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Lily Evans didn’t gamble.
That’s not to say that she was unambitious, or even that she played it safe, but rather that she preferred not to take unnecessary risks. She looked before she leapt, knew her enemy, kept her ducks in neat little rows, et cetera et cetera.
She simply didn’t leave the important things up to chance.
It was only one week into her seventh year and Lily was already striding towards the Gryffindor Common Room with purpose, dusting off her conflict resolution skills and mentally preparing herself for a verbal sparring match with James Potter. Lily stepped through the portrait hole and immediately spotted James, Sirius, and Peter sitting by the fire and playing a game of Exploding Snap, a pile of sweets on the table beside them and an only slightly smaller pile of sweets wrappers beside that. She headed toward them, and Sirius spotted her first.
“Red!” he said by way of greeting.
“Black,” she said with a nod.
“Green,” James said, still focused on his cards. After a beat, he looked up to find Lily and Sirius staring at him. “What? I don’t like to be left out.”
“He really doesn’t,” Sirius said. “I call it Only Child Syndrome. Or Mummy and Daddy Taught Me That the Sun Shines Out of my A— ack!”
Sirius was cut off by James shoving his shoulder and sending him toppling to the ground. James returned to his cards like nothing had happened, and Lily pressed on.
“Well then, James — you’re in luck,” Lily said. “I’m here to talk to you.”
James grinned. “Oh? What about?”
“I heard a rumor,” she said, hands on her hips, ready to put her foot down.
“A rumor about what? Dumbledore and McGonagall shacking up together? Because I’ve already debunked that one. Or was it about Filch singing Celestina Warbeck to his cats when they have indigestion? Unfortunately, that one’s true. Or maybe it was—”
“An illegal quidditch gambling ring being run out of Gryffindor Tower?” Lily supplied.
James’ eyes narrowed for a second, but his smile remained steadfast. “Now who told you that?”
“A reliable source,” Lily said, her eyes flicking to Peter for a half-second. James noticed.
“Peter?” James asked, voice tinged with mock betrayal. Peter held his hands up in front of him.
“I don’t think I said that, exactly—”
“Such a bloody gossip,” James interrupted, throwing a chocolate frog in Peter’s direction. Peter let out a sharp giggle as he dodged the treat. James turned back to Lily. “Can’t keep a secret to save a life, that one.”
“Well, I’m glad he told me,” Lily said.
“Don’t tell me you want in?”
Lily fixed him with a severe look. “I’m Head Girl, Potter. Try again.”
“So? Remus is a prefect and he’s the bookie.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“I mean…it promotes inter-house unity?”
Lily sighed. “Ignoring that it’s against school rules, gambling is dangerous and pressures vulnerable people into making irresponsible decisions. Just because you have money to waste doesn’t mean everyone does, and—”
“It’s a ‘pay what you can’ pool,” James interjected.
“A…what?”
“It’s…hey, Remus!” he called out toward the other side of the room, where Remus was working on an essay. “What’s the pool at now?”
Remus dug into his bag and pulled out a journal, then turned to a page in the front of the book and read, “Twenty-nine galleons, fifteen sickles, thirteen knuts, one Cannons jumper, three chocolate frog cards — two uncommon, one fairly rare — six bags of Bertie Bott’s, and a voucher for free essay revision for the rest of term.”
“See,” James said, turning back to Lily. “Pay what you can.”
“I see,” Lily said, her expression melting into something more thoughtful.
“So, what’s it gonna be, Evans? Shut us down or join us?”
Lily thought about it for a second. “Neither.”
James looked surprised. “Really?”
“Really, but you need to take your name off of it. You’re Head Boy now, and I don’t want you losing your title over something stupid.”
“Don’t worry Red,” Sirius piped up. “We’ll come up with something much better for James to lose his title over before the end of the year.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “As much as I believe in your rule-breaking prowess, I rather hope you wouldn’t. I’d hate to get stuck with a new Head Boy.”
James blinked, then grinned. “Is that so?”
“Of course, I’d have a much harder time manipulating someone else into doing what I want, after all.”
Sirius broke into laughter and James shoved him again, chuckling himself as Sirius fell to the floor once more. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Evans.”
He smiled at her, and Lily felt a swooping sensation in her stomach that made her feel slightly dizzy. She decided this would be a good time to make her exit.
“You are not involved with this, James Potter,” she said, pointing a finger at him as she backed away.
“Involved with what?” he asked, his face the picture of innocence. Lily grinned, then turned away and exited the common room. She was two floors away when she realized she was still smiling.
Lily was walking along the seventh floor, heading for the study room nearest Gryffindor Tower where she was planning on holing up until curfew. She had three separate essays due next week and was hoping to get most of the work done tonight, leaving her some time over the weekend to relax. When she opened the door to the deserted room she was so busy mentally outlining her Charms essay that she didn’t immediately notice that her usual spot was taken.
“Oh,” she said, pulling up short. “Hello.”
The small, black rabbit sitting on the desktop tilted his head to the side as he stared at her. Lily gently set her bag down on the floor before moving to stand in front of him.
“Are you Donna’s new pet?” she asked, reaching toward him with one hand to see how he would react. He reached up to sniff her hand for a moment before lowering his head again, which Lily took as a sign that it was okay to pet him. “She’s mentioned that you like to wander. I was wondering when we’d meet.”
“Hey Lily, Mary said you’d be in here — oh.”
Lily turned and saw James standing in the doorway, stopping at the sight of the rabbit just as she had.
“Is this your rabbit?” he asked
“Don’t you think you would have noticed by now if I had a pet rabbit?”
James shrugged. “Seemed more sensible than the other question I could have asked.”
“Which is?”
“Is he your new study partner?” James said with a grin.
Lily rolled her eyes. “This is Paul…I think.”
“Did he tell you that?” James asked, laughing.
“Donna,” Lily continued, ignoring the comment, “has a small black rabbit who she can never keep track of. I’m assuming this is him.”
“Ah, a fellow Gryffindor, then,” James said, moving forward and holding out the parchment in his hand. “I have next month’s quidditch schedules for you, do you want me to put them in your bag?”
Lily nodded, continuing to pet the rabbit. “You know,” Lily said as James joined her at the desk, “if you were an animagus I think you’d look like Paul.”
“You think I’d be a bunny?” James reached down and began petting Paul as well, his fingers bumping against Lily’s as he did.
“You’re missing the point, look at his fur,” she said, nodding toward the mess of black fur standing up in all directions.
“It is pretty fantastic, I agree,” James said, and Lily rolled her eyes, “but I wouldn’t be a bunny.”
“You could be. There’s no way you could know that you wouldn’t.”
James grinned. “Want to put some money on it?”
“You’d go through the process of becoming an animagus just to win a bet?”
“Absolutely.”
Lily shook her head, trying to look more stern than amused. “What is it with you and gambling?”
“Keeps life interesting,” James said with a shrug.
“Is your life not interesting enough?”
James turned so that he was facing her full-on, leaning on the desk with one hand. “Always room for a little more excitement, don’t you think?”
“There’s nothing exciting about losing money.”
“Are you admitting that you’re wrong?”
“No, I’m admitting that there’s no way of knowing if I’m wrong or right until it’s too late.”
“You’re saying you only gamble when you know what the outcome’s going to be? That seems unethical.”
“I’m saying that I like to make informed decisions. That’s all.”
James looked Lily over. “That makes sense.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“That’s you, yeah?” James said. “You’re confident, but it’s not unearned. You never argue with someone if you don’t know what you’re talking about, or don’t have a leg to stand on. You’ve never come to class unprepared a day in your life—”
“What, are you studying me?”
James grinned. “My favorite subject.”
Lily stared at him, trying and failing to think of a response as his words bounced around inside her head — my favorite — but was saved from embarrassment by the door opening behind them. They turned and saw Donna standing in the doorway, looking around the room until she noticed Paul.
“Oh, there he is,” she said, looking frazzled.
“He’s an angel,” Lily cooed. Donna narrowed her eyes.
“That’s just what he wants you to think.”
Lily blinked. “What?”
“He’s devious. And I think he’s up to something.”
“Up to something?” James said, making what was, in Lily’s opinion, a very strong effort not to laugh in Donna’s face.
“He’s always sneaking off,” Donna said as she scooped Paul up into her arms. “I think he goes into the Forbidden Forest.”
“I don’t think he’d still be in one piece if he went in there,” James added, gesturing to the tiny rabbit.
“He’s tougher than he looks,” Donna said, adjusting her bookbag and tucking Paul in against her side. “Just make sure you stay on his good side.”
They watched as Donna walked away, then James said, “Huh. Maybe I would be Paul after all.”
Lily snickered. “Is it even possible for something so cute to be devious?”
“Well, there’s you,” James said, bumping Lily with his shoulder.
Lily flushed. “I don’t know which one of those to argue with you about first,” she mumbled, determinedly not catching James’ gaze.
“Save yourself the effort and choose neither. I’m off to the library, need to figure out how to transform into a rabbit. What do you say, ten galleon wager?”
“I’m not placing a bet, Potter!”
“Twenty then!” he yelled out as he exited the study room. Lily was left shaking her head and certainly not thinking about running her hands through James’ hair much like she just had with Paul.
It was the second Friday in October, and Gryffindor house was combating the currently dreary weather by hosting a drunken limbo tournament. Sirius had taken on the role of organizer, and was busy dividing the common room up, creating brackets, and assigning judges. Mary was focused on drumming up both spectators and competitors, and sixth year Shelly Sampson was busy clearing the area. While the rest of her housemates were busy transfiguring quills into limbo poles, Lily hung back near the drinks table and tried to keep the younger years away from the firewhiskey.
“Red! Joining in?” Sirius called from the center of the room.
“Not in a skirt I’m not,” Lily said, before finishing off her drink.
“Want to bet on a winner, then?”
“I’ll let you know,” she called back. She had no intention of gambling on the flexibility of drunken teenagers, of course — nothing was more unpredictable than a Gryffindor who hadn’t yet mastered moderation. Sirius turned back to the game, and Lily turned to the drinks table and started refilling her cup when a voice spoke quietly from right beside her ear.
“You should put your money on Peter,” James said, and Lily felt goosebumps erupt down her spine.
“What, really?”
James nodded. “Yeah, he never loses.”
Lily laughed. “Peter Pettigrew, limbo champion. I never would have guessed. Any other hidden talents of his that I should know about?”
“Never play poker with him,” James answered without missing a beat. “He’ll take you for everything you have. That boy can bluff like no other.”
“It sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
“Oh absolutely. It’s dead useful though, when he’s not robbing me blind.”
“I doubt he’s made that big of a dent in your wallet.”
“No, I mean he literally robbed me blind once,” James said, pointing toward his eyes. “Never again will I throw my glasses into the pot.”
Lily laughed, throwing her head back more than she usually would, which caused the room to sway around her — perhaps she hadn’t needed that last refill after all. She grabbed onto James’ arm as she steadied herself.
“But like I said, it really comes in handy whenever we’re in a bind,” James went on after a moment.
“Is that how you get away with so much? You just have Peter lie your way out of trouble?”
James grinned. “Only when we get caught.”
“It sounds like you’re lucky to have him as a friend, then,” Lily said. She noticed that she was still holding onto James’ arm, but it didn’t feel like that big of a deal to her. She wasn’t even sure if James had noticed.
“Evans, you betting?” Sirius asked as he appeared beside her, holding out the hat that was being used as a collection bag.
Lily dropped her hand, her cheeks flushing as she did. “I think I’ll keep my sickles tonight.”
Sirius shrugged. “Your loss,” he said as he walked back toward the crowd.
James sighed. “After everything I went through to get you insider information?”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”
“I thought you liked making informed decisions?” he joked, leaning forward.
Just then, there was a crash from the other side of the room, and they looked over to find Peter pinned to the ground by two chairs and a table. Remus and Sirius quickly moved to extract him from the pile-up while the surrounding crowd immediately began theorizing on what, exactly, had happened. After much discussion while Remus helped Peter limp out of the portrait hall and toward the hospital ring, the cause of the accident remained unclear — but for a moment Lily thought she saw a small, black, furry shape hopping away from the scene of the crime.
Lily turned back to James. “See?” she said.
“See what?”
“When firewhiskey is involved, there’s no such thing as informed decisions.”
James looked down at her (when had he gotten so close?), his eyes darker than she ever remembered seeing them. Lily wondered what they would look like without his glasses framing them.
“You think so?” he asked, his voice quiet, deeper than it was a moment ago.
“I know so,” she said, finding that her voice had dropped to a whisper as well.
James stared down at her for a moment longer, and Lily was certain he was about to kiss her before he stepped back.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “You’re a smart one, Evans.”
“Yeah,” Lily said, though she certainly didn’t feel very smart right now.
After a moment of awkward silence, James finished off his drink and joined in on the fun, and Lily tried very hard not to notice the way James’ shirt rode up as he maneuvered himself under the bar.
Lily was walking aimlessly through the grounds on what would turn out to be the last warm day of the season, soaking up the sunshine and attempting to banish that morning’s grueling arithmancy test from her mind. There were other groups of students dotting the grounds who seemed to be attempting a similar means of distraction, but none that Lily wanted to join at the moment.
She noticed a small movement off to her left, and turned to see Paul the rabbit hopping toward the Forbidden Forest, stopping and looking over his shoulder before he disappeared behind the tree line. Maybe Donna was right about her shady business hunch. Was it possible that Paul was an animagus after all, maybe a criminal disguising himself as a student’s pet in order to run from the law? Lily thought that might make a good children’s story, if not for the numerous glaring plot holes she could foresee popping up. Still, children were forgiving, right?
Lily continued on for a few more minutes before a group of boys came into her line of sight, and she smiled to herself as she made her way toward them. James was sitting on a broom, hovering a few feet off the ground, and the other three were standing around him. She couldn’t make out what is was that they were doing, but their shouting and laughing indicated that they were having fun.
“Hello,” Lily said as she approached, and four heads turned in her direction. She dropped her bookbag to the ground and joined the group. “What brand of tomfoolery are you four indulging in today?”
“We invented a game,” Peter said.
“The point is to try and get James to fall off his broom, but you can’t use your arms or legs,” Remus explained, holding up a small coin pouch. “Winner takes all.”
“I’m undefeated,” James said with pride.
“How long have you been trying?” Lily asked.
“We’ve each gone three times.”
“You’ve been watching him play quidditch for five years now, you should know he plays a little better after every goal he scores,” Lily said. James raised an eyebrow at her, like he was surprised that she watched him that closely at games. “His resolve grows with success. If you haven’t gotten him to fall by now, you won’t be able to.”
“She has a point, Pads,” Remus said. Sirius opened his mouth to disagree, but Lily cut him off.
“I can do it though.”
Sirius snorted. “Sure, we can’t but you can.”
“How much is the buy-in?” Lily asked, ignoring Sirius.
“One galleon, minimum,” Remus said.
“I’m in for one.” Remus held out his palm but Lily waved him off. “It’ll be back in my pocket in a minute anyway.”
“Getting pretty cocky there, Evans,” James said from his perch on his broom, clasping his hands behind his back.
Lily stepped forward, her arms mirroring his. “You would know, you’re the expert.”
James’ smirk grew as Lily stepped closer to him, so that they were nearly chest to stomach. “Show me what you’ve got,” he said, looking down at her much like he did that night in the common room not too long ago.
And with that, Lily pushed herself up onto her toes and pressed her lips against James’. The kiss was soft, and she felt James tense against her, but before she had time to second-guess herself he had responded and was now kissing her back in earnest. Her skin felt electric, and her chest felt so light she thought she might laugh or float away or do something equally as foolish, because both of those things required removing her lips from James’ and she was not ready to do that just yet.
She angled her head to the side as she lowered herself back onto her heels, and James leaned into her, fitting them together just so. Lily opened her mouth just enough to let her tongue swipe against James’ bottom lip, and James made a noise in his throat that Lily could feel reverberating throughout her entire body. Lily wanted to step closer to James, wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and run her fingers through his hair, but she couldn’t because her arms were still clasped behind her back for some reason, and…oh, right.
It was at that point that Lily remembered that they weren’t alone, and decided that now would be a good time to win the bet. So, after one last brush of their lips, Lily quickly took a step back and away from James. He stayed like that — eyes closed, leaning into where Lily no longer stood — for a half-second before his eyes snapped opened and he flailed as he fell to the ground.
Lily turned toward the others. “I’ll take my winnings now.”
Sirius sputtered. “But…that’s…cheater!” he said, pointing at her in accusation.
Lily rolled her eyes and looked toward Remus. “I assume you keep track of the rules.”
Remus was grinning broadly. “I do.”
“Do they say that you’re not allowed to snog James off his broom?”
“No, funnily enough we never thought to write that one down,” he said, handing her a pouch of galleons.
She turned back to Sirius, whose mouth was still open in indignation, and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t feel bad, Black. We can’t all be winners.”
She walked back to where James had pulled himself into a seated position on the ground, still looking like he wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. Lily extended her arm and pulled him to his feet, straightening his tie before speaking quietly, just for him to hear.
“And, for the sake of making informed decisions,” she said as his eyes locked onto hers. “No, that wasn’t just for the game, and yes, I am free this weekend.” Then she pulled back, saying, “See you around, Potter,” before turning and walking away.
Despite her boldness, Lily never counted on luck. She didn’t jump into holes she couldn’t dig herself out of, didn’t bet anything she wasn’t prepared to lose, and she never let herself be caught with her pants down.
Lily Evans didn’t gamble, but she sure knew how to win.