There's a First for Everything

[Evalyn Chambers]

Eva silently berated herself. Here she was, striding into the library on a perfectly nice day. Why she had chosen to coop herself inside on a day like this she had no idea. Sighing, she forced herself to sit down at a table, sliding a messenger bag off her shoulder, flipping off the flap, and pulling out her heavy Potions book. She was going to study whether she liked it or not! At least until she could find something to distract herself from it.

She opened the book reluctantly and stared at the page. Three minutes later, she discovered that she hadn't read a single word. Eva considered giving up and leaving, but when she looked up, the librarian was giving her "the look". Eva didn't really know why; she didn't even have friends with her. Sighing, she looked back down, not noticing the person who had just walked in.

((OOC: Open!))

[Lily Evans]

It seemed like, no matter what she did, Lily could not escape from James Potter. First he and Sirius Black had been making a lot of noise in the common room while she was trying to study. Irritated, she had left the common room and gone outside to study by the lake. She hadn't been there more than half an hour before James and Sirius appeared once again, laughing and joking around. If Lily didn't know better, she would think James was following her.

So she did the only thing she could think of. If she needed a quiet, James-free place to study, she was just going to have to go to the library. After all, his antics would certainly not be welcome in the library, and she was relatively certain that it was just about the only place other than her dormitory and the girls' lavatory where she could be certain he wouldn't follow her.

She already had a headache by the time she reached the library, her arms loaded with books. But Lily was never one to dwell on such things, and so she was still in pretty good spirits. The library was rather busy, most of the other students being fifth years and seventh years panicking over OWLs or NEWTs. But she caught sight of a Ravenclaw girl about her age, sitting alone, and walked over to her.

"Hi," she greeted her. "Mind if I sit with you?"

[Evalyn Chambers]

A girl's voice turned out to be just the distraction Eva had needed to lose all hope of doing any Potions. Or at least, this is what she hoped.

"Hi! Mind if I sit with you?"

Eva looked up and smiled. She recognized the girl as Lily, a Gryffindor who was also a second year; they had the same classes together. "Of course! I'd be glad for some company. I was trying to study for Potions exams, but the window keeps distracting me," said Eva, pointing her head towards the view of the lake that the window had.

Eva tried to remember what she knew about the girl. Well, James Potter and Sirius Black stalked her everywhere. Practically everyone in the school knew that. Lily was pretty good in classes, as well. In fact, Eva seemed to remember that the girl had a certain knack for the very subject the Ravenclaw had trouble with. She blushed, wondering if Lily would think badly of her for not liking Potions.

[Lily Evans]

"Thank you!" Lily said, slipping into the chair across from her. She took a minute to get her books situated, then glanced over at the window. "It's a shame... it's a gorgeous day outside, but it's just too noisy to study out there."

Her lip curled slightly as she added, "James Potter thought it would be a good idea to have a water balloon fight with his friends. I almost got hit... I was just barely able to save my potions notes."

James had the ability to make her angry easier than anyone else she knew, and it had actually taken her a few minutes to calm down after escaping him just now. If he had ruined her potions notes, she would have been in very great danger of failing the exam next week. And since she was a particular favorite of Professor Slughorn, she felt, strangely, as though she couldn't let him down like that.

"Anyway, I'm Lily," she said. "Your name's Evalyn, right? I think you're actually in potions class with me."

[Evalyn Chambers]

Lily was right, Eva was sure that it would be too noisy to study outside. She would have no hope of getting anything done out there. The Ravenclaw tried to hide a small laugh when Lily mentioned the water balloon fight. That actually sounded pretty fun, and Eva cast one more longing look out of the window before resigning herself to her fate inside. Sensing that she should respond to the comment, she said aloud, "Well, at least you saved your Potions notes. No chance I might be able to take a look at them..?"

Eva silently congratulated herself. She knew Lily was one of Slughorn's favorites, though she herself had never made this list, but with help from a favorite's notes, she was sure the exams would be a lot easier.

When Lily introduced herself, she replied, "Nice to officially meet you, Lily! Yup, that's me, but please, call me Eva. All my friends do. Yeah, I am, but I sit in the back usually...I'm honored you remember me, actually." The last part had a slightly sarcastic tone, but inside, Eva was serious. She usually figured that unless she made the first move, no one noticed her on their own. She had friends, yes, but she was just very good at introducing herself to the people she wanted to know. Eva frowned and wondered why she had never talked to Lily before.

[Lily Evans]

Lily was the kind of person who tried to pay attention to the people around her. She didn't always remember their names, but she certainly recognized their faces. Evalyn stood out to her, because she usually sat in the back of the room, where a certain other person was usually known to sit. Not that she went out of her way to pay attention to where James Potter was sitting...

"Yes, I remember. You're usually sitting pretty close to James and Sirius. You should be careful... Sirius is a terrible flirt, and I'm surprised he hasn't tried hitting on you yet."

It was probably only because of Emmeline Vance, Sirius' latest flirtation. Lily had tried, gently, to warn the pretty blonde Ravenclaw, but she didn't think it had quite managed to sink in just yet.

"Anyway, sure, you can look at my notes. Are you here to study for the Potions exam, too? We could study together, if you wanted."

[Evalyn Chambers]

Eva grinned. "I'll be careful," she promised. "He's done the usual winking, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know my name. Emmeline Vance, the other Ravenclaw in my year, has mentioned him once or twice. And by once or twice, I mean a thousand times." She grinned again.

At her Sorting, Eva remembered that she had noticed James and Sirius right away. They had just sat down at the Gryffindor table, and they seemed like pretty cool guys at first glance. She hadn't managed to actually strike up a conversation with them yet, though. They were pretty popular with the ladies. Not that she saw either of them as romantic interests, really. She honestly just wished she could hang out with them at all.

When Lily held out her notes, Eva took them gratefully. "Thanks very much. I swear Slughorn has it out for me; I have to be sure to do insanely amazing to even get an E. Studying together sounds like a great plan to me!" She smiled at the redhead. Lily was extremely nice. She had even warned her about Sirius, that was thoughtful of her. New friend? I think yes, Eva thought to herself.

[Lily Evans]

"I don't really think Sirius cares about names... he just likes to flirt." Of course, he never flirted with her. Lily was glad for it, but she wished James would leave her alone, too. He was always getting in her face, acting like an idiot, and she still wasn't sure if he was trying to impress her or annoy her. He was failing miserably at the first, and succeeding at the second with flying colors. "I feel bad for Emmeline... she's falling under the Black charms for sure. That didn't work out so well for Kris or Amy... I'd hate to see Emme get hurt."

As far as she was concerned, there was only one person in that particular group that was likable. "I don't know why Remus Lupin hangs out with that lot, anyway. He's much too smart to get roped into their shenanigans. When I was down at the lake, he was there, too... trying to study. I even sort of hinted that he should come with me, but he wanted to stay."

She shrugged her shoulders, then opened up her options book and pulled out her neat, handwritten notes. "Potions isn't really that hard. If you follow the directions, it's really pretty easy. I'm just worried about the test... I keep forgetting the uses of dragon's blood..."

For a day that had started out rather poorly for Lily, things seemed to be looking up. She liked making new friends, and Eva seemed very nice. She actually felt a little guilty about not having talked to her before.

[Evalyn Chambers]

Eva laughed. "True, he doesn't seem to really care about names, does he? Just think...If he's like this now, what will he be when he's actually a teenager?" She gave Lily a look of mock horror at the thought. "Yeah, I'd hate to see her hurt, too. We sleep in the same dorm every night; you get a certain need to protect those kinds of people after that, you know?"

The Gryffindor then continued to mention Remus. "Yes, you have a point; you'd think with how smart he is, he'd be smart enough to see that he's not like his friends at all, really. I've talked to him a couple times, he seems nice. Though he's always tired. Probably because of the company he keeps," she joked again.

At the mention of Potions not being that hard, Eva blushed. "You're right, it shouldn't be that hard, but it's always been my worst subject. I think it's..." she paused, then continued, "I think it's because I feel so stressed down there. Like I said, I've never been a favorite with Slughorn, and I much prefer to be above ground, preferably outside whenever possible, so...Those factors don't really work out in my favor. Uses of dragon's blood...Well, there's...there's...OH. I know! It keeps the dragon alive!" Eva grinned successfully, wondering if the other girl would take it as a joke.

Well, studying was proving to be a bit less boring than she had expected.

[Lily Evans]

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lily replied. "He's also been flirting with my roommate, Vanessa. I don't think she's falling for him yet, but she's not discouraging him, either." She frowned at this. She really hoped Vanessa would be smart enough to keep Sirius at arm's length. "Anyway, enough talk about Sirius Black and James Potter, right?"

She could understand why Eva didn't like potions. There were a lot of things she didn't like about it, either. She kind of had to distance herself and forget that they were using newt's eyes and salamander blood. She'd been positively horrified when they had to use powdered unicorn horn in a potion, until Slughorn had assured her that the horns were not cut off, but filed and that it was actually good for the unicorns, because it kept the horns strong and healthy. And, speaking of dragon's blood, she had also learned that they only took a small amount of blood from each dragon, not enough to hurt them. Whenever possible, they tried to preserve the animal, rather than harm it, and that made Lily feel a little more comfortable with it.

Lily laughed at Eva's joke. "Yeah, I guess it's most useful to the dragon, isn't it?" she agreed. She was about to say something more, but noticed that the librarian was giving them a dirty look. "Oh, right," she whispered. "I forgot... no laughing in the library. It's supposed to be a place of misery and stress."

But her eyes were still dancing with amusement as she spread out her notes on the table in front of them. "Let me see... dragon's blood... I remember one of them was as an oven cleaner..."

[Evalyn Chambers]

The Ravenclaw had actually been enjoying discussing Sirius and James with someone who didn't giggle every other second about them, but she replied, "Right. On to more meaningful topics I suppose."

Eva grinned at her remark about the librarian and gave the lady a glance. She was indeed glaring at them. She turned back to Lily and whispered, "You know, someone should really play a good prank on her sometime. I'm sure everyone in the school would be grateful."

As Lily began to spread her rather expansive collection of notes on the table, Eva's mind wandered, envisioning water balloons being conjured above the librarian's head and splashing on her in slow motion. Eva accidentally laughed aloud at the mental image then blushed when she realized Lily had said something else. "I'm sorry, what was that about an oven?"

[Lily Evans]

Lily was still looking through her notes, trying to remember where she had written the twelve uses for dragon's blood. "You should mention that to James and Sirius," she said absently as Eva mentioned something about playing a prank on the librarian. "They're the kings of pranks, aren't they? I'm not really one for pranks myself... When they pulled that prank on Professor Slughorn a few weeks ago, they nearly threw the poor man's back out. And just last week, they nearly drowned poor Severus Snape in the lake with one of their pranks."

She supposed that an occasional prank was OK, as long as it was done in the spirit of good fun and no one got hurt. But to her it seemed that most pranks were rather mean-spirited, and she couldn't approve of that. It bothered her more than she cared to admit to see James doing things that could hurt people, because she honestly believed he could be better than that. She had tried to tell him that a few times, but he always took it to mean that she liked him or something. Which she didn't.

Realizing that Eva was getting distracted, Lily glanced up at her, then at the librarian. "Hey, you want to get out of here? Maybe we could find a nice empty classroom to study in, where we won't have to whisper."

[Evalyn Chambers]

"They've probably already pranked her before this anyway, knowing them," Eva replied. Eva wasn't sure if she was one for pranks or not. Lily had a point, sometimes pranks hurt people. The way they bullied Severus was something she was amazed at. I mean, yeah, the guy is a slimy git, but do they really have to make fun of him all the time? On the other hand, though, when it was something harmless like water balloons, she didn't see any problem really.

As the Ravenclaw sat at the table, waiting for Lily to finish looking through her notes, she found herself stealing glances out the window again. When she looked for about the fifth time, she zoned out and her eyes went unfocused. Lily's voice snapped her back into reality. "Hey, you want to get out of here? Maybe we could find a nice empty classroom to study in, where won't have to whisper."

"Miss Evans, you are brilliant. That sounds like a fantastic idea." And Eva meant it. Even if she was still going to be inside studying, at least it wasn't the stifling library, and Lily was really nice. She would probably make studying more interesting. "Or we could test our luck and go outside," Eva added hopefully, though she wouldn't mind an empty classroom as long as it had a lots of sunshine.

She accidentally slammed closed her Potions book, causing the librarian to glare at them for about the third time. Eva really would have to think of something to do to her. Something that wouldn't hurt much, of course.

As they walked out of the library together, Eva decided to start some conversation. "So who do you usually hang out with, Lily? I haven't seen you around outside class very much."

[Lily Evans]

Lily glanced over at the window and frowned. It was a beautiful day and it seemed a shame to waste it indoors, but she really did need to study for this test, and she was pretty sure that if she went outside, the chances would be too great of running into James. And she didn't want to admit to anyone, even to herself, that James' presence was a distraction, even when he wasn't goofing around and making a spectacle of himself.

"I don't know about outside," she said. "I wouldn't want to run the risk of running into my stalker, if you know what I mean. I'll probably end up soaked by a water balloon. If we did go out, we'd have to choose the farthest area from where they are... maybe the courtyard?"

There, at least, they would be relatively sheltered and close to the school, in case they needed to make a quick getaway. But they'd still be able to enjoy the fresh air. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many other students with the same idea.

Lily gathered her notes and books together and followed Eva out of the library. "Oh, I hang out with a lot of people. Emmeline is one, actually. We get along really well. And Rori Logan... she's a third year in your house... do you know her? I was also friends with another Ravenclaw, Teagan Kelley, but I haven't seen her around for a while."

[Evalyn Chambers]

"Stalker...Yes, that is indeed the best term for it." Eva giggled. James was, as anyone in her year would know, constantly running after Lily. And Lily, in turn, hated him for his arrogant pranks and even for his stalking. Some people would say that the people who seem to hate each other the most are actually the ones who get together in the end, but Eva would reserve judgment. After all, she was only just getting to know the girl, and though "Methinks the lady doth protest to much," came to mind, Eva didn't say so, because Lily could very well just not like him. Eva also laughed at the thought of James's excited face when he saw a thoroughly soaked Lily Evans, but she didn't say anything about that either.

But she had suggested the courtyard! The sun-loving Ravenclaw quickly added, "And the courtyard is a lovely compromise! Well thought of, my smart Gryffindor. You should be in Ravenclaw with me!"

"So that's where Emmeline gets off to," Eva said, as Lily continued to answer her question. "I've never gotten to know her. You'd think I would have, having lived with her for two years now, but I don't even know her favorite color. I've seen the other two around as well, but same concept as Emme, I suppose. I've made a few friends, but they never seem to stick around. Maybe you could help me get to know some of those people better." And this was true. Eva was what you would call a drifter. She made friends easily, but unless they were pretty special, they never seemed to stick around for long. Either that, or she just got bored of them and moved on. In hindsight, the latter was probably a more reasonable concept then the first. Eva crossed her arms across her chest self-consciously and glanced at Lily, wondering if she would do the same to her. She hoped not. They continued walking, Eva's messenger bag bumping against her leg.

[Lily Evans]

"I get that a lot," Lily said with a smile. "And maybe it's true... a lot of my friends seem to be Ravenclaws. I'm also friends with Gage Oliver... he took me to the Yule Ball. He's really nice." And he never showed off or played pranks on people, unlike some people she knew.

"I'd love to introduce you to a few people, if you wanted. You know, even some Slytherins aren't so bad if you talk to them. I know they have a bad reputation, but they're not all bad."

Severus Snape was one who came to mind. She felt sorry for the Slytherin boy, always the butt of jokes, especially by James and Sirius. He wasn't all that bad when you talked to him, she had found, and she knew at least one Ravenclaw who felt the same way.

The walk down to the courtyard would take a little while, as they navigated the constantly shifting staircases. As they walked, Lily remembered something she had been talking about with Teagan.

"In fact, you know what? I was thinking of having a little picnic out by the lake, with a bunch of my friends. The house elves could make us some food to keep in a basket, and I was thinking of bringing the muggle record player that I had specially altered to run without electricity, so we could play some music. Would you want to go?"

[Evalyn Chambers]

The Slytherin statement surprised Eva. She guiltily realized she had stereotyped the entire house since she got here. "Sure, that would be amazing if you introduced me! Even Slytherins..." Eva's voice dropped to a murmur as she added, "To be honest, I've never really thought about it before..." She blushed, hoping Lily wouldn't think badly of her for following the crowd like that.

Eva began to brood about all of the mistakes she had made over the last two years. The Ravenclaw was sure now that she had probably been a bad friend to the people she had hung out with, had followed what everyone else did, and didn't even do anything to make herself stand out, really. She had planned on trying out for Quidditch this year, but what with the Inter-House Tournament, she hadn't even been able to do that.

A staircase shifting shook her out of her thoughts just in time to hear Lily begin to talk about a party. A party! "Wow, that sounds amazing! I would definitely love to come! And as for music...May I add some songs to the music collection? I have a lot of music."

Eva's mind was quickly distracted from her early school years to what she could do to help plan the picnic. "We could have it at night and conjure lights into the trees," she suggested. "Or if it's in the daytime, you could have the option of bringing swim suits to swim in the lake."

[Lily Evans]

Lily had known so little about the wizarding world when she started at Hogwarts, and she had resolved early on not to make any kind of prejudices or to listen to what other people said about anyone or anything in it. She was just so happy to be here, and she didn't want to miss any of it because she was allowing anyone else to influence her. Yes, she knew what people said about the Slytherins. And, yes, in many cases it was true. Thaddeus Avery was a positively loathsome person, and Dolores Umbridge had ice flowing through her veins. But there were others that weren't so bad. Despite what people said about him, Lily knew that Severus Snape was something of a wounded soul. Xavier Scotts was quiet and intelligent, if not always open and cheerful. She had always found the beautiful Burke sisters to be sweet and polite. So as far as Lily was concerned, it was pointless to judge people until you at least tried to get to know them.

"That's why it bothers me so much to see James and Sirius picking on poor Severus Snape. He's not that bad once you get to know him. Sometimes if you're nice to someone, they'll be nice to you in return."

She brightened at Eva's reaction to the idea of a party. She had liked the idea when she first came up with it, and even though she hadn't talked to Teagan in a while, she still thought it would be a fun thing to do. After all, everyone was tired and stressed over final exams, and the school year would soon follow. It seemed like a good time to celebrate. Maybe she'd even be nice and invite James... she just wished the idea didn't make her blush.

"Great!" she said enthusiastically. "Yes, feel free to bring some of your music. What kind of music do you like? I wanted to bring my Beatles records... I have such a crush on John Lennon..."

[Evalyn Chambers]

Eva had a little trouble believing Severus Snape was actually okay, but she didn't reply. She had been wrong before. Lily did have a point.

But once again, the party distracted her from her thoughts. She grinned excitedly before replying, "So, night or day party? And ohh, the Beatles are the best! You can have John Lennon though, I'll take Ringo Starr. Do you like the Beach Boys? They're pretty dreamy themselves..." Eva suddenly realized that she was rambling, so she shut her mouth. She had just been excited that Lily knew who the Beatles even were; not many of the wizards she had met did.

Since she had gone to muggle public school, she had grown up being friends with muggles who liked muggle things, besides the fact that her mother was also a muggle. It had gotten her a few stares from her wizard friends when she had mentioned something from that world. Not always bad stares, of course. Many of her friends just wanted to know exactly why there was a band named after a bug.

((Just to let you know, I might be a TINY bit slower at replying. I'm finishing up school this week and next week, and I have tons to do. Homeschooled ))

[Lily Evans]

Being muggle-born, Lily believed that she had the best of both worlds. Muggles had wonderful things like movies and television and cars. Wizards had... well, magic. She always preferred to dress in muggle clothes; they were infinitely more comfortable and flattering than the bulky robes witches and wizards always wore. But the wizarding world had such great candies and spectacular creatures. And Lily got to experience all of them. The people who didn't like muggle-borns were really limiting themselves and missing out on many wonderful things. That was how Lily saw it, anyway, and she hoped that if she ever had a child, he or she would be able to learn about both worlds.

"Ringo is a sweetie," Lily agreed. "I just always liked John's sense of humor... he's rather cheeky, you know. My sister Petunia loves Paul McCartney, of course. Oh! And the Beach Boys are pretty cute, too... But I don't have a favorite."

They had reached the courtyard by now, and Lily was pleased to see that there were only a few other students there. "How about we sit over there near that tree?" she suggested, pointing. "Anyway, I was thinking about an afternoon party, so we could enjoy the day."