I.
2nd year
‘Crap,’ Lily thought to herself. Only she could be late to her first transfiguration lesson of the year and, of course, this had to be the lesson that she shared with the snooty, and quite frankly snotty, Ravenclaws. Maybe it wasn’t fair for Lily to label the entire house because of a bad experience with a few bratty third years who wouldn’t help her find a way during her first year, especially since she knew the sorting hat almost put her in Ravenclaw and she wasn’t snooty - or snotty for that matter. But the morals of her assessment was far from important to her as she ran across the corridor faster than she had thought possible for herself—apparently she was quite the athlete when she was avoiding being subject to Mcgonagall’s wrath.
In Lily’s rush to get to class on time she hadn’t notice another, equally hurried, and equally inattentive student, coming from the opposite side of the Corridor. Only after the two’s faces had collided did they each notice the other. The two ricocheted backwards as they recovered from the shock of their collision. Lily bit her tongue to avoid saying a bad word which was may more than the other girl, who simply shouted “Fuck” , could say for herself.
“I’m gonna have such a terrible headache tomorrow,” Lily complained.
“And don’t forget an even worse concussion,” the girl added. “But seriously I think we should head to the hospital wing while our brains are still functioning.”
“I have no idea where that is,” Lily said, trying to figure out whether the stars she was seeing was from a charm or her injury.
“Luckily for you, I am familiar with its whereabouts,” The girl said as she lead the way.
As the two entered the hospital wing the nurse letup an exasperated sigh. “Pandora”
“Poppy,” the girl—Pandora— greeted back.
“Pandora,” Lily repeated to herself in what she thought was a whisper. ‘Thats a beautiful name,” she thought
“That’s me,” The girl smiled hopping onto a hospital bed
“I’m Lily”
“Lily,” repeated the nurse, “I’m Mrs Pomfrey and I suggest you stay far away from this girl if you wish to remain healthy.”
“Poppy,” Pandora pouted, “You know you love me. Besides if I weren’t here so often who would keep you company”
“How would I ever managed,” Madam Pomfrey deadpanned.
“She loves me,” Pandora insisted as Madam Pomfrey spoke a plethora of medical jargon to the girls, who pretended to listen.
Lily didn’t know who this girl was but she had a feeling the two of them would be good friends.
II.
4th year
Lily and Pandora did not become friends. In fact their relationship was far from it. As it turned out Pandora was very smart and competitive—both of which were qualities she and Lily shared. Their friendship was short lived and quickly became a rivalry, each of them refusing to lose to the other. Which is why Lily was livid when Slughorn paired the two together for their final potions exam.
Surprisingly, the two worked well together. Their mutual desire to get the highest marks seemed to be greater than their hatred for each other. As it turned out, they were able to get along when they weren’t constantly focused in one using the other. In fact they’d even had fun. After they completed their exam, they high five'd each other which, for the two of them, was essentially a heartfelt hug. “You’re not so bad,” Lily admitted.
“You are.” Pandora stuck her tongue out teasingly
“Fuck you,” Lily rolled her eyes. Of course, they could have a single moment of civility.
“Babe,” Pandora giggled, tucking her hair behind her ear, “We’re in public.”
Lily couldn’t rolled her eyes, flabbergasted, responding by simply giving Pandora the finger. In return, Pandora blew her an air kiss as she walked out the classroom.
III.
6th year
The 6th years were gathered in the Great Hall, which had had its tables moved to the side to open up the space.
“You are gathered here,” Mcgonagall announced, “To practice your Waltz dancing in preparation for the upcoming Ball.” Normally, Lily would be excited to learn a practical skill that didn’t require magic, but, not this time as she had no one to dance with. This was because her friends were off with their respective girlfriends, leaving her to fend for herself, and so Lily would have her partner allocated by Mcgonnagal. It was just Lily’s luck that that partner happened be Pandora.
Pandora curtseyed far too low which left Lily giggling. She extended her arm for lily to take and placed an overeager kiss on the back of Lily’s hand. Lily couldn’t help but laughed at Pandora’s mockery of chivalry. As pandora joined Lily in her laughter she Ade a realisation. Pandora was actually quite beautiful.
Now it wasn’t that Lily had never realised this before. She had just never looked at Pandora long enough in a non competitive context to fully digest her beauty. Her beauty that had Lily feeling nervous silently praying her palms wouldn’t sweat.
Despite Lily’s nervousness, their dance rehearsal went well. Lily was surprised by how well they got along. Their personalities complemented each other well. Maybe they too mature to be holding grudges
IV.
Lily and Pandora’s rivalry fizzled into a fiery friendship. One that was very different from all Lily’s other friendships. Sure, Lily was competitive with all her friends but with pandora therein competition had a heat that Lily didn’t have with anyone else. There was a tension between them which went unspoken, probably because neither of them really understood it.
Pandora had joined Lily and her friends in the Gryffindor common room for a game night.Lily had finally convinced her to come reassuring her that Dorcas would be there so it wouldn’t just be Gryffindors. They were playing the newly wed game which made no sense since the only people who were even in a relationship were Remus and Sirius, and Marlene and Dorcas. When it came time to pick teams they immediately paired up together leaving the singles, Mary, James, Lily, and Pandora to fend for themselves.
“Lilykins,” James began. Lilly rolled her eyes. A few years ago she would’ve been terrified at James asking to partner with her, but, they were friends. Lily knew that he was well passed his crush on her. “Will you do me the honour of being my wife.”
Lily knew she couldn’t leave Pandora to partner with Mary. The two were barely acquaintances and Lily couldn’t invite Pandora to age night just to ditch her. Besides, Lily really wanted to go with Pandora. Lily barely got a chance to explain this when pandora wrapped her arm around Lily possessively.
“You’re not really going to steal my wife right in front of me,” James joked.
Pandora responded by flipping James off, “She’s mine,” she punctuated her claim pointedly kissing Lily on the cheek. Lily felt her cheeks heat up
“Whatever,” James said moving to sit next the Mary. “She’s mine,” he imitated ad he wrapped an arm around her. He turned to face her, puckering up but his reenactment was cut off.
“James if you try kiss me I will castrate you”
V.
7th year
Pandora became easier to convince to come to group hangouts which pleased Lily. On the Friday night after a particularly busy week for the 7th years, Lily convinced Pandora to join the Gryffindor’s in drinking games, even offering to turn it into a sleepover for the two of them.
Once everyone was sufficiently plastered, sirius suggested, with almost inaudibly slurred words which Remus had to translate, a game of spin the bottle. Because what could possibly go wrong with a group of drunk 17 year olds, all with deeply suppressed emotions, playing a game of spin the bottle.
The game went relatively smoothly. Everyone kissing the person they Landon on however they felt comfortable. Marlene grabbed Sirius’s foot, almost pulling him out of his chair, and pressed a soft kiss on his kneecap. Sirius then ferociously snogged Remus for far longer than anyone could possibly hold their breath completely ignoring the groups shouts of complaint. Remus then gave pandora a soft kiss on her hair. And so it was Pandora’s turn to spin the bottle.
The bottle landed on Lily, earning a few cheers from the group and even a wolf whistle. Pandora turned Lily who smiled as she turned a deep red. Pandora smiled back slowly inching closer to Lily. She was practicing breathing on Lily when she titled her head upwards placing a kiss on Lily’s nose and breaking out into a fit of giggles.
Lily pouted as she grabbed the bottle and gave it a spin, hoping she would get a do over of her and Pandora’s ‘kiss’. Instead, the bottle landed on James. There was no way he would get anything more than an air kiss. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to give thus air kiss when Pandora got up stumbling out of the common room without a word. Lily instinctively rushing after Pandora, or at least rushing as well as a heavily intoxicated person could. Lily called after Pandora as she ran away from the common room. Lily followed her as best as she could until they ended up outside the castle. Lily hoped that the pouring rain would keep Pandora from running further. She had no such luck.
“Pandora, What the fuck?” Lily’s shout seemed to have finally gotten through to Pandora who stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Lily. Realising Pandora didn’t intend to come to her, Lily ran out into the rain to speak to her
“Why’d you run away?”
“Shouldn’t you be snogging James?” Pandora shouted.
“Why the hell would I be doing that?”
“Because the bottle landed on him and- and-“ She stuttered.
“And what?’’ Lily shouted, exasperated
“And I should have kissed you,” Pandora admitted angrily
Lily was quite for a moment. “What? I thought younger angry at me I-“
“I am angry. Because I should’ve kissed you and I’m a fucking coward and I-“
“Pandora,” Lily sighed “Shut up”
Pandora didn’t get an opportunity to respond as lily grabbed her cheek and kissed her. This kiss wasn’t soft and sweet as Lily had often imagined their first kiss would be. It was eager and sloppy and filled with both frustration and anger. When they pulled away Pandora gave Lily a soft shove “Don’t tell me to shut up”
“Shut up,” Lily smiled kissing pandora again.
The two made their way back to Gryffindor Tower hand in hand. They should’ve been shivering in their soaked clothes but they were far too distracted by their happiness. “What happened to you two?” Mary asked.
“Pandora threw a tantrum in the rain because she loves me,” Lily teased
“Fuck you,” Pandora responded
“Babe,” Lily smiled “We’re in public