petunias -- jily

4

"come on, james, when are you gonna tell us what happened with you and evans?" sirius whined, getting exasperated, since james had never kept a secret from him before. they were on their way to breakfast, where, unbeknownst to them, lily was already sitting with marlene and dorcas. 

james smiled and simply shook his head, keeping his lips pressed together so that he wouldn't tell him. he thought that after years of hatred from lily, it probably wasn't a good idea to go around shouting their newfound friendship from the rooftops. they entered the great hall and took their seats across from remus and peter, who had been up for nearly an hour already. 

"what took you two so long?" remus questioned. 

"well, you know all about padfoot's extensive hair routine," james offered, earning a flick on the ear from sirius. 

"i'll have you know, this silky mane is natural, anything i do to it is merely to accentuate it's natural beauty." upon hearing this, remus chuckled and james nearly choked on his bagel. 

the three gave him quizzical looks, and discovered that he had caught sight of lily, hence why he forgot how to breathe. today she had her hair pulled away loosely from her face with a clip, which left strands of hair out and framing her face. 

"oh, what's the matter, prongs? i though you were 'over her'", peter exaggerated his point with finger quotes. 

"i am!" he insisted, still not taking his eyes off of her. "i can still admire her... her beauty." lily must have felt her eyes on him because she looked up from her meal and saw him. remus, sirius, and peter braced themselves for the glare she would undoubtedly throw in his direction, but it never came. instead the corners of her mouth twitched into a small smile, to the shock of not only the three "marauders", but dorcas and marlene as well. lily then said something to her friends and left the great hall, passing james as she went. he watched her go, and promptly made an excuse to go to the bathroom. 

remus simply sighed and returned to the book he had propped up against a pitcher of pumpkin juice and peter pretended to be extremely fascinated by his scrambled eggs. sirius, however, raised himself higher in his seat and yelled down the table. "oi! mckinnon, meadowes, come here!" marlene and dorcas begrudgingly left their meals and joined the three boys farther down the table. 

"do either of you know what just happened?"

"what d'you mean?"

sirius stared at them, wondering how they couldn't see the difference in the way lily treated james just then. "he was staring at her and she smiled?! that has never happened before in the history of lily evans."

"maybe he saved her from voldemort?" peter piped up. dorcas, marlene, sirius, and remus all turned to look at him. "what? it's a possibility!" he defended himself, his cheeks turning scarlet. 

"alright, is that your bet, then? i think that she has been possessed by a nice person," sirius declared. 

remus looked up from his book long enough to add, "maybe he stopped being an arse?"

marlene laughed, "doubtful, this is james we're talking about. maybe he's over her and they're friends now?" they all sat there, contemplating her response, and then waited for dorcas to say something. 

"uh. oh, oh i got one! mcgonagall is paying lily to be nice to him, in extra credit!" 

"should we place money to this bet?" sirius asked, eagerly reaching inside of his robes for a few galleons. 

"actually, i think there's a better way to do this," a smirk crossed marlene's lips. "if me or dorcas is right, then you guys have to stop playing pranks on us."

"ooh that's interesting!" dorcas' eyes lit up and she rubbed her hands together. 

sirius frowned, and peter started to protest but remus spoke before he could. "but if one of us is right, you two have to help us pull a prank on lily." the two girls looked at each other before agreeing. 

just then, the bell rang and they all scrambled to pick up their bags and get to their classes. marlene, sirius, and peter would join james in care of magical creatures, while dorcas and remus climbed the stairs to ancient runes, where lily was already waiting. 

throughout the day, the five of them watched james and lily like hawks, noticing every time they interacted, intent on dissecting their reactions to each other. but by the end of the day, they hadn't gotten any closer to discovering why they were suddenly civil to each other, and they were all behind on their notes, even remus. 

and at dinner, when jasmine pike, a ravenclaw sixth year, came along with emmeline and joined alice, dorcas, marlene, and lily, she gave james a flirtatious wave and he responded with a wink. remus and sirius were shocked, as that behavior was usually reserved for lily, and peter was oblivious, happily digging in to his shepherd's pie. 

"james? hello?" remus waved his hand in front of james' face, getting his attention. "not sure if you've noticed, but that was jasmine, not lily."

"yes, i know. i'm not blind," he scoffed. the three of them blankly stared at james, as he tucked into his food as well, not noticing the stares. 

later that night in the dormitory, marlene jumped up and down on lily's bed, begging her to tell her. 

"he winked at jasmine, tonight, lil! jasmine! not you, jasmine."

"okay, i get it! he winked at jasmine! now would you quit jumping like a maniac, i've got an essay to finish!" marlene huffed and flopped down, taking up all the space on the red and gold quilt. lily rolled her eyes and moved her parchment and books down to the common room, where only a few students were still awake. she looked around for a table to sit at, as her favorite one by the window was taken. as she dragged her eyes across the room, a vase full of flowers caught her eye. it was placed on a table, a vase full of pink lilies. 

she chuckled and took a seat at said table, and set to work on her essay, the sweet perfume of the flowers relaxing her.