bittersweet » lily evans

0.5

"Question," Lily's voice made Julia look up from the paper she was grading.

They were in their detention with Professor Greene, except he wasn't actually there. He'd set them some work to do and then disappeared to some other part of the castle.

"Shoot," Julia responded.

"Six years of going to Hogwarts together and I rarely saw you anywhere other than our dorm," Lily started.

"And?" Julia frowned, wondering where this was conversation was going.

"And now I see you everywhere," Lily stated, "Why?"

"Why? What kind of question is that?" Julia asked incredulously, "I don't know why-" that was a lie "-maybe I'm just more social this year."

Lily let out a short laugh, "No, you're still the same rude, grumpy, anti-social, fight-starter that you've always been. You just seem to be around more."

Julia would be offended, but it was true and she knew that. In fact, however bad it sounded, those were some of the things she prided herself on: she found arguing with people fun, so she was good at picking fights.

"I'm hurt that you think of me that way, Evans," Julia mockingly placed a hand on her heart, "I'm one of the friendliest people I know."

"Yeah, real friendly," Lily agreed, nodding her head in exaggeration.

"We could be real friendly if you want," Julia smirked, "I have no aversion to that."

Lily spluttered for a moment, struggling to get words to form. Julia thoroughly enjoyed watching the other girl's neck flush red, her brilliant green eyes widening in shock.

"No!" Lily eventually spat out, "I can't believe you just said that."

"Said what? I only offered my hand in friendship to you," Julia's smile was sharp and bright, cutting through the air in the dim room.

"We both know that's not what you meant," Lily argued, her cheeks still ablaze and eyes glaring daggers at the other girl.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Evans," Julia said innocently, widening her eyes and pushing down her smirk to fit the act.

"Ugh, you're infuriating!" Lily groaned, turning back to the homework that needed marking.

"It's what I'm best at," Julia grinned, lazily pushing aside one paper and glancing at the next.

She heard Lily scoff from the other table and looked up. The redhead was shaking her head and muttering something under breath. A smile tugged at Julia's lips - a real smile this time - she knew that Lily was most likely insulting her, but she somehow managed to make annoyance look attractive.

Julia was willing to be cursed out some more if it meant their conversation lasted.

"You alright over there Evans?" She called lightly, "I can't quite hear what you're saying."

"You wouldn't want to," Lily said through gritted teeth.

"Don't tease me, now I'm curious," she scrawled a messy 'E' in the top corner of someone's sheet, glancing at Lily as she did so.

Lily happened to look up at the same time and they made eye contact, Julia held the stare for a few seconds until Lily started squirming uncomfortably, then she looked back down.

Julia was disappointed when the other girl didn't reply.

So she started up a new conversation: "So, Evans," she began.

Lily groaned loudly, "What?" She snapped.

"I was just gonna ask, for the project, do you think it would be better to look at the Agrippan branch of magic or the Chaldean branch. Because both are pretty interesting, but I think Heinrich's discoveries were more useful in the modern world, and also he had some kind of cool theories, but then Nachman also had some pretty solid ideas and of course, without his work on isopsephy the whole study of aritmancy would be totally different..." Julia trailed off when she noticed the bewildered look she was recieving from Lily.

"What?" She asked, throwing all her walls back up and styling her features into an uncaring expression.

"When-" Lily spluttered out, "Since when did you speak so much?" She asked in shock, her face still holding disbelief. She had stopped marking papers and the quil hung limply in her hand, dripping ink onto the table.
"And since when did you pay attention in class, or care about subject content, or getting work done, or anything important in life!?"

Julia was a little offended by the redhead's lack of faith in her, but she couldn't blame her either. That was the image she put forward of herself and that's what people thought of her because of it.

"I'm in that class for a reason Evans," She grumbled, turning back to the work.

There was silence for a while after that, and not the peaceful kind like earlier either, this was an awkward silence if Julia had ever felt one.

"I think you're right about the Agrippan branch, Heinrich's discoveries are more useful on the whole," Lily said quietly. Julia could feel eyes on her but she didn't look up, "We should start with that."

Julia nodded, knowing that Lily saw it. They lapsed back into silence, both sinking into thoughts.

Julia was having a mid-teen crisis because it had just hit her how much she cared for Lily. She had completely dropped her walls a moment ago, she had tried to have a normal conversation - with no insults or sarcasm - that wasn't like her at all. Julia glared at anyone who looked at her funny. She had lasted six years at Hogwarts without her dorm-mates finding out a single thing about her. She was an enigma to the student population, a rude, narcissistic enigma, and that was how she liked it.

L I L Y

Lily's thoughts were a little different, however.

She had spent the last hour putting up with Julia's sly comments and ignorant attitude, which was annoying, but she could handle it. She put up with similar things with James and Sirius all the time.

So Julia was fine, irritating and inappropriate? Yeah, definitely. But fine.

Then, out of nowhere, Julia had started spouting out facts and phrases and smart stuff. She had let loose, there was no fierce glint in her eye or smirk hanging on her lips. She was herself, something that Lily didn't think many people got to see.

Of course, the other girl had shut down as soon as Lily pointed that out, but she had witnessed it now and there was no unwitnessing it.

Julia Thorne was a secret dork.

That was a fact. And the thought of her looking so carefree as she rambled on about Nachman and isopsephy made Lily smile. Just a small smile, but it was there none the less.

She wanted to see more of that girl buried so far beneath the surface.