Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

She brushed the dust casually off the edge of the window ledge before balancing her legs elegantly across it. The dust had rubbed off on her palms giving them a grey tint across the planes of her hands. She didn't notice though, or care. She was tucked away in the very corner of the expansive library, her head resting against a teak-panel embedded in the stone wall, a book propped against her thighs that she devoured hungrily, page by page.

Just as Lily lost herself in a world of someone else's imagination, when she was taken to the shattering heights of the sky down to the darkest reaches of the ocean, her concentration was broken.

Caroline arranged herself noisily in the chair opposite to Lily with a self-determined air. Only Lily's emerald eyes tracked her movement, the rest of her stayed completely still, comfortably relaxed.

"Thought I might find you here," her friend announced. Lily smirked, turning back to her book and continuing to read knowing that it would annoy Caroline. She also knew that whatever her light-haired friend had to say, it could not be swayed. She sighed to herself resignedly.

"You know there's actually things going on in the outside world," her friend tried again.

"Mm hmm," agreed Lily, intent on reading about a world beyond her grasp.

Taking this as an invitation to continue, Caroline continued: "Betty Bones and Sirius Black have just had a very noisy break-up next to the lake. Again."

"Mm hmm," prompted the red-haired girl, turning a page.

"He was apparently two-timing her. Or possibly triple-timing her. It was a tad uncertain."

"Mm hmm," Lily punctuated.

"Severus Snape is staring over here," whispered the brunette confidentially.

"Mm hmm?" replied her friend absently.

Caroline narrowed her eyes in irritation. "An invisible pink dragon just flew past the window."

"Uh huh." Another page turned.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Lily looked up suddenly, the pause hanging in the air. She smiled guiltily. "Um, yes?"

"I don't know why I even bother," complained the Ravenclaw, bringing out a nail file and casually filing her nails. Her annoyance was given away by the unnecessarily violent strokes though.

Lily put the book down reluctantly. "I'm sorry Caroline. I'm sure the rest of the school life is fascinating, but-"

"You don't have the time or the patience to understand. Yes I know, you've told me before," pouted the brown-haired girl, fixing Lily with tense brown eyes. "You have to make an effort though Lil, how else will you ever fit in?"

Lily sighed deeply. She'd explained this before a million times. "Caro, I don't want to fit in, I'm quite happy being just me."

"Well, you can be you and a social butterfly at the same time," asserted Caroline. She frowned slightly. "Or, well, theoretically you can."

This caused a snort of amusement from Lily. "Maybe, maybe, but let's not risk it eh?"

Caroline frowned at her. "I don't understand you Lil. You're so pretty you could have anyone you want easily, yet you're not even interested?"

"Bad experiences," muttered the redhead, burying her face resolutely back in her book.

"I missed that, pardon?"

Lily smiled at her calmly. "Let's just say the male species don't particularly enthral me. Certainly not the retards of Hogwarts." She smirked before going back to her book.

"They're not that bad," defended the Ravenclaw, picking out a potions textbook from her bag and propping it open on her lap. "Some of them are pretty good-looking," she reflected.

"If you're talking about Mason, Tom, Remus, Arthur or Lucius then please spare me."

Caroline bristled. "At least I actually like people," she retorted.

"We had that conversation," reminded Lily serenely.

Caroline slammed the textbook down, frustration sparking from her eyes. "Just because you don't give a flying gobstone about anyone, doesn't mean everyone's like it. One day Lily Rose Evans you're going to look around and realise that there's nobody there." With that she got up and walked off, her heavy breathing still audible at the other end of the library.

Lily watched her go sadly. Many of their conversations ended up that way; she didn't know why Caroline continued being her friend really. The hurt she felt from her friend's outburst was easily dispersed; it was hardly the worst anyone had said to her.

She rested her red hair against the wooden panel staring unseeingly into space. Caroline could never understand her desire to be away from the madding crowd, to be out of the rumour mills and excluded from the social backstabbing she heard so much about through her friend.

She was better off alone, she always had been, that's how things were. Lily returned her concentration to the book at hand not noticing the avid gaze from a certain dark-headed boy on the other side of the library.