Conversations and Flower Arrangements
ooo
August 23, 1977
"HI!"
"Oh my fucking god - what is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? Are you joking? You hit me!"
"Because you're always sneaking up on me! How was I supposed to know that you weren't a psychotic stalker?"
"Well, I never meant to - I guess you just startle easy." Potter gave Lily a heavy-lidded smile (which she supposed he thought was attractive). "You have a couple flower petals in your hair, by the way."
"Or maybe you're just crazy and much too quiet for your own good," she snapped back, feeling peevish. She finger-combed her hair, pulling the petals out and letting them flutter to the ground. Earlier that morning, she had stopped by the shop to check on a couple of plants that she had (magically) boosted the night before. The roses had taken to the Growth Potion a little too well; lucky Aunt Margot was away for the weekend - Lily could probably shrink the 4 metre rosebushes by then.
"Years of practice," he said proudly, taking a seat next to her. "Not even Filch hears me coming these days."
"Lovely," she said drily. "You can put that on your CV."
"Of course! I'll include it among my list of many talents." He handed her a warm cup, saying, "I brought you a cup of coffee." Potter drank from his own cup and hummed quietly.
"Thanks." Feeling mollified, she took the cup and sniffed, inhaling the smell of strong coffee fill up her lungs and exhaling it out into the cold morning air. It was weird that he was being so nice to her, but she'd accept it.
Potter pulled out a notebook and a quill; she was surprised to see him so organized. "All right. Can we talk about school now? You know, the reason we're here in the first place?"
"But of course. If it hurries this meeting along." Lily stared out at the old wooden playground, watching toddlers in blue pinafores and long pigtails run around and laugh in the bright early morning sunshine. Really, it was too early for her to be up during the summer. And on a weekend, no less! "Where are we, anyway?"
Potter smiled blissfully. "My mum used to bring me here when I was little. It's a good place to think. Of course, we used a Portkey then, but now that I can Apparate...we're in the country."
"Well, it's very pretty." She actually agreed with Potter, for once. They were good places to think. There was something about parks, about how they brought back all the memory and essence and happiness of childhood. She loved parks. "What did you want to talk about?"
He shot her a look that was almost annoyed. "We have leadership duties, remember?" he said patiently (though through teeth that were, quite possibly, gritted). "Have you come around to this idea, yet?"
She made a rude noise and clutched her coffee cup tighter. In truth, she had given this idea very little thought indeed, even if she had come around to accepting it. Lately, she'd been distracted by McGonagall's terse reminders about careers that came every two weeks…and a certain boy she'd met in Diagon Alley last month. "What exactly are we supposed to work out, anyway?"
"I dunno - patrol schedules, maybe? What did they talk about in the first prefect meeting last year?" He pulled out a crumpled list and squinted at it - she peered over and saw Remus's familiar, neat script, carefully outlining a list of Prefect Duties.
"I never paid attention, I'm afraid." She took another sip of her coffee, but it was already cold. Making a face, and, with a quick look around, whipped out her wand and muttered a quick Warming Charm. Ah. Much better. She loved being seventeen - loved the ability to legally perform magic. Having just come of age last week, she was having a ball, what with subtly annoying Petunia, as well as impressing her parents with how quickly she could clean the house while they were out.
"What?" Lily glanced over to see a strange, sort of reassessing look on Potter's face. "But you're like…of course Dumbledore picked you for Head Girl! And you don't pay attention in meetings?!"
"They're rather boring, if you must know. And if I ask around enough, somebody will usually drag me onto patrol when it's time. See, I really am a terrible prefect. And when did you get so organized?"
He let out a rather frustrated sigh. "Look, last time we met - before you ran off on your date with that bloke because you forgot that we had a meeting - we worked out what sort of events we ought to have, like that ball idea? What if we go over the tutoring session schedule? I know that the Head Boy and Girl organize that."
"I already apologized about last time. I have a terrible memory." And Thomas Bennington had been free that night. He'd owled her that morning, out of the blue, and she'd completely forgotten about Potter and his note the week before. Of course she'd said yes - Thomas was a good looking bloke with decent hair and a nice smile: a nice way to liven up her summer. "I don't have to tutor a bunch of children do I? I don't have any patience."
"Remus explained it to me. Once a week, I have to take a subject - Transfiguration, I suppose - and you take one too - Charms? Potions? I guess you could do anything you liked. Then we pick prefects for the rest. I have the list of prefects somewhere…" He started digging in his pockets for something, presumably the list or something. Potter looked half-decent today, with his thatch of black hair, a dark green jumper and ordinary dark trousers. He might have passed for a Muggle on the street, if it weren't for the Gryffindor lion emblazoned onto his scarf.
"Well, that should take care of that. We'll ask for volunteers when we get back to school. Merlin, Potter, don't you have anything better to do this summer than think about school? Isn't that the point of summer?" She might say that to him, but in truth, she had finished all her summer reading immediately, if only so that she wouldn't have to think about it.
"I just want to be prepared, is all. Can we go over patrols?"
She sighed disparagingly. "Right. Patrols. Two people a night, yeah? How many prefects have we got - twenty-two? With us, that makes twenty-four. So, since patrols are six days a week, then we'll have a rotation of…two weeks, which means most people will patrol twice a month. Just put everyone on different rounds so that our lovely prefects get to patrol with different people each time. Dumbledore will like that. That should do it, right?"
Again with that strange look on his face! "And you say you don't pay attention…"
She explained her logic. "Well, I don't. But I got stuck with that Gretchen Crabbe all last year and she spent the whole time sneering at me. Wasn't exactly pleasant, you know?"
"So this whole system is really for your own benefit."
She smiled approvingly at him. "Now you're getting it." There was hope for this boy after all. "We patrol as infrequently as possible, and I don't have to deal with Wretched Gretchen or someone equally awful all the time."
"I see. And…that's how you plan to do things?"
"Do what?"
"Well…run things."
"Uh, sure." She was slightly confused, but she shook it off with a long sip of her coffee, feeling the warmth trickle down her throat and into her stomach. "Do we have to go over anything else, then?" She was watching a couple on the far side of the park, curled up together on a bench similar to hers. They were in their early twenties and apparently very much in love. One look at their clothing and she decided that they were newlywed university students, here in the park on a Saturday morning to babysit a nephew. She imagined that they were picturing their own little family at the park someday, and loving the vision. Peoplewatching was a favorite pastime of hers.
Potter ran a finger down the list, frowning and mouthing words. "No, I guess that's it, really. We can meet on the train too, right? Isn't there a meeting?"
She yawned widely. "Is there?"
"Well, Remus always disappears for a couple hours during that ride, so…."
"Oh, yes. That meeting. Always terribly long and boring." Then a thought struck her and she brightened. "We could cancel it! Or make it really, really short."
"But then we wouldn't look very respectable, would we?"
"There's no hope for me, anyway." She stood, tossing her drained cup into the trash bin. "I have to go."
"Lunch date?" He blinked in the bright sunlight, looking up at her. "Bennington, isn't it?"
She nodded, feeling a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, though that was probably the remnants of the coffee doing its work on her.
"Me, too. Bridget and I are meeting up in a bit." He stretched and stood up, stuffing various bits of parchment into his pockets.
"Right." She lingered a moment, her mind wandering, before she realized that he was staring at her again with that indecipherable look on his face. "Well then, I'll see you later." With those last parting words, Lily Disapparated, excited for her date with Thomas.
ooo
Lily looked up into Thomas's bright blue eyes and smiled when he reached out and held one of her hands loosely in his. "Thanks a lot. I had a nice time." This was true, for the most part. Lily was rather good at telling little lies, the kind that never hurt anyone. This was that sort of lie. Thomas Bennington was a decent bloke, the kind Lily could have fun with. She thought that they were nothing serious. After all, in the course of one month they'd only gone on a few dates.
"Me, too." His smile was shy, gentle, almost. They stood on her front step (a perfect gentleman, he had insisted on walking her back to her house- she privately thought that perhaps he was bollocks at Apparating).
"So." She glanced down at her shoes, then back up at him. He was staring at her rather intently, too intently for her comfort.
"I'll owl you," he said.
She nodded her head and felt a flash of happiness when he quickly brushed his lips against hers. "'Bye." Lily smiled at him as he turned away. She stood on her step and watched him walk away from her, his strides long and easy. Then she opened her door and walked inside, mentally preparing herself to deal with her (usually) beloved family.
But what she found inside was nothing that she could have ever prepared herself for.
"Hello, out with Thomas, were you?"
"Lily, you didn't tell me that a friend was coming today."
"Yes, what is a freak doing here?"
This tumult of voices greeted Lily the moment she walked into her living room; she paused mid-stride, trying to understand what was happening.
Fiona was seated on the couch, happily grinning up at her friend, while Lily's mother leaned against the doorjamb, curious and ever so polite. Petunia, the source of that scornful third voice, was perched in a chair opposite everyone, fingers bone-white from clutching a magazine in front of her face. Presumably, she didn't want to even look at Fiona. Lily felt a flash of embarrassment that her family should be so strange and unnecessarily rude, but, luckily, Fiona didn't seem fazed in the slightest. After dropping her house keys into the tray at the entrance, she said, "Mum - I didn't know that Fiona was coming. Mum and Petunia, this is Fiona. Fiona, meet Mum and my sister. Fiona, kindly ignore my sister - I expect that she's nervous because her new boyfriend is picking her up soon and otherwise, really, you'd never have met her at all, seeing as she has difficulty associating with my sort of people." She took a deep breath. "Right. Fiona and I will be upstairs, then."
"It was nice to meet you," her mother called out, as Fiona stood up from the couch and followed Lily out of the room.
"Merlin," Fiona breathed out when they got to Lily's bedroom. "You haven't really brought anyone over, have you?"
Lily shook her head, feeling herself flush a little red. "This is why. I need advance warning so that Tuney won't be around. And Mum just likes to know so that she can cook accordingly - she'll want you to stay for dinner. What are you doing here anyway?"
"I was bored. And curious. And I realized that we hadn't seen each other for a bit and I'm terrible at writing letters, you know I am." Fiona collapsed onto Lily's bed, spread-eagled on the baby blue coverlet.
"Piffle. I know for a fact that Isabella and Emmeline are around. Izzy said she saw you a couple days ago." Lily sat down at her desk and picked up a stack of letters that she'd left behind this morning, rifling through them quickly. "And you told me that Logan was home this week. I thought you'd want to spend time with him."
Fiona groaned. "He's boring. This is his only break from Auror training in over a year and all he wants to do is sleep and eat." She rolled over, resting her chin on a pillow. "How was Thomas?"
"He's nice." Lily yawned. The heat of mid-afternoon always made her sleepy. "I mean, I felt bad, because I was practically late thanks to Potter but thank Merlin for Apparition, you know?"
"Whoa, slow down." Fiona pushed herself up and sat on the bed, regarding Lily intently. "What do you mean, Potter? You saw Potter?"
"Yeah, this morning. We had coffee."
"Two boys in one day?" Fiona let out a low whistle. "My love, you're such a social creature these days."
"What?" Lily stuffed the letters into her bag, resolving to look at them tomorrow…or the day after. "Erm, hang on…Fee! Saturday is the only day that I'm free - I'm working all the time now!"
"I don't get it. You don't exactly need the money." It was true - her father was a renowned professor at Queen Mary and Westfield College; there was talk that he would be appointed head of the department either this year or next. The Evans family had never lacked for money.
"I know. But Aunt Margot talked to Mum and they think that working will give me a real sense of proportion. I think I'm supposed to feel more grateful about my family and Hogwarts or something."
"That's a load of bollocks. I bet this mysterious Aunt Margot couldn't find anyone else that wanted to work for her."
"Yes, well, I like working with flowers." Lily swiveled around in the chair and faced her best friend. "So you've been at home, what, watching your big brother laze the summer days away?"
"Pretty much." Fiona jiggled her foot, saying, "But you're changing the subject on me. What happened with Potter? What could've possessed you to have coffee with Potter?"
"It was school stuff, to be honest. He's taking this job rather seriously."
"Potter? Serious? Bollocks!" Fiona repeated.
"No, really." Lily laughed. "If anything, I'm the slacker in this working partnership."
"Lily Evans!" Fiona cried, her stern attitude rather ruined by the small pillow that she threw at the redhead. "The day you let Potter show you up - "
"He cares more than I do." Lily picked up the pillow and hurled it back. "He wants to be Dumbledore's manslave. I have no intentions of following such orders."
"Ah, disobedient, are you?"
"Yes, but Dumbledore persists in recruiting me despite my resistance."
"It's perfect! You can be a spy!"
"I'm partaking in espionage, now? How so?"
"Think of all the potential blackmail on Potter and consequently the Marauders!" Now there was a wicked glint in Fiona's eye - Lily felt the vague stirrings of fright. When Fiona came up with plans…the last time she'd had one, Isabella had wound up in the hospital wing needing Skele-Gro for her entire leg, Emmeline had to replace her entire wardrobe because everything had burned, and Lily was stuck with electric green hair and a purplish tint to her skin for two weeks. Needless to say, these plans usually didn't work very well.
"I'm not sure this is a good idea…"
"Oh, c'mon - everybody loves the Marauders!" Fiona fell back onto the bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. "We could actually get some dirt on them! You would be…Mata Hari! You could be on the inside, have exclusive information that we could use mercilessly! We'd go down in Hogwarts history. Don't you want to be famous?"
"No, you want to be famous, love. Can't we just have a nice quiet year ahead of us? I thought the idea was to be single and happy, the four of us together."
"But we could have adventure! Fame! Fortune!"
"What shall we use this fame for?" Lily swiveled back and forth, smiling, idly running a hand through her hair. She caught a glimpse of the two of them in the mirror: two girls, of middling height, one tanned and blonde; the other pale and red-haired. But Lily thought they were still rather identical in a fashion, both young and happy, lazing around on a golden summer afternoon. Sunlight streamed through her sea-green curtains, lending Fiona a certain fuzzy shine around her hair.
"For finding boys, of course!"
"You're just a little too obsessed, you know that?"
"What?"
"Nobody's ever going to be extraordinary enough to live up to your tastes."
"Well, is Thomas extraordinary?"
"Erm…"
"I rest my case."
"I wasn't aware that we were in court."
"It's a metaphorical case, my love."
"Fee, I just don't know him well enough to judge yet - "
"Bollocks! I only dated Julian for a month and a half. How long have you known Thomas?"
"Does school count? Because then it's like 8 years, really. And you ought to stop using that word, it's getting repetitive. But I'm not as outrageously exacting as you are and -"
"What is he even doing with himself these days? You never said. Can I also point out that you two never spoke at school?"
"Will you stop interrupting me already? He's training as a Cursebreaker, but he also tried out for Reserve Chaser for Puddlemere."
"But he was a terrible Chaser! Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw all the time because of him."
"I don't really know. I'm not exactly good at Quidditch or anything."
"Lily, you should just get rid of him already. You know, I think I might have been responsible for breaking his arm in a match once. Anyway, if you don't know by the 3rd date - "
"We're not even doing anything, really! It's not official or anything. It's just a summer distraction, that's all. I'm not like you - not every bloke has to be one that could possibly carry my babies in a couple years."
"That's not what I'm looking for!"
"Liar!" Lily chucked a wadded paper ball (the remnants of James' letter reminding her about the meeting from the night before) at the other girl, hitting her in the arm. "You want what Frank and Alice have, admit it!"
"Don't you?" They both sighed, thinking of that golden couple from three years back. Frank Longbottom and Alice Prewett had come back to seventh year already engaged and glowing with happiness, already planning for the future and their potential children. They'd been the golden couple, the two people that everyone else envied. They'd been dating since fourth year - everyone expected them to stay together for the rest of their lives. While Lily wasn't much for forethought and planning, the thought of Frank and Alice made her (and everyone else's) heart ache with just a little twinge of longing.
"Okay, well a little bit," Lily admitted, thinking of Alice's happy smile.
"And Bennington isn't it."
"Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"
"M'love, not him, please." Fiona rolled off the bed and started to slowly pace around the room, staring at the walls that had been painstakingly decorated by a nine-year-old Lily.
"It's nothing serious, Fee, just let it go, will you?"
Fiona grunted, which Lily took to mean assent. Then the blonde said brightly, "You busy tonight?"
"Uh, not really." Lily was wary.
"Great! Let's go into the city - we don't have to go to Diagon, we can stick to Muggle London if you like. And McKinnon's throwing a party. And, Logan was telling me about some bar he really likes."
"But I've been out all day already -"
"Yes, but how often do you get to see me?" Fiona turned and batted her eyelashes coquettishly at Lily, who rolled her eyes.
"I see you every day for nine months of the year, you know."
"I meant the summer. C'mon, you don't even need to change," Fiona said. Lily looked down at what she was wearing - a white pleated skirt and a green camisole. Compared to Fee's short pink sundress, Lily looked a bit…boring. Normal? She wasn't sure what the right word was. "Li-leeeeeeeeeeeeee…"
"Ah. You're getting a bit desperate for company, are you?"
"Li-leeeeeeeeeeeee……you're killing me here."
"But what about dinner with my Mum?"
"You don't' really want to eat with your family, do you?"
"Erm, no, but -"
"Nope. No buts." Fiona grinned.
Lily sighed, mildly exasperated. "Oh, all right. Only because it's you."
"You're a wonderful person. Saving me from my misery -"
"Boredom?"
"- and all that."
"Pray tell, what have we been doing since you got here?"
"Been boring. You talk too much. About a boring bloke. It's twice as boring."
"Potter?"
"No, Bennington, of course!"
"Oh, all right. Let's go. We'll find you someone you deem more interesting, okay?"
"Yessss!!" Fiona grabbed Lily's arm and practically manhandled her out the door.
"Wait, let me grab my purse and - Fee! Gerroff!"
"Hurry up! You're worse than Isabella!"
"You have the patience of a tiny little yappy dog sometimes, you know that?"
"…That's a retarded insult. You should work on those."
"Mpf! Do you want me to come or not?"
"I apologize. Can we go now?"
"Just let me tell my mom that -"
"Mrs. Evans! Lily and I are going shopping!" There was silence from downstairs. Presumably, Lily's family had left while she and Fiona were talking. Oh well. "I'll take that as consent from her. She really is a lovely woman, by the way."
"You talked to my -"
"Mother? Of course! Parents love me!" Fiona flashed her a shiny white grin. "Can we go can we gocanwego now?
"Yes, you impatient idiot." With that, Lily let Fiona do a Side-Along Apparition number on her, putting her life into her best friend's (hopefully capable) hands. With a bit of luck, perhaps Fiona would finally find a bloke and then she would stop pestering Lily about Thomas. Because Lily would never admit it, but Fiona's opinion truly mattered to her, and her dislike of Thomas was beginning to rub off on her.
ooo
August 24, 1977
Lily liked mornings. She was what people usually (and often with more than a dash of irritation) called a "morning person." She was more alert, happier, and better at focusing.
However, today, on this particular Sunday morning, she was emphatically not anything of the sort. In fact, if queried today, she would have been one of those irritated people who were not morning people. Lily stumbled off her bike and into the back of Aunt Margot's shop, wincing at the bright sunlight that filtered through the greenhouse glass. She'd biked because she didn't want to risk splinching in the face of fatigue and a mild hangover.
"Lily dear, I called you this morning to see if you could come in early," Aunt Margot said without even looking up from the plant that she was working with. Lily rather thought that Professor Hawking would have liked her.
"Sorry," Lily mumbled, before heading to her corner of the shop. A stack of orders that needed to be recorded and filed awaited her. "I guess that Mum didn't pass on the message." There really hadn't been time, though - Lily had overslept, and if her father hadn't come in with a question she'd never have woken up at all. Then again, Lily thought, Mum had never really liked Margot. Margot was Lily's father's older sister, and the siblings had always been close. Privately, Lily thought that they looked very much alike, with their sandy hair, wide-set brown eyes, and a thin blade of a nose.
"Actually, Petunia was the one who picked up the phone," Margot commented absently.
"Oh. That explains it." Lily opened a thick notebook and started in on the number-crunching, squinting at the words. Harriet Jones - 2 Sunrise Bouquets for August 27th. Richard Ellison - 3 Romance Bouquets for August 26th…
They'd been working in silence and the occasional mumbling before Lily was startled by the sound of her aunt's voice. "So you'll be starting school soon, hmm?" Margot said, her hands moving quickly as she put together a complicated bouquet. She had tried to teach Lily the art of flower-arranging, but Lily had only managed a couple of simple arrangements so far.
"Yeah."
"It's your last year, your dad was telling me. Any thoughts about your future?"
Lily generally hated this question. Because she hadn't really had an answer before. But it was a lazy Sunday morning and Lily liked the peace that came with working in a closed shop, so she said vaguely, "One of my teachers is suggesting that I go into this field. It's kind of complicated, but it involves creating spells." At first, Lily's parents had tried to hide their daughter's magic from the rest of the family, fearing that everyone else would react the way that their elder daughter had. But then Margot had burst into Lily's room to surprise her for her thirteenth birthday, finding Lily grappling with a textbook for Care of Magical Creatures that was attempting to bite her head off. Yeah. That pretty much clinched Margot's suspicion that her niece was something strange. Lily and her parents had been forced to come clean, but Margot had actually taken it rather well, even if she was initially wary.
"Oh?" Margot said, looking up at her niece for the first time. "This teacher…they think you'd be good at this…spell creating?"
"Well, I guess so." Lily bent over her work, frowning at the order forms. Had the writing always been so cramped? It always seemed to her that George's handwriting was needlessly messy. "She gave me books to read and stuff."
"And have you been reading them?" Margot knew Lily too well.
"Erm…a bit, actually. They're surprisingly interesting," Lily found herself saying. It was true - she had started skimming through the first one on McGonagall's list but something had actually caught her eye. The concept of weaving spells and to get them to draw from the strength of objects you imbued…not everything was about sheer power - sometimes you could work your way around your limitations.
"So do you think you'll do what your teacher suggests?" Aunt Margot asked, finishing the bow on the arrangement and starting another.
"I honestly have no idea," Lily said, putting the last order form away and closing the book. It was time to start in on the plants that she'd been carefully cultivating. Aunt Margot grew all of her flowers herself, in the back of the shop and at her house - to be entrusted with a couple of pots was an honor, Lily knew. "I mean, things are…complicated, in the world that I'm living in. I'm sure Dad has mentioned something to you."
"Oh. Yes, well he did mention some...political tension?" Margot's eyebrows came together in a confused frown.
Lily paused before shrugging. "Something like that." She didn't really want to get into all the finer points - she'd been reading the Daily Prophet a lot recently, and she didn't like what she was reading.
"I see." Lily knew her aunt didn't. But what was the point of explaining? She glanced at the clock - her shift was almost up. When she finished, she decided, she'd go home and take a nap.
Eventually, Fiona had found a bloke (a tallish, vaguely attractive boy that was surely several years older than her), but it had been near midnight before this had actually occurred. In the meantime, the two girls had ordered wine and a light supper at a nice hole-in-the-wall restaurant and proceeded to simultaneously shop and wander Diagon and the Muggle area thereof before they went to a party that Marlene McKinnon had put together. Lily always enjoyed these excursions - at school, the four of them were always together, making it difficult to talk properly about anything that truly mattered. But in the summers, she got the chance to write and see everyone on an individual basis.
"Lily?" She looked up from her musings to find Margot standing in front of her, one hand on a hip, the other wrapped around a potted plant. "You're done for the day. Is Thomas coming to pick you up?" For the last couple weeks, Thomas had thoughtfully come and walked her home, or taken her out to lunch.
"Not today - I saw him yesterday." She started to gather her things and clean up her workspace. It was one o'clock - on Sundays, Lily, her aunt, and her aunt's assistant George worked in the shop taking care of things from the week before and preparing for the next. Everyone finished at one and went home.
"Oh. Well." Her aunt moved to set the plant down and straightened, wiping her hands on her faded jeans. "Shall we have lunch, then, you and I?" She turned her head and waved at George, who smiled agreeably and sauntered out of the shop, grabbing his coat on the way.
Lily thought for a second, then shrugged. "Sure." She could postpone her nap - it would be nice to eat with Aunt Margot. She hadn't actually done it for awhile - with this newfound power of Apparition, she'd been shamelessly using it to get around. Petunia had snidely hinted that Lily was carrying around a couple extra pounds, but then again, her older sister spent a lot of time hinting things.
"Lovely." Margot slipped on a jacket and cast her eye around the shop, taking inventory and calculating what she needed to do the next day. "Let's go, then."
Lily nodded agreeably, following her aunt out the door. Yes, lunch would be nice. Not seeing Thomas today would also be a nice thing, something in the back of her mind thought.
ooo
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it - let me know in a review?
-->