Chapter Six

Lily and Eva had never told anyone what had happened that morning, one of the reasons
being that they had no proof. The silver light in Lily's eyes had gone out as soon as she
had stared in the mirror, and Lily absolutely refused to try to get back to where she had
been in that dewy gloom. She never spent a minute alone if she didn't have to, and during
the cancelled Herbology lessons she was to be found in the library, burying herself under
mountains of books. James and Sirius had quieted down a bit and weren't playing as
many pranks on their teachers as they had been; they were spending the time that they
usually passed in the common room of the Great Hall in the library or their dormitories,
close-lipped and short-tempered if anyone interrupted them. Peter tagged along after
them more than ever, causing their tempers to erupt more than once in the common room.

Remus’ secret was well kept; only Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter knew about it, not
counting some of the teachers. He had regained his old cheery sort of personality, despite
having to go to the Shrieking Shack again, and he spent lots of his time urging James and
Sirius outside, where the snow was melting. It almost knocked Lily off her feet when she
heard that James was refusing to train for the match against Slytherin. Remus had given
her the news when she was in the common room playing checkers with Eva.
“Hey, Lily, guess what?”
“Cows have wings and you just hooked up with Serverus Snape. I don’t know. Tell me.”
Remus scowled a bit. “That was uncalled for. You’re more likely to do that than me.”
“I am not!” Lily got up off of her pouf.
“I just meant because you’re a girl-calm down, for Pete’s sake.”
“Oh.” Pacified, Lily sat back down, moving one of her checkers. “Queen me.”
Remus was starting to get a bit impatient. “Lily! I’m trying to talk to you!”
Lily frowned. “All right, all right. Eva, I’m coming right back.” Hopping over the small
table, she went to the window seat with Remus, who was looking rather worried.
“What?”
“It’s about James.” Lily started. “Nothing serious-well, maybe it is. You know what a
Quidditch nut he is, right?”
She raised one eyebrow. “Remus, this is James we’re talking about here.”
“Exactly. He’s never really liked his position as Seeker; he’s always wanted to be a
Chaser. Well, he’s been promoted.”
Remus was interrupted by a beaming light flashing all over Lily’s face. “He has? Really?
He never told me-”
“Of course he didn’t. That’s what I need to talk to you about.”
Lily frowned. “All right-shoot.”
“He’s refusing to train.”
“He is what?”
“We have a match on Saturday against Slytherin, and your stubborn boy-your stubborn
friend is refusing to train. You’d better come talk some sense into him.”
“Of course I will. Where is he?”
Remus laughed. “This is so unlike James, but where else would he be?’
“Oh.” Lily assumed a rather determined expression. “Library, I’m guessing.”
And with that, she climbed out of the portrait hole with Remus at her heels, carrying

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James’ bag with his Quidditch things.
When Lily came into the library, the first thing she saw were Sirius and James’ heads bent
over several books. She walked quietly towards them, the carpet helping to muffle her
footfalls. Three feet behind their chairs, Lily caught sight of a picture on one of the pages
in James’ book. She coughed rather loudly.
“Ahem!”
Both of the boys started and turned around, each closing their books with a bang. James
stood up. “What do you want, sneaking up behind people like that?”
Lily must have looked rather hurt, for Sirius punched James in the shoulder lightly. “Hey,
don’t be so mean to her; it’s not her fault you’re in a bad mood.” He turned to Lily,
putting his arm around her shoulders, casually. “What’d you come in here for?”
Lily shrugged his arm off. “I came in here to see him.” She pointed towards James with
the toe of her shoe. “Remus told me you’re refusing to train. Why?”
James looked rather uncomfortable. “I-I-“
“You’re one of the most important members of the team. We don’t have any reserve
Chasers.”
“I-I know, but…I’ve got work to do.”
“What are you studying? I know for a fact you don’t have anything for Transfiguration.”
“How?”
“Remus. So what’s that Animagi book doing on your lap? If you want to hide it, you’d
better hold your robe over it.”
James blushed. “Nothing. I-we’re just interested in the theory.”
Lily gave him a disbelieving look. “Right. Anyway, James, you have to train. Think of
the shame if Slytherin beat us!”
James shrugged, but his expression was a bit twisted. “We’ll live.”
Remus sighed. “See, I told you he’s sick.”
Lily set her mouth in a tight line. “James, I promise you, if you don’t go out there and
make us win the Quidditch Cup, you’re going to regret it.”
He laughed. “Yeah, right. How?”
Instead of answering, Lily turned to Sirius. “Does he blush easily?”
Sirius smirked. “Depends on who’s around him.”
“Really.” Lily raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t want to have to resort to this. James, if you
don’t get on that field right this minute, Eva and I are going to attack you tomorrow
morning in front of the school at breakfast. I think she has some black and red lipstick.”
His eyes widened. Sirius and Remus were holding in laughter. Grabbing his things from
Remus, he dashed out of the library, which echoed with peals of laughter.
Back in Gryffindor Tower, Lily was looking out of the common room window onto the
Quidditch field, where the team members were rocketing around on their brooms, and, in
John and James’ case, trying to knock each other off of their respective brooms and
earning a loud lecture from the captain, who was fed up with their fooling around. Lily
could hear the shouting clear up to her window.
It looked as if, for the first time in weeks, James had shed a massive burden and was
starting to enjoy himself. Lily realized that he hadn’t known how much he had missed his
favorite pastime, and she felt glad that he was beginning to have fun.
They trained until the gloom began to fall over the field, when, exhausted and sweaty, the
team trooped indoors, falling onto couches and upsetting a game of chess several sixth-

52
year girls had left on a table.
Lily grinned. “Nice. Cora and Agatha are going to kill you for that.”
Miranda shrugged. “They’d have to catch me first. Oh, I saw you watching from the
window-what’d you think?”
Lily started to pick up the chess pieces. “Very nice. Even better, since you have your
Chaser back.” She elbowed James in the side. “I could tell how much you enjoyed that.
Why were you refusing to practice before?”
“Oh…” He looked a bit embarrassed. “I don’t know. I was busy.”
“Buried under dusty tomes. I know how much fun you must have had doing that.”
“I had to study!”
“For what subject?”
“Er…Transfiguration. Yeah, that’s it. McGonagall’s class, you know,” he added at a
disbelieving look from Lily.
“I thought Mr. I Know Everything She has to Teach Us didn’t need to study. You’re way
beyond any of the other second years, and you know that.”
James grinned, heading to his dormitory. “I do know. I needed background information.
You don’t exactly have to tell me that I’m way beyond any of you nutters,” he flung over
his shoulder along with a fingernail-sized metal object. It landed on Lily’s robes and
shrunk her to an extremely dissatisfied fox caught in a trap, shrieking madly at the now
empty staircase and at the roaring common room.
It was the morning of the Quidditch match, and the first game James would have in his
new position as Chaser. He was getting a lot of attention from the Gryffindors, who were
convinced that as long as they kept him from the library or any of the books that he had
checked out, they stood a good chance of winning. Many people had taken to surrounding
him whenever he was on his way to the Great Hall, knowing that was the time when he
usually went to the library.
Everyone was excited about this game: if the Gryffindors won this one, they’d have a
winning streak for the Quidditch Cup lasting three years. Because of the heat, this match
had been moved from the middle of April to February, which resulted in euphoria from
the students.
The Slytherins were growing downright nasty; their team had tried to take over the field
and ended up in the hospital wing, the Gryffindors having foreseen this and had been
breathing down James’ neck to get the latest jinxes he’d been working on.
Malfoy, the team’s manager, and Alton, one of the Slytherin Beaters, ended up in the
hospital wing with hands so full of blisters they couldn’t hold their brooms, while two of
their Chasers got caught in a storm of flying jinxes and were screened from view in the
hospital wing owing to having sprouted a nasty foot fungus and firmly attached Marie
Antoinette-style wigs; ones that towered two feet above their heads, were powder gray,
and had entire landscapes built into them.
Lily was as excited about the game as anyone else, and finally had an occasion to pull out
Remus’ Christmas gift; the Gryffindor scarf, from her trunk. She refused to don the
golden dress that she had worn to the last two matches, preferring not to be so
ostentatious.
Eva was rather disappointed, as she had hoped that there would be a large conflict
between James, Sirius, and Snape over Lily.
Lily had ridiculed that suggestion. “Eva, for the thousandth time, I’m not going to act like

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a silly boy-crazy nymph who has nothing better to do with her life. I’m there to watch the
match, and that’s all.”
“But wouldn’t it be fun to see Sirius and James-“
“I SAID NO! Why would it be fun to plan to see my friends fight? Which they wouldn’t,
anyway.”
“Lily, guys are never going to be interested in you unless you try to make them
interested.”
“Fine. Then they won’t be.”
“What do you mean?”
“I won’t ever try to make them interested again.”
“Liar. You will, too.”
Lily picked up her Transfiguration book up from the floor. “I hereby faithfully swear
never to dress up for any boy for the rest of my life. There.” She threw the book down. It
made a loud slamming noise as it landed on the carpet. “Happy?”
Eva was aghast. She was the kind of girl who took swearing on books very seriously.
“You did not just do that!”
Lily reached into her trunk and pulled out both brushes, hair ribbons, and curlers. “I did.
Do you want these?”
Eva’s eyes opened, if possible, even wider. “You’re actually going through with this? Do
you know what you’re doing? You’re throwing your future out the window!”
Lily nodded. “Exactly.” She went over to the window, and, without hesitating, threw
everything into the lake, which was just under her window.
Eva sat on her bed, stunned. “You didn’t!”
Lily put on her scarf and pulled her hair back with a rubber band that had formerly held a
bag of Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Beans. “I did.”
Aghast, Eva stared out the door at the retreating, too stubborn redhead.
Outside, the players were standing on the field when Lily took her seat on the bleachers
next to Heather and Anne, the twins who slept in her dormitory and snored so loudly. Lily
wasn’t all too excited about the seating arrangements, which grew worse when the twins
stood up to cheer for Gryffindor as the teams took off and jammed Lily’s foot in between
the boards of the bleachers. It took her ages to get it out, and when she finally managed it,
Ashley Thomas and Miranda had scored two goals each, and James three. He really was
good, Lily thought to herself as she watched him zoom around the goalposts, managing to
confuse the Slytherin Keeper soundly and sending the Quaffle through the middle loop.
The Ravenclaw commentator was a bit more fired up for Gryffindor's win than he had
been last time, though he was being watched closely by Professor Sinistra.
"And Slytherin's Chaser Gregson is flying towards their goal with the Quaffle…loops
Gryffindor Beater John Winters-OUCH-gets caught in the stomach by the bat, purely by
accident, I'm sure-oh, no, never mind, Slytherin penalty. Alton flies forward, aims, -oh,
that was a nice throw-da-Professor, I said darn it."
The Gryffindors were obviously having a bit of fun trying to inflict as many injuries to
the Slytherin team as possible without being caught. It seemed they were keeping their
own score, and Slytherin started to retaliate.
Miranda Shaw of Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle…nice dodge there, Shaw-
CAREFUL, THAT'S A BLUDGER! -another nice dodge-and mysteriously, Slytherin
Beater Roderick Alton gets a purely accidental bloody lip by impaling himself on his own

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broomstick…oh, nice shot, Miranda!"
Miranda had scored. "Eighty to fifty for Gryffindor. Very nice. Couldn't have done it
better myself. And the Quaffle's in possession of Slytherin Chaser Clive Allen, he gets a
Bludger in the back of the leg-oh, and the Quaffle's taken from him by Gryffindor Chaser
James Potter, who's just been promoted to his Chaser position; Anya MacGregor's the
new Seeker-"
"Cooper, we'd like to know what's happening on the field."
"Right, just giving a bit of information to all those kids unenlightened of the switch, as
I'm sure some of them must be, and-"
"COOPER!"
"Oh, right. Anyway, Potter's broomstick repels a Bludger towards Slytherin Keeper
Cathryn Clarik, -that must have hurt, right in the stomach-but not a bad move from
Potter, who's rushing up the field on that old-fashioned Milky Way 101, but still, not a
bad player, even if his broom stinks-"
"Cooper!"
"All right, I give. Potter scores; score is ninety to fifty. Bright red bullet streaking for the
teachers-wait-never mind-that's Anya, wonder what she's seeing-she has her hand around
something-"
Anya had headed for a gleam of gold right above the teacher's tent. The Slytherin Seeker
Edgar Hatcher hadn't followed her, and, a triumphant smile on her face, she reached for
the fluttering Snitch.
The next minute, the stadium exploded.
Actually, to be precise, the roof of the teacher's tent. When the thick, black smoke
cleared, which it did fairly quickly, the top of the teacher's tent was a smoky, black mess,
and Anya was lying on the field nearby with her arm and left leg in a twisted position, her
robes blackened. Madam Pomfrey had come to watch the match, but had to retreat inside
with Anya on a stretcher, a blackened and scorched imitation Snitch still clasped in the
Seeker's hand.
Professor Zimmermann, who was acting as referee, started to shriek at the Slytherins
when she found them laughing and pointing at Anya.
"Fifty points to Gryffindor! I've never seen such a disgraceful tactic before! You'd better
be certain Professor Dumbledore is going to hear about this. Fifty points to Gryffindor
and twenty from Slytherin!" The joyful and amused looks on the Slytherin's faces
dropped like dead flies as the scoreboard announced 'Slytherin 30, Gryffindor 140'. They
started to shriek with indignation, but even their Head of Slytherin House didn't put in a
word.
When the Gryffindor team got out of their huddle, a change in positions was announced.
They had a reserve Beater, since Joseph DeVonn, the terrible Gryffindor Beater, was
rather prone to injuries.
They had decided to place Joseph as the Seeker and the reserve Beater, Jacqueline de
Forté, in his place as Beater, since Joseph was better than she at spotting small objects,
and, those changes made, both teams took off for the second time.
"And…they're off! Ashley Thomas of Gryffindor gets to the Quaffle, is blocked by
Slytherin Chaser Clive Allen, throws Quaffle to Potter-wait, no, Quaffle intercepted by
Slytherin Chaser Stephen Gregson, who flies up the field and-oh, come on, Nigel-ugh-ten
points to Slytherin, score's one-forty to forty…"

55
The match was getting dirtier by the minute, as the enraged Slytherins were resorting to
any tactic to win the game. Soon Slytherin had earned twenty more points, placing them
eighty points behind Gryffindor. Nigel Patil, the Gryffindor team captain, usually a
superb Keeper, had received several Bludgers in his stomach and his neck which had
practically finished him off; it was all he could do to stay on his broom. James called for
a time-out.
"All right; we've got to do our best to keep the Slytherins and their Bludgers away from
Patil. If he gets his one more time, I think we'd have to forfeit, since we don't have a
reserve Keeper." Nigel sank onto the ground, massaging his badly bruised neck. Ashley
and Miranda looked worried. "John and Jacqueline, one of you has got to stay near our
goals."
Jacqueline shook a strand of black hair out of her face. "I'll do that."'
James nodded. "All right then. Patil, can you stay on the broom for that long?"
Nigel nodded, wincing. He stood up, a bit shakily. "I'll try."
"All right, then. Let's go!-Lily, what're you doing here?"
The tousled redhead had run across the field, wand drawn and panting a bit. "I think this
might work. Nigel, come here."
He climbed off of his broom and limped over to Lily. "What-"
"Hold the talking. Show me your neck. "
Obliging, he bent over, pushing his hair out of the way, and revealed the nastiest bruise
anyone on the team had ever seen. Lily pulled out her wand.
"I think this might work."
"You think? What if it doesn't?" Joseph was a bit angry.
Lily ignored him and flourished her wand. "Revivisco!"
Nothing happened for a few seconds, and John frowned. "Lily, are you sure about this?"
"I've been practicing this in Herbology. I'm pretty sure."
"Herbology? For heaven's sake, Lily, Nigel isn't a plant!"
Lily raised her defensive eyebrow. "All right, fine. I'm leaving." She whirled around,
walking off of the field.
James turned to Nigel. "Hey, how are you?"
Nigel was still on his knees, but he was feeling his neck in wonder. "What did she do?"
"Performed some kind of plant charm on you. Are you all right?"
"Plant charm? Well, she's very good." He flipped his hair back. Not a trace of a bruise
remained, not on his neck or stomach. "Let's go!"
The Gryffindor team looked at him in wonder. James was looking after Lily, who had
regained her seat on the bleachers, looking satisfied and hurt at the same time.
The team rose into the air. Nigel played better than he ever had before, though Joseph still
wasn't anywhere near catching the Snitch. The only thing he had managed to do was
knock into Ashley and almost throw her off of her broom. With Nigel's new streak as
Keeper, the score quickly rose to one hundred and eighty to ninety, with Gryffindor in the
lead.
"And Potter's streaking up the field with the Quaffle-Quaffle goes to Thomas, Shaw-back
to Thomas, Potter-Potter scores! Gryffindor leads with one hundred ninety to ninety!"
James easily beat all of the Chasers of the Slytherin team. He and Miranda were
slaughtering Slytherin and having fun doing it. The score rose to two hundred and sixty to
one hundred and ten, and the Gryffindors all had sore throats from cheering. The sun was

56
setting over the forest, and Lily's eyes were drooping.
"Gryffindor's Patil pulls off another spectacular save, and there goes Thomas…Quaffle
goes to Potter-Thomas-Shaw-Potter-nice loop there, James,-and GRYFFINDOR
SCORES!-hang on a minute-what was that?"
Joseph and Hatcher were both heading for the same gold glitter in the middle of the field.
The whole stadium, noisy and raucous before, had fallen silent, watching the two Seekers
hurtle towards each other with a small glimmering gold ball between them.
At the last minute, a Bludger sent by the Slytherin Beater Alton whistled in front of
Joseph, who turned aside sharply, giving Hatcher the milliseconds that he needed.
Hatcher's fist closed around the Snitch, and he rose into the air to tumultuous Gryffindor
cheering.
In the stands, Lily and her friends collapsed onto each other, laughing at the first
delighted, then dumbstruck face of Hatcher as he heard the announcement:
"GRYFFINDOR WINS AND SLYTHERIN CAN'T ADD!". He sank down towards the
ground, looking more and more lost until he plummeted into a pile of melting snow
which had turned to slush. Hatcher didn't even notice how soaked and dirty his robes
were as his teammates landed and started to yell at him, telling him all sorts of things not
exactly appropriate, but since no teacher could discern anything of what they were saying
because they were all talking at once, they weren't given a month's worth of detention,
which was what would usually have happened.
Laughing herself sick along with the others, Lily and the rest of the Gryffindors swamped
their team, tossing the Chasers in particular into the air and carrying them on their
shoulders back to the dorms, Nigel holding the giant golden Quidditch Cup.
After piling into the common room, the party went on all night; literally. Around five
thirty Professor McGonagall came in and told them, a bit sternly, to stop, but she never
got past the, "Now, I know you won the Cup, but…", because she had caught sight of the
enormous amount of food James and Sirius had managed to sneak from the kitchens. Her
mouth dropped and she bustled out, muttering something about irresponsible house-elves.

By now, Lily's hair had partly fallen out of the rubber band and was, to put it lightly, a
tangled mess. Her robes, along with those of the other Gryffindors, were a spectacle, and
when she fought her way over to where James and Sirius were sitting, James' mouth
dropped open.
"Who are you and what have you done with Lily?"
"What? Is it my hair?"
"That and your robes. What happened?"
"Why do you want to know?" Lily was starting to get offensive.
"Well, you used to look so…so nice."
"And I don't now, is that what you mean?"
"Well,…yeah, pretty much."
"Why, thank you. Is that the only reason you were being my friend?"
James didn't reply.
"You little-little-I'm not even sure what to call you. Have a nice evening." She whirled off
and went to find Eva, who was looking for the amount of calories in a Fizzing Whizzbee.
"Eva, you were right."
"About what? Boys not falling over you if you don't care what you look like? Of course I

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was." She tore the wrapper open. "Why tell me that?"
Lily slouched in her chair. "Those people who I thought were my friends looked at me as
if I were a nasty cockroach that needed to be stepped on fast. The first thing James said to
me was: 'Who are you and what have you done with Lily!'"
Eva sighed, an 'I-told-you-so'' sigh. "Well, what are you planning to do?"
"I don't plan. I have an organizer programmed into my brain that does it for me. I'm not
speaking to them. At all."
Eva shook her head. "We'll see how long that'll last!"
Lily started for her dormitory. "As long as it takes.
A month and a half later, Lily and James still weren't speaking. She maintained that she
didn't need the friendship of someone who only liked her because she slept on knobby,
prickly curlers every night and James wouldn't back down from his view that he didn't
want a friend who didn't even care enough about herself to brush her hair once in a while.
The last words she'd said to him were: "Of course I don't brush it. I own combs. Oh-I
forgot-is that word not in your vocabulary? Not to be rude or anything, but you obviously
don't own one." With a sickly smile on her face, she had reached forward, tousled James'
constantly messy hair, pulled a rooted-to-the-carpet Eva away from the fire, and walked
out of the portrait hole.
In front of the Great Hall, she had met Snape and Malfoy, and, with a quick glance over
her shoulder to make sure James had followed her, she gave them a nice wave and a
smile before burying herself in "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One".
Sirius didn't try to talk to her after that, either.
It was the middle of April and the end of a particularly hard Transfiguration class. The
noise of the bell sounded through the corridors as the students scrambled for the door.
Professor McGonagall held Lily back after class.
"Evans, I need to speak with you."
Lily was puzzled. "Of course, Professor. Have I…er, done anything?"
"Of course not. Step inside my office."
Lily did so, still confused. She saw Professor McGonagall pull a folder out of her desk,
open it, and put it on her desktop. "Evans, I'd like you to look through this."
Lily was a bit worried now. She stepped close to the folder and started to flip through the
papers, all of which she recognized. "Professor, this is my work for this year."
"Exactly. Look at the grades."
Lily pushed a few of the papers aside. "One hundred, ninety-eight, ninety-seven, one
hundred, one hundred, one hundred and three, one hundred and twelve, ninety-six-What
about them, Professor?"
The usually stern teacher relaxed her face into a smile. "You are the top student in this
class. Better, I think, than the top few for the last eight years."
Lily blushed. "Professor, I-"
Professor McGonagall held up her hand and Lily fell silent. "Miss Evans, I have spoken
to the headmaster about your outstanding work in a particularly hard class. Your grades in
the rest of your subjects are just as good as in this one, if not better. If you feel that you
can do this, Professor Dumbledore is willing to let you skip into the third grade next year,
providing your exam grades are sufficient."
Slowly, Lily's face lit up. "Really? I-I'm not sure what to say-"
"Would you like some time to think over such an important decision as this? I should

58
suggest you communicate with your parents. Professor Dumbledore has already done so,
but I think you might want to do so also."
Lily was grinning so hard that she had to bite her lip to prevent it from attaching to the
other end of her mouth in the back. "Professor, I-thank you, Professor." On an impulse,
she hugged her teacher around the waist and sped out of the door, running right into Eva,
who had been waiting for her.
"Well, what did McGonagall want?"
"Eva, you'll never guess. If my exams are good enough, they're promoting me to third
next year!"
Eva started to laugh. She was giggling so hard Lily had to pat her on the back as she
choked on too much air.
"What's so funny? Aren't you happy for me?"
"Yeah, I am, but-Lily, I don't think you've thought of this."
"Thought of what?"
"You're going to be in the same classes as Sirius and James."
Lily's smile dropped as fast as she had during the last disastrous flying lesson.
"Oh no. Oh NO. OH NO! Eva, what'm I going to do?"
"I know. You'll have to start talking to them again!"
Lily humphed. "I will not."
"Well, how're you going to tell them that you're going to be having classes with them next
year?" Eva was still choking a bit.
"I'm not. You are."
"I am what?”
They entered the common room after dinner, which, as usual, Lily had spent with Eva,
Vanessa, Amanda, and Miranda. Lily cast one glance at the fire, where James and Sirius
were playing chess, and headed for the dormitories, turning back and hiding behind the
doorway, unseen but able to hear all. At a nod from her, Eva came over to the boys.
"Hi!"
They looked up. "Oh, hi…" James was obviously puzzled. "Sit down?"
Eva accepted with a smile. "Oh, thanks." She looked at the board. "Lily's helping me a bit
with chess. James, didn't you teach her a lot of the game?" She hadn't been able to think
of a better introduction.
James looked up, the pawn still in his hand. "Don't come to me talking about your friend.
If she wants to hang out with the people she knows we don't like, then, fine, she's not
going to hang around us. Anything else?"
Eva gulped; this wasn't going as well as she'd thought it might. "Um, yeah, look, I know
you used to be friends."
Sirius interrupted. "Used to be."
Catching a warning glance from Lily, Eva went on hurriedly. "See, I don't really think
you shouldn't be talking. I mean, you used to be all over her, so scared when that Snape-
Malfoy-freeze-charm thing happened, and now it's kinda over."
James stood up. "I did not use to be 'all over her', and I don't want to hear anything else
about that Muggle." His eyes were dangerous. "I'm going to bed." He started for his
dormitory but was held back by Sirius.
"Hey, James, finish the game. I want to beat you once and I think I've go a winning game.
Forget Lily. C'mon." He pulled his friend towards the chess board and made him sit

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down. Eva had in the meantime rejoined Lily.
Lily scowled. "That didn't go very well."
"Well, what did you expect me to say? Oh, hi, James, your enemy is going to be in your
classes next year and desperately wants you to know about it and wants to know what
you think about her skipping second year? C'mon, Lily, that would be a suicidal mission."

"How so?"
"Well, for one thing, you'd kill me."
"Oh. Good point."
"You're supposed to say: 'Of course I wouldn't do that, Eva!' Not: 'Good point'."
"Well, it is a good point. Help me study for exams?"
Eva snorted. "Since when does Miss I'm Going to Skip Second Year need help on her
exams? I think I'm the one here who needs help."
"Good point."
Lily fled up the stairs, laughing as she ran away from her friend's wand.

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