Chapter 21

On the first day of classes, Lily took a long look in the mirror at herself. This would be the last first day of classes. She smiled before grabbing her book bag and heading down to the Great Hall. The night before she had been up late doing patrols, but she had never felt so awake. Lily sat down next to Marlene who was staring at the toast, longingly.

"Just have a piece of toast, Marley. It won't kill you," Lily rolled her eyes and took one. Marlene scoffed and tore her eyes away from the bread.

"Think about how much weight I'll lose if I cut out bread," Marlene sighed sadly and Lily waved the toast in front of her face.

"Marlene, you seriously need to shut up. You don't need to lose weight," Lily put a piece of toast on Marlene's plate. Marlene looked from Lily to the toast before starting to eat it.

"You're such a bad influence," Marlene shook her head and Lily laughed. McGonagall was moving up the tables to make schedules for everyone. Lily and Marlene watched as excited first years talked together about classes they would have.

"Remember when we were cute and little?" Remus sat down next to the girls and they smiled at him. 

"Well I personally may not be little but I'm pretty cute," Sirius sat opposite of them. "And Wormy is little so together we could be a first year," Sirius ruffled Peter's hair and Peter nervously flattened it. 

"And you and Potter have the emotional maturity of a first year combined," Lily shook her head with a smile as James sat down next to Sirius, across from them. 

"Woah, so hostile," James shook his head sadly but was cut off when McGonagall approached their group. Lily shot James a quick smile to let him know she was only joking and he winked back at her. Marlene got her schedule first, then Lily, followed by Remus, Peter, Sirius, and finally James. 

"Bless we're done by one," Marlene peered over at Lily's schedule and compared. "I can't believe you're still taking herbology," Marlene rolled her eyes and Lily scoffed. 

"Herbology is so useful. Remus is taking it too," Lily said and Remus nodded. 

"Nerds," Sirius coughed. Lily kicked him under the table and he groaned while rubbing his shin. 

"Anyways, we should go swimming in the lake," Marlene grinned and Lily bit her bottom lip, hesitantly. "Come on. Loosen up and have some fun! We deserve this."

"We have done absolutely nothing and you're like 'we deserve this' come on. I'm supposed to be setting a good example," Lily sighed and Marlene groaned while shaking her best friend. 

"Come on come on come on! Please please please pleeeeeease," Marlene began to beg until Lily finally gave in. Marlene grinned and hugged her tightly. The girls said goodbye to the marauders before heading to Alchemy. It was a small class for only seventh years. There were three Slytherin's, four Hufflepuffs, six Ravenclaws, and three Gryffindor's. Lily fell in love with the class after one lesson, but felt a little weird the other Gryffindor (Darian Lee) was staring at her the entire class. Darian was fairly smart but always gave everyone the creeps as he never said much.

He slid Lily a note near the end of class that read: Will you go out with me?

Lily did her best to not look at him as she scribbled a no thank you on the bottom and slid it back to him. Marlene was silently shaking next to Lily from laughing. That wasn't the only time someone stared at Lily throughout the day. It seemed like every class there was at least one boy that was staring at her the majority of the lesson and was starting to make her uncomfortable. She was thankful when classes were done and she sat with Marlene in the Great Hall again. 

"What's with all the attention today?" Lily asked Marlene as she smiled politely and waved back at a Hufflepuff sixth year who then proceeded to freak out with his friends. 

"Listen, I'm not saying you weren't hot to begin with but over summer you changed. Like a lot," Marlene said through a mouth full of soup. Lily rolled her eyes and took a sandwich. 

"I got a freakin haircut," she mumbled and Marlene shook her head. 

"No no. You're more confident now. You've got curves girl. Like cuuuuurves," Marlene dragged out the first syllable to make an impression. "Plus you're nice and all that. Whole package, right? Hell, I'd date you," Marlene winked and both the girls laughed. "Don't be ashamed. Strut your stuff," Marlene tried to tug off Lily's robe. Lily laughed and batted her hand away. 

"Come on. I could really use a distraction," Lily stood up as she finished her sandwich. Marlene nodded and they went up to the dorms before changing into swimsuits and going down to the lake. They were laughing and splashing each other. It was easy to pretend only they existed in the world and no bad was happening anywhere. They eventually started to get cold and went back to lay down under the sun to start to dry off. "We could just magic the water off," Lily pointed out as she closed her eyes. 

"How do we tan like that," Marlene asked in a sing-song voice and Lily laughed a little. She could hear arguing a short ways away but ignored it. Lily could feel the sun kissing her skin and her hair slowly drying around her. The grass tickled her bare feet and it smelled like home. 

"Ladies," Lily peeked her eye open as she was suddenly engulfed in shade and saw James Potter blocking her and Marlene's light with Sirius trailing quickly behind him. 

"Move out of the sun's way," Marlene whined and James side-stepped. Lily sat up and ran a hand through her hair. 

"Hey Lily!" Another male voice joined them, belonging to a Ravenclaw, Connor Taylor. 

"Hi Connor," Lily smiled at him and failed to notice James rolling his eyes. 

"Give us just a minute, Connor," James said and Connor stepped about three inches backwards. "We brought you these," James and Sirius held out towels for the girls. Lily and Marlene looked at each other and didn't touch them. "It's not a prank," James said impatiently and the girls stood up to look them in the eye.

"We're good, thanks," Marlene folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. Sirius took the opportunity to wrap her in a towel. Marlene started swearing and hitting him in the back as he had also picked her up. 

"What the hell?" Lily asked, alarmed. Sirius and Marlene moved a couple feet away and were now arguing so Lily looked back at James who ran a hand nervously through his hair. 

"We, erm, well-"

"Spit it out, Potter," Lily was getting more impatient by the minute on why they felt the need to ruin their afternoon out. 

"All these guys are staring at you like you're an object and you... you need to cover up," James folded his arms to mimic Lily. Now, James may have had good intentions, but little did he know that this was the turning point for him. He would look back on this moment and regret it for months to come .

"Excuse me," Lily said in a deadly whisper. That's when he knew he fucked up. "I need to cover up? Why do I need to? Why don't you guys learn to control yourself and not drool over women like they're your property?" Lily pointed at his chest and James looked at her finger in a panic. 

"I would never look or say-"

"Shut up, Connor," Lily and James both said and Lily rounded back onto James. 

"I can dress how I like and deal with you pigs. Despite what you may think, I can protect myself," Lily jabbed at his chest angrily. 

"I never said-" James started but was cut off by Connor who tried to pipe in again. Lily turned to him angrily and in the heat of the moment, punched him square on. She wasn't sure if it was the comment about her 'rockin bod' or 'feisty personality' that set her off but she did know that Connor was running back to the castle with a bloody nose and she felt terrible. 

"Lily-" James started but she closed her eyes and he fell silent. 

"Don't talk to me right now," Lily grabbed her wand from the ground and marched into the castle, shortly followed by Marlene. Sirius approached James and patted his back. He had a rather large scratch on his cheek from Marlene trying to free herself.

"So that didn't go the smoothest," Sirius said and James glared at him. 

Word spread pretty quickly about what Lily did to Connor (despite her apologizing profusely for losing her temper) and the guys left her pretty well alone after that day.