light once again;

Lily Evans, 5th Year, Gryffindor, Prefect. I'm not actually in the library nearly as much as my friends would have you think.

[johnbloodydawlish]

So, did I miss any scandals?

[lilyliketheflower]

Not on my end, of course. Although, I can't exactly speak for my fellow Gryffindors.

[sev-thehalfbloodprince]

Under a Tree || Severus and Lily

Severus was in a good mood; he was seeing Lily again, after all that he’d done to make her angry. He had ignored her in front of his friend, he had used dark magic on her after promising not to.. He shuddered at the thoughts. Lily really was an amazing girl to forgive him for all of that. Now he really couldn’t screw anything up. He couldn’t afford to.

They were meeting under the shade of a willow tree in the fields surrounding Hogwarts. It was beautiful there, and the weather was nicer than usual. He liked to read outdoors when the weather was like this, and that usually helped him forget all about how everyone hated him and he hated everyone. But today he’d be with Lily, which was even better than escaping from all of the people who taunted him daily.

The only problem was that Lily was associated with those people. Had she been sorted into Slytherin, it would be a different story. She would be dating him by now and she wouldn’t have any interest in James Potter. But now it seemed like where ever he saw her, he was there as well. Either teasing her, flirting with her, making her red in frustration and in flattery; it disgusted Severus. His enlightened mood quickly turned bitter, but he tried to hide it; he wanted to be as happy and foolproof as he could be while he was with Lily.

Once he found a nice spot, he took a seat under the shade of a willow tree and waited for her to arrive. While he waited, he took out a book on defense against the dark arts. He hoped Lily would take it as him not trying to study about it anymore but defeating it instead. When she arrived, he merely smiled crookedly up at her and said, “Hello, Lily” in his low voice that was less sarcastic than usual.

[lilyliketheflower]

As per usual, Lily's day had been hectic. She'd had double potions that morning, an essay in Charms to finish, and had encountered a group of fifth year boys who were hell bent on destroying the prefect bathroom that morning. She'd had to skip lunch, and bring the group of boys to McGonagall's office before her next class. By the time that the afternoon finally arrived, and Lily had a moment to relax, her head was whirling. She had promised Severus that she would meet him outside once classes were over, and she relished in the idea of having a moment to calm down. She needed the fresh air, and the promise of not worrying about sinks exploding and bathrooms flooding with water. 

She headed out onto the grounds, walking at a clipped pace. She was a bit late to meet him, as she ordinarily was, and she felt guilty. Lily wasn't sure exactly how she felt about spending time with Severus now, after everything that had happened in the past few weeks, and a rush of nerves shot through her when she spotted him beneath a nearby tree. Part of her was still angry at him, and seethed whenever she remembered the feeling of standing in that Potions classroom, of Avery sneering insults in her face. But the other part of her instinctively considered him as comfort and wanted to be near him, especially after such a difficult day.

It was that part of her that told Lily to step forward and smile at him, holding her books close to her chest. "Hello Sev," she said. She noticed the book in his hands, defense against the dark arts, and it was suddenly much easier to smile genuinely at him. She took a seat in the grass next to him, dropping her pile of books beside her. "How has your day been?" 

[sincerly-glenda-chittock]

A Nice Day For a Walk || Lily and Glenda

[sincerly-glenda-chittock]

Glenda rocked back and forth on her feet, toes to heels as she listened to Lily talk. It was strange and wonderful at the same time to be able to talk about it, but Glenda could tell that Lily was just being nice, there was no way that Remus could ever like her, it was impossible. 

Glenda beamed when Lily made her comment about the two of them being cute. She wanted to be cute. “I don’t know Lily, are you sure he doesn’t have his eyes on anyone else?” Glenda said, thinking about the prettier girls in the years above her. “I don’t want any false hopes, no matter what comfort they might give me.” she said shrugging her shoulders.

“I want to talk to him about his prefect duties,” Glenda said, “I think, I mean, I could probably carry on a whole conversation about that, because I want to be a prefect. That’s excellent, next time I see him, I’ll talk about that and maybe, just maybe I won’t make a fool of myself. I guess it’s true that I need practice, and talking to him more often won’t hurt his opinion of me unless I say something really bad…” 

Glenda smiled at Lily, “I’m so glad for your help, Lily, I hope you know that. So what’s up with you? Do you have your eye on anyone?” she said winking, “I won’t tell anybody.”

[lilyliketheflower]

Lily watched as the other girl's face lit up, and smiled in response. She didn't want to get her hopes up to much, but it was nice to see Glenda so happy. "Well, I can't be certain, but I haven't seen him with anyone," she said honestly. "And I do spend a decent amount of time with Remus, since we're both prefects. I imagine that I would notice if he did have his eye on someone...he's not exactly, well, subtle." Actually, Lily wasn't sure that she had ever seen Remus flirt with a girl. She wasn't entirely able to imagine it, nor was she sure that she wanted to. 

"That sounds like a great idea! I'm sure he'll be happy to talk to you," she said, her smile growing. She hoped that things did go well between Remus and Glenda, it was always nice to see her friends get together. Another happy couple walking around Hogwarts, especially of two people who were so kind and deserved to be happy so much, would be a welcome sight.

At the mention of her own romantic life, Lily blushed, looking away. Her mind immediately went to James, to how confusing and nice it had been to spend the other night with him in the astronomy tower. But that was not something that she wanted to talk about, especially when she wasn't sure what it was herself. "Oh, there's no one at the moment, really. I always find I'm too busy for romance," she said, shrugging her shoulders, and hoping it sounded convincing. 

[hogwarts1975memories-blog]

“How long until she notices?”

“I dunno, but she can’t be that mad— it’s not like the time you put frogs in there.”

Lily Evans reading, taken by James Potter and Marlene Mckinnon circa 1976

[maraudersgoldenera]

Emmeline Vance, Dorcas Meadowes, Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon on Lily’s wedding. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[fabiansprewett]

You might not, but I do. It’s all in good fun, Lils, nothing to worry about.

[lilyliketheflower]

With you, it's always something to worry about. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[fabiansprewett]

When you’re a twin like I am, you learn to make due. It’s not that hard. Though it does take a life time of practice.

Good, good. Sun will make you feel better too. And who knows, you might run into a bit of good hearted mischief out there as well. You never know what you might find.

[lilyliketheflower]

Oi, I'm a prefect, Fabian, I don't get up to mischief. Even the light hearted kind. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[huffletonks]

Well, we could try and coax the mermaids out of the water briefly. We could try Professor Binn’s portrait hunt from 1823. Or we could just go take a walk around the grounds. Anything sound appealing?

[lilyliketheflower]

I'm not entirely sure that the mermaids would respond to us, since they never have for me before. A portrait hunt sounds interesting, but perhaps a bit strenuous. Maybe a walk around the grounds is exactly what I need. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[fabiansprewett]

Eh, you know me. I only go in there when I gotta. Though my teachers would probably argue with me on that, I still get things done. But that’s good! You are looking a bit pale. Not in a bad way, of course. With us gingers it’s hard to be anything but pale. Got any wild plans to celebrate the free time?

[lilyliketheflower]

Well, it's good that you find other ways to get your work done. I find that I can't finish anything unless I lock myself in the library, far away from the shenanigans of the Gryffindor common room. 

Pale? I suppose it's all that artifical light. I'll spend a bit of time in the sun, and I'm sure I'll feel better. I don't know how much free time I have, but maybe I'll take a book outside and soak up some of the nice weather. 

[sincerly-glenda-chittock]

A Nice Day For a Walk || Lily and Glenda

[sincerly-glenda-chittock]

Glenda let out a deep sigh of relief when Lily didn’t tease or laugh at her silly little crush. And she was so surprised when she was awarded with advice. She had been so embarrassed to admit her crush on Remus, and quite honestly would have been very upset if Lily laughed at her. 

“Oh, I know you’re just being nice, Lily.” Glenda sighed, she knew there was little to no chance of Remus actually liking her. She could barely handle being in the same room with him, and just the thought of him made her blush like crazy. “I mean, I do really like him, but I don’t even know where to begin.” she said quietly. 

“I have tried a conversation with him,” Glenda said, remembering the terrible day in the library, “It was awful, I couldn’t stop stuttering and I when I managed to get that under control I couldn’t stop talking. I think it would have been better if I didn’t talk to him at all, because then at least he wouldn’t know how mental I am.” Glenda sighed again, it was just impossible to handle her feelings. 

Glenda had never had a boyfriend, Remus was the first boy she really liked. Of course, she had read all the romance novels appropriate for a girl her age, and she had hoped and dreamed along with the rest of her friends, but she never dared to think that she would ever have a boy on her own that would consider her anything other than studious little Glenda. 

“It’s hard, Lily,” said Glenda, “I wouldn’t know what to talk about with him, and as much as I want to try, I don’t want to be embarrassed again. I don’t know how to talk to boys.” This was true in every sense, Glenda had only ever been friends with girls, the idea of having a boy as a friend was alien to her. “How do I talk to him without falling all over the place?” she asked. 

[lilyliketheflower]

Lily bit her lip, watching as Glenda looked down at the ground. It struck her suddenly how sincere the other girl sounded - she really was that terrified of speaking to Remus. Lily had trouble imagining that it would be difficult to talk to Remus, in any capacity, but she could understand the insecurity that came with liking someone. 

"Oi, I am not just being nice! I think that you two would be very cute together," she said, honestly, smiling at the other girl. She wished she knew more about Remus' romantic aspirations at the moment, that would have helped a great deal in which way she should steer this conversation, but she knew that she hadn't seen him with any girls lately. Or, really, ever. So it couldn't be all that detrimental to give Glenda a bit of hope. 

"Remus can be very easy to talk to you. You don't have to be so nervous around him," she said, searching her head for good advice on the subject. It's not as if she often pursued people herself, but that didn't mean she couldn't help her friend. "You could talk about school work, or ask him about prefect duties, or talk about, well, anything really. He's very friendly, and I'm sure would love to talk to you." Well, that was true, at least, although she wasn't sure how that related to romantic feelings. 

"I know it's not easy but...I figure, the more time you spend with him, the more comfortable you'll be. And once you get to know him better, it won't be so hard to talk to him," Lily suggested, glancing over at Glenda. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[fabiansprewett]

Well I’m sure it wasn’t very comfortable being attached to the library. I reckon it’d be rather heavy, and that you couldn’t go anywhere very easily. Though I guess that’s the point. I’m doing alright though, Lils! Tryin’ not to let NEWTs get me down. How’re you?

[lilyliketheflower]

Well it's good to see that at least someone isn't spending all their time in the library! I'm doing all right, I suppose. Now that I'm seeing the light of day again, I'm not so bad. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[huffletonks]

All right, all right. I will admit that Potions can have absurd amounts of work involved, even if you don’t periodically blow up the cauldron. Which tends to add to the level of work. 

But! It is time for something awesome. So what are you in the mood for?

[lilyliketheflower]

Oh, I don't know! Nothing all to adventurous. I have had a rough week, after all. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[huffletonks]

Well, sure you should do well in your classes. But nothing says you have to spend all your time in the library. We should go on an adventure, get you back in the swing of things. 

[lilyliketheflower]

Oi, this Potions essay said that I had to spend all of my time in the library. But now that it's over, I don't imagine that a little adventure would hurt.

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

[huffletonks]

Aw, you never want to do that. No fun that way! Glad you could resurface though. 

[lilyliketheflower]

Well I'm not exactly looking for fun! I have to finish my course work, whether it's enjoyable or not. Anyway, that's not really the point of schooling, is it, no matter what my fellow Gryffindors say. 

[lilyliketheflower]

How is everyone?

I've been attached to the library all week, I feel like I haven't seen the light of day. 

[anxiouspineapples]

life is brief

but when it’s gone

love goes on and on

[hogwarts1975memories-blog]

[lilyliketheflower]

“Mary! Lily! I’m trying to work on my Charms homework!”

Mary MacDonald and Lily Evans sneak up on a studious Dorcas Meadows.

Taken by Marlene McKinnon 1975