I'm Not in Love

"Lily? Lily!"

It was Jasmine, shaking her awake, concern for her friend evident in her voice.

"What's wrong? We heard a thump, and you were moaning something. I couldn't hear it, it was so indistinct..."

Suddenly, nothing seemed so scary. Not Dementors, not anything. Not with her friends here. Really, they had done heaps of scary stuff. They had sneaked into the Forbidden Forest to look for unicorns in their second year, and been caught outside when a wolf howled. Or they thought it was a wolf. They hoped it was a wolf. But, frankly, in the Forest, it could have been anything.

As Lily was musing on what could have howled in the Forbidden Forest, and her dream was fading from memory, Eli's face was splitting, as a grin slowly spread from her mouth to both ears.

"I heard." Her grin was positively evil now. "Lily was moaning 'Potter! Potter, no, Potter'."

Jasmine's eyes widened, then a grin spread across her face too, though it wasn't as evil as Eli's.

"Were you? Were you dreaming about him?" she asked, staring at Lily incredulously.

Lily, who had been momentarily rendered speechless, immediately regained control of her vocal cords.

"No! Of course not!"

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," said Eli, her grin now verging on the demonic.

"She must have," agreed Jasmine.

"Hey! I wasn't. If I even ceased to regard him as dirt, do you think I would call him Potter?"

Jasmine's grin started to shrink.

"She has got a point there, you know. I mean, who ever heard of people calling their sweetheart by their last name?"

"Potter calls Lily 'Evans'," replied Eli. Lily expected her to sprout horns and a tail any minute.

"Oh, you're hopeless," said Lily, flapping her hand in Eli's general direction.

"But Lily, what were you dreaming about?" inquired Jasmine. Lily stopped for a minute, stumped.

"I think it was something to do with cloaks... Maybe I was choosing dress robes?"

Lily honestly didn't remember her dream. It was too blurry. She could remember cloaks, and that it was really cold, but that was it.

Jasmine looked puzzled.

"But how could you work Potter into that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," said Eli, finally rejoining the conversation, "Potter would have to be in the dream or you wouldn't be moaning his name."

"I don't know. Maybe he was trying to make me wear a really awful robe?"

"Or trying to make you take one off?"

"Eli! Well, that proves that I don't even like him. Urgh, just the thought, makes me feel ill... ergh." Lily really was starting to look a bit queasy.

"Lils, are you OK? You look washed out. Do you have a headache?" Jasmine was sounding concerned again.

Lily frowned, which hurt a bit, but said "No, I'm fine. I'm just tired, that's all."

Jasmine remained unconvinced.

"Well, go to sleep. It's ten o'clock and you have no homework."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother."

"Good. Lie down."

Eli and Lily exchanged 'looks'. Jasmine had a real mother hen streak in her. It was usually best to do as she said until you proved nothing was wrong. So Lily lay down.

"Eli, leave Lily alone. She needs her beauty sleep."

"You've got it right there!"

"Hey!" Lily grabbed a pillow from the bed next to hers (which happened to be Eli's) and threw it at Eli. Before madness and feathers could ensue, Jasmine glared at her two friends.

"Stop it. Both of you."

"But Mommy, she called me ugly!" Lily protested in a whiny voice. Eli took her cue.

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Enough!" yelled Jasmine over the general din. But she was smiling. "Come on Eli."

As her two friends walked down the stairs, Lily heard Eli call 'Did too!', followed by what sounded like a slap on a hard, possibly rounded surface.

Surprisingly, Lily did actually fall asleep; as soon as her head hit the pillow, in fact. Something dark fluttered on the edge of her consciousness, but receded and vanished from perception, as Lily fell deeper into slumber.

~~~*~~~

In the morning, Lily was feverish.

"Eli, Eli, Eliiiiii! What'll we do! Lily's sick! Ooh, I knew something was up!" Jasmine was frantic. Her brain was ceasing to function properly. "ELIIIII!!!"

"Jazz, calm down. She's just sick, that's all." Eli bent down to check Lily's temperature. "Yep, she has a fever. She's pretty hot, too."

"NOOOO! She's burning up! And it's all my fault!"

"Jasmine! Snap out of it! She's not burning up!"

"Yes she is, yes she is, AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!!"

"May the Lord grant me patience. Look, Jasmine, you get a wet cloth, and put it on her forehead. I'll get McGonagall," Eli commanded. Maybe giving Jasmine something to do would shut her up. As it happened, it did. Jasmine immediately seemed to calm down, nodded at Eli to signal her compliance, and scurried off the bathrooms. Eli sighed in relief.

On her way out of the common room, Eli was waylaid by none other than Sirius Black. He grinned at her, perfect white teeth flashing against his well-tanned skin.
"What's happening up there?"

Eli was immediately gripped by the feeling that she was about to faint, as all girls did when faced with Black. Well, most, anyway. Lily obviously didn't go all wobbly at the knees. And Eli could probably name some Slytherin girls who appeared unaffected. But Eli was a relatively average girl. She did, however, have a secret to combating Black's charm. She held the knowledge that; A, he was a complete player, B, he was her rival in mischief and C, he was not in the least bit interested in her. She used that knowledge to stabilize herself. And her knees.

"Lily is sick, and Jasmine has completely lost her head."

"How so?"

"Oh, Jasmine's always been rather high strung."

"I meant Lily. Although I am, of course, always glad to hear news concerning the wonderful Jasmine. How sick is she?"

"Jasmine?"

"No, Lily." His correction was delivered with an air of awful patience.

"She has a fever."

"Oh dear."

"Why oh dear? It's not like you care."

"Maybe not, but I know someone who does." Black nodded towards the table in front of the fireplace, where Potter and Lupin were helping Pettigrew to change his hair back from bright orange.

As Eli watched, Pettigrew's hair abruptly turned dark purple. "What happened there?"

"Peter managed to turn his hair pink while trying to write an essay on the proper care of Yanjingi miniature trees."

"How on earth did he manage that?"

"How should I know?" was Black's comfortable reply.

"You're supposed to be his friend, that's how! Oh, I don't have time for this. I need to find McGonagall!"

"Why?"

"Lily, remember? We can't carry her to the hospital wing on our own! I just hope she's in her office."

"Lily?"

"No, you idiot, McGonagall!"

"Hmm. Give me a minute." Black sauntered over to his friends, who were gradually lightening Pettigrew's hair, so it was a rather nice lavender shade. He muttered with them for a minute, and then they all huddled together, hiding something from Eli's view. Then he sauntered back to Eli.

"She's not in her office. She's heading to the Great Hall."

Eli frowned.

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, I have my ways."

"And what's she doing there? Breakfast isn't for another hour and a half."

"Yeah, but have you ever noticed how the teachers are there before any of the students?"

"No."

"Me neither. Oh well."

"All right then. Thanks, I guess." Eli was about to climb out of the portrait hole when a thought struck her.

"Oi, Black!" she called.

Black turned to her with a pained expression.

"Can't you call me Sirius? After we've become so chummy and all?"

"Ah, no. Could you keep an eye on Jasmine? I think she's distraught."

"Of course. But I can safely assume that she's in the girls' dormitories? The stair to which does seem to be awfully slippery at the moment." He nodded towards the pile of boys at the foot of said stair. As they watched, two more boys tried to climb it, to find out what the problem was, and slid back down to rejoin their fellows.

"I'm sure you have your ways."

Eli jumped out of the portrait hole and sprinted towards the Great Hall. As she went, she composed herself, throwing off the sense of giddiness that came from prolonged exposure to Black.

~~~*~~~

"Professor McGonagall!"

Eli had been a little delayed in her search for her Head of House. Peeves had been floating round on the second floor, and after he had pulled the carpet out from under her, he had pelted her with peanuts, of all things. Then, as she fled, she got her foot stuck in one of the vanishing steps. It had taken her ages to get free, because Peeves was continuing to pelt her with nuts, though he had moved on to pistachios. When she finally found Professor McGonagall, she was coming out of the Great Hall.

McGonagall turned around. If Eli didn't know better, she'd say that the Professor was flustered.

"Miss Anvar, what are you doing out so early? Breakfast isn't for another hour."

"Professor, Lily's sick. She has a fever, and we can't carry her to the Hospital Wing."

"Hmmm. Very well. Anything else?"

"Jasmine is in hysterics, Professor."

"Oh dear."