Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a school for the unusual, for the strange, for the children who just wouldn't fit in, anywhere else. At Hogwarts, these children shine, flourishing in this small school in Scotland, letting their natural gifts grow. Except for this child, apparently.
She had a knack for numbers. They made sense. That was why she got an O in her O.W.L.s in both Potions and Arithmancy - because she could bend the numbers to her will. There was something about them that spoke to her rationale. The components of a formula, chemical or mathematical, practically jumped to her bidding, solving themselves. But just because she was good at those two subjects didn't mean that she liked them.
And then there was Charms. She was good at Charms, too, but it was a subject that she found rather interesting. To her, the ability to alter objects temporarily was absolutely brilliant. It was pure magic, it was - all you needed was your wand and a creative brain, no fancy props or anything. And when she liked something, she paid attention in class. So she got an O in her Charms O.W.L.; but what did any of that really mean, anyway?
Which was why, when Lily Evans was confronted by a Career Advice session, she panicked.
"Good heavens, Miss Evans, are you all right?" McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, was staring at the girl's pale white face, a sheet of parchment listing Lily's O.WL.'s in front of her. "I merely asked if you had given any thought to playing to your strengths, in terms of your future?"
"Erm, not at all," Lily admitted, eyes cast downwards at her fingers twisting in her lap. "I mean, I don't really like any subject more than any other, and it's not like I'm especially good at anything."
There was a momentary silence; Lily looked up to find McGonagall just looking at her, eyes narrowed. "Surely you're joking," she said at last.
Lily shrugged.
McGonagall took off her glasses and quickly cleaned them on her robes, saying slowly, "I would expect better from my sixth year prefect. What will you do for your senior tutorial? Or this summer? I hope you realize that an internship in the right field will help you be a star applicant for employment opportunities."
"Erm" - Lily bit her lip, trying to think - "I dunno. I've just been a bit busy, I guess. My aunt wants me to help her out in her flower shop when school's out." She supposed this was not what McGonagall wanted to hear, but that was the truth. To some extent, anyway. To be honest, she had been a bit preoccupied of late.
"Miss Evans." McGonagall leaned forward across her desk, and Lily knew that this meant that the woman was serious. "You're a very bright girl, with a bright future, despite these times of war." She slid a couple of colorful pamphlets towards Lily as she said firmly, "I expect you to take a look at these before our meeting next week. They're geared toward someone of your particular strengths. You will bring me a list of potential careers that are of interest. Are we agreed?" She held Lily's gaze until the girl nodded meekly, before inclining her head in dismissal. Lily left quickly.
"God, Evans, what took you so long?" Lily looked up to see Sirius Black leaning wall outside McGonagall's office, arms crossed, eyebrow cocked. Naturally, his voice was snide - for some reason, he'd never liked her. Presumably, his Career Advice session was next. McGonagall was systematically working her way through all the Gryffindor sixth years this week. "You plan out your whole life with her or sommat?"
"Nah. Didn't even get beyond plans for the summer, to be honest. Apparently I'm not going to amount to much." She flashed him a wry smile and spun on her heel, leaving a bemused boy in her wake.
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"Hello, poppet! What're you reading?" Lily raised her eyebrows in greeting to her favorite source of irritation - Potter - but raised the book so that he could see the title anyway. "Flesh-Eating Trees of the World; sounds utterly fascinating!" She didn't know how he had managed to find her, tucked away as she was in a nook of the library, but, nevertheless, here he was.
"It is. Why are you so cheery?" Lily muttered, going back to the book. If she concentrated long enough, maybe he would go away…
No such luck. It was James Potter after all. With a wide grin he collapsed into the armchair across from her before throwing a pile of pamphlets onto her table. Pamphlets that looked suspiciously like the ones that Lily had "accidentally" left in the common room before dinner. Damn. "I ran into McGonagall after dinner, you see." If anything, his grin got wider. "She sent me on an errand."
"Oh?" Lily pursed her lips. Ordinarily, she might have been amused by his presence, but as it was, she was actually caught up in a chapter that might prove useful to her Muggle botanist of a father. Her family seemed to have an affinity for plants.
Apparently Potter mistook her silence for interest, for he pressed onwards, pushing the brightly colored papers across the table, saying, "Well, not a technical errand. More like a suggestion of hers, you see. Wanted to make sure that you were thinking about job plans, y'know. These were left in the common room - Padfoot recognized them as yours?"
"Padfoot is much too observant sometimes." She turned the page. "And there really is no need for you to be bothering about this career nonsense." The carnivorous Fanged Geranium has a preference for humans, but it will often bite anything within a 1 meter radius. Easily mistaken for a generic geranium. While not a flesh eating tree per se, it is frequently found near those trees and is -
He snickered, interrupting her train of thought. "McGonagall worries about you, is all. I mean, what with this war and all. You do know there's a war on, right?"
"Of course!" near those trees and is capable of forming a symbiotic -
"Because despite the fact that Hogwarts is a bit of a bubble for news, you really ought to realize what an effect the war has on openings for jobs. The Auror Department, for instance." A dark blue brochure with silver lettering was pushed into her lap, proclaiming "Your Ministry Needs You!"
She sighed before she could help herself. Clearly, she would have no peace until she dealt with the boy. He wouldn't even let her finish the sentence, let alone the chapter! So she closed the book and stuffed it into her bag. "Is that what you're going to be, Potter? An Auror?" But of course it was. It was what he'd wanted to be for years. Potter had no secrets from the Hogwarts community.
"Maybe." He shrugged, and she was momentarily surprised to see such a noncommittal gesture from him. Potter was about assertiveness and confidence - she had always been the disinterested one. "If that's the best way to help the government, I s'pose. But we weren't talking about me." He raised an eyebrow. "Thought you would've been organized enough to have a plan or something."
"Me?" She twisted her mouth into something akin to a grimace. "Potter, let's be honest. I can't even plan beyond tomorrow, let alone the next couple of years!"
Now he really looked surprised. "But you're always so organized! And working hard!" He sifted through the other pamphlets. "Well, McGonagall thinks you could be a Healer. Or a Curse-Breaker at Gringotts." He brightened a little. "You're good at Arithmancy, after all. Or Muggle relations! Bet you'd be brilliant at that!"
"What with being Muggleborn and all," she pointed out dryly.
"Oh. Right." He grinned sheepishly. Merlin - the boy just bounced from emotion to emotion, didn't he?
"Potter, what are you really doing here?" She looked him in the eye, surprised to see him flush a faint pink. It was almost - adorable? No, comical was a better word. "Don't you have pranks to pull with your little lackeys?"
"Well, there was McGonagall's errand, you see." He took on a serious look; she hoped he was joking. But he wasn't. "She seems to be rather concerned about you."
"And she asked you, of all the people that I know, to help me with this theoretically life-altering decision?"
"Erm…well…you see…" He was stalling. Any first year idiot could see that. She sighed again, winding a long curl around her finger - she really must see about cutting some of the blasted hair off, maybe the next Hogsmeade visit? "I was with Remus, and I mean, she didn't say specifically, but - "
"She asked Remus." Of course she did. Not only was he her fellow prefect, but McGonagall had a soft spot for him. And he was a friend. A reasonably close friend, actually.
"Right. But we passed Isabella right afterwards and she mentioned that you were in the library and I told Remus that I was on my way here anyway and he just kinda went along with it." One of her friends had told them her location? She was going to have to have a talk with Isabella about this. Did the girl just not understand that the Marauders and Lily just didn't mesh well? "Which is to say that I didn't give him a chance to object." Potter's bright smile never wavered during this baffling explanation. "So you see, there was an errand, and McGonagall did assign it, and - "
"Merlin, help me," Lily muttered, before leaning across the table and frowning at the boy "Listen, Potter. I don't know what I'm doing, but frankly, I doubt that you're the person to help me. So, if you don't mind, I'll just - "
He interrupted again. What was with him and interrupting her? "We could discuss career prospects over dinner this weekend, in Hogsmeade, if you like." Ah. There it was. The inevitable invitation.
"I'll pass, Potter." In a swift motion Lily gracefully stood up, bag slung over her shoulder. "Nice try, though. Points for carrying on a conversation before trying to transition into asking. Too bad the transition needs work." With one last smirk, she stalked out of the library. Isabella had some explaining to do.
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A/n: Well, here we are. After a three-year hiatus - hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think, please?
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