(no subject)

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily is tired.

The last twenty-four hours have felt days, and possibly weeks, long.

And she didn't exactly sleep well last night. She woke up in the common room at three in the morning with a terrible crick in her neck, and never quite got back to sleep.

She is also reasonably certain she spectacularly failed an OWL this morning and has come dangerous close to giving her roommate Perdita green hair, an outbreak of spots, backwards elbows, or all of the above. (She hasn't, and she won't, but God knows she's thought about it.)

It seemed a good time to get the hell out of Gryffindor Tower.

So here she is.

Comments

[real_or_notreal]

Peeta wasn't expecting Milliways when he opened his front door. He'd been on his way home, having just opening his front door. And bam other side of the universe.

It had been a while since the door showed up. And.




Well. At least this answered the whole prideful 'to cane or not to cane' question that had been lobbying back and forth with each step the last half of his walk.

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily's really not paying attention to the door tonight, we're afraid.

But there seems to be a very interesting spot on the arm of her chair.

She's staring at it, at any rate.

[real_or_notreal]

He's more self-conscious walking across the room. About overdoing it where there are people who could see him, that don't already know everything about his problem and how he got it and what had to be done because of it.

Causing him stand a little stiffer, walk a little faster, simply curl his fingers into a fist as his forced his face to remain more than not relatively normal, while he angled for the couches and chairs to give up standing or invite socializing exactly that second.

Which worked, until he landed with a huff, of escape mingled with both pain from landing and blessed relief from his weight being gone, in the closest chair, shooting a glance both ways -- only to find Lily to his opposite side.

"Oh!" came first, before, with blink, taking in her posture and expression. " -- Lily?"

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily looks up.

"Peeta.

"Hello."

[real_or_notreal]

Uh -- Huh. Rearranging himself carefully in the chair, with as little focus given to anything in specific except looking to get comfortable, mingled with a touch of concern and not having looked away. "Are you alright?"

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily shrugs.

"I will be."

Not so much at moment, but ... she will be.

"It's been a rough week."

[real_or_notreal]

He knows the first response too well. It's usually a hold over. A lie they've given up. But. Still kind enough, if maybe relaxing a little finally. "I'm sorry to hear that. Tests and teachers and all that getting you down?"

[lilium_evansiae]

"Well, I'm pretty I failed an exam this morning.

"But, um ... "

She trails off for a moment, weighing things.

But, well, it's Peeta.

If she's going to level with anyone here, it's Peeta.

"I had a fight with a friend.

"The sort of fight that means you're not friends any more."

[real_or_notreal]

Peeta winced, and if he isn't so often self-referential -- today was another day where he felt distanced from everyone he'd known one, especially people his own age, his once friends and school mates. And maybe that meant a little more feeling went into the wince he gave.

"The serious kind?" Because sometimes people did just have disagreements. But Lily didn't really strike him as the kind to use such terms lightly. Which was why he kept his tone quiet.

[alotofgood]

Lily will probably only get a few moments of solitude in the bar at the end of the universe, at most, before a steaming cup of tea is being passed to her.

This cup of tea is attached to the boy with impossibly messy black hair and glasses.

"Hi."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Potter," she says.

She's not sure how she feels about seeing him, honestly.

She sort of went to pieces on him last night.

And told him he scared her.

And ... well. All that.

And she's not sure what that changes.

If anything.

(Surely it changes something, though. Right?)

But it was nice of him to bring tea.

(Does she look that in need of it?)

"Thank you."

[alotofgood]

"Of course," he says.

(And yes. She does look like she needs it.

Besides which, James may or may not have been generally keeping tabs on her throughout the day.)

He doesn't join her on his own accord.

But he doesn't seem to be all too willing to leave either.

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily sips her tea, and looks for something to say.

"Um.

"How are you?"

[alotofgood]

"All right," he says lightly. "Had the day off from exams, actually. So maybe a little better than 'all right'."

[lilium_evansiae]

"A day off would have been nice.

"I'm pretty sure I failed mine this morning."

[alotofgood]

James offers her a look of sympathy.

"It couldn't have been that bad.

"Ancient Runes, right?"

[lilium_evansiae]

"Let me put it this way," Lily says.

"On the way out of the exam, Remus asked me of what I thought about the passage about the vampires.

"And what I thought about it was that it had been a passage about horses.

"Which at least explains why I had so much trouble making it translate into anything that made sense."

[claudiometer]

Claudia thinks she's got all the 40-year-old underwear out of the tie-dye graveyard, but she's still got a pair of gloves on, just in case. (They're bright purple, and she's wearing her usual assortment of rings over them.)
And then she looks up, and sees Lily.
"...yikes. You don't look so good."

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily shrugs.

"It's the end of the first week of exams."

Which is true.

"Hi, Claudia."

[claudiometer]

She's not sure if that's just a finals-stress look... but she's also not sure it's her place to pry.
So she leaves that be in favor of: "First week? How many exams do you have to take? Mine were always squished into a few days."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Two weeks.

"They take all day, most of them. Theoretical in the morning, practical in the afternoon."

Except for things like Ancient Runes. Or History of Magic.

[claudiometer]

Claudia nods. "That's probably what makes the difference, then. If it's just math or English, you can do the theory and the practice all at once."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Probably," Lily agrees.

"So, anyway, I'm just a little tired.

"And I have another week to look forward to."

[claudiometer]

"Bummer. Well... I can try to offer a distraction. I have tie-dye." Of possibly-dubious origin, but that's another story.
"--And a snow-producing snowglobe. Not much, but I don't have such a good track record with special guest stars at home."

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily blinks at her.

"Sorry ... um ... what?"