Infinite

Chapter Two

First Day

I'm really easy to get along with once people learn to worship me. Okay, so, I lied about the last part of that statement, but I am easy to get along with. I proved that last night when Remus Lupin and I got along famously. I knew that if I were to befriend a "marauder" then I would befriend Remus. It's just a known fact. Sirius Black is too egocentric. James Potter is a pompous prat. Peter Pettigrew, well, he is just a mousy boy who is terrified of his own shadow.

"Lily!" Rhia called from somewhere in the dormitory. "First day of classes!"

"Fabulous," Lily muttered as her pen scratched on the pages of her journal.

Joyous, classes. I can't wait until I have Transfiguration and Herbology so I can royally flunk out of school and officially suck at life. I'm afraid that I will get 'Dreadful' on both of those O.W.L.'s. I'm absolutely horrendous at those subjects. Charms is my best and all time favorite subject. Defense Against the Dark Arts is another one I adore enormously. Potions class is great with Professor Slughorn. He practically worships those in his little 'Slug Club'. Arithmancy, Astronomy, and Care of Magical Creatures are tolerable classes. I enjoy them as well.

"Lily!" Rhia called in a singsong voice. "Let's get going!"

Sometimes best friends can be so aggravating. As if she actually cares about getting to class on time - oh wait. Sirius Black. Yes. Let's go to class early to get good seats so we can watch Black and Potter make jackasses out of themselves. That sounds like a marvelous idea. Why didn't I think of that first? Silly me.

"I'm being serious, Lily, we need to eat and then get to class!" Rhia whined. "We aren't going to have enough time."

Scary little? Yes, my best friend is super scary. She can't help it. She doesn't like to take the medication the doctor prescribed.

"I'm coming!"

Lily, who had already been dressed an hour ago, pushed her journal under her mattress and emerged from behind her curtains. She saw Rhia standing by the door with her arms crossed over her chest and her book bag draped over her right shoulder. She had a perturbed look on her face. The redhead waved enthusiastically before walking leisurely towards the door.

"Oh! I forgot-"

Before Lily could finished her sentence and walk further back into the room, Rhia grabbed the redhead by the wrist and practically dragged her out of the dormitory. The two friends made their way down the long hallways and the moving staircases until they reached the giant dining hall. August was already up and eating at the table with... no, it couldn't be. Remus Lupin? The two were talking and laughing as if they were the oldest of friends. How? Why was it so easy for them?

"Look who I dragged out from behind the dustbins," Rhia greeted August.

"Good to see you hadn't really lapsed into a coma," August joked.

"Har, Har." Lily took a seat next to Remus, since Rhia had already placed herself next to August. "I was actually up before all of you."

"In what wacky dimension?" August asked with a smile playing on her lips.

Lily opened her mouth to retort but before she could, a hand slipped over her mouth. The redhead twisted to see who was behind her, but the hand kept her from moving enough to see. Therefore, Lily did what she always did. She stuck out her tongue and immediately the hand jerked back. The prefect smiled in accomplishment before turning around to see Sirius Black standing behind her. Her victory smile instantly fell.

"Oh, it's you," Lily sighed as she turned back to her breakfast.

"Yeah, and you know what?" the dark-haired boy inquired as he sat down next to the redhead. "I like you. I like you a lot actually. I think you're absolutely fabulous. Really, a side of Lily Evans I've never seen."

"I don't know what your problem is, Black, but I bet it's really hard to pronounce." Lily's words were laced with sarcasm. "Maybe Madam Pomfrey can help you out. I hear she's really good at pronouncing those kinds of words."

"I never thought you could be so... quirky."

"Quirky?" Lily turned to face him. "Who uses words like quirky?"

"Apparently, I do," Sirius replied. "I have a proposition for you."

"Apparently, I don't want to hear it."

"I think we should become friends," Sirius announced while he picked up a piece of bacon and shoved it into his mouth. "I think it would benefit us both."

"No."

"Think about it," Sirius whined in an awfully annoying way. "We could be the next... Plato and Herman!"

"Excuse me? Who are they?"

"People I just made up on the top of my head to make us sound utterly amazing," spoke the boy, a platinum smile stretched upon his face.

"Right. You're officially deserve to be hauled away in a white van," Lily told him as she abandoned her breakfast and made her way out of the Great Hall.

It wasn't long before she noticed that Sirius Black was walking at her side. Creepy little? She sped up her pace, but the boy only did the same. What did he want from her? A kidney? Lily turned to the left, hoping that Black would somehow not see her and would instead keep going straight. No such luck.

"Listen, Black, I'm noticing how you're validating my inherent mistrust of strangers."

"I'm not a stranger, Evans; we've gone to this school since we were both wee little first years."

"Go away," Lily stressed. "I don't like you. I think you're a horrid person. I try to be nice, but you only try to be mean."

"Now, now, Lily," Sirius mock-scolded, pulling a tight smile onto his face. "There's no need to be rude."

"I'm not being rude; you're just being exceedingly annoying."

"Do you think that you can use big words, and I'll just back off?" Sirius questioned as he leant against the wall.

"You're the most infuriating person I've ever talked to!"

"Thanks, but I've already heard that one. My mother tells me that all the time," Sirius spoke bitterly.

Lily faltered at this. It was Mrs. Black who had hollered at her son and tried to kill him with extremely sharp fingernails just yesterday... was Lily really being compared to a woman who obviously didn't love her son?

"I need to get to class," Lily sighed.

"What class?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows in an awfully disturbing way.

"I -" Oh crap, she didn't get her timetable. "I don't know exactly."

"I can help you out, seeing as we mainly have the same classes." Sirius whipped out his timetable from his back pocket. "Potions with the enchanting Professor Slughorn first thing this delightful morning. I hear that he's rather eager to see his little Slug Club and pamper them like little babies."

"Kill me now and spare me the humiliation."

"I wouldn't do that," Sirius smirked. "I would just merely stab you with a fork, watch you bleed, and then save you."

"You actually sound pretty reasonable," Lily smiled at the boy. "I think that it may be time to up my medication."

"Argh," Sirius grabbed his heart with a pained expression on his face. "That cut me deep."

Yes, Lily walked to Potions with Sirius Black. Yes, they made small banter all the way there. Yes, Lily enjoyed the boy's company. Yes, Lily could actually see herself being friends with Black. Yes, Lily had actually called him Sirius once while they were walking down the stairs to the dungeons. Yes, Lily thought the boy was absolutely hilarious. No, Lily didn't want to get into Sirius Black's pants.

The two parted their ways when they reached the Potions classroom. The redhead took her usual seat in the back of the room to the left side. Sirius went over to the back row on the right side to sit next to Peter Pettigrew, who was already in the room. It was about five minutes later that everyone else started filing into the room. Rhia and August sat on either side of Lily.

"You left," Rhia whispered, "with Sirius."

"Yes, I was talking to him," Lily replied as her eyes wandered over towards the Marauders.

Maybe they weren't so bad. Lily had always thought Sirius was the instigator of the group, the worst one of them all. If she could feel completely comfortable with Black, then maybe they just tried to portray the image of bad boys? Maybe they were really nice guys who liked long walks on the beach and cute puppies and were actually - never mind.

Sirius Black had just hurled a blue spell towards Severus Snape as soon as the greasy-haired prefect entered the room. Snape stumbled as he foamed at the mouth. It looked as though he had rabies or something. He then started jerking from side to side as though he had lost all the functions in his body. Everyone was laughing except for Remus, August, and Lily.

The redhead stood up and strolled over towards the Marauders. She was so livid that she could feel the heat burn her face. Her wand was drawn and clenched at her side. Her right hand flung up, causing her wand to point directly into the mirthful face of Sirius Black.

"STOP IT!" she shouted.

"Stop what, Lily?" Sirius asked calmly.

"You're hurting him!" Lily jerked her head in the direction of the Slytherin prefect.

"It's all in good fun, my dear."

Oh, that made Lily flare.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lily bellowed the spell with such force that it knocked the cocky Sirius Black out of his chair and onto the floor. The spell on Snape immediately stopped, making the boy fall to the ground. The girl population of the class stopped laughing and gasped. The male portion - excluding the Marauders - laughed even harder.

"How dare you?" James Potter raised himself out of his chair and stared at Lily.

"How dare you ask me that question," Lily replied coolly. "I had every right."

"It's okay, James," Sirius announced as he stood up and turned towards Lily with a scowl on his face. "Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh nervously, and then change the subject."

"You're a right git, Black," Lily declared as she looked at him in disgust before walking back to her seat.

The doors towards the back of the classroom burst open to reveal a short, plump man strolling into the room with a box of crystal pineapples tucked securely under his arm. The man smiled warmly at the students and looked at Snape with a puzzled look. His Slytherin green robes stopped billowing behind him as soon as he paused in front of Severus Snape.

"Severus, my boy, what on earth are you doing down there?" Slughorn inquired.

"He couldn't see where he was going over his large nose," Sirius commented, "so he tripped over his feet."

"That's quite enough, Cyrus," Slughorn stated as a sneer found its way on Sirius's face. "Up you go, Severus. There, that's better."

Slughorn walked towards his desk and sat the box of pineapples down upon it. He admired it for several seconds before turning back to his class with a joyful smile twinkling on his round face.

"Who can tell me what the Polyjuice Potion is?"

Several students raised their hands, mainly all Slytherins. August raised her hand confidently into the air, however, as she always did in all of her classes. It was as if Professor Slughorn scanned over August for the briefest moment before calling on the disheveled Severus Snape.

"It's a potion that allows the drinker to take the appearance of anyone they choose for an hour, that is if they have a piece of said person's D.N.A.," Snape's voice was laced with detestation and his eyes were narrowed. "Though it lasts for only one hour, the drinker can drink more of the potion to essentially keep in the other person's appearance forever, provided that they have enough of the potion in supply and enough of the person's D.N.A."

"Ten points to Slytherin, my boy!" Slughorn laughed. "Very good!"

Lily glanced from the professor over towards her best friend. She grabbed a piece of piece of parchment from her bag and simply wrote: "You want to be each other for a couple of hours, partner?" Then the redhead slid it over towards Rhia who immediately read it. Lily watched out of the corner of her eye to see the huge smile that spread across her friend's face.

"You will be your partner for one hour in about a month," Professor Slughorn announced as he waved his wand toward the board, causing a number of words to appear. "These are the ingredients. Get potion making."

"You know, Lillian, I've always wanted to drink your hair," Rhia smiled brightly.

"Oh, Rhiannon, I've always wanted to drink all of you," Lily smirked.

"Let us put our magical powers to work so that next month we may cause pandemonium."

"Rhia," Lily whined, "you know my powers can only be used for good!"

"Come to the dark side, Lily Evans," Rhia spoke in a mysterious voice, "we have cookies!"

"No! No! Not the cookies! Don't tempt me with such evil entities!"

August teamed up with fellow fifth year Gryffindor Allyson Calhoun. She was a short, chestnut-haired girl. She had a slight stomach with huge brown eyes. James Potter, of course, partnered with Sirius Black. Remus Lupin teamed up with Peter Pettigrew. Slimy Snape - oops, Severus Snape teamed up with Rabastan Lestrange. All the partner groups were simply predicable, since they were the same groups every time.

"Okay, so we need some... fluxweed, knotgrass, horn of a bicorn, and skin of a boomslang," Rhia read off the first set of ingredients.

"Well, first, we should start with the lacewing flies-" Lily was so rudely interrupted at this point.

"We don't need those!" a protesting Rhia exclaimed.

"Second column," Lily replied.

"Oh," Rhia blushed slightly but quickly smiled, "those need to be stewed for twenty-one days."

"Do I look like Kelly Watson over there?" Lily nodded towards the blonde, ditzy Gryffindor talking to an enraged looking Sirius Black.

"Well, the red hair is a dead giveaway that you can't be her," Rhia spoke thoughtfully. "If you dye it blonde then you could so be her."

For this, Rhia was smacked in the back of the head with a pale hand. The dark-haired girl looked at her best friend with a pained look dancing on her smiling face. It was Rhia who then said, "Your sympathy towards me is so overwhelming." The two girls laughed as they started to stew the flies, which was a disgusting task within itself.

It wasn't before long that the bell rang to indicate class was over. Hurrah! Lily quickly loaded her bag and Rhia's bag as Rhia put away the potion supplies. Lily told her two friends to go to Charms without her and said she'd catch up. She strolled up to Professor Slughorn's desk with a smile dancing on her face.

"What can I do for you, Lily?"

"I was wondering when the next party was going to take place," Lily replied. "Usually you have them September 1^st, but this year it wasn't."

"Oh, yes, well, terrible times are ahead of us. I've been quite busy myself. Dumbledore is just simply demanding too much of me, my dear."

"But 'the Slugs' will meet soon?"

"Oh, definitely! It's not like I'm waiting for you to get re-sorted into a much more respectable house."

"You make it sound like Slytherin's a good thing," Lily retorted cheekily.

"You make it sound like a bad thing, my dear!" Slughorn chuckled.

"Your words, not mine," Lily smiled. "I've got to get going. I have to go all the way up to Charms."

The professor bid farewell to one of his 'Slugs' and promised to be in touch. Lily merely smiled before she made her way to the Charms classroom. It was a long and lonely walk. She hated walking to classes by herself, but there were times when she had to. She reached the classroom to see Professor Flitwick working on something at his desk. He was writing feverishly on a piece of parchment with a somber look on his small face. Lily had never seen the man look so serious in her life. Where was the joyful and jolly Professor Flitwick that she knew and loved?

Lily found August and Rhia in their usual seats in the front of the class, so she went over and sat next to Rhia. It wasn't before long that the rowdy group of Marauders meandered into the classroom - except, wait. They weren't loud at all. They were whispering to each other. Plotting something? Yes, that had to be it. Lily realized that she could hear what they were saying so she eavesdropped. It was a very bad habit of hers that she couldn't seem to break.

"Who would even say such a thing?" Sirius's tone of voice was laced with anger and tenderness.

"Probably just some jealous girl you turned down," James replied empathetically.

"The whole school believes it, James," Sirius still spoke in hushed tones. "Now everyone probably thinks I'm sex-crazed."

"Who didn't think you were sex-crazed before?" James joked.

"But there are certain people here who can take that literally and tell my mother," Sirius suddenly seemed slightly frightened. "Narcissa and Regulus... they'll tell her that I got two girls pregnant when I didn't!"

Oh no, Lily's stomach sank. Who in the world told people that? Rhia? No, Rhia would never let that get out. She fancied Black too much. Rhia would never let anything negative about him leak out. What if someone had overheard her joking around? Kelly! Kelly Watson, she was one for gossip. Oh Merlin, she must have been awake. Lily's mind went wild.

"Everyone here?" Professor Flitwick asked without even looking up. "Good. Today we will be learning about the Fidelius Charm. Who can tell me what that is?"

Professor Flitwick folded the parchment he was writing on and held it with his left hand. With his right hand, the short professor ignited that parchment with blue flames. He then turned towards the fifth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws with a smile playing on his face. Guinevere Haswell, the Ravenclaw prefect, raised her hand into the air.

"Miss Haswell?" Professor Flitwick called on her.

"The Fidelius - deprived from the Latin form Fidelis which means faithful friends - Charm fundamentally protects a person or object by hiding it from everyone except for the Secret Keeper and whom the Secret Keeper deems fit on trusting."

"Excellent, Miss Haswell, fifteen points to Ravenclaw."

"I'd like to hide Sirius Black," Rhia leaned over and whispered to Lily, "if you know what I mean."

"Too much information, Rhia."

The class seemed to have passed all too quickly for Lily. Before she knew it, the bell rang. Students filed out from all directions. It was the mellifluous voice of the Charms professor that made the redheaded prefect falter in her journey to lunch. Lily doubled back towards the professor's desk. Once everyone was out, the professor smiled brightly at Lily.

"Each Head of House is allowed to nominate two students for the prefect position from each house, a boy and girl."

The jolly professor spoke with a sparkle in his eyes. Lily already knew what he was going to tell her. He nominated her for prefect. Joyous, just when Lily was considering running away with him. Ha, no, Lily was just entertaining herself.

"I voted for you, as did every other Head of House! It seemed as though Professor Dumbledore got a right chuckle out of it," the little man laughed. "There was really no doubt who would be the female Gryffindor prefect."

"Thank-you for suggesting me, Professor, but you really shouldn't have," Lily spoke honestly. "August is so much smarter than me."

"You were the one who scored top marks on the final exams, Lily," the professor spoke seriously. "Miss Diefendorf had received all but two top marks on her finals. You're very impressive."

"Professor, there's no way I could have done that," Lily sighed. "I mean, I'm absolutely horrendous at Transfiguration and Herbology. I couldn't transfigure a pumpkin to save my life!"

"Your test results speak differently, Miss Evans. You have a lot of talent."

"I may have plenty of talent, but quite frankly, Professor, I just don't give a damn."

"That's no attitude to have, Lily," Professor Flitwick sounded both flabbergasted and disappointed.

"Here's how it is, Professor," Lily took a deep sigh. "I'm never going to make a difference in the world. I'm going to go through life and when I die, no one will ever remember I existed. No one will even care that I walked this ground. I'll just be another face and name in the zillions before me. So there isn't really a reason for me to really... thrive."

"Do you have any idea what you are suggesting?"

"Yes, I do, Professor."

"Well, Miss Evans, I have to say that I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you," Professor Flitwick talked with an almost thwarted tone. "I thought you were a girl of such potency and power. A girl who would fight in this emerging war and come out on top. Now I can't help but think you're just an asinine girl who doesn't give a damn about anything. You may leave now, Miss Evans."

Lily felt her chest clench as she walked out of the classroom with tears burning in her eyes. Professor Flitwick hated her. Her favorite professor thought she was nothing but a juvenile who didn't know anything. What she spoke was true however in her mind. She wouldn't be remembered when she died. She couldn't do anything spectacular to make herself be remembered.

Lily found herself unable to eat lunch now. Therefore, she did what she usually did when she was upset. She walked around on the balconies of the tall towers of the castle to feel the wind nip her face. She raced there as fast as she could. She wrenched open the huge door to the balcony and walked out.

The redhead felt the tears fall down her face. Why was this affecting her so much? Why did she care what people thought of her? She walked towards the stone railing and propped her elbows upon it. She leaned slightly forward and watched some students eat their lunch by the lake. Others were walking around or playing with their friends. Lily felt so alone.

"May I inquire what is wrong?"

Lily jumped slightly as she turned to see the graying headmaster next to her. Where did he come from? It was as if he just appeared out of nowhere. Sometimes that old man could be extremely creepy. His aging face turned towards the youthful girl with a quizzical look on his face.

"I was just chatting with Professor Flitwick," Lily sniffed as she tried to hide her tearstained face.

"Excuse my rudeness, but why do you look ever so upset about it?"

"He told me all the Heads voted for my appointment of prefect," Lily murmured.

"Well, that's nothing to be upset about. I must say I was quite entertained that all of the teachers seem to love you," Professor Dumbledore smiled. "In a case of a tie, I am the one to make the final decision. I have to say that I've had to make the decision in every single case this year except for the female fifth year Gryffindor and the Head Boy position."

"Who was it between in the Gryffindor male category?"

"Off the record, of course, Miss Evans, but it was between Remus Lupin and James Potter. It seemed as though Professor Sprout and Professor Slughorn elected Mr. Lupin while Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall elected Mr. Potter."

Lily was puzzled at this. Why would anyone in their right mind nominate James Potter as prefect? He was just so... narcissistic and generally bad. Professor McGonagall seemed to loathe the boy, for he was always causing troubles. Why would she of all people vote for him?

"Did you pick Remus so that I wouldn't throw myself off the Astronomy Tower?" Lily asked with a smile on her face.

"Lemon Drop?" the headmaster offered her a candy as she took one. "I must say that I picked Mr. Lupin for the fact that I believe he could exercise some control over Misters Black and Potter."

"Oh, so it wasn't the fact that I would slaughter myself if I had to spend over a minute alone with Potter?" this seemed to have made the headmaster chuckle.

"You are very entertaining, Miss Evans."

"I try my best," Lily replied.

"I never want you to believe that you will never make a difference, Miss Evans."

Wait, what? How did the headmaster know what was said earlier in the Charms classroom? Does he have little spies or something all over the castle so that he knows everything that happens within the stone walls? On the other hand, maybe he was just a really good guesser?

"What could I do to make a difference?" asked Lily.

"You'd be surprised to find out all the power you behold."

Lily didn't say anything at this. She was actually at a loss for words. Professor Dumbledore seemed to have noticed her hesitation and decided to leave her alone with her thoughts. Why is it that everyone just tries to confuse me? Lily thought.

The redhead started to walk around the balcony, thoughts filling her head. Why was it that two professors thought she was extraordinary? What was it about her? Nothing that she could even begin to comprehend. Yes, was that it? No, that wasn't even an answer.

"You have strength."

Argh, what was this? Sneak up on Lily Evans and scare the life out of her day? Lily turned to see the Divination teacher standing there. She had a long dress on with a thick shawl. The professor didn't look like fortunetellers in the muggle world, but actually like she could be the real thing. She had graying blonde hair that was tied back loosely in a bun.

"Excuse me?" Lily asked.

"You are very powerful, Miss Evans," the professor went on. "You may not realize it, but Professor Dumbledore and I keep a close eye on those in this school to pick out the exceptional ones. The ones that can fight in this coming war."

"What war?" Lily was irritated by now.

"The darkest of Dark Lords is now approaching," the woman explained. "He is emerging to cleanse the Wizarding World so that it fits his image of what he thinks it ought to be like."

"What is his image?"

"To rid the world of all the Muggles and Muggleborns."

Lily's face drew pale at this. There was actually somebody out there who wanted to murder a whole bunch of people? Was he the wizard equivalent to Hitler? Just the thought of that made Lily's skin crawl. Then again, didn't Hitler have syphilis? Did this new 'Dark Lord' have a disease that made him mad?

"You will face him, Miss Evans, more than once. You will defy him thrice before the end."

"Ex-excuse me?" Lily backed away. "No, no I won't."

"Miss Evans-"

Lily ran. She ran as fast as she could to get as far away from the Astronomy Tower as possible. She wasn't going to face some maniac! That was for sure. She skipped every other stair on the staircase. She just wanted to get away. It was when she got off the stairway and turned right that she collided with another person.

"Umph!" a male voice made that sound as Lily landed on top of him.

"Sorry!" Lily breathed heavily. "So sorry!"

She touched the boy's chest and hoisted herself up. Lily got a glimpse at the boy she fell on. No, it couldn't be. The prefect nearly fell down on him again, but luckily, she kept herself up. Brent Paddock. Her crush. She had fallen on the boy she liked - so much for falling head over heels.

"I'm so sorry, Brent," Lily gasped as she scrambled up.

"S'okay," Brent propped himself up on his elbows. "Lily, isn't it? Lily Evans?"

He knew her name. Oh joys!

"Yes, that's me," Lily smiled. "The clumsy redhead Lily Evans!"

"Also known as Gryffindor prefect Lily Evans," Brent smiled - oh, he had gorgeous teeth.

"You're Brent Paddock, the prefect."

"That I am, but unfortunately I paid my way into the prefect position," the boy joked.

Oh, the boy was funny. He could crack a joke and mock himself. That was wonderful. Lily liked him even more already. He was absolutely scrumptious (in Rhia's words).

"I'll be seeing you, Lily Evans," Brent picked himself up from the stone floor.

"Yes, at the next prefect meeting," Lily said as she was now longing for the next prefect meeting.

"Next Monday then or maybe before," Brent smiled as he walked away.

Lily sighed as all of her troubles seemed to slip away. Oh, the joys of boys. Yes, most of the time Lily thought all boys were immature pricks, but Brent wasn't like that. He was different. He was the ideal boy. Lily thought that she might just be falling in love with him.

It wouldn't be until months later that Lily saw the true side of Brent Paddock. He would be the first boy she ever gave herself to. It wouldn't be until much later that she realized that Professor Dumbledore and the Divination professor were keeping a much closer eye on the students than she thought. It wouldn't be until months later that Lily realized the extent of evil one person could hold. Lily wouldn't think too much about the rising Dark Lord until she came face to face with him. It would be years later that Lily would understand that she was just as powerful as Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore made her out to be that first day of classes. She didn't know it at the time, but there would be a time when she would stop doubting herself all the time and become confident at everything she did. She didn't know it yet, but she would be forgotten when she died just like she thought. She didn't, however, know that she would be a war hero at her death.