Lily was nervous. She was finally going to meet Pandora’s friends.
Not that she hasn't interacted with them before. Of course she had, James was dating Regulus, and she was confident there was something going on between Peter, Evan and Barty.
But Lily had never been formally introduced to the group. And definitely not as Pandora’s girlfriend.
Pandora gripped Lily’s hand as the two walked down the corridor to the main doors. They had set up a time to meet around the black lake. The group was a mix of houses, so ever since Evan had yelled at a boy in the ravenclaw common room, they met in neutral places.
Lily watched her girlfriend next to her. Pandora’s hair shone in the afternoon light filtering in through the tall windows and her smile was wide across her face. Pandora had been asking Lily to meet her friends for a while, and couldn’t wait to introduce them.
They walked out of the big doors onto the campus. The green campus stretched out before them, and the sun beat down. It had rained the day before so everything was green and bright.
Lily and Pandora walked towards the black lake, seeing the group sitting by a tree. Lily could see Regulus, Barty, Evan, and Dorcas. Evan waved at the two and Pandora smiled at her twin, seeing his arm wrapped around Barty.
As they got closer Lily could see that Regulus was reading a book that she had read before. Remus had lent it to her and it looked like he had to Regulus as well. Barty and Evan were talking and Dorcas seemed to be writing in a journal. They all seemed so relaxed and at ease around each other, Lily was scared to disrupt their peace.
She knew they had hard lives, and was glad that they had Pandora in their lives. She knew that Panda had lit up Lily’s life and assumed she did the same for her friends.
Pandora led Lily to the group and they sat down on the grass. Lily was next to Dorcas and Pandora sat next to Regulus. Lily held onto Pandora’s hand tight as everyone introduced themselves. Of course Lily already knew their names, but it was more of a formality.
“Guys this is Lily, my girlfriend. She’s in Gryffindor” Pandora said as Lily whispered hi.
Regulus smiled at her and put down his book, “I just read that book” Lily commented. Regulus nodded, “Yeah, Rem recommended it to me. Did you like it?”
Lily smiled, realizing this was easier than she thought. “Yeah I did, the main character has a lot of character improvement as you go on too.”
Regulus nodded, listening to what she had to say, “I finished it in barely over a week. I was so invested in the story” Lily chuckled, remembering the week she spent reading in her room.
Pandora laughed, her smile reflecting the sun, “I remember that! You barely hung out with me or your friends.” Lily smiled at her girlfriend. Pandora always looked so comfortable, never caring what people thought of her. That was what had caught Lily’s attention when they first met. Pandora was so shamelessly herself.
Lily saw Dorcas put her journal down out of the corner of her eye. She whispered something to Evan, he smiled and nodded at her. Lily glanced at Pandora, wondering what had been said.
“Lily, what's Gryffindor like?” Barty spoke up.
“What do you mean?” Lily asked, confused. “He asks everyone what their house is like, don’t worry. It’s confusing for everyone.” Pandora chimed in, and Dorcas nodded, “He did it to Panda and I too.”
Lily shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s Gryffindor. It's the only house I've been in.” Of course she had spent time in other common rooms, but she hadn’t lived with another house.
“It's warm. And lively. Although that may just be my friends, I imagine there are mean and cold people too.” Lily chose to surround herself with people that were happy and kind to others.
She had first talked to Remus, seeing him reading in the library one day in first year. After that she met James, Sirius, and Peter. She was roommates with Mary and Marlene. Their group had shifted, grown and shrunk as the years went on. But the core people stayed the same.
They all loved each other, and supported each other through everything they did.
When Remus told them about his Lycanthropy, they had all been supporting. It was a hard thing to learn, but no one loved him any less for it. When James told them he was dating Regulus everyone was quick to accept Reg to the group. Sirius had smiled at the two and warmed to the idea quickly. When Lily had told them she was dating Pandora, they had wanted to meet her immediately. And when they met, everyone loved her. Sirius called her a bright flower.
Lily was starting to think that Pandora’s friend group was a lot like that. Loving unconditionally.
The group sat by the lake for a while. They talked about random things, just hanging out together. After a while Regulus went inside to meet James before dinner. After that Evan and Barty ran off to ‘do something’. Dorcas seemed content to sit and write until dinner.
Pandora started to tell Lily about her divination project- something about tracking the stars and her dreams alignments. Lily wasn’t paying attention to the words, just the way they fell from Pandora’s lips.
Lily was so glad that the meeting had gone well. She had been so nervous, and now she felt calmed.
Looking back, she felt silly. Lily already knew Regulus, having hung out with him before. She had classes with Evan and had been paired up for a few projects. Barty she knew from volunteering at the ministry. And Dorcas was always in the library when Lily and Remus went to study.
Lily had had no reason to be nervous. But she had been because she loved Pandora so much. She had wanted Panda’s friends to approve.
Lily’s friends were so important to her, and she knew Panda’s friends were important to her as well. Eventually they wanted to introduce their friends to each other, which wouldn’t be hard as there was a lot of inter-dating and mingling as it was.
Pandora laid down in the grass, her white-blonde hair splaying out behind her. Lily picked a few pieces and started to braid them together, adding little flowers she found in the grass. They sat together, content with eachothers company and happy that they had had a good day.
When Lily joined her friends at dinner that evening, they could tell she was happy. James immediately picked up on her glances to the Ravenclaw table.
“Oi Lils- you spent all day with your girlfriend, try and focus some of that love on us yeah?” Everyone laughed and Lily smacked James hand, reaching for a roll to hide her blush.
“I take it you two had a good day? You meet everyone?” Rem asked her, glancing at the Slytherin table where Regulus sat with his book open in front of him. Lily nodded, smiling at her friends.
Lily was content for the day, and when she glanced at the ravenclaw table, she found Pandora already looking towards her. The flowers still in her hair.