Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

2 May, 1978 - Evans (II)

When Lavinia finished her classes on the Tuesday a week after her confession to the Marauders, she made her way to her usual table in the library with the patiently resigned air of a person stuck in the same daily routine. If she was honest, it was getting old to just sit in the same place day after day. She missed being able to relax in the common room or chat with friends over a meal. But the library was safer so that was where she stayed.

She spent plenty of time trying to convince herself it was a good thing she was stuck there because the reality was that she had mountains of homework to get through and she honestly wasn't sure she'd have had the motivation to actually do it if she had the option of being elsewhere. She probably would have dropped her homework and gone to wherever that elsewhere was. But though that thought helped, it was still lonely in her corner of the book cases and she missed having friends to study with.

At least, she thought wearily as she dropped down into a chair, today was Tuesday, which meant Peter would be coming for help with Transfiguration. His company was always a welcome break from usual. Remus also sometimes joined them, which Lavinia didn't mind at all. It had been only a little while since the Sunday she'd invited Sirius to join her and though he'd popped in occasionally, he'd admitted he usually studied in the common room during breaks. She couldn't bring herself to be terribly upset over it. It had been nice to have company but he had also been painfully unfocussed and didn't seem to take his homework nearly as seriously as she did. Which she couldn't really judge him for. Even she knew she'd been getting a bit obsessive lately, but she put that down to having nothing else to do.

It was about an hour and a half after she'd finished classes and Lavinia was struggling through a frankly vexing Arithmancy assignment that kept making her want to bang her head against the desk when someone sat down in the chair across the table from her.

"You're early," she noted without glancing up, assuming it was Peter there for their usual Transfiguration session. It wasn't like anyone else ever bothered her here.

"I didn't know I was expected," remarked a distinctly feminine voice, rather drily.

Lavinia looked up slowly, frowning to see Lily Evans sitting in the seat opposite her. "You are not Peter," she observed, glancing around to see if anyone was listening in, more out of habit than anything. She was already a blood traitor. Sitting at the same table as Evans could hardly do more damage, she supposed.

"What gave it away?" asked Evans, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Hilarious, Evans," Lavinia muttered, rolling her eyes and not really in the mood to deal with the other girl. "What are you doing here?" she asked, honestly unsure why Evans would possibly have come to her.

"Polite as ever," Evans sighed. "I am here because James is driving me insane and all of the other tables are taken," she informed the other girl.

"So you just thought you'd sit here?" Lavinia asked, slightly incredulous and mildly put out.

Evans shrugged. "In retrospect, I should have asked," she admitted. "But you also have the only copy of A New Theory of Numerology and Vector is trying to kill us."

Lavinia sniffed slightly in agreement. "Fine," she relented. "But you do not get it until I'm done." She glanced at her watch. "Which will be in fifteen minutes when Peter shows up."

"Fair enough," Evans shrugged and began pulling out books for her other subjects.

Lavinia shook her head slightly, baffled by the sheer audacity of the other girl. Then again, Evans was a Gryffindor and James girlfriend to boot, so perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised. If she was honest, she didn't mind it as much as she once would have. She wasn't about to get close with Evans but the other girl certainly did know how to put her head down and get things done and they spent the next fifteen minutes in total silence, each working quickly and quietly on their own thing.