Summery: Lily and her friends are the outcasts that no one knows about. The moment James sets his eye on Lily; the whole world seems to turn upside down. Chaos, troubles, pranks and bets follow around… but in the end of it, true love and friendship conquer them all…AU
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. At all. I mean it.
The Pumpkins
By: Ruby89
Chapter three
A black line was added to the next one. Lily glanced above her sketch and than back to the paper. She smudged the black line slightly with her finger, creating a shadow underneath the object she was drawing. She glanced up again and than back down. Not bad, she thought to herself. She'll have to add the final touches later when she'll have more time, but the drawing looked satisfying enough in her eyes.
She replaced the black chalk with a normal quill and wrote down at the corner of the drawing: The common room: first morning
She had five more sketches of the Gryffindor common room. Each drawing belonged to each first morning of her school year. Since she was only four years old, she got used to draw everything she saw and remembered. Drawing the common room of her house became a tradition which she stuck with from her first year.
She put her finished sketch in her special binder which she carried everywhere with her, and stretched her arms upwards. She rolled her head from side to side and rubbed her tired neck.
It was past six in the morning and the common room was deserted except her. Lily was always an early riser, disliking the thought of losing any minute of light she can use to draw, but sometimes she envied her friends who could sleep until practically noon under the covers.
She sighed and checked her watch. In another twenty minutes her friends will start to get up. She closed her eyes and leaned backwards. She wondered what Sam's reaction will be if she gave her an early wake-up call.
Probably complain for interrupting her beauty sleep, Lily smiled to herself. She didn't even consider trying and waking up Charlie. Each Pumpkin knew that it's better not to try and do something to her in the morning, unless she had some kind of a death wish.
In their fourth year she, Sam and Alama tried to wake their friend up. Complete failure that was. Charlie didn't even bother to open her eyes. All she did was to point her wand in their supposed direction and a moment later, the bathroom door flew off its place and slammed at the opposite wall. They got the hint after that display.
"Early up, Evans?"
Please god why me? Lily opened her eyes and looked at the direction the voice came from. At the bottom of the boy's staircase sat the tall figure of James Potter. Lily always believed in making your own luck in life, but even she had the nagging feeling that if you saw the person you liked the least first thing in the morning, it could only be a sign of a coming bad day.
"People usually say good morning, you know" she commented dryly and closed back her eyes.
James smirked slightly and got up. The truth was that he watched her for more than a few minutes. He got up surprisingly early, and decided to take a short visit to the kitchens. When he got down, the first thing he saw was her. She was sitting near the fireplace, cuddled in the armchair with some kind of large notebook placed on her thigh.
His first thought was to scare her. He was certain that she didn't notice his presence at all. But something in the way of her concentration made him hesitate. So he sat down and observed her actions. He lost the track of time until she stopped whatever she was doing- drawing, he guessed- and stretched her arms.
His gaze fell unintentionally to her chest, where he caught a glimpse of her curved breasts against the fabric of the uniform, before she sighed and leaned backwards.
He stopped right behind her and leaned down until his mouth brushed against her ear "you know, it's very rude to ignore people" he whispered in a low voice.
His warm breath tickled her sensitive skin behind her ear, but Lily didn't show a single sign that it bothered her. "Trust me" she said in a bored tone "if I wanted to be rude, I wouldn't bother to speak to you" she opened her eyes and glanced at him. His face was way too close to her liking "don't you have somewhere else to go?"
"No" he smirked "why? Do I make you nervous?" now that he was much closer to her, he saw that today her hair was tied in four braids. Girls and their weird haircuts. He tugged one of the braids and twirled the end of it around his finger.
Lily's eyes narrowed slightly and she pulled her braid from his grasp. Why boys always liked playing with girls' hair? She crossed her arms under her chest and observed him suspiciously "what do you want?"
"Nothing really, don't you believe me?" he gave his infamous lopsided grin which made every girl at school to swoon. Lily barely even blinked. "No" she answered.
Well, almost every girl at school...
James looked at her in slight confusion. It was the First time that his charms failed to work on a girl. His gaze fell on the binder. "And what's this?" he barely took a peek when Lily's hand closed it shut with force "none of your business!"
It was the first time that James saw a spark of anger in her eyes. He smiled, enjoying his small victory "now, now Evans" he waggled his finger at her "you better keep that temper of yours when you speak to me. I am after all the Head Boy"
"You mean the Head jerk" she muttered darkly.
He smiled and quickly picked up the binder. "Hey!" she tried to snatch it back but he jumped away from her reach "so what's the big deal? You draw naked people in here or something?" he was about to open the binder when he was knocked suddenly to the floor.
He looked up in complete shock at Lily who was straddling him, her narrow green eyes flashing dangerously. She pointed the tip of her wand to his chest and said through gritted teeth "don't you dare touch my stuff". She snatched her binder back and quickly got up. When she turned around, she saw that most of her house was staring at them with open mouths in deadly silence. some of them were still in their pajamas.
"I hope you enjoyed the show" James jumped up and bowed to the rest of the Gryffindors with a fake smile on his face "now I suggest you all go up and change. Breakfast soon" when people started to clear off, James grabbed Lily's arm not in the most gentle way and hissed in her ear "this is not over yet, Evans"
Lily glared at him, holding her binder much closer to her body. When she looked away, she saw her friends staring at her in surprise. Charlie was the first to break the silence "so… we all ready to go to breakfast?" she asked with a slightly forced smile, her eyes still watching Lily closely.
"Let's go" Lily exhaled deeply.
Lily caught Sam casting curious glances at her and stopped in the middle of the corridor "what?" she snapped. She sighed when she saw her friend flinch under her tone and said more quietly "sorry, Sam. It's just that the encounter with Potter left me with a bad mood"
"Don't worry" Sam smiled and rubbed Lily's shoulder sympathetically and then she added jokingly "by the way your encounter with Potter ended, I think you were the lucky part in this whole business"
Lily smiled slightly and felt herself relax until she caught the wicked smile on Sam's face "so Lily, do you-"
"No, I have nothing important I need to tell you" Lily rolled her eyes. She knew that it won't take Sam long before she start to dig for details.
"But-"
"I know how it looked and trust me, this was one of those times when what you see is not what you think really happened"
"So that means-"
Lily sighed and turned to face her friends "yes, I attacked him, yes, he annoyed me and no, we're not having a secret sexual relationship between us which I forgot to mention. He's a Marauder for Merlin's sake! Who do you think I am?"
"No need to get all riled up" Alama said "we only wanted to know why when we got down, you were sitting on top of Potter"
"Frankly, you didn't look like you were suffering from that position" Sam remarked. She quickly looked away when Lily glared at her.
"Don't kill me or anything" Charlie smiled at her "but for a second there I suspected that that was the reason why you always get up so early"
Lily shuddered at the thought "don't even think in that direction. Better yet- don't ever describe such a situation between that… guy and me. I'll start to have nightmares or something because of that"
The girls giggled and sat down at the end of the Gryffindor's table. Lily looked at the small piece of paper which was her schedule and felt her mood sink even lower "I knew that this is going to be a bad day. It's all Potter's entire fault!"
"What happened?" Charlie asked between bites.
"Double Transfiguration! Can you believe my luck? And on the first day of school" Lily groaned.
"I heard McGonagall will be stricter than ever, because it's our sixth year and all. And that means more homework, more exams, more class practices…"
Lily gulped uneasily "Ali, you're not making me feel any better"
Alama smiled sheepishly at her "sorry. But don't worry; I'm sure that this year you'll be able to get the tasks right. Who knows? Maybe this time you won't blow up the objects you suppose to transfigure"
Lily pushed the half full plate away from her "I think I just lost my appetite" she said weakly.
The rest three Pumpkins exchanged anxious looks and started to talk about random things just to take Lily's mind off of the coming class for a few minutes. When the mail arrived, it gave the perfect distraction.
A magnificent brown-white owl landed gracefully in front of Sam and placed gently the large parcel with its beak on the table. "Thanks Galleon" Sam patted his back, before the owl stretched his wings to the sides and took off.
"Oh good! Mom sent me those magazines that I asked for" Sam flipped a few pages in curiosity before putting them in her beg.
"What're they for?" Alama asked.
"They suppose to help me with some very useful tips, on how to become a good clothes designer"
"Sounds cool"
"Yeah I know" Sam sighed happily "having the manager of 'Witch Weekly' as your mother, does have its benefits"
Charlie glanced at her watch "fifteen minutes, guys…"
"Mind if I sit here?"
Sam glanced up to see Sirius Black standing close to her with his famous breathtaking grin on his face. She exhaled slowly. Now she knew how Lily felt when she saw Potter first thing in the morning.
"Sure" she smiled back. When he sat next to her, her smile widened and she stood up immediately "we were leaving anyway". She grabbed her bag and joined her friends.
"Smooth move, girl" Lily gave her a half smile and glanced at the marauder behind her shoulder.
"Mind if I sit here?" Sam mimicked Sirius in a low voice, making her friends laugh "the nerve of him!"
"He only asked to sit" Charlie commented.
Sam snorted lady-like "unfortunately the git didn't ask permission to brush his hand against my thigh"
"He did what?" Lily looked shocked at her.
"Are you sure?" Alama looked surprised as well.
Sam rolled her eyes "Alama, you know that part of the girl's uniform is to wear miniskirts. Trust me; there is no way I can mistake the feeling of his hand on my bare leg. Even though he'll probably say that it was only an accident"
"You should have spilled the pumpkin juice on his head" Charlie suggested.
Sam smirked slightly "or sit on him like Lily did to Potter?"
Lily shook her head but still smiled "at least you know what made me jump on him"
"Uncontrollable urge to posses his body?" Sam asked innocently.
"Sam!" Lily's shocked expression fell quickly and she laughed with her friends. "I'm going to imagine that you didn't say that" she chuckled.
"I'm only kidding" Sam linked her arm with Lily's. "You know I agree with you about having a relationship with one of those guys. Like you said- he's a Marauder and I, thank goodness, am still a sane person"
"Well, you don't have to worry about him" Charlie said "whether he was insulted or not, Veronica is now making sure to help him get over the blow you made to his ego"
"How do you know that?"
"I saw her and her entourage fawning around Sirius less than a second after you left your seat"
"Told you" Sam shrugged "only insane girls believe that they've got a chance with that guy"
-
Lily glanced at her watch impatiently. Ten more minutes until the end of the class. It was the end of her fifth class and she needed to be excused five minutes before the bell. Unfortunately her History teacher, Professor Binns, was or rather doing a great job to ignore Lily's hand that was in the air for the past few minutes or he needed a new glasses.
"What are the possibilities that if he died in the middle of his class, he'll actually notice?" she whispered to Alama.
"Very low" Alama giggled silently "where do you need to go?"
"McGonagall" Lily answered "she asked me to come to talk to her before lunch-break" she cleared her throat loudly, trying to gain the professor's attention "excuse me? Professor?" after two more minutes, professor Binns finally blinked in her direction, surprised that one of his students could actually talk. "I've got permission from professor McGonagall to leave the class a little early, may I go?"
"Yes, yes… Ms. Evor" he glanced back at his notes and continued his lecture. Lily and Alama exchanged weird looks before Lily shrugged and left the classroom.
She knocked three times on McGonagall's classroom and entered quietly. Her professor sat behind her desk and glanced up at her when she walked in. she nodded once at Lily and motioned her to stay quiet in her place.
Lily looked around the classroom and noticed the seventh year students sitting quietly in their seats and writing down, what she supposed was, a test. Gryffindors with Ravenclaws, she noticed. She leaned on the wall behind her and observed the students with slight unease. Next year she'll probably do the same test. The thought made her stomach tighten uncomfortably.
James leaned on the chair's back legs, his arms behind his head. His finished test lay on the table in front of him. As always, he was the first to finish it. He glanced at his watch with a bored expression and looked around him impatiently.
Sirius and Remus sat in different places in the classroom, under McGonagall's instructions, and he wasn't able to send a single note to his mates without her notice. The opening of the door drew his attention. When he noticed who it was he nearly fell backwards.
What the hell is she doing here?
He narrowed his eyes at the redhead girl. It was impossible not to recognize Evans with her four braids swaying from her head. She leaned on the wall with her hands grabbing the strip of her bag and looked around the class.
He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but she seemed to pale when she looked at the test which his classmates were writing. she looked suddenly up and locked eyes with him. Her eyes narrowed immediately and she looked away pointedly.
She looked angry with him, he thought in irritation, when it was he who was supposed to be angry between them. She wasn't the one who was humiliated in front of their whole house while lying on her back like a hopeless turtle.
When the bell rang, he got up and strutted towards Lily. "What are you doing here?"
She raised her eyebrows in question "what's it to you? I don't see any reason to explain you anything"
"Listen-"
"Mr. Potter" McGonagall's sharp voice interrupted him "would you be so kind to close the door? I need to speak to both you and Ms. Evans"
James closed the door as she asked and stood next to Lily in front of his professor with crossed arms "what for?" he asked and than added quickly "professor"
"You'll see soon enough" McGonagall answered curtly and then turned to Lily "let's get straight to the bottom of this meeting. After your performance this morning Ms. Evans…"
Lily reddened uncomfortably when she remembered her complete failure in her first double class this morning. She only hoped that Patricia's chair stopped barking and jumping on people, knocking them out.
James smirked when he saw Lily's blush "having troubles with Transfiguration, Evans?"
Lily glared at him in response. It was one thing to suck in the subject, but quite another thing when she was humiliated in front of him.
"Interesting that you ask Mr. Potter, because under the circumstances I decided to appoint Ms. Evans a tutor, and according to my check, you are the best student in that subject"
It didn't take James and Lily a long time to understand what she was implying. "what?!" they both cried.
"You've got to be kidding"
"Unfortunately Ms. Evans, your grade in Transfiguration is no joke"
Lily sighed and muttered bitterly under her breath "this day just gets better and better"
"And if I refuse?" James asked. He had no intention to spend his afternoons tutoring a stubborn annoying little sixth year girl.
"Then I'll suggest you reconsider your position as Head Boy" McGonagall said strictly. "It would be a shame for you and the whole school if you'll resign"
"Yeah" Lily muttered sarcastically "that'll be a loss"
Now it was James' turn to glare back at her. "And quidditch?" he tried again "I planned tryouts for another two weeks, and then there are the regular quidditch practices. I won't have enough time to do it all"
"I don't see any problem. You'll start your tutoring after the tryouts and then arrange with Ms. Evans to meet once a week. You'll spent only one hour for your tutoring lesson. Anything else?"
When James couldn't find any other excuses he shook his head "no".
"Ms. Evans? Does this arrangement suits you?"
"You'll have to forgive me while I'm trying to conceal my excitement" Lily muttered dryly.
"What was that Ms. Evans?"
"Nothing" Lily sighed "I agree. Not that I have much choice" she muttered the last part under her breath.
"Good" McGonagall looked from one to another with a pleased expression "you may leave to discuss the details between you two. There is still enough time for the two of you to have lunch"
Lily and James walked side by side until they were both far away from the Transfiguration's classroom, before Lily faced him "don't think for one second that I'll let you tutor me"
"Trust me, you're not the only one around here who doesn't like this idea" he snapped at her. They glared at each other for a few moments before Lily shook her head "this won't get us anywhere. Just… let's just deal with this whole tutoring thing after the tryouts. Agreed?"
"Why Evans" he smirked and leaned his hand on the wall, next to her head "It sounds to me like you're going to try your luck at quidditch"
"Of course not! I suck at it and I much prefer to keep my two feet on the ground"
"But you're still going to be at the tryouts?"
"Of course" Lily answered without thinking.
"I didn't know that you were so eager to see me on a broomstick" he smiled smugly down at her.
"How did you guess?" Lily asked sarcastically.
He leaned closer and like this morning he whispered softly in her ear "don't worry sweetheart, once this long two weeks are over we'll have a lot of quality time to spend together. I might even add a few more tutoring lessons just for you" his tone lowered till it sounded almost sensual "I think you'll especially enjoy our late tutoring"
"Can't wait" Lily answered in the same low voice with a fake sweet smile of her own. She ducked under his arm and walked away, while James' gaze is following her.
-
"Do you think I did something really horrible in my previous life? Like murdered someone?"
Charlie glanced up when Lily sat next to her and started to pile food in her plate "what?"
"I was just wondering if I did something really horrible in my life which deserved a punishment"
"Not that I know" Charlie answered "why?"
"Because McGonagall just told me that I'll get a tutor for Transfiguration"
"Really?" Sam looked up in interest "that doesn't sound too bad"
"You think that having Potter as my tutor is not bad?"
The rest three girls froze in their actions. "Potter?" Sam repeated wide-eyed.
"Mmhhmm" Lily nodded "a Marauder tutoring a Pumpkin. Does that sound normal to you? Don't we have a rule against such things?"
"We don't have rules at all" Alama commented. "Except our motto of course: 'if you fall off the hippogriff, climb back. If someone pushes you off the hippogriff, hex him'"
"So if I'll still continue to fail the subject, that means I'm allowed to hex Potter?" Lily asked hopefully.
Sam laughed at that "don't worry, I don't think it'll get to such situation which you'll need to hex him"
"Are you kidding me? Five minutes ago, he hit on me in the middle of the hallway!"
Sam's smile widened mischievously "are you sure-"
"No Sam, I'm not having a secret relationship with him!"
Sam shrugged with an innocent smile "just making sure"
-
"You're going to tutor a sixth year?"
James nodded. He swallowed his food and answered "under the strict order of McGonagall"
"And what about quidditch?" Sirius demanded to know.
"It's only one hour once a week, Padfoot" Remus interrupted "you make it sound like James is going to his own funeral"
"I won't be surprised if he does" Sirius snorted in response "tutoring…" he shook his head at the thought "who?"
"The Evans girl"
"Well, you should have said it earlier!" Sirius' mood improved immediately "if you're going to spent time with the redhead, you might help me to nail her friend" he jerked his chin in Samantha's direction. "I like when girls play hard-to-get, but I'm gonna need more information about her to woo her. For some unknown reason my usual methods doesn't work"
"Can't you ask Veronica?"
Sirius shook his head "I tried. She either changed the subject, or started to tell me some really nasty stories about her. From what she said, I got the strong feeling that those two are not getting along so good"
"I don't think I'll be able to help you with that" James commented "it's going to be hard enough to suffer Evans for a whole hour. I doubt she'll give me any information on her friend willingly"
"If you hate it so much, so why did you accepted?" asked Remus.
James smirked in response "I changed my mind when I realized that Evans hates the idea more that I am. It was clearly she was suffering from the mere idea of it, and who I am to please her and refuse the task of tutoring her?"
Remus shook his head "I hope you know what you're doing"
"Don't be a drag Moony" Sirius clapped a hand on James' shoulder "won't it be hilarious if she falls in you?"
James gave a lopsided grin "I think she already has. You know how girls are- she's probably in denial. After all, there isn't a single girl in this school who can resist me" he and Sirius burst in laughter and Remus only shook his head hopelessly.
A/N: so what did you think? Just for general knowledge, James will try and seduce Lily a little. Just for the fun of it, of course.
So review and tell me what you thought, ok?
Thanks a lot to every reader!
Ruby89