Thanks:
hazeleyedmarauder, mime, Remus`sweetie
This chapter: prolly more clichés! I love that word: prolly. Or prolzably. So much easier than probably…
Graduated is American, but it also means finishing college/Uni in Brit ling., and the kids aren't going to another school after Hogwarts, so I thought it would fit.
Disclaimer: The idea for what the two evil bastards do to Lily is sort-of my idea, sort-of the idea of everyone who wrote it in their fanfic, but mostly belongs to my mate Daniel, coz he's never read ff and came up with it off the top of his head, so really it should be dedicated to him… (that's a dedication to him, too, lol)
Well, I'd better get started now.
R/R and I'll love you forever!
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Chapter 5, Finding Out
Severus Snape smiled evilly at Lucius Malfoy.
Malfoy, as it so happened, had graduated the previous year. And here he was, back, to chat to Snape…if you could call it a chat. It was more to receive some advice.
Snape thought about how he was going to word his proposition. He could be straightforward and boring, or straightforward, to the point and cunning, or vague with many gaps for improvement, or sly and cunning. He chose the sly and cunning idea.
"You know the boss has been after Potter and his family for years?" he asked.
"Yeah…what's that got anything to do with the reason you called me here?" his fellow Death Eater asked. Okay, so Snape wasn't exactly a Death Eater…more like a DE-in-training.
"It has everything to do with it. I suggest you listen closely. You know that Evans bitch? I was thinking we could use her to get to the so-called `Marauders', and from there on to Potter. After our little joke, they won't have a clue what marauding is about." He proceeded to tell Malfoy his idea.
Malfoy threw Snape another incredibly malicious and malevolent smile that came so easily for him, and stated, "That just might work, Mr. Snape…welcome to the honorary Death Eater gang."
---
Tawn and Beth were both mourning over the fact that their crushes hadn't noticed them yet, whilst Lily was too busy planning the upcoming Christmas Ball she and James were hosting to fancy anyone. Alice and Madison had an idea.
"Hey girls," Maddy called over. "We were wondering something."
"D'you wanna have a girls' night in? Seeing as the boys are somewhere else…" Alice added.
Lily beamed. "Sure!" She grinned widely. The girls all hurried up to their dorm room, where they chatted about random things, fit boys, sex, and chocolate, whilst waiting to annoy the boys when they came back.
Of course, none of them had any idea what was going to happen a little while later.
---
The next day a letter came from Lily's Dad, Michael Evans, saying that her Mum was very ill, but she would get better soon and she wasn't to worry about it. Lily couldn't help worrying as she read the other letter from Petunia, saying it was her, `the freak', that had caused it and if her mother didn't get better soon, she'd pay for it.
Lily sighed and put her head in her hands. Petunia was soo annoying sometimes. She hoped her mother would get better soon.
---
Her mother didn't get better. The doctors had no idea what the mystery illness was, but they realised Lauren Evans was definitely not improving. Several times Lily asked to go back, but the hospital her mother had been admitted to refused to allow a just-seventeen-year-old in its wards to see such a patient. The illness could very well have spread and infected Lily herself.
Lily knew otherwise. She knew that the disease couldn't be treated, because it was magical. She didn't know how she knew, but she did, and her mother was not going to get better. She was going to die from the disease, and Lily wasn't allowed in to say how much she loved her.
Petunia seemed to notice this fact too. "You little…witch," she muttered one day. "What did you do to Mum?"
Lily paled. She knew Petunia hated her a lot…but enough to accuse her of trying to kill her own mother? "I didn't do anything," she replied steadily. "I would never do such a thing as to hurt her."
Petunia looked down her nose at the girl, and finally replied with, "If she dies, bitch witch, it's your fault, and you'll no longer be my sister."
From then on, Lily tried as much as she could to fix her mother and help her get better, abandoning all her Christmas preparations to make way for her mum. To no avail.
Lauren Evans died on the 1st of December, 1976. Lily was distraught, but even more so when Petunia's letter accusing Lily came.
And then disaster struck, a day later.
In the form of Voldemort, killing her father.
Lily read the letter from the Ministry through three times before she took in what it was saying. She'd been orphaned. Voldemort had sent the curse to upset Lily, and to force the Ministry to surrender, as Lily knew James, and his father was the Minister for Magic at that time.
The Ministry had refused, and Lily's mum had paid the price for something she hadn't deserved.
How she hated Potters now. They hadn't the decency to keep her mother alive. They'd sacrificed her, a woman who was completely innocent. And then Michael had been killed by the selfsame man who cursed her mother.
Lily couldn't take it, as she read through the letter again and again. She hadn't told anyone, not even Beth or Tawn, about her mother's death, and now her father was to be buried in a grave alongside his wife. Petunia had a field day with that one.
The letter read, simply,
So, you fucking slut. You got what you always wanted. Mum and Dad to fucking die, so you could have all the glory. Well guess what, bitch? No-one likes you. No-one cares. You're just an ugly slag who is so fucking upset with her miserable life full of fucking freak stuff so you take it out on other people. So what people `think' you're fucking popular. Guess what, bitch? You're NOT. You're not fucking special. And you're no fucking relation of mine. After the funerals that's it. You can find a home with some other person who fucking cares, one of your freaky man whore boyfriends or something. I'm married now, but don't think of contacting Vernon or I. You don't exist as far as we're concerned. That's it, slut. You've had it.
- Petunia Dursley
Lily stared at the many swearwords and the contents of the letter in horror. In one leap, she'd left the breakfast table, and with four more she'd left the hall completely. She had no idea where she was headed, but as she left the castle and headed towards the Forbidden Forest, tears streaming down her face, she knew exactly where she was going.
---
Beth and Tawny's eyes followed Lily as she left the hall.
"Should we follow her?" Tawn asked.
Beth shook her head. "Leave her to cool down. She's pretty upset about whatever it is."
James looked over to the space where Lily had been. He shook his thoughts away from Lily, and focused on what Sirius was telling him about, the next prank they were going to play on Snape, completely unaware of the somewhat morbid and sinister prank he'd just played on them.
---
It was 10pm and Lily still hadn't come back from wherever she was. Beth and Tawn were getting worried.
"Where the hell can she be? What's so bad that she has to stay out for fourteen hours straight?" Tawny said frantically. Bethany was trying to calm her down.
"She'll be okay, she's not one for doing stupid things." Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her. She turned to find Sirius and James sitting, playing a card game rather quietly for them. James had a closed, set expression and Sirius didn't look too happy or expressive, either.
"Have either of you two seen Lily?" Beth asked them nervously.
Sirius shook his head. "Not since breakfast this morning. We-Prongs, Moony, Wormy and I-were wondering what had happened to her."
Tawn lifted her head and looked at him and James. "I hope her mother hasn't died or something terribly tragic has happened like that…she doesn't deserve grief like that."
James turned to look at Sirius, his expression pleading. It was usually James who made all the decisions, but he was quite distraught this time round, and Sirius realised it would be up to him for once.
Sirius nodded his head and turned to look at the two girls. "We'll find her, don't worry."
He turned and ran up the boys' staircase, coming back down a few moments later with a piece of crumpled parchment in his hand. Beth snatched it out of his hand. "What is this? What's it going to do to help? It's blank."
"Give it back to me Beth, please."
"Why is it so special to you? C'mon, I mean look at it. You can't want to write anything on it."
"But…we do!"
"Then why didn't you just ask me for a piece of parchment? I've got some right here."
Sirius bit his lip. This girl, his best female friend, was starting to drive him insane. "Give me it back, Bethie, or you will be subject to a Prank War tomorrow. Now what would you prefer?"
This probably wasn't such a good idea, as Beth beamed up at him, and said, "It must be really special to you. Let's see…Show me your secrets."
The parchment did nothing.
Tawny looked at it in interest. "What do you contain?" she asked it, wondering if politeness was what it desired.
Beth finally snapped. "I, Bethany Louise Towers, command you to show me your secrets!"
Writing flowed across the page, and Beth looked smug at the fact she'd unlocked the secret of the blank sheet of parchment…until she read what it said.
Mr. Moony would like to tell Bethany Towers to butt out of what does not concern her.
Mr. Wormtail agrees, and says that maybe she should go and bother someone else.
Mr. Prongs tells Bethany Towers that unless she wants to feel guilty, she should go and do something more productive.
Mr. Padfoot finishes with the fact that although Bethany Towers is incredibly cute, it is not going to help her escape a Prank War later this week.
Bethany looked up from the parchment. "Low, James and Sirius, low."
Tawny chuckled. "You really think she's cute?"
"Um…sorta…she is my best friend, it doesn't count though…"
"Of course it counts," Tawn told him stubbornly, beaming, "coz she fancies you right back!" She shoved Beth over to him.
"Um…hi?" Beth asked nervously. "Forgive her, she's overreacting…"
"I don't think so," Sirius said, smiling slightly. "Do you really?"
"Do you?"
"Yes," Sirius admitted.
"Well I suppose I agree with that…in a way…" Anything else she was going to say was cut off by Sirius's mouth on hers.
James looked at them, confused. "That was hardly romantic…"
Tawny smiled. "Of course it was. Now, weren't we talking about Lily before all this happened?"
James's eyes widened. He grabbed the parchment out of Beth's hands, and at the same time he took hold of the back of Sirius's shirt and dragged him out through the portrait, Sirius mouthing `We'll finish that later!' to Beth as they left.
---
The two boys checked in the Map and tried to find Lily. James spotted her beside a tree in the Forbidden Forest and they headed there.
Once they were outside the castle, they both transformed into their animal counterparts and rushed down to Lily.
She was sitting there, completely still, looking like she was going to faint. Her legs were crossed tightly and she was staring straight ahead, three pieces of paper clutched tightly in her hand. She looked over as the two animals neared her.
"Oh, hello," she whispered, and reached out a hand to Sirius.
The large black dog padded over and sniffed her hand, then licked it. He went and snuggled next to Lily. She stroked behind his ears and giggled, "You're adorable, aren't you."
The other animal, a magnificent white stag, looked miserable, if stags could look miserable. He walked over elegantly. Lily looked up at him.
"And you're beautiful," she told him, rubbing between his antlers. James settled down on her other side and put a head on her shoulder. Sirius nudged her in her side, impatient. She patted him with one hand, and stroked James with the other. The letters lay crumpled, forgotten, on her lap.
"I'm so glad to have some company," Lily told the animals. "I couldn't believe it. I think I really need to tell someone; at least you won't get annoying. I just have to say, I hate the Potters."
James looked downcast. Sirius talked puppy-talk in his head, trying to make James happy again.
Lily didn't notice this at all. She continued, "I don't want to ever see one of them again. They're responsible for all this. I mean, first Mum got a mysterious illness. Then Petunia insisted it was my fault, and if Mum died she'd disown me. Then Mum started getting worse. She died yesterday. She was used as bait to make the Ministry surrender, as I'm friends with James, the Minister's son. But the Minister just let my mum die. He didn't do anything to help. And then Petunia sent me a rather great letter about everything. Then this morning, the Ministry sent me a lovely letter about how You-Know-Who had killed my dad. Just great. And then the adorable letter from Petunia came. You'd think she didn't know any words but `fuck'. She used as many words to describe me as she could, and then said I could live with one of my `freaky man whore boyfriends' as she put it. But I don't know any boys that would put up with me. And I can't stay at Tawny or Bethany's houses over the summer: Tawn is poor enough as it is, and Beth has four sisters and brothers. She doesn't need another person in her house. I just don't know what to do," she finished in a whisper. She leant her hand back against the tree behind her, and fell asleep absentmindedly stroking James and Sirius's coats.
James and Sirius transformed back a few moments later. James reached out and read all the letters, stiffening at the two from Petunia. The second one enraged him quite substantially, and he vowed, aloud, that that would not be the last time any of them heard from that little bitch: he was going to make her pay.
Sirius looked down at Lily. "Shall we take her in?"
James nodded. He bent down and lifted Lily up into his arms without any help from Sirius at all. He carried her inside to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey proceeded to reprimand the two for being outside past midnight.
The two boys left to go back to their dorms, but later on James left to go back to visit Lily. He couldn't help but think there was a lot more to this than anybody was letting on.
---
Lily woke up to find James next to her bed, asleep in a chair. She chuckled quietly, and then raced across to the bathroom. When she came back, she was hit with a large surge of hunger, and her stomach rumbled.
James was having a nice dream where he and Lily were living together in a house, and she was flirting with him incredibly and telling him how much she loved him. It was a nice fantasy, one that he knew would never come true, and he wanted to stay there forever.
He was snapped out of his dream when Lily's face entered his dream in the wrong place. Of course, it was a little blurry-he'd taken off his glasses the previous night. He could work out what seemed to be Lily playing with something black and shiny.
"Hey! Give me back my glasses!" he told her, annoyed. Lily leant over and perched them on his nose.
"What are you doing here? And…what am I doing here?"
James smiled gently and told her that he and Sirius had been walking around outside when they'd come across her. They'd done the noble thing and carried her back inside, but she was so weak they'd brought her to the Hospital Wing.
Lily thought hard, back to last night. "Did you see two animals? A stag and a dog?"
James shook his head, all the while thinking, She remembered us! She remembered us!
"I'd better be going," he told Lily, standing up to leave. "Before Pomfrey comes. She might be a bit mad at me." He turned and began to leave.
Lily remembered further, and she remembered something when she'd been on the edge of consciousness. Two boys talking, right next to her.
"Stop," she commanded. James obeyed. "Turn." He did so. "Explain."
He sent her a weak, nervous smile. "About what, Lily?"
"Try one moment I had animals next to me, the next I had people. The voices were noticeably yours and Sirius's. How did you manage to get there so fast, and still didn't see the animals? I think you're lying."
"Well…maybe they slipped off."
"Or maybe they weren't animals in the first place."
"Come off it Lily, of course they were animals!" James told her, becoming incredibly worried.
"Not unless," Lily said, thinking for a moment. "Not unless they were Animagi."
James bit his lip anxiously and tried to think of something to say to that. She carried on.
"Animagi by the names of Sirius Orion Black and James Harold Potter. Padfoot and Prongs, see? A dog: Padfoot. A stag: Prongs. I'm not stupid, James. I would have figured it out long ago. And if you two are…then the others are, too. Wormtail: a rat or mouse, most probably."
"Rat," James muttered.
"And Moony…" Lily stopped for a moment. "No, he's not Animagi, is he? Of course not, I see it now. Every month, he's away at the same time…he says his mother's sick, but I've met her, and she seems perfectly healthy. He always vanishes the night of the full moon. You disappear, too, so you must know. He's never in class, and the teachers don't question, so they must know, too."
"Where is this leading?"
"Remus, Moony, is a werewolf."
"Clever Lily. The only person to figure it out. What are you gonna do, blast him now or something?"
Lily looked surprised. "No, he's my friend, why would I blast a friend? It doesn't matter that he's a werewolf."
"He wanted to tell you, all three of you, but he thinks you'd shun him. Especially Tawny, he loves her like hell."
Lily smiled, she'd been expecting that. "I always hoped they'd get together. Beth and Sirius, too."
"Oh, Tawny got them together last night. Via the Map…" he shut up hurriedly.
Lily raised her eyebrows, as she couldn't raise one. "The Map?" she asked. "Mind telling me what it is?"
"Yes, I mind. I'm not telling you. You know too much already. Do not tell anyone of this little conversation we had, all right? Or you'll regret it." He started heading for the exit.
"All right, I promise. And James?"
He turned to look at her.
"I'm sorry for saying I hated all the Potters."
He grinned. "No problem. What Dad did wasn't right for your mum, though it was for our country. I hope everything sorts itself out and you're welcome to stay over at ours for the holidays."
Lily smiled genuinely at him. "Thanks, I'd like that."
With one last smile at Lily, James left the Hospital Wing, his hands in his pockets and a sincere smile on his face.
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Woah…long chapter there…
Thanks,
Cazzy
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