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Lily didn't exactly know when it all started.
She didn't exactly know when her and Pandora decided to do their studies together instead of alone.
It must have been a few weeks ago, when she had to partner up with Pandora for a task in potions class. Since then it became kind of a rhythm. Every afternoon they would meet up for one or two hours in the library. Sometimes they would talk but other times they would just sit silently together enjoying the fact that they weren't alone.
A few times they were joined by Remus who, too, enjoyed the company of them both while studying. Even Regulus joined them once, only to come to the conclusion he preferred studying alone.
But even with Remus joining them from time to time their study sessions often stayed between the two of them.
The more time Lily spend with Pandora, the more she got to know her and she quickly realized that the blonde girl wasn't anything like she seemed to be to everyone else.
Lily learned that Pandora wanted to be a healer when she graduated from Hogwarts and that she loved wandering through the grounds of the castle without having a specific destination.
She also found out that every piece of jewelry she owned (and that was quite a lot) had a specific meaning to her. For example the silver butterfly necklace with the forrest green wings she got from her brother on her first day of school. Another thing she always wore was a bracelet with many different charms she got on all types of occasions.
When Lily first found out about that bracelet she decided she wanted to get Pandora one, too, which she did. It was a small book, nothing special but when Lily saw Pandora actually wearing it on her bracelet, it made her heart flutter a bit. She couldn't really explain why but it did nonetheless.
It was a Thursday evening shortly before exam season. All students were stressed especially the ones in the upper classes, Lily and Pandora weren’t spared from this either. Both were sitting on a sofa in the library, their books, notes and study cards spread in front of them. The library was rather empty which neither of them disliked, the quietness was something that eased their minds while the other hand they didn’t have to worry about disturbing anyone else.
”Okay, next question,” Lily looked down at her card and then back up at Pandora who evidently struggled to keep her eyes open. “What colour should an Anti-Paralysis Potion have if brewed correctly?”
The blonde girl yawned. “Ugh, I don’t know Lils. It’s been a long day and I’m tired, alright?”
“Come on, I know it’s hard but the exams won’t write themselves.”
“Lily you know I love your ambition but my mind is finished for the day. If you want to study some more I’ll stay here with you but I can’t get anything more into my brain today.”
Pandora smiled at her fondly and Lily nodded. “Sorry, I know how can get sometimes.”
”Hey, don’t ever apologize for wanting to help others or for trying to be good at something,” Pandora answered at this and shoved a book into Lilys lap.
She took it and looked at the title, A guide to lethal potions, their disease progression and potential anti-potions. That definitely sounded very interesting.
It took Lily a few minutes but eventually she got into the book and started to process and understand its information. She faded out her surroundings a while ago and she didn’t come back out of her focus on the book until she felt a weight on her shoulder.
Slowly she put the book down and turned her head to see what had caused the feeling on her shoulder just to find Pandora leaning on her. The head of the blonde girl was lying on her shoulder while the rest of her body, too, was leaned against Lily.
The redhead swallowed before feeling the familiar sensation of butterflies in her stomach. Why did Pandora make her feel this way? How could she have such a power over her when she was literally doing nothing, just leaning on her?
A smile crept itself on Lilys lips and without waking the other or pushing her off of her shoulder she carefully packed her things together (as far as she could).
If she was being honest Lily didn’t want to move at all, to afraid she could wake Pandora up or scare her away, but in the end it was Pandora who had fallen asleep on Lilys shoulder, wasn’t it?
Carefully, ignoring the bolts of lightning it sent through her body, she let herself lean into the touch and rested her head on the one of the Ravenclaw and oh boy, why did this feel so good? Why did this gave Lily the feeling that she wouldn’t like to do anything else for the rest of her life?
She laid her arm around Pandoras shoulder and held her breath when the other girl tensed for a second. Then she snuggled closer to Lily who couldn’t hide the smile on her lips anymore.
Lily didn’t know how much time passed because for her, sitting there like that with Pandora, it felt like an eternity but eventually she closed her eyes and let herself be overtaken by sleep.
She woke up the next morning to the sound of two voices whispering to each other. She didn’t open her eyes, trying to take in her surroundings and what she felt first.
Lily noticed that she was laying down, she wasn’t in the sitting position of the last evening anymore and she also noticed that someone was laying very close to her. She held onto that someone for dear life and she also felt soft hair tingle against her nose.
There it was again. That traitorous feeling of butterflies inside her stomach.
”I told you,” it was one of the two voices that woke her, unmistakably Remus.
”Well, how was I to know, I thought she fancied that Macdonald girl!” The other voice, apparently belonging to Regulus, whispered back defensively.
”Sure… I mean it would have taken you literally only one look at the two of them to notice how head over heels they are for each other. And now that I’ve won the bet I want my chocolate frogs.”
Lily had to put a lot of effort into it to not start smiling like a giddy idiot right then and there. She didn’t know what it must have looked like for Remus and Regulus to see her like that with Pandora but the fact that they seemed to assume that her and the Ravenclaw were together made her feel very nervous inside. A good kind of nervous but nervous nonetheless.
She could hear the two boys leaving silently but still she kept her eyes closed, hoping that if she didn’t open them all of this would never end. She knew she had to talk to Pandora about this sooner or later, talk to her about them.
But in that moment she felt very content with herself and fell back asleep while pulling the blonde girl closer to her chest.