Lily's first week at Hogwarts passed in quite a blur. She found it relatively easy to catch up with the syllabus, seeing that the syllabus at Beauxbatons had been relatively harder than that at Hogwarts. Lily had been quite overwhelmed by the welcome she had received at Hogwarts. Back at Beauxbatons, new students were treated as non-entities. In her new school, however, Lily knew almost everyone within the first week of her arrival. The only hitch was that she could remember the names of very few people, <it wasn't like she had a bad memory, it was just that it was impossible to memorize the names of an entire school in a week!> as a result of which, she had resorted to saying "Excuse me" to address people. It was also quite sad that she had endless conversations with multiple people, but unfortunately didn't know any of their names, and found couldn't ask because that might come across as `rude.'
It was on one of these days that Professor Flitwick, the rather short charms professor had sprung a surprise quiz on them. He was a very sweet teacher, Lily thought though she secretly suspected that he had some elf blood in him.
"Alright, students, here are the results for the charms quiz that was held yesterday." Professor Flitwick announced to be followed by a collective groan from the entire class, as the short professor began to distribute the papers among the class. "Mr. Potter, good performance, I must say. Same goes for you, Mr. Black"
"Ms. Prewett" Flitwick said addressing Sheila before handing out her paper coupled with an approving nod. Sheila, smiled as she took her paper and said, "See! I told you I'd top the test!"
"Aaaah. Ms. Evans! I must say I was very impressed with your paper! You have indeed done splendidly. It is quite a feat for a new student to top the class within a week of her arrival. Well done!" Professor Flitwick announced beaming at Lily.
Lily blushed as she quietly accepted the paper and sat down embarrassedly, as Sirius let out a hoot behind her. "Lily! You topped! And you're new! Looks like you have competition, Sheila!" he said to the blonde sitting next to him.
"Oh shut up, Sirius!" Lily said good-naturedly before smacking him playfully, turning back to talk to a friend. What she missed was a blonde girl surveying her with narrowed eyes, pulling her hands into a fist, her perfectly manicured nails cutting into her palm till it bled.
As they filed out of class, James jogged up to her, casually putting his arm around her shoulder, "Way to go, Lils! Congrats! Didn't know dimwits like you have it in them!" he said smiling down the petite redhead.
She poked him hard in his stomach as he let out a satisfying wheeze, "I bet you didn't know we were Karate champions either!"
"Karate?" he asked her looking puzzled.
"And you call me dimwit" she said rolling her eyes.
"Hey! Temme!" he asked her catching her hand and pining her to the wall.
She aimed a punch at his stomach, freeing herself from his grip as she smiled at his crestfallen face. "That Mr. Potter is an example of Karate!" she stated before laughing gaily, and beginning to run, as James Potter began to chase her in the corridor, clearly looking for revenge.
*****
Lily had been spending an unusually large amount of time with the marauders. The four boys by policy never hung out with girls as a group as they firmly believed that singling out girls would be unfair to the rest of the human population, as Sirius informed her one night over dinner.
She was staying up late in the common room to finish a potions essay that Professor Slughorn has set for them. "He likes me" she thought smiling to herself. And so he did. In her first class itself, Lily had excelled in preparing the strengthening solution, which was the aim of the class. It had been a bit of a lucky coincidence that Lily had discovered that adding a sprig of holly along with the normal ingredients would make the solution stronger.
"Oh! Miss Prewett! Why of course, your Potion is marvelous. What a wonderful Potion-maker! Clearly, taken after you grandfather. Great man…Great man" The professor trailed off impressively, as Sheila smirked arrogantly flicking her hair backwards for effect.
The crinkly wizard with an overly large moustache walked around class looking at students' work and making comments here and there. He clearly seemed to have a few favorites, Lily thought. He came to a standstill in front of Lily's cauldron, "Oho! What do we have here!" he paused for a second before resuming "Impressive…Very impressive… You are a natural, my dear! Oho! Look here, Ms. Prewett, this young lady's potion is even better than yours!" Professor Slughorn gestured at Sheila, who smiled forcefully at Lily.
"What is your name, young lady?" He asked Lily.
"Lily, sir. Lily Evans." Lily replied, flashing him a bright smile, the one she kept reserved for teachers.
"Evans…Not related to the Great Patricia Evans, founder of the Wizarding Society in England, are you?"
"Umm... No sir"
"Oh! Then you must be related to Sir Edward Evans, the writer of `Deadly Potions and Remedies'!"
"Oh… No, sir. I don't think so. I'm muggleborn, you see." Lily replied, biting her teeth. She knew how discriminating wizards could get against muggleborns, which was why she hadn't mentioned it before to anyone at Hogwarts. Having come from Beauxbatons, and spent two years in the wizarding community, she certainly knew enough about the wizarding world to seem as a Pureblood. Also, Eva and Fleme, both of whom came from pureblooded honorable families, had gossiped quite a lot about their relatives, who were all connected in a weird way, which explained the reason behind Lily's wide knowledge about Wizarding families.
At once, the entire class swiveled around to look at Lily. She saw sneers on the faces of many Slytherins, while many others looked shocked and surprised. She noticed that James was the only one on whom her statement had had no effect, and he was working away as though he hadn't noticed anything.
"Oh! Well as it may be, well done, Miss Evans!" Professor Slughorn said seeming clearly disappointed that Lily didn't have any connections in the wizarding world. "Well, get back to your work class!"
*****
Lily looked around the common room upon finishing the potions essay, to find that it was empty. She had clearly spent a long time on the essay. She leant back, and closed her eyes, thinking about how her life had changed in the last few weeks. `To think that two weeks ago, I was in Beauxbatons laughing with Eva and Fleme' she mused `Hogwarts isn't that bad… To be honest, it's surprising how open they are to a new student! I've never given a second thought about new kids in Beauxbatons!" Her thoughts strayed to the four boys with whom she had been spending much time lately. What had motivated them to talk to her? To befriend her? They were surely popular! They didn't need to hang around a new girl! `But I'm so thankful that they do!'
As though struck by a sudden thought, she pulled out a mirror from her bag after checking to make sure that the common room was indeed empty. It wasn't like she was hiding anything, but she wasn't sure if three way mirrors were allowed in Hogwarts.
"Eva, Fleme"
An instant later the smiling faces of her best friends appeared on the screen.
"Lily! We wanted to contact you so many times but we weren't sure what time your classes were, and about the time difference and all. We didn't want you to get into trouble you see!" Eva said.
Lily smiled. "Its okay, Eve! So how have you guys been? How is school?"
"Oh we're fine, Lil. School's been boring! You know how it is… They are springing tests on us every second day! And without you, I've been like FLUNKING in charms! God, I miss you so much!" Fleme said.
Lily laughed. "Oh, I've missed you guys so much too! You have ABSOLUTELY no idea! How is everyone in school? Richard…" She trailed off
"Oh… Err" Eva looked clearly uncomfortable "Well, you know normal…"
"Err? Eve, you never say err! Normal? What's up, guys?" Lily asked.
"Erm" Eva said
Lily raised her eyebrows.
"Alright. Richardsgoinoutwidmelanie"
"Huh? Richard what?" Lily asked Fleme blankly, clearly non-plussed.
"Uhh… Fleme, I'll tell her. Sit down, Lil!" Eva said.
Lily frowned but did as her friend asked her to.
"Richard is going out with Melanie. You remember her? That dark-haired second year."
"By going out… You mean… Dating?"
"Errr… Yeah"
Lily kept her face as impassive as she could and smiled grimly. "Cool" Fleme and Eva glanced at each other furtively, waiting for an outburst on Lily's part. They got none.
"Hey guys. I better get going. Need to get some sleep. Have classes, you see. Good night" Without waiting for an affirmation from her friends, Lily vanished from the mirror.
Suddenly, Lily felt breathless. Breathing heavily, she pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on the knee joint while she stared into the common room fire. She glared at it, her expressions changing as she looked at it. Finally, her breathing slowed down, returning to a more normal pace.
`Melanie?' she thought. `But… Why? How? Maybe the whole thing is an elaborate prank… But… No… Eva and Fleme wont be part of a prank one me…So maybe, he just forgot about me…Its not like he owes me anything…We were just friends…' As though her heart refused to accept these words, tears began to flow down her cheeks. `Its not that he's going out with her…Its more like losing a friend…He didn't even tell me, did he? What if I lose Fleme and Eva too?' This thought seemingly horrifying her, she started sobbing quietly, the dread of losing her best friends looming about her.
"Lily" said a male voice.
Upon hearing some one speak, Lily dried her eyes, trying to look calm and composed. She whirled around to find a dark haired boy in blue pajamas. "Sirius. Hi. What are you doing up so late?" She smiled weakly.
"Oh, I couldn't sleep, so I fancied a walk." He started but faltered midway on seeing her bloodshot-eyes. "What's wrong, Lily?"
"Oh, nothing. What would be wrong?" Lily said, in an unusually high-pitched voice.
Sirius said nothing, walking up to the couch where Lily was. He made quite a show of making himself comfortable, before saying, "Want to tell me about it?"
Lily looked at him but shook her head, numbly.
"It's okay to cry sometimes, Lil" he said quietly.
The redhead looked up at him at a loss for words, her eyes filled with gratitude. He put his arm around her and she sobbed into his chest softly, her breathing uneven and ragged.
The two just stayed there, Lily sometimes muttering words like "He was my friend" and "I don't want to lose all of them."
In the boys' dormitory, a hazel eyed boy woke up to find his best friend's bed empty. He instinctively made his way towards the common room, walking down slowly so as to not wake up any of the sleeping students. He stopped on the staircase as he heard faint sobbing noises coming from the common room. Worried, he stepped down to survey the common room, while remaining unseen himself. He found it empty of inhabitants, except for a girl hugging a boy in the middle of the room. He was about to leave when he noticed that the girl had red hair… very familiar red hair… A careful inspection proved that the girl was indeed someone he knew, and she looked like she was sobbing onto the boy's shirt. The boy was dark-haired, his hair falling elegantly onto his face. He looked suspiciously like James' best friend. Irritated for a reason he couldn't comprehend, he stalked back to the dormitory and got into bed, yanking his curtains back into place. He swore under his breath, as the scene that he had just witnessed played and replayed in his mind, time and again. This was indeed, a sleepless night….
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