There is an unspoken rule among wizards and Muggles alike that a person's birthday ought to be one of the happiest days of the year. Although it came at the end of what had been a rather hellish month, Lily Evans' eighteenth birthday was turning out to be a very good day. It began at seven thirty that morning with Marlene and Mary jumping into her bed, bouncing excitedly, and yelling, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" at the top of their lungs until she woke up. Once they saw that Lily had opened her eyes and sat up, each girl produced a brightly wrapped package from behind her back and set it on Lily's lap.
"You have to open them before we go to breakfast," Marlene informed her.
"My, my. They must be exceptionally exciting presents this year, if you're so anxious for me to open them," Lily commented, reaching with tantalizingly slow movements for the square, blue-papered package currently resting on her right knee.
"We can always keep them for ourselves if you don't want him," Mary threatened, the good-natured smile on her lips signaling the fact that she was only teasing.
Since Lily was actually quite eager to see what was inside the presents on her lap, her response to Mary's suggestion was to turn over the package in her hands and pull back the wrapping paper at its seam, revealing a plain white box. She turned it over, lifted the lid and peered inside. There, nestled in baby blue tissue paper, was an ornately-wrought silver hairbrush.
"Ohhh," Lily murmured as she lifted the hairbrush gently from the box.
"That one's from me," Mary explained. "It's charmed so that you can style your hair with it however you want. All you have to do is tap the handle with your wand first and tell it what you want it to do."
To Lily, who had spent the past six and a half years complaining that her naturally-wavy hair was simply unmanageable, this was a perfect gift. Straight hair was all the rage these days, and until now she had been forced to spend an extra half hour in the bathroom on the days she wanted to wear her hair straight. With this brush, though... Grinning, she set it back in the box and leaned forward to envelop its giver in a warm hug.
"Thanks, Mary! It's perfect. I can't wait to try it out," she said.
"You're welcome," the brunette responded, giving Lily a friendly squeeze in return.
Setting the hairbrush and box aside, Lily turned to Marlene's gift. This one was wrapped in dark pink paper which, as it turned out, was indicative of the present inside.
"Raspberrysugar quills?" Lily exclaimed, lifting the package out of the box. "I didn't know they made them!"
"They're a new flavor," said Marlene. "Just came out last month. And supposedly they've started charming them to look even more like a real quill now, so you really can eat them in class."
But Lily hardly heard this news, as she had just pulled out a second package from her box.
"Andraspberry chocoballs? I am going to have afeasttoday," she said, tearing eagerly into the package and popping one of the chocolate globes into her mouth. Although she hadn't eaten a proper breakfast yet, she could not resist the allure of her favorite candy in the entire world. After chewing and swallowing her pre-breakfast treat, she reached forward to hug Marlene tightly and thank her as well.
Less than an hour later, after Lily had had a chance to shower and magically brush her hair straight, the three girls arrived in the Great Hall where the birthday festivities continued. As she walked down the aisle by the Gryffindor table, several students wished her a happy birthday. From the Head table, she saw Hagrid wink at her and raise his giant goblet of pumpkin juice in a toast. When the morning mail arrived, a school owl swooped down in front of her and dropped three packages beside her plate, which Mary and Marlene urged her to open. The first was from her parents, who had bought her a cashmere sweater in a beautiful shade of dark purple. The second was from her grandparents, and its contents elicited a squeal from all three girls. Grandma and Grandpa Sullivan, her maternal grandparents, had sent her a set of pearl earrings and a matching necklace, with a note explaining that every woman ought to have a set of pearls and, now that she was an adult, they wanted to give her her first set.
"But oughtn't they have given it to you last year?" Marlene asked, looking up from the note in confusion.
Lily shook her head and explained, "Muggles don't come of age until eighteen."
"Oh," the blonde shrugged, "Well, go ahead! Put them on!"
"Don't you think they're kind of.. fancy for my school uniform?" Lily asked.
"At least wear the earrings," Mary suggested. "Besides, you've a reason to dress up today. It's your birthday."
"Very true," Lily conceded, smiling at them both. Carefully, she took the pearl studs from the jewelry case and put them on. "How do they look?"
"Just lovely," Mary responded, smiling warmly at her.
"You've got one present left," Marlene reminded her, pushing the last little box forward.
Lily obliged her curious friends by picking up the box and peeling back the wrapping paper, commenting, "I wonder who this one's from." When she opened the box, she received her answer. Inside was a very tiny bottle of perfume and a frilly, pink and white card informing her that she was invited to attend the marriage of Petunia Evans and Vernon Dursley on Sunday, April 2.
"But.. Petunia never sends me a present," Lily protested, staring in confusion at the card in her hand.
"I'm not sure you ought to consider this a present," said Marlene, who had given the perfume an experimental sniff. "This smells like old cat lady. And it's tiny."
"Oh, well.. I already have my own scent anyway," Lily said, still staring down at the wedding invitation she'd received. "I just... I didn't think she was going to invite me to her wedding."
"Are you going to go?" asked Mary. The girls were well aware of the strained relationship between Lily and her sister. When Mary had visited over the holidays immediately following their fifth year, Petunia Evans had incited a fight that had left nearly everyone in tears, Mary included.
"Yes. Idowant to, even though-... and I'll be home for the Easter Holiday anyway," Lily answered, a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"You should go.Andyou should bring a date," Marlene said, nodding her head in the direction of a black-haired, bespectacled boy who was sitting a few meters down the table.
Lily's expression clouded at the inadvertent mentioning of James. There was a short pause, and then she said quietly, "That's.. not going so well."
Mary swallowed the sip of breakfast tea in her mouth and queried, "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Lily explained, "that I'm not sure he fancies me anymore. He doesn't flirt with me anymore. Sometimes I can barely get him to pay me any attention at all. Plus he's been hanging out with Leslie Olcott a lot, and youknowshe has designs on him."
At the mention of the Hufflepuff girl, Marlene wrinkled her nose and interrupted, "Come on, Lil. You really think you need to be worried about Olcott? She's all boobs and no brains. You're way prettier and smarter and nicer than she is."
Despite the glum despondency she felt, Lily couldn't keep from smiling at her best friend's biased assessment.
"Thanks, Lena. But maybe James doesn't feel that way. I mean... they both are obsessed with Quidditch. Maybe they're better suited for one another," she said.
"But she'sboring," Marlene protested. "All she does is blab on and on."
"And supposedly boys hate that," Mary added.
"Exactly!" said Marlene. "Besides, they aren't dating, are they?"
"Well no, but-" Lily began.
Mary shook her head and interrupted, "Our Lily doesn't give up this easily. Men are slow, remember? It might have taken him this long to realize you've been flirting." She hesitated a moment, and then continued slowly. "And it might take him a bit to warm up to you... It may be that dear James can't actually believe his luck."
"I suppose...," Lily said, her expression displaying how much she doubted the veracity of this statement.
"At any rate," Mary continued, hoping her friend had gotten the message, "We'd better start off for Defense Against the Dark Arts, or we're likely to be late."
At the mention of class, Lily checked the watch on her wristband, gave a tiny squeak of dismay and jumped to her feet. Thanks to a bit of speed walking, the girls managed to arrive in their classroom with fifty seconds to spare. They had just taken their usual seats, when the bell rang and Professor Killeborne stood up to address the class.
"I hope you all completed the reading assignment from your text," he said, "Because today we will be putting that theory into practice. For the next week, we will be focusing on the Patronus Charm, specifically on the production of a corporeal patronus. Can anyone tell me what a patronus is?" He paused and scanned the class for a raised hand. "Yes, Mr. Lupin?"
"It's a protective charm that defends its caster from Dementors and Lethifolds," Remus said. "It can also be used to relay messages from one wizard to another."
"Very good. Five points to Gryffindor," said Killeborne. "A Patronus is a wizard's only defense against such powerful dark creatures as Lethifolds and Dementors, which means that it is a particularly difficult spell to master. Most wizards are only capable of producing a Patronus in its shield form. As N.E.W.T. students, however, I am confident that all of you will be able, with practice, to cast a corporeal Patronus, which is..?"
This time, Lily raised her hand and answered, "A Patronus that has taken bodily form, usually that of an animal, bird or other creature. Each wizard has a particular shape that his Patronus will take."
"Exactly. Another five points to Gryffindor. Now the spell to cast this charm is 'Expecto Patronum.'-" Here he paused to turn to the blackboard behind him and write out the words. "Repeat after me please." Once he was satisfied that his class had mastered the pronunciation, he continued with his lecture. "It is important to remember that saying the words is not enough. While you pronounce the spell, you must have fixed in your mind your happiest memory. The stronger the memory, the better. It is from this memory that you will conjure your Patronus. So! If you will all stand and take out your wands, the best way to learn the Patronus Charm is loads and loads of practice. Remember the incantation: 'Expecto Patronum,' and don't forget to concentrate on your happiest memory as you cast it."
One by one the students rose to their feet. There was a few moments of silence in the room as each one searched his mind for a suitable memory, then the classroom was filled with the swishing of wands and murmured incantations. Lily was silent several minutes longer than most of her classmates, as she was having trouble deciding upon a memory. Eventually, she decided to concentrate on her first ballet recital and the joy she had felt as she twirled across the stage in time with the music. Lifting her wand, she said, "Expecto Patronum!" and watched as a silvery cloud erupted from the end of it. Frowning, Lily glanced around the room and noted that most of her classmates were having similar trouble. She closed her eyes again, concentrated on her memory, and tried once more, with the same result.
After half an hour of watching his students' attempts, Professor Killeborne cleared his throat to regain their attention. "It may take you several tries to find the best memory. If the one you've chosen now is not working for you, then find a stronger, better one. And, once again, I cannot stress enough the importance of concentrating on the memory you've chosen. You need to really feel the joy behind it as you cast the charm."
A happier memory? Lily bit her lip and leaned against the side of her desk as she scanned her thoughts for an even happier moment in her life. Hard as she tried to think of something else, her mind kept returning to that morning last November when she and James had explored the snowy grounds together. Given the current state of confusion and longing that was her feelings for James, she had been trying to avoid using him as her memory, but it seemed her subconscious had other plans. Maybe that memory would work. After all, that had been the most fun she'd had all year and possibly in the past several years.
Lifting her wand hand, she stood upright and closed her eyes, recalling to mind the delighted laughter she and James had shared as they'd hurled snowballs at one another. "Expecto Patronum!" she said and opened her eyes as she felt her wand vibrate powerfully in her hand. Lily watched in surprise as a silvery shape blossomed out of the end of her wand, dropped delicately to the ground in front of her and began to canter around in circles. She was so shocked that she had managed to conjure a real Patronus that it took her a few seconds to recognize the form it had taken. Smiling, she reached out a hand to stroke the muzzle of the silver doe that was now bowing its head in front of her, but before she could touch it, the doe had vanished.
"Wow, Lily, you did it!" Mary congratulated her. "Maybe you can help me with mine?"
"Sure," Lily said, and turned to face her friend, but her attention was caught by another flash of silver light a few meters behind them. She glanced back in time to see a silvery shape burst forth from James' wand, while Sirius, Remus and Peter looked on in admiration. Lily couldn't help but smile in pride that he had managed the spell as easily as she had. Her smile only widened when she realized what form his Patronus had taken. It was a deer, just as hers had been, but a deer with an impressive set of antlers upon his head: a stag. Her heart gave a funny little flutter at the thought that their Patronuses were perfectly matched. Maybe Marlene and Mary were right and she oughtn't give up on James after all. It wasn't exactly a sign, per say, but at this point, Lily would take any encouragement that she could get.
After dinner that evening, James had approached her in the common room with a parcel in one hand. Lily was reading and almost entirely immersed in the book she held, but looked up as she sensed a presence beside her.
"Hullo, Lily," James said, a twitchy sort of smile on his face. Lily looked up at him and beamed.
"Evening, James," she said brightly. She scooted over on the sofa upon which she reclined to make room for him, but he remained standing, shifting his weight from foot to foot and looking adorably awkward and uncertain.
He cleared his throat, and Lily thought for a moment she could detect a flush creeping into his cheeks. She wanted to leap up and throw her arms around him. But James rubbed the back of his head nervously, a crooked smile spreading across his lips.
"So," he said, glancing around. "Er... Happy birthday." He held out the parcel. It was large and square, but thin and rigid. Lily reached out and took it.
"Ooh, thanks, James," she said, surveying the paper. It appeared to be wrapped in old parchment, and when she tore into it, she found that it was indeed one of Peter Pettigrew's essays for Care of Magical Creatures. The grade had been blotted out with ink, but Lily through for a moment she saw a "P" or an "A". She hoped it was the latter, but continued to unwrap her present while James remained standing, watching her with something like hope in his eyes. Something had changed between the two of them. Again.
James had been entirely certain that he had received his final answer from Lily on that first snowy day of the year. Over the Christmas holidays and all the insanity therein, he had decided the time had come for him to move on and simply let Lily alone. His friends had supported him in this thought, as they had all watched James' persistence be met with indifference bordering on hostility for the past few years. Sirius had been the most vocal about his opinion that James ought to admit defeat and move on, because there were all sorts of girls at Hogwarts who would gladly go out with the Quidditch captain. Sirius had dated most of them, sure, but that was beside the point. It wasn't until Remus had weighed in on New Year's Eve, as the boys sat around James' bedroom in his newly-darkened house drinking Firewhisky and playing Exploding Snap (a less than ideal combination), that James had reluctantly admitted that perhaps things with Lily had gotten as far as they were going to go, that he ought to move on and try dating another girl.
Thus had begun James' newly-formed resolution to find someone else. And yet, he couldn't. When he arrived back at Hogwarts, it seemed as though the Hogwarts student body was made of nothingbutgirls. And, to make matters worse, Lily had become the most flirtatious sort offriendJames had ever met. But her words still rang in his ears. He knew she didn't want to be with him. And his mates were right. He would achieve nothing by entertaining the notion that perhaps she had changed her mind. She simply didn't want to lose him as a friend. No, the sooner he let himself rebound from their.. whatever-they-were.. the better. But he couldn't have neglected her birthday. And so, despite Sirius' and Remus' disapproval, he had bought her a vinyl record. This she finished unwrapping now, and James watched her expression carefully.
"Ooh, James!" she cried triumphantly. The brightly colored cover of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" beamed up at her. She traced her fingers over the faces of the Muggle musicians whom she so much admired. "Thanks so much!"
"I didn't know which ones you had or hadn't got," James said almost apologetically. Lily shook her head emphatically.
"This is wonderful!" she said, hopping to her feet and throwing her arms around him. "Thank you!"
If ever there was a time when James wanted to throw caution to the wind and kiss a girl without any indication of consent, it was at this precise moment. But he settled for returning the embrace, albeit gingerly, and extricated himself as soon as he felt her release him. His body felt electrified, and he was quite sure his neck was bright red.
"Er..." he said, finding suddenly that he couldn't think of any words to say. He was usually so charming, so urbane! What was it about this stupid girl that had turned him into such a dunce?
"Happy Christmas," he blurted, then beat a hasty retreat upstairs to his room. The ghost of her form felt pressed against his body, and he was quite sure he could still smell her hair.Merlin,he thought, the sooner I leave Hogwarts, the better.He had been lying on his bed for a good few moments, replaying their interaction in his head when he sat bolt upright, shouting a swearword that had Peter start and shriek from where he was sitting and playing wizard's chess with Sirius.
"Oh, no," he groaned, flopping back onto his mattress and tugging his pillow over his head.
Lily watched James' retreating form with a fond smile on her face. She was too excited by the fact that he had actually hugged her back to notice he had referred to the wrong holiday. A dreamy little sigh escaped her as she hugged her new album to her chest and tried to fix the feeling of James' arms around her permanently into her memory. Returning to her sofa, she picked up her book and resumed reading it. Or at least pretending to read it. In reality, she was too busy replaying the last five minutes in her head. James had never given her a birthday present before! He'd never actually embraced her either. And tonight, she'd gotten both. It was, truly, the best birthday present she could have asked for. After a few minutes more of fruitlessly trying to concentrate on her novel, Lily closed it and hurried upstairs to find Marlene and Mary, her spirits feeling lighter than they had in weeks.
Despite the hope that had inspired her on her birthday, the next week passed with no encouragement. Lily's flirtation with James remained decidedly one-sided. The amount of time he spent with Leslie Olcott had grown considerably. Or at least what Lily thought was considerable. In reality he only spoke to her a couple of times a day when they passed one another in the hallway, and Leslie had eaten dinner once with the Marauders. Neither of these situations could be called romantic, but they still made Lily quite anxious. The first Hogsmeade weekend of the term was fast approaching. It was this Saturday, in fact, a date that Lily had chosen on purpose. For this Saturday was February 11, which meant the Hogsmeade weekend could reasonably be called a "Valentine's Hogsmeade Visit." And Lily was particularly keen on going with James. She had been dropping hints as often as she possibly could for an entire week, but with no success. She was beginning to grow desperate.
So desperate, in fact, that she had decided to try a rather unconventional tactic, but one that she privately considered to be taking a leaf out of Leslie Olcott's book. If her blonde rival could make a regular habit of wearing her shirt unbuttoned rather more than necessary, then surely there was nothing wrong with Lily showing a little skin to a Prefects meeting? Maybe if she flashed him a bit ofhercleavage, the Head Boy would finally understand the message she'd been trying to send him for the past month.
And so, with this goal in mind, Lily donned a skirt that hadn't really been long enough for her since fourth year and unbuttoned the top four (as opposed to the top two) buttons on her uniform shirt, then made her way down to the Prefects' meeting room. As she expected, she was the first one there, and she perched herself rather uncomfortably on an armchair, hoping that James would be the first to arrive to the meeting.
Two minutes later, she got her wish. James rushed through the door, appearing slightly winded. He had been up in the boys' dormitory deep in discussion with Sirius and had only remembered the meeting when Sirius had made a comment about him being late. In order to avoid tardiness, he had run as fast as could through the castle halls, taking every short cut he could remember, and consequently managed to arrive a few minutes before the meeting was set to begin.
"Sorry I'm nearly late, I-" he blurted out, then stopped mid-sentence as he caught sight of Lily's outfit. For a full two seconds, he stared in silence as his mind tried to wrap itself around the fact that he was currently alone in a room with a very scantily-clad Lily Evans. "I got.. held up," he finally managed to finish his sentence. Blinking and shaking his head, he took a seat in his usual armchair and tried his best to control his thoughts. Surely he was imagining things. He had never, ever seen so much of Lily Evans' legs. They seemed to sing a siren's call to him. He could hardly tear his eyes away, and yet he knew he must.
Lily had been watching him closely from the moment he arrived. His blinking, staring, stuttering reaction had not gone unnoticed; it was exactly the kind she had wanted. Now if only all of the Prefects would be late today... Smiling innocently, she waited until she knew he was watching and crossed her legs, knowing full well that this would cause her skirt to fall several centimeters higher on her thighs.
"That's all right," she said. "No one else is here yet anyway."
"Good," James responded without thinking, and immediately cursed himself for having said it. What more could he want? If what Sirius had told him following the Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw match was true, then Lily had definitely been flirting with him. He had scarcely dared to believe it at the time, but what else could she have been playing at? The Lily Evans he knew was not in the slightest bit faint of heart, particularly over something like Quidditch. Grabbing his arm and hiding herself in his chest was clearly flirting. But what if he had misinterpreted things? What if she was just trying to be friends?
Leaning towards him over the arm of her own chair, Lily asked sweetly, "Is there anything we need to go over before the meeting starts?"
He cleared his throat, feeling his neck beginning to flush, and reached into his messenger bag to pull out a stack of papers.
"So.. er..," he began, looking determinedly down at the papers in his hand. "Professor Dumbledore mentioned that he, er.. that he-" And James promptly forgot what he had been about to say because he had made the mistake of looking up and had just discovered that he could see straight down Lily's shirt and oh dear sweet Merlin, was thatblack laceshe was wearing?
"Mentioned that he...?" Lily prompted, trying desperately to hide a smirk.
Forcing himself to listen to his better nature, James squeezed his eyes shut and ran both his hands through his hair.
"I think you missed a button or two," he informed her and crossed one leg over the other in attempt to hide his burgeoning reaction to the highly tempting amount of creamy white skin that was currently on display before him.
Lily blinked, utterly taken aback, as she had been hoping his reaction would be to grab her, snog her silly and beg her to be his girlfriend one more time.
"I... er... ," she stuttered, then looked down and pretended to be surprised to find that her breasts were being flaunted in his face. "Oh. Sorry." Feeling her cheeks beginning to flush, she fumbled to fasten another button on her shirt.
James peeped nervously at her, now regretting that he had said anything.
"You're not in trouble, or anything," he assured her, "Just looking out for your virtue and all that."
"Why James!" Lily exclaimed, leaning forward again with a naughty smirk twitching on her lips. "Are you suggesting you might be a danger to my virtue?" Oh how dearly she wished he would be...
He laughed nervously, thinking this was a totally unfair trick-question-setup-thing, and answered, "Of course not, Lily."
Although this was not exactly the response she had been expecting, she decided to press her advantage further.
"So Dumbledore said..," she prompted him. Leaning towards him again, until her face was merely centimeters from his, she plucked the stack of papers from his hands so she could read them.
"Uh-bluh-wha?" James stuttered, reduced to a mumbly mess by the tantalizing proximity of her lips to his.
"You said you met with him earlier today," Lily responded. Her skirt slid another few centimeters up her thigh as she leaned back in her chair and recrossed her legs.
James stared down at his hands, wondering where all his papers had gone.
"I'm sorry. What were we saying?" he asked, utterly confused. His brain seemed capable of focusing on nothing but the alluring, cream-skinned girl sitting next to him. What on earth had possessed her to dress like that today? Didn't she know what showing all that glorious leg did to a bloke?
"You were about to tell me what Dumbledore said," she explained helpfully.
"Dumbled-? Oh, yes, right," James said, blinking again and tearing his eyes away from her legs as he tried to distract himself from the fact that her skirt had ridden so high that he could almost see the entire curve of her utterly perfect arse. He glanced down at his empty hands and then back up at Lily, focusing his gaze determinedly on her face. "Have you seen my papers?"
"These ones?" she asked, holding up the stack in her hands.
"Yes. When did you get those?" he asked, having been far too distracted by the discovery that her knickers matched her lacy black bra to notice her taking the papers from his hands.
Lily's response was a decidedly feline smirk.
"You seem awfully distracted tonight, James," she commented. "Something on your mind?"
A beat of silence hung tangibly in the air.
"The Caerphilly Catapults are playing this weekend and could totally clinch the title if they win by a margin of three hundred points," he blurted out quickly, staring in a panicked fashion at her clothing.
She was silent a moment, unsure what to make of this information. Then she laughed and said, "Well..... in that case, go Catapults!" There was another awkward pause, and then Lily took pity on James' predicament and shifted her position so that her skirt covered a more reasonable portion of her legs. James relaxed visibly, realizing that he had been trying not to breathe too deeply.
"Anyway. About Dumbledore," she said. "I'm going to guess he told you also that we're set to have a Hogsmeade visit this Saturday? I made a notice for the Prefects to post in each of their common rooms." Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a stack of little heart-shaped flyers that she had brought with her and offered them to him for his perusal.
"Yeah. Yeah the Hogsmeade weekend," James said, "That was it. Sorry. I er..." He decided to let the sentence hang rather than attempt to vocalize exactly where his thoughts had gone.
Lily, who felt herself much nearer to attaining her goal than she ever had been before, pressed on: "Madame Puddifoot will be happy, I'm sure. She'll do great business with all those couples out on Valentine's dates." She watched James carefully as she spoke, hoping he would take the bait.
"Sirius said something about that place," James commented, wrinkling his nose slightly at the mention of it. "Apparently there's confetti that rains down on you? Seems a bit silly to me."
"Oh yeah. I'd heard she does that on Valentine's," Lily said. Then, seizing her opportunity, she asked, "So if confetti's not your style, where're you going to be taking your Valentine's date?"
James snorted in response.
"Valentine's date? Me and my mates are going to the Three Broomsticks to listen to the match on Rosmerta's wireless," he said. All four of the boys considered Valentine's Day to be an over-commercialized waste of time; even if there hadn't been on a match on, they would have found better things to do that most certainly did not involve Madame Puddifoot's.
Lily looked quite crestfallen at his response to her question, but she recovered herself quickly and asked, "Oh. There wasn't anybody you fancied taking out then?"
There was a moment of silence, as James experienced a brief internal struggle between his promise to himself to give up on his fruitless quest for Lily's heart and his burning desire (made all the more potent by her flirtatious behavior today) to throw caution to the wind and ask her out again. In the end, he decided to just change the topic.
"The Prefects are going to be here in less than five minutes," he said, "Did we have anything else to go over?"
"Er.. no," she answered and pretended to fumble for something in her school bag to cover the fact that her eyes were suddenly prickling with tears. Suddenly, she could not wait for the meeting to be over and she was rueing her decision to dress a la Leslie. All she'd managed to do was make a fool of herself. If James still wouldn't ask her out after she'd all but thrown herself at him, then he was clearly not interested anymore. At least, she reminded herself as the first of the Prefects began to trickle in, she could take comfort in the knowledge that, if he wasn't going to take her out for Valentine's Day, he at least wasn't going with anyone else, Leslie Olcott included.
Two hours later, James was pacing in the boys' dormitory. His mates, no strangers to James' rants about the redheaded girl, were being subjected to an entirely new brand of James' frustration. the Quidditch captain's hair was standing comically on end, so many times had he run his hands through it in agitation.
"And she was sitting there, her shirt half undone, and practically had her legs wide open!" He swore. "I don't know what thehellkind of tease this is, but it's absolute rubbish."
Remus, sitting cross-legged on his trunk, pursed his lips thoughtfully.
"Surely it was accidental," he offered. "I mean, you did tell her her shirt was open and everything, right?"
"Of course I did," James snapped. "But that doesn't make her skirt any longer. It was like she just wants to flaunt herself or something. It was embarrassing as hell, cos no bloke what isn't a total shirt-lifter can look atthatmuch leg or seethat fardown a girl's shirt and not react! Here we were, about to start a Prefect's meeting, and she's acting like one of those birds in Sirius' girlie magazines!"
Sirius, who had been listening to this diatribe with about half an ear, looked up. "Oi," he said in attempt at humor, "that's my private collection of tasteful nude art." Peter snickered.
James ignored them both.
"I don't get it, I really don't," he said, sitting down heavily on his bed. "She said 'no'. I get it. We're not going to go out. It's whatever. But I don't understand what she's hoping to achieve by acting like a complete tart. Rubbing it in my face that I won't ever have her? Ugh. What a cow."
"James," said Remus gently. "Perhaps what you need is what Sirius has been suggesting. Go out with another girl, and put Lily out of your mind." Remus was just as puzzled as James, though perhaps not as flustered. He knew Lily- or, at least, he thought he did- and she was not the sort to dress in an inappropriate manner for attention. Something had to be going on, but he was not entirely sure it would benefit anyone for him to get involved.
"It's what I've been telling you for months, Prongs," Sirius said lightly, flipping a page in his copy ofWhich Broomstick?.
"Yeah," said Peter. "What about Leslie Olcott? I heard her talking to one of her friends about you."
James caught sight of himself in the mirror, and immediately attempted to smooth his wild hair.
"You lads are probably right," he said resignedly. He took a deep breath, thinking. Perhaps hanging around Leslie Olcott would not be so bad. After all, she did know a lot about Quidditch. And shewaspretty, with all her blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
Sirius looked up at him from his magazine. "And she's got nice breasts," he supplied, as if reading his best mate's thoughts.
James chucked a pillow at Sirius with perhaps a little more vigor than was necessary. Sirius grinned, and James stalked off to the showers to try and clear his head. Once they were sure he was gone, Remus and Sirius turned to each other.
"What the hell is going on?" Sirius exclaimed. "I told you about the Quidditch match, didn't I?"
Remus nodded. "But I can't, for the life of me, figure out what she's playing at. Unless she's changed her mind, or something."
"It doesn't work that way!" chimed in Peter. "She's told him off loads of times, and he's been fine. But that last time he asked her out- you saw him. He looked destroyed. "
"But what canwedo about it?" asked Sirius. "I've half a mind to track down Evans and hex her. She's played James enough. He's had enough, what with Mum Potter dying over the hols, and everything. The last thing he needs is her mucking up his life. Especially when he can do better, you know?"
"Though Prongs is insisting he's over her," Remus said sternly, "I don't think he'd take kindly to the idea of you hexing the girl, broken heart or not."
Sirius shrugged. "But still!" he said, petulantly. "She was practically throwing herself at him at the Quidditch match, and apparently at the Prefect's meeting. She had plenty of time to change her mind, and she didn't. She needs to know when a ship has sailed."
Peter disappeared under his bed and emerged with a packet of chocolate frogs. He tossed one to each of his friends and another on James' bed.
"The sooner we graduate, the better," he sighed.