(A/N) Ok so this is out pretty fast too! Wow huh? So enjoy and
review, savvy? (Btw I do recommend Pirates of the Carribean–it's like the
best movie ever—and both of the guys are dang fine...) Lol
thanks to everyone who reviewed–and this story is not AU...*sighs* oh well...
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter----etc. (or pirates of the Carribean for that matter although I wish I did...)
Ch. 13 Can Girls Play Quidditch?
To Lily's delight, Tara's family bought a summer home in Southern France and Tara was allowed to invite a group of friends to visit for a few weeks. Tara was able to invite four friends, and she chose Lily, Severus, Lucius, and Jessica.
"We've become pretty good friends," Tara had explained to a flabbergasted Lily, "and I thought it would be an unique experience for her."
And so the whole group arrived at the beautiful house by the beach on the first of July, each wondering if everyone would be able to get along together for the duration of the trip. It started off well with Lucius and Lily refraining from getting into any real conversations with each other and Severus and Jessica avoiding all unnecessary contact, and Tara in the middle thinking everyone was getting on quite well.
The group spent their days at the beach, playing games or shopping, and at night they would usually go out to a nice dinner, Mr. Richards' treat, and then going off to bed, the girls sharing one huge room and the boys another. Lily was surprised at how well she was getting along with Jessica. The girl really had changed since being humbled and becoming friends with Lupin.
"Can I ask you something Lily?" Jessica asked one night when the three girls were sitting in their room, talking.
Lily nodded. "Sure," she said, wondering what Jessica could want to ask her.
"Um, what do you think of Sirius? I mean, what's your opinion of his character?" she asked shakily.
"Well," Lily started, "um...he was nice a few years ago. He really made me feel welcome at Hogwarts. He seemed honest...but lately he's been so cocky there's not speaking to him."
Jessica laughed. "Yea I know what you mean. The trouble is...we're kind of...secretly going out, but I don't want to go out with someone if he's so rude to people. I mean the auditions for the ball were ridiculous...and the sad thing is he actually picked someone from them!"
Tara and Lily exchanged shocked glances.
"You're going out with Sirius?" Tara exclaimed. "Since when?"
"Since a little after the ball," Jessica admitted. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but...Sirius was afraid that him having a girl friend would cause problems between him and James, and possibly him and Remus. I know Remy wouldn't have a problem though because he's like a brother to me."
"Ah," Lily said, shocked. "Um, I thought you and...Remus were romantically involved."
Jessica smiled. "No, we decided a while ago that we liked being just good friends."
"So you've moved on to Sirius? Well, he is good looking...even though I'm probably not going to speak to him ever again," Tara stated blandly.
"Why never again?" Jessica asked, confused.
Tara laughed incredulously. "You didn't hear about the incident with Severus?" she asked.
"No," Jessica faltered.
"You don't want to know," Lily said quickly. She didn't like dwelling on that unpleasant event.
Jessica looked from Lily to Tara and, realizing that they weren't going to say anything else, stated, "Well, I really like him...he's really sweet to me, and he's a good kisser."
"Well...that was more than I wanted to know," Tara muttered, giving Jessica a surprised look.
"Was Severus a good kisser?" Lily asked before she could stop herself.
This time, Tara's surprised look turned on Lily, but Jessica answered, "I don't know, he never kissed me."
"So I suppose I'm the only one here who's kissed Severus?" Tara asked with a wicked grin on her face.
Lily turned a shocked look on Tara before she could add, "I'm JUST KIDDING, Lily, no need to have a heart attack. If I kiss Severus, believe me I'll tell you."
"Good," Lily said coldly, giving her a fake glare.
"So wait a minute, I'm confused," Jessica murmured, looking at Lily, "Who do you like? James or Severus?"
When Lily didn't say anything, Tara chimed in. "Actually, I'm not really sure either, Lil...and I AM your best friend. You really should tell me..."
"I plead the fifth," Lily said quietly.
"What!?" Tara and Jessica asked together.
Lily sighed softly. "Sorry, it's an American thing where you don't have to testify if you don't want to...I read it in a book..."
"Well we're in France now, Lily dear, and besides we're all British so American rules don't apply...now answer!" Tara said grinning.
"I'm not answering!" Lily proclaimed, sticking her nose in the air, defiantly.
Tara looked at Lily for a moment then asked in a quiet, serious voice, "So then they're both fair game?"
Lily glared at her then said, "Yes! Why would I care if you dated either one of them? And I didn't think you'd be going after James, Tara..."
"Believe me, I'm not..." Tara started.
"But it's nice to know we can..." Jessica finished, giggling.
Tara grinned. "Exactly!"
Lily felt herself become slightly sick to her stomach. "Um, I'm tired, could we go to sleep now?"
Tara looked like she was trying to force herself not to laugh, but replied calmly after a moment, "Yea, I'm tired too. Good night Jes, Lil..."
"Good night," Jessica replied.
Lily didn't answer.
***
She didn't begin to regret having that conversation until midway through their last week when Lily began to regret having that conversation. Tara had been moving so slowly that Lily didn't notice it until it was too late. She had snared Severus.
It all had begun with slight flirtation and spending more time with each other and by the time Lily noticed, they were holding hands and occasionally looking dreamily into each other's eyes. Lily felt sick. She tried to rationalize her sickness with various things like the heat, but she knew it wasn't that; she had lost Sevy to her best friend, and it had happened so quickly, in only a week or so.
Because she didn't really know what to do about the situation, Lily completely ignored the situation, as did Lucius, although it was obvious to Lily that he felt awkward about it too. Jessica, however, started giggling randomly and whispering little things to Tara every once in a while.
When the end of the week finally came, Lily was relieved. Perhaps this would all pass when they got back to school. Lucius looked equally relieved, although Lily couldn't see why he would be upset about the match.
With about an hour before she was leaving, Lily decided that she had to at least ask Tara what was going on. She found her in her room all alone, luckily.
"So, um, Tara, are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Severus?" Lily asked, timidly.
Tara looked at Lily slightly surprised then replied, "Um, I will when there's something to tell, Lily. I do like him if that's what you mean, but you said he was fair game..." She added more slowly, "He is isn't he?"
"Um, yea, sure Tara, why would I care about Severus that way?" Lily said, blushing.
Tara rolled her eyes. "Lily...look, if you don't want me to go after Severus, I won't ok?"
"I never said that, Tara, I'm sorry...you go after him," Lily said in her most convincing voice possible.
"Right," Tara said slowly, "but you be sure to tell me if you do have a problem with it, because no guy is worth ruining a friendship over, right?"
"Right," Lily replied smiling.
"Have a good trip home, Lil," Tara said giving her a hug. "I'll miss you out here in France by myself. I honestly can't wait for school to start."
Lily rolled her eyes this time. "Oh boo hoo! You HAVE to be in Southern France, oh no!"
Tara giggled, and when Lily left the room she was happy, even though she didn't accomplish what she had gone in to do.
***
The rest of the summer flew by for Lily, as summers usually did. She spent her time hanging out with some of her old muggle friends and writing letters to her friends from school. Because she tried not to think about Tara and Severus being a couple, when Lily arrived on the Hogwarts Express she was only mildly surprised that Tara was sitting by herself.
"Hey, Lil," she said waving her over to a seat. "Lucius insisted on speaking to Severus alone, so they're on a different car," she said, looking over her shoulder. "Who knows what evil plan they're coming up with?" Tara added grinning.
Lily sat down next to Tara. "We're here again...it kind of feels like we never left," she said sighing slightly.
"Was that a good sigh or a bad sigh?" Tara asked laughing.
"Hmm...kind of both," she said grinning wryly. "I'm not excited about doing all of the homework..."
"But, you are about trying out to be the Slytherin Quidditch Team's seeker, right?" Tara asked with a twinkle in her eye.
Lily sighed. "Well, I'd like to try out, but I don't exactly have a broom, so that's a problem," she said glancing sideways at Tara.
Tara looked like she was about to burst with excitement. "Well, that's why Luc, Sev, Jes, and I all chipped in and bought you the newest broom!" she said, grinning ear to ear.
"What?!" Lily asked jumping out of her seat with excitement and giving Tara a hug. "But, wait a minute, you said Lucius helped buy me this?"
"Well," Tara admitted, "it took a bit of persuasion, since he insisted girls couldn't play Quidditch, but he finally agreed..."
Lily giggled, "Let me guess, YOU persuaded him."
"Sev helped, too," she said indignantly, "and it's not as if the Malfoys ever have a shortage of money."
"True," Lily consented. "So where is it? I hope I can do it...I mean, I've flown on a broom before, but I haven't had time to practice..."
Tara scoffed, "Psh, Lily, you're right. I mean you were only the best in our whole flying class after all..."
Lily glared at Tara. "Be nice! I'm nervous now that you guys have spent so much money on me!
"Don't worry, Lily!" Tara assured her. "Besides, Sev will put in a good word for you."
"Well, I suppose connections are always good in Slytherin...perhaps you could get Lucius to bribe the coach for me," Lily asked with a twinkle in her eye.
Tara gave her a shocked look. "Well, I suppose I could..."
"I'm just kidding!" Lily said, grinning.
Raising her eyebrows Tara said, "Sure you are, Lily..."
***
When Lily walked out onto the Quidditch field, clutching her broom, however, she kind of wished Lucius had bribed the coach. The other people who had come to try out for Seeker were all boys, all older than her, and all from the best, richest pureblood families.
She mounted her broom, and the team walked out onto the field led by Severus and Lucius.
"The coach put us in charge of this tryout," Severus announced in a loud voice, holding a snitch high in the air, "so let's get started. Get the snitch..." and, with that, he released it.
All of the contestants jumped into the air and started to fly around, madly looking for the snitch. To Lily's surprise, some of the contestants even ran into each other, being knocked off their brooms. She looked down, slightly amused, as all of the contestants but her were on the floor, engaged in an all-out brawl. Just as she looked back up again, she noticed that the snitch was hovering right in front of her nose. She grabbed it quickly and flew down to Severus.
"I've got it," she announced simply.
Severus grinned, looking proud. "We'll have to confer," he announced even though Lily was the only one listening.
He then turned to Lucius and they walked away a few yards and began to talk very heatedly. Finally, she heard Severus shout, "Well I'm in charge anyway!", hex Lucius so he couldn't speak, and announce, "Lily's the new Seeker," triumphantly.
Lily was elated. She knew it was a great advantage having one of her best friends choose the Seeker, but at the same time, she felt like she had actually deserved the position. Grinning, she ran over to Lucius and Severus.
"Looks like girls can play Quidditch after all, doesn't it Lucius?" she said haughtily.
Lucius still couldn't talk, but he glared at her, and then past her at the brawl. Finally, Severus released the hex and Lucius yelled, "Look at those idiots! You'd think they didn't want to win!"
"Actually," said a voice, coming up behind them, "Slytherin Seeker tryouts are always like this. Usually it doesn't much matter, because everyone's involved in the brawl, but this year seems to be special."
Lily looked past the two boys and saw a rather tall and forbidding looking man smiling down at them. It was the Slytherin coach.
"Now, I can't say I was expecting a girl to get the part," he added, "but now that you have, Evans, I'm glad. You've shown you have the stuff to go far."
Lily beamed back up at him. She was elated.
***
Lily's friends threw her a slight party that night in celebration of her new position. It was fun, even though Severus and Tara had only grown closer when school had started. The common rumor was that they were dating. Lily felt bad for secretly wishing that they'd break up.
They drank butterbeer and ate chocolate frogs and talked for hours, until eventually everyone had to leave to go to bed and Severus and Lily were left alone in the common room.
"Severus?" Lily started. She had been meaning to ask him something for a while but she didn't know if she could ever get up the courage.
"Yea?" he answered, turning to look at her.
Lily blushed. "Um, I hope you don't think this is too personal, and if it is, you don't have to answer it."
Severus laughed. "Well, um, ok...I'll probably answer it. What are friends for?"
"Well, I'm not sure I want to ask it now," she said, sounding agonized.
He made an exasperated sound. "Lily, you can't build up a question like that and then not ask it!"
"Fine," she said slowly, "Do you love Tara?"
Severus burst out laughing. "All that for this question? Yes, of course I love her."
"You do?" she said quietly.
"Sure," he said, sounding confused. "Just like I love you...and all of my friends."
"I mean, are you in love with her?" she said, blushing more.
"Oh," he said and stopped for a minute. "Well, to be honest, I don't know," he admitted.
"Oh," she said.
"Well," he tried to explain, "I mean, I don't know if I'm in love with her or if I love her...like I love Lucius..."
Lily burst out laughing. "Well that's not very flattering to Tara, now is it?"
Severus glared at her in mock anger. "You know what I mean!"
Lily grinned. "Yea..." she said.
"Well anyways, as fun as it is talking about who I do and do not love...I've got a test tomorrow in Defense Against the Dark Arts...good night Lily," he said standing up.
"Good night, Sev," she said watching him go. She didn't want to go to bed yet; she wanted to think. She couldn't decide if Severus not loving Tara in a romantic sense was a good thing or not, after all he had said he loved Tara like he loved her.
Just then, there came a knock on the common room door. Lily was surprised; it was Tara's secret knock. She went and opened it and a very upset looking Tara burst through the door, tears streaming down her face.
"Tara!" Lily exclaimed, "What's wrong?"
"Shh..." Tara said looking apprehensively up at the boys' dormitory. "I don't want Sev or Luc to hear now, but I just had to tell you..." she said.
"Well...what is it?" Lily asked apprensively.
Tara took a shuddering breath to get control of her voice. "I...you...you know that my Dad's been doing a lot of business in Southern France, right?" she asked slowly.
"Yea," Lily said, tension growing inside of her.
"Well, his work has decided to transfer him there..." she said, tears beginning to come down her face again, "and the ministry has decided that I should go with my parents..."
Lily nodded, "Well of course, but you could always come here for school."
"No," Tara said, taking a deep breath again. "The ministry insists that because I live in France I have to go to Beauxbaxons...being in their boundaries and all...and...Lily–I have to leave Hogwarts!"
(A/N) Sad huh?–sorry if this was frightfully confusing...or weirdly paced...I dunno–I wrote this in a daze–so sorry :-D
Anyways please review and if you want to, vote on your favorite character...I'm curious.
thanks to everyone who reviewed–and this story is not AU...*sighs* oh well...
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter----etc. (or pirates of the Carribean for that matter although I wish I did...)
Ch. 13 Can Girls Play Quidditch?
To Lily's delight, Tara's family bought a summer home in Southern France and Tara was allowed to invite a group of friends to visit for a few weeks. Tara was able to invite four friends, and she chose Lily, Severus, Lucius, and Jessica.
"We've become pretty good friends," Tara had explained to a flabbergasted Lily, "and I thought it would be an unique experience for her."
And so the whole group arrived at the beautiful house by the beach on the first of July, each wondering if everyone would be able to get along together for the duration of the trip. It started off well with Lucius and Lily refraining from getting into any real conversations with each other and Severus and Jessica avoiding all unnecessary contact, and Tara in the middle thinking everyone was getting on quite well.
The group spent their days at the beach, playing games or shopping, and at night they would usually go out to a nice dinner, Mr. Richards' treat, and then going off to bed, the girls sharing one huge room and the boys another. Lily was surprised at how well she was getting along with Jessica. The girl really had changed since being humbled and becoming friends with Lupin.
"Can I ask you something Lily?" Jessica asked one night when the three girls were sitting in their room, talking.
Lily nodded. "Sure," she said, wondering what Jessica could want to ask her.
"Um, what do you think of Sirius? I mean, what's your opinion of his character?" she asked shakily.
"Well," Lily started, "um...he was nice a few years ago. He really made me feel welcome at Hogwarts. He seemed honest...but lately he's been so cocky there's not speaking to him."
Jessica laughed. "Yea I know what you mean. The trouble is...we're kind of...secretly going out, but I don't want to go out with someone if he's so rude to people. I mean the auditions for the ball were ridiculous...and the sad thing is he actually picked someone from them!"
Tara and Lily exchanged shocked glances.
"You're going out with Sirius?" Tara exclaimed. "Since when?"
"Since a little after the ball," Jessica admitted. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but...Sirius was afraid that him having a girl friend would cause problems between him and James, and possibly him and Remus. I know Remy wouldn't have a problem though because he's like a brother to me."
"Ah," Lily said, shocked. "Um, I thought you and...Remus were romantically involved."
Jessica smiled. "No, we decided a while ago that we liked being just good friends."
"So you've moved on to Sirius? Well, he is good looking...even though I'm probably not going to speak to him ever again," Tara stated blandly.
"Why never again?" Jessica asked, confused.
Tara laughed incredulously. "You didn't hear about the incident with Severus?" she asked.
"No," Jessica faltered.
"You don't want to know," Lily said quickly. She didn't like dwelling on that unpleasant event.
Jessica looked from Lily to Tara and, realizing that they weren't going to say anything else, stated, "Well, I really like him...he's really sweet to me, and he's a good kisser."
"Well...that was more than I wanted to know," Tara muttered, giving Jessica a surprised look.
"Was Severus a good kisser?" Lily asked before she could stop herself.
This time, Tara's surprised look turned on Lily, but Jessica answered, "I don't know, he never kissed me."
"So I suppose I'm the only one here who's kissed Severus?" Tara asked with a wicked grin on her face.
Lily turned a shocked look on Tara before she could add, "I'm JUST KIDDING, Lily, no need to have a heart attack. If I kiss Severus, believe me I'll tell you."
"Good," Lily said coldly, giving her a fake glare.
"So wait a minute, I'm confused," Jessica murmured, looking at Lily, "Who do you like? James or Severus?"
When Lily didn't say anything, Tara chimed in. "Actually, I'm not really sure either, Lil...and I AM your best friend. You really should tell me..."
"I plead the fifth," Lily said quietly.
"What!?" Tara and Jessica asked together.
Lily sighed softly. "Sorry, it's an American thing where you don't have to testify if you don't want to...I read it in a book..."
"Well we're in France now, Lily dear, and besides we're all British so American rules don't apply...now answer!" Tara said grinning.
"I'm not answering!" Lily proclaimed, sticking her nose in the air, defiantly.
Tara looked at Lily for a moment then asked in a quiet, serious voice, "So then they're both fair game?"
Lily glared at her then said, "Yes! Why would I care if you dated either one of them? And I didn't think you'd be going after James, Tara..."
"Believe me, I'm not..." Tara started.
"But it's nice to know we can..." Jessica finished, giggling.
Tara grinned. "Exactly!"
Lily felt herself become slightly sick to her stomach. "Um, I'm tired, could we go to sleep now?"
Tara looked like she was trying to force herself not to laugh, but replied calmly after a moment, "Yea, I'm tired too. Good night Jes, Lil..."
"Good night," Jessica replied.
Lily didn't answer.
***
She didn't begin to regret having that conversation until midway through their last week when Lily began to regret having that conversation. Tara had been moving so slowly that Lily didn't notice it until it was too late. She had snared Severus.
It all had begun with slight flirtation and spending more time with each other and by the time Lily noticed, they were holding hands and occasionally looking dreamily into each other's eyes. Lily felt sick. She tried to rationalize her sickness with various things like the heat, but she knew it wasn't that; she had lost Sevy to her best friend, and it had happened so quickly, in only a week or so.
Because she didn't really know what to do about the situation, Lily completely ignored the situation, as did Lucius, although it was obvious to Lily that he felt awkward about it too. Jessica, however, started giggling randomly and whispering little things to Tara every once in a while.
When the end of the week finally came, Lily was relieved. Perhaps this would all pass when they got back to school. Lucius looked equally relieved, although Lily couldn't see why he would be upset about the match.
With about an hour before she was leaving, Lily decided that she had to at least ask Tara what was going on. She found her in her room all alone, luckily.
"So, um, Tara, are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Severus?" Lily asked, timidly.
Tara looked at Lily slightly surprised then replied, "Um, I will when there's something to tell, Lily. I do like him if that's what you mean, but you said he was fair game..." She added more slowly, "He is isn't he?"
"Um, yea, sure Tara, why would I care about Severus that way?" Lily said, blushing.
Tara rolled her eyes. "Lily...look, if you don't want me to go after Severus, I won't ok?"
"I never said that, Tara, I'm sorry...you go after him," Lily said in her most convincing voice possible.
"Right," Tara said slowly, "but you be sure to tell me if you do have a problem with it, because no guy is worth ruining a friendship over, right?"
"Right," Lily replied smiling.
"Have a good trip home, Lil," Tara said giving her a hug. "I'll miss you out here in France by myself. I honestly can't wait for school to start."
Lily rolled her eyes this time. "Oh boo hoo! You HAVE to be in Southern France, oh no!"
Tara giggled, and when Lily left the room she was happy, even though she didn't accomplish what she had gone in to do.
***
The rest of the summer flew by for Lily, as summers usually did. She spent her time hanging out with some of her old muggle friends and writing letters to her friends from school. Because she tried not to think about Tara and Severus being a couple, when Lily arrived on the Hogwarts Express she was only mildly surprised that Tara was sitting by herself.
"Hey, Lil," she said waving her over to a seat. "Lucius insisted on speaking to Severus alone, so they're on a different car," she said, looking over her shoulder. "Who knows what evil plan they're coming up with?" Tara added grinning.
Lily sat down next to Tara. "We're here again...it kind of feels like we never left," she said sighing slightly.
"Was that a good sigh or a bad sigh?" Tara asked laughing.
"Hmm...kind of both," she said grinning wryly. "I'm not excited about doing all of the homework..."
"But, you are about trying out to be the Slytherin Quidditch Team's seeker, right?" Tara asked with a twinkle in her eye.
Lily sighed. "Well, I'd like to try out, but I don't exactly have a broom, so that's a problem," she said glancing sideways at Tara.
Tara looked like she was about to burst with excitement. "Well, that's why Luc, Sev, Jes, and I all chipped in and bought you the newest broom!" she said, grinning ear to ear.
"What?!" Lily asked jumping out of her seat with excitement and giving Tara a hug. "But, wait a minute, you said Lucius helped buy me this?"
"Well," Tara admitted, "it took a bit of persuasion, since he insisted girls couldn't play Quidditch, but he finally agreed..."
Lily giggled, "Let me guess, YOU persuaded him."
"Sev helped, too," she said indignantly, "and it's not as if the Malfoys ever have a shortage of money."
"True," Lily consented. "So where is it? I hope I can do it...I mean, I've flown on a broom before, but I haven't had time to practice..."
Tara scoffed, "Psh, Lily, you're right. I mean you were only the best in our whole flying class after all..."
Lily glared at Tara. "Be nice! I'm nervous now that you guys have spent so much money on me!
"Don't worry, Lily!" Tara assured her. "Besides, Sev will put in a good word for you."
"Well, I suppose connections are always good in Slytherin...perhaps you could get Lucius to bribe the coach for me," Lily asked with a twinkle in her eye.
Tara gave her a shocked look. "Well, I suppose I could..."
"I'm just kidding!" Lily said, grinning.
Raising her eyebrows Tara said, "Sure you are, Lily..."
***
When Lily walked out onto the Quidditch field, clutching her broom, however, she kind of wished Lucius had bribed the coach. The other people who had come to try out for Seeker were all boys, all older than her, and all from the best, richest pureblood families.
She mounted her broom, and the team walked out onto the field led by Severus and Lucius.
"The coach put us in charge of this tryout," Severus announced in a loud voice, holding a snitch high in the air, "so let's get started. Get the snitch..." and, with that, he released it.
All of the contestants jumped into the air and started to fly around, madly looking for the snitch. To Lily's surprise, some of the contestants even ran into each other, being knocked off their brooms. She looked down, slightly amused, as all of the contestants but her were on the floor, engaged in an all-out brawl. Just as she looked back up again, she noticed that the snitch was hovering right in front of her nose. She grabbed it quickly and flew down to Severus.
"I've got it," she announced simply.
Severus grinned, looking proud. "We'll have to confer," he announced even though Lily was the only one listening.
He then turned to Lucius and they walked away a few yards and began to talk very heatedly. Finally, she heard Severus shout, "Well I'm in charge anyway!", hex Lucius so he couldn't speak, and announce, "Lily's the new Seeker," triumphantly.
Lily was elated. She knew it was a great advantage having one of her best friends choose the Seeker, but at the same time, she felt like she had actually deserved the position. Grinning, she ran over to Lucius and Severus.
"Looks like girls can play Quidditch after all, doesn't it Lucius?" she said haughtily.
Lucius still couldn't talk, but he glared at her, and then past her at the brawl. Finally, Severus released the hex and Lucius yelled, "Look at those idiots! You'd think they didn't want to win!"
"Actually," said a voice, coming up behind them, "Slytherin Seeker tryouts are always like this. Usually it doesn't much matter, because everyone's involved in the brawl, but this year seems to be special."
Lily looked past the two boys and saw a rather tall and forbidding looking man smiling down at them. It was the Slytherin coach.
"Now, I can't say I was expecting a girl to get the part," he added, "but now that you have, Evans, I'm glad. You've shown you have the stuff to go far."
Lily beamed back up at him. She was elated.
***
Lily's friends threw her a slight party that night in celebration of her new position. It was fun, even though Severus and Tara had only grown closer when school had started. The common rumor was that they were dating. Lily felt bad for secretly wishing that they'd break up.
They drank butterbeer and ate chocolate frogs and talked for hours, until eventually everyone had to leave to go to bed and Severus and Lily were left alone in the common room.
"Severus?" Lily started. She had been meaning to ask him something for a while but she didn't know if she could ever get up the courage.
"Yea?" he answered, turning to look at her.
Lily blushed. "Um, I hope you don't think this is too personal, and if it is, you don't have to answer it."
Severus laughed. "Well, um, ok...I'll probably answer it. What are friends for?"
"Well, I'm not sure I want to ask it now," she said, sounding agonized.
He made an exasperated sound. "Lily, you can't build up a question like that and then not ask it!"
"Fine," she said slowly, "Do you love Tara?"
Severus burst out laughing. "All that for this question? Yes, of course I love her."
"You do?" she said quietly.
"Sure," he said, sounding confused. "Just like I love you...and all of my friends."
"I mean, are you in love with her?" she said, blushing more.
"Oh," he said and stopped for a minute. "Well, to be honest, I don't know," he admitted.
"Oh," she said.
"Well," he tried to explain, "I mean, I don't know if I'm in love with her or if I love her...like I love Lucius..."
Lily burst out laughing. "Well that's not very flattering to Tara, now is it?"
Severus glared at her in mock anger. "You know what I mean!"
Lily grinned. "Yea..." she said.
"Well anyways, as fun as it is talking about who I do and do not love...I've got a test tomorrow in Defense Against the Dark Arts...good night Lily," he said standing up.
"Good night, Sev," she said watching him go. She didn't want to go to bed yet; she wanted to think. She couldn't decide if Severus not loving Tara in a romantic sense was a good thing or not, after all he had said he loved Tara like he loved her.
Just then, there came a knock on the common room door. Lily was surprised; it was Tara's secret knock. She went and opened it and a very upset looking Tara burst through the door, tears streaming down her face.
"Tara!" Lily exclaimed, "What's wrong?"
"Shh..." Tara said looking apprehensively up at the boys' dormitory. "I don't want Sev or Luc to hear now, but I just had to tell you..." she said.
"Well...what is it?" Lily asked apprensively.
Tara took a shuddering breath to get control of her voice. "I...you...you know that my Dad's been doing a lot of business in Southern France, right?" she asked slowly.
"Yea," Lily said, tension growing inside of her.
"Well, his work has decided to transfer him there..." she said, tears beginning to come down her face again, "and the ministry has decided that I should go with my parents..."
Lily nodded, "Well of course, but you could always come here for school."
"No," Tara said, taking a deep breath again. "The ministry insists that because I live in France I have to go to Beauxbaxons...being in their boundaries and all...and...Lily–I have to leave Hogwarts!"
(A/N) Sad huh?–sorry if this was frightfully confusing...or weirdly paced...I dunno–I wrote this in a daze–so sorry :-D
Anyways please review and if you want to, vote on your favorite character...I'm curious.