The Marauders: Year Two | #Wattys2016

April the First

April the First

Lily awoke with a start, her covers wrapped about her oddly and tight. She'd been thrashing during the night. Funny sorts of dreams had plagued her - dreams that felt like nightmares, though not much had truly happened in them. She tried to drive some of the lingering images from her mind as she extricated herself from the duvet, kicking it off the bed in frustration.

There was just no driving out the sound of Petunia's voice from her dream... They'd been having a tea for their dolls, complete with biscuits with sprinkled sugar baked on their tops. Their mum had given them real tea, too, and let them use the real china. Petunia had looked so pretty in her pink party dress, and Lily in her blue, serving them and their dolls second rounds. They had had that same tea party a million times over, at least once a week since they were children. The dream wasn't the nightmare, not even the words Petunia had been saying had been the nightmare... The nightmare had come with the bitter realization - mid dream - that there was no way that she wasn't dreaming, however real it might have felt, for Petunia Evans so hated her sister that the scene she had dreamed would never, ever take place again.

She dressed quickly, leaving her Gryffindor tie loose around her neck. She couldn't handle even just one more tiny thing such as that pressing into her - physically or mentally. She stared at herself in the little mirror by her door and frowned, turning away, unpleased with the messy look of herself. She quickly braided her hair and removed the tie altogether, tossing it over her desk chair, and sighed, deciding it was probably better not to look at the mirror again before going downstairs.

It was Sunday so the common room was pretty full of students sitting about rushing to do essays they'd been assigned to have done first thing in the morning. She shouldered her bookbag, planning on going by the library after breakfast, and set off out of the portrait hole and down the hallway, still thinking on the nightmare.

"Lily, wait up."

She paused when she heard her name and turned 'round to see Remus trotting on after her. She bit her lower lip and waited for him. They hadn't spent as much time together as they had been doing after the disastrous kissing session in the common room, he had sort of been avoiding her a bit, it had seemed. Granted, there had been a lot going on - and most of the time he'd been "avoiding her" had been during the full moon, so of course that was why, and LIly knew that, but she couldn't help but have her feelings a little bit hurt...

"You look very pretty today," Remus complimented her as he caught up. He smiled as he looked her over.

Lily put her hand on her braid, "You don't need to say that, Rey. I'm a mess, really."

"Mess?" Remus shook his head, "You're not a mess. I'm a mess --" he said, waving a palm at his haphazardly hanging robes, "But not you." He smiled, "I got dressed rather quickly when Peter said he saw you leaving. I wanted to catch you up , I haven't gotten to see you in a little while. Do you fancy breakfast together?"

Lily nodded and the two of them started walking on down to the Great Hall. together. "Are you as nervous as James is this morning?" Remus asked as they walked, looking over at her.

"Nervous as James?" Lily echoed with confusion. "Nervous about what?"

"About the Ilvermorny team coming today?" Remus chuckled, "I'll take it as a no, then?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, "That's today? Today's the first already?"

Remus had a feeling he'd just awoken the same nervousness in her.