A month passes, and slowly the life seems to re-enter Lily. Sometimes her laughter seems forced, and her smile doesn't always reach her eyes, but she's trying. I think she lets herself forget on some days, her head will tilt back with laughter, and she'll swat Sirius on the shoulder; that's when I know she's going to be okay. Lily's strong like that.
"Alright, class," Professor Tate says one day in class, clapping his hands together. "Who can tell me what legilimency and occlumency is?"
"Miss Evans?" He questions, after Lily raises her hand.
"Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's findings, and occlumency is the act of magically closing one's mind against legilimency," she answers.
"Merlin, Evans," Sirius mutters, rolling his eyes. She ignores him, and in doing so, she misses the smirk that play on his lips. He lifts his grey eyes to look at me and mouths Lily's back. He's missed her just as much as I have.
"Very good, Miss Evans! Ten points to Gryffindor!" Professor Tate compliments. "Now, I believe you are old enough to understand what I am about to tell you. It is a known fact that you-know-who is a skilled ligilimen. As seventh years, just a few months from graduating, I think you should all be prepared for what he can do. You're all adults now. So, we are going to practice the incantation and throwing it off."
Excitement trickles through my veins and a grin tugs on my lips. This is very advanced magic, and I've always wanted to try my hand at it. Remus grins too, and I know he is aching to perform this magic just as much as I am. I look to Lily as her eyes meet mine, and I nod at her, calling dibs as my partner.
"Now, I need you all focused today, so I will be picking the partners," Professor Tate announces. There's a collective groan throughout the classroom. Professor Tate flicks his wand and two lines of names appear on the board. James Potter lines up with Jenna Lauding. You have got to be kidding me.
"Alright, I get the bookworm," I hear Sirius say, but my eyes remain glued to the board.
"Prongs?" Remus prods, nudging my elbow. "Something wrong?"
"I'm fucked," I groan.
"And how is that?"
I turn to face Remus, arching an eyebrow. "Check my name."
He turns to read the board, his lips moving silently as he reads down the list of our classmates, until he reaches my name. His eyes widen when he sees the name of my partner.
"Have fun with that," he remarks after a moment with a cheeky grin.
"I want you to take turns," continues Professor Tate. "I want the person practicing legilimency to say the words very clearly 'legilimens.' Now, the person practicing occlumency try and keep your mind blank of thought and emotion, alright? We will do this the rest of the class period. You may begin."
I frantically look to Lily, just as she turns her head to meet my eyes. Help me, I mouth. Her green eyes haze over in confusion, and her eyebrows come together, causing a pucker to form. She glances to the board, before turning to look at me with wide eyes. She laughs a small laugh before shrugging her shoulders. Leave it to Lily to find humor in the situation.
I turn stiffly to face Jenna, whom is smirking in triumph. She throws Lily a look of smugness, and I roll my eyes.
"Hello, James," she coos, a sparkle in her blue eyes. "Ready to do work, partner?"
"Let's get this over with," I mutter, looking to the ceiling.
"There's no rush," she replies smoothly.
I sigh impatiently. "Defend or attach first, Jenna?"
"Defend," she answers, a bit of annoyance beginning to seep into her words.
I nod. "Very well." I pull my wand from my robes and take a deep breath. She looks at me with a bored expression and lazily examines her nails.
"Ready?"
She smirks at me. "Always."
"Legilimens!"
It's a few months ago, and Lily and I are arguing in this very room, yelling at each other as Jenna watches with a smirk. It's late at night, and Jenna and I are practically glued to each other, pressed against the wall of the astronomy tower. It's the middle of the day, and Jenna has dragged me into a broom cupboard throwing herself against me. It's Autumn, and Jenna and I are pressed firmly together in the booth of Madam Puddifoot's as Lily watches on.
I'm thrown from her memories violently, falling against the wall of the classroom. A thin sheet of sweat has formed over my skin, gathering at the nape of my neck, and dripping down my spine. Goose flesh arises alone my arms because the feeling of being in someone's mind feels like a sin. Like I have violated someone.
"What the actual fuck, Jenna?" I demand, looking to her angrily. "What the bloody hell do you think you're playing at?"
A smile plays on the corners of her lips, causing her dimples to appear on her cheeks. Her skin is shining like she's been sweating too, and her blue eyes glimmer with a knowing look.
"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," she answers, throwing her eyelashes back conveying innocence.
"Whatever," I mutter angrily. My blood continues to boil as I clench my teeth.
"Don't be mad," she replies, reaching to touch my arm, but I jerk back. She glares at me, clenching her jaw.
"Let's just get this over with," I spit, backing away to put distance between us. "You're turn."
"Alright," she replies, raising her chin stubbornly. "Ready?" She lifts her wand to point at me.
I nod. Two can play at this game, Jenna.
"Legilimens!" She cries. I shut my eyes tightly and instead of doing what I was informed to do by my professor, I let her into my mind with ease, flooding my thoughts with Lily.
I'm walking hand in hand with Lily after we had just confessed our feelings to one another, smiles lighting up both of our faces'. It's Christmas time, and Lily shrieks with laughter as I rub my hot chocolate mustache across her face. It's night time, and my body is pressed against hers in the guest bedroom. It's Lily's birthday, and we are plastered to each other, all hands and lips on the Gryffindor common room couch.
Being thrown from my own memories is no less harsh. I take deep breaths, and an eerie feeling is settling over me. Occlumency, no matter how interesting, is violating. I'm not sure how I feel about the magical act.
"What the hell was that?" Jenna demands.
I look up to see she has placed her hands on her hips, and if looks could kill, I would be six feet in the ground. She's seething as she glares forward; her foot taps impatiently against the stone floors.
"Two can play your game, Jenna," I answer coldly.
The bell rings. I turn immediately to find Lily; I see her wrapped in a hug with Sirius. My stomach twists at the things she might have seen in the depths of a Black family member's memories. She leans away and says something to him that doesn't reach my ears, but whatever it is, it gets him to smile.
As soon as I am within reach, I place my hand on Lily's forearm and pull her to me.
Her eyes meet mine for a moment. "Wha-?"
My lips crash against hers before she can get a full word out. I place my hands in her hair, securing her to me. I kiss her deeply, knowing Jenna is watching. I haven't had a problem with her in months, but hopefully, this gets the final point across.
"Um, hi?" Lily says confused, when I finally pull away.
"Let's go," I say placing my hand in hers, leading her from the classroom, wanting to put distance between myself and Jenna.
"Prongs, next time you want to shove your tongue down Evans' throat could you not do it right in my face," Sirius says following us.
I ignore his snide comment and keep walking; Lily and Sirius look at each other in concern.
"Prongs, mate, what's going on?"
"Jenna," I spit.
Lily squeezes my hand. "What'd she do?"
"I don't wanna talk about it," I reply, not wanting to tell her.
Lily tugs on my arm, forcing me to stop. Sirius continues to walk throwing a look over his shoulder. I breathe deeply and stare at the walls, not wanting to meet Lily's eyes. She puts her hand gently under my chin and turns my head to face her.
"Hey, it's me," she says softly causing me to melt a little. "Talk to me, please."
"She didn't even try to throw me off in occlumency. She just kept showing me memories."
"Memories? Memories of what?"
I throw her a look, arching my eyebrow.
I watch as realization begins to dawn in her emerald eyes. "Oh!" She takes a deep breath and gives me a smile and a shrug. "Well, I mean there's nothing you can really do about that, so there's no reason to be all angry."
"Well," I reply unable to keep the smirk off my lips. "I did make her see memories of me and you."
"Oh, Potter," she grins. "Such the prankster."
"You love me," I sing, throwing an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side, as we make our way down the corridor.
"That I do you twat," she replies, smiling. "Now, are you done brooding for the day? Or do I need to get some treacle tart in your system for you to be better?"
"Well," I pretend to contemplate her words. "I thought I was done with my angst, but if it'll get me treacle tart, I might throw a tantrum or something."
"You're dorky as hell, Potter," she laughs.
"You love dorky," I answer with a wink.
"I've decided my taste in guys is tall, handsome, and dorky as fuck," she ticks off the adjectives on her fingers. "Congrats Potter, you fit two of the three."
"Hey!" I protest.
She spins out of my grip with a laugh and runs down the corridor. I begin after her with a laugh.
"You can run, Evans, but you can't hide!"
A/N*
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know you all must hate me, but I've been finishing up my summer class. I managed to get an A, but y'all it kicked my ass. I was literally studying 24/7.
Anyways, sorry it's been so long since I updated!!! But, I promise to make it up to you by updating atlas once if not twice by Sunday. I PROMISE.
Love you guys for sticking with me! We're almost done. Can you believe it? I've already started some of my next book Betwixt, so stay tuned. Okay, thanks again. I'll update VERY soon.