Lily Evans ♡

“Can prove to you once and for all the quidditch skills that I do possess.” James said smugly. Though his face stayed smug, he couldn’t help but cringe inwardly at her comment: fifth year had not been his brightest moments. Shaking the feeling off, James took a step closer to the kitten, she might appreciate being in the air for a shorter amount of time. He focused on the small kitten, ready for Lily.

“Mm, I suppose that’s the sort of the thing I’d actually have to see to believe.” Lily quipped, though—despite her teasing—she knew for a fact James was extremely skilled at the sport. He was a pain in the arse at times and could be cocky about it, but she couldn’t deny his talent. Once James had readied himself, she raised her wand and spoke the incantation, and a second later Agatha was in the air and floating towards James. She looked rather disgruntled to have been caught, and Lily felt almost guilty for spoiling her fun. Almost. Once James had plucked her out of the air, Lily tucked her wand behind her ear and made her way over. “Don’t give me that face, it serves you right,” she told the kitten and reached out to take her from James, “You’re grounded.” She held her to her chest and looked back up at James, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “And thanks… I suppose there might be some hope for Gryffindor this season.”

Remus was able to keep his attention focused on Lily as they walked.  With all the map preparation, he knew these corridors well.  “St Ives?  I’ve never been.  It does sound lovely,” Remus mused.  “Your sister didn’t join you?  I know she’s a bit… fussy, but what could she have better to do than the seaside?”  Remus’ eyebrows were raised curiously.  Remus only knew Petunia through Lily’s stories and it made him a tad grateful to be an only child. “I relate much more to that second bit.  I stayed at James’ for a few days with the rest of them but mostly I was home with Mam, Tad, and my books.  Much to no one’s surprise.”

“Well I’m not entirely sure it was the seaside which put her off joining us.” Lily replied with a nonchalant, one armed shrug; did it sting that her sister seemed to want very little to do with her at the moment? Absolutely, and she was sure that anybody who knew her well enough would know as much, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to hide it. “She’s got a new boyfriend anyway, so I think that she much preferred staying at home to spend time with him… But I didn’t mind so much, I had a lovely time with my mum and dad.” She glanced up at him, lips twitching slightly, “Christ… Remind me to send my sympathies to James’ poor mother should I ever meet her, the four of you under one roof is a recipe for chaos,” she teased. “And I know that from first hand experience. Did you read anything new?”

At the beginning of Lily’s theory, Alice’s head had snapped up in alarm. Was her ginger head friend serious? Could Professor Binns really descend from — no, wait, how could they be possible? She calmed down, barking out a short chuckle, as Lily continued her speech. The brunette leaned back against the bench, letting a smile overcome her, as her problems she was stuttering over just seconds ago melted away.

“Well, he’s a ghost, Lila. He’s as far from ‘lively’ as one can get,” Alice reminded her, thinking about it. She then sat up with a dramatic gasp. “What if Binns is the Dementor? That would explain why it’s so cold in his classroom!”

Alice was only half-joking.

“Oh ghost shmost, it doesn’t mean he has to be so monotone about everything.” Lily countered, the same amused smile on her face as they settled into the conversation; the tension which had been a little heavy with the talk of the war just moments earlier had slowly begun to dissipate, which she was thankful for. She laughed at the dramatic gasp her friend gave, “You’ll have to give that charm a try during our next lesson now that you’ve almost perfected it, you may be our only hope!”

James looked over at Lily, one of his brows shooting up, “The wand you’re slowly pulling out of your pocket makes me think that maybe you’re the lunatic lifting me up into the air.” He pulled his own wand from his robes, he had an unmistakable testing look on his face. While most purebloods kept their wands prim and proper: James’ wand had seen better days, with teeth marks across the handle and scuffs and bumps across the whole thing. “If you’re not planning on spelling your kitten over here, I’ll do it instead.” James offered with a shrug.

Lily rolled her eyes, her lips giving the faintest twitch of amusement at the mental image which his words had conjured up; she was hardly about to hoist him up, though she figured he probably had it coming to him sooner or later. “Well I suppose you are more practiced in the art of catching people off guard… and suspending them in mid air does seem to be your speciality,” she replied lightly, her gaze settling on his wand. “But regardless, I’ll do it. You can catch her once she’s in the air.”

dorcas.

“I should disappear more often. You make for a lovely damsel in distress,” the smile that slid into place was gentle, gaze curious as she studied Lily carefully. Of course, she should’ve known to never doubt the likes of Lily Evans. The red head loved freely, in each gesture and patient word, generous in spirit and anything else you could think of, really. Here she was, a nuisance, and Lily had quite literally dropped everything. Swallowing a sardonic laugh, Dorcas shifted in her chair so her knees were drawn up to her chest, arms slung in a lazy hammock as she broke her eye contact to stare off towards a far, empty corner. “But you see, you could never miss me as much as I missed you. See this, here,” her hand hovered over her chest, as if she meant the steady beating organ pounding beneath bone. Then her palm shifted, landing on the soft flesh of her stomach. Angled brows rose in a daring challenge, and her features held flecks of humor beneath a solemn expression. “I’ve been just empty without you…. Bake me cookies, Evans. Like no one else can, or will again. Burnt edges and unbaked centers.” Dorcas rocked forward suddenly, lips breaking into a small smile and her fingers clamping over the other’s arm in a soft grip, “And let’s bring this ‘pit of despair’, yeah? I want to hear all about…” Dorcas tilt her chin, trying to read one of the promised titles on the cover of the discarded magazine. “Ten Signs You’ve Charmed His Heart’? Merlin.”

“If it’s in there then it has to be true, didn’t you know?” Lily teased, amusement shining in her own eyes as she picked the magazine up and flicked to the second page. “And it’d be alright, wouldn’t it, if it wasn’t such generic rubbish—like, sometimes a compliment is just a compliment, it doesn’t mean you’ve got them under your spell.” She rolled the magazine up and leaned forwards, very gently tapping Dorcas over the head with it before she held it out for her to take. “But we’d better fill that void before you go wasting away on me—” Pushing herself to her feet she stretched her arms above her head and then held her hands out to Dorcas in offering, “—I don’t know about baking though, I wouldn’t want the elves to think I’m treading on their toes. That seems a bit rude.”

“You can’t be serious.” Lily let out a surprised laugh as she took her seat at the end of one of the benches in the Great Hall, having just caught the end of the conversation which was transpiring. As she reached for the jug of pumpkin juice, she shook her head, grinning. “Peeves doesn’t listen to us lot, he’s known for going rogue—if he’s given you his word that he’ll prank the other team during your first match of the season then he’s far more likely to turn the whole thing round on you. You’re playing with fire.”

Remus laughed as Lily gave her honest opinion so easily.  He loved Lily for that.  The boy loved the rest of the Marauders dearly but he was also not completely blind to their faults.  “I can hardly argue with you,” He admitted with a bit of a sheepish smile.  Remus knew benefited from their laissez-faire relationship with the rules; he’d still be spending most of a week recovering from each moon if they hadn’t had the bright idea to covertly become Animagi.  “Dumbledore is definitely an idealist,” He agreed, fondly.  Dumbledore was the only reason he was here; the only person willing to take a chance on a werewolf’s potential.  “How was summer break?”

“Can’t argue with facts.” Lily quipped, teasing smile still in tact as they began their long descent down from Gryffindor Tower. She truly loved how easy it was to talk to Remus, he was one of her dearest friends and she had missed him quite a lot over the holidays. “My dad drove us down to Cornwall… St Ives we stayed at, we were only there for two weeks but it’s such a beautiful place. My sister didn’t come of course, which I feel godawful for admitting was a bit of a relief.” She paused to let out a huff of laughter, her lips curling into a rather sheepish smile afterwards. “The rest of the time I was at home, which got sort of boring really… I loved seeing my mum and dad, but in a way I am happy to be back at school,” she admitted. “How was yours?”

“She’s a baby,” James stated, “of course she would think this is a game.” Turning on his heels, James walked backwards towards Lily, he kept his eyes on the small kitten. He stood beside the crouched Lily, biting the inside of his cheek. “You could use a good old fashioned wingardium leviosa on her. Tried it on a rat before, he didn’t seem to harmed, just annoyed.” James thought out loud, a smirk tugging at his lips at his last statement.

Lily glanced up at James as he paused beside her, her brows furrowing at his latter comment when she noticed the smirk which was making it’s way onto his face; half the time she swore there was a joke that only he himself had been let in on. “Of course he was annoyed, wouldn’t you be, if some lunatic suddenly lifted you into the air and held you there?” She retorted, standing up straight again as she slowly pulled her wand from her pocket. “And the difference is that you would absolutely deserve it.”

“Seize and Pull, Accio, Impedimenta…Cat to Cauldron.” Rodolphus lists more possible solutions as if she hadn’t said anything. As he sees it, if the spells are cast well, the cat will be fine — but if not, well, it’s just a cat. “ Leglocker Curse, Slowing Charm, Impediment Hex, Immobulus, Jelly-Legs—” He looks up from his book to glance after the cat, “—although you might want to cast a Tracking spell before it gets much further away.”

Lily was certain that Rodolphus’ intentions hadn’t been to help her, she knew that by reeling off a list of potential spells he was trying to ridicule her, but this time she wasn’t going to bite. “No need for a tracking spell, I think we’re just about done here, so…” And without really waiting for a response, she left him to it. She was grouchy about the fact she had no better comeback, and she spared him one final glance over her shoulder to see he wasn’t looking, and as she rounded the corner after her cat she pulled her wand from her back pocket.

Alice sat back down on the bench, her face turning solemn for a moment. She took a deep breath before answering Lily’s questions. “My own mind, really. I was thinking … If You-Know-Who—” she shuddered just saying the name. “—was really getting so powerful, it’s only a matter of time before he finds some way to use the Dementors in his power. With the Professors not really teaching us, I thought I might as well get a head start.”

Alice scrunched up here nose, realizing she has just turned the mood sad. “Although it’s probably nothing. Heard the theory from my cousin, over break. My cousin likes to gossip a lot, too,” she added to lighten the tension, and smiled softly. It was true.

“Well it wouldn’t surprise me.” Lily agreed, and offered her friend a reassuring smile when she noticed the expression on her face; the future was horribly daunting and Lily was sure that Alice must have felt the same. She felt quite fortunate that she still had almost two years left inside the castle’s walls, despite the fact you-know-who’s ideologies were slowly seeping their way in. Taking a chance at humour, she gave the brunette a nudge, “I have a theory, anyway, that Professor Binns descended from dementors—how else could you possibly explain the fact his lessons are so soul destroying? I feel the life slowly leave me every time I have to sit through one of his lectures… It’s a shame, really. History would probably be my favourite subject if we had a bit more lively a teacher.”