Lily Moon
Lily Moon
Hermione and Tanya were in the Gryffindor Common Room when Lily got back from doing a bit of exploring of the castle. The building was just so big that Lily knew she couldn't explore it all at once, but she had found a hidden room. It was a dark dusty room behind a wall that wasn't a wall but looked like a wall and it would be a useful room to hide in whenever they decided to play hide and seek. Although the wall that wasn't a wall but looked like a wall was only a half of a wall that wasn't a wall but looked like a wall and she had to climb up over the wall that was actually a wall underneath the wall that wasn't a wall but looked like a wall.
Lily moved quietly to get behind Tanya and was about to make her presence known.
"Lily, mind letting the other girls know that we will be having a study session tomorrow morning? And the boys if you see them as well?" Tanya asked without looking up from the schedule between her and Hermione.
Lily deflated. "Ah, how'd you know it was me?"
"Your breathing gets loud and quick when you are excited," Tanya answered. "You mind letting the others know? We are almost done here."
"Fine," Lily agreed, leaving the two alone and heading up to the first year girl's dorm room where Lavender and Parvati were looking at a magazine while laying on Lavender's bed.
"Hey hey!" Lily greeted the two. "Tanya told me to tell you that we are all having a study session tomorrow morning. Whatcha readin'?
Lily hopped onto the bed next to Lavender to look at what the two were looking at so that all three knew what each other was looking at.
"Witch Weekly. They have an article about how to flirt with boys," Lavender said, showing the article to Lily.
"Oh, that reminds me. Tanya asked me to find the boys and tell them that she told me to tell them that we are having a study session. I should go do that." Lily hopped off the bed. "I'll see you two later after I find the boys."
Lily didn't wait for Lavender or Parvati to say bye before she was bouncing down the stairs back to the common room. Not seeing any of the boys there, she bounced up the staircase to the boy side of the dorms and let herself in.
Neville was by himself looking through a book using the light coming in from the window.
"Hey hey!" Lily greeted before taking a seat next to Neville and looking at what he was reading so she could see what Neville was looking at so that they were both looking at the same thing. "Whatcha readin'?"
"I was, uh, looking up information about wolfsbane. Professor Snape was really scary that none of us knew anything about it," Neville said, showing the page with a well drawn and labeled image of the plant in question.
"Oh, speaking of Snape, Tanya wanted me to tell you and the others that we are having a study session tomorrow morning. And now I need to find the other boys. I thought they would be here, but they aren't so I need to go forth and find them!" Lily stood up and dramatically brandished her wand as if it was a sword.
"Dean and Seamus are by the lake. Harry and Ron went down to the gamekeeper's hut," Neville said, pointing out the window where Dean and Seamus could be seen.
"You're no fun," Lily pouted before perking up. "But you were just helping so I won't hold it against you. Anyways, I'll see you later." Lily rushed off leaving Neville behind and running past Hermione and Tanya and out into the halls of Hogwarts.
"Ms. Moon, stop," Professor McGonagall's voice snapped out causing Lily to skip to a stop. "Mind telling me where you are going in such a rush?"
"Sure Professor!" Lily agreed with a big grin. "I went to the Gryffindor Common Room after finding this neat hiding room behind a wall that looks like a wall but isn't a wall even though it looks like the wall under it that looks like a wall because it is a wall and Hermione and Tanya were working on a study schedule so I tried sneaking up on them but Tanya heard me preventing me from surprising them then she asked me to tell the other Gryffindor first years we are going to have a session tomorrow morning so I went up to the girl's dorm room where Lavender and Parvati were reading a magazine with an article about flirting and I told them about the study session and when they told me they were learning tips to flirt that reminded me that I needed to tell the boys because now all the girls knew but none of the boys did so I went up to the boy's dorm room where Neville was reading about plants and complaining about how Snape is scary so I told him about the study session and then I needed to find the other boys so Neville told me where to find them so I left the Common Room and while I was going to tell the other boys you stopped me and asked me what I was doing so I told you."
Professor McGonagall took a moment to process the rush of information Lily just gave her before responding. "Alright, that is reasonable, but don't run in the halls. And let Tanya and Hermione know I will stop by the Common Room tomorrow morning to check in on your little study session."
"Ok. Thanks Professor, I'll let them know," Lily said before walking away at a more sedate pace.
"And remember to breathe when you talk," the Professor added before continuing on her own path.
Getting outside, Lily saw that Dean and Seamus were kicking a ball back and forth while chatting. Rushing over to them, Lily called out, "Hey hey!"
"Hey Lily."
"Hello Lily."
"I got something I need to tell you!" Lily said as she got near.
"What's that?" Dean asked, stopping the ball under his foot before kicking it up into his hands.
"Tanya and Hermione wanted me to let you know we are having a study session tomorrow morning!"
"Alright," Seamus shrugged. "Thanks for letting us know."
"Yeah, thanks. Hey Seamus, it is probably time we called it anyways."
"Yeah alright. See you later Lily."
"Bye," Lily said, beginning to rush off to the gamekeeper's hut.
"Later," Dean called out to her retreating form.
When Lily arrived at the hut, she gave the door several knocks that set a dog barking and a strong voice telling the dog to stay back before Hagrid's hairy face appeared in the doorway.
"And who might you be?" he asked gently.
"I'm Lily. I was told Harry and Ron are here and Tanya asked me to tell them something."
Hagrid barked out a laugh and opened the door up to let her in. "The girl that called me a bear asked you to find Harry and Ron, well come on in, though I think this little tea party was just finishing up."
"Thank you Mr Gamekeeper, sir."
"Well aren't you a polite one, but call me Hagrid."
"Alrighty, oh there you are," Lily said as she saw Harry and Ron. "Tanya and Hermione told me to tell you we are having a study session tomorrow morning!"
"On a Saturday?" Ron groused. "Saturdays are suppose to be fun."
"I'm sure you will have the afternoon free," Hagrid laughed at Ron's concern.
"Hagrid's right. It is probably just going to be a quick session and then we'll have the rest of the day free."
"Oh, that reminds me, Professor McGonagall said she is going to be there too to see how it is going."
Harry smiled at Ron's groan of defeat.
"Anyways, you were the last ones I needed to tell and now I've told you so I'm going to go back to Common Room. Bye!" Lily was out of earshot before Hagrid could comment on how excitable she was.
—-
That night, Lily's dreams were filled with her sneaking into a secure Gringott's Vault guarded by a giant made of candy to steal the legendary treasure chest of chickens.
—-
The next morning began as each morning in the girl's dorm did, everyone being woken up to do their morning yoga stretches lead by either Parvati or Tanya. Lily preferred Tanya's lead because she used the more advanced positions that made Lily feel muscles she didn't know she had, but Lavender and Hermione liked Parvati's lead because it was over faster but that is silly. The point to the yoga is to exercise to improve health and if you are just doing it quickly to get through it then you weren't getting your exercise done right and then you won't be as healthy as you could be and the magazines Lavender and Parvati read said it was important to stay trim and fit to attract boys not that Lily really cared what the boys thought of her but the point was that if they were going to exercise they should do it right and Tanya understood that.
After their morning yoga, Lily took a shower to freshen up before going down to breakfast. She didn't need to wait for the others because they were all meeting up in the common room after breakfast for the study session and she knew how to find the Great Hall and Common Room by herself now, though she did enjoy the traveling in groups thing they did during the week but that wasn't necessary today. Besides if she got to breakfast early she could take her time eating without delaying the others.
Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were already there talking to each other at the head table so Lily waved at them before sitting down and grabbing a bacon sandwich, pouring pumpkin juice over it and cutting up some boiled egg to top her breakfast before digging in, washing it down with a nice cuppa tea.
Soon Tanya came down and sat next to Lily, a cup of coffee appearing like it did every morning since she complained about a lack of coffee and she made herself a bowl of oatmeal with some fresh fruit.
"How's the coffee this time?" Lily asked with a smile.
"Better. I can almost taste the roast characteristics, but it is still a bit ashy. Whoever roasted these beans I think is the problem. The actual brew seem right."
"Wow, you know a lot about coffee don't you?"
Tanya stared Lily down. "I take coffee very seriously. I use to know someone that could make a very, very good cup of coffee."
"Oh? What happened to them?"
Tanya turned away from Lily's smiling face and stared into the dark depths of her coffee. "Dead."
Lily frowned at having upset Tanya and gave the other girl a hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad."
Tanya carefully pushed Lily off of her. "I have made peace with it. I will not get to see the people I have lost again and there is no point in mourning their loss any further. There are more important concerns I need to focus on."
"Like why is the knight in chess so drunk on the battlefield that he is staggering around?"
Tanya looked back at Lily and her hopeful face before rolling her eyes. "Sure, I suppose that is a concern."
"Everyone else is being responsible and not drinking and then you have the knights who think they are so special that they can just get drunk anywhere when they should be focused in case they need to suddenly go off and fight a dragon that has kidnapped a princess. And alcohol is flammable so the drunk knight is just putting themselves at greater risk of being burned alive than if they were sober."
"Right. You should probably go ahead and finish your… breakfast." Tanya looked at the disaster on Lily's plate and chose to not question what she was seeing.
"Oh yeah, thanks!" Lily went back to munching on her food and humming to herself while Tanya ate in silence as everyone else trickled down for breakfast.
Malfoy stopped by to say something to Harry, but Tanya interrupted before he could say anything and told him to stop bothering her. She was not interested in dating him and that his insistence was a form of harassment. Before he could get a word in, Tanya stood up and walked away from the table, causing the first years to laugh at Malfoy's sputtering.
Lily didn't think Malfoy liked Tanya. She thought Malfoy needed more fiber in his diet because he seemed irritable and Lily's dad got irritable when he was constipated. Lily realized after a moment that the newest round of laughter was because she had speculated about Malfoy's bowel condition out loud.
"My father will hear about this!" Malfoy angrily said.
"Maybe he can send you some laxatives," Dean called after Malfoy's retreating form, causing the table to break down in laughter again.
After that and conversion switched to general chatter as the first years ate until they got up as a group to head back to the common room. Everyone scattered to grab their books and writing materials before gathering to sit in a circle on the floor.
"Alright everyone, Hermione and I have drafted up a schedule," Tanya started off. "If everything is going well, this should be the only time we have a study session on a Saturday."
That got cheers from the first years.
"That is if everything is going well. Adjustments may need to be made to the schedule should it prove necessary. As it stands, as we have a lot of free time after classes, the plan is we will gather together to work on our homework that was just assigned for a few hours each day. As we have a large free period Friday afternoons, in addition to the Potions homework we will be getting that day, we will be going back over the other assignments to ensure everyone has finished. Saturdays, as I said are free, but if any of you are slacking or getting bad marks, I will institute a tutoring session on Saturdays. Sundays we will meet briefly after breakfast to review our homework one last time before we have to turn it in during the following week's classes. Any questions?"
With no one having any, they began with the potions assignment, to the groans of most of the first years. Which Lily understood because Professor Snape was a meanie, but potion making was fun. They got to use knives which Lily's parents said she shouldn't play with because they were sharp ouchie makers but they were so shiny and Lily wanted to help in the kitchen because that was where biscuits were made.
Professor McGonagall came into the Common Room as they were moving onto the Astronomy homework, causing one of the older boys to hurry upstairs for some reason.
"Ms. Moon informed me that you were starting up a study group on the suggestion of Misses Granger and Degurechaff. Is this correct?" She asked getting nods all around. Professor McGonagall held her gaze on the group before she gave them a smile. "Normally we begin posting about study groups the second week. For getting ahead of the curve, one point to Gryffindor each. And a further one point to both Ms Granger and Ms Degurechaff for organizing this."
There were a few cheers at that announcement. "I must say, I was not expecting the first group study among the first years to be in my house. Usually it is either Flitwick or Sprout who gets that privilege. Now, you said there is a schedule, may I take a look at it?"
Hermione easily agreed, handing the schedule over with a smile. After a few moments, the professor handed it back. "Looks like you have a reasonable schedule setup. I hope you keep it up. Just because you are in my house does not mean I will be generous with your grades. Before I leave, do any of you have any questions?"
Lily raised her hand with a smile on her lips.
"Yes, Ms. Moon?"
"If you can turn into a cat, have you ever snuck into the Gryffindor Common Room to see how we are doing? And are there any secret passages on the ceiling?"
"I am unaware of any passageways that enter or exit at a ceiling level. And please do not go looking for any. We do not need you injuring yourself. That goes for the rest of you." With the question answered, Professor McGonagall left the Common Room.
Lily frowned as she realized something.
"She never answered if she is a guard kitty for the dorm."