Chapter 24

October brought a cool chill to the castle grounds. Students could be seen huddling around the fire in the Gryffindor common room as the sun set, and Herbology classes moved into the greenhouses instead of being outdoors.

To say things were tense between Lily and James would be an understatement. Lily was hanging out with Sirius and Remus in the common room one night as Marlene was helping Alice with Arithmacy. It was only them in the common room as most people were at dinner or hanging outside before it got too cold. Sirius had his head on Lily's lap while she read a book. Lily was absentmindedly playing with Sirius's long curls with her free hand. Remus was working on an essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"What shampoo do you use?" Lily finally asked, looking away from her book. Sirius had his eyes closed like he was being pampered at the spa.

"You're going to say it's gross," Sirius didn't even open his eyes.

"What? No I'm not," Lily put her book down, her interest now piqued.

"Yes you are," Remus shuddered, not looking up from his essay.

"If I help you with your furry problem, you can help me with mine," Sirius sat up and swung his legs back over the couch to sit normal.

"I don't think I want to know, but I need to know," Lily tried her best not to look disgusted at the thought of the boys 'furry' problems.

"Not like that," Sirius rolled his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair. "I had fleas. Remus gives me a flea bath once a month. Or James," Sirius shrugged. "Makes my hair silky soft when I turn back," He smiled broadly and Lily scrunched her nose in disgust.

"You get fleas?" She couldn't help but shivering and Remus laughed.

"Only as a dog but they travel to like clothes and stuff," Sirius started laughing too. Lily shook her head and pushed Sirius away as he tried to lay back down. "Oy! I'm clean now," he rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

"Why'd you chose to be a dog?" Lily asked, curiously.

"It's not really a choice. We turn into whatever animal is supposed to reflect our personality. I'm a lovable monster, a dog," Sirius shrugged.

"If anyone's the monster, it's me," Remus muttered and Sirius clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"It's not a competition, Moony," Sirius folded his arms. Lily and Remus laughed as the portrait hole opened. James came in, alone, and sat down next to Remus at the table. "I forgot, you've never seen anyone else as their animagus," Sirius grinned at Lily.

"That's true," Lily nodded and picked her book back up.

"So, hypothetically speaking, what would you think James's spirit animal is?" Sirius grinned and turned to Lily.

"A pig," Lily didn't look up from her book. Sirius started laughing and turned to James.

"She didn't even miss a beat," He grinned and James rolled his eyes.

"A pig you used to date," James mumbled and Lily pretended not to have heard what he said. Lily put her feet on Sirius's lap, the same way she used to do to James when she wanted her feet rubbed. Sirius reluctantly rubbed her feet and Remus started to laugh.

"You guys are like an old married couple," Remus tucked his paper back in his book back and relaxed back in the chair.

"How about a kiss for old pops," Sirius pretended to lean in and Lily hit him with a pillow. She was oblivious to James avoiding looking at the two of them. "Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Sirius asked in a normal tone and Lily shrugged.

"I dunno. Zachery Loughty asked me to meet him at the three broomsticks," Lily slipped down the sofa into a laying position and closed her eyes.

"Get some girl," Sirius had broke out into a grin which quickly faded as Lily kicked him rather hard in his southern region. "Merlin's balls," He groaned and pushed Lily's feet off of him.

"Zackery is really nice," Remus tried to be helpful. "He was my partner once in Transfiguration," James scoffed and everyone turned to look at him. "Something to add?" Remus asked. His eyebrows were raised gently but he had a look in his eye that told James to bite his tongue. James mumbled something but the only coherent word was 'fine'. Lily laid back down, not realizing she had sat up.

"I think you should go," Sirius leaned into Lily. "Maybe it'll make grumpy pants over there jealous," he added in a low whisper and Lily rolled her eyes.

"I'm over him," she tried to convince not only Sirius, but herself. Sirius shrugged, obviously not believing her, and sitting back up straight. "I'll let you boys have your time together," Lily stood up and grabbed her things. "Goodnight, Remus. Night, Padfoot," Lily ruffled the boys hair and Sirius grinned.

"Sweetest dreams my Lily-Flower. May we meet again tonight, in my dreams," he grabbed Lily's hand dramatically and she rolled her eyes

"Potter," Lily didn't meet James's eyes as she began to go up the stairs. She heard James as she was almost to the top of the stairs.

"Since when are you Padfoot and I'm Potter?"

"Since your dumbass asked out another girl," Remus responded and Lily smiled.

The next morning, Lily woke up and put on an over sized Gryffindor sweater along with some leggings. Marlene was still asleep from her late night out with Alice. Lily scribbled a quick note to Marlene:

Hey Marley, I'm headed to the three broomsticks. If you wake up before lunch come join? If not I'll see you when I get back.

Lots of love, Lily

Lily placed it next to Marlene's wand on the bedside table. She picked up her wand and placed it in the large front pocket of the sweater. The common room was filled with the younger kids who couldn't go to Hogsmeade. A couple of kids waved at her and Lily smiled back.

Lily took a slow walk into Hogsmeade, a real stop and smell the roses type of walk. She crunched a couple of leaves on the ground and smiled at all the people who were laughing. It was a beautiful day, Lily would tell herself. No reason to worry about what anyone else (James) might be doing with their girlfriend. Lily walked into The Three Broomsticks and smiled when she saw Zackery at a table. Zackery perked up and waved at her when he saw her. Lily made her way over and sat down next to him in a chair.

"Good morning," Lily smiled and let her hair down.

"Hey! I'm so glad you came," Zackery grinned at her. "Let me go grab you a drink," Zackery returned a second later and handed Lily a pastry and a butterbeer.

"Wow, thanks," Lily smiled. "Strawberry, my favorite," Lily took a bite and put it down. Lily was kind of surprised with how well her and Zackery got on. They were talking, joking, laughing, and telling stories.

"I can't believe you almost killed your dentist," Lily laughed and held her side as she felt a stitch coming on.

"It wasn't my fault!" Zackery laughed and made sure no one was listening. "I didn't ask the tools to turn around on him. I was five," Zackery smiled at Lily who was starting to calm down.

"I tried to explain the dentist to Sirius and he thought that it was a torture activity for little kids. You know, if you're bad your parents send you to the teeth drillers," Lily grinned and took a sip of her butterbeer only to find that it was empty. "I'll get the next round," Lily stood up.

"Are you sure?" Zackery went to stand up but Lily waved her hand before going up to the bar.

"Two butterbeers, please," Lily placed three sickles on the counter. Madame Rosmerta handed Lily two butterbeers. Lily turned to go back and saw two more people sitting at the table with Zackery, who looked ready to run. None other than James Potter was sitting next to Zackery. Next to James (and who would be next to Lily) was Katie. Lily did her best not to change her facial expression.

"Thanks," Zackery smiled nervously at Lily as she sat down. Lily could feel what was either anger or jealousy coursing through her veins. She smiled through lips squeezed together as tight as possible.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked as she took a sip of her butterbeer.

"Just came in for some butterbeer and saw lovely Evans had a table with two extra chairs," James grinned and leaned back in his chair. There was no butterbeer in sight, Lily noticed. Katie was tapping her foot lightly on the table to the beat of the music playing which for some reason bothered Lily to no end. There was an awkward silence until Rosmerta brought James two drinks. He smiled and thanked Rosmerta, handing one to Katie.

"So, Lily, I heard you're in Alchemy this year? Do you love it? I really want to take it next year," Katie tried to make conversation to evaporate the awkwardness.

"Yeah. It's really interesting. I'm learning a lot," Lily nodded and took another drink of butterbeer. Another long silence passed and then-

"You play Quidditch, Zackery?" James looked up from twiddling his thumbs.

"No, not really. Not great at flying," Zackery side glanced at Lily who was glaring at James.

"Oh. That's interesting," James smiled and Lily wanted to throw something at him before he ruined anything.

"Yeah?" Zackery asked, nervously. He could obviously tell that James was trying to intimidate him, which wasn't hard. James was the most well known and well liked person in their grade. A Quidditch star, and class came so easily to him. Zackery wasn't dumb by any means, but he worked really hard to get grades that still couldn't compare to James or Lily's. He wasn't well known either.

"Evans here isn't great at Quidditch either. Flying for that matter," James smirked and glanced at Lily who shook her head as a warning sign. "When she came over this summer, she tried flying," James leaned back and examined his cuticle. "I practically had to catch her when she fell off."

"You did not catch me, I fell straight on the ground," Lily snapped. James rolled his eyes and mumbled a whatever that was barely audible, but Lily heard it. It was now Katie's turn to take a long drink of butterbeer. Lily felt bad for Katie, who seemed to be nice enough, and was caught between an argument of her current boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend. Lily was wishing she had something a lot stronger than just butterbeer.

"To my recollection, you seemed to really like the body-" James started to say in a cool tone but Lily cut him off.

"Potter," she said warningly. Zackery glanced at Lily and stood up.

"I think I'll be heading back. It was great talking to you, Lily. I'll talk to you later?" He asked and grabbed his sweater. Lily nodded, miserably.

"Aw, leaving already? Come on. I have so many stories about Evans from when we used to date," James let his tongue click on the word date to bring out the emphasis. Zackery mumbled something and hurried out of The Three Broomsticks.

"Why do you have to ruin everything?" Lily had tears in her eyes as she stood. "You came and found me on purpose so you could ruin my date," everyone in the pub was staring at them. "Why?" she demanded. James was silent, he wouldn't look at her. "Do I need to remind you that you were the one who moved on, which in fine. You're treating Katie so shitty right now by coming here and causing all of this. You can't keep doing this! I'm allowed to see other people if you are too," Lily kicked the chair. She turned to walk but James said something that made her stop.

"You're the one that put us on pause. You're the one that moved on," he said. Lily shook her head and looked back at James.

"Whatever you tell yourself to help you sleep at night."