The Unexpected Love [Rewrite]

Chapter 1

"Marlene, I swear if I have to drag Black's arse up here to wake you up I will." Lily threatened, a dangerous look on her face. 

"Stop talking so loudly." Marlene whined, swatting at the air. "It's only six."

"In case you hadn't noticed, it's already lunch." she drawled, narrowing her eyes. 

"Yeah, right." But Marlene screamed as she looked at the clock near her bed. "How could you let me sleep in this late?! What have I ever done to deserve this?!"

"First of all, I could make a list of things you've done to deserve this. Second, spent a whole hour trying to get you up this morning, but you kept slapping me!"

In an attempt to get out of bed as quickly as possible, Marlene rolled off the mattress and onto the ground (all the way from the top bunk). Lily saw her face contort in pain, but she limped toward her trunk and yanked out her robes. 

"Err--Mar, s-shouldn't you ask Madam Pomfrey to look at that for you?" Lily asked, staring at Marlene's now bruised ankle. 

"Whatever, I'll do it after I eat lunch!" she called. Lily watched as she forced on her socks, skirt, blouse, tie, cardigan, shoes, robes, and headband. 

"Let's go!" Marlene yelled, tying back her golden curls and running down the stairs at the same time. 

"Out of my way, git." she muttered, passing by Sirius Black and his cronies. 

"Is that the proper way to talk to the love of your life?" James Potter joked, resulting in a few laughs scattered across the common room. 

Marlene grabbed him by the tie and pulled him down toward her. "Look Potter, just because I made the mistake of telling you I fancied that idiot for a week in first year does not mean you get to humiliate me for the rest of my life, so I suggest you get away from me and mind your own business for once!" 

Many Gryffindors cheered and laughed as Marlene scowled, pushed James away, and stormed out of the common room. 

"It's official," Sirius said. "I'm in love with her."

The other three boys rolled their eyes in unison; James and Peter Pettigrew did so while smirking. Remus Lupin, however, followed the girl out of the common room and saw as pain replaced the anger in her face. 

"You don't have to pretend all the time. Why don't you drop it and just become friends with them?"

"They're annoying, narcissistic, and stuck up. Why would I want to befriend them?"

Remus sighed, rubbing his temples. "You liked them once."

"I did," Marlene answered. "But then Black broke my heart and Potter rubbed salt in the wound and Pettigrew laughed annoyingly."

"You said it yourself, that was first year. There's more to it than just that." Remus stated. 

Marlene scowled, and there was silence between the two for several moments. Just as Marlene was about to give up, Remus sighed and said, "Ask Madam Pomfrey for a potion, the pain is evident. Try to be careful next time, I heard the fall all the way down here."

Marlene's fingers curled into fists as she agreed begrudgingly and limped to the hospital wing. 

~

"You hate them, too!" Marlene yelled defensively. 

"I don't." Lily replied honestly. 

Marlene's eyes widened. "How can you not? They bully people for no reason and prance around school like the narcissistic idiots they are! They destroyed your friendship with that creep, too!"

"I told you last year--I don't blame Black and Potter for what happened between Snape and me. Our friendship was already broken, and I should have seen that. Honestly, they did me a favor."

"Favor?!"

"Marlene, he called me a mudblood in front of the whole school because I tried to help him, and only begged for forgiveness when his Death Eater buddies weren't around to help him. I'd hardly call that friendship, regardless of what those two could have done."

Marlene sighed and placed her head in her hands. "You're right, I'm sorry. They just frustrate me," she admitted, playing with her food. 

"You're not wrong to dislike them. They've hurt you in many ways and I understand that."

Marlene's chest tightened as she remembered that day, and suddenly all she could see was their eyes on her; hazel, gray, green, and blue. And they were laughing, laughing at what they'd just done to her. 

And then and there Marlene knew that even if she forgave them a million times over, not even a memory spell could make her forget what had happened that day. 

~ 

"...and so today, I would like you all to brew The Draught of Living Death, and the best potion will receive a vial of Felix Felicis. You may begin now!" Slughorn called excitedly, watching the eager Gryffindor students begin to work on their cauldrons. 

Lily rushed over to the cabinet and muttered the ingredients under her breath as she got them. "Powdered root of asphodel, infusion of wormwood, valerian sprigs, sloth brain, sopophorous bean, wormwood..."

She carried the ingredients to her cauldron and watched as various sopophorous beans jumped around the classroom. Everyone in the room was having trouble cutting it, and Lily glanced warily at the instructions. She bit her lip, glanced around the room once more, and slowly crushed the bean with the knife rather than attempting to cut. Lily grinned slightly as the juice began to spill from the bean, and she placed it to the side while she added the other ingredients.

Everyone rushed to complete their potion as quickly as they could, and after a little over an hour, Professor Slughorn walked around the classroom, inspecting everyone's potions. His face lit up for an instant, but then fell just as quickly. Finally, he looked into Lily's cauldron, and a smile grew on his face. 

"Well, Miss Evans, yours is the closest to what I was looking for! Congratulations, use it well." he grinned, pressing the vial of glittery gold liquid into her palm. 

Lily grinned and silently thanked Severus for the advice he'd given her about the bean when they were still friends.

~ 

"So what are you going to do with it?" Marlene asked. The two lie in their beds, doing homework. 

"I don't know." Lily admitted. "There isn't anything I could really use it for."

"You should use it for our final exams."

Lily scoffed. "That's cheating."

"Exactly." Marlene winked. 

"No, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

The two lie in silence for a moment; only the sound of their scribbling quills was heard in the dorm. 

Marlene chewed on the end of her quill for a moment. "Lily..."

Lily finished the last sentence of her Astronomy essay and looked up from her paper. "Yeah?"

Marlene's heart pounded loudly in her ears. "Err...do--d'you reckon..." She stared into Lily's bright green eyes, and muttered, "Never mind."