Lily Potter (doe_lily) wrote in marauders_gpsl, @ 2017-09-22 13:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | 1971, lily evans, remus lupin |
Characters: Remus Lupin & Lily Evans
Date: First Year, Fall
Summary: First Meetings
Status: Incomplete
Warnings: None
Despite having most of his time scheduled by classes and homework assignments, his life had certainly lost some of the routine he had been accustomed to when living at home. He had always been a boy who flourished with simple pleasures: a good book, the outdoors and a dose of chocolate. His education was through extensive reading, never being allowed to attend a Muggle primary school for obvious reasons, and so he had become quite dependent on the written word to keep himself entertained. While he still likely read more than the average eleven year old boy (as his friends pointed out more often than not), he had fallen behind (mainly because of the aforementioned friends).
Reading for leisure had taken a backseat in many ways, though the array of new subjects on offer had kept his attention. He thrived in the academic setting, but he missed… Well, reading whatever he wanted, reading till the early hours--or hell, just reading under a tree and watching the world go by. There was far too much to do--far too many escapades with his friends that he didn’t want to miss. Still, that Sunday morning, he had felt the sudden urge to spend the day in the library and was fairly content that he could get away with such things without too much ribbing from his friends.
With that in mind, he grabbed breakfast quickly before finding himself in the library just after nine with only the company of Madam Pince. He had yet to fully explore the stacks beyond his required reading, even if his curiosity had been piqued by the Restricted Section (such thoughts were quickly dismissed by the cool look from the librarian), and so he had meandered through the shelves, hands scanning over the spines as he tried to find the perfect spot.
It had taken a good few minutes to find somewhere out of the way that wasn’t too hot or cold, tucking himself into a discrete corner surrounded by books. He pulled out an old favourite, A Wrinkle in Time, and was taken away to another equally wonderful world as the one he was currently sat in.
Lily had fallen into the Hogwarts timeline perfectly. It may have been her excitement at finally belonging to this community or her driven nature, but she was always the first to class and busy with her nose in a book. She soaked up all the information she could, a veritable infinite amount of knowledge she had yet to lap up.
She had become quite familiar with the library and enjoyed the peace and quiet she could find there. The common room was a fun place to hang out and get to know her new classmates, but it was definitely not a place for study. Besides, that Potter kid and his friend Sirius seemed to occupy it too much for her pleasure.
For now, she would enjoy her Sunday afternoon in the library, already knowing it would be a tranquil place. Most of the school opted to go outside or hang out with friends...it was the start of a new school year after all, why over worry about homework now? But today wasn't about writing on their strange parchment (really, the length was by inches? What if someone wrote super big?), but finding books that she hadn't already checked out.
She felt like she had so much more to catch up on than anyone else...she hadn't met many muggleborn students yet and everyone seemed to know at least the basics of magic. Lily was starting from scratch but didn't want to be left behind.
She arrived at the library with a stack of books to return and a small smile for the quietly domineering Madam Pince. She snuck off to begin her exploration through the rows and rows of books, picking out the ones that seemed to be the most interesting or could be the most helpful.
She had just rounded a corner when she spotted a fellow student reading in a corner. He looked familiar and she hesitated, not wanting to disturb his time. She was about to move along when she spotted the title of the book he was reading.
“I love that book!” Her examination may have been about louder than she had meant and she gave him an apologetic look, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Pince hadn't heard. “Sorry. I just didn't know that book was known...here.” She kind of waved her hands around her as if to indicate the entire magical population.
When Remus read, it was safe to say he was transported to an entirely different place. He would become so engrossed in the characters and the worlds that were filling his head, that he would often lose sense of time and surroundings. His parents often joked that a marching band could go past the house and he still wouldn’t flicker from those pages. Fortunately, it was a skill that was remarkably useful considering his new found friends who were not especially fond of quiet time.
The loud exclamation reached his ears, though it took several moments for his brain to catch up and readjust. When he did finally click that he was being spoken to, he looked up sharply, a little dazed, and then gave her an apologetic smile of her own. The red hair, the cheery disposition… Well, Remus had already become aware of the girl because of James, of course.
“It’s one of my favourites,” Remus said as he lowered the book to his lap. He looked around as she waved to the entire magical population, smiling a little more. “I suppose it’s a big strange to be reading a book about fictional magical creatures when there’s an entire collection on real ones in this place.”
He wasn’t especially used to talking to girls, and his softly spoken nature might well have made that more evident (though it really wasn’t all that different to how he spoke with the boys). Still, when talking about books, he could become quite animated with anyone.
“What other books do you like?”
When he glanced up, he didn't seem perturbed by her outburst and she was thankful for his smile. She returned it, taking a step closer and shifting her own books in her arms. “I don't think it's strange at all,” she said, shaking her head. “Kind of helps ease you into this kind of stuff, ya know?” She tilted her head to the side, really looking at him. She had seen him before, he was in her house! He hung out with Potter and Black, but from what she had seen, he seemed a bit more subdued than the others.
She focused back to what he had asked her and a smile spread out. “Oh, all sorts! Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland…” she started to tick off the names of them as she went on. “Chronicles of Narnia...but I've only read the first three. I still need to finish the set.” She set her books down on an empty shelf and sat across from the boy, her legs crisscrossing in front of her. No invitation or indication he wanted to continue the conversation, but he had opened up the doors to book discussion.
“What about you?” She asked, her hands coming down to wrap themselves around the toes on her shoes. “What else do you enjoy to read?”
The titles Lily listed were a few of his favourites, too, and his smile widened just a touch. It was comforting to hear something familiar in a place that was as wonderful as it was foreign.
As she came to sit before him, he froze for a second and shifted his legs to cross under him rather than having them straight out. He wasn’t exactly comfortable with anyone being too close to him, though his friends were beginning to test that with their love of rough and tumble. While the action was deliberate, it wasn’t meant to be off-putting, so he quickly spoke before she could think anything other.
“Oh, erm,” Remus said, taking a moment to consider that question. It was a weighted one after all. “I like the Chronicles of Narnia, too, though the Silver Chair is my favourite. Anything by Roald Dahl.” He paused again. “Oh! The Phantom Tollbooth!”
He was just a bit too animated at that memory and then felt suddenly self conscious, averting his gaze back to the book in his lap.
Just as Lily was reconsidering her idea of sitting down, he went in depth of more books he enjoyed and she smiled, nodding her head in agreement. “I always preferred The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, but I feel like that's just a classic.” She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “It had all the Pevensie children in it and I feel like it was the catalyst for everything to happen after!” Once Lily began speaking about her favorite books it was hard to remember she was only 11 years old. “If The Silver Chair is your favorite, I may need to see if they have a copy here I may borrow to continue on with the series!” She wondered if the library held muggle books and even began to wonder if The Chronicles of Narnia were muggle at all...how else could they have known of such magic and creatures that now seemed to be real?
“You're in Gryffindor.” The change of subject wasn't asked as a question, but stated. “You hang out with Potter and Black.” She couldn't help but make a face. Lily could get on with most anyone, and indeed she had her moments with the former two, but there was something about them that always made her question their intentions.
“How can you handle all that...energy?” That seemed the best word to use at the moment to describe the antics that were becoming a normality in the Gryffindor common room.
“You can borrow my copy,” Remus offered, clearing his throat and closing the book in his lap. “It’s a bit battered though.” Most of his books had seen better days because the ones he kept tend to be the ones he loved and so read them over and over. Spines worn, covers split--worn with love rather than mistreatment.
Things took a somewhat awkward turn as Lily mentioned his friends and made that face. While he wasn’t a confrontational person, there was a flare of something he hadn’t felt before in his chest. Territorial, almost. It was only in that moment that he realised the only reason it felt so foreign was because he had never been in a situation of having friends to defend. Rather than speak such things aloud, he cleared his throat again and decided to focus on the other question.
“They’re not like that all the time,” Remus said, which was only a half-lie. “I mean… Energy-wise--” He felt almost as if he was betraying his friends in that moment. Everything about this was growing more and more awkward, and he wasn’t especially good at navigating these things. Obviously.
“How are you finding the Herbology essay?”
If all else failed, he fell back into the academics.
“Really? You wouldn’t mind?” Lily couldn’t help but smile, happy that she gave him the impression that she could be trusted with one of his books. Or maybe he was just being overly polite since they had found a topic of conversation they could both relate to. “And I don’t mind of the state of it! But I promise to take good care of it!” She lifted her hand to cross her heart, the smile still on her face.
She could tell that she might have stepped over the line of them getting to know each other; true, she hadn’t been the nicest in terms of his friends, but surely he saw how unruly they were? She didn’t mean to be rude, but his personality seemed so different from the other two. Still, she knew what it was like to become friends with someone that was the complete opposite of you and she only shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess it’s just hard for me to relate to them,” she said, trying to smooth over what she had said. “They seem..nice? Well, sometimes I guess. I mean, when they’re not teasing other students or goofing off in class…” Lily realized she was doing the opposite of what she wanted to do and cleared her throat. “But everyone has a reason, I’m sure you’re able to see something that I can’t...I’m just too stubborn to after my run in with James on our first night here.” She gave him another smile, this one a bit softer as a sort of apology. She knew she would get a bit defensive if someone started to make comments about Severus.
She was happy for his change of subject and shrugged her shoulders at him. “It’s going well enough. I still don’t get how everything is measured in inches rather than content, but I suppose I can write a little larger than I usually do.” She shot Remus a wink as if it were their little secret. “I thought it was fun to practice wandwork during the class though...I thought that would just be in Charms and Transfiguration. But my Fire-Making Spell is coming along!” She shifted her posture, moving her legs to be underneath her and to the side. “How about you? Are you enjoying all the classes so far?”
“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Remus said quickly. “It would be nice to talk about it with someone.” He was fairly sure that his book would make it back in one piece. Lily seemed to give that impression: sensible. He supposed most assumed that of him, though, and he had already found himself involved in more chaos than ever.
He could tell that Lily was trying to make her comments right regarding the boys--which was a little awkward for Remus because what she was saying was right. He knew James and Sirius stepped over the line too much, but they were the first friends he ever had. The very fact that they were popular and bright were added bonuses.
“James means well,” he said. “James and Sirius are really smart, too. I know they get ahead of themselves but…” What else could he say? He didn’t want to make him sound completely pathetic.
Remus smirked a little. “I know, writing the inches seems very backwards,” he answered. “I don’t think I can get away with writing any bigger without the professor noticing.” He nodded. “I’m enjoying Transfiguration. I think it’s my favourite.” As ironic as that was… “But Herbology is a close second. I think I’ve had enough of swishing and flicking though.”
Lily’s smile only grew as she began to realize how much she liked Remus. Her confusion on why he was friends with Potter and Black still swirled in her head, but she didn’t want to make him feel any more uncomfortable than she already had. It seemed he wasn’t one for confrontation and while that was one of her strongest points, she didn’t want to rub him the wrong way. Besides, it would be nice to have another friend in Gryffindor. It was getting hard to see Severus, even though they had a few classes together.
“Thanks,” she said again as he reassured her of the loaning of the book. “We could start our own book club!” Not that they had much time in between falling into a school routine and homework.
She opened her mouth and shut it again, wanting to make a comment about the intelligence of James Potter, but decided against it. Right, she was trying to be friends with this kid.
“Oh, Transfiguration is brilliant! I rather enjoy Charms as well though...but I think Potions is my favorite!” Really, it was hard for Lily to choose which was her favorite as everything was brand new and she felt like she had to work double time to catch up with everyone else. Sure, she was able to get some of the wandwork and spells under her belt, but it didn’t make up for the lack of every day knowledge of the wizarding world that everyone else seemed to know about.
“Are you...are you muggleborn?” Lily asked the question a bit shyly, knowing it was a question asked both out of curiosity around here and for judgement. She hadn’t met many other muggleborns actually and it made her feel like awash in a sea. She was always able to make friends easily and Hogwarts was no exception, but for the first time, she sometimes felt like she was in the outside circle of an exclusive club.