I'm Not in Love

"Oh no! I don't believe it! I get out of the Hospital Wing just in time for double History of Magic! It's not fair!"

Lily was out of the infirmary and feeling much better, except that Madam Pomfrey had only let her go after making her promise to drink the most awful concoction every night for two weeks.

"Yes, I know it's not fair. If it makes you feel better, I'll take notes today."

"Really? Thank you so much, Jasmine!"

Lily and Jasmine had an arrangement for History of Magic. One of them took notes, and one of them did something worthwhile. They would have gotten Eli to take turns too, but they had found out in the early days that she was physically and mentally and completely incapable of concentrating on something so boring for long. When they looked at her notes afterwards, there was nothing but unintelligible margin scribbles, which had expanded from the margins to take over the whole page.

"But, are you sure?" asked Lily, suddenly uncertain. "I mean, it is a double."

"That's fine. You get the next two."

"Oh, thanks!" Lily shoved her friend, causing her to stumble into Snape, who was passing by, no doubt to some dark and unwholesome place like the Slytherin common room.

"Oh, no!" cried Lily, dragging her friend up by the elbows. "You touched him!" Lily immediately began brushing Jasmine down.

"Watch where you're going, Mudbloods," spat Snape. Jasmine turned around to look at him, an expression of the deepest contempt on her face.

"And Muggle lovers," Snape added belatedly, before scurrying away.

"Sorry, Jasmine," said Lily.

"That's all right," replied Jasmine. Then a grin spread over her face as she looked over Lily's shoulder.

"I may still have my vengeance, though." Jasmine shoved Lily, presumably in revenge.

She landed on Potter.

"Aargh!" cried Lily, scrambling to get up.

"Jasmine! Help!" she implored, but Jasmine just stood there, a stupid grin all over her face. So Lily struggled up by herself.

Potter was looking kind of dazed, but Black was never at a loss for words.

"See, Lily-Flower? No matter how much you repress it, you are madly in love with Prongsy here. Just give in, my dear girl."

Prongsy? Lily thought in confusion. ...Huh? Then her mind got back on topic.

"... No."

"Ooh," said Jasmine and Black simultaneously. "What was that pause for then, hmmm?"

Lily was getting frustrated. "I've just gotten out of the Hospital wing, all right? My system is still full of sleepy juice! And I don't love him!" Lily stormed off, fuming.

"What do you think?" Jasmine asked.

"She's got it. Oh, she's got it bad. Muahahahaha."

Jasmine looked at him. On his face was the expression that was often plastered all over Eli's face.

"She won't take kindly to any pranking, you know. Or any tricks to get her to admit it."

"Hmmm." A roguish grin spread over his face, and he looked at Jasmine.

"Hey, how about we skip class and have some fun?"

"Let me think about that one... Well, I'd love to, really, but... No."

"Aww, come on!" Black treated her to his puppy dog look, which he was abnormally good at.

A book came flying down on Black's head.

"Owwwwwwww!" he howled. He turned and glared at Potter.

"That hurt!"

"It was supposed to, Padfoot. Honestly, sometimes I think that our generation is doomed. Tut tut." Black aimed a half hearted blow at his friend. Potter dodged.

"Nya nya, missed me! C'mon, stop flirting with Evans' friends." Potter started running towards the class room. Black ran close behind him, obviously trying to inflict injury upon the untidy head in front of him. Jasmine grinned and walked after them.

There was a general low buzz when she passed through the doorway. Jasmine swore the whole classroom exuded boredom. In any other class, there would probably be so much noise that any teacher would have to let off several rockets from their wand to calm everybody down.

Jasmine went to sit down in front of Lily. This was their plan of action. The note taker had to be far enough away from the idler as to not be distracted, but close enough to be contacted easily.

Professor Binns glided through the blackboard. Most of the class immediately fell asleep. A few tried to concentrate on what was being said - well, droned, and the remainder did everything in their power to amuse themselves. Lily often brought a book, which she read under the table, but today she didn't have one. She'd finished it in the hospital wing, and had yet to send an owl to her parents asking for another.

So today, she followed the standard procedure, and doodled aimlessly. At first she tried to draw, but she was no great shakes at art. When she went to Muggle school, she used to avoid art class. So she played the game she had when she was younger. Scribble something, and try to turn it into something vaguely recognisable. She quickly tired of that too, and there was still an hour and a half to go. She started to write out the alphabet in odd ways, embellishing them, or changing them so much that they could have passed for a different language.

She had yet to tire of it when a piece of paper found its way to her desk.

Hey, Evans, it read, in an untidy scrawl that she, unfortunately, knew well. Bored much?

Lily looked round. Potter and Black had their heads down over their parchment, occasionally looking up to check what was on the board. They looked the epitome of studious scholars. It was an act. Their quills were nowhere near their hands, and they were looking in the wrong direction. Lily knew they were no more paying attention to the lesson than she was.

She thought for a moment. Should she reply?

What the heck, she had eighty minutes of class time left, and Potter was doing rather well; he hadn't asked her out yet.

Of course. And don't tell me you aren't. You're trying to write on a handkerchief.

See, what did I tell you, Padfoot? Evans is very perceptive.

Spare me my blushes. So, why are you ringing me up now?

What? Ringing you up?

It's a Muggle term for contacting someone with a telephone.

Telephone?

A Muggle invention for communicating over long distances.

How does it work?

How should I know? Ask Arthur Weasley.

Weasley?

Yeah, Weasley. The second year kid who likes Muggles?

Oh, right. Lanky, red hair? Yeah I know him. Alright, I'll ask.

Great, you do that. But anyway, why did you initiate these communications?

Ummm... We were bored?

Oh, great.

No, there was another reason... Ummm......

This could take a while. You want to skip class with me?

Lily heard a brief scuffle at the back. She could guess the reason.

I'm sorry. Padfoot is somewhat of a letch.

Yes, I am a letch. I apologise for my lecherous ways. So, now do you skip now? Binns won't notice.

... Potter, please try to control your friends.

I'm sorry, Evans, but he defies controllation . We got him a leash for his birthday last year. It wouldn't stay on.

Did you remember to get a collar?

Oh, so that was why...

We thought you were meant to clip it on to your ear. It really hurt.

You. Are. Idiots.

Yes, but that's why you're going to go out with me next Hogsmeade weekend, right?

Lily sighed. It had been going so well. And there were still 45 minutes left of class.

A... B... C... D......

~*~

The bell rang.

"Finally!" cried Lily. She was so bored that she would kill herself just for something to do. No, she was more bored than that. She was so bored, she would have gone out with Potter. That was how bored she was.

"I'm bored."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. She looked uncannily like one of Lily's cousins.

"Really? Looks like you amused yourself pretty well. I noticed you passing notes with dearest Potter at one point. And what's this?" Jasmine picked up the parchment Lily had been doodling on. She had continued to embellish the alphabet, but some letters appeared much more often than others.

"M R S L P. M R S L P... Could that stand for... Mrs Lily Potter, perhaps?"

"No, of course not. Why would it - oh. Your misinformed notion again, is it? That I'm going to fall in love with James Potter? In your dreams, Jazz."

"Of course you're not going to fall in love with Potter. You already love him."

"Yeah, sure. Bye, Jazz."

Lily took her books up to the dormitory, dumped them in an undignified heap, and ran out onto the grounds.

The sun was shining in a particularly warm and benevolent manner that day. Spring was finally making itself known.

Lily trotted down to her spot, frequently checking to make sure no one was following her.

Lily always had a spot. She had a spot at home, and at every school she had gone to. (She had gone to several. She kept moving because of 'strange occurrences.') Often it was a tree, somewhere out of sight, or where people rarely went. She had found this spot a year after coming to Hogwarts.

It was the second day of school, and Lily had seen Hagrid walking down in the general direction of the lake. Then he had disappeared into some bushes. As a second year, she was, of course, overflowing with curiosity, so she followed him. He led her to a place that seemed vaguely familiar. It was only when she saw the boats that she realised where she was. The last time she had been there, it had been dark, and she had been a timid, nervous first year. It was the little boat bay. Hagrid muttered something, which Lily just managed to catch. 'Atlantis'. A bridge had appeared across the water. Lily had stared and stared.

This was where Lily was going now. The bridge was the best place to relax, especially when it was warm. The sun warmed her, but the cool, moist wind from the cave always made sure she wasn't too hot.

She sat down. She had decided to come here earlier, when Madam Pomfrey had asked if there was something she did to relax. Madam Pomfrey had said that the reason for her fever was because she was stressed. Maybe she was repressing something? If she was, she could always tell the nurse.

Lily snorted. Madam Pomfrey couldn't keep even her own trivial secrets. Everyone in the castle knew she dyed her hair. She would probably tell Slughorn something at the next staff meeting, and he would undoubtedly pass it on to a few of his favourites, and before the week was out, everyone would know every single thing she'd said.

Lily sighed. The giant squid came under the bridge and tickled her toes. She laughed and wriggled them.

It was so nice sitting out in the sun, and she was so tired. She had planned to do some homework, but now she put a cushioning charm on her books and used them as a pillow. Within minutes, she was asleep.