September 10

4:30 PM

Mood: Relishing the Quiet. Finally.

Wow, has it really been that long since I last wrote? All of the meetings since that first one have blurred together with homework and daily life and all that mumbo jumbo that I'm starting to really lose track of time. Anyways, the meeting that day went decidedly well. Boring stuff, really.

Potter and I had to set the patrol schedules with the other prefects- Benjy Fenwick and Elena Selby from Hufflepuff, Dorcas Meadows and Icarus Crenshaw from Ravenclaw, and Regulus Black (Sirius's evil little brother) and Serena Parkinson (The devil's mistress) from Slytherin.

However, our new patrol schedules that James and I set out seem to be failing miserably, mainly because the Slytherins, Black and Parkinson, are such major slackers that we've been taking their days too. My feet hurt from all of the incessant walking around I've had to do because of them. I tried to get out of making up for the snakes slack, but it seems Regulus figures himself just as self-important as Sirius. More so because he's a Slytherin. It all went down something like this:

"Oi, Evans. I have to hold Quiditch trials this Wednesday. I can't do patrol."

"Umm, well Black, I already have to supervise a detention on Wednesday. I can't-" I hate when people cut me off.

"If it's going to be a problem for you to do your duty as a Head, I suggest you request a demotion from your Head of House, Evans." Black said icily. I had to resist the urge to retort bitingly, '…well if it's going to be a problem for you to speak to me respectfully, I suggest you get away from me before I hex your balls off.' I decided the response to be a little low for my standard though, so I settled with:

"Mr. Black, it is in no way, shape, or form, my duty to make up for your inabilities." I crossed my arms and tapped my foot impatiently.

"My apologies if I seem to have offended you. I only wished to inquire why you are not doing your job, which is to sort of problems and take an un-biased stance with people regardless of what House they come from. I quite think you wouldn't be so bitter if I were a Gryffindor." Black was standing further on his feet, making himself tower over me. I hate when people do that- it's like they are trying to appear almighty. Yes, Regulus, allow me to bow before you.

"It's more so the casual way you demanded my attention and didn't even ask politely- rather you assumed that you could tell me your problem and I'd do all of the work solving it for you. Now, repeat after me. 'Miss Evans, would you please find someone else to patrol the sixth floor for me on Wednesday? I would gladly take another day.' "

"…Forget it. I'll go ask Saint Potter."

"Fine. Good day, Mr. Black."

I smirked to myself and waltzed off, feeling pleased with the McGonogall-esque way I handled that situation. She would be quite proud. I never once yelled! And I used my 'I'm-Lily-Evans-and-I'm-in-Control' voice. Beautiful. Someone should give me a medal!

I smiled to myself, feeling very accomplished with my own professionalism, and wandered around the corner towards my Charms class. I hated being interrupted on my way to class- I could very well end up late. But, I felt too much self-esteem, and was thus not very worried.

I opened the oak door to the classroom and pulled up my seat next to Alice. I was about to tell her of my epic skills with Black, but she had to interrupt me first with her own antics which seemed positively absurd. Alice looked me up and down appraisingly.

"Lils, if Marlene sees your shoes she's going to kill you, you know."

I groaned. "Oliver ate my best pair yesterday! What else am I supposed to wear?"

Alice scoffed. "Not those hideous black ones with the Velcro straps. Honestly, why don't you throw them out?"

"Because! They're the only ones I own that are perfectly black, school appropriate, and don't make my abnormally large feet look any bigger."

Alice looked at me blankly.

"Are you, or are you not, a witch?"

"…What are you suggesting?"

"Hmmm. Fixing your eaten shoes, transfiguring those ones to look better, wearing your red ones and changing them black, conjuring up a new pair of shoes. Take your pick."

My face got slightly red. Hadn't thought of any of those…

"I don't know Alice. You know how dreadfully helpless I am with this fashion thing."

Marlene had plopped down besides me after finally pulling away from Benjy on the other side of the room. She had been eavesdropping, apparently.

"Yes. I know. That's why I'll be dressing you from now on. And I'm painting your toes tonight." Marlene said, waving her wand and transfiguring my black trainers into something she found more aesthetically pleasing. I rolled my eyes and decided I didn't even want to know what they looks like.

Flitwick walked into the room a tad later than usual, and when he arrived he gave a sharp 'Eh-hem' fake coughing noise to gather our attention. I turned away from my friends and started to listen. Or, pretend to anyway.

Class went on as usual in a rather boring fashion. As much as I hate the Slytherin's, class with them does seem to get more exciting than double charms with the Hufflepuffs. Benjy Fenwick was really the only interesting one of them, and even then, he was rather boring. And he asked too many questions. And never gets anything right. He's hopeless. And so is Marlene for dating him. How did he become a prefect again?

"Professor, is the word pronounced 'In-gor-GEE-oh' or 'In-GOR-gee-oh'?"

"Professor, I can't remember the charm. Can you say it again, slower?"

"Honestly, Fenwick, you just asked me about it's pronunciation."

"Wasn't listening."

"It's Engorgio."

"What's it do?"

"It enlarges the object before you to make it bigger or sometimes more useful. It can give you more space within a confined surface, such as a purse or even a room. It also-"

"So it makes things bigger."

"Well yes, but mainly it-"

"Thanks, Professor. You can teach again now."

"…Well, alright. If you're sure you've got it."

"Sure I've got it. Engorgio!"

Fenwick cast his charm on the miniature pillow in front of him. Nothing happened.

"Engorgio."

The pillow twitched.

"Engorgio!"

The pillow let out a small, strange fizzing noise. Awkward.

"Really, Mr. Fenwick, try it like-"

"ENGORGIO!"

The pillow finally started to expand rapidly way too fast, shot across the room approximately the size of a small whale, and buried one of the Hufflepuffs beneath it.

Perhaps I lied. Hufflepuffs can be interesting. If they are as incapable as Fenwick. Marlene was laughing, and I turned to her with a raised eyebrow. She really knows how to pick them.

"My boyfriend, Ladies and Gentlemen, Benjamin Fenwick."

Several of the Gryffindors laughed at her statement, and Benjy turned around to smile at her, appreciative of her help to laugh it off.

"Oh, shut it Mars. At least I got it to get bigger!" Benjy said, childishly sticking his tongue out at her. Marlene winked at him deviously, obviously transforming his statement into a dirty joke. Anytime anyone said anything involving the word 'big,' Marlene habitually turned their statement into the male equivalent of a 'that's-what-she-said.' Fenwick had the character to blush a deep shade of rose and bite his lip.

I was surprised, actually, that someone as shy and polite as Benjy would go out with Marlene. She was much to outgoing for a guy of his caricature. Once Flitwick had successfully resuscitated the poor, trapped Hufflepuff (who turned out to be Gretchin Maslow of my year) the class turned back into it's usual boring self. I absentmindedly fiddled with a quill and hoped to Merlin that I didn't drool at all during the remainder of class. Usually, it was History of Magic that was known for being the stiflingly boring class, but today Charms felt especially history-of-magic-ish. Mainly because what we were learning we had already learned before, Fenwick was just holding us back a bit. If he hadn't been such a nice guy, I'd be way more pissed that he was so… slow.

As it was, I had only just resorted to passing pointless notes with Alice when the bell rang for us to move on to our next class. I stood up from my chair and tried unbelievably hard not to fall over backwards.

I had only just realize that Marlene had transfigured my shoes into a pair of shiny black stiletto's.

"Marlene! You know I have all of the grace of a beached whale. Fix them!"

She scoffed at me. "Fix them yourself."

I crossed my arms, trying to make use of my I-mean-business face, but she was the only one out their who was brave enough to stand up in the face of a fuming Lily.

"Mars, you're the transfiguration genius around here." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright, back to black Velcro shoes it is…" I muttered with a glint in my eye.

"No!" Marlene slapped at my wand hand.

"Fine." She quickly muttered the incantation, watching with a gleam of self satisfaction as my shoes returned to a more platonic, but still shiny and non-Velcro state.

I wiggled my toes, appreciative of her work. "Excellent." I walked out the door, trying pointlessly to catch up with Alice.

Looking around the hallway, I found no sight of her. Damn her ability to walk so much faster than me. I turned around to mention my frustrations to Marlene, only to see her preoccupied with talking to Sirius, who was probably trying to buy a copy of Alice's notes off of her. Her fingers were laced around Benjy's hand. Said Benjy was staring at Sirius with a slight look of protectiveness.

Not that I blamed him, really. The Marauders were a notoriously attractive and womanizing bunch. I didn't really like that gleam in his eye though…

I walked towards the Grand Staircase, deciding to leave my friends to their own musings and to take the extended passing period as a chance to grab some time to relax. Or, at least, I would have if I didn't smack right into James Potter again at that precise moment.

"You know Evans, we just can't seem to stay away from each other. Sure you haven't cast a Sticking Charm on me?" Potter said with a smirk, leaning casually against the base of the stairs.

"Why I'm certain I haven't, Potter, mainly because I'd rather be stuck to the Giant Squid." Impishly I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You've used that one."

I paused, running through my head all of my previous denials. Actually, I couldn't even remember all of them. My favorite involved Care of Magical Creatures, a hangnail, and a tub of bubotober pus. But, that's neither here nor there.

"Not quite. I said I'd rather date the Giant Squid."

"Same difference," he shrugged, waltzing off before I could completely reply.

"Hey, that's a nonsensical statement!" I called after him, wondering why in the world he kept turning up and why we always seemed to have such pointless conversation. By the time I had wiped the grin off my face (Potter's antics, while annoying, can be amusing at times) Marlene had disengaged from Benjy and somehow also abandoned Sirius before walking up besides me.

"So, what's with you and Potter constantly talking these days?" She said much too casually, and I froze halfway up the stairs.

"What do you mean?" I questioned much more icily than I intended. Anyone who thought that something was 'with' me and Potter must be barmy.

"Easy there. I was only saying. I just finished talking to Sirius and he said Peter reckons he saw you follow Potter out of the library yesterday without complaining a word."

Marlene gets this casual build up going in a conversation. She gets you going and then suddenly, before you know it, you're spilling secrets you didn't think you had. Bit crazy, really.

"Oh. That." I manage to say.

"Do explain what 'That' means, darling," she practically whispers, a girly tone of glee at the back of her throat.

"Erm… Well, you remember yesterday when Snape and I had that strange encounter in potions?"

"Yes." I have her hooked now. I can just see it in her baby blues.

"James saw it. And he accosted me while I was trying to do my essay and Silencio'd me into following him and hearing him out."

"What did he have to say?"

Marlene is having a hard time walking up the stairs and being so excited. She's always had this crazy theory where Potter and I get married and have lots of babies. She's always been of the opinion that if at least one half of a couple (I inwardly cringe and the thought of me and Potter as a 'couple') feels true love for the other, then surely the other person will come round at some point. Thus, to her, James and I are a fascinating subject to prove that love really overcomes all boundaries.

"He gave me a huge lecture on Snape siding with You-Know-Who. Being a Death Eater on the Dark Side and all that… Well, I want to say all that nonsense, but it wasn't nonsense was it? Severus hangs out with Mulciber and Avery all of the time. James isn't the only one to notice that he's not totally a good guy anymore."

I'm not sure why, even though it's been years since we were friends, that I still feel like a slight traitor whenever I say mean things about Snape. I mean, I know he's not a good guy. And I'll never have feelings for him. But I can't help but feel guilty. He's the one who halfway brought me to this new world, this Wizarding world. And I feel like I betray him when I speak so openly out against him

Marlene nods slowly. She understands more than Alice why Severus is such a sore subject for me. Being a muggle by birth herself, she can understand my feelings of guilt.

"Yes. Snape's on a pretty dark path these days. All sort of evil ahead for him unless he changes. But Lily, why do you think James wanted so badly to remind you of that? Why did he try so hard?"

I have a hard time contemplating that one.

"I dunno. He's always hated Snape, why shouldn't he take every opportunity to show why he feels that way?"

"That's not why and you know it. James still likes you, Lily. And you can deny it as much as you like, but that boy's been mad for you since the moment he saw you step onto the platform at King's Cross."

I bristle a bit. "He does not like me anymore, Marlene. Sure, he did, but he couldn't possibly! Not deep down. It's all thrill of the chase for him. If we ever got together he'd stop as soon as we got as far as holding hands. It's like I'm a bloody conquest, and I hate that."

"Whatever makes you sleep at night. But when this years over, if you're together, remember that I knew if from the start. Okay?"

I sigh. "Fine. Deal."

"Good. Now, what say you we go upstairs and I paint your toenails, hmm?"

Groaning inwardly, I cast my right hand into hers and allow myself to be dragged up the stairs and into the Gryffindor Common room. I hate to admit it, but as the day turns to night and I resist the urge to remove the sparkly pink nail polish from my toes, I find that I almost enjoy Marlene's pestering and James' intense worry. It's like… I don't know, a safe feeling of protection. I know that my friends will always be there for me, even if Potter is hardly in that category yet.

Now that I'm feeling all insightful about life, I think I'm going to go to bed. I'll write soon Diary, I promise.