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Reflections
Mei Queen
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Author's Note- I hope you all like it, I wanted to show how Lily and Sophie would have gotten closer to Sirius and James. Review, please, tell me what you all think of this story so far! Do you like it? Do you like the way it's written? I just want some feedback, because I don't usually write in the first person, but I think it makes the experiences more entertaining to read, because you feel like you are Lily…tell me if I'm totally wrong with that statement, though.
Chapter 3- One Hell of an Essay
So now that my story has progressed slightly, I hope that the initial doubt of an eleven-year-old being able to fall in love has been dispelled. Just a few weeks into the school year, I knew it was the real thing. In Transfiguration that one fateful Thursday, he…asked me…if I had an extra quill! I have held that particular quill close to my heart ever since. Even now, two weeks later, I sat happily in the common room twirling it between my fingers and smiling.
"Lily! Are you even listening to me?!"
I was jogged out of my daydreams of Remus and me living in a castle together by a very irritated Sophie. Her blonde hair was up in a very casual bun, and her bright blue eyes were looking at me intently.
"Of course," I quickly lied.
"Fine, then. What was I talking about?"
"Um…class?" I guessed.
"Um…no! I was talking about how annoying Black has become. I think I'll have to fill out that restraining order any day now."
My green eyes swirled in confusion as I turned to her. "Can you actually have a restraining order on someone that goes to the same boarding school as you?"
Sophie rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I was just kidding, Lily. Just joking."
"Oh right," I said quickly. "I knew."
Sophie rolled her eyes again and decided to change the subject. "So how are you doing on that Potions essay?"
With this, my heart sank. "I think how I'm not doing on it is the better question, Sophie. I hate that class…I just don't understand it. I read the readings, and take the notes, but it just isn't clicking. I couldn't tell one root from another to save my life, much less brew them into something edible!"
Sophie nodded hopelessly. "I know exactly how you feel. My family may be from the Dark Side, but I'm bollocks at potions. But I also am rich. There's always somebody else to cook, clean, brew potions if necessary, although there's a hefty bonus to the staff when they do our potion-brewing, claimed it wasn't part of their job. Imagine! Our main housekeeper! She flat out refused to brew a Polyjuice! Said she didn't need it, it was for us, and she deserved extra money! Well for goodness sakes! The woman was a train wreck! We're magical; she should have stolen a hair from somebody pretty! We could have been doing her a favor."
My eyes bulged. Sometimes I forgot how truly tactless Sophie was. "Um…so let me get this straight. You asked her to brew you a potion when her main job is keeping the house clean, and she said it wasn't part of her job."
"I know!" Sophie exclaimed, mistaking my reaction for empathy. "Can you believe the insubordinate attitude?"
I rolled my eyes. "You probably told her she should have gone prettier with the Polyjuice too, right?"
She looked at me defensively, and replied, "What?"
I shook my head in disbelief as my eyes trailed across the common room. Over in the corner, James and Remus were playing chess, Peter was lying on the ground trying to start his Potions essay, and Sirius was playing Exploding Snap with some other first year girls.
"What a flirt. Can you believe him?" Sophie asked haughtily.
"I'm only going to ask you this once, because your constant prattle about what a jerk he is gives me a migraine. Do you like him?" I asked with irritation.
"Of course not, you twit. What could I possibly see in him, Lil?" Sophie asked quickly.
"Hell if I know. Anyway, you got your silent wish, he's leaving that horde of girls…and he's coming over here."
"He's what?!" Sophie whispered sharply, turning to look herself.
Indeed, Sirius was making his way across the room, and by the looks of it, James and Remus were done with chess, so James made his way over as well. This was much to my disappointment. I was really hoping for Remus to come, but Remus had stopped to help Peter with his essay. Such a nice guy…
"I heard some high-pitched whining about a certain Potions essay," James said with a laugh, his ebony hair flopping into his face.
Sophie looked at me and rolled her eyes; I giggled in response.
"Can we be of any assistance with that?" Sirius said with his usual debonair voice. "We're already done."
"I think we're good, thanks," I replied softly, meanwhile glancing in Remus' direction. "Hey, is Remus sick? He looks kind of pale."
James looked over in Remus' direction curiously. "Yeah, we asked him, too. He said he's not feeling that great, and he's just staying in the common room to help Peter finish his Potions essay, then he's going straight to the Hospital Wing."
"Oh," I said softly. "Poor guy."
"Yeah," Sirius said, nodding, walking over to Sophie's chair. Looking over her shoulder at the scroll that was sprawled in her lap, he read out loud, "Sophie Lestrange, Potions, September 26th, 1972…Hmm…good start. I can see why you don't need any help."
Sophie looked back him, claws bared, so to speak. "Look, Black, I've only been writing it for a few minutes, and I was doing just fine before you came along. So why don't you and your sidekick just hit the road?"
James looked at me and muttered, "So that explains why she's been here for around an hour with the scroll and the quill, sitting in that chair?"
I snorted. It was true. Sophie had absolutely no idea what she was doing on this essay, and it was pretty amusing to watch Sirius and Sophie, because Sophie would never admit she needed help, and Sirius excelled in Potions. (I would find out later that part of the reason he did so well was that when he was over at the Potter's house on Sundays, he often asked James' mother for cooking lessons, making him a great cook, and consequently a wonderful potion brewer.)
Just as the awkwardness hit a peak, Emmeline and Alice walked down the stairs.
"Hi Sirius," Em said sweetly.
"Hi doll, how are you doing?" he said in his usual suave voice.
Sophie looked at me and snorted, rolling her eyes in the same moment. "So what do you say, Lily? Library?"
"Let's go," I said, smiling, and getting up to go.
"Mind if I tag along?" a voice asked softly as we were almost out of the common room. I turned to see James quickly striding across the room.
James turned a bit red as we quirked eyebrows at his unusual behavior. "I just don't want to be caught in Sirius' ménage-a-trois, you know?"
We giggled. "Yeah, I guess we could use your help," Sophie said, after weighing the options.
"Okay, no problem," James said, quickly grabbing his Potions book from the chess table. "Let's go."
"So why in the name of Merlin do we need an eye of newt? Isn't that kind of stereotypical?" I asked cynically.
James chuckled at my sarcasm and said, "It's not about why you need it, Lily, just that you do."
I looked at him warily and replied, "We don't actually have to…you know…get the eye out, do we?"
Sophie shrieked, "Oh, dear Merlin! I did not sign up for popping eyes! That has 'ruin my manicure' written all over it! Oh, I refuse! Eew!"
James began to laugh hysterically. "No you two don't have to 'pop' eyes…they're already in the pantries in the dungeon."
"Oh great," Sophie said weakly. "I still feel a little ill about the whole thing."
I smiled at her and nodded fervently. "Anyway, we'll think about the newt eyes later. Back to the essay for now."
"Right," James and Sophie agreed.
A couple hours later, we were still sitting at the same table. James had a wonderful way of explaining things; he really had a gift at teaching. At least, he had a gift for teaching…me. My essay was complete, because the way he explained made so much sense to me. I was an auditory learner, so this was really easy for me. Unfortunately, Sophie was mainly a visual learner, and she had only accomplished a weak thesis statement in the past two hours.
"You kids are still here?" we heard a voice call out to us.
Turning towards the door, we saw Sirius striding over.
"What are you doing here?" James asked curiously. "I didn't think you even knew we had a library."
"Just walked Remus down to the Hospital Wing. I walked by here and saw lots of light, heard no noise, and smelled musty books. I figured this was the torture chamber, but apparently it fronts itself as a library," Sirius said sarcastically.
"Anyway, Sophie doesn't quite get it yet," I said softly from my seat next to Sophie.
"Lil, can I get you to sit next to James?" Sirius asked quickly. "I'll explain it to her, and I won't even break a sweat," he said challengingly to James.
James chuckled. "Go right ahead," he replied, and I switched seats.
Sirius turned to the blonde, who was resting her head in her hand in exhaustion and frustration.
"All right then, Soph. Are you a visual or an auditory learner? Probably a visual, since James doesn't really do helpful pictures or anything like that."
At first, she was disgruntled at his new nickname for her, but her face relaxed as she realized that Sirius might actually be able to teach her something. Right about now, she would accept just about any help, because otherwise she would probably fail this essay, which was a big part of the grade in the class.
"Visual," she said softly.
"Okay, no problem. Let's get started, then," Sirius said confidently.
After another hour, and quite a few magical pictures to help Sophie understand, she was smiling again. "I really understand what I'm doing now, Sirius! Thank you!"
Sophie reached out to hug him, and looked like she was having second thoughts in mid-air. It didn't matter by then anyway, because Sirius took her up on the offer and gave her a squashing bear hug. When he finally let go, little Sophie looked a little out of breath and very shaken up. "Okay, Sirius, James, well…Lily and I should get going. It's pretty late, and we have class tomorrow."
I nodded, thanked James for all of his help, and gathered my scrolls and quills. "We'll see you guys later."
Together, Sophie and I got up to go back to common room.
"Need company?" James asked softly. "We're not staying here."
I looked at Sophie and shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"This room is evil," Sirius said without hesitation. "I just know that torture was done here when the school was first built."
"You loon," Sophie said with irritation. "It's always just been a library; at least I think it has."
I looked at the banter with amusement. "I'll settle this. I'll just ask Madam Pince."
Madam Pince looked at me strangely when she heard my question, but she confirmed Sophie's answer. "Yes, it's always been a library."
"See?" Sirius asked James after hearing Madam Pince's answer. "Always torturous."
"Now the real question remains," I began as we all walked together out of the library, "is it the academic research that's torturous, or do you really believe there's a hidden dungeon with a dark past hidden somewhere in the restricted section?"
"How about both?" Sirius asked with a grin. We chuckled together as we continued the rest of the way up to the dorm, because James and Sirius were actually surprisingly funny, and Sophie and I were having a truly wonderful time. (The only thing that would have made it better is if Remus weren't sick.)
Imagine our surprise a week later, when Sophie and I received back our graded essays. Both had "A" written in red pen on the top of the scroll, and it was about then that Sophie and I truly realized what a valuable resource the Marauders would come to be for us. It was the beginning of a very interesting friendship with the four guys, but mainly with Sirius and James, the charmers themselves.