TROIS
the smile of someone who's found the quintessence of life!
THE NAMES CALLED out to be sorted all blurred into one as students clapped when the Sorting Hat chose a house. Neither Lily or James knew anyone who was being sorted, so the results didn't hold as much weight as in years past.
Before they knew it, their house tables were filled to the brim with various foods ranging from bangers and mash to pasties to toast and jam. Anything that you could ever want was there. If it wasn't at the table, you could ask a house elf and it would appear in front of you promptly.
Lily Edwards was very excited, yet melancholy. This would be her very last Hogwarts opening feast for a long time. She didn't have dreams of becoming a professor, maybe sometime in her later life, but not anytime soon.
She'd been studying to become a healer at St. Mungo's, although the auror department had been subtly scouting her for about a year now, but she'd figured it out. She wouldn't say that she was a pacifist, but she greatly disliked killing and war and that was basically the job of the auror. Would she be qualified and had the skill set for it? Most definitely. She had the potential to become the next Harry Potter or Kingsley Shacklebolt, but she was never fond of harming another person. Quite the opposite actually, with her aspirations of choosing to save them.
She sat next to Ruby during the feast — even though Hogwarts had made the effort to promote house unity by allowing ( and encouraging ) members of other houses to intermix, the sorting ceremony and Remembrance Day were exceptions.
But, Lily wasn't complaining. She loved Ruby's company, they always had interesting political conversations together and during the summer helped the Women's March organization plan their next march together. Lily first met Ruby on the Platform, Ruby was accompanying her older brother, Justin, for the first time as she would be joining him the following year. Lily was lost and slightly disoriented and Ruby pointed her in the right directions and gave advice on food after complimenting her coat.
Lily helped herself to some shepherd's pie in front of her as well as some extra green beans. She munched happily while listening to Ruby talk to one of their housemates — Annie González — about the treatment of house-elves and the progress that still had to be made.
Lily agreed — they were enslaved, how could the wizarding world not see this? Let alone think that they are happy and enjoy the work that they are given. The wizarding 'masters' are just told what they want to hear. There is no way that they are happy with their current life situation.
Hermione Granger had made progress in her time in the Ministry and in her short amount of time as the Minister of Magic, but there was a lot more progress to be made. Ruby MacMillan was going to help with that and Lily and Annie were going to support her. Something needed to be done.
After the topic of the conversation switched from house-elf rights to the course books for that year, Lily looked over to the Slytherin table to make eye contact with and winked at Henry Stints. That boy. Thankfully as time progressed, the stigma around Slytherin house eased off and people discovered that Slytherins were actually lovely people.
She spotted Henry talking to some underclassmen, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy to be exact, in what seemed to be a very exciting conversation based on the animated hand gestures. When they made eye contact, Henry stopped, winked back and blew a kiss and proceeded to grin at her. He was happy.
Finally. Henry had an arduous time in his early years at Hogwarts. Balancing his turbulent home life and his changing identity — it was not a walk in the park. However, as time progressed and Henry grew up ( and his mother started to realize that loving her son was more important than arcane social standards ), life became more possible. This year, in particular, seemed to be better than the others and it made Lily's heart swell at the thought of one of her best friends finally getting a break from the barrage of life. Her smile widened, as well, at his geniality towards the younger students.
She then turned her attention towards the Gryffindor table. The Weasley-Granger-Potter family took up a considerable amount of it, though dispersed. You couldn't look at any student and not see a member of the family sitting nearby.
She smiled to herself as she saw Nyah Thomas stand up and gesture wildly to James Potter in a conversation she was sure was about quidditch, next her sat Ben Thomas with a very amused expression on his face and a piece of parchment in his hands.
Lily could always count on Nyah for anything and that was something that she greatly appreciated. Other than Henry ( who found out by accident ), Nyah was the first person that Lily told about her dads when they were lying on the grass in second year.
Nyah, while animated when it came to topics she was passionate about, was also level-headed and an excellent listener, especially with people that she trusted. She made you feel automatically comfortable and held onto secrets like a safe holds onto gold.
Nyah considered loyalty to be of paramount importance when considering a relationship, of any sort, and Lily both greatly admired and agreed with her philosophy. Her eyes trailed down the table until she spotted the fiery red hair of Lily Luna Potter — sitting with some others in her year.
Lily Luna had struggled with reaching out to her peers, preferring the safety of familiar company, so Lily was glad that she had finally come out of her shell. Lost in thought, Lily didn't notice that Lily Luna had made eye contact until the red head waved. Lily beamed and returned it before looking away, distracted by the conversation happening next to her.
"I just wish that they had courses in Spanish or French or German. There are international students here," Annie said as she poked at the peas on her plate.
"Hm?" Lily hummed as she had suddenly turned her head towards the two girls.
She hadn't spotted Estelle but she assumed that she was happily eating Yorkshire Pudding, if not Bangers and Mash, and was probably sitting with Charlie. She looked intently at the two girls next to her, motioning for them to continue their conversation.
"What I was arguing was that they should have some classes in different languages to make it easier on students who don't speak English as well as those who speak it at home," Annie explained.
Annie, herself, was half Guatemalan and half Chilean and moved to the UK when she was a small child. She had to learn English as a necessity as it is the first language spoken in England.
"I think that's a great idea, maybe they could also include Hindi as so many people have immigrated from India to England and now represent a considerable amount of the population," Lily suggested. "They could also give us classes to learn languages, like in muggle schools, if you wanted to learn for fun or out of necessity for future prospects. Also, maybe they could start an exchange student type program, like in muggle universities, so you can experience different wizarding cultures and learn different things as every school has different focuses. We used to have that with the Tri-Wizard tournament but that was only available to Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons and had obvious problems with the whole thing as well. Now, we don't really get to know the culture outside of our little bubble, only through books but that can only take it so far."
"That's actually a really good idea, they obviously can't implement it while we're here but I'm sure other kids would love it," Annie added with a beaming smile. "Maybe you could suggest it to McGonagall when you have your meetings with her? I'll be sure to mention it to Flitwick during prefect meetings — I almost forgot! I never got to properly say congratulations on becoming Head Girl! You're going to be fantastic, and if you need any help, I'm always here."
"Thank you so much Annie! On that note, I should probably find Potter so we can discuss our meeting with McGonagall tonight," Lily sighed as she started to get up to find him.
He was undoubtedly snogging a 5th year in a broom closet already. For a boy who claimed that he was in love with her, he sure showed his attention to plenty of others.
"Not before dessert," Ruby urged. "I'm sure that Potter will stumble in here any moment with a wrinkled shirt and then you can go together. Maybe McGonagall will find them like she did a couple years ago and revoke his Head Boyship — wouldn't that be something."
Lily stayed, as after breakfast, dessert was her favorite meal. As if by magic, dozens of desserts suddenly came into view. Lily chose some sticky toffee pudding while Ruby grabbed a mini trifle and Annie dug into a slice of cherry bakewell tart. All three girls hummed in satisfaction, maybe it was magic, maybe it was because of the long train-ride, but Hogwarts food always tasted incredible. Especially on the first night.
"I don't know. That second time that he pulled me aside on the train, he sounded really serious. And he wasn't himself. He was nervous and fumbling with his hands a lot. It was odd. I have a feeling that he won't try and mess it up, but why?" Lily mumbled as she remembered their second conversation on the train.
She almost liked him as a human being after that conversation. Key word almost.
"Wait what happened? I kind of saw the beginning of the one in the prefects compartment, but you're telling me he pulled you aside again?" Annie questioned as Lily nodded.
"He was stuttering and nervous when he came to our compartment. I don't think he actually intended to go there and it was right after Lily Luna left with Rose, maybe they had something to do with it? But all I know is when you came back the second time, you had the smile," Ruby explained, shooting Lily a smug look.
"The smile?" Lily questioned, confused as to what her friend was suggesting.
"The same smile that you had after your first kiss with Evan Samuels. Or after you got a perfect score on your Charms O.W.L. in 5th year. You know- oh you must know! It reminds me of the dreamy smiles in romance movies. The smile of someone who's found the quintessence of life," Ruby explained, waving her spoon in the air for dramatic effect.
"Ruby, you're delusional. There's no way that after an awkward conversation with James bloody Potter I would be happy. I was the opposite of happy. I was annoyed," Lily huffed, "also if I didn't know any better Rubes, I'd say Charlie has some competition based on how much you've noticed about me."
"Come off it," Ruby groaned as she shook her head, smiling.
"I don't know Lily, from what Ruby said, I'd say you sounded pretty happy," Annie countered. "But I guess all great loves form when you least expect it. Also, my theory is that he isn't going to mess up because of his dad. I mean if you think about it, his dad is Harry Potter. Harry freaking Potter. That's something that you can never live up to. And on top of that he's named after James Potter and Sirius Black. The bar is then raised even higher! I think he's doing it to prove to everyone, but probably mostly his family and mostly his dad that he's not just a screw-up jock with good grades. That he's actually worth something and can strive to become the men that he's named after."
Ever since learning about the First and Second Wizarding Wars, Annie had always pitied all three children, but perhaps James the most ( Luna Lovegood was still alive and Severus Snape was a horrible person and she couldn't comprehend why Harry named one of his children after him ). She could only imagine how hard dealing with his expectations must be, both at home and in the broader world. He'd been on Daily Prophet front pages since he was a child and she couldn't imagine what that does to a child's mind.
"I....I never thought of that. Wow. Am I being an arsehole right now?" Lily questioned, furrowing her brow. Had she read the entire thing completely wrong?
"Not really, but a small part of me says yes," Ruby replied.
"We get that you're annoyed at him. If he constantly did what he does to you to me, I think he might be dead by now and your disdain for him is mostly warranted, but you also have to consider that stuff too. Like he's a total pain in the arse that can't shut up, but he's also a human being and should be treated as such," Annie explained with a small smile.
"Thank you Annie. That actually. Wow. You always see the best in people huh?" Lily said with a small laugh.
"No, I just feel bad for him. The unit in History of Magic on his whole family and family friends is pretty big, so it's kind of hard to ignore," Annie joked.
"Well, um, thank you, a lot. And it seems as if my toffee pudd is done, but McGonagall is still waiting. So, I should probably find him so we can meet. You should probably start herding everyone towards the common room. I'll be sure to mention the foreign language class ideas to McGonagall, if not at this meeting, one sometime soon. I'll catch you guys later?" Lily mumbled, rising from her seat, starting to search for James.
"Sure thing!" Ruby exclaimed, following Annie to the ever-growing cluster of confused first-year Ravenclaws.
Lily looked all around the Great Hall, but James Potter was nowhere to be found. Maybe he had gone to snog someone in a broom closet this early.
She was joking when she had first said it, but now she was starting to take it seriously. Sighing, she started to make her way towards the headmaster's office.
Approaching the Gryffin, she muttered the password and stepped on the top step of the stairs as they started to ascend. The first thing that she saw when she entered the room was the back of James Sirius Potter's head in one of McGonagall's chairs, shaking with laughter as they talked about ... quidditch? There was no way in hell.
"Ah Ms. Edwards, there you are! I see that you are both early, so we shall start and hopefully you can both get a longer night's rest," The older woman spoke as she gestured to a chair for Lily to sit in.
"Now, as you both know the roles of Head Boy and Head Girl are not to be taken lightly. You must set an example for the rest of the school. That means no disruptions or salacious behavior from you, Mr. Potter in particular. You will meet with the prefects every month to go over schedules and morale of the house, Ms. Edwards you will be familiar with such meetings so I expect you to help Mr. Potter conduct them," McGonagall instructed. "Because you are Head Boy and Head Girl, you will be allowed more privileges like more leniency on curfew and the ability to take away more house points, but should you abuse the privileges given to you they will be suspended or revoked. Should you two act in any manner that is disagreeable, your Head girl or Boy status will be terminated immediately and you will be replaced promptly."
Lily sat stiffly in her chair at the instruction, she knew she could do it, but how hard would it be with James as her partner? Surely there was a lot of work involved and surely he'd be doing none of it.
"Now, two more things to address before I send you off. One, you will be sharing a dorm, I expect that you will behave with decorum within your private quarters. Should any problems arise, please come to me immediately, though I do trust that both of you will be respectful," Minerva said with a wary eye going between the two of them. "Second, you two will be tasked with planning an event for the end of the year. You may choose anything. In past years a quidditch tournament has been selected, but as years progress and Gryffindor keeps winning, the support from the other houses is waning. Although you are welcome to continue with the tournament, other ideas are also encouraged. Any questions?"
"No professor." James spoke, looking over at Lily to see if her answer was the same, she nodded her head in affirmation.
"Thank you Professor, have a good night." Lily said, getting up to walk back to their new dorms. James, trailed her out of the office and they walked in silence down the corridor.
James didn't have the nerve to speak after his show on the train and Lily didn't really want to speak considering who she was walking with. She knew she had to be kinder, but she was too tired for his antics and her head was swirling with the argument that Annie had made in favor of him. She had never considered his life anything other than easy, so the reminder of the burden of his family was slightly uncomfortable.
Lily was a stubborn being, her mind not easily changed, so this new found empathy for him that she was starting to feel did not sit well with that part of her. As they reached their common room, she muttered the password and entered without a single word, James following suit.
Both paced over to their respective rooms where they found their trunks ready for them and shut their doors, almost simultaneously. Lily got into pajamas immediately and went to sleep, preparing for the day to come.
James did the same, but instead of immediately going to sleep, he quietly left his room and approached her door and whispered a "goodnight" — quiet enough so she wouldn't hear it but loud enough that the universe would. He waited, maybe she heard him — but when he heard no response, he walked back into his own room and fell asleep to thoughts of golden snitches and ickle first years getting lost in the corridors.