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thejilyship · 1 year

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another day in october | part two

it’s been a minute. what’s worse is that i’ve had this written for almost the entire time the first part has been out and I just didn’t remember that it was mostly done and then when I went back and read it I was surprised by how much i liked it because i don’t remember writing it lmao

anyway, here’s part two.

Part Two | WC: 3.1K

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Nothing could have prepared James for seeing that doe jump from the end of Lily’s wand.

He didn’t remember walking to Transfiguration, but he was in his seat somehow when Professor McGonagall tapped her wand against the chalkboard and started her lecture.

It was a completely lost on James though. He sat in his chair and stared at the back of Lily’s head.

Lily’s patronus had looked right at him. She had looked at him and started walking toward him before Lily dropped the spell and the doe vanished.

Of course, the doe might have been walking toward Lily. She had looked at James, but that didn’t mean anything. She wasn’t even a real animal, James didn’t think a patronus was capable of showing any kind of preference for one thing over the other.

But then again, a patronus was a representation of a person’s soul. And Lily’s soul matched James.

They were soulmates.

Or, they could be, at any rate.

Or were they?

James ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t know how any of this soulmate stuff worked, or if it was anything more than a story. Maybe it was just a coincidence that they had matching patronus’.

Of course, James had been in fancy (he refused to say love) with Lily Evans since he was eleven years old, so it was hard to believe that them having matching patronus’ was something that could be a coincidence.

No, it had to mean what he thought it meant, but it felt too big to say out loud, even as he listened to Sirius go on and on about it, trying to goad him into either an entertaining reaction, or into going up to Lily and embarrassing himself.

He was refusing to do either.

He stared resolutely at McGonagall and ignored the whispers and the notes.

At one point, he lit one of Sirius’ notes on fire.

He wasn’t sure how McGonagall didn’t see that, or how she didn’t hear Peter snort rather loudly.

Either she was having an off day, or she was ignoring them for some reason.

Most of the class period was spent with him ogling Lily though.

He wished he could read her mind, wished he could get her to talk to him.

Even before her patronus had come out of her want he was having a hard time engaging her in conversation, and now that she had seen her corporal patronus, he didn’t know how he was going to get her to talk to him.

He had resolved to try by the end of class.

They had lunch, so Lily didn’t have another class to rush off to, and so he wouldn’t feel too bad being insistent.

Of course, while he might have made up his mind to talk to her, he didn’t work out what he was going to say to her.

So when he walked up to her desk after class and looked down at her, his brain decided that it had done enough in getting him in front of her and he didn’t need to say anything.

She wasn’t looking at him, if she had been it might have been more awkward. Instead, she was acting as though she didn’t know that he was standing in front of her desk, meticulously rolling up her parchment, putting the stopper in her inkwell and then putting everything in her bag.

Mary gave him a small smile before she hitched her bag up her shoulder and turned to walk out of the room.

“Mary!” Lily’s gaze skirted around him as she turned toward her friend. Mary just waved over her shoulder and looped her arm through Marlene’s.

Her shoulders slumped and she turned back toward James, picking up her bag and putting the strap on her shoulder. She looked at him and his brain still hadn’t made any progress.

“Do you need something?” She asked, her voice wasn’t unkind, but it was purposefully polite and it made James want to scowl at her. He hated when she spoke to him like that, as though they hadn’t known each other for the last seven years. They hadn’t always been friends, but Hogwarts didn’t have that many students and they were in the same house and the same year.

“Yeah,” He nodded and pushed his glasses up his nose, still not sure what he wanted to say to her. It wasn’t as though he could broach the subject outright.

Turns out we’re soulmates, huh? Fancy a pint at the Three Broomsticks while we talk about what this means?

So your patronus is a match for mine, you know what that means! Go out with me, Evans?

Lily would surely laugh in his face or get mad or get embarrassed.

Actually, embarrassment seemed to be inevitable. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t want to minimize whatever damage he had to do in bringing this up.

Lily was just staring at him. She wasn’t sure what to do, same as him, but she also wasn’t the one that had come over here and forced her presence on him. She had wanted to avoid him, she had wanted to sneak out of the room with Mary, same as she had done after defense. But he had stopped that from happening, so it was his job to figure out what to say now.

“Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, I’m glad the two of you are still here. Do you mind if I have a word with you both?”

James let out a sigh of relief as he spun around toward his professor. “Of course!” His voice was too chipper, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have to figure out how to talk to Lily, and he got to stay in her presence for a while longer.

Lily also seemed relieved, though she was probably relieved because James had been staring at her without talking, or because she simply didn’t want to talk to James.

Was it common for soulmates to not want to talk to each other? Or for one soulmate to completely trip over themselves immediately upon meeting the other one only for the other one to feel nothing stronger than mild disdain?

Of course, Lily might not be his soulmate.

He liked her, but she didn’t like him, and the entire magic surrounding soulmates wasn’t well known to anyone. True soulmates were rare.

McGonagall took a seat behind her desk and folded her hands in front of her.

“Is something wrong, Professor?” Lily asked, walking around her row of desks and up to McGonagall. Her bag lightly bumped against James’ arm, and he wanted to offer to carry it for her. He wanted to have the confidence to not ask, but to simply reach other and take it off her shoulder, putting it on his own. He wanted to be allowed to help her or assist her without expressed permission.

“I know that you two both have a long day academically, and I don’t want to take up your lunch break anymore than I have to, but Professor Slughorn talked with me this morning after breakfast and said that a couple of the Slytherin Prefects complained to him that their house point deductions were being denied at a rate they felt was unfair.”

Lily straightened beside him. “James and I don’t deny house point deductions unless they should be denied.”

James and I.

She’d called him by his first name and grouped them together.

James was staring at the side of her head with his hand stuck in his hair, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about how obvious he was being.

“You go over all the paperwork yourself?” Professor McGonagall asked, causing James to turn back toward her. He narrowed his brows and opened his mouth, but Lily beat him to it.

“No. James and I split all of the work, and that means the deduction paperwork as well.” James and I, a second time. And She was standing up for him. “James doesn’t unfairly deny the Slytherin’s requests just because their Slytherins. We both deny their requests because last week Gene MacAvoy deducted points from a third year Ravenclaw for ‘looking too much like a muggle.’ I denied his request and I gave him detention.”

“Yes, and then Evan Rosier gave Emmeline detention just yesterday because he found out she turned him down for a date in order to go to Hogsmeade with Dennis Roy.”

“Of course, the paperwork said that she was being ‘disrespectful to an authority figure,’ but that’s horseshi- a lie.” James coughed to cover up his laugh when Lily almost swore in front of Professor McGonagall. Lily glanced over at him and raised her brows, silently telling him to behave himself, or maybe warning him not to make her laugh.

Their professor looked back at them and sighed. “I’m sorry, Potter. I shouldn’t have assumed that you were doing anything less than exemplary work. I know firsthand how hard it can be to maintain a clear head about house rivalries and the like.” She unfolded her hands and her shoulders slumped just slightly. “Would you mind looking through again and bringing me a few examples that I can show to Professor Slughorn?”

“Of course.” James nodded. “And no worries. If I do get a slip that makes me want to hex some prat into the Black Lake, I ask Lily for a second opinion.” He pointed his thumb in her direction.

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips together and sighed. “Yes, well, I suppose that’s a good plan.” And then she smirked. “I have to ask Professor Flitwick to weigh in on anything Quidditch related.”

James let out a small laugh.

“Do you want us to get you those slips now?” Lily asked.

“If you could. Then I can clear this up with Professor Slughorn before lunch is out. And if any students are giving the two of you an extraordinarily hard time, please don’t hesitate to come to me.”

“We had a long conversation with Dumbledore at the beginning of the year. So far nothing has happened that we hadn’t assumed would happen.” Lily tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged. “Except maybe Hannah Prewett and Emil West wrestling in the courtyard. That one did surprise me.”

“I’m still not even sure what started that.” James tugged at his tie.

“I lost patience after listening to the third person give me a different story.” Lily shook her head. “Alright, we’ll go and get those papers for you and meet you in the Great Hall.”

“Thank you both.” She nodded at them, and they turned around and started for the Head’s Office.

When they were in the corridor, James turned to Lily. “Who do you think it was that went to Slughorn?”

Lily pursed her lips and shook her head. “Avery. He was smirking at me this morning and I didn’t know why, but I’m sure it’s because he thought we were about to get in to trouble.” They turned the corner and started up the stairs before Lily stopped walking and reached over, tapping her hand against James’ arm to stop him as well. “I’m sorry that Professor McGonagall assumed that you were at fault. That wasn’t fair of her.”

James’ eyebrows went high up his forehead. “I mean, I can’t pretend that I don’t know why she assumed that I had something to do with it. She knew that you wouldn’t do it and I’ve got a history.”

Lily shook her head as she started up the stairs again. “You’ve been a wonderful Head Boy. I mean, we both know that I had my reservations at the start of term, but you’re a good partner and you’re very fair, even when they make it hard.”

James’ mouth felt dry now. He cleared his throat and ran up the stairs after her. “Thank you. I kind of thought Dumbledore had gone a bit mad when he made me Head Boy. But thanks for sticking up for me before too.”

Lily’s cheeks looked a bit red when she glanced over at him. “Of course. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Not this time.” He grinned.

“Right. Not this time.” She laughed and he ran his hand through his hair again.

They reached the head’s office without James finding a way to bring up the Patronus’. He’d actually talked himself out of bringing it up by the time they were in their shared office. There were still chairs lined up in front of their desks from yesterdays meeting with the prefects. Whichever Slytherin’s went to Slughorn, must have done so right after the meeting.

Lily walked over to her desk and pull out a bunch of slips that were tied together. She undid the note and handed James half the stack.

Once they had what they needed, Lily put them in her bag and James locked up behind them.

The walk down to the Great Hall should have been uneventful.

Almost everyone was in the Great Hall for lunch, but Charles Avery, Wilber Mulciber and Severus Snape were all leaning up against the wall two floors below their office.

“Told you.” Mulciber started in as soon as they were within earshot. “I honestly don’t know which of them is debasing themselves more.”

“I mean, the Potter name means almost nothing now, and at least Evans is fit.” Avery leered at Lily and James’ hand dug in his pocket, gripping his wand.

“I don’t know,” Mulciber sneered at them. “She’s still a mud-

“Did you hear that, Lily? They’ve been talking about us.” James pushed his glasses up his nose and kept his wand in his pocket. If he wasn’t head boy, he wouldn’t hesitate to take it out and hex all three of them, even if Snape was content to just stand by silently as his mates talked shit about Lily.

“Well, we are more interesting than they are.” Lily hitched her bag up her shoulder and looked over at James. She was uncomfortable, but she was doing her best not to show it.

“Absolutely.” James agreed. “For one, neither of us hang out in random corridors hoping for certain people to walk by.”

“We saw you head up this way.” Mulciber’s lip curled at James and James just laughed.

“Oh, so now you’re following me?” He shook his head. “Wilber, you really need a hobby.”

“It’s not right.” Avery crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Lily. “It’s not right that Dumbledore let you be Head Girl.”

“I’m top of our year, Charles.” Lily also opted to use his first name, and it made it sound like she was talking to a small child. “I’ve been a prefect since fifth year and I’m top of our year. Why wouldn’t I be Head Girl? Come on, James. Let’s go.”

She was using his name again, which shouldn’t have mattered to him in the moment, but it did. And then she grabbed the sleeve of his robes and pulled him off the stairs and after her down the corridor. But James knew that the altercation wasn’t over. And she’d just made him turn his back to three Slytherins who loved to hit someone with their back turned.

He had his wand pulled and a protection spell cast around both of them before the spell hit. An angry blue light flashing away from them.

Lily stopped short and spun around. “Did you just attack us?”

“No.” Avery said. “Did you see anyone attack them?” He looked over at Snape, but it was Mulciber who answered.

“I didn’t see anything.” He smirked. “I wonder who the professors would believe?”

It was entirely ridiculous that he seemed to genuinely believe that their professors wouldn’t believe anything Lily told them.

And then Avery sent another curse in their direction, and it was Lily who’s protection spell shielded them. Apparently, she’d had her hand on her wand this whole time too. Maybe she wasn’t as surprised as he’d originally thought.

“That’s dark magic.” She said, taking down her shield. She looked at Snape. “I thought that was all just a bit of fun. That it was for a laugh.”

James expected Snape to at least pretend to be ashamed of himself, for Lily’s sake. He was always so good at pretending around her. Pretending not to care about blood status, pretending not to be obsessed with the dark arts, pretending that he wasn’t slime at the bottom of the Black Lake.

But he didn’t look ashamed. He didn’t even look sorry that his friends were sending dark magic in her direction.

His gaze shot over to James and then back to Lily and he took a step toward them, his arms crossed over his chest. “You made your choice, and I’ve made mine.”

Avery raised his wand again, but Lily beat him to it this time.

She sent out a knock back hex that had all three of them hitting the wall behind them and then falling back to the floor. She took their wands as well, turning and throwing them over a railing off to their left. “I wonder who the professors would believe.” She threw back at them and then stormed off.

James looked back at the three boys as they righted themselves and smiled at them. “Brilliant move, blokes. We should do this again soon.” Then he bowed his head and followed after Lily.

She was muttering under her breath when he caught up with her.

“Stupid, bloody, prick! What the fucking hell does- I’m not even- and even if I was!”

He put a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped slightly, sparks shooting out the end of her wand. “Sorry.” He said quietly. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“I can’t believe them!” She shook her head. And James could have said something about how she shouldn’t be surprised. He wasn’t surprised, all three of those boys had proven themselves to be exactly what they were. But Lily wasn’t mostly mad right now, she was mostly hurt, so he didn’t say that she should believe it. He tentatively put a hand on her shoulder and nodded.

“He shouldn’t have just stood there.” James said and for just a moment, Lily’s face crumpled. But then she shook her head again and pressed her lips together.

“No. He shouldn’t have.” She hitched her bag further up her shoulder and then fiddled with the strap. “Come on. Let’s get these slips to McGonagall before we miss all of lunch. I won’t be able to make it through potions on an empty stomach.”

He nodded and squeezed her shoulder before dropping his hand back to his side. She started down the corridor and he flexed his hand at his side before he started walking as well.

#jily #fel writes jily #jple #hogwarts jily

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