CHAPTER TWO
Lily may not have realized it consciously, but the dream in the Shrieking Shack held a certain few important memories for her. The memory of when she had seen the change in Potter when he had saved Snape was quite heavy on her mind. So was when she had finally seen who Remus was - a werewolf.
After last night's nightmare, a turning point for Lily, she hesitantly opened up her kindness to include, subconsciously, another person - James. Too bad her conscious mind still had a grudge against him.
Lily hadn't been able to get to sleep, so she sat downstairs in deep silence. The grandfather clock in the entranceway rang solemnly, eight times.
It's eight in the morning? I've been up all night?
She sat up, putting her cold tea cup aside, and looked at the wall calendar. She remembered that yesterday, she had been there, eagerly counting off the days until school started, but today... Wait a moment. Lily squinted at the calendar, wondering if she was reading it wrong.
Today is not Thursday... Is it? It can't be! That means it's... September 1st!
With a yelp of surprise, she bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
"Mum! Dad!" she cried, "it's eight! It's September First! I need to get to King's Cross!"
She darted into her room and surveyed the mess. She had been trying to pack last night, until she had gotten too sleepy to work any further. Exhausted, she had crawled under her cool sheets, leaving her trunk unpacked, except for the few textbooks that lay inside. Now, she needed to pack, and quickly, at that.
Later, she stood in front of the gateway leading to Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
"This is my last year at Hogwarts," she said glumly to her parents while saying good-bye to them.
"You didn't think you would be a first year forever, did you?" Mrs. Evans smiled at her, wiping a tear off her cheek.
"Oh, Mum," sighed Lily, "what am I going to do without you and Dad?"
Mr. Evans's eyes crinkled around the edges, "Why, you're going to send us lots of owls, telling us how well you're doing, of course!"
Lily smiled, eyes filled with tears, "I'll miss you two." With that, she pushed her trolley through the wall and stared up at the Hogwarts Express.
Six years down, one to go. Plus, this year I'm Head Girl. It can't be that bad.
Lily pulled her heavy trunk onto the train, grumbling at the weight, "It's so heavy. Why didn't I think of putting a lightening charm on it?"
Suddenly, the trunk became as light as a feather, and she managed to pull it up. Unfortunately for her, she ended up falling down as a result.
"Ouch!" she cried, "How did that happen?" A shadow rested on her face, and she looked up in surprise.
"Are you okay?" James Potter, the same James she had the nightmare about last night, extended his hand to help her up. His dark, messy hair was as uncontrollable as always.
Second chances, second chances. He should try a shorter hair cut.
"Thanks!" Lily smiled so genuinely, that even she was surprised. James smiled, pulling the redhead up to her feet.
"Need help carrying this to your compartment?" James asked, tapping Lily's trunk lightly with the tip of his shoe.
She shook her head. "It's alright, I'm right here." She pointed behind her, to the door that stated regally, HEADS AND PREFECTS COMPARTMENT.
"Me too!" James grinned happily.
"Oh, are you looking for Remus?" Lily asked politely.
See, I'm being nice!
"No, see here Evans, Dumbledore chose me," James pointed to the shiny Head Boy badge Lily had failed to notice.
"You!?" she sputtered, temper taking control. "Potter? Bullying toe-rag Potter? Did you take Remus's badge?"
"No, he didn't," a calm voice replied, "Dumbledore believes he met the qualifications better than I did."
Lily smiled at her werewolf friend; he seemed rather tired, for the full moon had just been a few days ago.
"Remus!" she greeted, and clambered over her trunk to help Remus pull his up.
"Of course you're friends with my best friend," shouted James, unable to control his anger, "But what about me? What about the Head Boy? I asked you the last day of school to give me another chance!"
It's just like my nightmare! But real!
"No, no, James!" Lily tried to sedate him, "that's not the way it is!" It was too late. James had stormed into the Heads Compartment and had locked the door behind him with an angry bang. Sliding to the floor, frightened and pale from the words James had so quickly thrown at her, she breathed shakily, in and out.
"Remus, I thought this was going to happen. I had a nightmare last night of him yelling at me!" she cried softly. "I don't usually worry about what other people think of me! But James is going to be Head Boy, and we're going to have to spend the whole year planning and having meetings together!"
"Dreams about James?" Remus cocked his head, and let out a chuckle.
"No," she shook her head. "Nightmares!"
Lily felt Remus slide down to the ground, which shook as the Hogwarts Express tooted, which signified that it was going to start its journey towards Hogwarts. He wrapped his arm around Lily, who was shaking.
Lily gave him a sad half-smile, "God, I'm pathetic. I can't believe I've managed to get James to hate me!"
"Come on, no use crying over spilled milk," Remus pulled Lily to her feet. "Now, let's get you to
James to apologize."
Second chances, second changes. There are changes in everyone, even Potter. Even me.
Lily jabbed her wand at the lock that separated her and James. "Alohamora." A sullen pair of hazel eyes narrowed when she entered the compartment.
"Look who it is," James frowned, as he watched them come in.
"I'm sorry!" Lily pleaded. She rushed in front of James and took his hand, ignoring the tightening of emotion in her stomach.
He shook his head, and wrestled his hand out of her grip. "You think you can continually get away with saying nasty things like that to me? Every single year?"
Lily shook her head, trying to state her hopeless case logically. "No, I didn't mean-"
"Sure, sure," James rolled his eyes, "Of course you didn't mean it. But I'm sure you're just
putting that act so everyone will think you're oh-so-nice and you can stay as popular as you are."
"But-"
"But what?" James shot out. "You're nothing but an inconsiderable, two-faced fake!" With that, he stormed out, shoving through the crowd of wide-eyed prefects that stood shocked at the open door.
Lily stared at them in surprise and then started yelling at them shrilly, "Go! Go off and patrol the halls!" They quickly scattered, scared by the wild expression on the Head Girl's face.
Remus stepped in, "Lily, it's okay, just give him some time to cool off."
"You were the one who suggested apologizing to him in the first place," she accused, trying hopelessly to plant blame on him.
"I didn't know that you affected him that much," Remus told her sadly.
"I do?"
"You didn't know that?" Remus smiled, "After six years of fancying you, I doubt James will ever give up on you. Sure, he himself may stop mentally liking you, but in his heart, he knows he still feels for you. It's just the difference of him not yelling out to the world about how he likes you that has changed."
I didn't know I was that hard to get over. But come to think of it, that's quite funny.
"Lily, don't laugh at him," Remus broke her train of thought, "He'll be ignoring you for quite a while."
"What?" cried Lily, shocked. "`Quite a while?' But there are so many things I need to plan with him! We can't work together as Head Boy and Head Girl if he isn't talking to me!"
Remus sighed, "Once he's mad, it takes quite sometime for the Potter temper to wear out."
Lily and Remus sat glumly in the Head Compartment, each occupied with their own inner demons.
I've got to make sure my schedule is on task. I can't let James ruin my day! Or my year, come to think of it.
He likes me. Still. Can't he get over me? Wait. James might not like me because of what an idiot I've been today. . .
Remus stared out the window, continually lamenting to himself over the horrors of being a werewolf and the problems of being the best friend of the one that was obsessed with the same girl that he fancied.
"Remus, you know you don't have to sit with me. You can go back to Potter and Black and Peter if you want to, " Lily told her friend.
Remus looked at her, amused. "And leave you here alone? What kind of friend would do that?"
Lily smiled back gratefully, forgetting that she had made plans to meet with her own friends.
They sat there, side by side, playing Wizard's Chess and eating Honeydukes chocolate to pass the time.
When the train finally stopped, Lily found her trunk right where she had left it.
The house elves will take care of it.
She left it there and followed Remus to one of the horseless carriages. Hoisting herself up, she sat next to Remus on the seat without looking up. When she did, she gasped in surprise.
"Oh, James!" Lily cried.
"Don't `Oh, James' me," James growled, "And when were we on a first-name basis, anyway, Evans?"
That shut her up. And, everyone else in the carriage, which was the rest of the Marauders, looked at her with questioning eyes.
"What did you do to him?" mouthed Sirius. Lily shrugged, unable to keep the miserable expression off her face.
I should just resign from my position, Lily thought woefully, as she walked up the steps behind the just as gloomy James, no, Potter.
After the Start of the Year feast, she received a summons from Dumbledore's office; it was the time for the yearly Heads meeting. They would have to meet all together, Dumbledore, James, and Lily, but the tension between the Heads was so heavy that even Dumbledore could sense it. Being the smart person he was, he asked to see each Head separately. James went first, and came out a while later, scowling at the ground.
"Come in, Miss Evans," Dumbledore called.
Lily stepped in, gazing around the headmaster's office. Portraits surrounded the walls, and most of them were snoring. She could swear that some of the portraits were watching her.
"Please," the headmaster motioned to a pouf that sat in front of the desk. "Sit."
When Lily finally settled in the chair, eager to hear what the headmaster had to say, Dumbledore started talking.
"Animosity within a house, and between the Head Boy and Head Girl, is not too uncommon," he started, tapping his nose with his fingers, "Though I do try to discourage it."
"How am I to know what is right and what is wrong?" Wrinkles appeared on Lily's forehead, and Dumbledore reached over his desk and smoothed them out.
"There, there, don't worry," he told her, and then he cleared his throat.
"Old habits are hard to break," Dumbledore replied, looking for something in desk, "I, for example, cannot live without my lemon drops."
"But, Professor, my problem isn't lemon drops, or -" she looked, exasperated at the candy that Dumbledore offered out to her with an outstretched hand and shook her head - "or chocolate frogs!"
"Well, now," Dumbledore replied, eating the chocolate frog that Lily had declined, "when you were little, you were able to ride your bicycle, right?"
"Yes," nodded Lily, but worried that Dumbledore was going off topic again, so she added, "but this doesn't have to do with bicycles -"
"Miss Evans," Dumbledore said, "before you ride a bicycle, what do you do?"
"Put on a helmet?"
"Yes, but before that," he said, gesturing the 'before' with his hands.
Lily thought about it.
What goes before a helmet,
when you ride your bike?
is a....
this answer should be as easy as one-two-three,
it's a t-r-i-k-e!
"A tricycle!" Lily shouted, happy to have found the answer.
"Yes, yes," Dumbledore nodded, "It is one of the basics for learning how to use a bicycle."
"Oh," breathed Lily, "I'll be nice and start talking to James more, and then I can be friends with him!" She stood up, knocking over the chair she had been sitting in. Dumbledore nodded, pleased that she had figured her dilemma out.
"Thank you, Professor!" Lily grinned, hugging the surprised headmaster. After opening the door and darting out, she ran excitedly down the moving stairs to find the Head Boy.
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