Of Chocolate and Raindrops

Beginnings

Up at the castle, Lily was caught up in her own thoughts again. She was confused on why James wanted to be friends. He had been a complete arse to her in the past, and then had the nerve to ask her out right afterwards. Maybe he didn’t like her anymore. Lily felt odd when she thought about James Potter not liking her anymore. It felt like something was drastically wrong, but she wouldn’t know what it was until it was too late. Kind of like if she woke up one morning and the floor disappeared under her feet, and she would tumble and tumble down before she hit the ground. Come, on Lily, she thought. It would be good if he didn’t like you anymore! He’s been pestering you for years!

“Lily,” Marlene smacked her shoulder. “Stop daydreaming and actually tell me who the Head Boy is!”

Lily stared at her. “It’s Potter,”

Marlene’s jaw dropped. “James is Head Boy?”

“No, Marlene, it’s the other Potter,” Lily said sarcastically. “Of course it’s James!”

Marlene rolled her blue eyes. “I do love that boy, but he got Head Boy over Remus? I cannot believe it!”

“Me neither,” Lily sighed.

“So did he say anything to you?”

“Yeah,” Lily hesitated. “He wanted to be…friends,”

“Friends?”

“Yeah,”

“Weird,”

“You’re telling me,”

…

Sirius Black looked at James again. He was staring at Lily, which was nothing new, but it was different this time. He wasn’t really sure how. He just knew. James had been happy ever since he got off the train, but all Sirius could get out of James was that him and Lily were friends. He thought that they had been friends before, but apparently not.

Up at the front of the Great Hall, Dumbledore was talking. The feast had just been finished, and it was almost time to go up to the dorms. James had, in fact, informed Sirius that the password to the Gryffindor common room was “Ibi Ignis”.

“There is a war brewing,” Dumbledore said. “There are dark times ahead, and don’t forget, happiness can be found in the darkest of times, as long as one remembers to turn on the light,”

With a clap of his hands, he dismissed the students, all of whom sat for a few seconds longer, drinking in Dumbledore’s words, and what they would mean in the coming days. In a moment there was a scraping of benches as students warily stood up. Sirius felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned, Remus gestured for him and Peter to leave the Great Hall.

Sirius started to pull James along with him, but James apologetically shook his head. “I can’t mate, I have a special dorm, remember?”

He slapped James’ shoulder. “Well, then Prongs, until the morning!” As he turned to leave, he saw Marlene McKinnon looking at him. He winked at the blonde, and she blushed a little. He started to say something, but Remus exasperatedly dragged him out into the hall.

“Oi, Moony what was that for? I was going to talk to McKinnon!” Sirius groaned.

“I’m sure she can be deprived from your company until morning, don’t you?”

Peter snickered as Sirius smacked Remus in the back.

…

As soon as Sirius, Remus, and Peter left, James looked at Lily, and he followed her and Marlene to the end of the table. “Hey, Lily!” He called before she began to walk into the hall.