Excerpt, Chapter 32

Excerpt, Chapter 32

Especially these patrols. This was her third time patrolling with him, and Lily was always left feeling guilty.

He had a girlfriend.

Couldn’t she just… just… forget that she fancied him? Then, spending time with him wouldn’t make her feel like—well, honestly, like the Carlotta to James’s Frank Longbottom.

Damn it all.

Perhaps she’d better steer clear of James Potter for a few days.

Carlotta, how do you plan on dealing with all this Shelley nonsense?

You know when there’s a fly in your room, and it’s really annoying, and it’s buzzing, and you think you just can’t ignore it, but you can’t find it either? 

Well, if you pay attention to something else, eventually, you just tune out its futile, meaningless buzzing. And if it should land anywhere near you, you can smash it with a book.

Hint: Shelley is the fly.

Carlotta, Shelley, Donna: How do you feel about how Lily handled the dorm drama on the first night back?Remus, Sirius, Peter: What do you think of the aforementioned drama?

Donna: It’s always nice when I’m not the one who has to tell people they’re being idiots.

Shelley: Rude. And none of her business.

Carlotta: No, she had a point. Judgmental, loud, and over-stepping her bounds, yes, but… she had a point.

Peter: Would this technically be a love square?

Sirius: Rectangle. 

Remus: I think it’s more of a point with three lines intersecting…

Sirius: That’s way too detailed.

Peter: Either way, it’s way too complicated and… noisy

Sirius: Lily should’ve hexed them.

Remus: not advocating violence, but… maybe…

James, what would you think if Lily dated someone else? Would you feel anything...jealousy or something? What would you do if she did?

Lily is allowed to do whatever she likes. 

I don’t care. Honestly.

James: We know when and why you supposedly stopped your obsession with Lily, but when and why did you start? First year because of her pretty eyes? Fifth year because she was a prefect and you were a masochist? The people want answers!

Okay, I admit–it was probably first year.

But it’s not like there was some big, epic moment that I remember. It’s not like I remember the particular instant where I just… I dunno… was standing in queue outside potions when she was fighting with Gregory Smythe because he was taking the mickey out of Snivellus, and Smythe ended up crying, and she was just…

Anyway it wasn’t anything like that.

Sam, why did you pick Lily of all people to be your penpal? No way is she the only other single person you know.

Lily’s fun. She uses big words and she’s mates with my cousin… I thought it would be a laugh. It was just a whim. I don’t know…