beside James' elbow. The blonde could determine all of the agitation that Lily had been trying to keep from entering her voice in just the single syllable her best friend had uttered.

Theirs was a friendship that had developed slowly over time and had deepened with the trails of growing up. It was partially due to the careful thoughtfulness each girl paid to the other and partially due to their precise understanding of one another that they could communicate so well without using words at all. For Lily Evans and Alice Walters, some of their most special memories were those that had passed in absolute silence and complete understanding; it was the kind of understanding only sisters could possess. And as far as Lily Evans was concerned, Alice Walters was the best sort of sister she could have ever asked for.

James cocked his head to the side, offering Lily a pout that might have won his way with any other girl in their school as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You didn't even let me finish, Evans!"

Lily's eyes had left James' form altogether and settled on something else across the Great Hall; it was clear that his attempts to win her over using the same tactics he'd adopted for every other girl he'd fancied before her were not even close to swaying Lily's affections. Alice bit her lower lip to keep herself from speaking in the presence of Lily's most detested enthusiast. But the blonde knew that her best friend's gaze was currently glued to the figure of Severus Snape.

Having been witness to the atrocious ending of the long-term childhood friendship between Lily and Severus, Alice understood that it was best to interpret Lily's longing gaze as one of nostalgia. She was remembering a time in the past when Severus would have crossed the distance to her table and taken the seat on her opposite side; his presence was enough to successfully bar James' proximity to Lily… effective for nearly ten feet. However, there was something different about the way her best friend's eyes didn't seem to hold the familiar sparkle Alice could always recognize as happiness and that fact alone was enough to allude there was something deeper associated with Lily's demeanor that morning.

"You're not even curious about what I wanted to ask you?" James broke through the silence and caused both of the girls to jump. Lily had completely forgotten James was still sitting beside her and Alice… well; she'd been so occupied with deciphering the look in Lily's eyes she'd tuned him out altogether. Hazel eyes flashed with a mischievous glint as the corner of his mouth turned up into his characteristic smirk, "Not even an insy, little bit?"

He'd inched closer to Lily, a devilish look in his eyes as his voice dropped so low it was nothing more than a whisper. The pair of them was close enough their foreheads were nearly touching. Alice's breath caught in her throat as she realized that, having been snapped so quickly from such a vulnerable moment, Lily seemed absolutely lost in James' eyes. Of course she knew that Lily's feelings for the infamous James Potter ran so much more deeply, were so much more complicated, were so much more a secret… she didn't hate him nearly as much as she let on. But things were quite convoluted where actually admitting to that was concerned.

"Lily, love," Alice's voice was soft as she reached across the table and took her friend's hand in her own. It had all been done quietly, so she wouldn't cause the other girl to jump and actually end up touching James Potter. "You had promised we could continue our discussion on that new Doctorow novel… Ragtime. We fell asleep discussing it last night, remember?"

Brushing a strand of her luxurious auburn hair behind her ear, Lily's eyes met her best friend's for the briefest moment in a silent 'thank you' before falling to her plate. She'd suddenly become insatiably engrossed in the task of spreading the remainder of her uneaten breakfast around the edges of the golden salver. Letting her chin fall into the palm of her hand, only to be supported by her elbow on the table, Lily was left to her task with patient deliberation. Of course she understood the weight of what James had nearly done…

Alice had expected the Marauder to leave after her comment ended his and Lily's shared moment with an awkward, persistent silence. She raised an eyebrow in response to his hazel eyes; it seemed like they were all but begging her to leave the bench opposite the scheming boy who was all-too-interested in Lily. Taking a deep breath, Alice tried to mask her concern for Lily while at the same time convincing James to kindly excuse himself from the table. Her blue eyes were kind, she'd wanted them to read naïve, as she spoke, "You'll understand, James. It would be difficult to join in on the middle of a conversation about a book you haven't read."

He seemed rather put off now, the blonde noted.

"Now, now; you've got it all wrong, Walters!" he'd raised his voice enough that several students sitting at nearby tables had turned to look at where the three of them were sitting. If he'd noticed, at all, the attention he'd drawn to them, James seemed ultimately uninterested as he continued, "If I'd have come over here to talk to you-"

But the Marauder was cut off by the handsome figure of Frank Longbottom as he asked, "Is everything alright over here?" The young man, barely an inch shorter than James, tilted his head just slightly to the side to flick his shaggy, caramel-blonde bags away from his eyes. Placing a hand gently on Alice's shoulder, Frank's kind brown eyes met Lily's enchanting emerald.

"Quite alright, indeed," Lily smiled across the table at Alice and made a note to tell her that her face had been positively scarlet when Frank had come to rescue them from James Potter. For the remainder of the endeavor, the red-head knew that she would have to carry the conversation; it was her own way of returning Alice's favor… Alice had only been interested, and that was a term to be used loosely as it could easily be replaced with obsessed-infatuated-besotted… and positively smitten with Frank Longbottom since she'd caught him reading her copy of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe before the Christmas holidays.

'Oh! It was a Muggle book, love!' she'd mused in the privacy of their dormitory with the curtains drawn around her four poster bed as the two girls huddled together over the latest copy of Witches Weekly. She was positively aglow when she admitted, 'It's just that he's my favorite Muggle author you've ever had me read… and Frank did look like he was enjoying it so! I just couldn't take the book away.'

James tried his best to seem relatively unaffected by the arrival of Frank, however his hazel eyes made it quite clear that he was less than pleased the seventh year prefect had been invited into the girls' little heart-to-heart while he had been so rudely excluded. Clearing his throat, he rose easily from the bench on which he had been seated and was careful to remain unheard as he placed a hand on Lily's shoulder. Leaning over, he whispered so that only she could hear, "When you're ready to stop playing the third wheel to Walters and Longbottom, you know where to find me. Oh, and Sirius admitted he's finally willing to return that pair of panties he stole from you."

Lily's cheeks flushed a soft shade of rose as she felt her heartbeat quicken.

"That's quite enough, Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall had appeared from nowhere at his side, though Lily highly doubted that she had just miraculously appeared there. She'd made her way down from the head table. The look in her grey eyes was persuasive enough, it seemed, because James simply nodded his understanding and returned to take his place at the Marauder's table; but not before offering Lily another of his devilish grins. The stern figure of her professor gently touched Lily's shoulder to gather the girl's attention, though her tone was much less the harsh one it had been when she'd addressed James, "Will you please follow me to my office, Miss Evans?"

"Of course, Professor," Lily stood gracefully, adjusting her school bag comfortably on her shoulder in the same motion. She quickly glanced back down the table and caught James' longing glance; it would have been a lie to say that she hated noticing those instances when his eyes were fixed on only her.

"Oh, Lily!" Alice called. "I'll just catch up with you in the library later, then?"

The other girl just nodded her head as she followed Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall.