Who: Lily and Peter What: Peter's being a rat, and Lily's too nice to notice Where: The common room When: Jan 17, afternoon
Lily had been sitting in the common room for what seemed like hours. A half-filled box of tissues was next to her on the table, along with a mug of tea. Her cold seemed to be coming and going, and a runny nose was the last thing she needed. She was having trouble wrapping her mind around the latest Potions, which was frustrating to her. She always got potions. Deciding she had too many distractions in her life, she put the book down and leaned her head back. She wasn’t going to get anything done right now.
Peter walked down the stairs and saw Lily sitting in her usual armchair. A small smirk crossed his face at the sight. It didn’t take an idiot to realize something was going on with her. Normally on-the-ball Lily looked a bit in shambles, her red hair in a messy horse-tail thing and she was still in her pajamas. He looked around for chocolate, but found none. Didn’t girls eat chocolate when they were upset. “Potions was difficult today, huh?” He spoke the words a bit louder than usual, another smirk as he saw her jump a bit.
Lily turned to see a stone-faced Peter standing at the stairwell. Picking up her book, she nodded to him. “It wasn’t that horrible.” Truth be told, she didn’t like Peter much. Because he was friends with the other three marauders, however, she tried to tolerate him and even become friends with him. There had to be something good about him if they kept him around.
He gave her a faint smile, moreso amused but covered up as caring. “How have you been lately? You seemed a bit off today in class.” He already knew that it had something to do with James and Remus and that whole fun situation, but he was curious what she would say.
Tilting her head to the side, she studied him for a moment. Was Peter extending himsel f to her? She sniffled a bit and reached for a tissue, just in case. “Eh, this cold has been a bit of a distraction.” Lily seemed to be getting much better at telling half-truths, or at least she thought so.
He walked over to the red head and leaned against the side of another arm chair. “I think James was sick a bit ago. You should ask him if he has any potions lying around that could make you feel better.” By the look on her face, he could see that he had struck some nerve. He pressed on innocently. “Or Remus. I’m sure he’d help out.”
She tried to keep her face blank, but she perked up at the sound of James’ name. He had said something to her about taking her up on her offer to talk and to keep her window open just in case, but they hadn’t talked much after that. “Remus has been rather busy lately.” Figuring that James had told the rest of the Marauders about his seeing someone, she decided to ask Peter how it was going. “How are James and Charity getting on?” Her voice cracked slightly as she said Charity’s name. To cover it up, she blew her nose into a tissue as if to blame her voice on her cold. “Good, I hope.” Punctuating the statement with a slightly pained smiled, she gave herself a mental pat on the back for taking a step in the right direction.
Peter perked up a bit. Charity? Since when was James even remotely interested in anyone except the infamous Lily Evans? This was news to him. Looking down at the floor, he shrugged. “Yes, they’re doing quite well, I reckon.” He smiled at her. “He’s been quite happy lately, now that you mention it.” Not that he usually isn’t. he added silently.
“That’s good. I’m ha…” Another sniggle. Great time for her nose to decide to start running. After blowing her nose softly, she tried again. “I’m happy for him. It’s about time he found someone who will treat him well.” Her own words stung, but she felt they were the truth.
Peter smiled in agreement. “It definitely is.” He looked at the waste basket filled with tissues and then back at Lily. “I’ve got to run to the library. But I’ll be back later. Maybe we can work on that Potions assignment from today. Maybe we can help each other.” Ya. Right. As he walked toward the portrait hole, he turned back to Lily. “I hope your cold goes away soon.” As he walked out the portrait hole, he heard a small sniffle followed by a rather disgusting nose blowing.