Avoiding The Marauders

The Perks Of Being Muggleborn

My head aches, my hands are raw and my butt feels like it's been compressed into a flat line; all for the benefit of homework.

The Common Room chairs have all been taken up by other students who all wanted to avoid the chilly weather outside and, seeing the light flecks of ice that line the windows, I can't really blame them. However, this also means that I have to slouch over in the corner of the room, on the floor, trying to write an essay for History of Magic that's due tomorrow.

I mean, sure, I'm Head Girl. I could quite easily order any student to move and let me sit in one of the comfy armchairs by the toasty fire, but it just makes me think that it's going against the job description; that I'm using my powers for bad.

My books are laid out in a little circle around me and, with the light dimming, I'm wondering if I'm actually going to be able to finish that essay before it gets too dark to make it out.

Picking up my wand, I consider lighting it, when a voice calls to me through the crowd of Gryffindors. "Oi! Lily! There you are!" Melody comes bouncing towards me, a smile brightening her face, and throws herself down next to me. "You'll never guess who just asked me to go to the first Hogsmeade trip!"

"Erm, Merlin?" I ask because according to how excited she seems it must be someone as amazing as him.

She lets out a high pitched giggle. "No," leaving a little pause for dramatic effect, she meets someone's eye and winks at him. "Sirius!"

That's when I see Black, leaning against a chair by the fire, shooting my best friend flirtatious looks. He catches my gaze and, flicking his hair out of his face, wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. Being the idiot I am, I actually feel my cheeks warm, but I try to cover it up with an eye roll.

"Really, Mel?" I groan, rolling up my parchment, having finally finished my 3000 words. "I thought we were going together."

She looks guilty, but pushes it away with a flick of her blond hair. "Aww, come on, Lils. All we were gonna do was get a drink at the Three Broomsticks and buy some sweets," she's still glancing over at Black, her checks all red. That's when she suddenly spins back to face me. "Oh, I know! You can hang out with Remus and Peter! They're not going with anyone!"

I frown. If they're going to be there, then it's likely Potter will be too. I point this out to Mel but she soon brushes it off. "No, James has a date," she says. "He's going with Alice."

I plaster a smile on my face. That's good, right? I gives me people to hang with without him getting in the way. It makes everything easy and Alice is a lovely girl. So, why did I have to force the smile onto my face?

That's when I realise; it's because of Alice! Like I said, she's a lovely girl, I don't want her being influenced by the likes of Potter. It's like making her impure or something.

"Yeah," I give Mel a reassuring smile. "Yeah, that'll be good."

***

Mel is freaking.

It's the first date she's had with a boy and she just doesn't know what to do, she's just clinging onto my words like they're her only means of life support, but it's not like I have any more experience with guys as she does, no ones ever asked me on a date before.

Sure, I thought guys had seemed interested, but then it's like something stops them from doing anything else. There's this cute guy in my potions class who used to be my partner. We hanged out for a while; he studied in the library with me, he's a muggleborn too so we liked the same films. I thought he had liked me, but I didn't see him for a few days, he wasn't even in potions and then when he got back, he asked to change partners and hasn't talked to me since.