Chapter Eight
The grounds began to heat up as Hogwarts headed into summer, the sky turning a rich blue above their heads while the sun trailed its golden fingers along the leaves and stems of every plant, dappling the grounds and tinting the castle a buttery yellow. As the weather improved the students migrated outside, forgoing the now stifling warmth of the common rooms in favour of the airy freshness of the grounds as they convinced themselves that they were working while they chatted and laughed under the sun.
“It’s such a glorious day isn’t it?” Lily said, moaning in pleasure as she lay back in the grass, her red hair pooling around her like molten fire.
“I just do not want to work,” Cassie agreed as she gazed at the clouds which scudded across the sky above their heads.
“But if you don’t you’ll fail your exams,” Lily added teasingly.
“Of course, which is exactly why I need you to test me on Potions,” she answered.
“No.”
“Please Lily,” Cassie begged, widening her eyes and attempting to guilt trip Lily into helping her; however it didn’t work.
“What are you doing, you look absolutely ridiculous?” Lily exclaimed mockingly. “Put your ugly face away!”
“She can’t; she always has her ugly face on,” Mary interjected, eliciting a burst of giggling from the gathered girls.
“Oh please Lily!”
“Get Alice to help you; she has the textbook,” she said in reply, gesturing vaguely to where Alice sat poring over the book in question, having claimed that their argument over whether or not McGonagall had a hidden husband secreted away was distracting her from her work.
“I hereby disown you from being my best friend,” Cassie shot over her shoulder as she scooted over to where Alice was sitting and began to talk to her.
“I’ll get over it!” Lily called, receiving only a rude gesture in reply as Cassie flicked her hair over her shoulder. The sunlight filtered through her closed eyelids as she lay back down, the distant murmur of Alice and Cassie’s talking swelling and retreating as it reached her ears like the soothing sound of waves breaking on a beach. The soft warmth, as far away from the chilling winds which whipped around Hogwarts in the winter as possible, seeped into Lily’s very bones and wrapped her in a comforting embrace while Lily slowly succumbed to the lethargy which was stealing along her veins, every limb becoming heavier and heavier.
Suddenly a sharp jab in her side jerked her from her stupor and her eyes flew open.
“What was that for?” she exclaimed without moving apart from to glare at her friends above her.
“Well… you were snoring,” Mary answered with a smirk.
“It was pretty loud,” Cassie added, leaning over Lily so that the ends of her hair just brushed Lily’s face and tickled her.
“Stop it!” she squealed as she batted it away. “And I do not snore!”
“That’s the thing,” Mary continued, pausing for effect, “you really do.”
“Yeah Potter stopped by while you were asleep and even he left when he heard you,” Alice said, the Potions textbook lying forlorn and abandoned under the tree where she had been sitting.
“No he didn’t,” Lily said, her voice a mixture of disbelief and joking.
“He actually did though,” Cassie said, “so there’s a conquest lost.”
“A conquest?” Lily exclaimed.
“Careful there Lil; your voice nearly went into ultrasound,” Alice muttered.
“I think I’ve gone deaf, if not in both ears then one at least,” Mary added under her breath, braving the dirty glare Lily shot at her.
“Potter is not a conquest of mine!” she argued vehemently. “I cannot stand that- that arrogant and egocentric… squid! Anyway it’s not like we even talk to each other!”
“Lily not a week goes by when you aren’t complaining about him,” Cassie said, her voice dripping with sympathy as she tried to hold back a giggle and a grin.
“That’s because he talks to me and for once, unlike in all of those romantic books, me complaining actually means that I don’t like him!” Lily replied. “Some friends you are, thinking that I could ever like him!” she cried, moving to stand up and go back inside the castle or maybe look for Sev.
“Calm down Lily! We were only joking!” Mary interjected quickly, grabbing her arm.
“Yeah, of course we know that you don’t like Potter; no one could live with you for longer than a week and not realise that!” Cassie continued.
All of the colour drained out of Lily’s face as she sat down again. “What?”
“We were joking,” Cassie said tentatively, pinning a cheery smile on her face as she prepared herself for Lily’s wrath.
“That’s not funny-” Lily cried, her lips continuing to move but no sound escaping as Alice quickly cast a Silencing Charm on her.
“It was quite Lil; you should have seen your face,” she said as Lily pouted and crossed her arms, her eyes promising retribution as soon as the charm was lifted.
“Don’t worry Lil, Potter didn’t hear you snoring earlier either,” Cassie said, receiving only a stony glare in reply. “Don’t be like that; it wasn’t me that cast the charm. You know it was hilarious.” In response Lily just motioned to the three of them that she was watching them and stood up to leave.
As she crossed the Hogwarts grounds she smiled to herself; true to Cassie’s words she had seen the funny side fairly quickly once the initial shock had worn off but had thought it best to get away before her angry façade cracked.
“Evans!” she heard a deep voice call after her as she frowned. “Wait Evans! Evans!”
Lily spun around and snapped, “What?” completely forgetting that she had a Silencing Charm on her, something which really wasn’t as amusing as the other jokes.
“Hi Evans,” Potter said, much closer to her than she was expecting and apparently oblivious to the glare she directed at him. “Going back to the castle? Great, me too,” he said, as she tried to march past him, heading back towards her friends, but her plans were foiled by him placing one arm around her shoulders and turning her around. Lily shrugged out of his strong grasp and eyed him coldly, from his perpetually messy black hair, sticking up in a myriad of different angles as if it was trying to escape his head, to the crooked glasses which hid his hazel eyes; past his half untucked shirt and loosely knotted tie to his scuffed shoes which were covered by his slightly baggy trousers, as if he had grown quickly and not gained the weight to fill them. “Why so talkative Evans?” he asked dryly after a few minutes of silence.
Lily eyed him unfavourably before deciding that it was better to tell him and have him then walk in silence back to the castle than constantly annoying her and asking her why she wasn’t saying anything. “Silencing Charm,” she mouthed but he wasn’t watching.
“You normally have so many things to say to me that I’m almost not sure what to do without it,” he continued thoughtfully.
“Silencing Charm,” she repeated, deliberately waiting until he glanced at her and making the movements of her lips overly obvious.
“What? Why are you mouthing at me?” he asked confused, making Lily sigh and wave her hands around in frustration. Getting out her wand she held it front of her and wrote, ‘I’m under a Silencing Charm you idiot,’ in glowing letters in front of them.
“Oh!” he said, his eyes burning with understanding as he nodded. “Here, wouldn’t want you to be cheated of your special time with James Potter now would we?” he said, waving his wand and non-verbally casting the counter curse; Lily was forced to admit that she admired the ease with which he did it; she remembered reluctantly that he had picked it up incredibly quickly at the beginning of the year and it had seemed as if they had been casting non-verbal hexes when she had seen him and his groupies duelling with people in the corridors in third and fourth year. Unfortunately though she hadn’t been expecting this outcome; she had hoped he would just leave her alone to suffer since it seemed to be what he enjoyed the most.
“Thank you,” she muttered.
“It’s nothing,” he said with a shrug, running his hands through his hair once more as they walked through the courtyard in front of the main entrance, “though you do owe me something now.”
“I don’t owe you anything Potter.”
“You have to give me something,” he moaned, pouting slightly in an attempt to look adorable, an attempt which would have had a significant effect on any other girl (and did on some third years that were just leaving the castle, their twittering giggles making Lily’s frown deepen).
“I will do no such thing,” she replied coldly, spinning around and striding through the enormous doors, heading towards the first staircase; she had no sooner stepped onto the first step when she heard a shout behind her.
“But I’m your knight in shining armour!” he called as he followed her to the bottom of the stairs, drawing the attention of Professor Slughorn who chuckled jovially as he headed towards the Great Hall while Lily blushed.
“You are not, and never will be, my knight in shining armour Potter,” she hissed, her emerald eyes level with his as he leant on the banister nonchalantly, “now leave me alone.”
The fiery redhead ran nimbly up the many staircases to the Gryffindor tower without once looking back, leaving James Potter gazing after her as he stood at the bottom; she had disappeared from view over five minutes before by the time he roused himself and went to look for his partner in crime and bemoan Lily Evans’ perfection and caprice; during this he would also make many references to Sirius’ blossoming affection for Lily’s best friend Cassiopeia Jones and would repeat the developing joke that ‘they must be perfect for each other because both were named after stars’.
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