bittersweet » lily evans

0.1

"Lily! Where are my shoes?" Marlene McKinnon yelled from behind her bed curtains.

"Why would I know?" Lily asked, unravelling a curler from her hair.

"You borrowed them for your date with Davies, remember?" She called back.

"How was that, by the way?" Alice Fortescue asked as she emerged from the bathroom.

"Terrible," Lily replied, "Marlene your shoes are by the end of my trunk. He spent the whole time trying to convince me to go back to his dorm with him for, and I quote, 'a cheeky sesh'," she informed Alice.

"I said it would be shit," Julia Thorne piped up from where she was applying her mascara.

"I guess you were right," Lily sighed.

"I'm always right," she said simply.

Lily rolled her eyes and sorted her hair so it sat just right on her shoulders. Julia only spoke to them when she saw an oppertunity to be pessimistic, sarcastic, insulting or arrogant.

She was almost as bad as James Potter. The only thing that made Julia slightly better than Potter, was the fact that she disliked the boy as much as Lily did, and had no qualms insulting him to his face.

"So how did you shake him off?" Dorcas Meadowes inquired as she tied the laces of her shoes.

"Told him I had prefect duties that I'd forgotten about," she told them.

"Prefects get so many perks," Marlene sighed, "can you pass my shoes please, Lils?"

Lily picked up the black flats from beside her trunk and slipped them through the curtains to Marlene.

"Is anyone going to wake up Emma?" Lily gestured to the bed where Emmaline Vance was still hidden in.

"Vance fell asleep in the common room last night," Julia informed, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking out of the room.

"Did she?" Alice asked, capping her lipgloss and stuffing it in her bag.

"Apparently," Lily shrugged.

"She's going to be late," Alice stated.

"So are we if you don't hurry up Marles," Lily called, thudding her hand against the thick curtain surrounding her friend's bed.

"I'm ready," Marlene said, pushing apart the curtains and strutting out, striking a pose like a model as she did.

"You look very nice, now lets go!" Lily grabbed her arm and dragged her from the room, Alice following behind.

As they went down the stairs, Emma rushed past them looking extremely frazzled.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?" She yelled as she ran past.

"We didn't know you were down there!" Marlene shouted back.

"Yeah, she's definitely going to be late," Lily laughed.

When they reached the Great Hall breakfast was in full swing, students coming and leaving through the doors, chatting to the people around them.

They sat at the Gryffindor table a few spaces away from Julia and the Marauders. Lily rolled her eyes at the ridiculous name they had come up for themselves. At first people only called them it ironically, to humour them, but after a while it had stuck, and now everyone referred to the four boys by it.

"Alright Lily-flower?" James called loudly from where he sat.

She ignored him, grabbing a slice of toast with lime marmalade on it and turning to talk to Marlene and Dorcas.

Alice was engaged in conversation with her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, staring affectionately at him as they chatted. They were in their honeymoon stage, which was both disgusting and adorable.

"Hey Evans, fancy a second date tomorrow evening?" A smarmy voice said behind her.

"What?" James, sounding aghast, stood from his seat and made his way over to her.

"You went on a date with him, Evans?" He asked incredulously.

"What's it to you if I went on a date with him or not?" Lily responded snappily.

"Well... Nothing, I mean... It's just... He's a bit of a div," James stumbled out.

"Ugh, just mind your own business Potter, you don't have any say in who I go out with," Lily brushed him off.

"So, does that mean you'll go on another date with me?" Jason Davies asked hopefully.

"Uh," Lily now realised that she didn't have a nice way to reject him and maybe she should have taken advantage of James' possessiveness and used it to drive the Ravenclaw boy away.

"Lily doesn't want to go out with you," Julia said bluntly from down the table, "She thought your date was shite."

Jason blinked slowly, adorning the look of a startled animal, James looked appraisingly at Julia, Sirius Black barked out a laugh, Marlene snickered behind her apple, Dorcas bit her lip and sipped from a goblet of pumpkin juice, Alice and Frank paused their conversation to watch what had gone down and Lily cringed the whole time.

After a few moments in awkward silence, Jason walked defeatedly back to his table, where he was met with sympathy as he told his story. Lily hadn't felt so embarrassed since James blurted out his love for her during Professor Dumbledore's opening speech at the start of the year and the whole hall heard.

She turned to glare at Julia, "Did you have to be so harsh? I have to sit with him in Herbology."

"I was just telling the truth," she shrugged noncommittally.

"I had it under control," Lily retorted.

"Oh, really? 'Cause you were looking very much like you wanted to crawl in a hole and hide," Julia stated.

"Well, I do feel like that now!" Lily exclaimed in annoyance.

"Well, you shouldn't." Julia stood up, "He was trying to pressure you into doing something you didn't want to, if you didn't outright say what you felt, he never would have given up."

Lily watched as she exited the Great Hall, a frown on her face.

"When did she get so wise?" Marlene wondered out loud.

Lily shrugged and shook her head, she was more concerned with when Julia started to care. Lily had been through tons of boy trouble before, and seeing as they shared a dorm, Julia had witnessed her go through every single one of them. She had never offered up advice or gotten involved before. So why did she this time?

I'm so excited to write this story! This chapter was kind of just setting up all the characters, giving you a little peak into what it's like at Hogwarts for them. Feedback is always appreciated :)