PART I: LILY
Lily isn't sad. Really she isn't. Not about James Potter announcing to half of London that he doesn't want her anymore. Or about Mary going behind her back and talking to him in the first place. Those things are stupid and silly and they don't matter. So she isn't sad about them. Not even a little bit. Not even at all. In fact, she's barely thought about either one of those people since New Years. So. There.
"Have you seen my Charms textbook?" Marlene asks when Lily emerges from the bathroom after taking a shower that was both too long and too hot. But not because she's sad.
"Um...no?" she very pointedly does not make eye contact with Mary.
"Goddamnit," Marlene is currently on her stomach, half under her bed, throwing random items into the middle of the floor in her frantic search.
"Mar dear," Mary says, sounding bored. She's perched in the window, inspecting her nails. "You do know you're a witch right? Just Accio that sucker."
The frantic searching stops as Marlene crawls back out from under her bed, sitting back on her heels, blond hair a mess. "Oh," she says a little breathlessly. "Yeah, right. Good call."
Lily finishes getting dressed as Marlene gropes around for her wand. "Shouldn't you two be at practice?" she asks, forcing her voice to sound casual. Because she isn't sad. So how else would her voice sound?
"No," Mary says tightly.
"James cancelled it."
Lily turns to face her roommates, directing her look of astonishment at Marlene specifically.
"I know," Marlene says, shoving her newly found Charms textbook into her bag.
"Is he sick?" Lily asks, hating herself for caring.
"Merlin I don't know," Marlene runs a hand through her hair. "Remus says he isn't but—cancelling practice? After the break? With Mary only just able to play again?" she shakes her head. "Something is definitely wrong. Has to be."
Lily can feel Mary's eyes on her but she refuses to meet them. She doesn't think that this has anything to do with New Years—I mean, it can't, right? Why would James be upset? Upset enough to cancel Quidditch? Even when he'd been fighting with Sirius he hadn't missed Quidditch. She wonders if Mary knows but she doesn't want to give her the satisfaction of asking. It isn't that she hasn't spoken to Mary at all since the break, she just hasn't spoken to her much.
"Lily?"
She blinks, coming back to herself and finding both Marlene and Mary watching her. It's clear that this is not the first time her name has been said.
"Alright?" Marlene asks tentatively.
Lily instantly nods, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. "Yeah, yeah of course." Neither of them look convinced but she doesn't give them the chance to push the matter. "C'mon, lets go before we're late for breakfast," she throws her bag over her shoulder, moving for the door before either of them can answer.
James isn't at breakfast. Not that Lily is looking for him. Not that she cares where he is or what he's doing or if he's okay. He doesn't want her. That's fine. Really. She'll not want him back. Any minute now. She'll not want him back so hard.
"Who are you looking for?" Marlene asks, causing Lily to start. She rips her eyes away from the end of the table where the other three marauders are sitting, excuse ready on the tip of her tongue. But when she looks at Marlene she realizes it's Mary she's talking to.
"No one," Mary says casually, not looking nearly as guilty as Lily. Regardless both Lily and Marlene immediately try to follow her gaze.
"Slytherin? Are you looking at someone in Slytherin?" Marlene sounds slightly horrified. "Merlin Mary, please tell me you're not hooking up with one of them? Diggory was bad enough."
