In the sixth year girls' dormitory, the six inhabitants were moving back into their living space; hanging pictures, stacking magazines, setting up beauty supplies, kicking shoes underneath the bed, and crowding belongings into the bathroom. During this process, every one of them was trying to talk over the rest, creating a deafening din that could be heard in the common room. Without a doubt, the sixth years were the noisiest group of girls Hogwarts had seen in a great many years, much to the despair of the Tower occupants.
"And he just belted it out, it was unbelievable!"
"You should have SEEN the way she yelled at him! I thought she was going to blow bloody well up!"
"The food there was absolutely to die for!"
"My mother nearly killed us! She crossed three lanes of traffic!"
"My neighbor had her baby! It was so adorable!"
"I fell down the freaking hill in those shoes!"
Somehow, each of the girls would have been able to tell the general concept of each others' stories, which had to be a miracle. The volume level kept getting higher and higher as they all tried to out-talk each other. They were one of the few dormitories in the school where all the occupants got along at least decently. Of course, they weren't all best buddies, but they joked with each other, and were comfortable in the dorm. Naturally, since they were girls, there were also moments of discord, sometimes extending into days of it, but that didn't happen too often. Fulfilling their first day back tradition, a seventh year came in and told them to 'pipe down or get out'.
"Just think how loud we can be next year!" Starla Mason said, sighing at the thought after she finished hanging a poster. Starla was described on first impressions as a sweet girl. By all means, she looked it; she had short, curly, dark brown hair, and a turned up girl-next-door nose. Surprisingly, she was the most daring girl in their year.
"And Lily will be Head Girl, so Professor Fletcher himself will have to come and tell us to shut up!" Millie also moaned dreamily.
"Or then again, if the Head Boy would happen to be in Gryffindor, he could just yell at us." Lily put in her two cents in, grinning in response to her roommates' glares.
"At least this year's Head Boy won't toss a fit if we're a little noisy." Starla practically beamed. "He likes trouble more than we do."
"No, he won't yell at us. He'll come up here and toss every last one of us out that window, cursing all the while." Lily said this with a pleasant smile, making it obvious she wasn't really concerned with what was obviously the truth.
"Cold treatment?" Jeanne Beach asked knowingly, having received it herself numerous times.
"Just a little. He's had a rough life, hasn't he?"
"Oh yeah, those stacks of galleons in Gringott's really make his life hard. So does that manor he has, along with that one vacation house. I bet being an only child absolutely kills him, all that coddling, why, I couldn't handle it."
Lily winced at the sarcasm. "I was being serious, Jeanne."
"I am too."
"So what do you think it was that set him off?" Peter asked, walking between Sirius and Remus on their way to Divination. It was the first day of classes, in the afternoon, and James had Herbology, giving his friends the perfect opportunity to talk about him.
"I don't know. I can only assume something happened with his parents." Sirius answered, for once not knowing what was going on with James.
"Something happens with his parents every time he sees them, but this hasn't happened before." Remus observed, digging in his backpack for some dungbombs.
"Maybe he needs more positive influences." Peter suggested, and he and Sirius both turned to stare promptingly at Remus.
"What? I'm positive! I am!"
"Sure you are. Keep on thinking that."
"Since you two are being so...disagreeable, I'll withhold my perfect solution for this conflict."
"Grindewald! I'm surrounded by moody idiots." Sirius groaned, and accepted the offered dungbomb to toss in a particularly fond spot of Peeves. Of course, the poltergeist couldn't smell the stench, but the plasma held it, and Peeves had an ego larger than Sirius's own, and wasn't happy when the entire population of the castle held their noses and laughed as they passed him.
"You do realize he'll kill you someday." Peter said soberly, knowing as sure as he knew his name it would happen. A ghost and a human couldn't aggravate each other that much without consequences.
"Then I'll be a ghost and terrorize Slytherins!" Sirius said gleefully, searching his own belongings for anything to throw at Peeves.
"I think I've got an idea." Remus said as they were climbing the ladder into the Divination classroom.
*~*~*
Lily walked cautiously into the library Monday night, after the first weekend back at Hogwarts, feeling rather absurd before checking in all directions like a scared rabbit. She was seconds away from retreating when she spotted him sitting behind a stack of yellowed Daily Prophet's as well as a smaller stack to the side of The Evening Prophet." Taking a deep breath for solace, she approached the table and sat across from him. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for something." James answered, without looking up for a couple minutes. When he did, he drew up his typical guarded expression. "Can I help you with something?"
"No. I'm just...here."
"For what?"
Lily shrugged. "What are you looking for that requires the January 1958 editions of the Prophet?"
"Why are you asking questions?"
"I'm curious."
"There's your answer."
"It's a very poor one."
"It's all you are going to get." James turned back to the newspaper he was looking at, and ignored her.
"Why are you upset with me?"
"Because you're prying," he grabbed the paper she had picked up from her grasp, "and I don't like it when strangers pry into my personal life."
"So this is personal? Not academic?" Lily asked, not in the least fazed, and picked up another paper. She flipped through it for a bit, pretending not to notice his glare, and then got up, starting toward the exit. "Have a nice evening, James." Lily turned back in surprise when she heard a feral growl.
"What did you find out?" Remus asked the second she was out of the library.
"Not much. He's searching January 1958 editions of the Prophet for personal business, not academic."
"Not bad. Not bad at all." He said, pleased, "At this rate, we'll have the secret cracked in a month or so."
"I'm the optimist, not you. And I'm looking at nothing under two months." Lily sighed. "He's nuts."
"Aren't we all. So, what's my tutoring topic tonight?"
"How in the world am I supposed to transfigure a jewelry box into a box turtle? That's Friday's lesson, and I know I'm going to absolutely humiliate myself."
The next night, Lily went in the library again, and found James in there again. Like last time, she sat down across from him, but she wasn't as nervous as before, there were other people in the library so he couldn't do anything too awful. She started peeling an orange. "Want half?"
James looked between her and the offered orange half skeptically before nodding. "Sure."
They sat in silence for about twenty minutes before he completely sat the papers down, and looked at her. "Why are you here again?"
"It's part of a bargain."
"What?"
"A mutual friend wants to know what you're up to. In return, they are helping me with transfiguration."
"You're a Prefect, you shouldn't need help in transfiguration."
"But I do. I'm awful at it, and I have to work ten times harder to make up for the lack of skill."
James narrowed his eyes in either anger or suspicion, Lily wasn't sure which. "Why didn't you lie to me?"
"What's the point? Besides, I'm also an awful liar."
"Hmmmm." He turned back to a paper. Nothing was said the rest of the time they were together, but James had more than one mouthful of words to throw at Remus that night.
"You're mad?" Remus asked, sounding surprised by the revelation.
"Yeah. Just a little."
"I figured you would enjoy her company."
"She sits there and watches me read the paper."
"She's an excellent judge of character."
"She doesn't know me, and I don't know her."
"She knows more than anyone gives her credit for."
"This isn't about her! It's about you sending her to spy on me!" James said loudly, waving his hands around.
"If you would just tell us what's going on, I would need to send a sixth year girl to spy on you!"
"Maybe I want some of my personal life to remain private!"
"Maybe you should learn not to carry a chip on your shoulder!"
"Maybe you should know what it's like to be me!"
"Maybe you should know what it's like to be an out of control wolf once a month!"
James shut up very quickly and crossed his arms. "Call her off."
"Tell me what you're doing."
"NO."
"As soon as you change your answer, I'll change mine. You'll have to excuse me, I have a Prefect to tutor."
A Quidditch wrist guard hit the door as soon as it shut behind Remus.
*~*~*
"Hi, James, how are you doing today?" For the third day in a row, Lily joined him across the table.
"Persistent, aren't you?"
"At times."
"What? No orange today?"
"Do you want one?"
James paused for a second and resisted a grin. "If you wouldn't mind."
"Here you go." Lily pulled an orange from her backpack, and laughed at his disappointed expression. "Surely you didn't think you would get rid of me that easily!"
"I hoped to."
"If you tell me what you're looking for, I'll help you look."
"I don't need help that bad."
"You're one touchy porcupine, James Potter."
"It generally keeps intruders away. Apparently I'm losing my touch."
Lily studied him while he was reading a paper. She could see what drew people to him. James was an attractive guy, but he looked irreparably lost. His entire appearance led up to that. He looked unyielding and accepting that life wasn't at all nice.
"Do you have any family here at Hogwarts?" She asked, thinking of no better conversation starter.
"Do you know of anyone else here with the name Potter?"
"That doesn't necessarily mean anything."
James looked up, and again, there was an odd look on his face, "No. It doesn’t mean a thing."
"What are your training classes for?" New topic. The training classes were for seventh years, and sixth years who were interested in certain professions, and it gave them them the vast majority of the preparation they needed for a career in the wizarding world. They were optional, and generally a lot of work. Of course the Head Boy would take one of these.
"Medicine."
"Which kind?"
"Trauma. I'll do emergency surgeries and take care of people in the emergency room, but I'll also be able to handle general health needs."
Lily smiled brightly, thinking she had finally had a break through. "You sound like you really love it."
"I do."
"But?"
"But what?"
"I have a feeling with you there are always buts."
"I probably won't get to practice medicine for a good many years."
"Why?"
"Personal reasons that are going to remain private."
"Back to that again, eh?"
"Yes. Back to that again."
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