With the students back at Hogwarts, Hermione no longer felt lonely. In fact, she really liked her roommates. Mary and Marlene were deliciously boy crazy, but not annoying about it like Lavender and Parvati. They made an effort to include her and not feel like an outsider. Alice was grounded and serious, except when it came to Frank. Unfortunately, Lily was still giving Hermione a frosty reception.
It was certainly not helped by the fact that Alice, Mary and Marlene were constantly teasing Hermione about James, who was doing his very best to be chivalrous as Head Boy. Hermione tried to tell them that there was absolutely nothing going on between her and James, but they just wouldn't listen. And every time the conversation drifted to the messy-haired Chaser, Lily would grow sullen and annoyed.
The first day, James insisted on walking Hermione to the classes that they shared, though every class she shared with him, she also shared with Remus and Sirius. Remus was actually in all of her classes and was a great library companion. He had a revision schedule that rivaled her own and she was impressed. Of course, she knew that he would become an excellent Professor - her favorite Professor, really - but she'd never taken the time to think about what he must have been like as a student.
She and Remus spent many nights in the library and it was blissfully platonic. Hermione thought it was hilarious how pink his cheeks would go when Marlene and Mary inevitably visited, giggling and flirting with the young werewolf. They were full of excuses that it was Hermione they were coming to visit, but she knew better. While she couldn't be sure, she got the sense that Remus was trying to keep them at arm's length because of his lycanthropy. He tried his best to seem dull and boring to the girls, but they pursued him regardless. Hermione couldn't let on like she knew about his furry little secret, as much as she wanted to let him know that he had her support.
Sirius was giving her a bit of grief. He consistently saved a seat for her to sit next to him and Hermione was ashamed to say that her heart would race a little bit every time that he touched her. It was even worse when he'd casually throw his arm around her shoulders when they were sitting together on the big red couch in front of the fireplace in the common room.
He seemed wholly unaffected by it, so Hermione knew that he was just being his usually flirtatious self. Sometimes, she would catch him staring at her over the table in the library on the rare nights when they were all together. Then, he'd give her one of those infuriatingly arrogant smirks, as if to suggest that she was the one who'd been caught staring at him. She couldn't do anything but blush and look away! It was annoying.
Lily was the only one who still was completely unwelcoming of Hermione. She was always were whenever James would do something nice for her and it killed Hermione to see the disapproving look on her face.
Lily was there when Hermione's bag had ripped open. (She wasn't certain, but she thought it might have had something to do with the Slytherins who'd been loitering in the hallway and absolutely nothing to do with the way that she'd stuffed the canvas bag so full that it couldn't possibly hold another book). James had helped her pick up her books, dropping to the floor to collect rolling ink pots and quills. Hermione hoped that Lily would have appreciated the reverent way James handled the fallen books, but alas, she'd just sneered like usual.
Lily was there when she'd impressed James and Sirius with a bit of Quidditch knowledge. She'd just been sitting quietly on the couch next to Sirius, focused on her Herbology textbook, while Remus and Peter played Wizard's Chess by the fire. They boys were discussing the best tactic to use against Ravenclaw's seeker in their upcoming match.
"Your seeker could try the Wronski Feint," Hermione piped up, excited to add one of the only things she even knew about Quidditch. After two years of Harry and Ron correcting her on the pronunciation, she finally learned what the maneuver was, how to say it and when to use it. "It should give him a few more seconds to catch the Snitch."
Of course, James's eyes had lit up. "Oh, Hermione, you brilliant, brillant witch! I could kiss you!" James said, beyond pleased with the idea.
Sirius barked out a laugh and before she knew it, the grey-eyed animagus pulled her close and planted a huge, sloppy kiss on her cheek. She couldn't resist the urge to make a face and wipe the slobber from her cheek. She wanted to quip about how he was living up to his animagus form, but knew that would create more questions than she could answer.
"Why didn't I think of that?" James lamented. "And how do you know about it anyway? You have made no secret how unenthused you are about Quidditch."
She shrugged her shoulders, trying not to seem too pleased with herself. She was a bit of a know-it-all and she loved being right. "I, err, dated a Seeker once. It was kind of his specialty move," she said, fighting a smile when she thought of Viktor Krum, who she remained friends with to this day. She'd never even heard of the Wronski Feint until him. Then again, Quidditch didn't really come up in their conversations that often. He would mostly just sit with her in the library, never even bothering to bring any of his own work, choosing instead to spend his time staring at her.
After the exchange, Hermione noticed that Lily had gotten up from a nearby table and was stomping off towards the dorms, her head held high in the air. She was too invested in Lily that she was completely blind to the face Sirius made when she mentioned her previous boyfriends.
Hermione was confused as to why Lily was so upset about it, but later when Hermione went up to the dorm room, she overheard Lily talking about her with Mary.
"-Acting like she knows so much about Quidditch! And then bragging about some old seeker boyfriend who could do some kind of special Wonky move."
Mary cleared her throat when she noticed Hermione had entered the room. Lily at least looked embarrassed at being caught gossiping about her, but she stopped short of apologizing for the unkind way she'd been talking. Instead, she snapped her mouth shut and bolted into the bathroom, leaving Hermione and Mary alone.
Hermione was really upset. She had thought she and Lily might become great friends. After all, she'd heard so many stories about Lily's uncommon kindness from Professor Lupin and Sirius. But here she was, treating Hermione like chopped flobberworm!
Lily was also there, unfortunately, when James's potion had exploded during potions class. He stirred the potion in the incorrect direction, despite Hermione's frantic whispered instructions.
"No James, counter-clockwise!"
He didn't noticed anything was wrong until the potion began to violently bubble and by then it was too late to stop the explosion that left Hermione covered from head to toe in blue sludge. "Here, let me help you with that," he said, adorably flustered, reminding her so much of Harry.
However, being that he was so flustered, he didn't think about what spell to use and doused her with an aguamenti. She had, regrettably, taken off her jumper earlier when the classroom got too hot, which meant she was left standing, drenched, her white uniform shirt completely see-through and stuck to her skin. She could do nothing but blink while she dripped. James stared back, equally as embarrassed as she was.
Sirius did not help matters when he tried to high five his friend, appreciating the view. "Nice one, James!" he cheered.
James, the idiot that he was, absent-mindedly returned the high five, earning him a glare from Hermione. That snapped him out of his daze. James apologized profusely, realizing the horrid situation he'd left her in and sent a drying spell at her.
It was... a good try, but left Hermione with extremely bushy hair.
Later, when Hermione returned to the dorm, her hair thrice its normal size and feeling not dissimilar to a wet cat, Marlene told her that Lily thought James had done it on purpose to get a look at what she had under her uniform shirt. That mortified Hemrione even more and she vehemently denied it. She couldn't believe James had now seen her bra twice. No matter how many times she told Marlene it had been an accident, the sassy blonde girl just kept giving her knowing smirks.
The tension between Lily and James finally came to a head one week after classes started. In Charms, Lily was sitting in the front row by herself, waiting for Professor Flitwick to show up and start class. James sauntered up to the open seat and smiled at her. "Hello, Lily," he said. (Sirius had suggested he start calling her Lily instead of Evans, as girls tend to like being called by their first names). "Is this seat taken?"
Lily glared at him. "Yes, I'm saving it," she said vehemently.
"For who?" James asked, curious. Mary was sitting with a Hufflepuff boy and Marlene and Alice were seated together, another desk away. He couldn't figure out who Lily would be saving it for...unless it was someone from another house. Hopefully not a boy, he thought with a sinking heart.
She looked around and realized she was being caught in a lie. "None of your business, Potter!" she answered. "Why don't you just go sit with your girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend," James answered, flummoxed by the suggestion. He liked Lily so much and he told her practically every month. He never even thought about dating another witch.
"Don't play stupid, it doesn't suit you," she said, no longer annoyed. She just sounded a bit sad. "Hermione, I mean."
Hermione was surprised to hear her name mentioned. It was the first time Lily had said her name out loud, and the redheaded girl sounded so dejected.
Here James Potter was, asking to sit next to her, and she was just going to throw it back in his face? It annoyed Hermione, too, because she had made it clear time and time again that she wasn't interested in James and he wasn't interested in her either. They were just...becoming good friends. He was no different than Remus, really.
"Alright, I guess I will just go sit with Remus," James said with a frown, his shoulders slumping. He was trying so hard to be the responsible wizard that Lily wanted. It was hard to think of what more he could do. Maybe she would just never be interested in him.
Meanwhile, the empty seat next to Hermione had been taken by Sirius. She caught James's eye and gave him a small smile in support.
It was beginning to seem hopeless to Hermione. Lily wouldn't take Hermione's assurances that she didn't like James Potter and she was still convinced that James liked the new, petite brunette. It seemed painfully clear that it bothered Lily so much because she like James Potter just as much as he liked her, but she was too stubborn to admit it. And that reminded her of Harry.
That night, Hermione looked at the gold locket that was always hanging around her neck. She stared at the picture of her friends while she lay in her bed. Ron was his usual goofy self, with his bright red hair and blue eyes. Ever so often he'd stick out his tongue at the camera. Harry on the other hand was becoming more and more transparent with every day that went by.
This was getting ridiculous! She wasn't going to let her friend be unborn just because his mum couldn't accept that his dad was head over heels for her, just as much as he'd ever been. And she sure as hell wasn't going to be the reason either.
She needed a plan to show Lily that James wasn't interested in her and that he was responsible at the same time. As her eyes grew heavy, her next steps started to take shape in her mind.