The Apollonian Locket

Phoenix_Song

Rating: PG
Genres: Romance, Action & Adventure
Relationships: Lily & James
Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 5
Published: 13/10/2004
Last Updated: 16/11/2004
Status: in_progress

Having failed to achieve immortality the previous year, and take over the wizarding world by sheer force, Voldemort has decided to slip quietly back into the mainstream, by recruiting followers and consolidating power through more traditional channels. The pure-blood, muggle-born verbal wars are heating up, with both sides staging protests and demonstrations, and the wizengamot considering a landslide of new legislation from both. In the shadow of all of this unrest, Lily discovers that a gift from her father was more than it first appeared, and that someone at Hogwarts knows exactly what it is worth.

Chapters

1. Chapter 1: Diagon Alley

2. Chapter 2: Back at Hogwarts

3. Chapter 3: Lupin's Strange Behavior

4. Malfoy's Intentions

1. Chapter 1: Diagon Alley

So welcome to the sequel of "The Ancient Book of Elves", my first Lily Evans story. If you haven’t read that, I recommend that you do so before continuing with this story, or a lot of things won’t make sense. You can find a link to that story on my author page.

For those of you that read along with me as I posted the Ancient Book of Elves, thank you so much for your support, and I look forward to continuing our relationship here! As usual, I will be reading and responding to comments with each new update. I will also try to update every few days, but no promises. I have about half of this story written, and when I catch you all up to where I’ve written, it may be a bit of time between updates.

The usual disclaimer applies. Anything you recognize is JKR’s. Anything you don’t is mine. Either way, please don’t pretend this story is yours when it isn’t. Not that you would. But somebody did with Ancient Book of Elves, so now I have to reserve my rights on everything.

Without further ado…

Chapter 1: Diagon Alley

"Lily! Are you ready dear? We’ll be leaving for Diagon Alley in a few minutes!" Lily Evans looked up from the book she had been reading as her mother’s voice floated up the stairs to her. She closed the book quickly and hurried over to her trunk to find her hat. She was going to buy school supplies today, and she had arranged it with Alice and Amelia, her two best friends, so that they would all meet in Diagon Alley that day.

"I’ll be right down, Mum! I’ve just got to find my hat!" Lily replied, pulling parchment, textbooks, robes and any other manner of school supply from her trunk and tossing it haphazardly behind her in a bid to find her hat. Lily attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but she had been home for the summer and as her parents were muggles, there had been no reason to wear her wizarding clothing. She had sorely missed it, however, and since they were going to be in the wizarding world today, she had decided to dress like the witch that she was. She finally found her hat at the bottom of the trunk, wrinkled and crushed slightly from the weight of the items that had been stowed on top of it. Lily held it out in front of her and looked at it in disappointment. If she were at school, she would simply perform a straightening charm, but that was out of the question since there were very strict rules about doing magic outside of her school, so it looked like she’d have to settle for just wearing her robes for the day.

She quickly threw her supplies back into her trunk and turned to survey her reflection critically in the mirror. Striking emerald green eyes twinkled out at her from a smiling pale face that was covered with freckles as a result of all the time she’d spent outside that summer. Her red hair was thrown haphazardly back into a braid, and several strands were already slipping out and falling into her eyes. Lily noticed none of this, however. What she saw, instead, was that her robes, which had already been getting short by the end of last term, were now far too short, and looked a little tight in the arms and across the chest. She shrugged and turned to head downstairs. They’d have to do for today, anyway. She didn’t have time to change, and her mum and sister were already waiting for her.

"It’s about time, Lily! Heavens, I hope we don’t miss the train. We were supposed to leave five minutes ago. We wouldn’t have this problem if your father wouldn’t have taken the car!" Lily caught Petunia rolling her eyes and stifled a laugh. Harry Evans, Lily’s father, was working, and so wasn’t joining them for the expedition to Diagon Alley—a fact that Lily had discovered made her mother very nervous. Although she’d been with them when they had gone the previous summer, apparently the goblins at the wizarding bank, Gringotts, scared Elizabeth, and she’d been hoping to wait outside while Harry exchanged their muggle money for wizarding money. Since Harry wasn’t going to be along, that particular task now fell to her, and Elizabeth’s nerves about it were expressed in the form of a short-temper.

"I’m ready, mum," Lily said. In the week since Harry had found out that he wouldn’t be able to accompany them, Lily and Petunia had learned to speak quietly and agree with whatever their mother said in order to avoid a row. They hurried out the door and began the walk to the underground.

By a stroke of luck, the train was running a few minutes late, and so the three Evanses caught it with plenty of time to spare. Once they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Lily pulled out her wand in excitement. Even though she wasn’t really doing magic, she couldn’t wait to use it again. They walked into the alley, and Lily tapped the appropriate bricks. Petunia couldn’t help but gasp in amazement as an entrance opened up before them, and Lily laughed. Petunia hit her playfully on the arm. "Hush!" she exclaimed. "I don’t get to see it every day like you do. Not yet, anyway! One more year."

"Let’s go girls," Elizabeth snapped, setting a hand on Lily’s and Petunia’s shoulders and urging them forward. "Lily, you do have your supply list?" Lily nodded and followed quietly behind her mother. When they arrived at the bank, Lily offered to go inside and exchange the money for her, but Elizabeth steadfastly refused. "I’m not about to send you in there alone, Lily! Who knows what you might run into?"

Lily secretly thought that the goblins in Gringotts would be nothing compared with the danger she had found herself in last year when she had stumbled across a dark wizard’s plot to become immortal. As it had turned out, it had been her and a classmate of hers, James Potter, that had ultimately been the two to stop him. Dumbledore had only mentioned the scarcest details to her parents, however, and for that she was grateful. Lily was nearly certain that if her parents knew the extent of the danger that she had been in, they would not have allowed her to return to school that year. Consequently, she just smiled, and said "See you in a few minutes, then!" before settling herself onto a step out front.

Petunia sat down beside her and Lily noticed that she couldn’t stop looking around. Lily laughed, knowing exactly how she felt. Despite having been around magic for an entire term, she still occasionally found herself amazed by it. At the moment, there was a large group of wizards in front of them arguing about quidditch, which, Lily had decided, happened whenever a group of more than three wizards assembled anywhere, and had time to talk. Lily had made that assessment after noticing that whenever the boys in her class had a free moment, the subject of quidditch inevitably came up.

Off to their right, in front of a café, was a harried looking witch with two small boys. The children had apparently been fighting, and it seemed that the oldest one had caused the youngest to go flying backwards and land hard on a table. The witch was currently trying to sort out the mess with the occupants of the table on which her child had landed and, at the same time, make sure that her son was unharmed. In the meantime, the oldest boy was insisting that he hadn’t done anything, and that the younger child had made himself fly through the air in order to get the older one in trouble. "Bet mum’s glad she’s never had to deal with anything like that!" Lily whispered to Petunia, pointing.

Petunia, however, had been looking elsewhere. "Is that a giant?" Petunia asked pointing down the alley. Lily looked up to where Petunia was pointing and saw a man who was nearly twice the size of a normal person, with wild looking hair and kind black eyes, walking down the street toward them.

Lily grinned, recognizing the Hogwarts’ gamekeeper immediately. Even in the wizarding world, he stood out. She shook her head. "Nope," she said. "More likely half and half—real giants are at least 16 feet tall." Lily recognized in Petunia the same awe that she had felt when she’d first overheard one of her classmates state that fact. "His name’s Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts."

Lily stood up to make room for Hagrid as he began to make his way up the steps of Gringotts. "Hello, Hagrid!" she said, waving. Hagrid glanced down with a start before seeing Lily and Petunia standing there. "I’m Lily, Lily Evans. I don’t know if you remember me but—," she began.

"O’ course I remember yeh," he said with a chuckle. "I’s not ev’ry night that a young lady like yerself comes knockin’ on me door at midnight, askin’ me to help her friends. How yeh’ doin’? Stayin’ out of trouble, I hope?"

Petunia turned to stare at Lily in amazement as Lily blushed. "Yes, sir. I’ve been doing my best."

"I’m glad ter hear it. Now if yeh don’ mind, I’d best be getting along."

"Absolutely. It was good to see you again, Hagrid." Lily said.

"An’ it was good ter see yeh! Can’ wait ‘till yeh lot get back to Hogwarts in a few weeks. It’s too quiet there in the summer!" Lily laughed as Hagrid turned and made his way up the stairs. A door at the top opened, and Lily saw her mother walk out. Elizabeth uttered a small scream as she saw Hagrid, and stepped nervously out of his way. "‘Scuse me, ma’am," Hagrid said, before disappearing inside.

As Elizabeth descended the stairs toward the two sisters, it was clear that she had been shaken by her experience in the bank. "Goblin thought I intentionally shorted him. As though I know the going conversion rate from pounds to galleons. And then I run into a giant on the way out…"

"Well actually, Mum, he wasn’t a giant. Real giants are at least 16 feet tall," Petunia said, and then both girls broke into laughter at the expression on Elizabeth’s face.

"Well dear me," she said, her hand fluttering to her throat. "I won’t even ask how you know that, Petty. All the same, I’d rather be as far away from here as possible, in case the goblins decide to come after me!" She motioned for Lily and Petunia to follow her as she started to walk down the stairs.

Their first stop was at Fluorish and Blotts (the wizarding book store) for Lily’s books, and then next up was the apothecary to replenish Lily’s potion ingredients. Finally, they made their way into Madam Malkin’s for Lily’s new robes. "Now Lily, I’ve promised Petunia that I’d take her into the Quidditch supply shop to look at the broomsticks. You’ll be okay here?"

Lily glanced at Petunia, who was looking at her hopefully. She grinned. "You know what, mum? I’d much rather you stayed here with me. I mean, I don’t know Diagon Alley very well, and I’d hate to be finished, and then get lost trying to find you…" Lily winked at her mum.

Elizabeth smiled, and winked back. "Oh, you’re right, sweetie. I hadn’t thought of that. Well, I’m sorry, Petty. I’m just not sure we’ll get time to go in there today, then. Maybe next summer?"

Petunia’s hopeful look turned into a glare. "Lily! You’ll be fine! Mum, she can just wait here for us."

Lily shook her head. "I really think mum should stay here," she began, but couldn’t help but laugh at Petunia’s expression, and Elizabeth joined her. Petunia hit her, hard, in the arm.

"Petty, don’t hit!" Elizabeth admonished, but her eyes were still dancing.

"That wasn’t funny, Lils! Come on, mum." She grabbed Elizabeth’s arm and started pulling her towards the shop door.

"All right, dear. All right. Lily, we’ll meet you back here, and then we’re meeting your friends for lunch, aren’t we? Okay, we won’t be long!" Elizabeth called out as she allowed herself to be pulled onto the street.

"Lily Evans?" a voice from the back of the shop called. She stood up and walked over to the young witch wearing cobalt blue robes who had emerged into the waiting area. "Are you ready to get your measurements, then?" the witch asked.

Lily nodded, and the witch led her in back and told her to hop up one of the two platforms in the middle of the room. "All right dear," she said, "this won’t take very long." Several measuring tapes began taking different measurements as the witch scribbled down various numbers. A few moments later, a second witch entered the room followed very closely by someone that Lily had not expected to see until September.

"Hiya Evans!" James Potter called out, stepping up on the platform beside her. "Didn’t expect to see you here!"

"Oh, Jamey! Is this a friend of yours?" the witch whom James had followed into the room asked.

"Jamey?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows slightly.

Potter glanced at Lily, and smirked. "Yes, Jamey. And I suppose you could say that, Aunt Kathy, though I’m not sure how much she likes me." He smiled at Lily. "She did kiss me, though."

Lily flushed deeply as Kathy laughed. "Now why doesn’t that surprise me? I don’t suppose she’ll be the last to kiss you, either. You’ve got the legendary Potter charm, and more than your fair share, too, I’d reckon."

"It was only on the cheek!" Lily protested. "And it wasn’t that at all, ma’am," she added, to Potter’s aunt. "We had a bet."

Potter grinned. "Which you lost. And so, you kissed me."

As he spoke, Petunia bounced into the room. She stopped mid-skip at Potter’s words, and turned to glance at Lily in amazement. "First I find out that you’re sneaking out at midnight and need a giant—"

"Half-giant," Lily corrected her automatically. "And what are you doing back already? I thought you’d be gone awhile."

Petunia ignored the second half of this statement. "Half-giant, then—to rescue you. And now you’re kissing boys? And you didn’t tell me?"

At this, Potter broke down into a fit of giggles, and he was laughing so hard that for a moment, his aunt had to stop measuring him. Petunia was now staring at Potter. "She kissed you?" Petunia asked, wrinkling up her nose a little. Potter nodded, and Petunia grinned.

Lily glared back and forth between Potter and Petunia. "On the cheek!" she exclaimed, all friendly thoughts that she had felt toward Potter since the end of last year disappearing with this reminder of why she had disliked him in the first place. When she had made the bet with him, she'd thought that maybe he didn't hate her after all, but she was now fairly certain that Potter had only made that bet with her so that if she lost, he’d have yet another reason to tease her. "And only because we made a ridiculous bet that I could never have expected to lose!"

Potter wiped a tear out of his eye and winked at Kathy and Petunia, further infuriating Lily. "Oh just admit it, Evans! You wanted to kiss me."

The witch who had been measuring Lily patted her on the shoulder. "That’s you done, my dear."

"Not a moment too soon," Lily muttered, turning to gather up her packages. "Thank you, ma’am," she said to the witch who had measured her before walking toward the door that led to the front of the store.

"You’ll admit it one day, Evans!" Potter called after her.

"Over my dead body!" she retorted. "Come on, Pet!" Petunia, who had been laughing almost as hard as Potter, turned to scurry after her. Their mother was waiting out front, and she quickly explained that the quidditch supply shop had been so full that they’d been unable to get inside. Once they had paid for Lily’s new robes, they began to make their way over to the Leaky Cauldron, where they were meeting the Parkers and the Boneses for lunch. Before Lily was halfway through the door, there was a squeal, and she didn’t have to look up to know that Alice was now barreling towards her in standard Alice fashion. A second later, Alice was giving her a huge hug.

"Lily!!!!!!!!!" Alice squealed when she finally released her. "I’ve missed you sooooo much!!!!! I haven’t had anything to do all summer outside of the week that you and Amelia came to visit!" She grabbed Lily and hugged her again.

Lily laughed. "What about the week that you came to visit me, and the week that we both went to Amelia’s?"

"All right, outside of those three weeks, then! It’s been a long summer. And I’m starving, come on." She grabbed Lily by the hand, and pulled her over to their table, where Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and Anna were sitting. Anna looked a bit petulant, and Lily suspected that it was because there were any number of things she’d rather be doing right now than eating dinner with her parents, little sister, and little sister’s friends. Mr. and Mrs. Parker greeted Elizabeth warmly, and Mr. Parker quickly engaged her in a conversation about muggle-transportation habits.

Lily glanced at the two adults and grinned. "Is he really doing a report for work?" she asked Alice.

Alice giggled. "No, he just said that so she doesn’t think he’s odd for asking. He wouldn’t have to ask her, of course, but mum refuses to discuss any of it with him. I think she finds it a bit annoying after all of this time!"

As if on cue, Mrs. Parker cut in. "Oh for heaven’s sakes, Andrew! Can you give Elizabeth a moment to decide on her meal?"

Lily and Alice giggled again, drawing a reproachful look from Mr. Parker. They both quickly turned their attention back to their menus. A few minutes later, Amelia arrived with her older brother, Edgar. "Now you heard what mum and dad said," Edgar was saying to Amelia. "You’re to stay with your friends’ parents, and meet me at the public floo network station by 5."

"I got it the first time mum told me, Edgar," she snapped. "And if I didn’t get it then, I most certainly understand after the five times you’ve repeated it since." She had her arms crossed and a look of annoyance on her face.

"Fine," he said. "Then I’ll meet you at five, with our supplies. You don’t need robes, do you? It doesn’t look you’ve grown any!" He laughed as Amelia’s look of annoyance turned to a glare.

"Is there any reason you haven’t left yet, Ed?" she snapped.

"Because it’s so much fun irritating you, shortstuff. But I have a lot of shopping to get done. Mum’s expecting me to take care of it, so I suppose I’d better leave you." He turned and walked out the door and Amelia scanned the room. Lily and Alice stood up and waved at her, and she came trotting over, grinning.

Lily stood back to allow Alice to greet Amelia first, figuring there was less chance of injury that way. As soon as Alice was through hugging Amelia, and squealing how much she had missed her, Lily gave Amelia a hug, and the three girls sat down. Anna glared at Alice. "For Merlin’s sake, Alice. Can’t you be a little more demure in the manner in which you greet your friends?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Forgive me, highness, if I have offended your noble—,"

"Girls!" Mrs. Parker said sharply. "Can you two make it through even one day without a fight?"

Alice grinned. "Not likely," she said.

Mrs. Parker sighed heavily. "Well please, try. Amelia, were your parents unable to make it, then?"

Amelia nodded. "Yes, ma’am. My dad got called into work, and my mum is at home with my little brother. Jake’s sick right now."

"Well I do hope he feels better soon," Elizabeth offered.

"Me too," Amelia said emphatically. "He’s so whiny when he’s sick!"

Just then, the waiter arrived to take their orders, and after everyone had given their requests, the three girls began talking about Hogwarts and answering Petunia’s questions about the magical world. The remainder of lunch was a pleasant affair, with all save Anna appearing to enjoy themselves immensely over the good food and friendly company.

*************************

When lunch had ended, Lily, Alice and Amelia were given three hours to shop by themselves in Diagon Alley. Petunia had wanted to go with them, but Elizabeth had insisted that she was far too young to be allowed to wander the alley without supervision. Petunia had been none too happy about this, but Lily and her two friends quickly headed on their way, determined not to waste a second of the afternoon. The last thing that they heard as they walked through the entrance and back into Diagon Alley was Elizabeth trying to convince Petunia that she would at least to get to visit the quidditch supply shop if she stayed with her.

Their first stop of the afternoon was a wizarding jewelry shop. When Lily had been accepted at Hogwarts, her father had given her a locket that was a family heirloom. The locket didn’t have a chain, however, so Lily had been unable to wear it the previous year. She had settled for carrying it around in her pocket throughout the year, but had nearly lost it more times than she could count. Lily had saved up her birthday and allowance money, and was hoping that she could find a magical chain to hold her locket. As Alice and Amelia wandered around to look at the different jewelry in the store, Lily approached the counter. An older wizard in navy blue robes turned around. "Can I help you?" he asked in a nasal, bored-sounding voice.

Lily decided almost immediately that she didn’t particularly like the wizard, but he appeared to be the only person tending the shop at the moment. "Um, yes sir. I’m looking for a chain for a locket that I received as a gift."

The wizard nodded. "Very good. And what are the magical properties of the locket?" he asked.

Lily looked at him blankly. "I—I’m sorry, the magical properties?"

"Yes, yes," he said impatiently. "All of our jewelry is imbued with different magical properties. Our rings, for example, all have a perfect fit charm, so that they will never become to small, or too large. Our pendants are often charmed to stay continuously shiny. Most of our lockets are created in such a way that the giver of the gift can leave some part of themselves in the locket. The chains that we sell, therefore, are designed specifically to enhance the magical property of the jewelry, so if yours has any special properties, I’ll best be able to find a chain for it by matching up the magic in the item with the magic in our chains."

Lily stared at him in awe. It had never really occurred to her to think about whether wizarding jewelry would differ from muggle jewelry. She shook her head. "No, sir. My locket was given to me by my father—a muggle. It possesses no magical properties."

The look of polite interest on the wizard’s face turned into a sneer for the briefest of moments when she mentioned that her father was a muggle, and Lily sighed. It looked as though she had run across a blood-purist. That was probably the reason that she had disliked him so intensely upon first sight. "Well, I’m not sure that we have any chains suitable for muggle jewelry. Let me have a look at it."

By this time, Amelia and Alice had joined her at the counter. She held out her locket and the wizard took it to a nearby counter in back of the jewelry case behind which he was standing, in order to inspect it more closely.

"Did you just get that, Lily?" Alice asked curiously.

"No, my dad gave it to me last year. I just didn’t have a chain, so I carried it in my pocket all year."

"Oh—that’s what you were always slipping into your robes every morning!" Amelia said, comprehension dawning. "I always assumed it was a pocket watch."

Lily laughed. "Nope, just a plain old ordinary locket. It’s quite old though, I think. My dad said that he got it from his mother. Supposedly it’s been in the Evans family for quite some time. I’m rather nervous that I’ll lose it eventually if I keep carrying it around loose."

By this time, the wizard had returned to where the girls were standing, wearing an expression that Lily couldn’t discern. "I believe that I’ve got the perfect chain for you, young miss. I’ll be back in just a moment." The wizard disappeared through a door near the back of the store.

The girls chatted quietly while they waited, and a few moments later, the wizard returned, carrying Lily’s locket, which was now attached to a beautiful gold chain. "There you are, Miss Evans," he said, holding the locket out to her.

Lily took the locket, and stared at it in awe. It appeared that the old wizard had used a polishing charm on it, for it was now sparkling in the light of the store, and Lily noticed that the polish had revealed a tripod engraved upon the front of the locket that she hadn’t noticed with all the grime and dirt that had covered it. She glanced at the wizard. "Thank you, sir! It’s beautiful. I can’t wait to show—hang, on. How did you know my surname?"

"You mentioned it, when you were telling your friends about your locket," he said. "I pay attention. This is a beautiful piece of jewelry, miss, one of the finest muggle-creations that I’ve come across. You’ll want to take care of it."

Something about his tone of voice gave Lily pause, but he was now smiling at her expectantly. "I will, thank you," she said quickly. As she moved to fasten the chain around her neck, the clasp automatically opened, and then closed, locking the chain on. Lily quickly paid the man, and then the three girls exited the shop, blinking in the bright sunlight.

The girls spent the remainder of the afternoon browsing the different shops. Amelia bought a variety of candy to take home with her, while Alice bought a quidditch chaser training manual to use when she was practicing for her try-out in a few short weeks. Before Lily was ready, it was evening, and she was seeing Amelia off at the public floo-network, saying goodbye to Alice, and walking with her mum and sister toward the underground to catch the train home. Apparently, Petunia had forgiven Elizabeth for not allowing her to tag along with Lily and her friends, for the two chatted animatedly on the way home about everything that they had seen that day. Lily, however, sat quietly, listening to them chat, and thinking about how excited she was to return to school.

2. Chapter 2: Back at Hogwarts

Chapter 2: Back at Hogwarts

Both Elizabeth and Petunia had been short-tempered and impatient throughout the week preceding Lily’s departure for Hogwarts. When they had arrived home from their trip to Diagon Alley, Petunia had been telling Harry about the trip, and remarked that next year they’d be buying supplies for her, as well. “Now Petunia, you know it’s unlikely that both you and Lily are gifted with magical ability,” Elizabeth had admonished, sparking a huge row. By the end of it, Elizabeth had grounded Petunia for two weeks, and Petunia was refusing to speak to Elizabeth. Harry and Lily had tried to calm Petunia down, but Petunia had determinedly rebuffed all of their attempts to entreat her to reconcile with Elizabeth, leaving Lily to marvel at how stubbornly Petunia was holding onto her grudge. Elizabeth, in the meantime, was insisting that she was right to have discouraged Petunia’s “false hopes”, and steadfastly refused to apologize, leaving no doubt in either Harry’s or Lily’s mind from where Petunia had inherited her stubbornness.

When September first finally arrived, the family piled into the car and headed to the station, Lily’s owl, Romulus sitting on the middle seat between herself and Petunia. About halfway to the train station, Romulus began hooting dolefully from his cage, and Petunia snapped at Lily to keep him quiet. “Girls!” Elizabeth admonished from the front seat.

“What?” Petunia responded churlishly, finally breaking her silence toward Elizabeth. “I’ve only just asked her to keep her owl quiet. Would you prefer it if I encouraged it to make noise, instead?” Petunia then began hitting her hands against Romulus’s cage, startling him.

“Knock it off, Pet!” Lily said sharply, reaching her hand through the bars and stroking Romulus’s ruffled feathers.

“Petunia, leave your sister’s owl alone!” Elizabeth chastised.

Petunia turned to look at their mother, and Lily was surprised to see tears in her eyes. “You always take her side!” Petunia said suddenly. “In everything. Lily this, Lily that. ‘Now Petunia, it’s unlikely you’ll be gifted with magic like Lily.’ ‘Petunia, why can’t you behave in school like Lily?’ ‘Petunia, you should learn to control your temper like Lily’.” Petunia’s voice had been rising with every word, and even Romulus had turned to stare at her. “If Lily was so perfect, then why’d you even have me?” At this, Petunia’s tears began to fall, and stunned, Lily turned automatically to gather her crying sister into her arms. Unfortunately, the owl cage was in the way, and so she had to settle for patting the sobbing Petunia on the back.

The remainder of the trip passed in silence, and when they arrived at King’s Cross, Lily said goodbye to Elizabeth and Petunia at the car while Harry loaded Lily’s things onto a trolley. After she had hugged her mother and sister and told them that she loved them, they began to walk toward the platform. “Petunia was pretty upset,” Lily said hesitantly.

Harry nodded. “Yes, she is. But she’ll get over it and bounce back to being the happy-go-lucky Petunia we all know and love. She’s just a little anxious right now with you leaving for school.”

Lily shrugged. “I suppose so,” she said.

Harry stopped and turned to look at Lily. “Now listen up, young lady. You have enough on your hands with school and learning magic, you don’t need to worry about your sister, too. That’s me and your mum’s job, understand?”

Lily began walking again, and nodded half-heartedly, knowing even as she did so that her father's reassurances would not make her worry any less. As she saw it, taking care of Petunia was also her job as an older sister. If Petunia was this angry and upset, then she obviously needed someone to talk to about it, and she, Lily, wouldn’t be around. “That’s your platform,” Harry said, bringing Lily’s thoughts back to the present.

She turned to greet Alice, Anna, and Mr. Parker. After Alice had finished squealing and hugging her, Lily gave Mr. Parker a hug and said hello to Anna. The two men shook hands, and then Harry gave Lily a hug goodbye. “Remember what I said. You worry about school, and leave Petunia to your mum and me. We’ve done pretty well at this parenting thing so far, huh?” He smiled, and Lily returned his smile. “That’s my girl,” he said, ruffling her hair. “Be good this year. I don’t want to hear about any more trouble like last year.”

Lily grinned. “That wasn’t my fault,” she said, automatically. Alice snickered.

“Well, just the same, be careful, and we’ll see you at Christmas. I love you, Lily.”

“I love you, too,” Lily said, hugging her dad one last time before he merged into the crowds streaming by them in either direction, and disappeared. Lily heaved another sigh, still trying to shake off the feeling that she should be with Petunia right now, as Alice squealed again. Lily didn’t have to look to know that Amelia was making her way toward them. When Lily finally spotted her in the crowd, she saw that Amelia was followed closely by her mum, older brother Edgar, and a smallish, dark-haired boy that she recognized from her visit to be Amelia’s little brother, Jacob. Lily gave Amelia a hug, and then turned to greet Jacob, who stared at her wide-eyed and seemed incapable of speaking. He simply mouthed the word hi.

“He looks terrified,” Lily commented, glancing curiously at Amelia.

“Well he should,” Amelia said brightly. “Edgar and I have been telling him the type of tasks that you have to do in order to be sorted into a house.”

Lily grinned, and then raised her eyebrows as she turned to Jake. “Yes,” she said, faking a shudder. “I don’t even want to talk about what we had to do last year!”

Jake uttered a small scream and hid behind his mother, as the three girls burst into laughter. “Now Amelia,” Mrs. Bones said, but she was also smiling. “There’s no need to scare your brother anymore. He’ll find out what creature they face this year soon enough.” Mrs. Bones turned to greet Mr. Parker, who embraced her like the old friend that she was.

“We’d better get going,” Edgar said, pointing at the muggle clock above them. “We’ve only got a few minutes, and prefects are supposed to help the younger students get their trunks situated.”

Lily raised her eyebrows and glanced at Amelia. “Prefect?” she asked.

Amelia sighed. “Don’t get me started. He made prefect this year, and it’s all mum and dad have been able to talk about since he got his letter. Come on, let’s go, before she,” here, Amelia nodded toward her mother, “starts tearing up again over her precious baby boy being a prefect.”

The girls pushed their trolleys through the barrier at the same time, and then moved out of the way quickly to await the remainder of their group. Once the Parkers and Boneses were all through the barrier, the adults helped the kids get their stuff onto the train, and then with final hugs and words of caution, Amelia, Alice and Lily tried to find an open compartment in the now-packed train. After they had been from front to back twice, Lily thought she had found one, and motioned for the girls to join her. She slid open the door and walked inside, pulling her trunk behind her. “Oh!” she said, stopping short when she noticed that the compartment wasn’t empty. Her abrupt stop caused Alice to bump into Lily’s trunk, ramming it painfully against her leg, and she leaned down to massage her leg as she spoke. “I’m sorry, Severus. I didn’t see you in here. Do you mind if we join you? There’s no room elsewhere on the train for all three of us.”

Snape glanced up from the book that he was reading, and nodded imperceptibly, so the three girls piled in beside him. “Hello, Severus,” Alice said, choosing the seat across from him. He nodded again at Alice, and then turned back to his book. Lily settled in the seat next to him, and Amelia sat across from her.

Lily glanced over at the boy sitting next to her and wondered if either Alice or Amelia felt as awkward as she did about the current situation. Snape was friends with two people who had landed Alice in the hospital for two weeks last term, and he was enemies with four Gryffindors who, for the most part, Lily would consider friends of hers. In addition, Snape appeared to be utterly uninterested in making polite conversation with them, which was just fine with her, except that she wasn’t entirely sure whether or not it would be rude to then talk to Alice and Amelia. She looked back at her two friends, trying to ask the question silently, and the shrug that Alice gave her indicated very clearly that she had understood Lily’s question, but didn’t know the answer. They sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment before Alice apparently decided that she had had just about as much of the situation as she was going to take. “Severus,” she said, causing him once again to glance up from his book. “I just wanted to let you know that I know you tried to stop—,”

The door to their compartment jerked open, revealing a tall boy with longish black-hair falling into his eyes, and a second boy, slightly shorter and lankier with black hair sticking up in all directions. Both were grinning, however their grins changed to sneers as they noticed Snape was sitting with the girls. Sirius Black and James Potter walked inside. Two of their friends, Remus Lupin, a slim boy with light-brown hair and a tired face, and Peter Pettigrew, a brown-haired boy with a pointy nose and watery eyes, followed. Lupin looked weary and drawn, and Lily also noticed a bruise on his cheek, and a gash on his hand.

With the four boys’ arrival, there was a sudden quiet in the carriage. As the silence grew louder, Lily glanced around. Lupin leaned heavily against the door frame, as though the very act of standing up was costing him all the strength that he had, Alice and Amelia looked very uncomfortable, Potter and Black looked murderous, Pettigrew looked scared, and Snape—the center of it all—sat reading his book, seemingly oblivious to the new arrivals. Lily, however, noted that Snape’s hand had moved from where it had been resting on his book and into the wand-pocket of his robes, and she was certain that he was grasping the handle of his wand. The enmity in the compartment was palpable. “What are you doing in here, Snivellus?” Potter asked icily, breaking the silence.

Lily stood up automatically and turned to face Potter. “Knock it off, Potter,” she said warningly.

“I could ask you the same thing, Potter,” Snape said, ignoring Lily and not even glancing up from his book. “I’m here because this is my compartment.”

Black glanced at the three girls. “It appears to belong to Evans, Bones, and Parker,” Black said, turning his hard eyes back to Snape.

Snape finally looked up and grinned humorlessly. “It’s my compartment,” he repeated, glancing between Potter and Black, and the girls, “and Evans, Bones and Parker are here by Evans’s request, and my consent.”

Black glanced at Lily quizzically, and Potter’s eyes flashed angrily between her and Snape. Lily was surprised at how close he appeared to losing control. His knuckles were white around the handle of his wand, which was just barely in his pocket. Lily pulled her wand out, just in case she needed it to stop Potter from hexing Snape, but for the moment, she kept it dangling loosely at her side. “Severus is right, Potter,” Lily agreed. “I asked him if we could sit here, and he agreed.”

“Well I guess that Severus,” Potter said the name mockingly, “didn’t realize that when he agreed to let you have his compartment, he was supposed to have left. You’re not welcome here, Snivellus.”

Lily had reached her tolerance point. “Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Potter! You don’t have the right to say who is and is not allowed to be in this compartment. Severus has been sitting quietly and reading. He hasn’t done anything to us, or to you. In fact, it was quite pleasant until you arrived and started causing trouble, so if you can’t be polite to our compartment mate, then I’m afraid that I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Black glanced at Lily in amazement, while Potter took a deep breath and turned his glare to her. Snape chuckled. “That’s interesting, Potter. From the way that Evans is talking, it sounds to me as though it’s YOU, and not me, that’s not welcome here. Now, if you’ll be on your way? I would hate for you to get detention before we even get to Hogwarts because you were causing trouble on the train.”

Potter and Black both glared, but Lupin set a warning hand on Potter’s shoulder. “Don’t start anything, Jamesy—Siri,” Lupin said firmly.

Black heaved a sigh, and nodded. “You’re right, Remmy. There’ll be plenty of opportunities later. Let’s go, Jamesy.”

Pettigrew scrambled quickly out of the compartment, followed by Black and Remus. Potter turned to stare at Lily for a moment, an indiscernible expression on his face, before he turned and followed his friends out of the compartment, and Lily heaved a sigh of relief. “Well,” she said, after the door had slid shut behind them, “am I glad that’s over. I’m sorry about them, Sever—,” she began, but stopped, noticing that he had stood up and was now pulling down his things from the overhead bin. “Hang on, where are you going?”

“Unless you three wish to deal with a similar scene when my friends come looking for me, I think it’d be best if I find them first,” he said, pulling his trunk toward the door, and sliding it open before turning to glare at Lily. “And for future reference, Evans, I hardly need your apologies for, let alone your assistance in dealing with, those two little gits.” The door slammed shut behind him, leaving Lily to stare at Alice and Amelia with a look of confusion on her face identical to the ones that they were wearing.

Shortly after the confrontation between Snape and Potter, their compartment door slid open again, revealing a witch with the refreshment trolley, and they each got snacks to share with one another. As they ate their snacks, Lily played absently with her locket, thinking yet again about Severus Snape. She couldn’t quite decide whether or not she liked him. Her mind traveled back to one night last year, when she’d found him crying in a classroom. Before she’d had the opportunity to ask him what was wrong, the Marauders had shown up, and he’d taken off. Of course, it was no mystery whyPotter and Black would hate him, she mused, as her thoughts then shifted to the night that Alice was attacked. Once again, she saw Snape conjuring a snake, and taunting Potter and Black. She saw again the bewilderment in Black’s eyes;Potter asking Snape where he’d learned that one. Then the scene shifted, and she was no longer at the lake, watching Potter and Black trying to figure out how to get rid of the snake. Instead, she was in the Great Hall, however it was clearly not set up for dining. The tables were gone, and along one wall was a long, golden stage. She was in the middle of a large group of students, who were forming a circle. Lily recognized almost immediately that she was having another vision, and she glanced around, mildly curious as to what it would be about.

In the middle of the circle, she saw a greasy-haired man who looked to be about her father’s age whispering something into the ear of a pointy-faced, blonde-haired boy with a mean sneer that reminded Lily forcefully of Lucius Malfoy. The hair of the greasy-haired man obscured his face, but Lily assumed that he was a teacher of some sort. As she was wondering what class he taught, he straightened up, his gaze meeting hers, and Lily realized with a start that she was looking into the eyes of Severus Snape. As she wondered at the revelation that Snape would one day teach at Hogwarts, the blonde boy, who Lily now guessed was Malfoy’s son, muttered, “Scared?” To the right of her, she heard a voice reply, “You wish,” but when she tried to turn her head to see who was speaking, she found that she was unable to do so. Apparently, this was not a vision which she could control, she mused, wondering why that would be.

“Three—two—one—go!” another voice to the right of Lily shouted, and Malfoy’s son raised his wand and bellowed, “Serpensortia!” A long black snake shot out the end of the wand, and coiled as though ready to strike. Lily automatically muttered a scream and turned to back away with the rest of the crowd, as a blonde-haired man came into view and shouted “Allow me!” He waved his wand, and the snake flew into the air and landed back on the floor, and then began moving toward a student standing near Lily. At that moment, a hissing sound came from the right of her, and the snake turned towards it, slumping to the floor, almost as though whoever had made the hissing sound had told it to stop attacking.

“What do you think you’re playing at?” the boy who the snake had gone after said angrily, before turning to stomp off. At that moment, Snape stepped forward, and with a wave of his wand, the snake disappeared. He then looked over beyond Lily with an odd expression in his eyes, and Lily wondered if whoever it was that was standing on the side of the circle which she was unable to see had been the one who had made the sound.

“Lily! Lily!” Alice screamed as Lily’s thoughts returned abruptly to the present. She felt a pain throbbing in her elbow, and as she looked around, she was utterly unsurprised to find that she had fallen from her seat onto the ground. Last year, Lily had had several visions like the one that she had just had. Most of them had gotten herself and her friends out of very dangerous situations, and all save one had ended with her tumbling onto the floor at the end of it. She rubbed her elbow with a grimace, as Amelia reached out a hand to help her up. “Are you okay?” Amelia asked, as Lily grasped her hand and pulled herself to her feet.

“I’m fine,” Lily said, dusting herself off. “Just a little embarrassed.” Alice and Amelia exchanged a glance. “What?” Lily asked.

Alice tried to force a smile. “Did you have another vision, then?” she asked, and Lily smiled. She had told them last year about her “inner eye” being more keen than the average witch or wizard’s. Of course they would be curious.

“Yes,” she said, settling herself back onto her seat, and picking up a chocolate frog.

Alice and Amelia exchanged another glance. “Well that—,” Amelia paused, as though struggling to put into words the question that she wanted to ask. “I mean, didn’t Dumbledore say that you only have those visions when a friend or family-member is in danger?”

Lily laughed. “Yes,” she agreed, “he did say that, but unless I marry Lucius Malfoy or Severus Snape, I don’tthink we have anything to worry about.” Alice’s and Amelia’s expressions changed from concern to confusion, and so Lily quickly recounted the vision to them. After she had told them about it, and they were certain nothing bad would come of it, Alice started talking about all of the training that she had done for her quidditch try-out this year. From the sounds of it, she had spent the entire summer on a broomstick, practicing.

As they talked, Lily found herself thinking. Despite the fact that she had convinced both Alice and Ameliathat there was nothing to worry about, the vision had been unsettling, but she couldn't figure out why. It obviously had not taken place any time in the near future, and nothing particularly worrisome had happened. And yet, there had been something about the voice coming from the person that she couldn’t see. It had sounded familiar to her, though she was certain that she’d never heard it before.

As she pondered this, her hands strayed once again to her locket, and she was surprised to find it open. Her father had told her when he’d given it to her that it had been stuck shut as long as anyone could remember. As she reached her hand back to unclasp the chain, the clasp came open, and the locket fell softly into her hands.

“How strange,” she murmured as she inspected the interior. There was something inscribed on the inside, but it was so faint that she could barely see it. She blinked, trying to bring the inscription into focus, but when she looked again, the writing had disappeared entirely.

“What’s strange?” Amelia asked, now staring at Lily.

“This,” she said, indicating the locket. “Dad said that my locket has been broken for as long as his mother owned it, but it came open just now. And I’m not certain, but I thought when I looked at it that I saw some writing inscribed in the inside of it, but it’s disappeared now.”

“Disappeared?” Alice asked skeptically. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head when you fell, Lils? Inscriptions in muggle lockets don’t just appear and then go away.”

“Don't they?” Amelia asked in genuine curiosity, causing Alice and Lily to laugh. “Do they do anything, then?”

“No wonder you get on so well with my dad, Amelia,” Alice said, grinning. “Anyway, I’m sure it must have just been a trick of the light.”

“Yeah,” Lily said, as the compartment door slid open again, this time revealing Frank Longbottom. “But I would have sworn it was there,” Lily thought silently as Alice let out an ear-splitting shriek and tackled Frank in a hug.

*****************************

The weather grew steadily drearier as the train lumbered northward, until rain finally began falling just as the girls were getting changed into their school robes. When they reached Hogsmeade, Lily performed a waterproofing charm on everyone’s trunks to keep the contents within from getting wet and the three girls spilled out of the train and into the rain that was pouring down on the platform. Up ahead, Lily saw Hagrid calling for the first years, and she smiled as she noticed that he had his pink umbrella in his hand. She knew from experience last year that Hagrid’s umbrella doubled as a wand holder for him. Amelia found her little brother, shivering either from fear, or cold, or maybe both, and directed him over towards Hagrid before they began making their way toward the horseless carriages that were waiting to take the older students to the castle.

“That’s odd,” Amelia said, stopping to glance at the carriages. “Where are the thestrals?”

Lily and Alice turned to glance at Amelia. “The what?” Lily asked.

“The thestrals,” Amelia repeated. “You know—the animals that pull the carriages?”

Lily looked at Alice, who shrugged in response. “I didn’t know that the carriages were pulled by thestrals,” Alice said.

“Well of course they are,” Amelia said, looking around. “I noticed them when we took the carriages to the train station at the end of last year. And they’re all missing now, aren’t they?”

Alice shrugged again. “Dunno,” she said. “I can’t see them. Hang on—you can see thestrals?”

Amelia nodded. By this time, all three girls were completely soaked, and Lily, who had no idea what thestrals were, or why Alice (and she assumed, she) could not see them, was beginning to shiver. “Can we continue this discussion inside the carriage?” she asked, as the door opened.

“Good idea,” Alice agreed, and Lily climbed inside, followed by Alice and Amelia. In short order, the seats were soaked, however the inside of the carriage proved much warmer and Lily felt the shivers begin to subside.

“Now,” she said, as all three pulled out their wands and began directing warm air at themselves to dry off, “what are you on about, Amelia? What are thestrals, and what do they have to do with the carriages?”

“Thestrals,” Amelia said, as though reciting from a text book, “are creatures that look like horses with wings. They’re often seen as omens of bad luck, but this is because they have the unfortunate characteristic of only being visible to someone who has witnessed death.”

Lily stopped moving her wand around, and stared at Amelia. “Really?” she asked.

“Really,” Alice answered. “But I didn’t know that they pull the carriages.”

“They do,” Amelia said simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which, to her, it probably was.

“And you can see them?” Alice asked again.

“Yes,” Amelia answered, as the door to the carriage was yanked open, and Edgar stuck his head inside.

“You three,” he said, “someone’s let the thestrals go. They’ve gone back to Hogwarts, so we’re going to have to walk to the school.”

The girls didn’t move. “We’re walking?” Amelia asked. Edgar nodded. “In this?” Edgar nodded again. “You must be mad!”

“Afraid not, sis. By the time we got everyone across in the boats, it’d be quicker just to walk.”

Andromeda Black’s head appeared behind Edgar. “I’ll get the last carriage, and then I think we’ve told everyone,” she said, “so you can head to the castle now, Edgar.” She trotted off toward the last carriage.

“You three had better get going, then,” Edgar said, turning and running toward a girl just up ahead that Lily assumed was the other fifth year Hufflepuff prefect.

Lily, Alice and Amelia exchanged looks of dismay, but climbed resignedly out of the carriages. “Imagine walking! In this!” Alice exclaimed as they set off through the rain toward the group of students up ahead.

“They don’t seem to mind,” Amelia said, gesturing to a group of four students off in the distance. Although it was too dark to make out who they were, the group was running around, circling back, splashing water on other students, and in general, causing mayhem. As they watched, one of the figures launched itself at the other, and the two landed in a mud puddle, wrestling around, while the other two cheered them on.

“Leave it to the Marauders to enjoy this,” a voice said in Lily’s ear, and she turned to see that Frank had come up beside them.

“How do you know that’s the Marauders?” Lily asked.

Frank shrugged. “Who else would it be?” he asked with a grin, and Lily had to admit that Frank had a point.

“So my guess is that it’s Potter and Black wrestling,” Alice said.

“I’d guess you’re right,” Lily agreed. She’d seen the two of them wrestling on several occasions.

As they drew nearer, they found that their hunch was indeed correct. Potter and Black were now rolling around on the ground, wrestling each other, and getting thoroughly covered in mud. Lily shook her head in disbelief as Potter stood up.

“Hiya Evans!” he said with a goofy wave. Lily ignored him. “Do you see that, Siri?” Potter asked, turning his back to Lily as he faced Black. “I saved her life last year, and she’s already ignoring me!”

Lily grinned, a twinkle of mischief coming into her eye. She bent to scoop up a handful of mud as Black shook his head, water and mud flying everywhere. “You’re wrong about that, mate!” he exclaimed.

“What do you--?” Potter began, as he turned to face Lily. At that moment, she flung the mud as hard as she could in his direction, hitting him square in the face. The girls and the Marauders burst into laughter. “mean?” Potter finished, reaching up and wiping the mud off his face. “You’re in for it now, Evans!” he called, as Lily shrieked and took off.

She glanced over her shoulder just long enough to see that Lupin, Pettigrew, and Black were now tossing mud at Amelia, Alice, and Frank, who were returning fire. As she turned around to put on a spurt of speed, she slipped on the mud and landed, face down. She struggled back to her feet, and saw Potter drawing nearer. A thought came to her, and she sat back in the mud, laughing. She hadn’t had this much fun since she was much younger, and she and Petunia had played in mud puddles. They’d gotten into a bit of trouble with Elizabeth for that one, but it had been worth it, as it was now. As Lily sat in the mud, waiting for Potter to arrive, she inconspicuously drew her wand. Potter slowed down as he approached, and grinned. “Not fast enough, are you Evans,” he asked, c.ocking back his arm, and Lily saw his hand was filled with mud.

She lifted her wand, and as his eyes widened, she carelessly muttered, “caenum leviosa,” and flicked her wand. The mud in his hand rose into the air, and with another flick of her wand, landed on the top of Potter’s head.

“Apparently I am,” she called out, laughing.

“I didn’t know you had it in you, Evans,” he said in appreciation, as Black, Lupin and Pettigrew arrived, followed shortly by Alice, Amelia and Frank. They all took one look at Lily and Potter, and burst into laughter again.

“Oi! You lot,” Andromeda called out, striding quickly toward them from behind. “What in the world happened to you?” She glanced from one mud-covered face to the next before shaking her head in amazement. “Never mind, just get a move on. We’ve got to get to the castle. Let’s go.”

They laughed again, and then turned to follow Andromeda to Hogwarts.

When they arrived at the castle, the first-years were already huddling inside the entrance hall, dripping wet. As they walked quickly past the trembling students, the Marauders paused to talk to one of the first-years, a small, black-haired, dark-eyed boy who looked rather frightened of it all. “It’s okay, Reggie, they’ve told us you're fighting a werewolf,” Black said with a smirk as Pettigrew began laughing.

Potter nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Don’t try to outrun it, though. You’ll be dead before you get five feet. Werewolves are wicked fast.”

“You’ll want to jab it with your wand, preferably in the eye. That’s the weakest spot, and the stupid wolf won’t even know what hit him.”

Pettigrew began laughing even harder, but Lily noticed that Lupin had gone pale. “You think that’s funny?” Lupin asked. She, Alice and Amelia all paused automatically to watch, as Pettigrew stopped laughing, and took a step back, looking scared.

Black glanced in confusion at Potter, who shrugged. “Listen mate,” Black said, “We were just joking around with my brother. We didn’t mean any harm by it. It’s no different than all of us thinking we had to face—”

“There’s not even a full-moon tonight! It’s not like werewolves are monsters all the time! And you don’t have to be stupid to be a werewolf,” Lupin continued, apparently not hearing them, “some of the smartest wizards are—”

“You’d have to be pretty stupid to get bitten in the first place,” Black whispered to Potter, who grinned.

Lupin clenched his fists. “There’s nothing funny about that,” he said seriously.

“No, of course not,” Potter agreed. “We were only joking, Rem—”

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe not all of your jokes are amusing, James?” Lupin said, but before Potter could respond, Lupin had turned and took off running in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. Without missing a beat, Potter and Black glanced at one another and went running after him, Pettigrew trailing behind.

Lily, Alice and Amelia stood there staring at each other. “What in the world was that all about?” Lily asked the other two, as Andromeda yelled at them to get moving.

“Maybe he’s got an aunt or uncle that’s a werewolf?” Alice suggested.

“Maybe,” Amelia said doubtfully as they entered the Great Hall and walked over to find seats at the Gryffindor table. “I do hope that Black and Potter find him, though. He looked pretty upset.”

Alice grimaced. “Potter and Black are probably not the best choice to calm him down, then,” she said, taking off her cloak and setting it down before settling herself beside it at the table. “They don’t always know when they’ve crossed the line between funny and irritating.”

“You mean there are times when they do know?” Lily asked with a smile, sitting down across from Amelia.

Her two friends laughed. “Quite frequently, Lily. The only problem is, when it comes to you, irritating you is what they find funny, so there is no line to stop them.”

Lily’s smile disappeared. “Why do they think it’s so much fun to irritate me?” she asked seriously.

A loud shuffling at the door of the hall heralded the entrance of the first-years before Alice or Amelia could answer, and the noise in the Great Hall immediately quieted as Dumbledore rose to his feet. “Welcome, everyone, to a new year at Hogwarts! Traditionally, I would say a few words of welcome right now—which you’ll realize I have already done—and then we would begin the ceremony wherein each new first year is sorted into the house that they will call home for the next seven years. I know that our new students have already waited eleven long years to discover which house they will belong to, and it is my regret to say that due to the—unique—circumstances of our older students’ arrival at Hogwarts this evening, the first years will have to wait another day. Madam Pomphrey has informed that she does not have enough pepper-up potion for the number of colds that you would catch if I forced you to sit here through the entire sorting ceremony and start-of-term feast before allowing you to go upstairs and get changed out of your wet clothing, and therefore, the older students are to go to their houses and change. Dinner will be sent up, and you will eat in your common rooms before retiring to your dorm rooms this evening. The first-years will stay in the Great Hall for dinner and sleep in here tonight, and classes tomorrow will be cancelled. The start-of-term feast will be held tomorrow evening instead.”

The cheers that had erupted at Dumbledore’s announcement that classes would not be starting until the day after next gave way to the rustling of students standing up and trying to make their way past the first years, who were still standing in the pathway to the door. “Wonder if that’s ever happened before?” Lily idly asked, as they made their way up the stairs to Gryffindor tower.

“Doubt it,” Alice answered. “At least Black won’t miss his brother being sorted, though.”

“Speaking of my little cousin, where’d he get off too, anyway?” Andromeda’s voice broke in, startling all three of them.

Amelia shrugged. “Dunno. He and Potter said something that upset Lupin, and he took off. They followed him.”

Andromeda sighed. “Not that it bothers me,” she said, “since I was the one who did it to them last year, but they’re going to have detention before the week’s out again, aren’t they?”

"Probably,” Lily agreed, before changing the subject. She had been the target of the practical joke that had landed them detention last year, and she didn't particularly want to talk about it. “I wonder if Black’s brother will end up in Gryffindor?”

“Unlikely,” Andromeda countered. “Regulus will almost certainly end up a Slytherin. Like my two sisters, Reggie doesn’t have the strength of character that Sirius does. He’ll be in Slytherin just like his dearest mother wants him to be.”

Lily shook her head sadly, her thoughts inexplicably drawn to Petunia, as Alice asked Andromeda about Black’s mother. She felt a sudden wave of homesickness unlike any she’d ever experienced at Hogwarts, and she reached down and began fiddling with her locket as her thoughts wandered. Petunia had been so upset when she left. She needed her older sister to talk to about it. And where was she? Away at school. She rather didn’t blame Petunia for being upset with her. She’d probably feel the same way.

“Is something wrong, Lily?” Andromeda asked, bringing Lily’s thoughts back to the present.

“Just thinking of my sister,” Lily said with a sigh. “She was in tears when I left, fighting with my mum. The two of them haven’t seen eye to eye since I came to Hogwarts, and I guess I’m just feeling…”

“A little guilty?” Andromeda asked as they arrived at the landing by their common room. Alice put an arm around Lily’s shoulder while Amelia squeezed her hand. “I’m sure your sister will be fine.”

“Password?” the fat lady asked.

“Brie cheese,” Andromeda responded, and the portrait hole swung open for them to enter.

Lily had just hopped down from the portrait hole and into the common room when there was a flash of light. In the next second, Lily had the sensation that the skin on her face was crawling. It was a moment before she realized that the sensation was from the mud on her cheeks, which had been transfigured into what felt like an entire colony of ants. She screamed, and began brushing the ants off of her face, Alice and Amelia stomping on them as they fell.

Laughter erupted in the corner, and once she was satisfied that her skin was no longer crawling with insects, she looked over and saw Potter, Pettigrew and Black all laughing merrily. Unfortunately for the three Marauders, Andromeda had come in with Lily, and had observed the entire scene. “Detention!” she shouted. “All three of you. What were you thinking? Pulling a stunt like this on the first night!”

Black shrugged. “We didn’t want to do it the first night,” he explained earnestly, “but we figured that it was the best time to catch Evans unprepared.”

“I had to get her back for throwing mud at me earlier,” Potter added. Pettigrew stared at the floor.

“So you can clearly see, dear cousin,” Black continued.

“That we had no choice,” Potter finished.

“Then surely you three can understand that I have no choice but to give you detention. Professor McGonagall will let you know your assignments tomorrow.” Andromeda gave her a sympathetic look, and then headed toward the girls’ dorm.

“Why do you think it’s so much fun to make my life miserable?” Lily asked, her eyes brimming with tears. Not waiting for an answer, she whirled around and followed Andromeda up the stairs toward her dormitory.

“It was just a joke,” she heard Potter say as she turned the corner and disappeared out of sight. Lily heaved a sigh. She had desperately hoped that after what they had been through at the end of last year, she and Potter would be able to get along this year, but it looked as though he enjoyed tormenting her too much to let that ever happen.

3. Chapter 3: Lupin's Strange Behavior

Chapter 3: Lupin's Strange Behavior

The next morning, Lily tried to wake Alice and Amelia early, but had nearly been hexed by Alice who had insisted that today was “the same as Saturday” since they didn't have classes, and she was not going to waste it by getting up early. Amelia had concurred, and complained loudly about the noise that Lily was making. After a few more attempts at rousing them, Lily had eventually given up on her two roommates and wandered down to the common room to see if anyone was awake to join her for breakfast. “Good morning, Remus!” Lily greeted Lupin as she bounded down the last couple of steps and saw him sitting at a table, books spread around him. “Getting an early start on studying, then?”

Lupin looked up and gave her a sad smile. “Well, from the looks of things, I'll be working by myself this year,” he said, a note of resignation in his voice, “so I thought it best to get as far ahead as I could.”

Lily glanced at him inquisitively. “Why will you be working by yourself this year? Have Potter and Black decided to skip going to class altogether?”

She smiled, but he just sighed and set down his quill. “No,” he said, reaching for a nearby book and opening it.

Lily sat down, unsure if she should get involved, particularly given her own volatile history with Potter and Black. After some thought, the silence between them stretched, and she decided to see if he wanted to talk about it. If not, then she wouldn't push. “I'm guessing from your reaction last night that you must know someone who's a werewolf,” she said gently, “and I'm sure if Potter and Black had known that, they never would have—,”

“It's not that, Lily,” Lupin said, coming as close to snapping at her as Lily has ever seen him come. “I've just been—I haven't been fair to them. They've trusted me, never been anything but honest and I—” he trailed off, and gazed at her intently. “I really don't want to talk about it, Lily.”

Lily gazed piercingly at him. What on earth was he talking about? He'd been a better friend to Potter and Black than she'd have said that either of them deserved, so why would he suddenly feel that he hadn't been fair to them? She sighed. “Okay,” she said. “I guess I won't pry, but if you ever want anyone to do homework with, Alice, Amelia and I would be happy to work with you. I'm sure Frank won't mind, either.”

Lupin smiled. “Thanks,” he said, and then turned back to reading the book that he had open in front of him.

Lily settled into a chair across from him, and reached toward one of the books scattered across the table. “Dark Creatures of Europe,” she read off as Lupin made an anxious grab at the book.

“Yes,” he said, a blush spreading slowly across his face. “We'll be starting them in Defense this year, and I thought I'd get a head start.”

“Oh,” she said, releasing the book into Lupin's hand just as Alice and Amelia came trudging down the stairs. Neither looked entirely happy to be awake.

“Good morning,” Lily said, standing up with a last look at Lupin. “I thought you weren't getting up so early?”

“Didn't have much choice, did we?” Alice grumbled. “You made enough noise to wake the living dead this morning!”

Lily blushed. “Sorry about that,” she said quickly. “I just thought the two of you would be more excited to be back at Hogwarts than that, is all.”

“I was excited to be back at Hogwarts,” Amelia said with a yawn. “More specifically, I was excited to be sleeping in my big comfortable bed at Hog—Oh! Good morning, Remus!” Amelia's cheeks turned bright pink. “I didn't see you there.”

Remus smiled another tired smile. “I'm easy to miss,” he said wryly. “I'm afraid that I blend into the walls around here rather easily.”

Alice grinned. “Well, you are a bit easier to miss than Potter or Black,” she agreed heartily.

“That's not a bad thing,” Amelia said, her blush deepening. “Anyway, are you ready for breakfast, Lils?”

Lily nodded. “For an hour now,” she said, “but I'll take what I can get with the two of you. Come on, let's go! Remus, would you like to join us?”

“Oh, no, thank you, Lily. I've already eaten.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “We don't mind the company.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “No, no. I'll be fine. You three go on.”

With a last glance at Lupin, the three girls turned and crawled out of the portrait hole. When they arrived at the Great Hall, they found that most of Gryffindor Tower was already there, including Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and Frank. Lily glanced at Alice and Amelia, certain that they'd want to sit next to them, but equally certain that she did not want to sit there. “Do you guys mind?” she asked tentatively. She knew that her ongoing feud with Potter was a source of great annoyance to both of her friends, and yet she wasn't quite ready to open herself up to the teasing that was certain to come from him this morning. She was also more than a little annoyed at all three boys for making Lupin feel as though he didn't deserve to be friends with them. What on earth had been said when they'd caught up to him last night?

As she had expected, Alice rolled her eyes. “You're going to have to face him sooner or later, you know,” she said with an exaggerated sigh as Amelia shook her head in agreement.

“As noted last year,” Amelia added, “we do have all of our classes with him.”

“I know that!” Lily said, her temper flaring slightly at her friends' refusal to be sympathetic to her plight. “I'd just rather wait until tomorrow to deal with them if I can, that's all.”

“Fine,” Alice said, heading toward the opposite end of the table from where the boys were sitting. “But it's only going to be worse then. They'll have had more time to think of taunts and clever comebacks by then.”

“So will I have,” she retorted, following Alice. As they sat down, she looked around the Great Hall and noticed that a fifth table had somehow been squeezed in, and that the first years were all sitting at that, still looking as nervous as they had last night. “I'm glad this didn't happen our first year,” Lily commented, piling a couple of pancakes onto her plate, and reaching for the syrup.

“Oh, I know!” Alice agreed, her curls bouncing this way and that as she nodded her head emphatically. “It seemed like an eternity that we had to wait as it was! And I'm not the most patient person in the world, you know.”

Lily dropped her fork and opened her eyes wide in mock surprise. “Really, Alice? I would never have gotten that from you.”

Amelia giggled, as Alice stuck out her tongue. “Hello ladies,” a new voice said smoothly, and Lily cringed. “Evans,” it added.

“Potter,” she said cordially. “You might have noticed that we chose seats as far away from you as possible. We did this for a reason.”

He grinned. “Yes, it was a shame that there were no open seats next to us when you arrived. That's actually why we thought we'd come down to say hello.”

Lily grit her teeth, trying not to allow the boys to frustrate her. “Is there something that you want?” she asked.

“Now that you mention it, yes,” Black said, shooing the third-year sitting next to Alice aside, and sitting down. “You might have noticed that we are shy one in number,” he said.

Alice, Amelia and Lily nodded. “We had noticed that, yes,” Alice agreed, smiling. For reasons that escaped Lily's understanding, a persisting friendship had grown between Black and Alice when they had both been hospitalized for several weeks last term.

“Well, we're wondering if you know what's bothering him?” Potter said, glancing at Black and Pettigrew, who both nodded in agreement.

“No,” Lily said, “we don't. And if we did, what makes you think we'd tell you, anyway?”

Potter sighed in frustration. “Look, Evans, I know that you find this hard to believe, but we really do like Remmy. He's never acted this way before, and so, we are worried about him. As I'd think you'd be, Miss Perfect. It's the way that friends are supposed to act.”

Lily's temper reached its breaking point. “Who are you to lecture me about friendship, Potter? I've never made any of my friends think that they didn't deserve to be friends with me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a letter to write.” Lily stood up and turned to leave, ignoring the voice in her head that told her she'd be starving later on if she did.

“Wait, Evans—I'm sorry. What do you mean, he thinks he doesn't deserve to be friends with us?” she heard Potter call after her.

She sighed. “Now he says he's sorry,” she thought in frustration as she swept quickly out of the Great Hall. Why did he need to push her past her tolerance point before apologizing? Couldn't he just stop before he got there? She turned the corner to the stairwell, and collided head-on with someone's back. The person she'd run into whipped around, and she gaped. “What are you doing here?” she asked, unable to control the dead fury in her voice.

Lucius Malfoy glanced down at her, with a look of intense dislike momentarily in his eyes before it was concealed by a polite look of interest. “Miss Evans,” Malfoy said, “how nice to see you again.”

“Miss Evans?” a second voice questioned, and Lily felt a tremor of fear at the sound. She knew that voice, and after she had glanced to the left of Malfoy, she had a face to match it up with. Lucius Malfoy's father had long white-blond hair that framed a face with cold gray eyes, and a long, regal nose. His lips formed a half-sneer as a spark of recognition came into his eyes. Lily's immediate instinct was to scream and run, but the rational part of her mind recognized that neither one was about to hurt her in the middle of the hallway, with Dumbledore eating breakfast a mere hundred yards or so away.

Lily steeled up her courage, and remained standing where she was. Drawing herself up to her full height (which seemed woefully short when compared to the two men standing in front of her), she gazed at them defiantly. “Yes,” she said. “You may remember me. I'm one of the students that you had your son kidnap last term.”

Malfoy, Sr. chuckled, but his eyes were not amused. “My dear child, you must be mistaken. As a governor of this school, I am bound to protect the children it educates.”

Lily didn't blink. “I'm not mistaken,” she said, “but as I've got no proof that you were involved, there's little I can do. What are you doing here, anyway?”

“You really ought to learn some manners, Evans,” Malfoy said, his dislike for Lily showing through the polished politeness he had first demonstrated. “Do you have any idea the position and esteem that my father holds in the wizarding community?”

“Now, now, son. This is your first visit to the school on official business, after all. I would hope that your childish grudges would not compel you to embarrass the family name,” Governor Malfoy said, smiling dangerously at his son. He leaned down so that he was eye level with Lily, and she saw a glint of malice in his pale gray eyes. “We are here because any time there is an interference with the normal operations of the school, the governors are duty-bound to make sure that it does not become a common occurrence. The postponement of classes for an entire day is a source of great concern for those of us who wish to see young witches such as yourself,” his lip curled slightly as he said this, “get the best education possible. This cannot happen if classes continue to be cancelled at—,”

The elder Malfoy stopped as Professor Amos approached. “Young Mr. Malfoy, Governor Malchaiah! To what do we owe the pleasure?” Amos asked, holding out his hand for the two to shake.

“Professor Amos!” Lucius exclaimed, shaking Amos's hand enthusiastically. “It's wonderful to see you again.” Professor Amos shook hands heartily with Lucius Malfoy before turning toward Malfoy's father.

“Professor Amos, good to see you,” Malchaiah Malfoy said smoothly, also shaking Amos's hand. “I was just explaining that very thing to Miss Evans, here. She's quite a precocious little girl. I do hope that her curiosity does not get her into…trouble.”

Amos turned his gaze to Lily, and there was little within it to indicate that he thought more of her than he did the speck of dirt on his shoe. “Yes, Miss Evans's prying has caused her difficulty in the past. We can only hope that she's learned to control the impulse, and that it won't happen again.”

Lily, not liking the thinly veiled threat in Governor Malfoy's voice, and equally appalled by Amos's response to it, turned to leave. “I'm sure I'll be seeing you again, Miss Evans,” Lucius Malfoy said mockingly, as she hurried away. “Professor, we're here as representatives of the Hogwarts Board of Governors…”

Malfoy's voice faded as she hurried up the stairs, a million thoughts swirling around in her mind. The Malfoys were here on official business for the Board of Governors, but that couldn't be the only reason. She'd bet her wand that they were looking to gather information for the dark wizard. Hadn't Malchaiah Malfoy spoken before about methods of gathering information at Hogwarts when she'd had her last confrontation with him. She shuddered as the thought of this last meeting brought to mind the image of Malfoy, hooded to conceal his identity, pointing his wand at Potter, and the screams of pain that had followed. Lily forced her mind back to the present. Dwelling on what had happened that evening wasn't going to help her determine what it was that Malfoy and his father were after, would it? Were they just trying to find out information regarding Dumbledore's continuing efforts to prevent their master from becoming immortal and purging the wizarding world of all muggle-borns, or was there another reason?

She arrived at the painting of the fat lady, panting and out of breath. “Brie cheese,” she said. The painting swung open and she crawled into the common room, smiling as she saw Lupin still sitting exactly where he had been when they'd left, the books around him piled even higher than before. “Hi Remus!”

Lupin's head snapped up in surprise. “Oh, it's you, Lily. I wasn't expecting you back so soon. Where are Alice and Amelia?” Lily blushed a little, not wanting to admit that she'd once again lost her temper with Potter and left before she'd finished her breakfast. Hadn't Lupin lectured her before on trying to remain calm when he was around? By the grin on his face, however, she could see that she needn't explain. “Jamesy came and talked to you then?” he asked.

Lily nodded. “Yes, and I'm afraid that I was a bit short-tempered with him.”

Lupin looked at her appraisingly. “I have to admit that I'd be shocked if you said you'd acted otherwise,” he said mildly.

Lily heaved a sigh of frustration. “I'm not the one that starts it, you know—,” she began, but stopped at Lupin's laughter.

“Oh, I know, Lily,” he said, his eyes sparkling in amusement. “Amelia has told me all about how innocent you are—or think you are—when it comes to your feud with James.”

Lily could feel her temper beginning to rise again, and decided to leave before she allowed Lupin the satisfaction of seeing how much the mere thought of Potter upset her. “I'll be upstairs writing a letter to Petunia,” she said briskly, “if anyone's looking for me.” Lupin shook his head, as she turned around and began walking up the stairs to her room.

“I'm sure he will be,” Lupin said quietly before she climbed out of sight. Lily sighed, certain that he had not intended for her to hear it, but confused nonetheless. What in the name of Gryffindor was that supposed to mean?

**************************

After a relaxing afternoon in which Lily, Alice and Amelia did absolutely nothing productive, the girls prepared for the feast, and then hurried quickly down to the Great Hall. When they arrived, Dumbledore was speaking with Lucius Malfoy and his father, and Lily suspected that their headmaster was none-to-pleased with the presence in his school of either Governor Malfoy, or his son. “They're still here?” Alice asked, the dislike in her voice clearly evident.

“What I can't figure out,” Amelia said, clearly irritated, “is how Lucius Malfoy is walking around free. Shouldn't he be in jail after kidnapping Lily and Potter last year? There has to be plenty of evidence.”

“I'm sure his father bought him out of trouble,” Alice said bitterly. “When you've got money like the Malfoys, the laws don't always apply to you.”

“Well they should!” Amelia said huffily. “I mean if he's able to get out of a kidnapping charge—”

“The judge said that with only my word and Potter's word, they didn't have enough evidence,” Lily said dully.

“But—what about Alfie? And the other—,” Amelia sputtered.

“They weren't allowed to testify,” she explained. “I got a letter from Dumbledore this summer. You can read between the lines. His father definitely bribed the judge who was handling the case.” Lily still got angry whenever she was reminded that Malfoy was still running around free, and she wasn't particularly in the mood to listen to one of Amelia's long complaints about corruption in the ministry, so she tried to change the subject. “Anyway, I do wonder what it is they're doing here.”

Amelia hesitated, looking reluctant to leave behind the current topic of conversation, but she finally relented, and answered Lily. “Well, they'll be wanting to get as much information on Dumbledore's activities as possible, won't they? Even if they're not working against him for the sake of their `Lord', Dumbledore is still the primary adversary to Malfoy's legislation in the Wizengamot.” Alice and Lily exchanged blank looks, and then glanced expectantly at Amelia, waiting for her to explain. She sighed. “Honestly, do either of you bother to read the paper at all?”

Alice grinned. “I've explained this to you before, Amelia. It's much more efficient to allow you to read it, and then tell us the important parts.”

Lily couldn't help but feel guilty at the look of exasperation on Amelia's face, thinking that maybe sometimes they took entirely too much pleasure in Amelia's frustration with their lack of knowledge about the contents of the Daily Prophet. On the other hand, hadn't Amelia just this morning been making light of her own frustration with James Potter? The feeling of guilt evaporated, and she giggled. “Alice is right, Amelia. I mean, we've each got our jobs. Yours is to keep us informed about current events.”

Alice laughed. “That's right. And Lily's is to keep us from forgetting what, exactly, is so horrible about Potter and the other Marauders.”

“No,” Amelia corrected. “Not all of the Marauders. Just Potter and Black.”

“Mainly Potter,” Alice agreed.

Lily glared at both of them. “Are you going to explain what you're talking about, Amelia?” Lily asked, pointedly ignoring both of her friends' comments about Potter and his friends.

Amelia grinned at Alice before continuing. “All right, fine. Malfoy has introduced legislation which he claims is aimed at `protecting' the wizarding way of life.” Amelia snorted, telling her friends in no uncertain terms her opinion of this claim. “It's basically a thinly-veiled attempt to force muggle-borns out of Hogwarts. He's the head of an entire group devoted to this goal, actually. `Pure-Bloods for the Protection of the Wizarding Way of Life' or something like that. Don't worry,” she added quickly, “the bill has no chance of getting passed, but the thing that appalls me the most is that it's even up for debate. It used to be that bills like his didn't even make it out of committee for a vote.”

“So do you suppose that's why he's there, then?” Alice asked. “To try to persuade Dumbledore to support him?”

“It'd be a fool's errand if he is,” Potter said, walking over to them, followed closely by Black, Pettigrew and Frank. “There's no way he'd convince Dumbledore to join him.”

“He'd have about as much chance of that as Evans has of dating Pettigrew,” Black agreed. Potter laughed out loud at the thought as Lily and Pettigrew blushed. “Right, Petey?” Black continued.

“Right,” Pettigrew said meekly, sitting down. “I think the sorting's about to start.”

Lily glared at Potter and Black, but turned to sit down beside Kaylie and Desdamona without a word. “It was a joke, Evans,” Black said, smirking. “By all means, date Pettigrew if you want.” He cast a sidelong glance at Potter. “My point was that Dumbledore will never help Malfoy pass the legislation.” He slid into a seat beside Pettigrew, and turned to Potter, the two of them quickly becoming engrossed in a conversation about quidditch try-outs.

“Honestly,” Lily said to no one in particular. “They could be nicer to him!”

“Who says it was him they were being mean to?” Frank asked, also sitting down.

“What do you mean?” Lily asked, confused.

“I mean, when they said that Pettigrew would never date you, you assumed they were saying that he wasn't good enough to date you. How do you know they didn't mean the opposite? That is, that you aren't good enough to date Pettigrew.”

Lily was too stunned to even notice the uproarious laughter that had erupted from Potter and Black. “Good point, Frankie! You're a bit full of yourself, aren't you, Evans? How do you know that's not what we meant!”

“Was it?” Lily challenged, turning to face Potter and Black.

Potter shrugged. “Does it matter? The point is that the high and mighty Princess Evans never even stopped to consider that we might think she's not good enough for one of our friends.”

Lily felt Amelia's hand on her shoulder, Amelia's signal to her not to rise to Potter's bait, but she didn't care. “Did I miss something, Potter? Have I ever done anything to make you feel inferior to me?”

Potter's grin faded. “Are you really asking that Evans?” Potter asked incredulously. “You spend every minute of every day trying to prove to us and everybody else that we aren't worth your time, and the minute someone turns it around on you, you start playing the victim. Honestly!” Lily could tell that Potter was actually angry now, a sight that she thought she'd never see.

“You know, Potter, I thought at the end of last year that you and I might be able to be friends, but I don't know why I was deluding myself. You'd never admit that every spare minute you had last year was spent making my life miserable, and that maybe, just maybe, there might be a rational reason for my behavior toward you. You're unbelievable!”

“I'm unbelievable?” Potter repeated, turning to look at Black and Pettigrew for support. “You've acted like you're too good to talk to me from the moment that you saw me on the platform in London, and I'm unbelievable?”

“Just what do you two think that you are doing?” Professor McGonagall's furious whisper interrupted them. “The sorting hat is in the middle of its song, and all anyone in the hall can hear is the two of you shouting! That will be 20 points from Gryffindor, and both of you will be serving detention this week. No arguing, Mr. Potter. The two of you have been completely inconsiderate to the first years. Imagine if someone had interrupted your own sorting in such a manner!” She strode off toward the head table, as the sorting hat reached the end of its song.

Apparently, something about her exchange with Potter had struck the other Gryffindor second years as amusing, because all seven that were sitting around them were now trying their best to muffle their laughter. This did nothing to calm Lily's anger, and she sat at the table, fuming, as the sorting hat began separating students into the four houses. Regulus Black's name was called shortly thereafter.

“I don't even know why I'm hoping he won't get sent to Slytherin,” Black said, and when the sorting hat confirmed his suspicion, Black snorted in disgust. “He's always been a little mommy's boy.” Potter gave Black a sympathetic smile.

Lily's attention was then drawn to Amelia. Her little brother, Jacob, had just put the hat on. A few minutes later, the hat was still trying to decide, and Amelia was becoming more nervous by the second. “He could be a Gryffindor, couldn't he?” Amelia said hopefully. “I mean, he's brave enough.”

The tear on the brim of the hat opened and shouted out “Ravenclaw” and Amelia let out the breath she had been holding. “Well, it's better than Hufflepuff. There's one of us in every house but Slytherin, now,” she said. “That's good, right?”

Lily and Alice nodded in agreement, and the sorting continued. When it had ended, Dumbledore stood up for his usual start-of-term words. “I'd like to welcome Mr. Lucius Malfoy and Mr. Malchaiah Malfoy, who are visiting us on behalf of the school's Board of Governors. They will be here through the end of next week, and I would expect that you would extend to them your utmost courtesy. And I daresay that all other announcements can wait until after dinner, so please, by all means, tuck in,” he said, before sitting down. The plates in front of them magically filled with food, and the Great Hall was filled with students filling their plates and eating.

“They're staying through next week?” Frank asked incredulously. “Dumbledore can't be very happy about that!”

“I don't suppose there's much that he can do about it,” Amelia said. “Like it or not, the Board of Governors has the ability to remove him as Headmaster if they so desire. But I'm sure he'll be keeping close tabs on them while they're here, anyway.”

“Where's Lupin?” Lily asked, finally, breaking the silence she had kept since her disagreement with Potter prior to the sorting. She was tired of discussing the presence of Lucius and his father.

Alice and Amelia glanced at her in surprise. “Are you sure it's safe for you to start talking again?” Alice asked, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “We'd hate for you to get detention for a second time tonight.”

Amelia giggled as Lily grimaced. “I've calmed down. And I want to hear nothing about overreactions, or…”

Amelia grinned. “Not a word,” she said. “Lupin's sitting down there, by the way.”

“How long do you think this will go on?” Frank asked in concern. “It's just so weird to see him off by himself.”

“I dunno,” Lily said. “I talked to him this morning, and—,”

“You talked to Remmy this morning?” Black asked, turning to look at Lily in excitement. “What did he say?”

Lily glanced coolly at Black. “Nothing that bears repeating,” she said. “Particularly not to the three of you.”

“Lily, you might tell them. It sounds like they're just as worried about Lupin as we are,” Alice urged quietly.

“If they're so worried about him, let them talk to him themselves. They're the ones that made him feel like he's not good enough to be their friend,” Lily responded, just as quietly. Unfortunately, Black's wolf-like hearing picked up what she had said.

“That's the second time you've said that, Evans. What do you mean?” he queried. Potter and Pettigrew were also looking at her with interest.

“I mean just what I said,” she said with a sigh of frustration. “Lupin feels like he's not good enough to be your friend. That's all I know.”

The three boys glanced at each other, and without a word, stood up from their seats and practically flew down to where Lupin was sitting, pushing aside everyone within a six foot radius to make room for them to sit down. “Well, I do hope that he reconciles with them,” she said after watching the Marauders for a moment. “For reasons beyond anyone's understanding, he's much happier when they're around.”

“They're good friends to him, Lily,” Amelia said simply. “I get the impression that he hasn't had too many of those before.”

******************************

As Lily descended the stairs from her dormitory the next morning, the voices of the Marauders stopped her just before she turned the corner and the common room came into view. She paused, feeling slightly guilty about eavesdropping, but shrugged it off as Black's voice floated up to her. “Come on Remmy! You can't just quit the Marauders!”

“Look, Sirius, you don't understand. Please, can't you three just accept that I don't want to be your friend?”

“No,” Potter said firmly. “No, we can't, because you haven't give us a good reason—”

“I don't owe you a reason,” Lupin replied, exhaustion and frustration clearly evident in his voice.

“I'm afraid you're wrong about that,” Black countered. “If we've done or said something to upset you this much—”

“You haven't,” Lupin interrupted. “Honestly. I've just decided that I need to concentrate more on homework and school and—”

He was interrupted by Potter's and Black's snorts. “You tell us when we've ever been able to convince you to put off homework, Remmy!” Potter responded.

“Then why wouldn't you want to be our friend anymore?” Pettigrew whined. He sounded very near tears.

“Never mind that, Petey,” Black said, and his voice sounded suddenly harsh. “If you're going to be like this, then fine. Just don't come running to us when you're stuck on Transfiguation. Let's go.”

“Siri—,” Potter said, but only silence answered, and Lily guessed that Black had left the common room. “We'll see you down at breakfast, Remmy, but don't think I'm not still waiting for an explanation.”

Another silence followed this statement, and then there was sigh. “You're going to be waiting for awhile, Jamesy,” Lupin said.

Lily waited a moment, so it wouldn't appear as though she'd overheard the entire conversation, and then continued down the steps into the common room. Lupin was sitting dejectedly on the couch. He looked up as Lily entered.

“Oh, hi, Lils,” he said quietly. “I really don't feel like talking right now, so…”

Lily nodded. “I'll leave you alone, then,” she said, just as Alice and Amelia bounded into the common room.

“We thought you'd left without us!” Alice said breathlessly. “Hi Remmy, are the Marauders still upstairs?”

Lupin shook his head. “No, they've already gone down to breakfast. I'm not feeling particularly hungry this morning.”

Alice and Amelia glanced at Lily quizzically, but Lily shrugged. “You know what?” Amelia said, “I'm not feeling very hungry, either. Why don't you two go ahead, and I'll catch up to you in class?”

Lily and Alice nodded. “Sure,” they said in unison. “We've got History of Magic first.”

Amelia grinned. “Can't wait,” she said, without the slightest trace of sarcasm.

Alice rolled her eyes and began crawling out of the portrait hole. “See you in class, Remus,” Lily called as she followed Alice onto the landing outside the Gryffindor common room.

The girls were about halfway to the Great Hall when Professor Flitwick and a tall, very slim professor who was wearing burgundy robes and gold wrist bangles that clicked together as he walked, came into view in front of them. Their voices floated back easily to Lily and Alice. “That's what I thought as well,” Flitwick squeaked, “but my source assures me it was the genuine article. The question is whether or not it's retained the gifts with which it was bestowed. I'd certainly like to examine it myself, but I've no idea to which student it belongs.”

“Professor Flitwick!” Professor McGonagall had appeared from one of the classrooms nearby. “May I have a word with you?”

The wizard with Flitwick bid him good day, and then continued on his way down the steps. Lily and Alice greeted Professors Flitwick and McGonagall as they passed by, and then once they were out of earshot, glanced at one another. “What do you suppose that was about?” Alice asked finally.

“Well, apparently a student has something that Flitwick would like to have a look at,” Lily said, pulling open the door to the Great Hall and following Alice inside. “I wonder what it is, though?”

Alice shrugged. “I've no idea,” she answered, sitting down next to Kaylie and Desdamona, and beginning to fill her plate. “Probably something very old, and very, very boring… Something old Binns would like.”

“Or Amelia,” Lily said, reaching for a piece of toast and smearing on some jam.

A fluttering of wings accompanied by numerous shrieks told the girls that the mail had arrived, and they stopped talking momentarily to see if anything had come for them. A snowy owl that Lily did not recognize landed on her shoulder, and Lily untied the parchment attached to its leg. The owl shrieked, and then flew off again as soon as Lily had gotten its delivery.

“So what were you two talking about when you got here?” Kaylie asked, as Lily read her letter.

“Nothing important,” Alice replied. “We just heard Flitwick talking to the Divination professor—I forget his name, but—”

“Professor Praevidi,” Lily said.

“What?” Alice asked.

“His name is Professor Praevidi. I have a meeting with him next week,” Lily answered. “Apparently he'd like to speak with me about `nurturing' my inner-eye. This is a note from Dumbledore,” she added, indicating the note.

“That's great, Lily! Maybe if you work with him, one day you'll be able to see our tests before they happen and tell us what to study for!” Alice said with a grin.

Lily gave Alice a disapproving look. “I hardly think that would be fair to everyone else!” she said, as Alice rolled her eyes. “And anyway, I don't get to pick and choose when my visions come to me.” She finished her last bit of toast, and stood up. “Are you ready for History of Magic, then?”

Alice giggled. “Am I ready for my nap, you mean?”

“Yes,” Lily agreed. “Are you ready for your after-breakfast nap.”

“Well, I have to say that I preferred last year, when it was an after-lunch nap, but I suppose this will have to do.”

Lily wrapped up some muffins for Amelia and put them in the pockets of her robe, and then followed Alice, Kaylie and Desdamona out of the Great Hall to class.

Amelia was reading the paper and looking disgusted when they arrived for class. Lupin was not yet there, but the other three Marauders were sitting in the front, huddling over a piece of parchment. Lily glanced briefly in their direction, wondering what mischief they were now planning, and sat down next to Amelia, handing her the muffins she had brought from breakfast. Amelia smiled, as Alice slid into a chair beside her, but didn't pick up a muffin.

“Have you two read the paper today?” Amelia demanded, and Lily sighed quietly. Somehow, she had known that would be coming, but she had rather hoped that Amelia would be too distracted by Lupin's odd behavior to go off on her morning rant.

Alice grinned at Lily. “We've been over this, Meli,” she said as Lily laughed.

Amelia glared at them. “Right, right, I forgot that you two are entirely too busy to pay attention to the newspaper. Well, you know that group that Malfoy's in charge of?”

Lily nodded. “Sure, the `Pure-Bloods for the Protection of the Wizarding Way of Life', isn't it?” Amelia nodded.

“See, we have been paying attention!” Alice said. Amelia rolled her eyes. “Anyway, what about it?”

“Well, Malfoy announced that he was stepping down from his position as the chairman of the group, in order to `focus on his other commitments', and they've appointed someone named Lord Voldemort to be in charge of it. Anyone ever heard of him?”

Lily felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine at the name. “Lord Voldemort?” she asked. “Does the magical world even recognize the idea of nobility?”

Alice nodded. “Sort of. A lot of pure-blood magical families count among their ancestors some of the better known aristocrats in muggle history. Nearly Headless Nick's proper title is `Sir Nicholas' so he must have served as a Knight to the throne of England during his life,” she said, pausing and looking thoughtful. “It's unusual for most blood-purists to use the title nowadays, though. After all, titles of nobility were bestowed by muggle governments, even if those governments were filled with witches and wizards, and most blood-purists wouldn't want that kind of connection to muggles. And no, Amelia, I've never heard of him. I suppose that Voldemort is his last name? It sounds French to me, I wonder if he's not from England, then?”

Lily and Amelia shrugged. “I've no idea,” Amelia answered. “All it says about him is what he hopes to accomplish, and it's no surprise that it's all the same nonsense that Malfoy spouts in all of his speeches. It's disgusting, honestly. I can't believe that people pay him to come and speak to their organizations. I mean, all he does is promote hatred. That's his job!” Amelia snorted in disgust, dropping the paper.

“That, and harassing innocent students at Hogwarts,” Lily added. “We saw him in the hallway on the way over here, quizzing some first-years about whether or not the delay in the start of classes had `adversely affected their opinion of the school'!”

“As if delaying classes is going to adversely affect anyone's opinion,” Alice said, grinning. “I'd love to go to a school where classes are called off every other day.”

Lily sighed. “Honestly, Alice, if classes were called off every other day then how—”

The sound of an explosion interrupted Lily, followed by Black's shout of, “Bumbling bat bogeys!” The three girls glanced up to see him holding up the piece of parchment that the boys had been huddled around. The parchment was covered in a big splotch of maroon ink, and Potter and Pettigrew were both laughing wildly.

Alice raised her eyebrows. “Bumbling bat bogeys, Black?” she asked, snickering.

He blushed. “My mum says it,” he mumbled defensively, and then his expression turned sour. “I'll make a note never to use it again.”

Pettigrew was laughing so hard that he had fallen to the ground. Potter glanced at him, and then at Black, before bursting into laughter again. “Bumbling….bat….bogeys…” he said, wiping a tear from his eye. “Your face when that quill exploded was classic, Siri, but your expression was even better! I got you with your own creation.”

Black glanced between Potter and the broken quill lying in a pool of ink on the desk, and his eyes sparkled mischievously. A split second passed in which Potter moved away from his desk before Black grabbed the ink-covered quill and tackled Potter, and the two began wrestling on the floor. Black kept trying to smear ink all over Potter's robes and face, and Potter was trying desperately to keep Black's hand away from him. Lily rolled her eyes and opened her History of Magic book while Alice and Amelia watched on in amusement.

Potter and Black were still wrestling on the floor when Lupin arrived. He didn't even blink as he passed by and chose a seat near the back of the room, but Lily noticed him watching the scene out of the corner of his eye, a small smile on his lips, as he was pulling out his parchment and quill.

Lily smiled and turned her gaze away from Lupin and back toward the boys. Both of them were now laughing, their hands, robes and faces covered in ink. Black's hair was also ink-streaked and hung in his eyes, leaving streaks of maroon on his forehead wherever it touched, while Potter's hair, also covered in ink, was sticking up more than usual, gleaming brightly in the light of the classroom. Their eyes were sparkling, and they were pointing at each other and laughing.

Not for the first time, Lily found herself utterly perplexed about what could possibly be so much fun about a wrestling match. She had witnessed Potter and Black wrestling before, and had felt the same sort of confusion, then. “Boys,” she said under her breath, and Alice grinned at her.

“You have to admit that it's never dull with them around, though,” Alice said.

The bell rang, and shortly thereafter, Binns floated through the blackboard into their classroom, seemingly not noticing the two ink-covered students in the front row. He called roll and then launched into a lecture on historical magical artifacts without even glancing up.

Roughly half-way through the lecture, there was a loud bang from near the back of the class. Binns did not notice, droning on about the myths surrounding many magical objects as every head in the class swiveled around to find out what had caused the noise. Lily quickly discovered that Lupin was inspecting his hands and his parchment, both of which were now covered in ink, and surmised that the Marauders had planted another of Black's exploding quills in his bag. Lupin looked torn, as though he was not sure whether to laugh or cry. Finally, he sighed, and pulled another quill and parchment out of his bag. Lily shook her head, feeling a swell of sympathy and wondering why on earth the Marauders thought that tormenting Lupin was going to convince him to befriend them once again.

She turned back to her notes, but a moment later, a white paper airplane fell to the ground beside her. She picked it up, assuming it was intended for her, and both Alice and Amelia leaned over to see it as she read “We told you that you can't get out of the Marauders that easily.” The note was signed by Potter, Black and Pettigrew. She looked up and saw Potter motioning frantically for her to send it on, so she refolded it and pulled out her wand. “Wingardium Leviosa,” she said, swishing her wand and flicking it. She directed the note back to Lupin before allowing it to come to rest on the new piece of parchment he was using for notes.

Lupin glanced at the note and picked it up, confusion registering on his face. He unfolded it and read it, and when he set it down again, he was smiling widely at the three Marauders. Lily turned around, and saw that all three boys were now laughing, and waving at him. Lupin waved back, and then picked up his quill again to take notes.

Lily laughed. “Boys,” she said for the second time that day, and Alice and Amelia nodded their agreement as they joined in her laughter.

-->

4. Malfoy's Intentions

Chapter 4: Malfoy’s Intentions

After dinner that night, Alice went out to the quidditch pitch with Potter to practice for their try-out later that week, and Amelia had decided to go with the other Marauders to watch, so Lily went back to Gryffindor Tower to work on the essay they’d been assigned in Herbology that afternoon. She had found three of the six uses of gillyweed before she tired of the noise and distractions in the common room, and decided to go to the library for a bit of peace and quiet. Once she had arrived at the library, she found several Herbology books and sat down at a table to look through them. After she had been working for awhile, she felt someone’s eyes on her, and looked up to see Lucius Malfoy striding toward her.

“Miss Evans,” he said silkily, bending down slightly and setting his hands on the table beside her.

She glared at him. “I’m in the middle of an essay for Herbology right now, Malfoy. I don’t have time to waste speaking with kidnappers,” she said scathingly.

Malfoy’s expression darkened. “As I was cleared of all charges—,” he began.

“Not because you were innocent,” she countered.

“I would suggest that you stop making allegations of that severity about a member of a highly respected wizarding family such as my own,” he continued as though he had not heard her.

“Your family is ‘highly respected’, as you call it, because they bought the respect, not because they earned it,” Lily countered. “And I’m not making accusations,” she added. “I’m telling the truth.”

He chuckled. “There was a time last year,” he said slowly, “that lip like that from a mud-blood such as yourself would have gotten to me.” Lily had to use all of the willpower that she had to avoid reaching for her wand when he made that statement, forcing herself to remember that Malfoy was here on official business and that hexing the son of a school governor would only earn herself a quick ticket back to London. “Now, however, I realize that I must learn to control my temper until the time comes when your kind are not even allowed in these doors.” His lip curled as he surveyed her. “I am here to ask you some questions, Evans,” he added. “I need to know how you knew where we were performing the immortality ceremony.”

Lily returned Malfoy’s gaze. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, hoping that her fury would mask the fear she felt that he would be able to tell that she was lying, like his father had.

“I know that you must,” he said. “You and Potter are the only two who could have possibly told Dumbledore. Even if he was able to guess what we were planning, he’d never have thought that we were going to be doing it in Hogwarts’ backyard. Yet I never mentioned our final destination to you, and neither did Crabbe. So that leaves us back at the original question—how did you know? Who told you?”

Lily folded her arms. “I’ve already answered your question, Malfoy,” she said, reaching for one of the books in front of her.

He reached out and grabbed her hand roughly. “No,” he said, “I’m afraid that you’re mistaken.” He pulled Lily to her feet and drew her near him, looking intently in her eyes. Lily closed them to keep him from using whatever trick it was his father had used to discover the whereabouts of the parchment he had needed. She felt something brush against her throat, and opened her eyes again, half afraid that he now had his wand pointing at her. Instead, he was inspecting her necklace. He yanked it, and Lily winced in pain as the chain bit into her neck, not coming unclasped. She wondered briefly why it was that the chain did not come off into his hands.

“Don’t touch that!” Lily said, grabbing the chain, and yanking the locket from his hand. “My father gave that to me.”

Malfoy’s sneer returned. “The worthless muggle?” he asked. Lily’s hand crept closer to her wand.

“I’m going to tell you one more time to leave me alone, Malfoy,” she said with barely controlled rage. “If you don’t, I will report your behavior to Professor Dumbledore. I do think that the Board of Governors should be made aware when one of their representatives is harassing a student.”

Malfoy glanced at her, hatred in his eyes, and leaned over until his face was inches from her own. “There will be a time when you are not under Dumbledore’s protection, Evans,” he said menancingly. “If I were you, I would not take lightly the threat that I pose to you and your ilk.” He turned and strode off, leaving her shaking in anger.

After a moment, Lily sat back down and took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself, and thinking. When Malfoy had asked her how she had known about the location of the ceremony, something had told her not to tell him the truth, but she wasn’t sure why. Now that he was gone, she was glad that she had refused to tell him, but was worried nonetheless. Why did he want to know? Unless he suspected that one of the dark Lord’s supporters was a spy? And yet…

Lily shook her head, and opened a book sitting nearby, hoping to find within it the sixth and final use for gillyweed. She chewed on her locket absently, and began reading. As she read, she began to feel tired, and her eyes drooped slightly. She shook her head again, trying to wake up, and when she looked up, she was sitting in a new part of the library, a large pile of books in front of her. She glanced around in considerable confusion until she realized that she was having yet another vision. She wondered briefly which of her friends was going to be in grave danger at the library, and heard someone breathing evenly nearby. She tried to look around the books, but, as with her last vision, was unable to tell the vision what it was she wanted to see, so she sat back, waiting for it to reveal its purpose to her. A house-elf that looked a lot like the one that she had seen wherever it was that Malfoy had taken her the previous term appeared, and glanced furtively around the room. Lily stared at him, wondering what he was doing at Hogwarts. She felt someone shaking her shoulder, and when she looked up again, she had returned to her own table at the library.

“Miss! Miss!” Madam Pince was screeching. “I’m afraid that the library is not here for your napping convenience. If you are going to sleep, I’m going to have to ask you to return to your common room. Do you hear me?”

Lily glanced at her in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Madam,” she said sincerely. She was sorry that she had fallen asleep, but she was also a little annoyed that Madam Pince had interrupted her vision. She was now very curious regarding its content, and decided that she’d have to ask Professor Praevidi whether or not there was anyway to summon an interrupted vision. She sighed. “I need to get back to my common room anyway.”

She gathered up her books and made her way out of the library.

Lily arrived back at the common room to find Alice and Amelia already there. She walked over to a grouping of overstuffed chairs where her friends were sitting and sat down. “Well, what do you guys want to work on first?” she asked, pulling out a piece of parchment and her quill. “I’ve already got five of the six uses of gillyweed, but I’ll help you out with your essays if you want me—,” she began, but stopped when Alice waved her hand around.

“I finished that essay ten minutes ago,” Alice responded.

“Ten minutes ago?” Lily asked with a look of disbelief. “How? I’ve spent all night on it, and you’ve been out on the quidditch pitch.”

“Lily, you’ve forgotten rule number one of Herbology,” Amelia chimed in. “Never attempt it unless Alice is around to help. She finished it about 20 minutes after we got back. We’ve been here for half an hour or so.”

“All right,” Lily said. “What’s the sixth use, then?”

“Did you get that it’s used as the flavoring for rubber in Bertie Bott’s beans?” Alice asked.

Lily nodded. “That was one of the first ones that I found,” she said. “I’ve got—”

“James Potter and Lily Evans!” McGonagall’s stern voice called out, instantly quieting the chatter in the common room.

Lily glanced at where McGonagall stood by the entrance to the portrait hole and sighed. “I bet she’s here to give us our detention assignments,” she said, “since she didn’t see us in class today.” Lily scanned the common room for Potter and saw that he was already making his way over to where McGonagall stood. “I’d better get going.”

Lily stood up and walked toward McGonagall, ignoring the curious stares of her classmates who, like herself, were very unused to seeing their head of house in the common room. Lily had only known her to come in there on one other occasion, and that was to fetch Frank the night that his dad had been kidnapped. Lily sighed again, trying to get her mind off of that unpleasant memory as she came to a stop beside Potter. “Yes, Professor?” she asked innocently.

Professor McGonagall did not smile. “I’ve got your detention assignments for you,” she said crisply. “The length of your detention will depend on how well the two of you can work together. It will begin on Friday night at 6pm sharp, and if you work together, you should have it finished that evening. If you can’t, however, and you are unfinished by midnight, you will continue on Saturday morning.”

Potter’s eyes widenend in horror. “Friday night?” Potter sputtered. “But Professor, you must be joking? Surely you know that quidditch try-outs are Friday night! I can’t miss—”

“I’m afraid I’m not ‘joking’, Mr. Potter,” Professor McGonagall said without blinking. “Surely you must realize that you are only one of many talented individuals that we have in this house, and perhaps next year you will remember why you were not on the team this year, and behave accordingly, so that you will not miss your try-out. I will meet the two of you outside of Gryffindor Tower at 6:15 pm tomorrow night. I expect that you won’t be late.” She turned and strode out of the common room, leaving Lily staring after her in shock. It was no secret that Professor McGonagall was probably Gryffindor House’s biggest quidditch fan, and her refusing to allow someone as talented as James Potter to try out for the team indicated to Lily just how much the two of them had upset her the prior night. Lily felt another stab of embarrassment for her own behavior during the sorting. What the new students—and the older ones, for that matter—must have thought of her!

“That’s not fair!” Potter shouted, breaking Lily out of her introspection. “I can’t believe she isn’t letting me try out for the team this year! I’m the best flyer this house has! Madam Alipes has said so. What did we do that was so bad?” Potter turned and started to stalk of toward the waiting three Marauders.

“We ruined the sorting for all of the first years,” Lily called after him, annoyed that Potter was blaming Professor McGonagall, and not himself, for the fact that he was missing the try-outs. “If we’d exercised more consideration, you wouldn’t be missing the try-out. It’s nothing more than we deserve.”

Potter whirled around on her. “Nothing more than we deserve? Oh, that’s so typical for you to say, Princess Evans! We made a mistake, and we’re already being punished, by detention. But because she timed our detention to coincide with the quidditch try-outs, she’s punishing me for the ENTIRE year! Unbelievable. And there’s you saying I deserve it. Why aren’t you being punished for a full-year, then?”

Lily stared at Potter. “So now you’re going to use this as a chance to attack me, Potter? That type of behavior is exactly what got us both into trouble in the first place, or have you forgotten already? If you would just leave me alone, we’d neither one of us be in this predicament at all!”

Potter was taking deep breaths, his face flushed, hair, as ever, standing on-end. “This is all MY fault now, then? Just like it’s me that—,”

“James Potter and Lily Evans!” a new voice cut through their argument. “I’ve had enough of the both of you, and if you don’t lower your voices immediately, I’ll be adding to the detention that Professor McGonagall just gave you, do you understand?”

Lily and Potter looked up to see Andromeda striding furiously toward them. Lily then looked beyond Andromeda and allowed her gaze to travel over the common room, noticing that everyone was now staring at the two of them in surprise. “I’m sorry, Andy,” she mumbled, her face flushing furiously. “I’ll be sure to stay away from Potter whenever I can arrange it. That should solve the problem entirely,” she added, walking back to where Alice and Amelia were sitting with their homework in front of them.

“What happened?” Amelia asked as soon as Lily had slumped into her chair.

“Detention,” Lily said, “Friday night.”

Alice gasped. “But that’s the night of quidditch try-outs!” she exclaimed.

“I know,” Lily said, dryly. “I just had Potter screaming that at me.” She shrugged. “It’s his own fault, though. Just like it’s my own fault that I’ve got detention that night.”

Amelia grinned. “And let me guess,” she said sardonically, “you told him that, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Lily agreed defensively. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but Friday night?” Alice said, apparently unable to believe that McGonagall would do that. “He’s the best flyer that Gryffindor’s got! I mean, I can’t hold a candle to him. I wasn’t even sure I was going to try-out, I mean… There’s only one position open, and he was a shoo-in!”

Lily shook her head. “You’re starting to sound a lot like James,” she said.

Alice glared at her. “That’s not funny,” she said. “I feel bad for him. I mean, to you, it’s just one night out of the term. To him, he has to sit out the entire season because of this. Seems a bit unfair, doesn’t it?”

Lily sighed deeply. “I’ve already been warned by Andy once tonight about fighting,” she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out potions. “I’d rather not push my luck again.”

Alice shook her head, curls bobbing in all directions. “You could be a little more sympathetic, Lils,” she admonished.

“And he could be a little less insufferable,” Lily retorted. “Can we drop it, please?”

Alice exchanged a glance with Amelia and held up a hand. “All right, Lils. We’ll drop it, though it still doesn’t seem fair. Let me see your Herbology essay, then. I’ll go over it for you.”

Lily handed her Herbology essay to Alice. “Have you worked on your Charms homework, yet?” Lily asked. “I’ll take a look at it if you have.” Alice and Amelia both reached into their bags and pulled out parchment to hand to Lily.

“We’ll work on History of Magic as soon as you two are done correcting what we’ve already done,” Amelia said, pulling out her book to get a head start. The girls spent the remainder of the evening working on homework until Lily excused herself to retire to her dorm room and write a letter to Petunia. As she walked up the stairs, she caught a glimpse of the Marauders, who were sitting at a table near the stairs. They were surrounded by Transfiguration texts, and Lily found herself wondering why they were studying Transfiguration. She’d never known them to have to study for that class before. She shrugged, deciding she was probably better off not knowing what they were up to, and continued on her way up to her room without a second glance in their direction.

*************************************

Lily woke up the next morning to shouting coming from the direction of the stairway. “Princesses!” Black shouted. “Oi! Princesses, get down here!”

Lily sat up and glanced groggily at the rock sitting next to her bed. It was a piece of pink quartz that had been charmed to show the time of day. It read 5:30. What on earth could the Marauders possibly want this early in the morning? She pulled open her curtains, which were flashing “Marauders Drool! Princesses Rule!” merrily, and didn’t even grin at the sight. The previous year, the Marauders had played a prank on the girls, and charmed their curtains to read “Marauders Rule! Princesses Drool!” It had taken the girls a good length of time to figure out the counter-charm, and by the time that they had, all three had felt that the flashing writing was as much a part of their room as the beds themselves. They had finally decided to leave the writing, with only a small change in wording. She glanced around and saw that all of her roommates were stretching and yawning, and all looked as perplexed as she felt.

“Princesses—Evans! Parker! Bones!” Potter called out to them this time.

“Quiet down you lot!” an unknown voice answered from somewhere further up the steps.

“You quiet down!” Black retorted. “Princesses!”

“What?” Alice shouted finally, getting up and striding angrily over to the door. “What do you want?”

“We need to talk to you three, so get dressed and meet us down here!” Black returned.

“Have you gone completely mad, Black?” Alice snapped, and Lily grinned. Of all the wonderful things that Alice Parker happened to be, a morning person was not one of them. “It’s 5:30 in the bloody morning!”

“We know what time it is, Parker—,” Potter this time, “—this is important!”

“So is sleep,” Amelia muttered, but she had already started pulling on her robes.

“Oh, just go already!” Kaylie snapped. “They’re clearly not going to let any of us sleep until you do.”

Alice glanced at Lily, who shrugged, and at Amelia, who was now rifling through her nightstand for her brush. “Give us a few minutes, and we’ll be down. This better be good, or I will personally ensure that every girl that you woke up today has the opportunity to hex all of you to their heart’s content!”

Lily heard Potter’s and Black’s laughter as she started to get dressed, and shook her head at their audacity. They didn’t even seem to care that they had woken up the entire dorm! She was quite surprised that neither Andromeda or the other prefects had gone downstairs to quiet them down.

“Is Remus down there?” Amelia asked apprehensively. Lily grinned.

“I’m sure he will understand if you don’t look your best, Meli,” Alice reassured her.

Amelia blushed. “I just wondered if he was back in the Marauders now, that’s all,” she said defensively. “Besides, I could go down there wearing my pajamas or my best dress robes and he wouldn’t notice the difference.”

Lily gave Amelia a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure that he would,” she said.

“Indeed,” Alice agreed, pulling open the door and motioning for her friends to follow. “You just wouldn’t notice that he’d noticed.”

Lily and Alice laughed as all three hurried down the steps to the common room. When they arrived, they found the four Marauders in various states of repose, waiting for them. All four boys scrambled to their feet once the girls had arrived.

“Ladies,” Black said, as he and Potter bowed graciously.

“Evans,” Potter added. Lily glared at him, and then turned to glance at Lupin, who shrugged apologetically.

“I didn’t get up at 5:30 in the morning so that you would have a few extra hours to make fun of me today, Potter,” Lily said pointedly.

“You didn’t?” Potter asked, an expression of mock surprise dancing across his eyes. “Pity.”

“No,” Alice agreed. “She didn’t. Nor did we, Potter, and I’ve got most of Gryffindor’s girls just waiting for an opportunity to hex you, so you may want to stop joking around and tell us what it is that you want."

“Well,” Black said, grinning, “I’m not sure we’re going to tell you now. I mean, I’m feeling a rather lot of hostility coming from the three of you, and I’m not sure that I like it.”

“Remus,” Amelia said, red tingeing her cheeks as it always did whenever she addressed Lupin directly, “do you mind letting us in on what’s oh-so-important that it couldn’t wait until a reasonable hour?”

Lupin had settled into a chair after the girls had arrived, and had his eyes closed peacefully. He opened them and glanced up at Amelia sleepily. “I’ve no idea,” he said, yawning and closing his eyes again. “Siri and Jamesy haven’t told Petey and I yet, either.”

Lily slouched into a chair beside Lupin. “You have five minutes,” she said, waving her wand and charming a nearby pillow into counting down from five, “to get my attention before I put a silencing charm on both of you, and go back upstairs to bed.”

Potter glanced at the pillow, and then turned to Black, raising an eyebrow. “I agree mate, so hostile. And here we are, trying to warn them.”

“Indeed,” Black concurred, also raising his eyebrow.

“Get on with it, Black,” Alice said warningly.

“Fine, fine,” Potter said with a heavy sigh. He, Pettigrew and Black all settled onto a couch opposite the girls as Alice and Amelia sat on either arm of Lily’s chair.

“Malfoy knows that you tipped Dumbledore off to the ceremony location last year,” Black began and Lily groaned loudly, waving her wand and shutting the countdown off.

“Is that all?” she asked dismissively.

“What do you mean, is that all?” Potter asked. Clearly, he had been expecting a different reaction from her.

“I mean, I already know that. Although you’re wrong, slightly. He doesn’t know that it was me, he only suspects it. He tried to intimidate me into admitting it, and telling him how I knew,” she answered.

At her words, Lupin opened his eyes and sat up, the other three Marauders, Alice and Amelia gasped, and everyone began talking at once.

“He did what?” Potter said angrily.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Alice demanded.

“How does he know?” Amelia queried curiously.

“You didn’t tell him, did you?” Pettigrew asked fearfully.

“What do you mean, intimidate?” Black questioned roughly.

“Everybody calm down,” Lupin appealed. “Why don’t we let Lily tell us what happened?”

Everybody quieted and looked at Lily expectantly. She glanced apologetically at Alice and Amelia. With all of the fuss last night regarding the timing of her detention with Potter, she had completely forgotten to tell them what had happened with Malfoy. She repeated the story and by the end of it, Potter was pacing and muttering things like, “How dare he threaten you!” and “He’s lucky I wasn’t there.”

“Well, as it happens,” Lily snapped finally, annoyed that Potter was acting as though she had needed his assistance, “you weren’t there, and I handled the situation just fine, didn’t I?”

Potter stopped pacing and turned his gaze to Lily. “No, Evans, you didn’t ‘handle’ anything,” he replied, scathingly. “You got lucky that when he found you, you were still within the relative safety of the library and there was very little he could to you without attracting Madam Pince’s attention. You completely failed at coming up with a believable explanation that did not involve you.”

“Well, excuse me Potter, for not being as skilled in the fine art of deception as yourself. I did the best that I could under the circumstances, and—”

“I’m sure you did, Lily,” Lupin said soothingly. “And no one’s asking you to be able to lie like Jamesy and Siri can,” he added with a wry glance in Potter’s direction. Potter stopped pacing, and started breathing deeply, as though trying to calm himself down.

“Well then, what do you want me to do?” Lily asked.

“He isn’t going to leave you alone,” Black stated, “until he finds out for sure whether or not you and Jamesy told Dumbledore where the ceremony was being held, and while Jamesy here would like to think that it’s only you that’s in danger because of that, he’s wrong. You are both going to be targets. This dark wizard’s supporters are going to be wanting retaliation that his bid for immortality was spoiled, and they’re going to be looking for the two of you to get it.”

“Siri’s right, Evans,” Potter agreed. “We were hoping that they wouldn’t make the connection between our involvement that night, and Dumbledore crashing their party, but they have. We’re pretty certain that that’s the reason that Malfoy and his father are here right now.”

Pettigrew squeaked and tumbled out of his chair in fright while the three girls stared at the boys in silence.

“Have you spoken with Dumbledore about this?” Amelia asked finally, her voice trembling slightly.

The boys nodded. “Last night,” Black said, “when we figured this out. Fortunately for us, he chose not to punish us for sneaking out after hours to…gather proof…of our theory.”

“So we’re okay, then?” Alice asked, relief evident in her voice. “I mean, Malfoy won’t be so stupid as to try anything now that Dumbledore is onto his plan, right?”

Potter and Black shrugged. “That’s anyone’s guess. Malfoy knows that Dumbledore can’t watch you all the time, and he’s already shown that he can escape the consequences of the law, should he be caught,” Black replied.

Amelia let out a sigh of frustration. “How that man is even allowed to walk around free after what he did to you two,” she began.

Lupin cut her off. “We know, Amelia,” he said tiredly, “but he is, and not only is he walking around free, he’s been allowed back into Hogwarts, at least through next week.” Lupin turned to Potter and Black. “Do you have a plan, then?”

Black shrugged. “The best that we can come up with so far is to make sure that James and Lily are never alone. We’ve got to deny Malfoy the opportunity to ‘interrogate’ them.”

Lily felt herself growing impatient. “I hardly need a baby-sitter, Black,” she began.

“He’s just telling you what Dumbledore told us,” Potter returned. “If you don’t like it, I suggest that you take it up with the headmaster himself.”

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but found that she didn’t have a retort. They were right, what else could she do? She shrugged. “You woke the entire Gryffindor dormitory up so that you could tell us that,” she said finally.

Potter and Black nodded.

“And that’s all you wanted to tell us?” Amelia asked.

Potter and Black nodded again. “Well, that, and one other thing,” Black said, a bit guiltily.

“And what is that?” Lily asked suspiciously.

“We wanted to discuss our detention tonight,” Potter began.

“I’m not helping you,” Lily caught him off.

“What do you have planned?” Alice asked at the same time, and Lily glanced sharply at her. Alice shrugged. “I’ve already told you I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t want to make the team just because Potter couldn’t try out. So, what is it?”

“Well, we’re not actually sure yet,” Potter confessed. “I mean, we’ve thought of plenty of things, except how to get around the fact that if I make the quidditch team, McGonagall will know I wasn’t in detention.”

“So, we were thinking, maybe there’s a way we could get try-outs…postponed,” Black continued.

“The only problem is, none of us has any idea how we might do that.”

“I’ll help you think of something,” Amelia said. She had been looking back and forth between the boys. “I don’t think it’s fair, either,” she explained. “I mean that Lily gets punished for one night, and you get punished for a whole season.”

“Thank you!” Potter said, looking pointedly at Lily. “So you’ll help us brainstorm, then.”

“Absolutely,” Alice said.

“Petey and Remmy have said they’ll help, too, so that leaves you, Evans,” Black said, a note of pleading in his voice. “Please do this,” he added. “None of us wants to listen to Jamesy go on about how stubborn you are, and if you don’t help, we’ll be hearing about it for months.”

Lily laughed in spite of herself. Black and Potter were both giving her pleading, puppy-dog eyes. “I’m sorry I yelled at you last night, Evans,” Potter said. “I was just frustrated about try-outs, and…”

Well, that did it. James Potter was apologizing to her, and before he’d pushed her to her limit. She might as well return the favor, and maybe he’d learn a thing or two about how to treat her if he wanted her assistance. “All right,” she said, “I’ll help, as long as it doesn’t involve you wheedling out of detention. If you’re as good as Alice says you are—and you must be, for her to want to give you a chance to make the team—it’d be nice to have you on the team to give Gryffindor a chance at the cup. But I fully expect you to be there with me Friday night!”

“Wonderful,” Alice exclaimed, clapping her hands together, and sitting forward. “Let’s figure out the plan. Anyone have any ideas?”