CHAPTER THREE
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

     DESPITE THE GRIM OUTLOOK for her first weekend back at school, Winnie decided to make her first week back a good one nonetheless.

     She entered the library of the school, smiling at the peace and quiet she was finally getting after a hectic few days back. Studying in the library seemed like a good idea to get ahead on her schoolwork and get away from all of Louise's new ideas that she claimed to be absolutely brilliant.

     The stacks of books were a welcoming sight, even as one zoomed past her head threateningly. It wasn't something that concerned her since whenever she was in there she frequently found herself dodging books that people didn't feel like putting away themselves. Madam Pince often did this herself because of the sheer number of books that the library held.

     Before she settled at a table, she walked through the stacks to see if anything on the shelves caught her eye. She had stopped taking Astronomy that year and she saw a higher level book that peaked her interest. Picking it up off of the shelf and lightly flipping through the pages, she deemed it satisfying and tucked it under her arm to check out with Madam Pince later.

     For about ten more minutes she made her way through the stacks and found nothing that she particularly wanted at that moment, her eyes now drifting to find an open table.

     Most of them were, in fact, completely empty, but she recognized one of the only people that were sitting down. Hesitantly, she approached the table where the girl with the bright hair sat and doodled with her quill.

     "Hello, Lily!" she greeted cheerfully while trying to be as quiet as possible in fears of disturbing anyone and provoking the fury of the librarian.

     Lily's eyes snapped up from her paper and smiled at the girl in front of her. Winnie was relieved that she was so welcoming or else the situation would have escalated to something awkward very quickly.

     "Hi!" she said and moved her stack of books to the side. "Sit, please." Winnie obliged and set her book down in front of her, placing her bag in the empty seat next to her.

     "So how's the term been so far?" she questioned Lily, who was putting her quill back in the ink and looking directly at Winnie.

     "It's been good. Sometimes I forget how much I miss this place when I'm gone," she replied with a nod and another smile.

     "Me too. I mean, I don't exactly miss Louise always doing...questionable things. But I suppose that just comes with the territory." Winnie grinned and Lily laughed at this lightly, her too trying to do so quietly so that they wouldn't be heard.

     "What's she done now?" she asked like she almost expected Louise to have already done something. "We aren't even a full week in and she's already at it."

     "Long story short, one of the statues on the fourth floor no longer is whole, per se," Winnie explained with a sigh. "I took the fall for that." Lily stifled a laugh and shook her head slightly.

     "You should've let her take that one." Winnie nodded, thinking of all the times she had felt the need to protect others from punishment. "I suppose that won't stop her, though. She's got an ongoing detention record."

     "Last time I checked she was trying to get to a hundred. Filch is not supportive of her cause," she grinned. Some distant footsteps echoed from the other side of the stack that was beside them. They could hear practically everything that happened nearby considering how pitifully empty the library was.

     "Astronomy?" Lily inquired, gesturing to the book sitting on the table that Winnie had brought along.

     "Yes, I actually —" Her astronomy speech was interrupted by a loud, carefree laugh that sounded from a few tables over. Both looked over and saw a boy with messy, jet black hair and round glasses approaching them with a confident air about him.

     "Well if it isn't Evans," he said with the biggest smile plastered on his face. After staring at Lily dreamily for a few moments, to which she responded with the roll of her eyes, his eyes drifted to Winnie and he raised his eyebrows. "And who is this?"

     "I'm Winnie," she introduced, not knowing how to feel given how utterly irritated Lily looked at that moment. But the smile he retained said nothing but friendly to her. "And you are?"

     He stood at the back of the chair that Winnie's bag lay on and she moved it to her feet quietly just in case of the event that he would want to sit down.

     "James Potter," he replied. She had definitely heard the name and it was never in a particularly positive context. Louise knew him and from that Winnie knew that he too was very encouraging of the types of things Louise liked to get up to.

     As Winnie had predicted, he sat down next to her and Lily tried to avoid his eye. "Fancy running into you here," he said casually, Lily scoffing at his words.

     "It's the library, Potter," she snapped back. The tension could have been cut with a knife it was so thick. Winnie knew nothing of the history that the two shared and as a result felt strange sitting there.

     "And I come here very rarely," he commented, glancing around at the stacks of books and a lone third year reading a Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook three tables over.

     "Yet I still can't avoid you, not even here," she huffed, picking up one of the books in the pile that sat beside her and opened it. "As you can see, I'm extremely busy."

     "Well, what about your friend here?" James asked, looking over at Winnie who was watching the two perplexedly. Lily seemed to be caught at that; it was almost as if she had forgotten that Winnie was sitting there when James was distracting her.

     "I am...very busy as well. Unavoidable work, you know," Winnie told him with a nod and a questioning look at Lily. She nodded back in approval and glanced at James with an expectant look.

     "All right, all right. I'll leave the both of you to it. Later, Evans." He stood up from his seat and winked at Lily, or at least attempted to. It all looked very clumsy to Winnie and she laughed quietly at his attempt while he rounded the corner.

     "What was that all about?" she asked, wondering what Lily could possibly have against him. Sure, he was a bit out there, but he seemed like he was trying to mean well.

     "James has always had sort of a thing for me. But I do not, by any means, return those feelings," she clarified, looking at the spot where they had last seen him heatedly.

     "Even if you don't, you seem to really hate the guy," Winnie remarked with a shrug, still not getting it exactly. "Why is that?"

     "He's immature...and stupid," Lily mumbled, seeming like she was trying extremely hard to grasp at a solid reason. Winnie almost laughed at her struggle for words considering how articulate she typically was.

     "James Potter: immature and stupid. Got it. Looks like I'll have to look out for that absolute menace."

     Lily did not appreciate her sarcasm.