Their Seventh Year

Don’t worry about Remus.  I love him as much as the next girl, and I’ve got plans for him.

You will find out the Slytherin girl’s first name in this chapter, which is irrelevant, since it’s her last name that’s important.  And no, she is not in the real Harry Potter Books, since I just made her up.

Chapter 17- The Dueling Club

The dueling club idea had been very popular, but Lily did not realize quite how popular until she found herself facing well over a hundred students.  There were so many of them- Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, even some Slytherins- that they had to have the meeting in the Great Hall, it was the only place big enough to hold them all, especially when they started throwing spells around. 

She wasn’t sure exactly how to begin, so she was relieved when James took charge, climbing up on the table and clapping his hands for them all to quiet down.

“Okay, well, um, I’m James, and uh…welcome everyone.  This is our first meeting, and we thought it would be good for us all to learn some basic dueling skills and ways to defend ourselves…because of…”  James trailed off as he saw the face of one of the Hufflepuff girls who had lost her family.  “Because it’s a good idea.”  He finished bravely.  “So we thought we’d start with the basics, the disarming spell, Expelliarmus.  It’s pretty easy, even for first years-“  He smiled at a few shy first year girls, who blushed and giggled.  “-but it’s an important thing to know.”  He glanced around, and no one, not even the Slytherins, argued.  “Okay, so I’ll demonstrate it, and then you all can pair up and try it.  And, um, Evans can help me demonstrate.” 

She had figured he would have Sirius or Remus, who he was more used to trading spells with, but she didn’t want him to think she was scared, so she nodded., taking up a position facing him, about five paces away.  “Okay, so on three.  One…two…three!”

“Expelliarmus!”

They both cast the spell at the same time, but it was James’s wand that went spinning out of his hand.  Someone in the crowd caught it and passed it back to him.  He grinned and shrugged.  “Okay, so, that was really good.  That’s pretty much how it works, so why doesn’t everyone pair up, and make sure you’re with someone in your own year, we don’t want any first years dueling with seventh years or anything.”

Soon people were busily engaged in disarming each other, some with more success than others.  James shot her a bright smile from where he was helping some inept first years, and Lily felt her cheeks flush, and turned away quickly, ostensibly to help a third year retrieve her wand from the banners that hung behind the tables.

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Sirius had spotted her right at the beginning of the meeting, standing near the back with a group of girls who appeared to be Ravenclaws. In fact, he was sure one of them was a seventh year Ravenclaw, because he had asked her out in fourth year. She had been prettier then. But he thought it a rather good sign that she was going about with Ravenclaws...maybe she didn't like Slytherins either. He had to wait until the end of the meeting to actually get near her, although he had a good time shooting jelly legs curses at Slytherins when James and Lily weren't looking.

He wandered to the back of the Great Hall and intercepted one of the Ravenclaw girls (Not the one he had dated, that hadn't worked out). He put on his most charming smile.

"So, that Slytherin girl you were talking to...." He trailed off and allowed her to fill in the name.

"Oh, you mean Arianna?"

"Right, that's it." He grinned. Apparently her influence only extended to her own house. "What was her surname again?"

The girl gave him a weird look. "I don't know, she's mostly just friends with my roommate. Why?"

"No reason. Thanks." He walked away feeling quite pleased with himself. Arianna. It would have been better to find out her full name, of course, but that was good enough.

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“I think that went really well.”  James said happily as they cleaned up and replaced the tables in the Great Hall, as they had promised the Headmaster they would, after everyone had left.  Aside from throwing out two Slytherins who had thought it would be fun to hex the noses off of Hufflepuff first years, it had gone smoothly and everyone had seemed to enjoy themselves.  Lily had even seen a few first years jumping up and down in victory as they’d managed to disarm someone for the first time.

“You did a really good job, telling everyone what to do and everything.”  She agreed, and then glanced up from levitating chairs back into place.  “Did you let me disarm you on purpose?”

He blushed, which answered her question, and irritated her considerably.  It wasn’t as though he had to let her win, she could take him in a duel any day, without him giving her breaks.

“You don’t have to go easy on me Potter.”

“Well, I didn’t want to hurt you or anything.”

Her eyes darkened.  Immediately, he saw his mistake.  Oh Gods James, how does that foot taste?

“Okay, now that came out wrong-“  He began, trying a pre-emptive strike.

“You arrogant-“

“Lily, that’s not what I meant-“  He interrupted, trying to make his point before she exploded.  “I know you’re a good dueler and I know you could hex me into next week, and I have a bad feeling you’re about to.  I just meant that I caught you off guard by asking you to demonstrate with me, and since it was just a demonstration I didn’t mean it to be like a real duel, and…”  He trailed off miserably, watching her nervously.  The angry look had cleared slightly, and he wondered if she believed him, despite the complete mess he had just made of an explanation.

“You couldn’t hurt me Potter.”  She said acidly.

He bristled a little at that.  He was, after all, a fairly powerful wizard.  In a real dueling situation, they could probably both do a fair amount of damage.  But he was also a smart wizard, and he knew his best bet at the moment was to agree with her.  He nodded enthusiastically.

She shrugged, and went on levitating chairs back into place, mollified.  “Don’t bother going easy on me next time.”

“Of course not.”  He agreed, relieved.

When the Great Hall was restored to usual, they set off for together.  James cast about for something to say, thinking that this might have been the longest continuous time spent in Lily’s company without actually fighting, though they had come close.

“What do you think we should do next week?”

“Basic shield charms maybe?  Protego is pretty easy.”  She took up the subject with enthusiasm.  “Pretty soon we’re going to run out of things that first years can do, and seventh years are going to start getting bored if we don’t move onto some harder things.  I was thinking maybe we should split them up.  You know, the younger kids can keep working on disarming and shields, but the older ones can start on harder magic.  Can you do a patronus?”

“Sure, I learned it-“  James cut off, having almost said he learned it the same year they had finally figured out the animagus spell.  “-awhile ago.”  He finished.

“That would be a good thing to do.  Maybe we could find a boggart for the third and fourth years…”

She was off, excitedly discussing all the things they could do.  One of the things he had learned about Lily in the past few days, she was a planner, and she was good at it.  He could not have been more pleased that she was excited.  After all, the more effort they put into it, the more time he would get to spend with her.

Gryffindor tower was still fairly crowded when they arrived back, and they both paused awkwardly just inside the portrait hole.

“Well, I guess I’m going to work on my charms essay.”  She said vaguely.

“Um, well, I’ve been meaning to do mine too.  D’you mind if I do it with you?”

“Sure.”  She was all business again, sitting down and purposefully pulling out her charms book.  With no options to distract her with something more interesting.  He decided that spending more time with Lily Evans was certainly going to improve his homework.

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“Is it just me, or are Mr. Potter and Miss Evans getting along very well?”  Murmured a voice in Remus’s ear, and he turned in surprise to see Flora, grinning at him.  He had, in fact, been watching Lily and James with some surprise, since they appeared to be studying together amiably, occasionally commenting on some aspect of the homework.

“It would appear that way.”  He agreed.  “Has he put her under the Imperius Curse do you think?”

“Or maybe a Confundus charm?”  She suggested.  “Or maybe he stopped being such an insufferable prat.”  She finished, with a shrug.

Remus raised an eyebrow.  “Well, I never really thought he was an insufferable prat, since we’ve been friends since first year.”  He offered.

She nodded, seemingly not at all perturbed that he’d disagreed with her.  “I know.”  She agreed suddenly serious.  “I always wondered how you lot became such good friends.  You seem so different from the two of them.”  She nodded toward James and was apparently including Sirius, although he was not in the room.

“We’re not so different.”  Remus said mildly.  “I’m just better at not getting caught.  And none of that really matters, they’re still the best friends I could imagine having.  They’ve stood by me, through a lot.  Things most people wouldn’t.”

She was giving him an odd look, and he wondered if he’d said too much.  “Anyway, someone has to keep them in line.”

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The common room emptied out, and still James and Lily worked.  He wasn’t going to leave until she did.  He had since finished the charms essay and had moved on to potions.  She was still working on the charms essay but had written far more than was required.  It was McGonagall who had told him it was her favorite class, and that appeared to be true.  Since then he had taken to watching her in that class, and he had seen she never performed less than perfectly.  The charms in the seventh year curriculum were obviously child’s play to her.

“It’s getting pretty late.”  He said finally, and she looked at her watch in surprise.

“Oh, you’re right!”  She finished her last sentence with a flourish.  “I’m done anyway.”

They both packed up their books, and Lily threw her bag over her shoulder. 

“Well, G’night.”  He said, suddenly self-conscious.

“Yeah.  This was fun tonight James.”

Yes!  She called me James!  “Yeah, it was.” 

There was an awkward silence, and then she gave him a nervous smile.  “See you tomorrow.”  Quickly, she rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek, and the turned and fled up the girls’ staircase as fast as she could run.  James stood in the common room for a good five minutes grinning before he remembered to walk up to his room.