Lily’s Chair
Inspired by Jilylamespotter’s post on Jily Headcanons:
In her first year, Lily Evans walked down to the Gryffindor common room and found the rest of her dorm mates seated around the fire. She took the only empty seat in a cushy maroon armchair. She curled up into a ball and pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her hands as Marlene McKinnon chatted ceaselessly with Mary Macdonald and Dorcas Meadowes. The four girls sat in the same spot every night after dinner for the rest of the term.
In her second year, Lily Evans sat in the chair by the fire and worked for hours on a charms essay. She leaned over her books and blocked out all sounds from the noisy and crowded common room. She didn’t even look up when Sirius Black jumped on the coffee table in front of her and started belting out the latest song by The Hobgoblins.
In her third year, Lily Evans played a game of exploding snap with all the Gryffindor third years. She jumped out of her seat whenever she got excited or nervous while playing and she yelled “NO!” when Remus Lupin knocked her out the game. She sat sourly in her armchair and refused to make eye contact with him until breakfast the next day.
In her fourth year, Lily Evans held a crying Marlene McKinnon in her arms after Sirius Black dumped her. Marlene wept into her shoulder and explained to Lily everything that had happened. Lily flung a perfect instant scalping hex at Sirius from when he tried to enter the common room all while sitting in her chair and an arm around Marlene. He didn’t come back that night and he wore hats for a week until he could figure out the counter-hex.
In her fifth year, Lily Evans fell asleep in her armchair one night while studying for her OWLs. She had her hair pulled back into a messy bun and open books and rolls of parchment filled with notes were scattered all around her. James Potter found her shivering with her quill still in her hand, dried ink splotches having dripped onto her fingertips. He grabbed a blanket and draped it over her before lying down on the couch. He was only going to stay for a minute but the next thing he knew, Lily was pulling the same blanket over him that he had given her the night before. She blushed and explained she was going up to her dorm and that he had looked cold when she woke up.
In her sixth year, Lily Evans walked in on Remus Lupin and Sirius Black snogging in the empty common room on her armchair. She walked right over, tapped Remus on the shoulder, and announced “if you must snog him in the common room, please do not do it on my chair.” That was how Lily discovered that Remus and Sirius were dating.
In her seventh year, Lily Evans returned to the common room from the library with and armful of books. James Potter was sitting in her chair and when he refused to get up, she looked him dead in the eye before dropping her books on the table and sitting right on his lap. James drew in a breath, shocked out of his mind, and his whole body tensed up as his eyes widened to the size of snitches. He stared at the back of her for a moment before turning to Sirius Black, who was trying desperately not to laugh, and Remus Lupin, who raised his eyebrows and shrugged in a “that’s Lily” kind of way. Marlene exchanged a glance with Mary before they burst into knowing giggles. Lily began her transfiguration essay as nonchalantly as possible but she soon found it difficult to concentrate while sitting on James’s lap.
