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Her eyes could hardly believe what they were seeing. Not that it was anything new, because such occurrences had become as common as opening one’s eyes upon waking up in the morning, but she had not expected matters to escalate to this degree. Two of her best students. Quarreling in the middle of her Transfiguration class, in a voice tone far from discreet and in front of anyone who cared to watch. What an outrage!
In truth, she had the impression that Lily was arguing alone. She shouted, waved her hands, and ruffled her hair in anger, while James faced the entire situation mere inches from her with a mischievous smile, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised in disbelief. It did not even seem as though his third ancestral generation had just been insulted. Insolent boy…
As if all this were not enough, none of their supposedly loyal classmates seemed particularly interested in breaking up the fight. Some appeared afraid of Lily’s unjustified fury, others seemed amused by the situation and occasionally inserted sharp remarks into the discussion just to make matters worse. Absurd!
And to make things better, she felt that none of them had noticed her presence. She had just turned the corner of the great wooden door when she encountered the turmoil but had no time to reflect on what to do. She drew her wand from inside her coat and, with a simple spell, emitted a sharp and unpleasant clatter, which caused everyone to fall silent and look at her in alarm.
She entered the room, stomping her feet firmly. She dropped her bag angrily onto her desk and began what she had promised herself would be the most painful speech she would ever deliver to that class.
“Everybody, sit down. NOW!”
None of them had ever seen her shout like that. They obeyed immediately, rearranging themselves in their seats with haste, quite incompatible with the amusement of moments before.
“I hope you all realize that what I have just witnessed here is, to say the least, one of the greatest affronts I have had the displeasure of dealing with in all my years as a teacher at this school!”
She continued without pause, as if trying - with success - to exhaust the air from the lungs of everyone in the room.
“A group of irresponsible adolescents, in their sixth year of magical studies, encouraging an absolutely deplorable practice, coming from none other than your prefect and your quidditch captain! An outrage! A disgrace! For the entire class and especially for the two of you!”
She fixed her gaze at James and Lily and now spoke as if she could shatter them with the power of her mind alone.
“When I appointed you both to your positions, I imagined you would fulfill them with the same dedication and respect you have always shown me. If you have lost those qualities, you may inform me now. I will be quick to find replacements” – The last sentence was a lie, but she wanted to frighten them. She would never find prodigies as exceptional as those two, but they did not need to know that now.
James looked at her with a neutral expression. An irritatingly calm look, from someone who had been through these situations many times before and knew his worth very well. What. An. Insolent. Boy.
Lily, meanwhile, could barely look at the teacher; her hands, folded in her lap, trembled with shame and anger, and she was the first to address the class in a very shaky and low voice – “Forgive me, Professor McGonagall. I lost my mind. I assure you it will not happen again.”
The teacher let her silence engulf everyone for another full minute and then, as someone who places a cherry atop a well-prepared cake, descended the steps that separated her desk from the others, crossed her arms, and declared:
“Oh, but it will really not! Both of you, stand up now and come here to shake hands.”
Lily raised her head at once. It was not possible. This could not be happening. If it were a nightmare, let her wake up now! But it was not. Minerva continued to stare at her, while James was already heading nonchalantly toward the teacher, as if he had won the war without even fighting. Rascal…
It did not take long for her to follow the boy’s steps a few seconds later, but much more irritated and reluctant. She stopped in front of him, refusing to look him in the eyes, and, gathering all the strength she had within her heart, shook the hand that was already extended to her, making a great effort not to end the gesture with a good stomp on his foot.
“Excellent!” – Minerva applauded without emotion after the false cordiality – “Detention for both of you today after classes. I expect you both here” – She turned her back and began her class, without saying any other word to either of them.
James threw himself into his chair, smiling, inexplicably victorious. Lily sank among her friends, indignant. Wonderful! It would be incredible to have to spend two more hours with James Potter after today!
When the time for detention finally arrived, Lily did everything she could to be the first to arrive. Perhaps, if she arrived early, she could speak with the professor, find a good excuse, and avoid that inconvenient. But her effort was in vain. Upon opening the door to the classroom, she found James already seated at a desk in the front, quill and parchment in hand, strangely focused.
Minerva looked at her immediately and addressed them both – “Come in, Miss Evans. Sit here” – she said, pointing to the empty chair right beside James – “Potter, put that away. We will continue later.”
James was quick to shove whatever it was into his bag and then looked at her, wearing his usual smile. Lily felt an urge to fly at him. Insolent!
The professor disappeared from their sight for a few seconds and soon returned, dragging an enormous pile of books with red, green, blue, and yellow covers. “Well, as you know, there are many students here at Hogwarts, and as Deputy Headmistress, I am responsible for the enrollment of each one. However, the archives are somewhat disorganized, and I would greatly appreciate your help in rearranging them according to house, name, and year of each student. Please do so in ascending order. You may begin now” – she said, turning again and sitting at her desk, leaving both of them in disbelief at the mountain of papers.
Neither dared to question anything in the professor’s instructions and began to sort and catalogue the books one by one. Everything seemed to go well for the first thirty minutes, until James dropped one of the books on the floor. He tried to retrieve it quickly but hit his head on the desk Lily was using and ended up knocking over even more books.
“Oh, c’mon!” – Lily exclaimed, already impatient – “Thank you so much, Potter!”
“Oh, please Evans, it was an accident…” – James replied, already somewhat cheeky, ready for another round of debate.
“Oh, of course, because everything you do is an accident!”
“And what abou you, Evans? Do you do everything with full awareness of what you want?” - He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
She knew exactly where he was trying to go with this. But she refused to give him that satisfaction. So she chose the easiest route: attack – “We’re only here because of you. If you hadn’t pissed me off, none of this would have happened! NONE!”
Minerva listened attentively but did not dare to interrupt. At the end of the day, she was simply a very curious woman who hoped that one day these two would stop their nonsense and sort themselves out. She let the conversation follow.
“I pissed you off? ME? James Fleamont Potter? It was you who asked me for help studying Ancient Runes last night! Because you wanted to!”
“Only because you spent the ENTIRE DAY insisting on how good you were at that subject!”
“And since when do you believe in what I say?” – he opened a mischievous smile, seeing her face turn redder than a Christmas hat.
She remained silent. She would not tell him that she believed far too much in almost everything he said. He could find that out on his own.
“By the way” – he continued, smug – “if I recall it correctly, we managed to wrap up the subject and had a great time…”
“Of course, guys like you call that a great time” – she turned her face away, went back to stacking the notebooks angrily, and murmured quietly to herself – “You have fun while I go crazy.”
“Listen here…” – James stomped his foot on the floor, irritated – “As far as I remember” – and believe me, he remembered very well – “Everything that happened yesterday was your choice.”
“Shut up, Potter…”
“You asked me to sit next to you. You accepted my jokes. You laughed with me. I didn’t force you to share a cup of hot chocolate with me in the middle of the night. And…” – He weighed his words, unsure if he was being too invasive – “Was it really that bad?”
Lily looked at him, outraged. How dare he throw the truth in her face like that? Irritated, she nearly threw a book at him, no longer caring about the evident presence of the Transfiguration professor right beside them.
“Of course not, Potter! Who said that?”
“You did!” – he was also outraged – “When you turned your back and left me there alone, staring at the ceiling!”
“I WAS CONFUSED, OKAY? I’m not used to looking at you and understanding that what’s inside here has a name. I panicked! I…” – she felt her breath falter. Why did he have to be so infuriating?
James considered responding in a thousand different ways. He could make a terrible joke just to see her get even more annoyed, he could tell a few more absurd truths to leave her astonished, but he no longer wanted any of that.
“Just so you know, Evans, what’s inside here also has a name, an owner, and an address. It always has, always will. And it also gets very confused when said owner runs away after a kiss…”
Lily fell silent. She could not believe he had just said that out loud. So simple, so direct. As if she were not dying inside from the embarrassment of so many years of bickering dissolving so quickly into a deep desire and admiration she could no longer explain or even control.
“Everything would be much easier if you didn’t irritate me so much” – she smiled awkwardly. It was not worth trying to argue now – “You fool…”
He smiled back at her. With a look that, secretly, she had seen many times before – “I promise to try harder in this subject” – he resumed, laughing – “Maybe we could even study together…”
Lily gave him a light punch on the arm, and both returned to stacking the books in silence. From afar, Minerva watched everything, finally satisfied with what she had just seen and heard.
When curfew finally arrived, she dismissed the two, but not before demanding what she herself called a fine, respectful, and cordial handshake! Neither of them believed what they were hearing but still complied without question.
They approached slowly, eye to eye, hands extended. James took her hand gently and squeezed it slowly, as if leaving a door open for more. Lily returned the gesture and only remembered she should let him go when the professor cleared her throat beside them.
“Good night to both of you. You may leave.”
Both walked in silence, side by side, up to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. Before entering, they exchanged one last anxious glance. The corridor was empty. They smiled shyly, in a way they weren't used to. That feeling was new, it gave a strange sensation in the stomach, in the chest, in the soul, but it was good. It was so good.
Lily extended her hand to him one last time, playfully. But this time he did not accept the handshake. He pulled her by the waist gently, stood just inches from her face, looked at her for long seconds, and then leaned in and gave her a loud kiss on the cheek. Whispering very close to her ear – “I would love to get another detention with you someday, Evans. Think about it, okay? Good night!”
And, mischievous as ever, he quickly turned, entered the portrait, and ran up the stairs to the dormitory, leaving at the door a completely flushed and mesmerized Lily who could hardly believe what she was seeing. What a bastard!
That boy would be the end of her! But she would find a way to have those lips on hers again, or her name was not Lily Jane Evans. Even if it required a few more hours of reviewing runes or another unwarranted detention.