Glimpses of the Future

Glimpses of the Future

"What's wrong with you? You just don't get it, do you Potter? You're selfish, you're arrogant and I. Don't. Like. You. Have you managed to get that into your thick skull yet?"

"Oh, Lily. You look so cute when you're angry..."

"Aargh!"

Lily Evans marched up the stairs to her dormitory and glared at her mirror. "I don't look cute when I'm angry," she said in a sulky voice. "Idiot."

"Jesus, Lily!" A fellow seventh year Gryffindor, Melanie Roberts, flopped onto Lily's bed and started fiddling with the scarlet duvet. "I know you don't like James, but you completely humiliated him down there! The whole tower could hear you."

"It is physically impossible to humiliate James Potter," Lily mumbled into her pillow as a reply.

"It's not impossible to humiliate anyone...even Quidditch captains."

Lily sat down next to Melanie, flinging her pillow to the other side of the bed and looked at her hands.

"Are you sorry you said it?" Melanie inquired with a mischievous smile.

"Not really," replied Lily through gritted teeth. "Maybe now he'll get the message."

"But do you really want him to get the message?" Melanie asked solemnly, disappearing too quickly for Lily to reply with a cutting remark.

>*<

The next day Lily was sitting on a pouffe contemplating nothing whilst determinedly not listening to her Divination teacher, Professor Harrow. She wasn't the only one. A few armchairs over sat James Potter, for once without his seemingly permanently attached friends: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. He was hurriedly scribbling his Transfiguration essay, which was due next lesson.

"...get into partners and share your visions..."

"Hey, Lily! Wanna be partners?"

Inwardly Lily groaned, but she couldn't really say no. None of her friends had decided to take NEWT Divination, and Lily frequently wished she hadn't. The only reason she had decided to take the useless subject further than OWL level was because at the end of her fifth year she had had her first (and seemingly last) true vision. She had seen in Melanie's palm that she was to fall in love on the twenty-second of February next year. And she did.

"Hi James! Sure!" she yelped in a sarcastically cheerful voice. James didn't appear to notice.

"Great!" he said, leaping onto the pouffe next to her and levitating his crystal ball over to him.

"Mr Potter!" cried Professor Harrow in a way that showed true hurt, yet still deeply mystical feelings. "Your wand-waving is disturbing people's auras!"

Fiona Jacobs, a Divination fanatic in Hufflepuff leaped up from her seat and ran over to her favourite professor, nearly falling over a bag in the process to comfort her.

"So is your voice," he mumbled under his breath. Lily found herself smiling and quickly thought sober thoughts. "Sorry Professor," he added.

"So. What are we doing?" asked Lily.

James smiled and looked up at her. "Tut tut - you mean the Perfect Prefect wasn't listening? I should report you. They'll have your badge for that." Lily smiled and James' heart leapt. "We're going to look into the crystal balls and whatever we see we share with our partner. How lovely. A bonding exercise."

"Like I would want to bond with you Potter," Lily replied, though her voice held little malice, only resignation. "Do you want to go first?"

"Sure." James pulled his pouffe a little closer to the table and peered into the foggy depths of his crystal ball. "I see...I see - I see-"

"Just tell me what you see!" Lily said, exasperated.

"You are disturbing my aura, Lily. I see...I see an awful lot of foggy white mist."

"But Mister Potter! You have successfully predicted this morning's weather! Did you not see the Great Hall ceiling?" asked Lily dramatically.

"I must say I was too busy eating."

"It takes great talent to predict the past, Mister Potter. Even if the past was only two hours ago."

James raised an eyebrow. "Is the great Miss Evans joking with a Marauder? Does this mean she wants to join our select group? Does this mean she is giving permission for us to switch the soap in her showers? Does this mean she will let us coat the Great Hall floor in Sleakeazy's Slippery Serum? Does-"

"You've already done all those James. I would have thought you would be a bit more original."

"Well I'm not going to tell you about the things we're planning now, am I? T'would spoil the surprise, m'lady."

"I really can't win, can I?"

"Nope. And, Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Can we forget our fighting? I mean, I don't want it, and I'm sorry for all the times I've embarrassed you, and I'll never change the soap on your showers again?" James smiled, and Lily found herself relenting.

"I guess so. But stop picking on people so much, okay? Even Snape?"

"Even Snape?!" At Lily's glare he seemed to shrink. "Alright, okay. No more pranks that hurt people, and I'll only let into Snape if he deserves it...okay?"

"All right. But stop asking me out every hour on the hour as well. Now it's my turn to gaze into foggy white mist and interpret the weather for yesterday morning." Lily leaned over to the wooden table and dragged the heavy globe across to her. She looked into it and tried to clear her mind.

>*<

Lily was older, and sat in a pretty house at a wooden kitchen table. Across from her was a baby boy with wild black hair. She zoomed an 'aeroplane' full of food into his mouth and smiled as he gurgled happily. The sun shone in the window with sunset light, catching a gold band round her fourth finger.

A door banged and James Potter strode in, hanging his cloak on a peg by the door and coming over to kiss Lily, before ruffling his son's hair.

"How was work, dear?" Lily asked, and James just shook his head.

"The usual. Pretty boring actually. You would have thought that Auror's would get to arrest dark wizards and stuff, especially as Voldemort's still going round killing people. They leave all that to the older ones though. We get paperwork! Sirius is just as annoyed as me... Sorry, love. How are you?"

"Tired. At least paperwork keeps you safe."

"Yeah." James whirled his wand and potatoes began peeling themselves. "I'll cook, love."

>*<

"So? Did we have fog yesterday as well?" There was a pause. "Lily? Are you okay? You look kind of white..."

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine James, I just...saw something..."

"Really? You're better than Harrow! I'm not sure she's ever seen anything! What was it?"

"I'd rather not say, James."

"You want to skip class? You could go back to Gryffindor Tower for a while...you really don't look well. You see something bad?"

"Not really, just shocking. I think I will go back, actually..."

"Professor! Lily's not feeling well, can she go lie down for a while?"

"James, please! No shouting in this sacred space, you will be disturbing the vibes," Professor Harrow's dreamy voice carried over the classroom. "Perhaps you should accompany her, James. Make sure that she's okay..." Harrow sounded worried. Lily wasn't the type to skip class without a reason, and it was a long way from her classroom to the hospital wing, or even Gryffindor Tower.

James glanced at Lily. He probably wasn't her favourite person to be with when she was like this. To his surprise, she nodded.

>*<

The two made their way across the castle, James helping Lily through the portrait hole when they reached it, though she was already looking much better.

"Thanks, James."

"No problem. Besides, it got me out of Divination. Load of codswallop."

"Why'd you take it then?" Lily sat down on a crimson sofa and smiled. James sat next to her.

"Because you were taking the class. And Sirius wasn't."

"What, have you fallen out with Sirius?" Lily looked genuinely concerned that the Marauders might be having problems.

"No, course not - it's just he's always teasing me about you," James looked at his hands, his face tinged pink. Lily grinned.

"Aaah, has the leader of the Marauders got a bit embarrassed?" Lily cackled. James lunged at her, and for a minute she thought she was going to be wrestled to the ground, but to her surprise she felt warm lips on hers. Even more to her surprise, she felt herself melt against them, her back relaxing into the sofa and her arms reaching round to pull James closer. Ah well, she thought. He's not that bad.

In the corner of the common room, a small rat with a worm-like tail looked on. He raised a foot in mock-salute, before scampering out of sight. Finally, after seven years of bickering, one of the greatest couples in Hogwarts history was born.

31/12/03