And I would be the one (to hold you down) | Yandere Lily Evans

A quiet word

During the course of third year, Petunia finally throws aside enough pride to begin writing Lily back (or perhaps she had gained enough courage to approach the little owl Lily uses to send home her letters). It brings Lily to such a bright elation that she's not even bothered by the antics of James Potter and Sirius Black for the rest of the month.

Speaking of, those two had quickly let up on Natsumi soon after their last little encounter. Natsumi's not exactly bothered by it (they were annoying and tedious), but she's not sure she likes the looks of fear that enter their eyes when she approaches them in the hall. Lily can be terrifying, she's seen her stand up for her and Severus before, but what did she do? They still (on occasion) pick on poor Severus during classes and in between periods, but Natsumi might as well not exist to them. Granted, it wasn't like she was the victim of their pranks very often (aside from pure chance), but...It's odd, isn't it? Peculiar.

She decides to investigate herself (Lily's making her so much more confident!), asking the other half of their newly formed group, one Saturday afternoon when Lily was in her Arithmancy class, "Lupin? Pettigrew? Can I, um, steal a moment of your time, please?"

The two, while milder than James and Sirius, had still proven to be quite the mischievous bunch. Thus far, however, it appears that they've been saved from Lily's wrath. When Natsumi mentions it to them, Peter avoids eye contact and Remus sighs.

"They're exaggerating, I'm sure...They said something about Evans threatening them or jinxing them...They're fine blokes, I promise, but they just don't know what it means to face the consequences of their actions."

"It's a pureblood thing." Peter adds, before realizing that Natsumi was (also) a pureblood, "No offense intended!"

Natsumi's lips form a thin line. That does line up with the two boys' attitudes--She's heard stories about Sirius' refusal to complete menial labor in detentions, a definite product of his upbringing, "None taken, Pettigrew." She reassures him, "I was just, um, wondering. Whenever they see me, they look like they're trying to run from a Banshee."

It earns a chuckle, but Natsumi wasn't joking.

They talk for a little bit more (they compliment her on her speech patterns--Her stuttering having gone down) before departing. Natsumi exits the reference section and immediately comes face to face with Lily, who looked to be waiting.

"--Lily!" She gasps.

"Nat." Lily greets her with a hug, as has become the habit, "What's up?"

"O-oh, nothing, um, I was just doing some light reading." Why is she lying to Lily? What does she have to hide?

"Yeah?" Her eyes glance behind Natsumi, searching, "I thought I heard someone talking?"

"Yes, ah, that was Lupin and Pettigrew." Her throat clears, "We chatted a little. Asked about plans to join the dueling club."

"Oh?" Her friend tilts her head, "I didn't know you wanted to join, Nat, I would've gotten you and me an application."

"I--I don't really, I mean," Natsumi shrugs, searching for words to fill up her deception, "I would really love to learn to defend myself. I mean, I, um, I always feel so bad for relying on you." Her gaze goes down to her feet, "And my mother was on the team in her time, so, um, I thought it might be nice, you know?"

When she looks back up, there's something unreadable in Lily's expression. Something that Natsumi can't recognize, and quite frankly, she doesn't want to. It's like watching the gaze of a predator, debating whether or not to kill or spare, "Savvy!" A smile.