It was a while before Lily was able to track Draco back down again, and ensure his "friends" weren't with him. It seemed almost like he had been avoiding her.
"Hi." Lily greeted upon seeing him, finally alone in the library.
"Oh, hi." He said, looking embarrassed.
"You okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine." Draco said, "How are you?"
"I'm okay. Look, I wanted to say, I know it's not my fault exactly, but I'm still sorry about what Professor Moody did to you."
If possible, Draco turned even more red.
"It's fine." He said quickly.
Lily didn't look convinced, but moved onto another subject she had wanted to talk about.
"When will you and Harry stop hating each other?" She asked.
"Haha, very funny."
Lily frowned.
"You're being serious?" Draco asked.
She nodded.
"I'll stop when he does." He shrugged.
"But that's never going to happen!" Lily sighed, "You're both too prideful to be the one to stop."
"Prideful? I'm not prideful."
"Hm."
"Okay, maybe a little... but if Harry hadn't marched up to me like it was illegal for me to have a conversation with you, then none of that would've happened."
"Why were you going to hex Harry, anyways?" Lily tilted her head in confusion, "We were leaving."
"Well, he was very rude." Draco said, before adding in a quieter voice, "And he hurt you."
"You saw that?" She asked.
"Yeah. I know he was just trying to get you away from me, but he shouldn't have grabbed you like that." Draco said.
"Harry gets carried away when he's angry." Lily said, "And it didn't hurt that bad, just surprised me."
"Still."
"...yeah, I guess you're right."
"When am I not?" Draco smirked.
Lily rolled her eyes. Then, the two were spotted.
"Hey, Lily!" December chirped, sitting down next to them with a large book that she held in front of her face.
"...hi Deci." Lily said, confused.
"I'm still not allowed in here." December explained.
"Oh."
"Who's he? Oh, wait, I know you!" She continued, "You're Harry's enemy, the guy who got turned into an animal! What was it, a hamster?"
"Ferret." Lily corrected.
Draco winced.
"If it's any consolation, you were rather cute." Lily said.
"You think I'm cute?" He immediately asked.
Lily blushed.
"As a ferret, I mean." She said.
"Oh no, guys, don't talk to me!" December interrupted, "She's coming!"
"Who...?" Draco began.
"Madam Pince." Lily whispered as the librarian drew closer.
December's unique outfits were a dead giveaway, even when her face was covered, but the girl didn't seem to realize that yet. Madam Pince cleared her throat when she reached the table they sat at.
"What are you doing in here, Miss Ross?" She asked coldly.
December reluctantly put the book down.
"Studying?"
"You aren't allowed in here. You have ten seconds to leave before I chase you out!"
"Okay, Sorry!" December stood up, "Bye Lily, bye ferret guy!"
"My name's not-" Draco began, but she had already bounced away.
"Silly girl." Madam Pince shook her head, walking back to her desk.
As Madam Pince walked away, Lily worked hard to stifle her giggles at the name December called Draco. He seemed to know exactly why she was laughing though, and elbowed her in the side.
"Sorry." She laughed quietly, "But that was awesome."
He rolled his eyes at her, still feeling a bit embarrassed. Lily looked over at the clock and her eyes widened.
"Oh, it's almost time for Defense Against the Dark Arts!" She noticed, lacking away her things.
"Yeah, we better be going." Draco agreed, doing the same.
Lily waited for him to finish and walk with her, but he stopped packing away his things.
"What are you...?" She trailed off.
"You can go on." He said.
"But why wouldn't we just go together?" She asked, before it dawned on her, "Unless your friends would see us... I'm not scared of them, it's fine if they try to bother me, I can take care of myself."
Lily put on her bravest face, but he still didn't move.
"Lily, I just think it might be better if, um, we don't, you know-"
"If we aren't seen together?" She asked.
"Um, yeah." Draco said awkwardly.
"But if I'm not scared, then that means you are." Lily frowned, "Draco, why don't you want your friends to know we're friends?"
He sighed, and glanced at the clock.
"We're going to be late." Draco warned.
"Fine." Lily said stubbornly.
"It's just that they won't understand, okay?" He said, "They don't know you, so they'll assume you're like the other Gryffindors, and that will just cause a huge mess."
"The other Gryffindors?" Lily asked, "You mean the crazy, arrogant ones or my friends?"
Her stare turned icy. Draco shot her a pleading look.
"Please, Lily, I just meant that the house prejudice would get in the way, and we'd be ostracized for it."
"I'd be fine! I am fine!" Lily insisted, "It's you who doesn't want your friends to know about us because you're afraid of how they'd treat you!"
"Lily-"
"Never mind." She said, shaking her head, "I just though... well, it was stupid, I see now. Bye, Draco."
"Lily!" Draco called after her, but it was too late, she was briskly walking away.
After just making it to the classroom on time, Lily sat down next to Harry. Seeing how his sister seemed upset, he spoke up.
"You okay?" He asked.
She nodded.
"You can tell me what happened, you know. I'm really sorry for what happened the other day, Lil." Harry said, "I just was being stupid because I was afraid."
"Afraid?" She asked.
"Of seeing you get hurt... again." He said.
She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. Then, Moody walked into the classroom. Through the corner of her eye, Lily noticed Draco had just made it to class on time and must've walked in while she was talking to her brother.
Moody began to teach the class and he posed a question, asking if any of the students knew about the Unforgivable Curses. Immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed and all the students tended up.
"No one?" He asked.
Ron reluctantly raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr Weasley?"
"I know of one... the Imperius Curse." Ron said slowly.
"Yes, very good!" Moody said, "Anyone else?"
Then, Neville raised a shaky hand, much to everyone's surprise.
"Mr Longbottom?"
"T-the Cruciatus C-Curse." He mumbled.
"Yes, very good. And the last one?"
No one raised their hand.
"The killing curse." Moody finished for them, before looking straight at Harry, "No one's ever survived it. No one, except for one person..."
Harry stared back, but looked nervous, so Lily took his hand in hers. Moody's stare moved over to Lily and he narrowed his eyes a bit before continuing on with the lesson.
"Today we will be trying to resist the Imperius Curse!" Moody said, "Line up and we'll give it a go!"
No one moved.
"Up!" He said loudly, causing them to jump and slowly line up.
"This must be illegal." Hermione muttered under her breath.
One by one, Moody cast the curse upon the students and made them do ridiculous things, until it came to Harry's turn. He stepped forward in front of Lily, so that he would go first, in an attempt to protect her.
Moody cast the curse and nothing happened for a moment. Lily watched Harry's face and saw he seemed to be struggling with something. Then, he did an awkward sort of half jump, hitting his shins on a chair and falling over. This confused Lily, but Moody seemed proud.
"Look everyone!" Moody exclaimed, "Mister Potter has tried to resist the spell! He didn't jump all the way onto the chair! Well done, Mister Potter, it takes a strong spirit to do that!"
Then, it was Lily's turn. She looked terrified and felt completely nervous as she stepped forward. Moody pointed his wand at her.
Spin around.
Something inside of Lily was tempting her to spin in a circle. It just seemed like the right thing to do in the moment, but Lily did not want to spin around. It was like there was a little voice in her head was screaming at her saying that she shouldn't do it. Everything felt so different, and hazy, but Lily didn't like it.
Spin around!
She felt the urge come back stronger. Then, the thought of Aunt Marge popped into her head completely randomly. Aunt Marge had always forced Lily to do things and Lily was always too afraid to resist. It was like she had nothing to fight for, no purpose in resisting. Then, she met Harry, and she made friends, and everything changed. Suddenly she had a purpose. She had a reason to fight. Lily looked up at Moody who seemed to be getting frustrated.
SPIN AROUND!!!
It took a great deal of strength, and all of her will power, but Lily slowly shook her head "no". She heard the students gasp and she was soon released from the spell. Moody watched her with intensity as she moved to stand with Harry and the other students who had already gone. Even though she had accomplished the same feat as her brother, she received none of the praise.
For not the first time, Lily felt as if something about the professor was dangerously off. The lesson finished up and she quickly left the room before Moody could talk to her, or Draco could catch up to her.
"Lily!" She heard Draco call.
Lily ignored him and walked faster. Something was not right about Moody. He seemed so... odd. And why was he almost angry at her for doing what she was told to do? So caught up in her thoughts, Lily wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and she nearly walked into Snape.
Her eyes widened as she stopped short.
"Sorry, Professor!" She squeaked.
He stared down at her for a moment and looked almost sad.
"I'm really sorry." Lily said, before noticing his facial expression, "Are... are you okay, sir?"
Suddenly Snape seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in.
"Yes, Miss Ev- Potter." Snape said, "But do watch where you are going next time."
"Yes sir." Lily promised, stepping aside and watching him leave.
She wondered why he always looked so sad to see her and so upset to see Harry. She knew that they looked a lot like their parents, so maybe Snape knew them? Whatever the case, she felt sort of bad for the professor who seemed so lonely.