Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and events from J.K. Rowling's wonderful Harry Potter books. I am writing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of readers. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR. The rest belongs to me.
Chapter 12: Travels with Trolls
That first week in October the teachers piled the homework on the first year students. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall had been teaching magical theory for the past month and next week would be the students' first opportunity to practice those subjects. Lily, Remus, and Emm spent most of their free time in the library trying to stay on top of things. One evening, after dinner, Lily was running down the corridors to get to the library. She had been chatting with Dorcas after dinner and was late meeting her study group. As she was turning into the corridor that led to the library she collided with someone and fell to the floor with a hard 'Thump!'
After she took a moment to catch her breath she found herself looking up at a skinny boy she had seen in her Potions class. He had shoulder-length dark brown greasy hair and eyes that were either black or brown, Lily couldn't tell because he would not look into her eyes. He stood there staring at the ground by her feet where she still sat.
"Severus," she started, "I-I'm sorry I ran into you like that. I wasn't watching where I was going."
Severus Snape glanced up at her briefly before returning his unreadable gaze to the same spot on the floor. "You really should watch where you are going. Wouldn't want to bump into the wrong person," he replied with a cold edge to his voice.
"Hey Snape," called a sneering voice Lily had heard before in Knockturn Alley. "Did this Mudblood get her filth all over you?" Lily slowly turned to see Lucius Malfoy approaching behind her. He had his wand out. He focused his cold blue eyes on hers and she felt a rush of cold hatred pass through her. The sensation that passed from him through her made her shiver, forcing goose bumps to push their way up along her arms.
"So, Evans," he spat, "I thought I warned you in Knockturn Alley that there are people you should avoid contaminating with your Mudblood filth." He started to raise his wand while Severus continued to stare at the floor.
Lily closed her eyes expecting him to send a curse at her at any moment. Just then she heard some footsteps approaching behind Lucius and stopping.
"Ah, I see a lady in need of my assistance," said a dramatic voice from behind Lucius. Lily couldn't see who it was since Lucius was in the way. "Stand back, or I shall curse you just as I cursed the zombie who attacked my cousin's village in Germany!"
Lucius sneered - it almost looked like he wanted to chuckle however Lily could not picture him actually laughing. While his attention was focused on the newcomer, Lily drew out her wand. She didn't know any curses or hexes, but she hoped Malfoy wouldn't realize that. When Malfoy realized there were two wands trained on him while Severus still hadn't drawn his, he motioned for Snape to follow him and they left down the corridor leading away from the library.
Lily was still sitting on the floor, trembling as she remembered the feeling that passed through her when Lucius had looked into her eyes. She noticed movement in front of her and saw her rescuer saunter up to her and kneel before her. Everything about him seemed so dramatic, like he was putting on a show. He gave her a smile and she noticed pearly white, even teeth.
"Ah, my fair damsel, now that I have rescued you from those foul demons how can you ever thank me?" he said. Lily looked from his smile to notice he had wavy golden hair. When she looked into his startling baby blue eyes she felt the need to laugh but was able to suppress it into a smile.
"I do thank you. You came at just the right time. I'm Lily Evans," she replied.
"Lily Evans. Let me introduce you to my most humble self. I am Gilderoy Lockhart, 2nd year student, member of the house of Ravenclaw, although you must have heard of me by reputation."
"I-uh, am sorry. I'm a first year in Gryffindor. I haven't had the, erm, opportunity to hear about you as of yet, uh, but I'm glad to make your acquaintance today," she quickly added.
"Charmed, my lady," he said grandly as he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles.
Lily's smile widened. 'What was with this guy?' she wondered.
"Ahem," came voice from the entrance of the library. They looked up to see that it was Remus. He had an odd expression as he watched them. "Sorry to interrupt, Lily. I just came to look for you when you didn't show up for our study session. I was worried something might have happened, but I see that everything is, erm…just fine," he said as he looked back and forth from Lily to Gilderoy.
Gilderoy stood up, still holding onto Lily's hand and helping to pull her up. "I bid you adieu, fair Lily. Perhaps sometime I will be able to tell you more about my adventures defending my cousin's home in Germany."
"I-uh-look forward to it. Bye Gilderoy," Lily said as he turned and walked away. She turned to Remus with an amused smile. "Sorry I'm late. I was held up after dinner and lost track of the time."
Remus glanced at Gilderoy's retreating figure. "Held up-erm, okay. Glad you're fine. Why don't we get back to Emm. We were starting the essay for Transfiguration."
Lily followed him into the library where they started looking up how to transfigure a match into a needle.
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James, Sirius, and Peter spent most of the evening thinking of ways to torment Filch. Eventually, Peter saw the pile of books next to them and groaned. His grades were not as strong as James' and Sirius' were so he was the first to admit that it was time to tackle the large pile of homework that had been ignored. James and Sirius grudgingly agreed, realizing that it was getting late.
They had just finished Charms and were dragging out the Herbology text when the portrait hole opened and Lily and Remus walked through. Lily greeted the boys before heading up to the dormitory to find Alice and Marlene.
Remus plopped down on the sofa, grinning at his friends. "I see you three are still doing your homework at the last minute."
"No problem, Lupin," replied James with a smile, turning his gaze away from the girls' dormitory. "Not all of us need to spend hours in the library."
"Although with Ms. Evans and Ms. Vance, I can see why you would be driven to do the work," Sirius added with a chuckle. He turned and winked at James, "Maybe Remus has the right idea, eh?"
Remus smiled and looked away. He had certainly noticed the crush James had on Lily. It was hard not to with Sirius constantly teasing him about it. Besides, it was easy to see James' attention get distracted whenever she entered the room.
James noticed that Remus seemed more quiet than usual. He usually participated in the teasing Sirius gave him about Lily. "Alright there, Remus? Don't tell me you left the library without actually FINISHING your work?"
Remus gave a half-glance to James, "No, we finished it."
Sirius noticed the short response and the way Remus tried not to look at James. "What, did something happen in the library? Did Madame Pince break out into song in the Restricted Section?"
"No, she didn't" Remus said with a smile. Figuring Sirius and James would drag the truth out of him no matter what, he said, "Now that you mention it, there was something odd that happened. Emm and I had met up and were ready to start our Transfiguration homework. I had been a little late but by the time I got to the library and met Emm Lily wasn't there yet." As he said this James' ears perked. "It wasn't like her to be late- usually she's the first one to arrive. I got worried so I went to go find her. When I was leaving the library I saw her sitting on the floor-"
"What? Was she okay?" James asked. He had forgotten that Lily had just bid them goodnight a few minutes earlier and had appeared perfectly fine.
Remus looked at James and said, "Yeah, she appeared to be okay. There was another boy there, kneeling in front of her." Remus paused, not sure how to phrase the next part. "He was, erm, kissing her hand."
All eyes seemed to land on James, who just stared at Remus and finally gulped. "W-Who was he?"
"I heard her call him Gilderoy. I didn't recognize him so I don't think he's a Gryffindor. Looks like he might be a year or two ahead of us," Remus replied.
"What were they talking about?" James asked, his expression stony.
"I'm not sure. He left after I found them. She didn't say anything about him. She just came into the library for our study session," replied Remus.
"Don't worry, James," started Sirius, "you'll win her with that Potter charm."
"Right…" muttered James as he felt the need to immerse himself in his Herbology homework.
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That weekend the first-years were allowed to borrow the school brooms for a morning to practice their flying. They were only allowed to do this if they were getting an 'acceptable' grade in the class. Frank Longbottom managed to scrape by with an 'A' but only after the other Gryffindors gave him a lot of extra help. They had taken turns during class making sure he learned the appropriate way to maneuver his broom. That way, someone always kept an eye on him so no more accidents would occur like they did during the first class.
Lily's confidence in her flying had greatly improved however she was not as adept as Alice, Sirius, or James. That Saturday morning she and Marlene stayed toward the center of the Quidditch pitch while the more daring students raced around the edge. James, Sirius, and Alice were playing a game of Quidditch with some students from other houses. Some of the older students who were waiting to use the field for team practice decided to join in and scout the first years to see who would be worthy of trying out the next year. James took the opportunity to show off his speed and diving skills, which did not go unnoticed.
Sunday was spent by James, Sirius, and Peter catching up on the homework they had procrastinated about all week. They glared at Lily and Remus as they sat by the fire each reading a book.
"I can't believe those two!" exclaimed Sirius. "They actually finished their homework and they are spending the rest of the weekend inside reading some silly books!"
"Well, Sirius," retorted Lily, "at least we finished the work and can CHOOSE to do what we want instead of being forced to stay inside. Besides, I love to read and I couldn't resist the armchair. It's such a comfortable spot to read in."
Sirius just rolled his eyes and returned to his work.
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Monday morning came and the first year students were at breakfast eager to get to Charms and Transfiguration. They were to start practicing those subjects that day rather than just reading about them. Lily was reviewing her wand movements when she saw a the rush of owls flooding the Great Hall to deliver the morning mail. She smiled as she saw Lancelot swoop down and gracefully land in front of her. She gave him a small piece of her toast and grabbed her letter. It was from her parents.
Inside the envelope was another letter from Petunia. Lily smiled. She remembered that Petunia did not like owls and therefore refused to personally send her a letter by owl. Her parents, therefore, had to send Petunia's letters with theirs so she wouldn't have to handle Lancelot. Right after Lily had started at Hogwarts she had gotten letters almost everyday from Petunia however lately it seemed like the letters were becoming more infrequent and less lengthy. Lily supposed it was because Petunia was becoming immersed in her studies.
As Lily was finishing her letters she heard a gasp from Alice. She turned to Alice to see her reading the Daily Prophet, which was the wizarding paper. "What is it, Alice?" She asked.
"There's been a series of attacks over the weekend. There was one aimed at a high-level auror at the Ministry. There were several others aimed at wizarding families known to have Muggle backgrounds." Lily paled as Alice read out the article.
"Who did the attacks?" Lily asked.
"No one knows for sure yet. It says that there are some rumors floating that there is a dark wizard trying to gather followers and this was a way of showing his growing strength. He calls himself the Dark Lord, but nobody knows who he is," Alice replied.
Lily shuddered as Marlene spoke up, "Well, I wouldn't get too worried yet. The Ministry has a lot of people looking for him and he will be found and sent to Azkaban." At Lily's confused look she added, "That's the wizarding prison."
"We need to get to class," reminded Alice.
History of Magic was forgettable as usual. Charms was far more interesting. They started practicing the levitation charm, Wingardium Leviosa. Lily pleasantly surprised herself by being the first student to make her feather float. Not only that, but she was able to make it float over to Sirius and tickle him on the nose. She earned 10 points for her house and a grin from Marlene.
Transfiguration was a little more challenging for Lily. She had to try to turn a match into a needle. She was having difficulty when she noticed that Potter had already done it. He was changing it back and forth looking rather bored by this point. She watched his lackadaisical wand motion as he did this and copied it, finally succeeding in transforming her match into a needle, though hers wasn't quite as sharp in appearance as Potter's was.
After lunch, they had DADA. Lily kept thinking about that evening being her first tutoring session with Professor Riddle. She had spent as much time as she could preparing for the session. She always finished her studies feeling as if she knew the material, however whenever she entered the DADA classroom her mind felt muddled, like a mist felt over her thoughts. 'Well,' she thought, 'this is why I need help. Maybe Professor Riddle can help me find a way to remember all the details from class and the reading.'
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James had had a good day so far. He had a nice nap during History of Magic. He got a good chuckle at watching Evans irritate Sirius with the nose-tickling feather in Charms. He scored points for his house in Transfiguration for being the first to transform the match into a needle, and he noticed Evans eyeballing him during the class. It was with a pang that evening that he remembered he had wanted to spend time flying with Evans after Flying class. She had turned him down, saying that she had plans.
As usual, James and Sirius were the last to finish flying and took their time putting their brooms back into the shed. They headed into the castle and were starting up the stairs when they heard voices nearby. James looked toward the source and saw Evans smiling, talking to a blond boy with all-too-perfect teeth. From Remus' description James was certain that this was the same boy who had been outside the library with Evans last week, Gilderoy Something-or-Other. Neither James nor Sirius could hear what they were saying, but they did hear Evans break out into giggles at something he had said. He made a grand bow and held out his arm, which Evans took as they walked down the hall together.
"Tough luck, mate," Sirius said, as he noted that James seemed to turn a similar color to the green in Evans' eyes.
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Am I evil or what? Bet most of you thought James would come to Lily's rescue this chapter, eh? Now, how many people out there think that Lily has any interest in Gilderoy Lockhart? If you actually think she does, then I had better start applying my SPF 2,000,000 sunblock so I can survive the flames I'll be getting.
If you're wondering where I got the chapter title from, then check out the reading list for the students in the Chamber of Secrets.
Next chapter: Lily's first tutoring session with Professor Riddle.
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