James refused to talk about Quidditch until Lily coaxed him out of it the next morning.
"Are you really that upset?" Lily asked him for the seventh time (James had counted), hiding a smile. The whole thing seemed to be very amusing for her. "It wasn't that horrible, you know."
"We didn't win honorably. It was just by luck—and by injuring two students! There was no bravery, no glory… it's an insult to all the Gryffindor values!" James exploded.
"I'm sure Godric Gryffindor is turning in his grave because of a Quidditch game," Lily said, chuckling still. "If it's really that bad, why don't you go talk to the Ravenclaw team? There's still time before class."
"I can't track them down one by one, can I?"
Lily checked her Muggle watch. "I think… they're having practice right now."
"Practice? But we just had a match! I don't think the Quidditch pitch is even open."
"They hold their practices in the library," Lily said, as if this was obvious.
"They can't possibly manage to fly in the library."
Lily looked at him. "They don't use their brooms. What did you expect from the Ravenclaws, James?"
"That's it, I have to see this," James said, standing up dramatically.
Sirius looked at him. "What?" he asked, bleary-eyed. It looked like he hadn't slept at all the previous night.
"I'm going to the library," James announced.
"Good god, Evans is rubbing off on him," Sirius muttered.
! #$%^&*
Lily explained that this was "their corner" before telling James to hush. They rounded a row of bookshelves and saw a small group of students in Ravenclaw robes, surrounded by piles upon piles of books.
"Hello, Lily!" Adelaide Corner said happily, before looking down awkwardly when her eyes met James'.
"So, what are you doing?" Lily asked casually.
"We're devising a new filing system for the library," Freckles answered.
"Adelaide, would this one go under 'Quidditch, Sport of' or 'Quidditch, Art of'?" Jerry asked.
"Hand me the book, please," Adelaide said, and she started leafing through it. "This is definitely more practical than theoretical. I would file it under 'Quidditch, Sport of' in the 'Practical Quidditch' bin."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and the book was placed on top of a pile.
"Isn't the librarian supposed to do this?" James asked.
"Who?" Surly, the Keeper, asked.
"The librarian," James repeated.
"Is it that lady who sits in a corner all day?" a small boy said, immediately named by James as Pre-School. "I thought she was just here to read."
"We're the librarians," Freckles said grimly. James was beginning to feel thoroughly unsettled.
"I'm here because I wanted to apologize for—for winning like that. It wasn't true Gryffindor behavior," James said abruptly.
Adelaide suddenly grinned. "We did some math before the match and we predicted a range of losing by anywhere from 200 to 300 points. In comparison, losing by only 160 was a triumph."
James allowed himself a little smile. In a strange way, the Ravenclaws were actually very nice.
"Class is starting soon," said Pre-School. Almost as soon as he'd said that, everyone stood up and was slinging bags over shoulders and straightening ties.
"I'll see you in Charms!" Adelaide said in passing to James.
It wasn't until all the Ravenclaws had left that James turned to Lily and asked her, "Do we have charms with Adelaide Corner?"
"Yes," Lily said sternly. "You didn't notice? Did you at least notice I have that class too?"
"'Course I noticed you," James said dismissively.
"Oh, good," Lily said sarcastically. James started to turn left, while she had to continue through the main corridor. Lily had Arithmancy, and wasn't sure what James had first hour. "Let's meet at seven for rounds, in front of our dormitory," she called.
James suddenly stopped, and turned to face Lily, his face set and emotionless. "I can't tonight."
"You're Head Boy," Lily said slowly. "This is what a Head Boy is supposed to do."
"I'll take extra rounds tomorrow," he said.
"What is it? It can't possibly be Quidditch, you said the pitch isn't open," Lily said, annoyed. "Why are you lying?"
"Sorry," was all he said, before turning away. Lily really couldn't be late, so she had to grit her teeth and keep going her own way, towards the Arithmancy classroom.
In the classroom, Professor Quadra was already writing something on the board, so Lily took out her parchment and dipped her quill into ink. Underneath her anger towards James, she could feel something else: a pulsing headache from lack of sleep. Being Head Girl was exhausting.
Lily's noticed, just as she was about to put the quill down, that her parchment seemed to have faint marks on it. She turned it over and saw it had already been written on. Scanning the words quickly, she saw it was a letter to her parents that she'd written over a week ago.
Suddenly feeling a little spike of guilt, she decided that she'd write to them in the evening, and send the letter along with Barley. They hadn't been replied yet, and Lily was starting to suspect they'd forgotten how to send mail by owl.
Her reverie was interrupted when Professor Quadra suddenly started talking. Today's topic was about the difference between Agrippan and Chaldean methods.
"Miss Evans, if I were to show you these numbers, which method would I be using?" Professor Quadra asked, pointing towards something on the board. Lily mentally cursed; the teachers called on her too often for her liking now that she was Head Girl.
"Miss Evans?"
"Agrippan," Lily finally said.
"Yes, and how do you justify your answer?"
"The number nine is not used in the Chaldean method," Lily said, feeling relieved that she'd gotten it right.
"Correct. Now, in this class so far, we have mostly used the Agrippan method, which is easier to work with since it is set up according to the Latin alphabet—'our' alphabet. But it is important to be aware of the Chaldean method, which will come up in later lessons, and in your N.E.W.T.s. The Chaldean method is based on Aramaic languages, and the Hebrew alphabet…"
Lily scribbled the words "Latin- Agrippan, Hebrew- Chaldean" before her focus loosened and she found herself massaging a temple. At the moment, she didn't really care about Arithmancy, though she'd been very excited about taking such an advanced class during September. But now it was October, though only the beginning of the month, and she was already worn down. She found herself wishing for snow and December, when she could go back home. She was determined to enjoy herself over the holidays, no matter how horrible Tuney would be.
"Miss Evans?"
Lily snapped her head up. Had she been called? But Professor Quadra was looking at an entirely different place in the classroom. Lily followed her gaze and saw a Hufflepuff girl, Sharon Ellens, and breathed out a sigh. She must have misheard the professor saying "Miss Ellens."
Snapping back to attention, Lily copied down what had been added to the board, and forced herself to pay attention to numbers and addition, methods and prediction. She left the classroom with her head filled with complicated things, and didn't notice Severus Snape until she practically bumped into him.