Chapter Six- Noteworthy

"Oh, Evans?"

Lily scrambled up from where she'd been lying on the couch by the fireplace, staring out one of the windows in the Gryffindor Common Room. As she pulled herself hastily into an upright position, she realised who had spoken and groaned inwardly as she looked up to see James Potter. Smirking at her as he adjusted his spectacles, he came down the last step of the staircase to the boy's dormitories. His hair was as untidy as ever, sparking a twinge of annoyance in her, and he was wearing only a grey t-shirt and striped shorts in Gryffindor colours, standing barefoot on the stone.

"Oh, you," she said, still flustered from the unexpected entrance, the irritation of being near him not yet beginning to bloom. "What are you doing here? And," she added, seeing his mouth open, "don't give me that rubbish about living here or whatever."

Potter's grin widened. "You know me so well. But if you are so curious, I was just coming down to look for something. So if you'd just excuse me one second; it's rather dear to me."

For a detestable second, Lily wondered if he was going to twist that to mean her, but she quashed it quickly. No, for the month or so of school so far, he'd been quite indifferent to her, something that she felt carried on from last year's happenings. So she was quite annoyed that every time he didn't ask her out or walked past with just a smile it only served to remind her why exactly he was being so careful and… abnormal. Which she knew was silly, as reminders of Severus were everywhere, and she really should just enjoy the peace. Actually, Mary's 'word with him', as she'd described it after being poked at suspiciously by Lily, seemed to be more effective than she'd hoped. Potter and his little group seemed to have gone as far as to stop hexing random students as they passed by, or perhaps it was just not around her. It'd only been a month or so anyway, too early to tell. But she couldn't help feeling a little affronted. She wasn't that fragile that he had to tread on tiptoes around her for so long.

As all this ran through Lily's mind, she realised Potter had been crouching down and peering into all the nooks and crannies around the room, and checking all the furnishings, though he seemed to be leaving the area where she was sitting to last. His relief when he tugged out an old, silvery cloak from between the cushions of a sagging couch was palpable, and he turned and beamed at her. The cloak Potter was holding seemed to be made of a light, flowing material that rippled in his hands, and Lily frowned at it before he bunched it up in his hands.

"So," he said conversationally, moving over and dropping into the armchair opposite her, "what are you doing down here at this awfully late hour?"

He's not leaving. Why isn't he leaving?

"I was starting on that Transfiguration essay we got today, and then everyone left and it was just so quiet and nice," Lily said, shrugging.

Are you having a conversation with that prat? What are you doing? a small part of her shrieked.

Potter nodded, and there was a pause, not entirely uncomfortable. He looked kind of nervous, Lily noticed.

"Sometimes I can't believe I'm actually here," she continued, the shrieking in her head growing more panicked. "That Hogwarts actually exists, and I'm here learning magic…"

"Yes, I know," James said eagerly, leaning forward. "You hear all this brilliant stuff about it, but when I actually saw it for the first time in that little boat back in first year…" he shook his head, smiling, "wow."

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "Somehow my memory of that time was more of you and Sirius capsizing your boat and less of awe."

"Well, people have different ways of expressing wonder," he replied, waving it away unconcernedly.

"And you decided to express it by taking a swim in an icy lake inhabited by a Giant Squid?" Lily said skeptically.

Potter leaned forward as far as he could without leaving his seat, his hazel eyes boring into her emerald ones with a serious expression.

"Exactly!" he said, snapping his fingers in front of her face and breaking into a wide grin. He sprawled back against the armchair and continued grinning as Lily rolled her eyes. Her gaze fell onto the fat white glow of the moon outside and she looked back at Potter, frowning.

"Hey, Potter," she started, "is Remus okay?"

Potter's grin melded into a carefully puzzled smile. "Remus? Yeah, he's absolutely fine."

The crease between Lily's brows grew deeper, and she bit her lip as she decided what to say next.

"It's just that he looks awfully peaky even though the full moon's still a week away, and if there's anything I can do, at all –"

If James had been drinking anything, he would've spat it out, and he looked utterly shocked and confused as he managed a choked, "What?"

Lily looked at him strangely. "Remus' lycanthropy. So, I've read a few books to see if he should be showing signs this early, but of course there's not that many sources –"

"W-w-wait a minute," Potter held up a hand and peered at her incredulously. "You know about Remus? Does he know you know? Oh." He stopped suddenly, voice suddenly dead. "Did Snape tell you?"

Lily noted with satisfaction that she felt barely a twinge at the mention of his name, and then she scowled at James. "No, he didn't, though he did drop some rather obvious clues. But I'd gathered before that anyway. I mean, we've always had lunar charts in Astronomy, and your excuses are feeble." She snorted, reminiscing. "There was that one time in third year where three of you each gave a different excuse as to where he'd been."

"Wait, just stop talking, shush," Potter said, looking down at his hands and not noticing the indignation that flashed across her face. "Did you tell anyone? You can't tell anyone, at all, or –"

"Of course I didn't!" Lily burst out angrily, before quieting down with a guilty look towards the dormitories. "I'm not going to go around telling everyone, who do you take me for?"

"Right," Potter said slowly. "So Remus doesn't know that you know?" A quick shake of the head from her. "And you're okay with it?" An exaggerated nod. "Right," he repeated, running a hand through his hair.

Lily pulled up her legs and sat cross-legged, scowling at the carpet. When she heard Potter stifle a yawn, she could bear it no longer and barked out a short "Well?"

"Well what?" he said, looking startled.

"Is Remus alright?"

"Oh, oh yeah," he replied, looking relieved. "He says coupling it with school strain makes him look worse but he doesn't start feeling it until just a few days before."

"Well, good," Lily said, nodding and sinking back into silence.

It was the first real conversation that she'd had with Potter since the end of OWLs last year, though she supposed that she couldn't really call her previous exchanges with him 'conversations'.

Well, I've just had a mostly civil conversation with Potter, she thought incredulously. That's either good or extremely bad.

He didn't seem to want to continue it as he was staring at his knees with a slight frown on his face, not paying her any attention. After a few more seconds of silence, Lily shrugged inwardly and turned back towards the window, leaning her head against the couch and went back to watching the night sky, where a few stars twinkled around the light haze of clouds, and an owl would occasionally fly out or back towards the castle. But as she tried to reclaim the peaceful atmosphere, the presence to her side seemed to be pressing on her, the sound of his breaths seeming to get louder, and she couldn't help her mind drifting to their conversation. When Lily had just about had enough and was going to stand up and announce that she was going to bed, she heard Potter shift, and waited to see if he was going to leave first. But there was no voice or sound of footsteps, so she heaved a sigh and swung around to announce that, though a pleasure this had been, she need get some sleep.

And saw a sleeping Potter, head resting on the arm of the chair, his glasses crooked and feet curled under him. Lily sat there for a while, old habits dying hard as she half-expected him to crack open an eye and jump up. To see his tall figure squashed into that old armchair, she remembered what she'd once said and thought that maybe a mother could love that face, small and innocent in his sleep, after all. Then she snorted quietly and cursed the fact that she didn't have anything to capture the moment with. Lily got up quietly and was about to go when she looked at the embers of the fire, which before had cast the room in a cosy sort of orange, but were now nearly dead, leaving the room looking dark and cold. With a sigh and knowing she would regret this later, she picked up Potter's precious cloak from where it'd fallen at the foot of the armchair, and she laid it on him gently. Then she suppressed a gasp. All that remained of Potter was his still-sleeping head and shoulders, and Lily was about the go prod at the empty space where his body had been before she caught herself, thinking how the night had got to her head. Invisibility Cloak, of course. No wonder Potter didn't want to lose it,; it was probably invaluable in setting up their pranks. With a rueful shake of the head, she took it off him, thinking about how people would react if they saw half of James Potter lying there the next day. Folding up the Cloak and placing it on the armchair by his head, Lily took a blanket that was draped over one of the other couches and covered the sleeping boy with it, careful not to wake him.

As she walked up the spiral staircase towards her dormitory, she couldn't get over what she'd just done. They'd had a nice little conversation alone in the Common Room in the dead of the night, and had she just tucked him in? Lily couldn't help thinking that this was a premonition that something terrible was going to happen, in a 'make peace with your enemies before you are all smote' kind of way, and she groaned quietly, wishing for her soft bed and the oblivion of sleep.


"She what?" Remus, Sirius and Peter looked at James with identical expressions of shock as he took a swig of pumpkin juice, grinning.

Peter looked around nervously, but thankfully the subject of their conversation was not at breakfast.

"Wait," Remus said faintly, holding up a hand. "So, you had a nice little midnight chat with Lily, and she casually mentioned the fact that I'm a –" lowering his voice, "– werewolf, saying that she'd known for years and hadn't even mentioned it to me, and that she doesn't care that I'm… I'm –" he cut off, massaging his temples before turning to James with a helpless expression. "Yeah she's something. Go for it, Prongs."

James, now brandishing a sausage on his fork, pointed it at Sirius. "After which, I accidentally dozed off and she covered me up with a blanket!"

Sirius shook his head. "Bloody mental, she is."

"But Prongs," Peter said tentatively, "don't you think it might be a bit early to start asking her out again? I mean, she's warming up to you! Acting now might undo all that."

James ' grin didn't falter. "My dear Wormtail, who said anything about now? I'll wait until Transfiguration."

"That's in twenty minutes," Remus frowned.

"Brilliant," James said happily.


"You what?" Lillian squealed, and Lily winced.

They were in the currently empty Transfiguration classroom, perched on the desks. The moment Lily had seen the Marauders enter the Great Hall, she'd made a hurried excuse about homework and left, dragging Lillian along with her. Lillian was none too happy to miss out on the argument between Alice and Mary about relationships with graduated students, namely, Frank Longbottom. She'd insisted that Lily tell her why they were escaping ("We're not escaping!"), so that was how she'd found herself spilling the whole of last night's happenings, skipping over the part about Remus, to the curious girl.

"That is so cute," Lillian said with a dreamy smile on her face, "like in the movies, and when he wakes up in the morning, he sees the blanket, realises, and smiles."

"Oh, I hope not," Lily shuddered.

"He's not that bad, y'know," Lillian said slyly. "Since that verbal bashing you gave him last year, I think he's really trying to reform."

Lily gaped for a second. Could it really have slipped her mind that he might've actually listened to what she'd yelled at him? No, actually it was quite a good judgment by her brain to not even consider that point. "Reform? Not bloody likely," she snorted.

As Lillian opened her mouth with that infuriatingly knowing look, Lily cut her off with a bright smile.

"Oh look, I do believe it's time for class!"

Right on cue, the first of the N.E.W.T Transfiguration class began to trickle in, and Lily took the seat next to a disgruntled Lillian. A minute later, Professor McGonagall herself arrived along with the last few students, including (Lily was suddenly very interested in the Transfiguration text) the Marauders. Professor McGonagall was very big on punctuality, and it looked like even those four Gryffindor boys didn't want to risk her wrath this year. As the last student hurried into their seat, Professor McGonagall began talking, her customary strict expression no different today. Lily concentrated very hard on her lecture about some conjuring charm, studiously ignoring the fact that James Potter and his friends were only slightly behind her, to the right. After requests for repetition of certain aspects were granted and questions answered, though the askers looked still as confused, Professor McGonagall asked them to try the spell, with an essay on the complications of conjuring multiple creatures due next week. One of these became apparent half an hour later; Black uttered a startled yelp as a dead canary burst out his wand to land on his desk with a sickening thump. Professor McGonagall Vanished it with a sigh, and the class, a bit more wary, turned back to their work.

Another half and hour passed and, after their teacher explained the logistics and execution ("it's ah-vis, not ay-vis!") of the spell once more, Potter succeeded in conjuring a dozen of the little yellow birds with a bang that made everyone start. His birds were perfectly fine, flying around his head and giving the appearance of a yellow halo. Ironic, really, Lily thought. Points were awarded, and looking overly pleased, James bent over his desk and began tearing up parchment. Lily saw that none of his friends looked surprised at his behaviour, though Pettigrew sighed loudly before going back to waving his wand dejectedly. She went back to her work before Potter could catch her staring, and frowned in determination. The class was ending soon and she'd managed one measly little feather. Before she could attempt the spell again, however, half of Potter's birds had flown in front of her, each clutching a piece of parchment with scribbles on it in their beaks. One by one, they flew down and dropped their pieces on her desk. By now, half the class were craning their necks to watch. The birds had placed the parchment in a line, and had made this sentence:

Go with out me Evans?

Before Lily could voice her confusion, one of the canaries fluttered back and quickly swapped 'with' and 'out'.

Potter was asking her out? Now? He must've seen last night as a sign or something, and he thought she'd agree because of that one conversation when their last proper encounter had been her shouting abuse at him while he dangled her ex-best friend in the air? Lily felt some of that good old infuriation that she associated with Potter, but before she could do anything, Professor McGonagall spoke.

"As much as we are enthralled by your relationship, Mr Potter and Miss Evans, perhaps Transfiguration is not the time?" she said dryly.

There were titters from some of the class, and Lily felt her face burn. "Of course, Professor," she mumbled, and Potter called out a cheerful 'alright'.

"If we could concentrate on our work for the last ten minutes, unless you have an answer for Mr Potter, Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall said.

Lily ducked her head. "No, Professor."

She heard someone whisper loudly, "Is that her answer?"

Bloody Potter. And she was slipping in Transfiguration, inconsiderate git.

The class went back to their spell-casting once more, and Lily avoided Lillian's gaze. But she had barely a minute or two of peace before one of the canaries, most of which were now flying freely around the room, flew over once more, surreptitiously dropping a note in her lap.

Sorry about that, Evans, it read.
Got to say, I'm not forgetting that night any time soon.
Was acceptably warm throughout.

Thanks,

James


Yay, another chapter!

I hope their midnight chat thing wasn't too tedious and cliché; these chapters are getting longer than I'd expected. Oh, also, I originally planned the last scene in DADA, but I got too enamoured with Patronuses so you can find what became of the idea in the one-shot I published, if you're interested.

James (and I suppose the rest of the Marauders) go through some serious character development through the years and I'm not sure I'm happy with my characterisations in earlier chapters. I just like them a lot and it's much easier to write them as the good guys. I'd gratefully welcome any tips you have for writing the Marauders as the bullying pricks that Lily detested in their earlier days!

Leave a review on your way out, yes? :)