The rest of the week flew by, and suddenly the weekend was upon them. Lily slept in, enjoying the much-needed sleep, and woke up around nine-thirty.
She sat up in bed and smiled. Today, Lily felt inexplainably happy. Nothing could dampen her spirits. Not even the prospect of a nasty Transfiguration essay weighed her down.
She jumped out of bed, noticing that everybody else was gone. She took a long, hot shower, got dressed, and bounced downstairs into the common room.
It was filled with older kids, poring over thick, musty old books. Lily paid them no mind and breezed out of the room into the dim hallway. She headed to the Great Hall in search of some breakfast.
Hardly anybody was in the Hall. Lily made her way to the Gryffindor table, where only three or four people were sitting. She noticed Chris sitting by himself, so she flounced over to where he was sitting and plopped down across from him.
“Hi!” she said brightly.
He looked up in surprise. “Oh, hi, Lily,” he said. “What’s up?”
Lily shrugged and grabbed some toast. “Just looking for Alex. Seen her?”
“No, but she’s probably outside, like everybody else.”
“Oh. Okay. See you later.” Lily quickly spread strawberry jam over her toast, folded it up, and left the Hall.
It was a beautiful, sunny, not-too-hot day. Many students were working, brows furrowed in concentration, interrupted every now and then by the younger kids’ shouts. Lily spotted Alex almost immediately, sitting under the shade of a giant oak tree, talking to another girl.
The girl had long, silky dark hair that was slightly wavy and a slim figure with graceful long legs. As Lily neared the two girls, she could see the girls’ eyes were a deep, stormy gray.
Alex looked up and caught sight of Lily. “Hi, Lily!” she called, waving. “Come here!”
Lily jogged the rest of the way over and sat down on the grass by Alex.
“Lily, this is Cadrian. You know her, right?” Lily did indeed recognize the girl. Cadrian was also a first-year in Gryffindor.
“Hi,” said Lily.
“Hello,” said Cadrian, smiling.
“We were just talking about James and his friends,” intoned Alex. “Look at him and Sirius.” She pointed to a thick-trunked tree near the lake. James and Sirius were standing a little ways away, laughing. Peter was standing behind them. The two black-haired boys turned around, and James beckoned Peter over. Hesitantly, he obeyed.
Sirius told him to do something, but the three girls couldn’t hear; they were too far away. Peter shook his head, eyes wide with fear, looking at James,w who nodded.
Peter shoook his head vigorously, but James and Sirius did not relent. Reluctantly, Peter turned around and took a tiny step towards the tree. When he didn’t take another, James reached out and pushed him roughly.
Peter stumbled forward and took another look behind him. James and Sirius made gestures conveying the message “go on, go on!” Peter closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then ran forward.
All at once there came a deep creaking sound. Lily whipped around in alarm. “What was that?”
“The tree, Lily! Whomping Willow!” exclaimed Alex. “James and Sirius have been taunting it all day. Watch!”
Sure enough, the tree’s branches were rapidly gaining speed, ready to come down on poor Peter. He stood there, petrified, watching the prickly mass of branches grow closer, eyes wide with fear.
“MOVE, you prat!” yelled James, watching. “God, why doesn’t he move?”
Lily scrambled to her feet, the blood pounding in her ears. Those branches would kill Peter, and nobody was going to do anything. So she had to do. She wasn’t aware of anything as she ran furiously to Peter; not the birds chirping, the sunlight glinting off the glassy lake, not James’s wide eyes. She grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled him out range just as the branches crashed onto the ground.
Alex, Cadrian, James, and Sirius ran over to where Peter was lying on the ground. Lily bent over him, pushing her red hair out of her face. “Peter, are you okay?” she asked anxiously.
Peter sat up. “Yeah,” he said shakily, getting to his feet. “I’m…I’m okay.” With that he set off towards the castle.
Lily got to her feet. “James Potter!” she exploded, loudly enough so that a large group of sixth-years turned to look. “What in the world were you thinking, sending Peter out there? You knew he’d go just because he absolutely idolizes you, for some reason, and you took complete advantage of it. He could have died! I can’t believe you would do that!” she turned and stomped off.
“Hey, Evans!” She didn’t turn around to hear what James wanted to say, but she heard it anyway. “That was really brave.”
Lily didn’t acknowledge that she’d heard James’s comment, but it did make her happy.
But even if it did, she wasn’t about to let James or anybody else know. Fuming at the boys’ stupidity, she went up to the castle and into the common room. It had emptied out a bit, but still, most of the seats were taken. One couch was only occupied by one person. She sat down, slouching, not aware or caring about who was next to her.
Somebody tapped her shoulder. She looked up. She was sitting next to Chris. “Hey, what happened?”
“James Potter happened,” she replied furiously, pushing her long bangs out of her eyes. “You were right about him, Chris. He’s a huge, horrible idiot, and I hate him.”
“What did he do?”
“He-he-well, you know that big tree out by the lake, that I guess, like, hits you or something?”
“The Whomping Willow?” asked Chris wisely. “Yeah, I’ve seen it. It wasn’t there last year. Wonder why it is now. Kind of dangerous, really. Anyway, go on.”
“Right, the Whomping Willow. So, James and Sirius I guess have been playing with it, dodging in and out, you know, trying not to get hit.”
“Not very smart,” remarked Chris.
“No, but what do you expect? Anyway, you know Peter Pettigrew? He absolutely idolizes James for some reason, and so told him to try. And they made him do it. Made him. They knew he would because he’s so in awe of James and of course he did. But the stupid prat, when the branches come around to hit him, he just stands there like a lump, waiting to get killed!”
“Peter came in a little earlier. Looked pretty shell-shocked,” said Chris. “Guess I know why, now. So how did Peter get out of that?”
“I had to run over and drag him out! I barely made it, too! We both could have gotten hurt, all because of James.”
“Right. Well, very dumb on all three of their parts,” said Chris. “I knew James was somewhat of an idiot. Didn’t I tell you I was a good judge of character?”
“Yeah. And you were definitely right.”
Just then, Alex and Cadrian burst through the door to the common room, red-faced and breathless. Lily got up to meet them. “Hi guys,” she said.
“Lily, that was really brave. You could have died!” squealed Alex. “If you hadn’t intervened, Peter definitely would have. That was awesome!” she drew Lily into a quick hug.
“That was really cool, Lily,” Cadrian smiled. “Way to go.”
“Thanks,” said Lily, shrugging, “but it’s no big deal, really. Somebody had to.”
Alex laughed. “Whatever you say.”
“You really burned James,” said Cadrian. “You should have seen the look on his face. Like he was going to vomit. You really upset him.”
“Well, good.” Lily tossed her flame-red hair angrily. “He’s a prat and an idiot and I hate him.”
“Kind of cute,” commented Cadrian, “but way egotistic.”
Alex nodded. “Bighead, definitely.”
“I don’t want to talk about him anymore. It’s making me sick.”
“Wow, Lily. Aren’t you exaggerating a little?” asked Alex, looking a little concerned. “If you keep going on like this, well, I’m certainly going to be scared for James.”
“I’m hardly exaggerating.” It was a lie, but Lily was too angry to care.
Just then James and Sirius burst into the common room. “Lily,” said James earnestly, “look, I know it was really dumb of me, but I couldn’t help it!”
“Why not?” asked Lily fiercely. “Because you wanted a good laugh? You wanted to see Peter get hurt? Oh yeah, I see the temptation!”
“Lily, I’m sorry, okay? I just wasn’t thinking.”
“I know you weren’t.” with that, Lily turned on her heel and stalked up to the dormitory.
She could hear James coming after her, but didn’t care. She slammed the dormitory door and suddenly there came a loud, wailing noise.
Startled, she wrenched the door open to see what had happened. James was lying at the bottom of the stairs, looking very surprised and confused. Most people in the common room were laughing.
“What happened?” asked Lily.
“James tried to come up to the dormitory,” said Alex, “and suddenly the stairs turned into a slide and he ended up down here!”
Still looking bewildered, James scrambled to his feet. “What the heck was that,” he muttered.
Chris wandered over, amused. “Guys can’t get into the girls’ dormitories. It’s always been that way. Godric Gryffindor considered girls more trustworthy than guys, so he bewitched the stairs.”
James, blushing a deep red, disappeared into his own dormitory.
Lily went back into the girls’ room and flopped backwards on her bed, staring at the ceiling. James had looked awfully humiliated down there. She allowed herself to feel the tiniest bit bad for him. But not for long.
He certainly was persistent. How long had he been willing to pursue her? Lily smiled a little, thinking of how funny he’d looked down there, disheveled and confused. Like Cadrian had said, he was kind of cute. But too idiotic to ever be the subject of a crush, for Lily at least.
Alex and Cadrian soon came into the dormitory and perched themselves on Alex’s bed. “James likes you,” Cadrian said vaguely, fingering a tiny hole in Alex’s bedspread.
Alex giggled. “Totally,” she agreed. “It’s so obvious. Did you see how upset he was when you yelled at him? What other guys would care what a girl thought…unless they liked that girl?”
“Oh, stuff it, both of you,” replied Lily.
“I won’t say anymore,” promised Alex, “but it’s true, Lily.”
Lily sat up straight. “Shut up!” she said fiercely, although her friends’ words pleased her. Why was this pleasing? It shouldn’t be…an idiot like Potter, liking her? It should be a cause of disgust. Ridicule, maybe. But certainly not pleasure.
Casting these confusing thoughts aside, Lily was about to suggest a game of cards (she knew she was horribly Muggle-oriented, but she couldn’t help it) when Professor McGonagall burst into the room.
The three girls looked up in surprise. “Hello,” said Alex cheerfully.
McGonagall ignored Alex and said to Lily, “Miss Evans, I heard that you saved the life of Peter Pettigrew. Is this true?”
“Um…yes, Professor,” said Lily, reddening.
“What exactly happened? I heard something about James Potter, Sirius Black, and the Whomping Willow.”
“Well…see…James and Sirius were playing this dumb game. Running under the Whomping Willow and then running back out, trying not to get hit,” Lily began. “Well, they told Peter to try. So he did, but when the branches came around to hit him, he didn’t run. He just stood there, watching it. So I just…I didn’t do anything special. I just pulled him out of the way.”
“Well, it was quite brave. Very well done, Miss Evans,” sniffed McGonagall. “One hundred points to Gryffindor for your outstanding courage.” The three girls’ faces broke into wide grins. “Now, I’d better find those two troublemakers…” she swept out of the room.
When she was gone, Alex burst into cheers. “Yeah, Lily!” she crowed. “A hundred points! Awesome! If you keep this stuff up, there’s no way we’ll lose the House Cup!”
Lily smiled. “I don’t know if I’ll save many people’s lives this year, Alex. Maybe next year, though!”
Cadrian laughed. “Right. One per year.”
“Come on,” said Alex, jumping up, “let’s go see what McGonagall does to James and Sirius.”
Cadrian agreed instantly. Lily was reluctant, but her friends persuaded her. They crept down the staircase and knelt down, perfectly able to see their three targets.
“What were you thinking?” McGonagall exploded, as James and Sirius stared determinedly at the floor, very obviously blushing. “You could have very seriously hurt yourselves or Peter! Now I’m not going to take away any points.” The two brightened considerably. “But I’m giving you each a week of detentions! Do not give me that look, Potter, you deserve it!” She turned and stalked angrily out of the common room.
Lily sighed as James and Sirius muttered to each other, presumably insulting McGonagall. She hadn’t meant to cause all this trouble. She just couldn’t watch and stand by as Peter got hurt…
At dinner that night, Lily was sitting between Cadrian and Alex, engaged in conversation, when somebody tapped her on the back. It was Sirius, glowering. “Thanks for ratting us out,” he snarled, then stalked off.
“Don’t worry about him,” advised Cadrian. “He’ll get over it. Besides, it’s not your fault. You did the right thing.”
Deep down, Lily knew that. But she couldn’t help wondering if it was worth it to do the right thing if it resulted in getting her friends mad at her.
Lily, Blossoming by halfbloodprincess22
Chapter Notes: Sorry if this chapter's a little short, but enjoy!