Chapter 8: The Change

Lily sat in the Library with Marlene, doing their homework for the weekend. It had been about two months since school started, and they were packed with homework to prepare for the N.E.W.T.s.

"Lily?" said Marlene.

"Hm?"

"I never got to ask you, what do you think of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

"Er…well, he's okay. We've had so many Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers already, it's hard to tell what's different about him than the other teachers."

"I know! I reckon the job is jinxed…we've never had one teacher for more than a y-"

Yolanda dropped her book bag in front of them with a loud CLUNK, looking thoroughly disgruntled.

"What's wrong?" Marlene asked.

"Potter had to tell a few Slytherins off for cursing a couple of first years! I swear, they're so annoying!"

"What did they do?" Marlene asked.

Yolanda shook her head.

"I dunno…but it looked really scary. You should have seen Professor McGonagall. She was outraged!"

"I don't blame her," said Marlene in an undertone, "I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if they all became Death Eaters!"

"It's evil, that's what it is," Lily agreed.

Just then, James walked into the Library and went over to their table.

"Hello," he said pleasantly.

"Hey. What happened with those Slytherins?" Lily asked, concerned.

"Oh, you've heard," said James. "Well, they used a really scary curse. I dunno what it was – they must've invented it or something."

The girls looked even more frightened.

"Right – well – the reason I came here – Lily, we're supposed to supervise the corridors – you know, make sure no one else throws another curse at the younger students…"

"Okay," said Lily, "See you guys, then," she added to her friends.

"See you," they called to her as she followed James out of the library.

They walked for a few minutes in silence.

"Those foul Slytherins," James said after a while, "I could be catching up on my homework right now!"

Lily laughed.

"Yeah, but honestly. They're so…evil."

"That is an understatement."

"You know," said Lily after a few moments of silence, "you've changed so much this year."

He turned to face her, slightly puzzled.

"In a good way," she added, smiling. "I like it."

Okay, that was the shortest chapter so far, but anyways, I REALLY wanted to add those bits of Lily/James. The next chapter will be about Sev…he's kind of been forgotten in THIS chapter.