THE CONVENTION
By Emily Blankenship
CHAPTER 1: FRUSTRATIONS
Lily was thoroughly pissed. She was currently in her dorm, packing her bags for a trip to London where a convention for magically-gifted students was being held over the course of the next five days. She had been recommended to attend by the Headmaster himself and there was no question as to whether or not she would go - she had to go. But that wasn't the reason she was mad. Oh no, don't get her wrong, she felt honored to attend. Plus, she was getting to miss a week of classes. The real issue at hand was, of course, James Potter.
Lily had no idea how much bad luck she had landed herself during her lifetime, but this sure as hell topped it all off. She cursed inwardly as she thought of the unusual circumstances, the unrealistic quality of her predicament. James was going on this trip…with her. Now of course, Professor Dumbledore did not recommend James for the trip. No, that would have made too much sense. The real issue here was that James was not supposed to being going at all. It was actually Remus Lupin who had originally been granted the opportunity. Lily was extremely happy when she heard he was going; they had been good friends from the moment they had stepped onto the Hogwarts Express.
But as was said before, Lily did not have the best of luck. Only a few days ago, James had strutted up to her, informing her that he was attending the convention in place of his best friend. She immediately asked him what he had done to Remus, but James only stated that he had fallen ill. Sirius, James's prick of a friend, had backed him up. Lily knew there was something going on; Remus would never back out of anything as important as this. James, however, denied any responsibility in the case of Remus's mystery "illness" and continued to say that the only reason he was going was because "his mum was making him."
So here she was, frustrated as hell and throwing her clothes unceremoniously into her school trunk, trying but failing to ignore the fact that he was going to be everywhere she was for the next five days. Hopefully he'll find himself a girl toy or two and forget about me, she wished. The biggest problem she had with this whole mess was the fact that she had, indeed, developed a soft spot for James over the years. It wasn't very big, mind you...but it was there, and she was afraid it might get even bigger if she allowed it to. She knew the opportunity would present itself the moment she was alone with him…the moment he got away from all of his pervy little buddies and his true personality started shining through. She knew he was capable of being a gentleman. She knew he could be very attractive if he wanted to be; she'd seen it time and time again. She knew she could fall in love with him—she'd floated on that edge for a very long time. Of course, no one knew this. She had made sure to keep it a well-hidden secret, and so far, she had been successful.
She finished packing and shut her trunk before scanning the dormitory, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. When she couldn't think of anything else she could have possibly left unpacked, she walked lazily towards the window and looked out upon the lake and the sunlit grass as students walked to and from class, while others sat under a shade tree to study. Say goodbye to this peace and quiet, she thought as she turned around, swished her wand, and walked out of the dorm room, her trunk levitating perfectly behind her.