A Fine Line

Alice chewed on her pinky nail as she and Lily entered the Transfiguration classroom. Today was Monday, the day of her doom, and she was nervous the plan wasn't going to work.

In theory, it was perfect. Sirius would upset Lily to the point where she would blow up and hex him. Of course, Lily would never do that, especially in front of a teacher, and that was where Alice came in. She had made sure Lily was especially frustrated this morning, as she had hidden her shoes the night before and tied the laces in knots. Lily didn't like to use magic unless it was absolutely necessary, so Alice put a spell on the knots to keep them from coming undone until Lily used a spell. Lily spent twenty minutes trying to fix the knots, until she finally began swearing and whipped out her wand. They were almost late to their first class, and Lily had lost her favorite quill. Needless to say, she was in a very bad mood.

Of course, Alice hadn't counted on the immense feeling of guilt that was hanging over her head.

She felt like such a flake, doing this to her friend to help the person she hated most. However, Alice knew in her heart of hearts that if Lily would just give him a chance, she wouldn't regret it. Well, at least she hoped that would be what happened.

Lily tossed her bag on the floor, sat on the chair and put her head down. "Today is a horrible, horrible day."

Alice took the seat next to her and patted her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Lily mumbled, raising her head long enough to look at Alice. She looked so frustrated and tired; Alice's stomach tightened. Alice began to rub the back of Lily's neck and Lily's head fell forward. "That feels amazing."

Before Alice could respond, Sirius appeared in front of them. "Morning ladies," he sang, slamming his hands down on the desk with unnecessary force. Lily groaned into her hands and Alice felt like screaming. "What's wrong Evans? You and McCoy had a wee bit too much fun Saturday night?"

Lily's head shot up and Alice's eyes narrowed. "What?" Lily asked.

Sirius waved his hand. "Nothing, it's nothing. But Evans, tell me how you plan on treating my dear friend James after you two are married, because if there are going to be extra-marital affairs, I'm not sure I want to expose Jamie-kins to your wanton ways."

"Excuse me?" Lily snapped, rising from her chair and walking around the desk. "One, I would never date Potter, let alone marry him for Merlin's sake! Two, I am not some tart who would marry a man and sleep with someone else on the side. Now, please stop talking to me before I do something I'll regret."

Sirius leaned against the desk behind him, crossed his arms and smiled at her. "Now, now, now, Evans, don't get your pretty pink knickers in a bunch. I just wanted to know when you'd consider marriage, since you and James are obviously meant to be. If I can see it, you should be able to as well."

"Black, I have not had a good day so far, and you are only making it worse."

"What I want to know is why you won't go for James. Unless, that is, you've always harbored undying feelings of lust for me--" Suddenly, Sirius' body went rigid and he fell back, hitting the ground with a solid thump.

Alice looked from Lily's wand to the now Body-Bound Sirius. The whole room went quiet, and Alice reached out and gently lowered Lily's outstretched arm. Her face was bright red, and she turned her head to look at Alice, her eyes filled with panic, and her face went pale. "Oh Merlin, what's Professor McGonagall going to think?"

Everyone turned around when the door creaked open. "Take your seats-- Oh my goodness..." Professor McGonagall knelt down next to Sirius and mumbled the counter-jinx before helping him up. "Pray tell, Mr. Black," she began, turning to walk to the front of the classroom. "Why did you feel the need to be put under the full Body-Bind in my classroom?"

Sirius grinned and turned to Lily. "I don't know Professor," he said sweetly. "Why don't you ask Miss Evans why she felt the need to put the full Body-Bind on me in your classroom?"

Professor McGonagall's face twitched, and she came very close to displaying a facial expression. Whether it was one of surprise or disappointment, Alice didn't know. "Miss Evans," McGonagall began slowly. "Did you perform the Body-Bind jinx on Mr. Black?"

Lily's face was ash white. "Yes," she whispered, bowing her head.

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk and folded her hands on the desktop. Alice was suddenly reminded of the night she had come to Sirius, Remus and Peter for help. "Miss Evans, while I assume you were mercilessly provoked into performing this jinx, Hogwarts rules clearly state that the penalty of this offense is a detention. I'm sure you understand."

Lily nodded, the color returning in her cheeks. She shot Sirius a look of pure hate, and Alice could already see the wheels turning in her mind. McGonagall ordered the class to take their seats, and Lily slowly walked back to her desk. "We need a plan," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "Black shall pay."

---

"I'm not so sure about this..."

Alice and Sirius were under James' Invisibility Cloak, watching the detention. McGonagall had given James a detention later that day, so as luck, Fate and Sirius would have it, the two were stuck together. Right now, the pair was on their hands and knees, scrubbing every desk in the classroom. Alice and Sirius were crouched in the corner, under the Cloak, and Alice's knees were starting to hurt. "Oh hush, McCoy. I have to say I'm the most brilliant person in the world."

Alice shifted, leaning some of her weight on her arms. "I must say you are not, for if you were, we wouldn't be crouched uncomfortably in a corner. And where did James get an Invisibility Cloak anyway?"

"You can't have everything, you know."

He sat back, his back leaning against the wall. Tugging on the bottom of Alice's shirt, he pulled her back next to him. While Alice found the change of position more comfortable, she didn't find her proximity to Sirius quite as comfortable. She looked from him to Lily, and even though she knew if Lily caught her she wouldn't live, she silently urged Lily to yank off the Invisibility Cloak and kill them both anyway.

"Ouch!"

Both Alice and Sirius sat forward. Lily was holding her ankle, her face red with a mix of embarrassment and pain. "What happened?" James asked, dropping his rag and rushing over to Lily.

She looked at him, her facing turning a deeper shade of scarlet. "I stepped in that bucket," she told him, pushing the overturned bucket out of her way and grabbing the desk above her. "It's no big deal."

She tried to pull herself up, but her feet slipped in the water underneath her. She fell again, and Alice could tell James was trying not to laugh. "Do you want some help?"

She scowled at him. "No, I can do it by myself." James laughed and grabbed her wrists, pulling her up. Her scowl deepened, but when he slid his arm under her knees and picked her up, she gasped. "Potter! Put me down!"

He sat her down on a desk and smiled. "There are only a couple desks left to finish, so I'll do them. Don't worry your pretty little head off."

Lily crossed her arms in a huff. As James turned around to finish cleaning the desks, he slipped in the water and fell, face-first. Lily threw her head back and began laughing. James picked himself up off the ground and wiped his face. "That wasn't funny," he told her. Even though his tone was serious, Alice could hear the mild amusement in his voice.

Lily was still laughing as she hopped off the desk and tweaked his nose. "Don't worry your pretty little head off," she mocked before bending down to grab a bucket and rag.

James neck was slowing turning pink, and after Lily turned around, he touched his nose gently and gave a discreet thumbs up sign to the corner.

---

Alice and Sirius sprinted back to the Gryffindor common room in an attempt to make it back before James and Lily returned. After shouting the password and literally diving through the portrait hole, Alice landed on the floor with a loud thump. Sirius landed on top of her, and after some slight adjustments, he propped himself up and smiled cheekily at her. "Why, hallo, Alice! What a surprise it is to see you here!"

Alice roughly pushed him off before standing up and brushing herself off. "That is an experience I never, ever want to repeat."

"So how did it go?"

Remus, who was buried under a mountain of essays, and Peter, who was trying in vain to turn a teacup into a hamster, were sitting in the middle of the common room. They dropped their work and looked expectantly at Sirius and Alice. "James is going to be wet," Sirius announced, dropping into an armchair.

Alice took a spot on the couch, next to Remus, and leaned back. How nice it was to lean against fabric, and not a hard wall. "It went as well as could be expected, I suppose." Remus nodded and picked up his quill. He began writing on a sheet of paper, and Alice snuck a glance at his work. "Why do you have a moon chart?" she asked, looking up at him.

His hand stopped writing, but he didn't look up. Sirius and Peter looked at each other, and then to their friend. "It's an Astronomy project," Remus mumbled, shuffling the paper underneath the rest. His face was white as a sheet, and he looked up at Sirius.

Sirius cleared his throat and looked at Alice. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" he asked, his voice low.

Alice looked at the three boys in front of her, and while Peter and Sirius met her stare, Remus wouldn't look up. "Of course," she mumbled, rising from her seat. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong," she added, not sure if she should apologize for something or not. She felt like something needed to be said, but she still wasn't sure what was wrong.

She headed to the girls' dormitories, but hesitated a couple stairs up. "What if she figures it out?" Remus hissed, sounding panicked.

Alice knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping on a private conversation, but private conversations couldn't be held in the common room and expected to be kept private.

"She won't," Sirius assured him.

"Snape did," Peter said. "And McCoy isn't stupid."

"She's not going to put it together," Sirius repeated, his voice getting louder. "She may not be stupid, but she doesn't know as much as Snape did."

"He could have died though." Remus's voice was getting desperate. "What if--"

"Just stop!" Sirius shouted. "She's not going to figure it out. I'll make sure, okay? I won't let it happen."

Alice heard footsteps coming towards the stairs, so she turned around and ran up them, careful to be as quiet as she could. She fell onto her bed, an ache beginning to form in her temples. Remus's words echoed through her mind, He could have died...

Lily opened the door carefully, not wanting to wake Alice or her roommates.

Yet, that was.

Carefully leaning over the sleeping brunette, Lily took a pillow with one hand and her wand with the other. She cast a Silencing Charm around Alice's bed and carefully hopped up on the bed, standing above the other girl. She began to hit Alice with the pillow. "Wake up, Sunshine!" she chanted brightly.

Alice groaned and rolled over, throwing her arms over her face. "Lily!" she called groggily. "Knock it off!" Lily laughed, dropping the pillow before falling onto the bed next to Alice. "It's only," Alice reached under her pillow and grabbed the pocket watch she kept there, "five-thirty, you know," she told Lily, rolling over and hugging her pillow. "I should be dreaming of pancakes being served to me by shirtless island natives with accents, but no, I am not allowed to indulge."

"Aren't you going to ask about my very first detention ever?"

Since Alice had been there, she already knew, but she was going to ask anyway. "How was it?"

"Horrible." It didn't look that way... Alice could barely keep her mouth shut as Lily continued complaining. "He thinks I'm helpless and if he sweeps me off my feet I'll become hopelessly infatuated with him." Lily crossed her arms behind her head and looked up at the canopy. "And, as an added bonus, I have to see him at the Prefect meeting tonight."

Alice rolled onto her stomach. "Well, we'll buy some chocolate at Hogsmeade this weekend and it will all be better."

"It's a good thing you're a Prefect," Lily continued, not seeming to notice Alice had just spoken, "because if I had to sit in a room with Potter for an hour--"

"Lily, there are going to be other people in the room besides you two," Alice reminded her, flipping her pillow over to the cool side before laying her head back down. "And why couldn't you just ignore him like you usually do?"

Lily sat up and pulled the curtain back before taking down the Silencing Charm. Alice was feeling a bit miffed that she was being ignored. "Get ready," Lily commanded, straightening her skirt. "We need to makes some plans."

---

The Defense classroom was empty when Alice and Lily arrived. They took their seats in the middle of the room and waited for the room to fill up. Lily pulled a book out of her bag and Alice couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You'd rather read than talk to me?"

Lily smiled, her eyes never leaving the book. "I am perfectly capable of multi-tasking."

"You do realize normal people couldn't understand half the things you say," Alice told her, picking at her pinky nail. She had become fixated on chewing the nail off completely. "You are very lucky to have found someone who is not intimidated by your vast knowledge of vocabulary."

"When did you start chewing your nails?" Lily asked, changing the subject completely. She took Alice's right hand and stared at her pinky nail. "You used to yell at me for chewing mine last year."

Alice yanked her hand away, moving to put her nail in her mouth. She stopped when Lily frowned, and dropped her hand. "I don't know," she lied, knowing perfectly well it all started when she asked Sirius, Remus and Peter for help. "I never used to."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Since a certain person returned as our Defense professor, perhaps?"

If looks could kill, Lily would have been impaled, beheaded and six feet under in less than half a second. "No," Alice stated firmly. "It has nothing to do with that."

Lily laughed. "Oh get off it! You haven't even said his name!"

"Said who's name?"

Both girls' heads snapped forward as Frank Longbottom strode into the room, followed by several students. "No one, Professor," Lily stammered.

Alice turned beet red. I'm just glad he wasn't in here earlier...

Frank looked up from his desk, his gaze landing on Alice for a few seconds. "Are you all right, Miss McCoy?"

She nodded viciously. "Fine," she choked out, trying to cover it up with a coughing fit. "I'm just peachy."

He looked skeptical, but she wasn't about to try and explain anything. I'm just lucky I can form complete sentences. Lily opened her book again as Alice folded her arms and put her head on the desk.

Class began, and through the whole thing, Alice could have sworn she felt him watching her. She looked up from her work a couple of times, and was slightly disappointed to find him doing his own work.

The last time she looked up, however, he was looking back at her. And for once, she wasn't the one who blushed and looked away.