Chapter Two

‘My hand is hurting so much,’ Catherine complained as they left the great hall, ‘I’m so glad that’s our last exam.’

‘Shall we go outside?’ said Lily as she turned towards the doors leading onto the castle lawns. ‘On second thought, let’s go to the common room.’

Lily had just noticed that James Potter was walking down the stone steps. He and Sirius were laughing about something as they lead their little group in the direction of the fur tree where they spent much of their free time.

‘No,’ said Catherine sternly, ‘How can I show everyone how free I feel cooped up in that room.’

‘That’s the problem, they wouldn’t notice if you didn’t feel the need to run around screaming,’ said Lily.

Lily began to make her way back through the crowded entrance hall but Catherine took hold of the back of Lily’s robes and dragged her outside. The yellow sun was beating down on the green lawn from a cloudless sky. The heat flooded over them, saturating their black school robes.

‘We can go and sit with Steph,’ Catherine suggested.

‘Do we have to? I don’t want to spend hours listening to her go on and on about how amazing Black is. I have heard it all before, I don’t need any more details,’ Lily said.

‘She wont, she’s sitting with Julia and Tom and you know how much Julia likes Black,’ Catherine replied.

‘I thought her and Tom were going out?’ Lily said, reluctantly following her friend towards the lake where the three were sitting.

Stephanie Green and Julia Fawn were Hufflepuff fifth years and, considering how shallow and materialistic they could be, were very nice. Tom King was a Gryffindor but had never been particularly friendly with the other four gryffindor boys. Tom found them to be rather conceited and Lily couldn’t help but admire him for his disregard to be part of their little group.

‘Hey Lily, Cathy!’ Stephanie called from the bank.

Stephanie and Julie had both taken off their shoes and were resting their feet in the cool water of the lake. Tom was watching intently as the two girls innocently splashed each other, articulating squeamish shrieks every time a droplet would get anywhere near their beloved hair or come close to smudging their immaculate make up.
 
‘You alright, Tom?’ Lily asked.

She removed her thick school robes and lay them down on the ground to sit on. Tom looked at her muggle attire. It wasn’t nearly as mismatched as most peoples.

‘You look nice,’ he said.

Lily looked down at what she was wearing. It wasn’t anything special; a cute summer dress over a white shirt, an outfit she had perfected sometime during her childhood.

‘It’s just a dress,’ she said.

‘Yeah, but it looks normal, like you know how to wear it.’

Lily laughed. Tom looked slightly embarrassed and stared at his shoes.

‘So, what news do you have from the boys dorm?’ Lily asked.

Tom was Lily’s personal source of gossip from the Gryffindor males. Though she was very against bitching, she concluded that this did not count, as she was not contributing to any of it. Of course, Catherine would always contradict Lily whenever she said this because, apparently, it takes two to bitch, one to speak and one to listen. Lily would always disregard this.

‘Oh, just the usual. Black and Kirsty Manon from Ravenclaw had another “thing”. Remus is still totally oblivious to the fact that he is the most desirable guy in our year. James was mentioning some rather crude things he would like to happen between himself and you.’

Lily’s face dropped. Her face resembled that of someone who had just been splattered with mud and muck; disgusted.

‘What was he saying?’ she groaned, though not really wanting to here the answer.

‘Use your imagination. I don’t particularly want to repeat what he said. I still have respect for women,’ Tom said.

Lily looked across the still sheet that was the lake. She glowered at James with half her mind wanting to transfigure him into some form of slimy invertebrate. Lily turned back, aware that they weren’t quite far enough away for him not to realise she was staring.

However, James had noticed Lily watching him, for he had been following her every move since he had sat down. James’ ears had filled with a low humming sound that prevented him from hearing his three friends throwing insults at him.

Sirius was getting restless. He was very fond of Peter and Remus but they weren’t quite the same as James who, when his mind was in the right place, managed to make even the smallest things entertaining. Sirius pulled out his wand from his robe pocket and said an incantation to himself. James was swept off his feet and hung upside down, a foot off the ground, swaying slowly from his right ankle. To avoid humiliation most students now wore trousers underneath their school robes, as this sight had become a common reoccurrence at Hogwarts, and fortunately James was wearing a pair of slightly faded jeans beneath his. Of course this didn’t prevent his t-shirt to fall down slightly revealing a perfectly toned torso.

James hadn’t made the slightest sound as he was whipped into the air but the blood was now rushing to his head and his glasses had fallen to the floor. Vision stunted and head aching, James shouted at Sirius to let him down but Sirius did not abide straight away.

‘Pay us some attention then. You’ve been staring at your precious Lily for God knows how long and she still hasn’t acknowledged it. Give your attention to people who aren’t going to ignore you,’ Sirius said.

‘Yes, fine. Just let me down,’ James said, struggling.

Sirius flicked his wand in a casual manor and James fell to the ground in a bundle. James’ face was red, but whether from embarrassment or because he had just been hanging upside down for five minutes was impossible to tell. He glanced over at Lily. Part of him was glad to see she wasn’t watching but another part of his heart sank.

‘Prongs?’ Sirius said.

James turned back to his friends and grinned. 

‘So, what are we going to do tonight? We need to celebrate the end of exams.’

‘I’ve got that firewhiskey we couldn’t get through at Christmas,’ Sirius told him, ‘You were so smashed that night.’

The group sat in silence for a moment, reminiscing. Not that they could remember very much.

‘How much have you got left?’ James asked.

‘A whole bottle,’ said Sirius.

Perfect, James thought, just enough to make me forget everything about Lily Evans. James couldn’t have been more wrong.


A.N. I really appreciate reviews. This is my first attempt at a fan fic and want to know if it is any good, thanks
emma x x x