Beyond the Lake

Chapter Two

***

"What a terrible schedule! Two classes with the Slytherins! Although we do have Charms first, I suppose that's not that bad," said Lily, reading her schedule at breakfast.

"Oh, look! He's staring at you again, Lily!" exclaimed Marissa dreamily.

"Who cares, Marissa. Give it up." She was sick of hearing about James every minute from Marissa. It was bad enough with him as Head Boy. "We'd better head for Charms anyway. I don't want to be late!"

She arrived at Charms and took her regular seat. Marissa sat down on her right, and they instantly began chatting as usual, until Professor Flitwick called the class's attention.

"Settle down, settle down. Welcome to your final year at Hogwarts." He stopped talking due to an eruption of laughter from the back of the room. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Black, what, may I ask, is so funny?"

"Nothing, Professor," said James, trying to keep a straight face, but not succeeding.

"I think we'll just have you sit up here, next to Miss Evans, to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Yes, Professor."

Lily had rolled her eyes to Marissa, referring to James' everlasting stupidity, but then she heard Flitwick's request that James sit next to her. What wonderful luck.

"Good day, Evans! How are you on this beautiful day?" James jeered.

"At the moment, absolutely miserable. Would you please shut up for once so I can hear what Flitwick is teaching us?"

"Of course, my dear, whatever you say," whispered James. He didn't speak for the rest of the class.

***

He couldn't believe his luck. A seat right next to Lily for a whole year! Well, maybe not, but there was a good chance of it!

"James? Hello? James!" yelled Sirius while they were sitting at dinner.

"What? Oh, sorry, Padfoot," James said, coming back to the world.

"Anyway, what homework do we have in Charms?"

"Charms? How would I know? I was-"

"Too busy dreaming of Lily Evans, we know," interrupted Lupin rapidly, also known as Moony.

"Will you idiots shut up? And what is our Charms homework, anyway?"

This question had Remus, Sirius, and Peter in hysterics. When Sirius could actually speak without laughing again, he said, "I don't know, but I know we have something. Why don't you ask your precious Lily?"

He grumbled, but really, it was an excellent excuse to talk with her. Lily wasn't sitting far away from him, so he said, or rather shouted, "Hey, Evans! What's our Charms homework?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask one of your friends?"

"Do you really expect these idiots to know?"

"Good point, I mean, anyone who's a friend of yours has to be an idiot."

"Come on, seriously, what is it?"

She gave an exasperated sigh, thought for a moment, and said, "Review everything."

"Is that all? And is that really the homework?" he asked, very suspicious.

"Oh, yeah, and read Chapter 1."

"Thanks so much, darling!" he said, turning back to his friends.

"What makes you think we're idiots?" asked Lupin.

"Yeah, we can sit there and drool better than anyone else I know, especially Moony and me," said Padfoot.

"Why don't you go ask Evans, she would be happy to insult you, and she would gratefully throw in a word or two about me," he said rather sullenly.

***

James somehow managed to sit next to her not only in Charms, but also in Transfiguration, probably so he could laugh at her during one of her lesser subjects. She knew he would too, as Transfiguration happened to be his best. However, he wasn't quite as terrible in their first Transfiguration class as she thought he'd be.

"Come on, Evans, it's not that hard," he said to her while they were reviewing human Transfiguration. "Remember that 'swish-and-flick' Flitwick taught us ages ago?" She nodded yes. "Well, forget about it."

The class continued that way, and though she hated to admit it, she wouldn't have done so well in the class without his help. In Charms, James would continue to sit next to her, much to her dismay, or so she thought. She would always try to pay back the much-needed favor of Transfiguration classes and help him with Charms, constantly reminding him that you actually needed the "swish-and-flick". Soon, a little too soon for her, she and James could actually have a meaningful conversation without throwing insults at each other. Even Marissa noticed this change with pleasure.

"Lily! He's staring at you again!" came her favorite phrase. "Lily!"

"Hmm, what did you say?"

"He's staring at you again, Lily!"

"You never cease to state the obvious," she said loftily, a little sick of hearing about how he was always staring at her. But this time, she didn't want to talk about it because she was sick of it, but because she found that she was watching him.

Marissa ignored the insult and exclaimed, "Look! There's a Hogsmeade weekend on Halloween! There's going to be a full moon, too. How creepy!"

"Oh, really? Good, I needed to pick up a few things."

"Do you think he'll ask you-"

"I can honestly say that I don't care if he does and I don't plan on saying yes," she interrupted Marissa.

"Then why do you sit there and stare at him?"

"I don't!" although she knew she was lying through her teeth. "Come on, we have to get to Transfiguration."

***

"Look Prongs! A full moon on Halloween!" said Peter, his nickname Wormtail.

"Great, and a Hogsmeade weekend, too!" exclaimed Remus.

"We should start planning, we only have two days," said Sirius.

"Did you say there was a Hogsmeade weekend?" asked James as he looked up from the Marauder's Map, getting his hopes up.

"Yup. Planning on asking Evans out?"

"Her attitude towards us, or really you, seems to have changed since September," stated Sirius matter-of-factly.

"Really? Never would've guessed," he said sarcastically, not really wanting to talk. He wanted to plan, for once in his life, something besides a stupid and dangerous outing with a werewolf at night, but something important, like asking out Lily Evans. He couldn't ask her in his normal nonchalant, I-don't-really-like-you-but-I'm-asking-you-out-anyway way; he wanted her to know that he actually liked her, however hard it might be.

"James, c'mon, we have to get to Transfiguration!"

"Sorry, I'm coming."

He had absolutely no idea where he was going, as he wasn't paying any attention to the world around him. One person was going through his mind- Lily Evans. He knew this was probably his last chance, and he had to take it...

"Take your seats please," said Professor McGonagall. She began to tell the class what they were doing that day, but he missed every word of it.

"Okay, James," whispered Lily, bringing him back into the world. "How the hell am I supposed to do this?"

"Do what?"

"Oh, come on," she said, clearly exasperated. "You're the best in the class when it comes to this stuff."

"Sorry, but what're we supposed to do?"

"What's wrong?" she asked, softening her tone.

"Nothing, it's just..." Now was his chance... "Do you know about the Hogsmeade weekend coming up?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, do you want to go with me?"

He took a deep breath, which was really more of a relieved sigh, not wanting to look her in the eyes. When he did, he found that she was staring at him as if she was making a list of pros and cons in her head. Then, very much to his surprise, she said, "Sure, let's break the tradition this once. I'd be happy to go to Hogsmeade with you."

"Mr. Potter and Miss Evans, would you like to tell the class what you find so interesting?" asked Professor McGonagal, annoyed.

"No, Professor," they said in unison.

"Then I suggest you be quiet."

***