Because We Are Made Of Dreams

Kiss And Resolutions

"Potions and then Divination," announced James to his friends, before letting the paper fall right into his plate. "I think they"re trying to kill us..."

"And again the Slytherins in Potions," muttered Sirius, "It"s like they actually want us to have trouble with them. I mean, haven"t they realised yet that it"s never a good idea to put us all in the same room?"

Remus nodded, barely touching his food. The full moon was only a week away, and he was already beginning to feel the first effects of his monthly transformations.

Marlene, Alice and Clara took the last seats available at the Gryffindor table, which meant right next to the Marauders.

Professor McGonagall strode towards the newcomers and gave them their timetables. Alice moaned.

"Divination..." she groaned, desperate.

"You should have taken Ancient Runes..." declared Clara next to her, smirking.

"Thanks for reminding me. But I really did hope it would be interesting when I picked up this class, you know?"

"It was a formidable mistake."

"Where is Lily?" asked Remus.

Frank Longbottom just joined them, greeting his friends and kissing his girlfriend softly on the lips.

"She"s coming. She still had some things to organize and all," answered Clara.

She made a large gesture with her hand, clearly indicating that it wasn"t her favourite part of her best friend.

"Why, you"re not organized yourself?" asked Sirius mockingly, his mouth full of bacon.

"Not really actually," Clara admitted.

"Oh! Love is in the air..." said Marlene excitedly.

They all followed her gaze towards the doors. Liam and Lily were talking. She nodded, blushing and grinning, and finally headed towards her friends at the Gryffindor table, whilst Liam was joining the Ravenclaws. Lily sat down next to her friends as if nothing had happened .

"All right, spit it out Lils, now!" ordered Alice.

"He just wanted to talk to me," the Redhead girl answered simply.

"And..." her three friends encouraged her in unison.

"And... we"re gonna take a walk at noon."

Marlene was so excited, she almost emptied the bottle of pumpkin juice on Peter.

"Girls, you really are ridiculous, " admonished Lily.

She suddenly stopped eating, her fork halfway between her plate and her mouth.

"Do you think I should wear lipstick?" she asked bluntly.

The boys all rolled their eyes.

"Pink!" answered Clara instantly.

"Red!" replied Alice, in chorus with Clara.

The two girls exchanged a look, before focusing again on Lily.

"Definitely red!" confirmed Alice. "Your lips are perfect Lils, show them!"

"Don"t trust her," replied Clara. "It"s not an official date, is it?"

"No, we"re just going to talk."

"Then follow this crucial rule of make up: "no date, no red"!"

"That rule is bullshit Clara," Alice fired back.

Clara narrowed her eyes and pointed her fork towards Alice.

"It"s one of my Mum"s, it"s not bullshit! By the way, here is the explanation: it"s not an official date, you"re just having a talk with him, which means that there is a probability that nothing happens at all, because you realise that he doesn"t want the same thing as you. And in this case you will not want your lips to be irresistible, quite the contrary. But, if everything goes fine, and you want something to happen, you will need lipstick. So wear pink lipstick. And by pink lipstick I obviously make reference to this lovely colour you have, you know the very light one..."

"I don"t have any bright pink anyway," Lily smiled.

She seemed to think for a moment, eating slowly, before she could make a decision.

"Sorry Alice, but Clara"s right. Pink lipstick it is."

"But Lils, your lipstick is not even pink, it"s too discreet!"

"Discretion is good for you, "cause it"s leaving you a way out," replied Clara.

Lily nodded her head.

"Pink lipstick, definitely."

James was still half-listening to the girls" conversation, half-listening to the debate between Peter and Remus concerning their classes of the day. If he had been asked, he would have told her to wear no lipstick at all. She was already perfect, and she didn"t need red or pink lipstick to improve the delicate curves of her lips; he always wanted to kiss them. He shook these thoughts out of his head. He had to stop thinking like that. Lily was the past, Lily was the past, Lily was the past...

The ginger girl finally took a look at her timetable.

"Potions and Ancient Runes, which means Divination for you two."

Alice groaned again.

"Oh come on Alice, it"s not that bad," Frank encouraged her.

"It is," Sirius joined in. "It is and has always been utter bullshit."

"Why did you take this class then?" asked Marlene.

Sirius pointed at James, and the four girls rolled their eyes.

"Your problem Alice, is that you"re too honest in Divination," observed Clara. "You have to make things up!"

"I don"t know how! What would you do?"

Clara sighed.

"I don"t know, Alice, I can"t answer that question. You have finally discovered my big secret: I have the Inner Eye, and I can prove it."

"Prove it then!" Sirius challenged her, already laughing.

Clara closed her eyes, throwing back her head and making her hands tremble above the table. She spoke in a deep and theatrical tone.

"I see... I see that Lily is going to burn her tongue with her tea..."

At the same moment Lily choked and put her napkin on her mouth, shutting her eyes hard. She had clearly burnt herself with her tea. They all burst into laughter.

"See Alice, nothing complicated really," Clara winked.

After breakfast, they headed together towards the dungeons. It was a bit weird to walk with the boys, but really pleasant too. James and Lily barely spoke to each other, and so the girl didn"t scowl at him, nor made a scene, and Clara was grateful, because she was actually quite enjoying her conversation with Sirius.

On their way to class, they passed a group of fourth year. Sirius stopped dead at their sight, and so did one of the Slytherins who were coming their way. Sirius forced himself to walk again, though he felt a nervous lump in his throat. Clara stared at the Slytherin boy: he was an almost perfect replica of Sirius, only two years younger. She recognised his younger brother, whom she had met at the Slug Club once or twice. Sirius walked past him.

"Reg."

He nodded his head to his younger brother, but Regulus only replied with a disdainful look and strode away, without a look back at Sirius.

"Your brother?" Clara asked.

"Yeah..."

He had managed to avoid Regulus on the train and at the feast the previous night. Though it was obvious that he couldn"t escape his little brother forever in this way-too-small castle, Sirius had hoped that their first confrontation since he had run away from his parents" house would occur a bit later in the year.

"He didn"t seem very happy to see you," Clara added.

"Long story."

She saw it was a complicated subject, so she dropped it, and Sirius felt thankful. He gave a reassuring look to James and Remus who were looking anxiously at him. He would be alright. He was always alright.

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Lily finally realised that she had a quite important problem as they were in the corridor, in front of their Potions classroom.

"Girls, I don"t have a seat."

"The classroom has always been big enough for everyone, Lily," answered Peter.

"No, I mean, I used to sit next to Sev, but with what happened last year..."

"Well, you could sit with Clara," tried Frank.

Alice smiled tenderly at him, caressing his cheek.

"Love, I know you"d like to sit next to me in Potions, but no," answered Alice in a gentle voice." I really need to focus in this class, or I"m completely lost. And Merlin knows that with you sitting right next to me, it will be quite impossible for me to focus on anything."

Frank smiled and kissed his girlfriend on her forehead. At least he had tried...

"Sit with me then," offered Marlene. " It"s not like I love being next to Shelley anyway. I mean she"s kind and everything but it"ll be more fun with you."

"You"re sure?"

"Of course I am."

And so Lily sat next to Marlene, noticing the disappointment on Severus"s face. But she couldn"t be his friend anymore, not after what he had called her the year before. Shelley didn"t take her change of Potions partner very well, but sat next to one of her friends anyway, Salma, who was not as talented in potions as Marlene at all. Avery sat next to Severus, apparently content to be sitting next to his fellow Slytherin. Lily couldn"t help but be quite worried, for it was never a good sign when Avery had this cruel smile on his face.

At the end of the class, Professor Slughorn asked Lily and Severus to have a word with them.

"Why aren"t you two partnering anymore?"

"It"s personal Professor," answered Lily gently, " I don"t think I can work with him anymore, that"s all."

"Well, I"m quite sad to hear this. You two were working so well together!"

"I"m sorry professor."

"Well, off you go then. It doesn"t matter very much I guess, and you can"t be late for class on your first day on my account!"

The two students exited the room in silence. Severus took a deep breath, before trying one more time to convince her.

"Lils..."

"Don"t Sev! There"s nothing you can say that will make me forgive you for what you did last year. You insulted me and humiliated me in front of the whole school."

"I"m sorry, Lils. How many times will I have to apologise?"

She stopped walking and sighed deeply.

"It"s not just about last year Sev. It"s everything. I don"t recognise you anymore, and the gang of Slytherins you"ve become friends with, they aren"t good people, and they"ll get you into trouble."

"But Potter and his gang won"t get you into trouble, will they?" he snapped.

"What?"

"I saw you eating with them this morning, and coming with them to Potion. They aren"t good people either Lils!"

"You"re acting like you are jealous again Sev, and that"s another reason why I can"t be your friend anymore."

She strode towards the staircase, but she stopped and turned back one last time towards the Slytherin as she climbed the first step.

"And just for your information, James Potter may be something of a git sometimes, but at least he is not deranged like your friends. He"s annoying, but he doesn"t insult me, and he doesn"t hang out with people who hate muggleborns like me and who would be happy to see me expelled or worse! So I guess between the two of you, my choice is easy to make."

She ran up the stairs, fleeing from Severus"s hurt gaze. She felt bad for him, but deep down inside her, she knew she had made the right decision. There were some things that even she couldn"t just forgive and forget.

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Sirius started to doze, partly hidden behind his crystal ball. Their extremely old teacher, Professor Needles, was trying to explain to them how to use this extraordinarily powerful tool to take a glimpse at their future, but no one was really listening, except Remus, as always. But as the boy was listening to every class anyway (even History of Magic, and Merlin knows that"s the worst), it didn"t really count.

"By the way Prongs, are you alright?" Peter asked, yawning.

"Of course, why shouldn"t I be?" answered his friend, taking off his glasses and rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Well, I don"t know, Lily and Liam will probably be officially together by the end of the day, so..."

"How delicate Wormtail, as usual," replied Sirius dryly, his eyes still closed, his cheekbone resting in his palm.

Peter scowled at him.

"I"m fine Wormtail, thanks," answered James.

He wasn"t fine at all actually. He had never felt so sad in his life, and it seemed to him that his entire world had suddenly crumbled. But he wasn"t going to show it to anyone. He had made a decision, he was going to be strong, like a real Gryffindor would be. Lily had a boyfriend, good for her, he didn"t care, she could go out with the entire school if she wanted to, he wouldn"t move a finger. But his heart was singing a different tune, and the idea of her kissing Liam was making him feel sick. The pain was stronger than ever, and he felt miserable. Though his head was encouraging him, telling him it was possible for him to forget his feelings for her, his heart was showing him nothing had changed, nothing at all.

"You know what Prongs, you should do just like her," Sirius told him.

He finally opened his eyes and set his grey gaze upon the hazel eyes of his friend.

"What do you mean?"

"You should find yourself a girlfriend."

"I already tried that Sirius, remember? Lots of times, and it doesn"t work."

"Ah, but you tried to heal yourself with snogging and s*x. I"m talking about the real thing right now."

"What do you mean?" asked Remus.

Even he couldn"t focus too long on the tirades of their Divination teacher.

"You should try to have a real girlfriend, to have a serious relationship," Sirius added.

James didn"t answer. It didn"t sound that stupid actually...

"I mean," Sirius went on, "maybe if you"re with someone who actually wants to be with you, you"ll want to be with her too after a while, and you"ll forget Lily."

James nodded slowly.

"That"s a good idea I reckon."

"It"s weird, but sounds logical," agreed Remus.

"Now, we have to find you a girl, Prongs. Operation H.G.P. is on!"

"Operation what?" asked Peter.

"H.G.P.: Hot Girl for Prongs."

The four boys snickered, trying to hide their laughs, as their teacher was continuing his monologue. He was pacing slowly through the classroom, his long dark robe making a soft noise as it was dragged on the floor at every step, but he didn"t seem to notice the boys" snorts.

"I know, I"m the best with codenames," said Sirius, "no need to remind me."

"You"re the best Pads," agreed James.

"Or the most idiotic, it depends on the point of view," replied Remus mockingly.

They doubled with laughter, choking as they tried to remain as silent as possible. They finally managed to calm down, and James seemed weary all of a sudden.

"Do you reckon she will really decide to be with this jerk?" he asked his friends, staring blankly at the crystal ball in front of him.

"I"m afraid that"s a good probability Prongs," answered Remus slowly.

James sighed, straightening his glasses.

"Well, operation H.G.P. it is then."

He smiled sadly to his crystal ball, wondering what would happen at noon...

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He saw her coming his way through the grass. She really was beautiful in the September sun. She finally joined him by the Lake, looking quite nervous.

"Hey Liam!"

"Hey Lils!"

"How were your first classes?" she asked him shyly.

"They went very well. History of Magic and Transfiguration, so nothing too horrible. You?"

"Potions and Ancient Runes. It was alright."

Liam decided to dive into the main subject.

"We should talk about what happened yesterday."

Lily nodded, but didn"t say anything, suddenly looking at the ground.

"All right, I guess it"s better if I"m direct," Liam announced.

He took a deep breath, trying to control his shaky voice.

"I really like you Lily, and I"d really appreciate it if you could give me a chance."

"You do like me?" asked Lily cautiously, looking at him in the eyes again.

Her gaze was intense and hypnotic. The Ravenclaw had to force himself to answer.

"I do. And yesterday, it felt like you liked me too, right?"

Lily blushed, and nodded.

"I like you too. But... it"s clearly not the kind of situation where I"m at ease. So, I don"t want us to go too fast."

Liam grinned at her. She was wearing a discreet, but beautiful pink lipstick, and her lips were even more attractive in this lightly pink shade. He was sure she wasn"t wearing it that morning though, so she had probably put it on just before meeting him, for him. His grin doubled in size at the thought.

"It"s fine for me. I"d love it if you wanted to be my girlfriend Lils."

She smiled, nodding again.

"I"d love to be," she answered, blushing even more.

He smiled, and asked softly:

"Is it alright if I kiss you right now?"

She grinned, nodding once more. He took her face in his hands, and kissed her softly on the lips by the shore of the calm Lake.

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"SO?" asked Marlene the moment Lily sat at the Gryffindor table at lunch.

Lily didn"t answer, but her grin and the reddening of her cheeks spoke for her. Her three friends almost shouted in the middle of the Hall, causing their classmates to look at them. Frank laughed at them, almost choking on his chicken.

"I told you to wear red lipstick!" winked Alice.

"Pink was perfect," assured Lily.

"So, you finally have a boyfriend. Definitely not too soon..." commented Marlene.

Lily threw some bread at her friend, shushing her.

"It"s weird though that James didn"t say anything about it," Alice pointed out. " Even this morning when we were talking about you and Liam in front of him, he didn"t react at all."

"I hope it stays that way. I"m tired of his stupid game really."

"You know, I was thinking about it actually," said Clara. "I"m not sure it was just a game anymore. Yesterday he asked on the train what was going on between you and Liam, and he really did look hurt when I told him you were close."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"It just hurt his monumental ego that he couldn"t change my mind. He doesn"t care about me Clara. I"m a challenge, that"s all, and he was disappointed because he didn"t win."

"I don"t know Lils, I think he"s more honest than you think about you two," replied Frank.

"No he"s not. Trust me, he"s not."

Frank and Clara shrugged. It wasn"t their decision to make anyway, Lily hated him and she had chosen the Ravenclaw prefect, who was all right. It was a wise decision, and it suited her quite well. Clara glanced towards the Marauders, down the table. They were laughing and joking, and she shrugged again. Maybe it was nothing serious really...

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James took out a bottle of ink, a quill and a piece of parchment.

"All right," he said, closing the circle made by his three friends, who were sitting on the floor, "fire away!"

Frank closed his curtains, laughing softly and thanking himself for the sound-proofing spell he had put on his bed curtains during his third year. This spell really was saving his life... or well his nights at least.

"I"ll start the list with " getting over Lily Evans", I reckon it"s an important point," James added, starting to write." What else?"

"Stop letting Peter play Exploding Snap in the dorm," said Remus.

"Hey!" protested Peter loudly.

"No Wormtail, Moony"s right," confirmed James. "You really did scare us last year when you burnt your curtains."

And so the boy added Remus"s remark to their annual list of resolutions.

"Don"t accept students in their Second Year on the team," said Sirius wisely.

James nodded and wrote it down, remembering sadly how the Second Year he had taken on the Quidditch team the prior year had vomited on his broomstick at the beginning of their first match of the season.

"Clean up the dorm," said Remus.

Sirius and James looked surprisingly at him.

"You still have hope? After five years?"

Remus sighed.

"Write it down anyway," said Peter.

James shrugged and bent over the parchment again.

"Make a good prank against the Slytherins before the end of September," James added.

His three friends nodded enthusiastically.

"Talk more with the girls," said Sirius.

They frowned at him.

"Which girls?" asked Peter.

"The Gryffindors of course, didn"t you not notice that I used the word "girls", and not "birds"?"

Remus rolled his eyes, annoyed.

"Padfoot, we"ve already talked about that, and there"s only one tiny rule concerning your passion for birds: do not touch the Gryffindor girls in our year. Is that really that complicated?"

Sirius glowered at him.

"I didn"t mean that Moony. I said talking to them, not snogging them."

"Why?" asked Peter.

Sirius shrugged.

"I don"t know, they"re okay I guess. And you can"t deny that we had a good time during the trip to Hogwarts yesterday. Clara"s funny."

James narrowed his eyes.

"Do you want to talk to the girls or to Clara?"

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"The girls. I"m just pointing out the fact that they may not be as boring as I thought they were."

Remus looked at him sternly.

"Sirius, I know them better than you. And Clara is funny, it"s true. And she"s clever, and kind-hearted, and she"s also a human being whom I appreciate very much. I officially forbid you to try anything with her. Do you understand?"

"Moony, again, I said talk, not snog. She"s a Gryffindor in our year, I know, thanks, and I don"t intend to "try anything with her", I just enjoyed talking with her. It"s not like I"ve been flirting with her anyway. Why are you so upset?"

"It"s not like you usually care about birds, Pads," replied James.

"Okay, you know what, don"t write it down. I just meant that we should try to be friendlier with them, and know them better, because we"ve all enjoyed their company today, but as you seem to think that I can"t control myself..."

"That"s not what I meant Padfoot," said Remus. "I just don"t want you to hurt her, that"s all. She"s very pretty after all, and..."

"I didn"t propose this because I thought she was pretty, I just appreciated our talk. You should be proud of me Moony, I finally appreciate a girl for her conversation, and not for her body."

"So you don"t find her attractive at all?" asked Peter, propping up an eyebrow.

Sirius sighed and shook his head, annoyed.

"Of course I think she"s attractive Wormtail, I"m not blind. But she"s a laugh, I enjoyed myself with her today, and on the train. End of story."

James bent over and started to write.

"Prongs, don"t write it down, it"ll upset Moony."

"No you"re right Padfoot. We should talk to them more."

"All right. But also write down the fact that Sirius can"t touch Clara, nor any of the girls," Remus said.

"Already noted."

"I"m glad you guys trust me," replied Sirius, glowering at them.

"It"s not that way Pads..." said Remus.

"It"s okay Moony, I understand. Merlin I"m starving, can"t we have a break?"

"We"ve just begun Padfoot!" protested James.

"I"m still starving!"

James sighed.

"All right then, go ahead. Could you bring some things for us too?"

"Sure."

Sirius stood up, picked up the Marauders Map to avoid any trouble, and walked out of the dorm. He sighed deeply, passing an annoyed hand through his dark hair. If he couldn"t even try to make efforts with girls...