For the Love of Lily

Chapter 7

The feast seemed to drag on for Lily. She really wanted to know what was on James' mind. He probably wants to tell me how wrong Severus is for me. Well, if that's it, he's wrong!

Professor Dumbledore's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"That concludes our opening feast. Please, return to your dormitories and do try to get some sleep so we start the term on a positive note."

Lily got up from the table and followed the rest of the Gryffindors to their common room. The red and gold decorations made the room look like it was decorated for a party. She climbed the red carpeted steps that led to her room. Her trunk was at the edge of her bed, and the doors to her mahogany wardrobe were open. Too bad I don't know the charm to put all these clothes in the wardrobe themselves. I'll have to look that up, she thought, making a mental note to herself.

She opened the trunk lid and started taking her clothes out and hanging them in the wardrobe and putting them in drawers. When she finished, she checked the clock. It was 6:55. I'll go downstairs now. James is probably already there.

Sure enough, when she entered the common room, James was already sitting in one of the red upholstered chairs by the fireplace.

"Hey, stranger!" she said as she walked up behind him.

"Hey, beautiful!" he said. "Have a seat," he said as he gestured to the chair next to him.

As she sat down, she could feel color rising to her cheeks. James had never called her beautiful before.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Severus."

"Figured that. What about him?"

"Lily, he's a Slytherin. Everybody knows Slytherins are no good. They can't be trusted. I'm worried about you. I don't want you to get your heart broken when he decides that being a Slytherin means more to him than you do," James explained, his eyes watching her reaction carefully.

"Well, Severus isn't like the other Slytherins. He would never do anything to hurt me," Lily stated almost on the verge of tears again. "You don't know him like I do."

"I'll take you word for it, but just watch it, ok?"

"Ok, but I'm really happy. Thank you for being concerned, though. Was that all you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm going to go to bed then. I'm really tired."

"Goodnight, Lily," James said.

"Goodnight," and with that she went back to her dormitory.

Lily walked into her room and flopped down on her bed staring at the ceiling. I knew he was going to tell me that, so why did I even go down there and talk to him?

"Because you've noticed something is different about Severus, too. Remember earlier today in Diagon Alley?" a voice in the back of her head said.

Oh, shut up! He was just trying to keep his reputation up, but that's what James just warned me about. It can't be true though.

"But it is!" the voice said again.

It's getting late and I can't think straight. I'll figure this out in the morning, Lily thought. With that, she put an end to the battle going on in her head and fell asleep.

For the Love of Lily