Author's Note: I had a plan for this chapter, but it just sort of unfolded in front of me. Lily is difficult to write, because there isn't much known about her and I try to stick to the to main traits that she is known for having: compassion and stubbornness.
James sat at the desk in his dorm room pouring over the Quidditch playbook. Tryouts were this weekend, but most of the spots were already filled. Sirius and Frank were beaters, he was one of the Chasers along with tall, skinny girl named Anna...Last year the Chaser was a seventh year, so that would have to be filled along with a Seeker position. He was hoping to convince Sam Quinn to try out again. His parents wanted him concentrating on the studies, but he was a damn good player…
"What's your thesis for your essay James?" Peter asked.
"Wormtail, what are you muttering about?" He dropped his quill and turned around.
"The Dark Arts essay, what's your…"
"Don't bother asking," Remus said as he strode in the room. "I'm guessing Prongs hasn't started."
"No, I'm working on Quidditch."
"It's called avoidance," Sirius chimed in from his position on the bed. "He got turned down by Lily today and is concentrating on beating the Snake slime out of the Quidditch Cup."
"Put a sock in it," James muttered snapping his playbook closed. "I didn't get turned down by Lily, she's just been busy." It was a lie. Then when she described the Love Potion all she did was blush and stammer. He thought about how his smelt. Black tea? This might not have been a very British thing to say, but he didn't really care for the taste that much unless it was Sirius' version of tea. However, he did remember how Lily always insisted on making it when she was at his house.
"I have patrol duty tonight," Remus sighed. "I have to talk to Diggory and the other prefects about rearranging the schedule because I saw when the full moon is."
"How far off?" James inquired.
"Next Sunday, isn't that bloody great?" Remus asked. "I hate when it's on Sunday, because I have to miss Monday classes, at least in the morning."
"Not to get off topic from your furry little problem, but could you talk to Lily?" James, by now, was pacing around the room, running a hand through his hair.
"Yes." Remus rolled his eyes. "I have patrol with her tonight anyway." The lanky boy looked down at his watch with a sigh. "I'll talk with you about the plan when I get back. Have to go, we're patrolling the Astronomy tower." He shrugged off his robe and exchanged it for a jumper before racing out the door.
Downstairs he saw Lily dressed even more lax than him in a pair of worn jeans and trainers, a knit hit covering her hair. "I took a shower," she explained as she tugged on the edge of it. "I hope McGonagall isn't out tonight, she'll murder me for not wearing my uniform."
"I'll cover for you," Remus said as they made their way through the portrait hole. "Frank said there's this Slytherin-Ravenclaw couple that usually hangs out up there and gets particularly nasty."
"Joy," Lily muttered. "I'm done with couples after today."
"You didn't enjoy the Amortentia?"
"No, Slughorn invited me to one of his dinners and suggested I bring James along as my plus one." She snorted at that. "That was after he expressed his sympathies about my parents and said that I could use their death as a get out of jail free card." She rolled her eyes.
"Are you doing okay?" Remus asked softly as they made their way down the corridor that he quickly scanned.
"I guess," she said. "It's getting easier. I mean, I used to wake up in the morning and not remember I was at the Potter house...It would hit me like I ran into a brick wall. Now, it's finally sunk in all the way." Lily hugged herself tightly. "I told Marlene and Alice everything, it's nice that they know the full story."
"I heard what Regulus said."
"I could care less when he asked if I was sleeping with James, even with Sirius, because eventually everyone ends up in fabricated story about them...but he asked me if I slept with Charles." At that Lily shuddered and her face arranged itself into a look of disgust. "And then he had the audacity to ask the price. Frank was right, if he hadn't stepped in I would have lost my Prefect badge."
Remus didn't respond just looked behind suits of armor and in nooks and crannies as they walked down the hallway. "James wanted me to ask you about him."
"I broke his heart because I said I planned on going to Hogsmeade with Michael and leave early."
"Lily, he's an absolute wreck. Peter asked him about his Dark Arts essay and he hasn't even started…"
"So? Him and Sirius always procrastinate."
"All he does is pour over the playbook for Quidditch. The last time he did that was when I-"
"You what?"
"Never mind." Remus shook his head as they got to Astronomy tower. He placed a finger to his lips as he cast a particularly helpful spell that muffled their footsteps and he lit his wand. "We're prefects, we'll give you to the count of three to vacate this tower and head back to your room. After that we're giving you detention…"
"One…" Lily looked around after she heard the sound of footsteps. "Two…" Remus whipped around with his wand. "Three…" More scurrying footsteps, but no one left. They rolled their eyes as they began to investigate.
Lily caught the edge of a robe and looked in a corner where they saw a girl with a mess of blonde hair next to a boy with a buzz cut. "Detention," she said softly. "Names please," she said.
"Flintson," the boy muttered.
"Edwards," the girl replied.
"What are your houses?"
"Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw," the boy said. "They never check here, usually leave after they find the first couple."
"You shouldn't be out here anyway." Remus said. "Now go on, we'll leave it up to honor code that you're returning."
The two prefects watched as they scurried out. Lily quite frankly felt disgusted, the pair looked like a couple of third years! She was used to catching sixth and seventh years our after curfew, but the younger kids at least had the decency to return to their dorms before lights out.
Without another word the two did another quick sweep before turning on their heel to head back to Gryffindor tower. As they walked Lily had a thought about Saturday. "Remus, the Quidditch tryouts are on Saturday, right?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Well, I'm supposed to bring a friend, would you come with me?"
"Me?"
"Why not?" Lily asked and stepped sideways to rest a hand on his shoulder. "As a favor to me, please?"
"It's not a good idea…" Remus shook his head. He wouldn't be very good company with the full moon in a week. His appetite was almost non-existent, he was restless while being dead on his feet because he couldn't force himself to sleep.
"You are one of my best friends. Besides, even if I asked James he would show up half hour late in muddy Quidditch robes." Lily tilted her head to look him straight in the eye. "Besides, Frank and Alice will be there too. So, will Diggory and-"
"Fine," Remus muttered, as he tried to figure out how to tell one of his best mates that the girl he was in love with didn't want to talk about him and instead invited him to dinner. Yeah, that would be easy to tell James.
Lily stared in the mirror, straightening her skirt. Marlene had done her hair and she thought it looked ridiculous with a ribbon holding back hair from falling into her face. She had been studying most of the afternoon and wanted nothing more to slip into a pair of jeans and an old jumper.
"Are you wearing that?" It was Athena. The roommate walked in wearing a casual red dress, her dark hair falling around her shoulders in waves. "You know that everyone likes Slughorn's parties because we don't have to wear our uniforms." The roommate smirked as she walked over to her trunk and pulled out a dress. "It's a bit too small for me, but you have such narrow shoulders that it should work." Athena tossed the dress to the redhead.
Lily considered throwing it back. It was barely October, still fall, and the dress was dark blue and made of stretchy material. It was they type of dress Marlene would wear whenever they went out together. "I think I'm-"
"Wear it, it'll look great with your hair." Athena sat on her bed and opened her trunk for her makeup kit. Lily walked to the bathroom and stripped, pulling the dress on. It was casual, but the bodice clung to her, leaving little to the imagination, the skirt flowed away, but it was much shorter than her uniform skirt. With a sigh she pulled out the ribbon and ran her hands through her wild locks. Maybe tonight could be fun.
Upstairs in the boys room, Remus pulled off his tie and changed into a different dress shirt. He would leave the robes, but knew he should put the Prefect badge on his shirt. As he was about to walk out the door James and Sirius came in, Peter on their tail. He knew that the last boy was rubbish at playing Quidditch, but he was very good at observing it. Writing plays came easily to him and after one game he could tell the pros and cons of each player.
"I thought you were making tryouts run over," Remus commented.
"I was going to, but Longbottom gave me a lecture," James mumbled. He looked like a mess, face mud streaked, robes with grass stains and hair looking like he had just alighted from a broom, which he had. "I was thinking about going to Slughorn's dinner."
"I'm his date," Sirius called.
"You two are up to something," Remus said. "The only reason you're going is because Regulus always attends." He looked between James and Sirius, each was wiping their face with a wet towel and quickly changing.
"I'm glad I'm studying," Peter piped up. "I'm inviting Wendy up here." The short boy tried to contain a smirk as Sirius and James cheered a little before making an effort to hide their dirty clothes that littered the ground.
Without another word Remus went down into the Common Room where Lily stood with Alice and Frank. Frank was dressed in a manner similar to him, while Alice wore trousers and a blouse. Lily, though, was were he was surprised.
"Marlene vetoed my jeans and Athena vetoed my uniform," she explained.
Remus couldn't help but stare at Lily, whom James always described as being beautiful, but lately she looked...Well, much like he did after the full moon with dark circles under her eyes, messy hair and slightly disheveled robes.
The group made their way down to the dungeons. Slughorns room had been transformed and actually looked like a nice place to eat, the lab tables transfigured to one long dining table. "Ah, my lovely Lily, I'm so glad you could make it," Slughorn said. "And...Remus isn't it? Where's James?"
As if on cue Potter strutted in with Sirius following. Both were in dress robes and had somehow managed to clean up from Quidditch tryouts. "Sorry, we're late. I'm not overdressed, am I? I considered wearing my Quidditch robes."
"No, no!" Slughorn laughed. "Come, come, lets get some punch."
Lily watched curiously as they both ignored her, wandering over to where the Slytherin's congregated. Something was going on, she could sense it. "Remus, tell me why Sirius is here."
"Slughorn always says to bring a friend, you know that."
"He means a date," Lily muttered. "Besides, Sirius loathes Slughorn. Him and his brother don't get along either, and Regulus never misses these." She pointed to the fifth year talking while a blonde girl laughed loudly at whatever he was saying. "They're not going to be stupid enough to pull anything here, are they?" she questioned.
"You know that they're plotting revenge?" Remus asked casually.
"I'm not daft. I was the one who told them everything or at least most everything. I left out the bit about James' father...He would have already fed Regulus to the giant squid."
Before they got a chance to speak, the aforementioned Black sauntered over. "You look very nice, Evans," he complimented, eyes looking her over. "Does this mean your price has went up? I would think it would go down if you're with Lupin."
Lily tensed her hand going to her wand when she remembered that it was with her uniform.
"Forgot your wand? Even a-"
"Lily." Remus pulled at her arm, but she tugged it away.
"I don't know what your problem is," she spat out. "You call me a mudblood, but my blood is purer than yours."
Remus hand tightened around Lily's arm as his hand rested on top of his wand.
"Are you familiar with inbreeding? It happens quite a bit with nobility. They don't want to pollute the line, have unworthy heirs, but in the process it makes their children susceptible to all sorts of conditions…" Her eyes drifted over his. "Mental diseases, physical ones...It's you I feel sorry for. Call me whore…"
Regulus' mouth dropped at that word leaving the mouth of the Gryffindor sweetheart.
"Speechless?" Her arms crossed over her chest. "You think your so special, I'm surprised you don't have your tattoo yet." Lily tilted her head, the younger Blacks eyes were narrowed into slits. By now Remus had his arm drawn, his hand clutching Lily's arm like she would fly away if he let go. People were listening. "Isn't it ridiculous that you think I'm unworthy of attending Hogwarts, that my parents aren't worthy of living because I have magic and they don't?" Her green eyes were shining with unshed tears.
"People like you should learn your place," he whispered. "You may be able to get good marks, but that's because of brown nosing."
Lily was going to say a witty retort, but then she recalled what she had learned in school years before and a smirk crossed her face. "I hope you realized that your precious Dark Lord is acting like a muggle. His actions are merely a repeat of muggle leaders that tried to take over countries...Persecuting people because of their religion or political beliefs. In America their combating racism, discriminating against someone because their skin is a few shades darker..."
Regulus was trying to control himself, but her words provoked him. Without warning he raised his hand, bringing it down on her cheek with a sharp slap. The force was enough to cause her to stumble into Remus' arms. "Never say anything like that again."
Everyone was staring at them, Slughorn had taken a few steps forward his hand raised. By now Remus released her arm and brought it around her shoulder. Lily cradled cheek, eyes watering, but no tears actually fell. "I still feel sorry for you," she murmured. Regulus said nothing, just marched out of the room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Slughorn racing towards the door, but James was ahead of him. Frank was holding back a struggling Sirius.
"Potter!" she yelled, hoping using his surname would get attention more. Instead she broke free from Remus and ran after him, once she reached him, she tried to stop him. The scenario reminded her of her parents funeral.
"He can't get away with that!"
"Let Slughorn deal with it. He's not worth it James," she whispered.
"You are." He fought to loosen her grip.
"If you make me let go, you're going to hurt me."
James stopped struggling and turned around to face her. She recoiled when his hand went to her face. "It's alright," he said. "It probably won't bruise." His touch was feather light as he traced the red mark. "I have some bruise paste that we use for Quidditch, it helps after a game when the Bludgers are particularly nasty."
"Thank you," Lily said. Her arms wrapped around him, not to restrain, but to hold him. James didn't ask her what she was thanking him for, just returned the gesture.