-1Chapter 3

Lily woke up the next morning feeling much better than she had the day before. She climbed out of bed and walked to the bathroom. Everyone else was still asleep. Once in the bathroom, she turned on the warm water and shed of her clothes. After being in bed for a whole day, what she needed now was a nice, hot shower. Lily left the bathroom thirty minutes later with a towel wrapped around her.

Faith and the others were now awake and Robyn was waiting by the door.

"It's about time," she commented, pushing past Lily. "Merlin, how much time does one person need in the bathroom?"

"I don't know, Robyn. How long do you reckon it will take you to put on enough make-up to hide that hideous pimple on your forehead?"

"Pimple?" Robyn shrieked, slamming the door.

Lily, Carmen, and Faith all started laughing as Lily walked over to her bed. The bathroom door flew open and Lily looked over.

"What are you on about, Evans? There was no pimple on my face."

"Sorry, I thought I saw a pimple," she said, glancing at Faith and smiling.

Robyn slammed the door and the two girls started laughing.

"I swear, if she did have a pimple, she'd probably have a melt-down," Carmen said.

Lily agreed with a smile before getting dressed. After she was ready, she grabbed the stack of parchment on her bedside table and leafed through them.

"Thanks for getting my homework yesterday, Fay."

Faith looked up from brushing her hair. "It was no problem," she said. "Oh, by the way, Remus and I need to talk to you before breakfast."

"All right," Lily said, still going through the parchment.

Even though the group didn't have Potions again until Monday, Faith and Remus had decided it would be best to tell Lily before she saw James again. They figured it would give her enough time to get used to the idea and hoped that over the weekend her anger would have subsided enough for James to be safe around her, at least in an enclosed space with few chances of escaping. A few minutes later, the two girls were ready, walked downstairs to the common room, and then up to the boys' dorm. Faith knocked lightly on the door, opening it after Remus' voice told them to come in. The rest of the boys were already gone, and Remus was sitting on one of the beds.

Lily looked at him. "Faith said you two wanted to talk to me."

Remus nodded. "We do, but you might want to have a seat."

"Okay," Lily said slowly, sitting down on the closest bed with the same caution. "What is this about?"

She watched as Remus walked over and stood next to Faith, who was the first to talk.

"We have something we need to tell you; something that you're probably not going to like." Faith paused.

"What is it?"

Faith inhaled, trying to think of the best way to say this. "Do you remember on the parchment where I wrote your assignments down?" Lily nodded. "And did you read the Potion's assignment?"

"Do you mean the project?" This time Faith nodded. "What about it?"

Faith remained silent so Remus decided to pick up.

"Lily, we have partners for that project. Your partner is..." He took a deep breath. "Your partner is James."

Both Remus and Faith expected the redhead to explode, but she didn't. Instead, she looked back and forth between the two as if expecting them to say it was all just a joke. Neither of them did, though.

"Did you just say my partner was James?" she asked calmly.

Remus nodded, thinking her fortitude was a good sign. Faith, however, wasn't so sure.

"How in the hell did this happen?" Lily asked, and Faith's suspicions were confirmed: Her best friend was keeping herself from yelling.

Faith quickly answered her question. "Slughorn asked if someone wanted to be your partner and James volunteered." Faith knew the next question and answered that one as well. "I tried to volunteer, but James said he would do it and Slughorn said okay.

Lily looked over at Remus, ready to ask him why he didn't stop James, but the guilty expression on his face told her all she needed to know. "This was your idea, wasn't it?" Remus suddenly became interested in the floor. "Remus, how could you do this? You're supposed to be my friend."

Remus looked up. "I am your friend, Lily. I'm sorry about this, I truly am. But James really has changed."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Lily scoffed as she stood from the bed. "I better get going; I want to get a start on my homework."

"What about breakfast?"

"I don't have much of an appetite," she said, leaving the dorm.

"I think that went pretty well," Remus said.

"It went better than it could've," Faith agreed. "But believe me, she's mad. She just held back from yelling for fear of what she might say."

"This is going to get worse before it gets better, isn't it?" Remus asked with a sigh, and Faith nodded. "Well, we might as well get down to breakfast. We're going to need our energy."

In the Great Hall, Faith sat with Remus and his friends. James looked up at the two.

"Where's Lily?"

"She wasn't hungry."

"She didn't take the news too well, did she?" he asked with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, James," Faith said. "She'll come around. Just give her some time. I know Lily, and she can be very stubborn, but if you really have changed, she'll eventually see that. She won't always hate you. Nevertheless, I really hope you have patience because you're going to need it. I mean, you do have six years to make up for."

James nodded. "I know."

Twenty minutes later, Remus, James, and Faith walked down to Ancient Runes. Lily was already sitting at the table she shared with Faith; a book was open in front of her. The three stopped in the doorway. After a second, James stepped forward, and Faith grabbed his arm.

"What are you doing?"

"I was going to go talk to her."

"That's probably not a good idea," Faith advised. "She's going through an I-want-to-kill-Potter phase right now, and you talking to her will only make it worse. No matter what you say to her," she added as James opened his mouth to protest.

Hesitantly, James agreed.

"Okay."

"Just stay close to Remus," Faith ordered as the three walked to their tables.

Lily didn't look up as Faith sat down at the table, nor when Remus and James walked past. Lily didn't even acknowledge her best friend the whole class period. When the bell rang, she gathered her books and filed out the room with the rest of the students, leaving Faith alone at the table. Remus and James walked up to her.

"I am so sorry, Faith," Remus told her.

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because we dragged you into this, and now Lily's not speaking to you."

"Nobody dragged me into this, Remus. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I'll accept the consequences. She'll get over it."

"James and I talked about it, and if you don't want to do this anymore, we understand."

"Did you not hear me? I'm in this for the long run. I'm not giving up now. Besides, you two are going to need me: I know Lily better than anyone else does. Moreover, you're going to need someone who can keep Lily from attacking you. Telling Lily was the hard part. The rest is up to her."