The Transfiguration Assignment

After McGonagall had dismissed the class, Lily stayed seated at her desk, gathering the rest of her papers slowly, still wondering just what she was going to say to the professor. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, distracting her so much she accidentally cut herself on her notes about conjuring. Sucking on her paper-cut left index finger, Lily was just about to stand up and go over to McGonagall's desk when someone's shadow stopped over her desk, and that someone cleared his voice to get her attention.

Lily glanced up and frowned. James was standing there, his dark hair purposely mussed up, and a soft look in his eyes. She didn't have time for this. She needed to talk to McGonagall, alone, before the professor left for lunch with the rest of the class.

"What do you want?" she asked, stacking her notes and standing up, mentally groping for her bag.

"Well...we're partners. And I thought--"

"Yes," Lily said rudely, cutting him off. "We are partners. A matter I wish to rectify as soon as possible. So, if you excuse me, there's something I have to talk to McGonagall about."

Grabbing her bag, Lily strode to the front of the room to Professor McGonagall's dark oak desk, leaving a confused, and slightly amused, James behind.

McGonagall looked up over her square spectacles. "Yes, Miss Evans?" she asked.

Lily hadn't wished to talk about changing partners in front of other people, but it was James's own fault for not leaving with the rest of the class.

"Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you about your choice of my partner, Professor," Lily said softly.

Professor McGonagall put her quill down and folded her hands in her lap. She knew someone was going to complain about their partner. No doubt she'd get a score of owls over breakfast tomorrow, asking if students could switch.

"What about your partner, Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall said in her normal voice.

"It's just that...well, I was wondering if I could switch. I know Cecily Elwell would be much better suited as Potter's partner, and I've been George's partner before in Potions, so, if we all just switched, everyone would be happy--"

"I did not assign you a partner so that you could be happy, Miss Evans. And it is Miss Elwell or Mr. Rastner who will talk to me about their own affairs, not you. I assigned partners based on ability in the classroom, Miss Evans."

"But Professor," Lily protested, "I already have Head duties with Potter. I spend enough time with him as it is. I don't see why I have to be his Transfiguration partner, too."

"You do have Head duties together," Professor McGonagall replied. "It should be easy to agree upon times to meet in the library, research, and come up with a topic since you see so much of each other."

"But Professor--"

"I am certain Professor Dumbledore had a good reason for making you two Head Boy and Head Girl together, just as I have a good reason for placing you two together. I will not let you switch to a different partner. And," seeing Lily open her mouth in protest, "that is the last I will speak with you on the matter. I trust you understand, Miss Evans?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Professor," Lily mumbled. Her paper cut was stinging and still bleeding, she had a headache, and she was still partners with Potter. Brilliant.

"Good." McGonagall picked up her quill and said, "Then I suggest you get to lunch with the rest of your classmates, Miss Evans."

Lily turned away and hurriedly exited the classroom, nearly crashing into someone. Meryl von Lisbeth picked up her dropped book and looked questioningly at Lily.

"So?' she asked. "Did McGonagall switch you?"

"What do you think?" Lily answered stiffly, as they set off down the corridor to the Great Hall. "She didn't even consider it, just talked about how she 'placed us together for a reason.'"

Meryl nodded absent mindedly. "Rotten luck." They took their seats at the Gryffindor table and, glancing down the table to the right, Meryl sighed. "I don't know why McGonagall put me with Ed Cartly. That's the second time I've missed being partners with Sirius Black." She picked at her salad. "Either I'm too smart or too dumb for him, or he bribed McGonagall into placing him with Margaret Tuttle. I don't understand that girl. Anyone else would be thrilled to be assigned as Sirius Black's partner--but not Maggie."

Lily stared at her friend. "I don't understand you. Who would want to be Black's partner? He's rich and popular, pureblooded and snotty, a smarmy ladies man who fancies himself Merlin's gift to women, and an egotistical prat--oh no, wait; I've just described the whole of the Marauders' gang. They're all of them the same."

"Lighten up, Lily." Meryl shook her head. "Sometimes I don't understand you. You keep getting grouped with James Potter, Quidditch Captain, Head Boy and leader of the Marauders, a charming guy who seems to genuinely like you, and you just complain about how he's popular and pureblooded, like that automatically makes him a prick, and you just push him away. Any girl would give her wand arm for that."

"Yeah, well, I'm not 'any girl,'" Lily snapped. She accidentally slammed the pumpkin juice jug down too hard and some of its contents slopped over the sides, soaking the tabletop. The fifth year boy sitting across from her gave her a strange look. "And a girl shouldn't define herself by who she's going out with, or who she likes," she continued, glaring at the boy. He grabbed his books and quickly fled from his seat. "You should be your own person. And I am. And I like who I am. And I happen to not like James Potter, or the fact that I'm his partner in nearly everything that we seem to do, so cut me some slack, okay?" Lily was riled up now, ready to pounce on the next person who even mentioned one of the Marauders' names, or that stupid Transfiguration assignment.

"Gosh, don't have a cow, Lily," Meryl said, adding more chicken to her plate. "Maybe you should cut James Potter some slack. I mean, it's not his fault that you two are constantly put together. You two are the smartest ones in the class, so naturally you'd be put together--especially since you basically take all the same classes--"

She stopped talking when Lily jumped up, throwing her bag over her shoulder and swallowing the last of her mashed potatoes.

"Can we talk later?" Lily asked wearily. "I have some stuff to do."

And with that she took off from the Great Hall at full speed, nearly knocking over a group of first and second year Hufflepuffs like a set of nine pins. She needed to get out of there. Just one more word about James Potter and she'd scream. Lily knew how Meryl thought she was always so judgmental when it came to Potter. Meryl seemed to have a soft spot when it came to the Marauders that Lily just didn't understand. In her eyes they were still foolish boys who played mean pranks on unsuspecting first years and innocent girls, and made fun of the Slytherins.

Seventh years had Friday afternoons off and most spent them wandering around the school or the grounds or sitting in front of the Common Room fireplaces telling jokes and playing wizard's chess or Exploding Snap. Many people were procrastinators, Lily found, and left everything off until Sunday night, when there was a mad rush to finish writing essays and drawing star charts in preparation for the upcoming Monday morning. Because of this, Lily always found the library practically deserted every Friday afternoon, and she counted on it. It was one of the only times during the week when she could sit by herself and go over her assignments and work to her heart's content. And now she was using it as a hideaway too, from Meryl and James Potter, and the rest of the school who was in love with him and kept pairing the two of them together.

Lily sat down to work and finished two Advanced Charms essays, three star charts, and a particularly nasty Arithmancy project outline all by 7 o'clock. She knew she'd eventually have to face James Potter and work with him, not only about their Transfiguration assignment, but also about Head duties. But that could wait. First, she was going to eat dinner (which her stomach had been asking for two hours ago--lunch had been cut short) and take a nice long, hot shower, both of which sounded sinfully good.

Just as she started to pack up her things, Lily felt a hand on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her skin. Startled into action, Lily whipped around, wand in ready position, her bag falling over and papers scattering everywhere. She was surprised to see a pair of hazel eyes staring back at her, a question written in them.

"Going to hex me now, too?" James asked, stooping down to gather some papers.

"I should've," Lily muttered, putting her wand down. "You don't need to touch my notes, Potter. I can get them myself."

James sat back on his heels as she crouched to collect the rest of her notes that had fallen. She felt his eyes watching her, and felt uneasy.

"Something you wanted?" she asked, eyes and hands still focused on her task.

"You always attack other innocents in the library?" he said, watching her work, a twinkle in his eye.

"No," Lily snapped. "You startled me. Do you make it a habit to always scare unsuspecting people out of their wits?"

James thought for a while. "Sort of," he replied, a mock serious look on his face as they both stood up. "It's all part of what us Marauders do."

Lily snorted and grabbed her bag, walking towards the exit of the library.

"And just why are you following me, Potter?" she asked, turning to him in the middle of the corridor. "I do have things to do, you know."

James nodded. "I know." He paused for a moment, a look in his eye that Lily couldn't place. "So McGonagall wouldn't let you switch partners, then?" He cocked his head slightly and dug his hands in his pockets.

"It's none of your business what I talk to Professor McGonagall about," Lily replied. "Besides, it's rude to eavesdrop."

"Well you didn't exactly speak to her in private," he said defensively. "I was in the room at the time. It wasn't like I couldn't not overhear."

"You didn't have to stay in the room," Lily shot back. She adjusted the shoulder strap of her bag. "You should have left to go eat lunch with the rest of your impossible gang."

James took a step closer to her. "I stayed because I was going to talk to you about our project. I do have some ideas, you know."

"Really, well, that's a first. I do believe this is the first time that James Potter has ever had an idea on his own. Good job," Lily said, inching around him starting to walk down the corridor again.

"Evans," James called rather impatiently at her back, "I'm not through talking to you yet."

"Yeah, well, I'm through talking to you, and I don't really care what you have to say," Lily replied, not even bothering to turn around as she continued walking. "Bother me later, Potter."

James was fuming. Why was it that whenever he talked to Lily Evans they ended up in a quarrel, biting each other's heads off? He just wanted to talk to her, for Merlin's sake. Not to be outdone, James's took off after her down the corridor, determined to get his point across.

Grabbing her arm, James pulled Lily to a stop, swinging her around to face him. He couldn't help but notice how flushed she looked, and how her emerald eyes sparkled in a way that they only ever did for one person: him.

"Unhand me. Now," Lily growled through gritted teeth, venom dripping from every word.

James pretended not to hear her (how often did he ever get to touch her, even if he was only gripping her forearm?). "I said I have some ideas for our project," he said calmly, hoping to Merlin some of his self control would rub off on her (metaphorically, that is; James doubted whether any part of him would ever actually rub against Lily Evans without her murdering him first). "I've been trying to talk to you all day about the Transfiguration assignment. You practically flew down the hall to lunch before, and I had to search half the castle before I found you in the library."

"Stalking me now, eh?" Lily asked, trying to wrench her arm from his grasp. "I never knew that was one of your hobbies."

James let the comment pass. "Do you always spend Friday afternoons hidden away in the library doing homework?"

Lily blushed angrily. "What I do with my time is my own business. Not yours."

Look down at the arm he was holding, James noticed she had a somewhat fresh paper cut on her index finger. He was suddenly overcome with the urge to bring her hand up and kiss that finger. Quickly dropping her arm, James tried to compose himself.

"Look." James took a breath. "Look, like I said before, I want to talk to you about our project--"

"I know," Lily interrupted. "You've said so three times already." Looking down the corridor towards the Great Hall, she said, "We can meet tomorrow and talk about it. Right now I have an appointment with a piece of Sheppard's Pie that I'm rather late for. So, I need to get to the Great Hall."

James stared at her. "Tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow." Lily gave him a bewildered look. "Why not tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's Saturday." James seemed to think that the words themselves had all the explanation necessary.

"So what if it is?" Lily asked. "We'll start working on it tomorrow. Write down your ideas if you're going to forget them. I will not do this assignment at the last minute and turn it in sloppy and late." It would be just like Potter to think being a procrastinator was something to be proud of.

"We have two weeks to finish it," James said, the idea of doing something in advance seemingly lost on him.

"Then that gives us all the more time to do everything thoroughly," Lily replied, itching to get to the Great Hall. Her stomach felt like it was going to die if it didn't get any food soon. Merlin, she could smell the Sheppard Pie from here!

"Right then," she said, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "See you in the library at eight."

And with that, Lily strode down the corridor toward the Great Hall, leaving a somewhat speechless James Potter in her wake, who was still trying to fathom the reason why anyone would ever get up so early on a weekend unless they were going to practice Quidditch.