Knights of Walpurgis

TITLE: The Knights of Walpurgis

AUTHOR: Clio

RATED: PG-13

DISCLAIMER: No Potter me-owny, but big late fee me-havey. Don't sue!

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IMPORTANT A/N: I am rewriting this fic! If you have not yet reread chapter one then do so before you read chapter two!

I hope my readers enjoy the new fic, but if you'd still like to read what I had posted of the old Knights you can find it on Fanfiction.net; search the author name “Goddess.Clio” (without quotation marks) or the story title “The Knights of Walpurgis” (again without quotation marks). Thanks for all the reviews I had received and I hope that my reviewers will let me know how the rewrite is going! =^)

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Knights of Walpurgis

Previously…

“James… Oh,” Lily said, forcing a strained smile onto her face. “That's…” Pretty awful.

He said, bluntly, “You don't have to pretend to be happy about it.”

The smile wilted, but she kept staring at him. James Potter as Head Boy? Why? What was Dumbledore thinking? What in the world made James Potter qualified to be Head Boy when he had spent most of the previous six years in detentions?

“We need to go,” James pointed out to his friends. “The meeting and all…”

Lily watched the four boys shuffle into the next carriage and vaguely heard Eve and Adriana call good-byes to her as they wandered off. Lily found herself sitting back in her compartment a moment later, staring blankly at the opposite seat, a squirmy feeling in her stomach, as though she had eaten a plate full of live worms. A single thought kept swirling through her head as she envisioned the homework, the studying, the exams and the stress she was already going to have to endure in her N.E.W.T year without his stupid jokes and the never ending drivel about Quidditch:

Why Potter?

PART I

Chapter 2

.:*~* The Unexpected Head *~*:.

Lily Evans pushed the carriage door aside and moved down the narrow corridor of the Hogwarts Express. The sounds floating from inside the compartments she passed were happy and full of life, so much different that the sounds Lily had become accustomed to hearing. The news broadcasted over the Wizard's Wireless Network lately was nothing but a laundry list of attacks, protests and, the week before, riots in Birmingham. Even the prefect's meeting that morning, however happy it may have seemed, had only reinforced the nature of the world in which they had come to live.

Every year the Headmaster invited eight fifth years to become prefects for their houses, joining those sixth and seventh years who had also received that honor. In the years since Lily had been named Prefect, though, the group the school had come to rely on had been fragmented by events outside the school. With the rise of the Death Eaters and their rumored leader, a man many referred to as the Dark Lord, or simply You Know Who, the number of returning prefects seemed to dwindle. Leading the meeting that morning had been a shock; they had lost five of the sixteen returning prefects.

With her patrol of the train coming to an end, she wanted nothing more than to just sit back with her friends and await their arrival at Hogsmeade station. As she walked toward her compartment Clay Bosworth appeared. His heavy brow was emphasizing the scowl on his face.

“So how did he get it?” he asked Lily plainly, crossing his hulking arms over his chest.

Lily frowned. “How did..?”

“Potter,” Clay spat. “Bloody wanking Potter. How did he get Head Boy?

“I don't know,” Lily replied, honestly. “Until this morning I thought you were Head Boy.”

“I don't like it,” Clay said, resolutely. “Did you see how he just sat there during the meeting? Or how about when he came around to all of us,” Lily knew he meant the other seventh year boys, “and shook our hands like nothing was amiss, like he'd just popped in to say hello like we were old mates. Didn't say anything about Head Boy, or how bad he felt about getting it when I've been working for it for two years.” Clay growled his frustration. Lily had a suspicion that James didn't feel bad about getting Head Boy at all.

Truth be told, Lily had expected James Potter, who never failed to flaunt his Quidditch captaincy, to take every opportunity to rub his Head Boy appointment in the faces of all the other seventh year boys. They, after all, were the only four up for the position until Dumbledore strayed off the beaten path and appointed a boy who was neither a prefect nor someone who felt that rules were anything more than half-hearted suggestions. His lack of participation in the dispensing of duties was somewhat predictable, having never been a prefect, but she, like Clay, was somewhat suspicious of his new low-key approach.

Clay added, “Do you think it's because he's a pureblood?”

Lily faltered in her response. “No. Well… I don't know.”

“I think so,” Clay said.

Lily reflected on Clay's statement. “That doesn't sound like something Dumbledore would do, appoint someone because of their blood status.”

Clay huffed irritably, mumbled something Lily didn't hear, then stormed past her in the direction she had just come from causing a very pretty girl who had just been entering to jump aside in shock. Celeste Doucette glared at Clay's retreating form before continuing through the corridor. Lily knew Celeste, of course. Both girls were in Gryffindor and Celeste and Eve were good friends. They had bonded over a mutual fascination with divination in their third year that Lily still didn't entirely understand. She had always liked Celeste whenever they had opportunities to talk during meals or in study groups; however Celeste also maintained a close friendship with James causing Lily to give her, and consequently him, a wide berth. Unexpectedly, Celeste stopped when she reached Lily.

“Hi,” she said with a warm smile.

“Hi, Celeste,” Lily returned the smile. “Good summer?”

Celeste made a non-committal gesture, brushing a lock of long blonde hair out of her large brown eyes. “As good as can be expected given…”

“Oh, I know,” Lily agreed.

“It's like the country's been turned into a prison.”

“I'd actually prefer prison over this situation,” Lily replied.

“Yeah,” Celeste's brow furrowed in concentration. “I heard somewhere that you were nearly arrested in Diagon Alley?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lily laughed mirthlessly. “Long story.”

Celeste nodded in agreement. “Now we're rooming together maybe I'll hear the whole thing someti-AAHH!!” Celeste cried out. James had snuck up behind her and grabbed her about her middle causing her to start. He laughed and moved around her, leaning against the thin compartment wall. Celeste whacked him in the gut. “You jerk. What'd you do that for?”

“These are dangerous times, Celeste,” James replied, wearing a casual smile. “You've got to keep your defenses up.” He asked, “What were you arrested for?”

“Lily was arrested, not me.”

“I was not arrested, I was almost arrested.”

James's eyebrows knotted in disbelief. “What could you possibly have done to get yourself arrested?”

Celeste muttered to Lily, “I see he still thinks the sun shines out of your every orifice.”

“Not every orifice,” James replied, somewhat defensively. Then he added, “Just the ones I've been lucky enough to see.”

“You're disgusting,” Celeste stated.

James said, matter-of-factly, “I'm a guy.”

Lily added in reluctant agreement, “He does have a point. Boys have dirty minds.”

He leaned toward her and grinned. “You have no idea, Miss Evans.”

Lily smiled back, serenely. “And I'm happy in my ignorance, Mr. Potter. So if you'd please refrain from enlightening us any further I'd be very grateful.”

James stood, his arms crossed like a petulant child. “I can see I'm not loved here so I'll be going somewhere where my perversions will be better appreciated.” He made a low, sweeping bow and said in his most pompous voice, “Good day, ladies.”

“Wait, don't go!” Celeste called. He stopped a few paces away and turned back sticking out his lower lip in a pout Lily admitted was quite adorable. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” he asked.

Though Lily couldn't see Celeste's face she knew that it had formed one of those “you know what” kinds of expressions. James gave an impatient sigh and indicated that he'd be waiting in an empty compartment.

Celeste turned back to Lily and sighed exasperatedly. “He's such a child at times.”

Lily replied, amused, “Do you mean to imply that there are times when he acts like an adult?”

Celeste grinned. “It's been known to happen on occasion.”

“I'd never have thought it of him.”

Celeste shrugged. “You just don't know him that well. I'll see you tonight.” She turned and entered James's compartment.

Lily thought about what Celeste had just said. Admittedly she didn't know James as well as she could have but how much more could there possibly be to him? In a nut shell, James Potter was an arrogant, self-righteous jerk who enjoyed making fools of younger students and exuded just enough charm with the professors not to be expelled for some of the things he and Sirius got up to. It was common knowledge that he came from a very wealthy family and that he had spent most of his childhood being spoiled rotten and doted upon by his parents. He had never had to hold a job, he had never shouldered any real responsibility before now, and she was pretty sure that if someone or something didn't straighten him out quickly he would soon be beyond hope. Even with the few moments of maturity James Potter had managed to express over the last six years Lily still had a hard time picturing him as a responsible young man.

The only conclusion Lily could draw, therefore, was that Celeste's opinion of him was simply warped. Everyone knew that Celeste and James had dated at the beginning of their sixth year and had gotten on famously. After only a few months, however, things seemed to fizzle between them. Celeste had moved on to her boyfriend Ruben and James to a girl named Jessica from Ravenclaw. Lily supposed that Celeste's views on her former boyfriend stemmed from lingering feelings for him.

Yes. That must be it.

Lily turned and entered her compartment, climbing onto the seat and extracting her black Hogwarts robes from the trunk in the luggage rack. She gave her wand a wave and it issued a cloud of steam which she used to release the wrinkles in her robes. Over the rhythmic rumble of the train against the tracks she could hear voices. She flicked her wand and listened more closely. It was Celeste and James in the next compartment. She hesitated, reluctantly letting curiosity overcome her. She laid her robes over the seat and put her ear to the thin wall.

James's voice was the first she heard, muffled through the wall. “What in the world made him join the Ministry?”

Celeste answered, “You know Ruben. His sense of honor and duty took him over. I think he was possessed when he signed up.” Her voice sounded less clear than James's causing Lily to imagine that James was sitting next to the wall Lily had her ear pressed to and Celeste sat opposite him.

“Nah,” James replied. “Not possessed. But this definitely proves that his decision-making privileges should be revoked at once.” There was a pause before James added in disbelief, “The Ministry.”

“Oh, it doesn't matter. It's done. He can't get out now.”

Many young men had joined the Ministry recently, hoping to do some good. Lily knew, though, that a lot of them ended up like the clerk at King's Cross: bitter and resentful.

Celeste's voice recalled her attention and she pressed her ear back to the wall.

“Have you heard from Jessica at all?”

James voice seemed detached. “I don't… yeah, I guess. A few times.”

There was a pause.

Celeste asked, “How is she?”

“She's doing better, much better. She doesn't really tell me. Probably doesn't want me to worry. But, you know, how can I not?”

“And how's everything with you?” Celeste asked. Lily thought she sounded hesitant but it was difficult to discern the nuances of her voice over the hum of the train. “Are you doing well?”

“Well enough, I guess,” James replied. There was a thud against the wall as though he had knocked his head against it. “I don't know how well I'm supposed to be doing so all I know is that I'm doing alright given what I've got to work with.” He gave a humorless laugh. “This sounds terrible,” he added, “but I'm really glad to be back. I've been so caught up in this whole affair all summer that it feels good to be away.”

Lily stepped back from the wall. She had heard that he and his girlfriend Jessica had split up at the end of sixth year. Rumors had been flying around that Jessica's family was headed for Australia in July. They had had enough of You Know Who and they wanted to get away before something happened to their family. Lily supposed she and James were trying to keep things going long distance.

A knock came at the compartment door. Lily climbed off the seat as it rattled open. Rosalie Ray, the sixth year Hufflepuff prefect, poked her head in and reported that the train would arrive at Hogsmeade Station in twenty minutes. Lily pulled on her now wrinkle-free robes and followed Rosalie from the compartment and along the train. As she and Rosalie passed a compartment at the front of the train she recognized one of the faces inside and stopped.

The compartment held three young girls talking exuberantly. Two of the girls were brunettes and one girl had champagne-blonde hair and wide eager eyes. Shannon Gilford grinned at Lily as she opened the door.

“Everything alright in here?” Lily asked.

“It's great,” Shannon replied, dumping her cat out of her lap as she stood.

“We're almost to Hogwarts,” Lily said, and all three first-year girls pressed their noses to the black window in excitement. “Go ahead and put your robes on. And your hats and gloves. It'll be a bit nippy for you.”

The shorter of the two brunette girls turned to Lily. “When are we sorted? Right away?”

“You'll be sorted before the Feast begins.”

Shannon asked, “Which of the houses is the best?”

Lily laughed. “Whichever house you're sorted into will be the best if you're sorted into the right one,” she replied diplomatically.

Shannon pursed her lips, unhappy with Lily's answer. “Which house are you in?”

Again, Lily laughed. “I'm in Gryffindor.”

“That's the house I want to be in then.” Shannon turned to the other two girls. “Gryffindor's got to be the best. The best house for the best witches!”

The girls shrieked with delight.

“I'm very flattered,” Lily said, “but you'll be sorted into the house that best suits you. You'll do well in whichever one you're sorted into.” The three girls exchanged smiles. Lily added, “Now put on your robes. We should be arriving in just a few minutes.”

The crisp evening air was refreshing after the hot, stuffy atmosphere of the Hogwarts Express. Lily stepped onto the platform, relishing the cold breeze that carried the heavy scent of pine resin. She moved with the crowd toward the earthen road and the horseless carriages. She saw Eve and Mark hand in hand climbing into a carriage. Ahead of her were James, Sirius and Remus. Sirius was walking backwards, craning his neck trying to see over the heads of students far behind him. Lily watched James reach out his hand, seeming to stroke something in front of the carriage as Sirius shrugged and mounted their coach.

“Wait! WAIT!” a frantic voice called as the carriage lurched forward, then trundled away into the thick forest.

Peter Pettigrew plodded past Lily calling after the ghostly shape among the trees but the carriage lumbered on. He stopped a few yards down the road out of breath. Lily approached him, his panting heaves so violent she thought he might faint from lack of oxygen.

“Look at the fat lump,” a sneering voice came. Lily turned. Zachary Angston sauntered toward them followed by Dennis Mulciber and Severus Snape. Angston was a tall, thin boy with a square jaw that made him look permanently angry, and his nose had been broken at least once. Lily always got the impression that Angston wanted to break someone else's nose.

A shorter and squatter boy agreed. Dennis Mulciber stepped forward. “Shall we give little Porky Pettigrew some exercise?” Mulciber drew his wand. “Imperi—”

Mulciber was knocked back several paces. Snape instinctively caught Mulciber and pushed him upright again. Lily strode forward, her own wand raised against the three boys.

“How dare you!” she shouted, incensed. “How dare you cast that curse on him!”

“Relax, Peaches,” Angston cooed, wickedly. Angston and Mulciber circled her like vultures. “It ain't illegal yet, so what's the harm?”

“You're right,” Lily replied ironically. “You should get as much use of the Imperius Curse as you can.” She glowered up into his face. “Because you better believe the second it becomes illegal and I find you using it on students I'll have the M.L.E. here so fast—”

“Ooo,” Mulciber chuckled. “Empty threats from the Mudblood.”

Lily saw Snape make a jerking movement as though to reach for his wand but he contented himself to looking mean and surly and remaining out of the confrontation.

“It's a shame you're a Mudblood,” Angston agreed. She felt his hand brush her long hair off her neck. She pushed his hand away. “Or I'd have you for myself.”

“You might want to step away, Peter,” Lily said, cooly. “I think I'm going to be sick.”

Peter, for all his intimidation at the Slytherins around her, pushed Angston from her forcefully. “Back off, you filth!” he cried. Lily noticed that his wand shook slightly as he stood to defend her.

Snape turned at the sound of footfall coming toward the group. Celeste Doucette and Clay Bosworth were jogging down the lane.

“What's going on?” Clay asked, slowing.

“Nothing that couldn't be handled without you,” Severus replied, icily. “Say, how does it feel to be overlooked for Head Boy in favor of that no-talent golden boy Potter?”

Clay's nostrils flared, his knuckles blanching as he gripped his wand tighter. “I don't know,” Clay returned. “How does it feel to be the only mutt in a purebred house?”

Even Lily thought that was a low blow. She wasn't sure how many of Severus's friends knew he was a half blood but she did know his lineage was of great importance to him. Apparently Mulciber and Angston were in on Snapes little secret for their faces never faltered in their loathing expressions.

Celeste walked straight toward Lily and took her arm. She motioned for Peter to follow and she led them to a black coach that Lily hadn't realized had arrived.

“Get in,” she said, forcefully. She turned to Clay, then seemed to think better of inviting him along and got in herself. Her face was lit by the flickering lantern above her head, her eyes boring into Lily and Peter. “What was going on?”

“They were threatening us,” Peter replied. “Angston tried to put the Imperius Curse on me.”

“What?” Celeste cried in shock. “Even with all the lobbying Crouch is doing to induct it as the third Unforgivable they're still using it?” Celeste's voice was dripping with disgust.

Yeah,” Peter said. “In broad daylight, too! I mean, broad nighttime since it's dark out, but they used it!”

“We need to tell James about this,” Celeste said, firmly.

“No.”

Celeste and Peter both looked at Lily.

“Do not tell him about what happened,” Lily said, seriously.

“Why not?” Celeste asked.

“It's James!” Lily replied, exasperatedly. “What do you think his first act as Head Boy will be if the first thing thrown in his lap is that a Slytherin did something wrong?”

“It doesn't matter who did it,” Celeste replied. “It's the fact that the Imperius curse was the one being used that will get him to act.”

“Yes,” Lily agreed. “The Imperius curse being used by a Slytherin against one of his best friends. Do you think James would be thinking rationally about how to handle the boy who did it?”

Peter said, meekly, “Maybe he would.”

Celest, though, seemed to realize Lily was right.

Lily said, “Please don't tell him. Either of you.”

Peter looked to Celeste who appeared to be thinking this over very carefully. The remainder of the journey passed in a heavy silence.

The trees began to thin and Hogwarts castle emerged from the darkness as a huge shadow against the navy blue sky, its windows twinkling like stars. The black coach rocked to a halt, swaying in the light, crisp breeze as Lily, Peter and Celeste climbed out. Many students were huddled on the stairs leading into the entrance hall waiting for friends but Lily didn't feel much like joining the festivities just yet.

Instead of heading inside she trudged down the sloping lawn toward the black lake. She imagined that if she looked hard enough she could see the first years boarding the little boats that would carry them toward their new home. Then she remembered that you couldn't see the castle from the dock near Hogsmeade station. To her right she heard the swishing of a cloak over the wet grass. She looked up and say Remus Lupin approaching her looking as haggard as she felt.

“Everything alright?” he asked.

Lily smiled but suspected it looked more like a grimace. “Not in the slightest.”

Remus watched her profile as she stared forlornly out over the lake. “I'm here if you need to talk. You know that, right?”

Lily nodded.

He motioned back toward the castle. “Are you coming up?”

Lily examined the laughing students descending from their coaches and disappearing into the warm Great Hall. Among the crowd still outside she saw Sirius, James and Celeste. She shook her head. “Not yet.”

Remus turned and walked away. Shortly after his feet died away Lily heard another pair approaching. This time it was Celeste.

She didn't look happy. Her mouth was drawn in a tight line and her arms were crossed over her chest as she approached. She stopped several yards away so that Lily had to turn to look at her.

Celeste said, resolutely, “I'm not going to lie to him.”

Lily sighed and turned away.

“But,” Celeste added, with reluctance, “I won't say anything unless he asks me directly.”

Lily turned back to her. Celeste looked entirely unhappy with this decision. Over Celeste's shoulder she could see that everyone had gone inside and the last black coach was trundling around the corner of the castle, empty.

“Thank you.”

Celeste turned and hurried inside. Lily returned to her examination of the lake, pondering how she was expected to make it through this year.

“Get a grip,” she muttered to herself.

It wasn't the end of the world, she thought. She could always ask Dumbledore to reconsider his Head Boy appointment.

But what if he didn't?

Lily toed a muddy patch of grass. What would it be like having to shoulder the responsibility of Head Boy and Head Girl? And study for her N.E.W.T.s?

Hushed voices drifted toward Lily on the breeze. The first years had arrived and were disembarking their boats. Lily watched from afar as Hagrid herded them up toward the castle longing for her own first year again, a time when the only things on her mind were friends and magic. Her seventh, she feared, was destined to be different than all the rest. And she'd have to get through it on her own.

With a last breath of night air, Lily made her way back up to Gryffindor tower.

.:*~* Clio *~*:.

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