Takes place the first day of second year.

Lily and Aura hunched forward as they dashed through the rain to the second year greenhouse, gasping several times when they misjudged the size of a puddle. By the time they scrambled in behind a group of Hufflepuffs, the hems of their robes were drenched in rain and clinging wetly to their legs.

"If we didn't have to sit through class, it would have been nice to walk in the rain," commented Aura as she and Lily took a place at the table.

"My sister and I used to do that," Lily sighed, pushing her damp bangs from her forehead. "Now she says it's just stupid."

"What's stupid?"

Lily's head jerked toward the voice. James Potter was standing at the place next to her, looking as if someone had dragged him through the mud to class. Clumps of the mud clung to his impossibly messy hair and she wondered how he could even see through the smudges on his glasses. He was giving her that obnoxious grin he had that for some reason bubbled beneath her temper and forced it to the surface no matter how hard she tried to push it back.

"Nothing," she said coolly. "I wasn't talking to you." She turned back to Aura as if Potter had never stuck his obnoxious, long nose into her discussion with Aura and grinned eagerly. "We can walk back and change after we eat lunch."

"Will we have time?" Aura asked, leaning toward Lily in her excitement.

Lily nodded vigorously, already imagining the cool curtain of water running over her face and the contrast of her body's warmth against her damp clothes. "Of course, if we eat quickly enough."

Though Aura was still smiling, her eyes flicked behind Lily and her smile became strained as her lips trembled against the laugh threatening to erupt from her. Lily whipped around to see James suddenly go still.

"What were you doing?" she demanded.

James smirked. "Nothing."

Lily's chin jutted forward as her eyes narrowed at him. "What were you doing to make Aura laugh?"

"Nothing, maybe she was just wondering what you would like if you nodded so hard your head fell off," he returned.

Lily drew in a breath as she tried to think of something to say, but Professor Sprout's cheerful greeting cut her off, and she simply rolled her eyes at James before she turned to give her attention to the professor. The Herbology professor was lugging a huge box clasped between her two pudgy arms. Her hat sat slightly askew and her graying hair dripped with rain.

"Everyone grab a pair of earmuffs," called Professor Sprout as she set the box down on the bench and took a pair for herself. Lily waited patiently for her classmates to take a pair, but as the earmuffs disappeared, she realized that there was a pair very fluffy pink ones that everyone seemed to be avoiding. Grinning wickedly, she allowed nearly all of her classmates to crowd around her, while she carefully blocked Potter from getting to the box under the pretense of moving aside for the others.

"Evans, would you move?" he snapped.

"Stop pushing me, then!" There were only two pair left. On either side of her, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs still stood around, trying on their new headgear. Lily grabbed the last two pair.

"Just one, Miss Evans," Professor Sprout chuckled.

"Oh, I was going to get one for Mr. Potter," she replied sweetly.

"That's very nice of you."

Lily's smile faltered barely a millimeter. She felt only slightly guilty at her professor's praise. She turned and grinned at a scowling Potter. She held out the pink fluffy pair to him. "Here you go, Potter."

His eyebrows shot up over the rim of his glasses in surprise. "Oh, thanks, Evans." Lily nodded and went back to stand beside Aura. She hadn't expected him to take them so easily.

Potter followed her to his place and put on his earmuffs. "How do I look?" he asked Sirius, who stood across from him. Sirius looked up and laughed loudly.

"Clean off your glasses James!"

Lily turned toward Aura to hide her smile. Potter muttered some spell and then he cried out. "Hey, Evans you gave me your pair!"

"No, I didn't," she pushed between her teeth as she tried to hold in her laughter. Aura wasn't helping; she was biting her lip and looking at everything but Lily. Marlene McKinnon, who stood across from them, pressed her hand firmly to her mouth.

"Yeah, you gave me the pink ones," Potter insisted.

"No, those are for you," Lily said, shaking her head without even looking at the earmuffs. "Pink clashes with my hair."

"Alright class," began the professor, pushing up her sleeves, "today we have mandrakes. Can anyone tell me what those are?" Before anyone could raise his or her hand, James Potter called out.

"Uh, yeah," he said, "Professor may I have another pair of earmuffs?"

The stout witch frowned slightly at being interrupted. "There aren't anymore, Mr. Potter. Could you tell us what a mandrake is, though, please?"

"But Professor, mine are pink," he wined. Several giggles rose up as he waved them over his head. Lily bit her lip, hoping no one would offer a swap and Professor Sprout wouldn't force one. Apparently though, the rest of her classmates were just as eager to see James Potter in pink earmuffs as she was.

"I think they suit you," Sirius joked. Both Professor Sprout and Potter shot him an unappreciative glance, or in Potter's case, glare.

"There aren't any others," the professor said impatiently. "Now, a mandrake?"

"It's an ugly plant baby. Its screams can kill people and it's used to change back people who've been transfigured or cursed," he grumbled.

Professor Sprout smiled tersely. "Yes, five points to Gryffindor."

As she continued, Lily felt a jab in her side. She ignored it at first, but it continued. "Stop it, Potter," she hissed.

"Come on, just switch with me," he whispered.

"After you gave me that exploding toast this morning? I don't think so."

"Okay, just forget about that for now. I need your earmuffs."

He kept whispering to her but she studiously ignored him as she concentrated on what Professor Sprout was telling them to do.

"Okay, put on your earmuffs," instructed Professor Spout. The class pulled on their earmuffs and several people shook with silenced laughter as James Potter was forced to don his fluffy pink ones. They stuck out far from his head like clumps of cotton candy and shoved the hair around his ears out at odd angles. He scowled and jerked his wand at the offenders, and they were quickly stilled.

Potter kept poking her in the side, his lips moving silently as he pled with her to trade earmuffs, but as annoying as he was being, or maybe because of just how obnoxious he was being, she was going to make him wear the fluffy pink earmuffs. She kept jerking her elbow to the side to knock his finger away, but it returned to her side every time.

Suddenly the poking stopped and there was a rush of chill on her ears as the silencing clasp of her earmuffs was jerked away. A loud, piercing, banshee-like wail filled her ears and everything went black.

Lily's eyes blinked open and she felt as if she'd just awoken from a long deep sleep. She yawned widely and sat up. She was wearing her school robes? Her eyes flew around the room: rows of beds, the hospital wing?

Why was James Potter's name beating at her head? And why did she have the distinct feeling that she wasn't far from killing him?

"Are you okay?"

Lily turned in surprise. Severus was sitting in a chair beside her bed. Suddenly she remembered what had happened during Herbology.

"NO! I am going to kill James Potter!" Her hands flew to her head, her palms pressed over her closed eyes. "I missed my entire first day of classes," she wailed, before she flung her hands away to look at Severus in distress.

Her friend smiled and she was about to call him out on his amusement when he held out a stack to her. "I took notes for you in all of our classes."

Severus's neat handwriting spanned across each parchment in a detailed account of each class. Had he taken them verbatim? She smiled at him in relief. "Thank you so much, Sev." She rifled through the notes. "How long did it take you to copy all of these for me?"

He shrugged but seemed pleased that she was so grateful. "Not long."

Becoming aware of the disappearing sunlight through the window, Lily glanced at her wrist and remembered she hadn't worn her watch that day. "What time is?" she asked.

"Dinner."

She climbed from the bed. "Let's go then, I just realized I'm hungry."

Madame Pomfrey bustled out of her office. "Oh, I see you woke up Miss Evans. Well hurry down to dinner; I believe it's just started."

Lily thanked the nurse before she and Severus trooped down to dinner.

"Potter has detention for a week," her friend supplied.

"Good," said Lily grimly, "serves him right. The stupid git."

Severus nodded enthusiastically. "What happened anyway?"

Lily grinned sheepishly. "Well I guess some of it was my fault. I made sure Potter got a pair of fluffy pink earmuffs. He wanted to trade and of course, I wouldn't. I don't know what he was thinking though when he took off my earmuffs."

"That is if Potter can think," corrected Severus.

"True," she mused. "He's brilliant in class sometimes, but the rest of the time I wonder if his head would echo if I hit it." But she wouldn't say anymore against Potter or else she knew she'd explode the next time she saw him.

She very nearly did so when she passed him in the Great Hall. "Good evening, sleepyhead," he called.

Sirius pretended to collapse in his seat and he and James cackled hysterically like a pair of ridiculous hyenas. Remus pretended to share in their amusement, but sent Lily an apologetic smile.

She pursed her lips. "Enjoy watching the Quidditch team from detention," she flung at him.

"Ooo, that was low," crowed Sirius as James immediately shut up. "What're you going to say to that, James? You can't take that laying down, mate!"

Potter snorted. "I'm not. Just learn to sleep with your eyes open, Evans." His hazel eyes flashed behind his glasses.

"Please, your little threats are cute, they really are, but there's the little problem of you not being able to get up the girls' steps."

He opened his mouth to retort, but dropped his lip and scowled.

Lily lifted an eyebrow and smirked at him before she tossed her hair over her shoulder and went off to join her friends. It was going to be a long time before she let him forget about his cotton candy ears.