Lily Evans was standing next to the barrier separating her from platform 9 3/4. She held onto her trolley tightly as she hugged her mother and father, saying their last good-byes.

“Alright, dear, are you sure you have everything?” Mrs. Evans asked Lily, while stroking Lily’s auburn hair.

“Yes, mum,” Lily answered, inspecting her truck, as if she could see through it and see everything inside. “My broomstick, my owl, all my books…”

Her father took a breath and said, “We’re so proud of you being head girl and all.”

“Thank you,” Lily answered, her hand reaching up to touch her badge pinned on her. She tied up her hair in a bun. She thought that it would support her Head Girl badge.

All was quiet for a minute, except for the shouts of muggles late for their train, engines roaring, and trolley wheels scraping against the Kings Cross Station floor.

“Well, good-bye, then. I’ll send you an owl as soon as I get to Hogwarts.” Lily turned to leave, when her father stopped her.

“Lily…?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“I want you to be extra careful this year, you know, with… with You-Know-Who all over the place. Always follow directions. And never go anywhere without a friend. And listen carefully to Dumbledore. He knows what to do.”

“Of course.”

Silence one again resumed. Then, Lily started waling to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. She turned around, leaned to the side, and shouted, “Good-bye Petunia!”

Petunia, Lily’s sister, just glanced at Lily and stuck up her nose.

“Hurry up, honey, if you want a good seat!” her mom advised. Lily nodded, even though she knew she was an hour early and was guaranteed the entire train to herself, checked to make sure no muggles were watching, and dragged her trolley between the platforms.

When she reached the other side, she bumped hard into something, or someone, and fell to the floor. Her trolley tipped over, spilling her trunk. Her owl cage burst open and her owl flew to the top of the train.

Lily brushed some loose hair out of her face. A large stone dropped in her stomach with astonishment when she saw James Potter staring down at her. James Potter was the last person she had planned on bumping into.

“You!” Lily gasped, “What are you doing here?” Her green eyes darted from James, to the wand in his hand, and three other figures on the platform.

“I… nothing…” James said, meekly, stuffing the wand in his pocket. “You look, er, nice.”

Lily just scoffed. James Potter, the immature boy who had been asking her out for her entire Hogwarts years, wasn't exactly a reassuring sight. She reached over to retrieve her trunk when James leaped forward and said, “No, I’ll get it.” He ran forward, and grabbed her trunk. Lily snatched it from his hands.

“Thank you, Potter,” Lily said stiffly. She strolled over to the train and dragged her trunk onto the train. Her owl fluttered on her shoulder. Taking one last look at Potter and his comrades, she boarded the train.
~
“Ha, ha. Nice one, Prongs.” Sirius Black, James’ friend, laughed and pointed at him.

“What’s so funny?” James demanded.

“Ha, ha. You.” Sirius then did a crude imitation of James. “‘Oh, Lily, let me carry your bags!’ ‘Oh Lily, you look absolutely stunning today.’ ‘Oh, Lily!’ Just ask her out already, moron!”

James quickly had his wand back in his hand.

“This duel isn’t over, Black!” he chortled. Before Sirius could react, James had sent a curse hurtling in his direction.

Sirius blinked and then, a flask of bubble pink light, and he was on the floor, giggling madly, like a ticklish toddler.

Through his giggles, Sirius was able to return a spell. A red flash later, James was flipped upside-down, blood filling his head.

Remus Lupin, who had been watching Sirius and Potter duel before Lily had arrived, was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in disapproval.

“You know,” he said in semi-bossy voice, “You should really stop that.”

“Why?” James’ voice was hoarse, as his head had become a red beacon.

“Because,” Remus continued, “Someone could get hurt.”

“I’m taking this like a MAN, Remus,” Sirius giggled. He was sitting on the floor, with a hand over his mouth in an effort to stop the uncontrollable silly laughing.

“Oh yeah, Padfoot,” James agreed sarcastically, crossing his arms, “You really sound like it.”

Sirius giggled again. No one was sure if it was James’ curse or Sirius’ free will.

“Anyway,” James continued, “What if we come across You-Know-Who? We need to be prepared to fight to our deaths.”

Lily, who had just exited the train with a book in her arm, had heard the comment and she felt a wave of disbelief flow over her.

“You think this is funny, Potter?” she interrogated. James’s head whipped around. “You think that You-Know-Who is funny? Consider yourself LUCKY if You-Know-Who makes you hang upside-down instead of torturing you to insanity!” She scanned James’s position. She then blinked and moved her head as if to say, “Oh well.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Evans.” James eyed her badge and added, “I like your badge.” His eyes sparkled with joy. This year was going to be somewhat better than the past few.

Lily’s eyes rolled up and she sat down on a bench and opened up the large, brown-ish red book with its title in gold.

“What book is that?” James asked.

Lily ignored him.

“Oh, it’s called ‘Reviving Spells.’ Sounds fascinating,” he croaked.

Lily just shifted in her seat.

James tried to say something else, but he could no longer talk properly. His voice was extremely hoarse and he couldn’t breathe properly. He gasped for air. Nothing came in. He coughed frantically. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a small stream of air. His lungs were fit to burst.

Blackness caved in and Sirius’s spell faded away. The last James remembered was lack of air, a loss of consciousness, and the ground coming up to meet him.

---

A/N: I really appreciate you reading my fanfiction. Please leave reviews on my chapters, whether you have good things to say (or bad), or even conscructive critism. This is my first fanfiction, so I would like some help/encouragement. Thanks!!!!!

Signed

Immortal Evil person-thing

“James!” Lily heard Remus shout. Lily peeked over the top of Reviving Spells and nearly dropped it. She saw Remus ran as fast as he could towards James’s unconscious body and flip him over. Sirius stopped giggling abruptly and he and Peter Pettigrew, another friend, followed suit. Lily closed her book and jogged over to James and bent down next to Remus. Blood was flowing slowly from James’s forehead.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Remus responded, “He just… kind of…”

“Fainted?” Sirius suggested.

“When? Before he fell or after he fell?” Lily asked.

“Well… kind of in between, now that I’ve come to think of it…” Sirius remarked. “What do we do?”

“Well, if YOU had listened to me and put him down, none of this would have happened!” Remus shouted curtly.

Lily, who decided to take no notice of Sirius’s jokes, placed her hand an inch over James’ mouth.

“He’s not breathing!” she said in a stressed voice.

“Well DO something, Miss Smarty-Pants!” Sirius shouted at Lily. Lily withdrew her wand and pointed it at Sirius.

“Watch your mouth, Mr. Black,” she warned, “Before something foul comes out.” Sirius didn’t move a muscle. Lily, changing the direction of her wand tip and, instead, pointed it at James. She closed her eyes, whispered, “I know I’m going to regret this,” and then conjured the spell (“Respiraro.”).

A light blue spark shot out of her wand tip and it flew into James’s mouth and down his throat. Suddenly, James’ chest rose as he gasped for air. A second or two later, his breath became steady and normal.

“He’s alive!” Peter shouted, happily, thrusting his arms up towards the heavens.

“That’s not funny, Peter,” Sirius stated.

Peter immediately dropped his arms. “Sorry,” he mumbled. He then lowered his voice and said something else about being a total loser.

“You shouldn’t be the one apologizing. He should!” Lily shouted, pointing at Sirius.

“Well, sorry,” Sirius said in a mocking voice.

“Don’t mock me, Black,” she reminded, “I just saved your best friend’s LIFE!”

“And you’re Head Girl,” Peter added.

“Oh, shut up, the lot of you,” Lily grumbled.

“What should we do with him now?” Remus asked Lily.

“He should lie down,” Lily replied.

“O.K. What next?” Sirius inquired.

“I meant in a compartment, not on the platform floor!”

“Alright, alright! Geez…”

Remus and Sirius lifted James from the ground and carried him to the train. Peter followed.

Lily made to stand up, but she slipped and fell on something. Groaning, she picked it up. It was James’s wand.

“Wait, you forgot his wand…” Lily called out to the backs of Remus, Sirius, and Peter, but they had already gone. Lily pocketed it and carried her book. Lily resumed her position on the bench, reading it.

Half an hour later, a group of boys emerged from the wall. In their group, there was Amos Diggory. Lily’s heart fluttered.

Amos Diggory was every girl’s eye-catcher. He was astonishingly handsome, even though he was a bit arrogant.

Just like James, Lily thought.

Yes, except Amos is more… mature and never got in trouble, Lily argued with herself.

As they passed her, Lily greeted them with a friendly “Hello.”

“Hi, Lily.”

“Hey, Lily.”

“Nice badge.”

Everyone returned the greeting, except for Amos. Lily’s heart sank. She suddenly lost interest in what Gilbert Brigham had to say about knocking-out wild billywigs and went into her compartment and waited for her friends.

Five minutes later, Julianne, Lily’s friend, entered the compartment.

“Hi, Lily!” she said.

“Hello!” Lily answered.

“Did you have a nice summer?”

“Mmm… not bad. Yours?”

“Fine…” Julianne twirled her brown hair, swiftly lost in thought. “Oh, I got an owl from Sofia this morning.”

“Why? What happened?”

“She’s not coming this year.”

“What? Why not?”

Julianne owed her voice to whisper. Lily had to lean in closer to hear her.

“It’s because of… of You-Know-Who.”

“She’s not going to Hogwarts because of him?”

“That’s what I was told.” Julianne crossed her arms. Her eyes fell on Lily’s badge. “You’re Head Girl?!” she asked.

“Oh… yeah. I am.”

“You go girl!” cheered Julianne, “Potter better watch out for you. I’m gonna LOVE this year!” Julianne stretched her arms out as far as they would go and started to do a little victory dance.

“Julianne…” Lily laughed, playfully protecting her face with her arms, “Stop it!”

“Alright, alright.”

“What is this?” a girl with brown skin and black hair asked. “You are having fun without me?”

“Oh, Maya, we would NEVER had fun without you,” Julianne joked.

Maya smirked, strolled in the compartment and levitated her truck so it rested on the shelves above their heads. She sat down next to Lily and stared at her, intently.

Lily turned her head and faced Maya’s and gave her an expression that clearly asked, “What?”

Maya titled her head the other way and revealed, “I heard you talking about James Potter.”

Lily let out a short breath of air. “What?!?! Julianne was talking about him, not me.”

“Why don’t you like him? He’s so-”

“Arrogant, proud, nastily clever, trouble-making, annoying-”

Maya cut her in saying, “Charming, positively clever, independent, loyal, brave, and SUCH a true Gryffindor.”

Lily just shrugged. James fit all those categories that Maya described, but Lily believed that he found himself at home in her categories as well.

“Ooh, Maya, tell me my future!” Julianne jumped up and down. Maya’s mother was a Seer, and she had passed down her talent to her daughter.

Maya smiled, trying to be modest, lifted her wand, and shouted, “Accio crystal ball!” Her trunk burst open and a large, glass crystal ball flew into Maya’s hands. Maya closed her eyes and whispered, “Wingardium Leviosa!” The ball rose a few inches from her hands, and then paused in midair.

“Well, what do you see?” Julianne asked itching to find out. In their first year, Julianne refused to believe that Maya was a seer… until Maya predicted that Sirius would give her antlers, hooves, and a shiny, red nose for Christmas. So, after Julianne had rampaged after Sirius and gotten the spell reversed, Julianne believed everything Maya told her.

“Nothing... you're future it kind of boring, Juli..."

“O.K. O.K., Maya, I get it. What do you see for Lily?” Julianne looked kind of depressed, but Lily's future was always interesting.

“Hmmm…” Maya sat back up, still giggling, and Lily returned the ball. “I see… ooh… I see LOTS of stuff in your future, Lily. But it’s going too fast that I can’t recognize any of them…” She frowned for a moment, but then her expression lifted. “I see a silver stag being ridden someone…”

“Who?” Lily asked eagerly.

“I can’t tell, his back is turned… but he’s definitely a Hogwarts student with rather untidy black hair…”

“JAMES POTTER!!!” Julianne cried happily, “Oh. Lily, he’s rescuing you!”

“Yeah, from what?”

“I don’t know. The background’s all black.” Maya scratched her (thanks hippogriff9494!) chin, thoughtfully.

Lily checked her watch and jumped up. “Oh, I’m sorry guys, but I have to go to the head-compartment now. I’ll see you later.” Lily trotted out of the compartment and ran, headfirst, into none other than Amos Diggory.

James, slowly, opened his eyes. Everything was so blurry. Someone was staring down at him, but James couldn’t figure out whom.

James groaned as his head gave a painful throb and he clasp his hand on is forehead. He withdrew it when he realized that there was a bandage already there.

“Hey, you’re awake, James,” came the voice of Sirius.

“Sirius?” James called out, a little louder than necessary, “Is that you?”

“No, its Snape,” Sirius said sarcastically. “Of course it me, you goof.” Someone handed James his glasses and he slipped them on his head.

“You gave up quite a scare, James,” Remus uttered.

“Not me, I wasn’t scared,” Peter remarked, sitting straighter on his seat.

“You nearly wet yourself,” Sirius shot back at him.

“Ugh… what happened? What happened back on the platform?” James, painfully, sat up and leaned his back against the train window.

“Well… um, you kind of… fainted,” Peter told him.

“No, no, no, no, no, Wormtail. ‘Passed out’ is a cooler term,” Sirius corrected, “James ‘passed out.’ Got it?”

“‘Passed out’? H-how?”

“We don’t know. Maybe you couldn’t breathe, or maybe too much blood was in your head,” Remus informed James.

“Well, was Lily looking? Did I look… cool?”

“Heck no,” Sirius laughed, “You looked rather stupid if you ask me.”

“Well, I bet I didn’t look as stupid as you did when you were giggling like mad!” James’s joke seemed to cover up how he felt inside.

How could he just faint? Him! James Potter! Faint! Just because of a simple spell Sirius cast? And in front of Lily!

James couldn’t have felt more stupid.

“D-did anyone else see?” James prayed silently that the answer was no.

“Nope, but Lily’s bound to tell.” Remus looked at Sirius and Peter and they nodded in agreement,

“Oh, she’d better not.”

“Whoa, James. You sounded… evil… when you said that.” Sirius took a small step back.

James swung his legs over the seat and stood up. “I’m gonna talk to her.” He reached his hand into his robe pocket, but withdrew it empty handedly.

“Um… guys… have you seen my wand?”

“You’re wand? No.” Sirius shrugged and showed his bare hands. “I only have mine.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

“Maybe Lily has it,” Remus suggested.

“Or maybe not,” Peter said, “Maybe its on the platform.”
At just the moment, the clock’s hand struck eleven and the train started to move.

“Oh, no…” James whispered. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” He grabbed his untidy, black hair in stress and ran out the door. He pressed his face against the window, trying to see if his wand was still on the platform. But there were too many people standing there to tell. James walked backwards into the compartment and slammed the door shut.

“I lost my wand!” James shouted in frustration.

“Well, go see if Lily has it. If she saw it, she wouldn’t have left it lying about!” Remus recommended.

“How would you know? I bet she would have loved to see me fail my classes. I bet she snapped it in half and threw it on the railroad tracks!”

“She would have done no such thing!”

“Oh yeah? Try me!”

“Alright! Just for your information, it was Lily who saved your life!”

James stood there, stunned and hardly daring to believe it. “Sh-she what?”

“You heard me! She saved your life. You weren’t breathing so with some of her quick-thinking, she saved you!”

“And not by the mouth-to-mouth operation, James,” Sirius joked.

“S-so, she cared about me?” James asked. He still didn’t believe it.

“Well, cared enough about you to let you breathe again.”

James leaned against the window and slid to the floor. “She loves me…” He took a golden snitch out of his pocket and it began flying around his head again… and again… and again… and again….

“Now, I would go that far, James…” Remus warned.

“What are you talking about, Remus?” Sirius sighed, leaning against the wall, hands behind his head. “Of course its some kind of warm feeling.”

“Wow…” Peter murmured. “I wish someone loved me.” Peter eyes were attempting to follow the speeding snitch, but he got so dizzy, he closed his eyes.

“No one loves you, Peter.” Sirius smiled.

James looked at Sirius and grinned. “I’m gonna ask her out.”

“That’s way to far…” Remus said under his breath.

“Are you KIDDING, Remus? You’re the MAN, James!” Sirius gave James a hearty clap on the back. “Go ask her out right now!”

“Um… I don’t think that’s possible…” Peter announced. His eyes had opened again and he was staring out into the hallway.

“Why not?” James interrogated as he caught the snitch out of midair.

“Just look out the window.” Peter pointed to where he meant.

James looked, and his heart plummeted and he let go of the snitch in surprise. Peter was pointing to Lily Evans. But Lily was not alone. Amos Diggory accompanied her.

James’s blood began to boil, furiously.

“You’re not head-boy?” Lily asked in surprise.

“Nope. I wished I knew who was. But being prefect was good enough for my parents. To tell you the truth, being a prefect was completely dull.”

Lily didn’t say anything to oppose that statement. In fact, she believed that being a prefect was enjoyable.

“Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?” Amos wondered. Lily was taken completely by surprise. But, she smiled. Amos returned the smile. Lily admired his straight, white teeth and his eyes…

It was then, the Lily noticed a group of people watching them through a window. She stopped abruptly. Her eyes traveled across the faces of Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black… and James Potter. Her heart almost stopped beating when she saw James’s expression. He wore the darkest expression on his face that Lily had ever seen.

She saw his finger curled up in tight fists, resting on his knees. She also noticed the bandage wrapped about his head. His glasses were a cracked on his left lens in the upper left hand corner. Behind the glasses, his eyes were full of hatred, darkness, and misery.

A tiny ball of light was swirling sadly around his head.

He still hasn’t given up on me…

When Lily couldn’t stand the view a second longer she turned her head and walked with Amos out of their view.

“I’ll think about it…” Lily announced. She wasn’t sure that Hogsmeade with Amos Diggory was a good idea. Potter would go insane.

“Let me know as soon as possible.”

Even as she walked, James’s condition still lingered in her mind.
~
“That’s it!” James shouted, his temper rising rapidly, “I’m gonna kill Diggory!”

“James! Calm down! We don’t even know if she likes him!” Sirius tried to restrain James.

“Oh, if I had my wand…” James whispered dangerously.

“But you don’t and Diggory has his, so stop being so… inpatient!” Remus reminded.

James took a sharp intake of breath, teeth gritted together. “I’m gonna prove to Lily that I’m not an immature, foolish hot-headed kid.”

“Wow… that is going to be pretty hard considering you are one…” Sirius said thoughtfully.

“Shut up…” James rummaged through his trunk and pulled out a red and gold head-boy badge and walked out the door.
~
Lily was deep in conversation with Amos when someone brushed, roughly, them aside and stormed down the hallway.

“What are you doing, Potter?” Amos Diggory demanded James. Lily was thinking the exact thing herself.

“I’m going to the head-car,” was James’s curt answer.

“Only prefects and head boys and girls are needed to do that, Potter.”

“Well, for your information, I AM head boy.” James jabbed his finger at a badge pinned to his robes.

Lily was stunned. How could James Potter, James Potter, become head boy? Maybe he stole the badge from his friend, Remus. Yes, that would make sense. But at the same time, Lily could see the name “James Potter” etched in the badge. She almost threw up. Doing patrols around Hogwarts with him?

Diggory was also lost for words. Instead of talking to James, he just turned his back. James turned too, and began walking down the hallway.

Lily looked form James to Amos, and then James again. “One minute please,” she begged of Amos, and then she ran after James. She slowed down when she came closer to him.

“Potter?” she asked timidly.

“What?” he growled, spinning around. For a brief second, he was still wearing his dark face, but he relaxed a bit when he saw Lily.

“I-I just wanted to say, um, congratulations on becoming head-boy…” James looked at her with interest, as if expecting more. “A-and I hope you’re O.K. It was a really nasty fall you took on the platform.” James could see Lily bite her tongue.

“I’m fine, actually. Its just a little scratch.”

Lily stifled a laugh right before it came out. “Oh yes, Potter. It’s just a little scratch.”

They both laughed.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” A pale boy with sleek, blonde hair strode up to them. He was wearing a Slytherin head boy badge. He definitely was not a sight that Lily had planned on seeing.
~
“Hello, Lucius Malfoy,” James curtly shot at him, “What brings you here?”

Malfoy paid no mind to James’s comment. He only glanced at James’s head and bandage and asked softly with his cool and chilling voice, “My, my. What happened to your head, Potter? It looks like you tried to run through the wrong barrier.”

James sighed with relief. If Lily had told about James’s fall, which he highly doubted, it had not reached Malfoy’s ears yet.

“Quidditch,” he replied simply, “A rogue blugder knocked me in the head.”

“My, my. Our Hogwarts Quidditch star is defeated by a bludger?”

“Not defeated. More like… hit by.” Lily sniggered quietly.

“Miss Evans… why are you in his company? What happened to you hate for him? Why are you standing up for a immature boy who has irritated you since first year?” James lost some of his confidence. He swallowed but kept on looking straight at Malfoy.

A muscle in Lily’s mouth twitched. “There is nothing I loathe more than a monster who seeks pleasure in other people’s misery.”

“Like Potter?”

“No, like you!”

James smiled. Malfoy raised his eyebrows and said, “Very well. But, luckily, you’re say doesn’t matter.”

“Why not?”

“Why, because you’re a mudblood, of course.”

Silence filled the corridor. Suddenly, James roared “HOW DARE YOU,” grabbed Malfoy, and pinned him to the wall.

“Potter! Stop it!” Lily shouted.

James ignored her, and demanded, “You take that BACK! You take that back you son of a-!”

“JAMES!!!”

“What!?!” James turned his head and saw Lily, wand out, and several first and second years, their heads peeking out from their compartments.

James hastily let go of Malfoy, who calmly, walked away, glaring back at James. It was then, that James realized that Lily had called him by his first name…
~
“Everyone back to their cabins!” Lily ordered. The young students slowly closed their door again. When Lily was sure that no one was remaining in the hallway, she whispered hoarsely, “What is WRONG with you?”

“I just-”

“He’s not worth it!”

“But he called you-”

“I know what he called me! But that doesn’t mean that you have to start beating him up! Especially in front of first years! Do you think that a head-boy beating up another boy is going to set a good example?”

“Sorry…” James mumbled.

Lily sighed. “Just lower your temper, O.K.? Malfoy’s just a coward.”

Suddenly, the train’s lights went out and it jerked to a stop. Lily and James fell.

Lily stumbled up and ran down the hallway, shouted, “Everyone is to stay in the compartment! No one leaves! That includes you, Abraham!”

Lily began walking back down the hallway, leaving James behind. The further she walked, the more it became strangely cold in the train. Lily could see her breath. She couldn’t see anything for it had become so shadowy.

“Oh this is stupid of me,” she scolded, “‘Lumos!’” Light filled her hallway from her wand tip. Amos was gone. She looked behind her. James had walked the other way and was now out of sight.

Lily kept on walking forward. She had to find Julianne and Maya. The further she walked, the colder it got. Soon, she was too cold to keep on walking and she fell to her knees, shivering. She heard some whimpering next to her. She twisted to the side and her wand light illuminated a small boy, no more than eleven years old.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked kindly. The boy only swallowed.

“Come here.” Lily outstretched her hand. He boy took it. Lily wrapped the boy in her cloak.

“Come on. Lets find you a compartment.” She pointed her wand at a door and opened it. She pushed the boy inside and locked him inside.

Now she was alone in the hallway. She lifted her head. It was unnaturally quiet.

She took another step, slipped on something, and fell on her stomach. She felt the floor and, by a reaction, withdrew her hands. It was ice. The floor was covering in ice.

Lily turned over and froze, not because of the coldness, but because of a dark, ragged cloaked figure standing right in front of her.

Extremely carefully, she lifted her head. Lily Evans found herself looked directly into the hood of the reason for all of the coldness and silence.

She screamed and her light went out as the dementor reached out to grab her.

“Expecto Patronum!” she yelled. A small wisp of silvery smoke came out, but quickly disappeared.

Disclaimer- I do NOT own Harry Potter. Don't make matters worse for me!
____________________________________________________________
How much further do I have to go?
How much longer until I finally know? (finally know)
'cause I am looking and I just can't see what's in front of me
in front of me

Hoobastank- Crawling in the Dark


“Lily?” James asked, turning on his heal. “Lily!” He began to run. Students opened their door to see what was going on but James, ruthlessly, shoved them back and yelled, “Stay inside!”

He continued to run, faster and faster, occasionally pausing to barricade curious students into compartments, even if he wasn’t sure if they belonged there. All on his mind was Lily.

He slipped on some ice and fell hard on his chest. Terrible pain filled his forehead again.

It was so dark now. Suddenly, the screaming stopped. He felt around and found a wand. Not caring whose it was, he stood up.

“LUMOS MAXIMUS!” he hollered. A massive ball of bright light erupted from the end of his wand and he stood, transfixed, at the scene before his eyes.

Lily was spread, like an eagle, on the floor, her face white as the ice, wand in her hand, and eyes as empty as a cookie jar once placed in front of Sirius. A dementor was leaning over her.

The dementor shrank back, momentarily, blinded by the light.

James was in shock. But he regained his mind. “C’mon dementor,” James growled, “Follow the pretty light.” He made the ball of light a bit smaller and he waved it around. As he looked at the wand, he realized it was his wand. When he looked back at the dementor had returned over Lily, it was completely ignoring James.

“Hey! Over here, you great big, evil… thing!” The dementor looked up and hissed. It abandoned Lily and made for James, its rattling breath and the cracking of ice underneath James’s feet were the only sound.

James close his eyes and focused his entire mind on Lily smiling at him, like she had done a few minutes earlier…

The dementor was a few feet away. James’s eyes snapped open and he bellowed, “EXPECTO PATRONUM!”

Much to James’ surprise, and the demetors’s, an actual patronus flew out of his wand. A stag. Before, only a river of silver light came out.

The stag reared, threw James onto its back, and charged at the hooded creature. The dementor glided back, but the stag caught it in its antlers and pinned it to the ground.

The dementor screeched. The patronus reared again, the dementor still in its clutches.

James caught sight of three second-years and two first-years watching him through the glass of their compartment, and he waved to them, arrogantly.

The students just continued stared at him, their faces pressed against the glass, mouths dropped open.

The patronus used its hind legs and it kicked a window apart. Then, it tossed its head and the dementor ended up falling out of the train and down the bridge. James waved his wand and in a flash the window had repaired itself.

James dismounted his patronus and knelt down next to Lily.

“Lily, please don’t be dead… please… wake up!” James whispered. He was shaking.

“Is your girlfriend dead?” a cute, innocent voice asked. James turned, eyes red with tears, and saw a little boy first-year staring at him. James wiped his eyes, reminding himself that head-boys do NOT cry in front of adorable first-years, especially him.

“She not dead!” he yelled. He then added, “And she’s not my girlfriend!”

The little boy took a step back. Behind him was a first-year girl. She was staring in awe at the stag.

“My dad has one of those, only it’s a elephant,” she said, vaguely. Then the stag dissolved into mist, after doing one last show-offy prance in front of the girl.

The first-year boy, shaking like James, questioned, “Does this happen often?”

“No.”

James looked in front of him and realized that a rather large crowd had gathered in front of him.

“Oh no…” James prayed. Fortunately the train began to move again and the lights flickered on, so everyone was momentarily distracted. He picked up Lily and made is way through the crowd. “Make way, make way,” James ordered.

“What wrong with her?”

“She going to throw up all over you if you don’t move aside!”

“Oh…”

A cubicle door slid open and Sirius wandered to into the crowd.

“Sirius!” James called out desperately, “Sirius!”

“James! You’re O.K.!” James ran into the room and slammed the door shut, but not before Sirius was able to leap into the room.

Remus cast a spell over the door and windows so that so one could eavesdrop or spy on them. James flopped Lily on the seat.

“What did you do to her, James?” Peter asked.

“Boy, you must have been mad…” Sirius remarked. “Hey! You got your wand back!”

“Send a letter to Professor Dumbledore, quick!” James commanded.

“Saying what, exactly?” Sirius inquired, “That you just killed Lily Evans?”

“Oh, I’ll do it…” James growled. He grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill dipped in ink, and began to scribble furiously about the events that had just occurred. His friends were reading over his shoulder.

When he finished, he asked, “Does anyone have an owl?”

“Oh! I do!” Peter squealed excitably. He scrambled over to his trunk and pulled out his owl.

The owl looked in pretty bad condition. It had lost most of its feathers and it seemed to begin eating itself. One eye was a different color than the other and its beak was chipped in various places. It had talons that were sharp and hooked.

“You call that an owl?” Sirius demanded. “It looks more like Remus after full moon.” Sirius began to laugh, but he fell silent instantly, after seeing Remus glaring at him.

James felt very uncertain about sending an urgent letter with that creature, but it had to be done.

The owl swooped down clumsily, snatched the letter out of James’s hand and flew in front of the window. Remus opened it and the owl flew into the rainy night.

James turned away. “Take care of Lily. I have to tell the prefects what to do at Hogwarts.”

James didn’t eat during the feast. He just got as far as poking his fork at the chicken. His entire appetite had disappeared. Usually, James threw mashed potatoes at Snape’s and Malfoy’s backs, but now, he didn’t feel like sharing jokes with Sirius, or talk about their plans for next full moon with Remus.

“Hey,” Sirius said, “That chicken is already dead. You can eat it now, mate.”

“Sorry,” James muttered, “But… I’m just not hungry…”

“Don’t worry, Prongs,” Remus comforted, “Lily will be just fine.”

“How would you know? You weren’t there! Do you really want to know how close that dementor got to her? This close!” He demonstrated with his fingers. Several people turned their heads and began to eavesdrop on James, thirsty for the truth.

“Actually, I didn’t want to know, James.” Peter looked sickly at his food and dropped his fork.

“She got immediate treatment. Remember on the train platform?” Remus reminded James, quietly. “There was Professor McGonagall, most of the other teachers, Hagrid-”

“Heck, even Dumbledore was there,” Sirius remarked.

“Of course Dumbledore would be there…” James grumbled. He looked up at the teachers’ table up front. Dumbledore was deep in conversation with Professor McGonagall.

About the dementor, no doubt, James thought.

Suddenly, Dumbledore stood up and raised his arms. The Great Hall fell silent and all eyes were on Dumbledore.

Dumbledore lowed his arms and started to state the usual: Quidditch try-outs, rules, etc.

Remus kept paying attention to Dumbledore, even though he had memorized all the rules and, frankly, had absolutely no chance of making the Gryffindor Quidditch team even if James had put a spell on his broom.

Sirius, however, took his spoon and began flinging peas at Snape. Peter giggled every time Sirius managed to fling a pea that would stick to Snape’s greasy head.

“And to conclude,” Dumbledore finally announced, “I would like to note about the event on the train this afternoon.”

Sirius paused in mid-flick and Peter choked on his giggling. Everyone who had lost focus during the headmaster’s speech was now looking up, attentively.

“I know that many interpretations of what happened are already filling your minds, but the truth has nothing to do with evil gnomes, I assure you.”

“Than what did happen?” James heard a Hufflepuff boy whisper to his friend. James rolled his eyes.

“I received an urgent letter from the Hogwarts Express,” Dumbledore continued (James could have sworn that Dumbledore glanced at him), “Declaring that the power had gone out.”

There were murmurs of agreement throughout the hall.

“And… I was also informed that a student had been attacked… by a dementor.”

Gasps, followed by more murmurs, spread through the great hall a second time.

James ran his hand through his hair. Did Dumbledore have to be so dramatic? Even Sirius could have said it less dramatically…

“Oh, no…” James heard Julianne say, “Lily!” James’s eyes turned to Julianne and her ring of friends.

“What?” one of her friends, with long, curly blonde hair and blue eyes, asked, “The dementor attacked Lily?”

“Yes, Amy!” Julianne whispered hoarsely, “That’s why I didn’t see her all train ride! I only saw her right before the train began to move!”

“Who was she with last?” another brown-haired girl, Lily’s friend from Hufflepuff, asked. Julianne leaned over to reach her and replied, “Amos Diggory, Alice… at least I think so…”

Alice glanced over at the Ravenclaw table and saw Amos Diggory pretending to be dementors with his pals, scaring a group of girls.

James growled under his breath. Amos Diggory was, if possible, acting more arrogant than him!

“Doesn’t look too upset, does he?” Alice wondered.

“I don’t think so…” Amy agreed.

Dumbledore raised his hands again signaling for more silence. The quiet came slowly, but surely.

“We are still trying to discover the sender of the dementor-”

“Voldemort!” Sirius coughed. The entire hall flinched at the sound of the name, except for James, Remus, and Dumbledore.

“That will be enough, Mr. Black,” Dumbledore warned. Sirius, however, seemed very pleased with himself at being called “Mr. Black” because he sat up straighter and smiled.

“Guards are being posted all around Hogwarts and special charms were cast over more vulnerable locations at Hogwarts,” Dumbledore carried on, “But… tonight, I strongly recommend caution to all. You are all dismissed.”

A few seconds lingered of silence fluttered over the students. When James could bear the silence any longer, he stood up and walked towards the exit of the Great Hall. Clatter and speaking came to life, for James had broken the silence.

Prefects began calling out for first years and everyone else headed to their dormitories.

“Hey, James!” Remus yelled.

“What?”

“What’s the password, mate?” Sirius asked.

“Stardust.” Peter began giggling again and Sirius fell over in breathless laughter. Even Remus grinned from ear to ear.

“Stardust? You’re joking right, James?”

“Star dust is a funny password, but wait until you forget it, and THEN we’ll see what’s funny. Plus, no Slytherin will ever be caught saying that word.”

Sirius stuck out his tongue at James and James stuck it back.

“Well, you won’t hear me say ‘stardust’ either,” Sirius nagged.

“Well, good luck getting into the common room.” At that, James turned on his heal and headed to the greenhouses, where he thought he’d find something for a special person.

Lily groaned. She felt as through all the warmth and happiness in her body had been sucked out of her and left her with all the terrible memories.
~
“What do you mean ‘Lily’s a witch?” Petunia asked. Petunia, Lily, and Mrs. Evans were all in the kitchen. Mrs. Evans had just finished watering her tulips and set them on the windowsill.

“Magic does exist, Petunia,” Lily’s mother said calmly. Petunia glared down at eleven-year-old Lily standing next to her mother.

“Sorry, mum, but its August 13th, not April Fools’ Day.” At that, Petunia turned on her heel and began to march heavily up the wooden spiral stairs.

Lily wanted to prove that she did contain magic, so she focused all her energy on the vase a couple of steps further up from, Petunia. Of course, if Lily had known what would happen, she most likely wouldn’t have done it.

The vase wobbled and fell over. It didn’t crack, but gave out a large noise. Petunia jumped and screamed. She grabbed the railing of the spiral stairs and barked at Lily, “You abnormal FREAK! Never ever darken my doorstep again!” After that, she stomped up the stairs and slammed her door shut. Mrs. Evans and Lily flinched at the noise.

Lily knew that her older sister had abandoned her for good.
~
Another memory washed over the “Petunia Memory” and overpowered Lily. This scene was on her first trip on the Hogwarts Express.
~
Lily could not find an empty compartment. She slid open another door. Inside were four boys. Two were large with stupid, tiny eyes. Each sat to the side of a white-blonde, pointed-faced boy. On the opposite side was a boy with sallow skin and black hair. None of them were smiling…

Lily reminded herself that looks don’t usually show what’s inside and asked, “Excuse me. May I sit here? Everywhere else is occupied.”

The black-haired, pale-skinned boy with empty eyes just stared at her. The blonde-haired boy across from him leaned over and whispered something in his ear. The dark-haired boy’s expression changed from blank, to disgust.

“Get out, mud-blood,” the blonde boy snarled.

Lily just stood there, confused. These boys obviously did not want her here. But what did “mud-blood” mean? It didn’t sound too friendly. What had she done to offend them?

“I told you to get out, you filthy mud-blood.” The blonde boy was standing now, with the two dumb-looking ones standing behind him, as if they were his bodyguards.

Lily did not like the way she was being told off. Other people had said, “Nope, sorry, this space is taken,” or “We’re full.” Lily stood up to full height, which wasn’t very high at all, and responded, “You’d better change that tone with me right now.”

A split second later, the larger of the “bodyguards” had punched her in the jawbone. Lily tasted blood in her mouth. Before she could recover, she was struck again. But this time, the other one had hit her in the stomach. Lily groaned and fell to her knees, stomach aching terribly.

She looked up and saw the blonde boy smirking down at her.

“You’re the one that should be respecting me.” At that, he slid the door closed. Lily could here laughing from the other side.
~
A wet, warm cloth had been draped over her forehead.

She slowly opened her eyes, blinking. Her sight was slightly unfocused, but she could tell she was not on the train anymore. She tried to prop herself up, but didn’t have enough energy to lift her arm.

More horrible memories flashed through her mind but they were going too quick for Lily to recall what they were about.

“Ah, you’re finally awake. Goodness knows, if you didn’t wake up soon, we would have moved you to Saint Mungo’s Hospital.” Someone handed Lily a bar of chocolate, but Lily didn’t feel hungry.
“Eat the chocolate, dear!” came the voice again. Unwillingly, Lily managed to bring the chocolate to her mouth and consume it.

Suddenly, she felt warm again, as if someone had poured a bucket of warm water over her head. The room came into sharper focus and Lily could see Madame Curtis, the head of the Hospital Wing, gazing over her. Flashes of the past still whirled around in her head.

“My, my, you are a strong one,” she beamed as she pulled the white cloth off of Lily’s head, “Dumbledore told me so.” Madame Curtis began sauntering around the wing, folding any bed covers. “I insisted that you be sent immediately to St. Mungo’s, but no, Dumbledore said you were too delicate. He convinced me that you could come through at Hogwarts. Anyway, if we moved you, headlines would be swarming everywhere! But, oh my! You were almost kissed by a dementor!”

All the recollections came rushing back to Lily like a shotgun. She remembered the ice, the dementor, and her feeble attempts at a patronus.

Before Lily could ask what happened to the dementor, Madame Curtis continuing rambling on.

“You were so fortunate to not be the only one in the hallway of the train.” She handed Lily a mug of warm butterbeer. Lily took it and began drinking from it.

Mmmmmmm… butterbeer…

“Heavens, you almost died! No, if James Potter hadn’t come in time, you would have been worse than dead-”

Lily spit all of the butterbeer out of her mouth and soiled the blanket. She began choking on it.

“WHAT?” she shouted after she could breathe again.

“Pardon me…”

“WHAT did you just say? I mean, Potter made the dementor leave?!?” Lily could not believe it.

Madame Curtis seemed taken aback. “Of course, my dear! I heard it all first-hand from a first-year. He witnessed Potter conjuring up, as what he described, as a ‘silver deer.’” She laughed. “No doubt, that would have been Potter’s patronus. I patched up Potter in two seconds. Nothing works like chocolate, my dear. But, oh my, I couldn’t even imagine a dementor on the Hogwarts Express! Think of all those frightened children. You were very brave, my dear, extremely brave. Just wait until I tell my granddaughter. She’s five, you know…”

Madame Curtis continued talking, but Lily wasn’t listening. She still was in a state of disbelief. How could immature, arrogant, quidditch-star Potter fight off the dementor, when she could not?

Lily had a flashback of Maya and her prediction. She became concerned. If Maya could predict something as absurd and unexpected as Potter’s patronus, then her friend was surveying Lily’s entire future…

Lily slowly shut her eyes, convinced herself that she was delusional, and prepared to go to sleep, when she heard something, or someone, fall to the floor and an argument brewing just outside the door.

“Watch where you’re going, Potter!”

“I wouldn’t mind you do that yourself, Diggory! I’d bet a lot more littler kids would be a great deal more thankful!”

Diggory chuckled and said, “And I suppose you put yourself in that category?”

“I’m head boy, so it’s my job to speak for others!”

“Really? I’d wager those are all Lily’s words.”

“No, Amos. As hard as it may seem to believe, their mine.”

Diggory scoffed. “Who’s the flower for? You’re boyfriend, no doubt.” Lily turned over on her bed, stomach-down.

Silence…

“Er… actually its for Evans…” Lily’s gut grumbled.

“One flower? Is that all you can do, Potter?”

“I can do a lot more, Diggory, if that’s what you want!”

“You-you point your wand AWAY from me!”

BANG!

Diggory yelled, but then laughed, “Missed!”

“No, I didn’t!”

A louder BANG was heard and Lily flinched as she heard Potter holler in pain.

What did Amos do? How could he? Amos now and Amos on the train seemed like two different people.

“Now really! What are those two boys doing out there? I have a sleeping patient!” Madame Curtis stormed out of the wing.

“DIGGORY! DETENTION!” she shrieked. In a calmer voice she said, “Come, Potter. Lets clean up. Heavens, this is your second time here today. Ooh, that’s a nasty cut Diggory gave you. So just lie down for a second… lie DOWN. That’s better. Now just stay still and that gash will be off your face in no time. Here, drink this. Really… you’re head boy! I think you should know better than to give Diggory a fluffy, white rabbit’s tail!”

Lily peeked through her eyelids and saw Potter sitting two beds away from her, smirking at the thought if Diggory being one step closer to turning into a bunny....

Madame Curtis was handing him a smoking cup. James sniffed it and screwed up his face in disgust when Madame Curtis had her back turned.

“Drink it, boy, or you’ll have two scars instead of one! See, if I had been there when you received that head injury, I could have wiped it up in a second! I can only speed up the healing, but it will take a few days.”

Potter slowly lifted the goblet to his mouth and swallowed it with disgust. The scar on his face dissolved into nothing.

He glanced at Lily, who quickly shut her eyes. “Madame Curtis?”

“Yes, yes, Potter?”

“Is… is Li-, I mean, is Evans doing alright?”

“Of course! She was awake just a moment ago. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to speak to her. My, my! A dementor! I’m thankful Dumbledore is headmaster, or I would have fled. I believe Hogwarts would be no more if Dumbledore didn’t accept the position. You-Know-Who would have blown it to smithereens!”

Lily cracked open her eyes again and saw Madame Curtis set up screens all around her bed.

“Right then, Potter. You may take your leave now. I should be closing down the wing any minute now…”

“Just one minute.” Lily noticed footsteps heading in her direction. She saw a hand reach from between the screens and drop a flower onto her bedside table.

“Mr. Potter! Return to your dormitory immediately!”

“Alright, alright…” The hand disappeared.

Once Lily was sure that no one was in the wing, he lifted her head and saw what flower Potter had dropped.

Lily stuffed her head in her pillow and screamed a muffled scream that no one could hear.

It was a lily.

“Lily? Lily, dear, wake up.” Lily stirred. She lifted her eyelids and was caught staring up at Professor McGonagall.

“Oh, professor, I’m so sorry…”

McGonagall held up her hand and reminded, “There is no need to be sorry, Miss Evans. I just came to inform you that you have Herbology at the greenhouses in twenty minutes. So, I suggest you get a move on… unless you are still feeling sick…”

“Oh, no, professor. I’m feeling perfectly fine, to tell you the truth.”

“So you can go to lessons?”

Lily nodded. She didn’t want to miss herbology, especially in her N.E.W.T. year.

“Good. You bag is right next to your table. And be sure to do your patrols at night. Potter is having a hard time patrolling the hallways on his own.” McGonagall gave Lily a rare smile. Then, she left the hospital wing.

Lily could hardly believe her ears. Potter… was… acting/being… mature…. Lily smiled. This year wasn’t going to be as hard as she thought.

She lifted her hand to wipe a stand of red hair from her face with she realized that she was clutching the lily Potter had given her the night before. She almost screamed and threw it out the window, but another part of her told her to keep it and stay quiet.

She scanned the wing to make sure no one was looking at her, and she dropped the lily in her bag. Then she picked up her bag and made for the greenhouses. Every time she tried to remember the Latin name for mandrake, her kind wandered to Potter’s lily.
~
“Hey, Prongs. Check it out.” Sirius nudged James’ shoulder.

“Ouch… what?” Sirius had nudged him where a bruise had formed. He had gotten the bruise from slipping on the ice in the train.

James had removed his bandage this morning, but he still had a half-healed scar on his forehead. Sirius had joked, “From now on, every Potter will receive a scar on their forehead and shall be famous for it!”

“Your little flower is heading to our greenhouse,” Sirius said in a false, squeaky voice.

James’s head shot up from behind twisting, deathly green vines and watched Lily walk out the castle, look both ways as if looking for someone, then broke into a run to the greenhouse where Professor Sprout was teaching how to properly plant the deadly Devil’s Snare.

When she finally arrived to the greenhouse, Professor Sprout’s arms popped out in surprise. “Miss Evans! So good to see you as healthy as ever!” All heads turned to face Evans and she turned a very light shade of pink.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Now, we are learning how to plant the deadly Devil’s Snare…”

“Deadly?” Sirius wondered, tickling the vicious plant, “I think it looks kind of cute-OW!” The Snare had wrapped itself tightly around his finger. James ignored him. He moved a little bit away from Sirius so Professor Sprout would think that he didn’t have a partner. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

“So please pair up with Maya over there.”
~
“I foresaw you coming,” Maya said simply as Lily set down her bag and sat down next to Maya. “I tried to view your condition through my crystal ball bit I didn’t get anything.”

Good, Lily thought. She didn’t feel like anyone should know about the lily.

Amy and Alice leaned across the table so that they could join in the conversation.

“Well?” Amy asked, flipping her head so that her shiny, blonde curls would rest softly on her shoulders.

“Well what?” Lily inquired. She was copying Maya in trying to plant a tiny Devil’s Snare without its tendrils wrapping around her wrists.

“Are the rumors true?” Amy continued.

“We almost killed Maya asking her if they were,” Alice giggled.

“But I reckon they are true,” Maya said blankly, attempting to stuff a wriggling Snare in a pot.

“What rumor? Guys, I have been sleeping in the Hospital Wing this entire time.” Lily capped her pot so the Snare would not escape. She picked it up by the handles and began walking quickly to another table where all the other potted Snares were.

Maya, Amy, and Alice abandoned their work and followed her. Julianne, who had been paired with Remus, quickly capped her own Snare and jogged up to her friends.

“Just tell us,” Julianne sighed.

“Tell you what? I tell you, I have not the faintest idea of any rumor.” Lily turned her head while walking.

“Fine. Is it true that James rescued you from the dementor?”

Lily didn’t drop the pot, but she did trip on the hem of her robe. She fell hard on her stomach, making her head spin wildly. She placed the pot down and got up, swaying slightly and her face almost as red as her hair. She picked the pot back up and walked faster to the table.

She became aware of everyone, all the Gryffindors’ and Hufflepuffs’ eyes following her, waiting for an answer. Lily banged her pot down on the table and glared around at everyone as if to scream, “STOP LOOKING AT ME, MORONS!”

Alice rested her hand on Lily’s shoulder and Amy bent down so her eyes met Lily’s. Julianne rested her pot next to Lily’s, and Maya just stood by the corner, running her hands through her hair.

Luckily, the bell rang and everyone made a hustle to get out. Lily grabbed her bag and began to run out of the greenhouse.

“For homework, everyone,” Professor Spout called out to the leaving students, “I want you to read and summarize Chapters 1-5 in your books!” Lily got out her notepad and scribbled down the assignment.

“What do we have next?” she asked Amy.

Amy flipped her hair again and she withdrew her schedule from her bag. “Transfiguration with Slytherins.” She made a retching sound. “Then we have Defense against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaws. After that, Charms with Hufflepuffs again.”

Lily memorized the schedule. Then, she and Julianne went to Professor McGonagall’s classroom while Amy and Maya went to get their books from their dormitory.
~
“Come on, Padfoot!” James shouted back at Sirius. Remus waited a few feet behind James and Peter had just wandered off to the dormitory, without even realizing that his pals had stopped.

James was thinking of Lily as he waited for Sirius. Why was she hiding from him? Did she still hate him? Did she get the flower? James swallowed. He hoped she did, while, at the same time, he wished he never gave it to her in the first place.

Then he wondered if Diggory had managed to remove his fluffy bunny tail…

“So, Prongs,” Remus asked, “What are you going to do?”

“About what?” James asked, barely turning his head. If Remus asked about Lily, he would smack him so hard in the face that he would see little full moons revolving around his head.

“Are you going to the common room or straight to class?”

“I’m going to the common room…”

“Alright, see you at class!” Then Remus turned around and ran to the castle. James smiled to himself.

He’s probably off to see Julianne.

Remus had liked Julianne ever since they reached for the same book at the same time in the library. The book had been about duels and when Remus had seen the look on her face that another person wanted the book, he thought she was going to compete for the book. Instead, she let him take the book and she borrowed Lily’s.

That had been in their fourth year and he still had not asked her to Hogsmeade. James wished that he could find out if Julianne liked Moony, but he hadn’t figured out a way to get that information without rousing suspicion.

So he just watched Remus suffer.

Sirius was not coming out of the greenhouse. He’d probably got in trouble again.

Soon, James abandoned his friend and headed for his separate room in the Gryffindor Tower.
~
Lily and Julianne were the only ones in the Transfiguration classroom, and Professor McGonagall was outside scolding two fourth-year Slytherins for picking on a second year Hufflepuff. Lily had tried to handle it, but then it had reached the “Wand-Stage” and spells were flying everywhere. A green jet of light had almost hit Lily before the teacher had stepped in, brandishing her wand.

“You should get some rest, Miss Evans,” McGonagall had said, “I’ll handle this.”

Now, Lily and Julianne were making soft pillows fly in the air, waving between chandeliers, and bumping into each other.

Lily looked over at Julianne and saw that she had a distant look on her face.

“What’s up, Julianne?” Lily wondered. Julianne blinked and came back to the present.

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking.” Julianne blushed slightly, and stopped her pillow from colliding with the chalkboard.

“Thinking about what?”

“Nothing! Just forget it.” Julianne turned a deeper shade of pink. She covered her face with her hands and held her breath, trying to subdue the blushing. Her pillow fell from the sky and landed in a raven’s cage. The raven squawked furiously before accepting the pillow and resting on it.

“Come on! Tell me,” Lily persisted. “I won’t tell a soul.”

“Promise?” Julianne peeked through her fingers until she saw Lily nod. Then, she removed her hands and mouthed a name. Once she was sure that Lily had got the message, she raised her volume. “He hasn’t asked me out yet. Does he even like me? I mean, I dream about his almost every day! Wouldn’t that mean something?”

“Why don’t you ask him out?”

“Because! I don’t know if he likes me. But I like him so asking him to Hogsmeade would be the sensible thing to do. But what if he doesn’t know that I exist? I mean, what would you do if some random person came up to you and asked you out?”

“He does NOT think you are random person. All last year, I saw him staring at you.” Lily supported her head with her hand.

“But I like him SO MUCH, Lily. I don’t think if I’ll be able to stand another minute!”

As if on cue, Remus Lupin walked in and sat at the desk behind the two girls, flopping his book open and began reading the third chapter. Julianne turned her head to face the chalkboard and the turned a brilliant red.

James was patrolling the corridors at night. He looked nervously at the sky. Tomorrow would be full moon. He would have to make up a good excuse not to be patrolling the hallways, or he would have to make Peter and Sirius handle the werewolf alone. A quidditch excuse was ruled out because Lily and he patrolled the quidditch field.

James groaned inside, knowing that no one would be strolling around the hallways on the first night back. James wished he could use the Marauder’s Map, but no one but the Marauders knew about it and if Lily saw it, she might turn it in.

“You seem kind of jumpy, Potter,” Lily remarked next to him. James quickly stared at the floor in front of him.

“Its nothing.” He wrapped his arms around himself because it was so cold.

The coldness reminded him of the dementor on the train. James had never expected to come face to face with a dementor in his entire life. He was sure to receive a copy of the Daily Prophet and a pile of letters from his parents, checking to see if he was all right. Lily seemed to be pondering the exact same thing.

“Ummm…” she began.

James looked at her.

Lily looked up into James’s hazel eyes, but then shut her own, as if his look would curse her. But then he realized she was crying.

“I-I… I just wanted to thank you…”

“Thank me?”

“It was really brave of you to go after the dementor. I just wanted to let you know that I am grateful for that act.” Lily stood straighter, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“Oh it was nothing, really, “James lied. He reached into his pocket and drew out three chocolate frog boxes.

“Here,” he offered, holding a box out for Lily to take. “Have it. Madame Curtis gave then to me, just in case I started to feel sick again.”

Lily took it and opened the box. Their hands brushed against one another for a second or two. James’s noticed that her hands were freezing cold and her eyes were stinging with tears. James opened his own box and popped the chocolate frog in his mouth.

Lily slowly opened her box and nibbled a leg off of the frog. She felt less cold inside. Her arm wiped away a tear that was streaming down her cheek. She gathered up all her strength and managed to ask James what he thought the dementor was on the train for.

James only shrugged. She still had one more weight. The (a/n: *evil*) lily… She had to select her words carefully, in case Potter got the wrong message.

“I got the flower you sent me,” Lily finally said. There. It was a perfect sentence. She was not exactly saying ‘thank you’ for the flower that just happened to bear her name.

“Oh, so you got it? Good…” He sounded a bit disappointed.

They walked a few more minutes in silence. They went to inspect the Quidditch field. Lily stood inside, not wanting to get cold, while James walked around. She looked up at the castle and noticed a light was on in a tower.

She pointed her wand at the window and said, “Nox.” The light went out. But as soon as Lily’s eyes retuned to the field, the light went back on again. Lily decided to leave it alone. James had returned and they now were heading to the Great Hall.

“Are you hungry?” James asked.

“Wha-what?” Lily answered. “Do you plan to sneak into the kitchens again?”

“Er… no.” James stuffed his hands in his pocket, guiltily. “I was just wondering. I mean you only had half of a chocolate frog and I was just thinking…” He cared? Willing to turn the subject away from her, Lily asked,

“What’s you’re family like?”

“Well… I’m an only child. My parents want to have a daughter. So when it’s safe, with no Voldemort around to kill anyone, I might get a sibling. Sirius often spends the summer at my house because his Slytherin family kind of… disowned him. We’re like brothers.” He stopped abruptly as Mrs. Norris, the caretaker’s cat, darted past them, heading to the dungeons. “So what about your life? Where do you live?” James asked, after a failed attempt to kick Mrs. Norris. Oh no. The subject was about her again.

“I’m not telling you where I live!” Lily exclaimed.

“O.K. O.K. You got me.” James grinned. “Would it hurt to tell me what you’re family’s like?”

“Oh, um, well… my parents and older sister are muggles. My parents are really proud of me, but my sister seems to loathe me. Actually, I think that she wants You-Know-Who to finish me off for her.” Lily took ripped off another leg of the chocolate frog and swallowed it.

“Any guess why? And say Voldemort, will you?” Lily looked up at him. Finally! Some encouragement to say Voldemort! “Alright, fine. Voldemort. Anyway, my only guess is that she thinks I’m abnormal.”

Silence echoed for a few seconds.

“I don’t.”

James almost killed himself. Did he really just say that? He was having an actual conversation with Lily without her shouting at him, when he had to just blurt out that touchy little line. Lily was staring at him, in a stage of shock as if she could not believe he said that herself.

“Er… I think we should get back to the Gryffindor Tower.” James stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked more quickly. Oh no. Was he turning red? He avoided Lily’s beautiful green eyes for the rest of the journey to the Gryffindor Tower.

As he ran up their stairs, he forgot the trick step and nearly got his leg stuck in it. “Star dust,” he said, briskly, to the portrait of the Fat Lady. He climbed through the hole behind the portrait and ran up to his room, leaving Lily alone in the common room.

He shut the door of his private room closed and locked it. He ripped off his sweater and threw his shoes at the wall. They bounced of harmlessly. He flopped backwards onto his bed cursing himself over and over. Of course he wouldn’t think the Lily was abnormal! He didn’t think magic was weird! So Evans must have received it the wrong way! But… it was the way he felt about her...

James looked at his watch and sighed. It was 10:30 and he wasn’t tired. He pulled out the Marauder’s Map and tapped it with his wand and said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” A map of the school blossomed on the parchment and James rested his chin on his fist, scanning the parchment.

Lily was still in the common room, sitting on the couch in front of the fire. Mrs. Norris was in the dungeons. Peeves was in the Great Hall. James made a mental note of to watch out when eating breakfast tomorrow. Professor Madres, who taught potions, was in his classroom James assumed that he was setting up for tomorrow’s classes. Professor Dumbledore was walking around his office and Filch was on the grounds.

James’s eyes slowly shut and he drifted off to sleep. He fell back on his bed and the Marauder’s Map flew out of his hands and onto the carpeted floor. As soon as James’s began to dream, several dots labeled “Lucius Malfoy,” “Bellatrix Black,” “Severus Snape,” and several other Slytherins leave their dormitory and headed to the Forbidden Forest...

“Prongs? Prongs are you in there?” Someone was banging on James’ door, awaking him from his sleep.

“Whuzere?” James mumbled. He fidgeted in his bed. He threw the covers off his body and sat up. The sun wasn’t even up yet. What kind of moron would be up at this time?

“What is it?” he called out again.

“Quidditch practice, you dumb-butt!” Sirius yelled. “The whole team is in the common waiting for you.”

James awoke immediately, swore, and hurried into his red quidditch robes. He grabbed his broomstick and several sheets of parchment, with new maneuvers and tactics written on them.

He ran out of his room, knocking Sirius, who was also dressed in scarlet robes and holding a beater’s bat, aside and met up with his team. Julianne, the keeper, was lying on the floor throwing the Quaffle up into the air and then catching it. Frank Longbottom, also in James’ year, was letting a golden snitch fly around the room. Two fourth years, one a beater and the other a chaser, were talking together quietly.

“What kept you, James?” Julianne asked. She was the only girl on the team, but the best keeper Hogwarts had seen in years.

“Er… I had to do patrols last night at I came in kind of late. Let’s go, team.” He headed to the portrait and his team followed.

“That didn’t stop Lily. She’s already in the library working on her head-girl duties.”

James felt a pinch of regret. He would be having fun while Lily was hard at work with the issues of Hogwarts.

Before they left, he tacked up a notice for Chaser Try-Outs on the bulletin board. Frank caught the snitch and left the room, too. Julianne and Sirius walked on either side of James.
~
On the quidditch field, James explained his new ideas and then they were in the air. James zoomed around the quidditch field just for the fun of it, before Sirius smacked a bludger in his direction.

“Alright, alright, Padfoot!” James laughed. “Release the Quaffle!” The fourth year beater threw the quaffle in the air, and then boarded his broom and joined the practice.

James managed to slip the red ball pass Julianne most of the time, but that was because she seemed distracted.

Sirius and the other 4th year beater, Michael Roberts, were whacking bludgers at each other. Sirius almost killed Michael by whacking both bludgers at him at the same time. Michael yelled as the deadly, metal balls zoomed after him as he sped around the Quidditch field.

“Lower the strength a bit, Padfoot,” James commanded, watching Michael dive down and almost collide with the ground because the bludgers were still after him.

“Give me that bat, Black,” someone behind Sirius ordered. Sirius spun around on his broom. Julianne was floating right behind him with her hand outstretched.

“What?” he asked. “You couldn’t hit a bludger for your life!”

Julianne tossed her brown hair back. “But I can hit a bludger to save HIS life!” She beckoned at Michael, who was bobbing up and down in the air, trying to shake off the bludgers.

“Fine… but don’t make me come down and help you both!” Julianne snatched the bat out of his hands and flew down at Michael.

“They’re going to crash!” Frank Longbottom shouted.

“Go up, Michael!” Julianne yelled when they were a few feet away, zooming at each other. The 4th year chaser nodded and skyrocketed upwards. The bludgers almost smashed into Julianne’s nose, but with one mighty swing, she threw the bludgers off course.

Now they were headed in Sirius’ direction.
…
After an hour, the sun began to rise and everyone changed back into school robes and headed to breakfast.

James was way ahead of everyone. He was had checked the map and Lily was heading to the Great Hall, Peeves’ visiting spot last night.

The Great Hall entrance was only a turn away, when he heard water colliding with the floor and shrieks.

James peeked around the corner and saw Peeves laughing madly and Lily’s face as red as her wet hair.

“PEEVES!” Lily roared. She threw curses and foul words at him that James would have never heard her say, but the malicious ghost only doubled up harder.

“Ooh… little red-head is having a temper-tantrum!” he cackled. He threw another water balloon at Lily. She turned and it exploded on her back.

“SHUT UP, PEEVES!” She reached to the table next to her and threw a small glass ball at him. It missed him.

“Ha, ha, ha! Miss Pumpkin-Head thinks that she can take on Peeves!” Peeves shook with laughter and a water balloon fell out of his arms.

“You’re just like James Potter!” Lily snarled. James swallowed and though, “Am I really like that in her eyes?”

Lily grabbed another one and shot it. This one went straight through his head.

“HA HA! I GOT YOU, PEEVES! TAKE THAT!” Lily had a mad grin on her face.

Peeves looked bewildered for a moment. No student had ever managed to throw anything that actually made contact with Peeves, not even James Potter, Hogwarts’ legendary Chaser.

James silently admitted that to himself.

Lily should try-out for chaser, he thought.

Peeves spun around Lily and threw a balloon to her back. Lily turned and it splashed on the top of her face. Water poured into her eyes. She was wiping water out of her eyes, so she did not see students rounding the corner, eager for breakfast, or Peeves hovering over her with a large bucketful of water, or even James Potter running to her.
~
Water had splashed into Lily’s eyes. She was in the process of clearing them out when she heard a nastily familiar voice shout, “Lily! Watch out!”

Someone collided into Lily’s side and knocked her a few feet from her original spot and onto the floor. Lily outstretched her hands and stopped her head from crashing into the stone bottom.

She heard the sound of water pouring, but didn’t feel any wetter. Daringly, she turned over and looked up at a second soaked figure.

“Unh! That’s cold! Ugh!” James Potter gasped, shaking his head and little droplets of freezing water flew everywhere. James took out his wand and chanted, “Waddiwasi!” A shard of glass from the ball that Lily had thrown flew straight into Peeves’ right nostril.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Peeves shrieked shrilly. “GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT! GET IT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!” Lily covered her ears, as well as James. Some other students in the front of the crowd also protected their ears from Peeves’ screeching voice.

The marauding ghost fled. He zoomed through wall, into portraits and out, flew into student, and flipped upside down. Soon, his wailing was only an echo, bouncing off the sides of the school.

Laughter erupted from every student. Lily used this opportunity and grabbed her bag. She stood up and strolled into the Great Hall and sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, filling her plate with pancakes and syrup.

“I am going to KILL, Peeves!” Lily vowed under her breath.

“Well, good luck with that, Evans. You’re going to need it. I’ve never killed a ghost before.” Lily’s head whipped around and her green eyes met Potter’s hazel ones. She swallowed.

“What do you want, Potter?” she snapped. Peeves’ water balloon attack had put her into a horrible mood. Having Potter share her humiliation of being wet embarrassed her even more. Besides, since the train, he was always saving her. First the dementor, and now Peeves. What next?

“Do you mind if I sit here?” he asked, indicating the spot on the bench next to her.

Lily sighed. Even if she did say no, James would sit across from her. Anyway, she needed to show him her plans for the school.

So, she shook her head, grumpily, and James plopped down next to her and began serving himself waffles, French toast, pancakes, buttered toast, scrambled eggs, and things Lily didn’t know the names of.

“Are you really going to eat all that?” Lily questioned.
~
“Most likely not,” James admitted, mouth halfway full of waffle. “But at least I have an objective.”

He took a sideways glance at Lily. He thought he saw a little smile play across her face. He assumed it was safe and that her mood had been lightened.

Sirius entered the Hall sat down next to James.

“You just totally killed Peeves back there, man!” Sirius clapped his hand on James’ bruised shoulder… again.

“Don’t hit me there, Padfoot!”
Remus sat across from James and Peter sat next to him. Sirius banged the bottom of his beater bat on the table and barked, “Grub!” He began stuffing his face with eggs and pumpkin juice.

“Did you really have to bring that with you, Sirius?” James groaned, staring at the bat.

“Yes!” Sirius answered indignantly clutching his bat harder. “What if I need it!”

“For what?”

Sirius sighed, annoyed that James had not understood. He nodded his head to the Slytherin table, which was gradually filling with student wearing green and silver badges.

“Oh no your not!” James hissed, “Not with a BAT, Padfoot! No!”

“Only if I need it!” Sirius insisted.

“You won’t.”

Sirius grunted and ate some more. Peter, Sirius, and Remus began talking about, in an extra-low whisper, about what to do for full moon tonight, so no one would overhear. Julianne, Amy, and Maya ran into the hall and surrounded Lily.
~
“Oh my god, Lily,” Amy gasped, “Are you O.K.?”

“They should really kick the little demon, Peeves, out!” Julianne argued. “He’s SO cruel!”

“I didn’t foresee this!” Maya groaned, clasping her hand to her head. “I could have stopped it if I tried looking just a little bit harder!”

“Its alright, Maya,” Lily comforted, “No one blames you.”

“I do!” Amy blurted out. Even though Amy was very good at classes and at studying, she did have her “blonde moments.”

Amy sat next to Lily and Maya sat on the other side of Amy, discussing Peeves and deciding what to do about him.

Julianne took a quick glance at the seat across form Lily and just noticed Remus next to it. She groaned in desperation but decided to sit there anyway.

Breakfast passed and Lily had discovered that her Head-Girl plans had been soaked by water, as well as her other supplies for school.

She was about to shove her things back into her bag, but James grabbed her arm.

“Wait…” he said. He tapped all of Lily’s things and whispered something that Lily could not hear. Suddenly, everything dried up.

“Wow,” she said, impressed, “How did you do that?”

James just smirked and twirled his wand. “How do I not slip off my broomstick on rainy Quidditch days?”

Lily sighed. James had said the word. The word that always annoyed her whenever he said it. James just HAD to drag his Quidditch skill into this.

“I said something wrong, didn’t I?” James asked, noticing Lily’s expression. “I said the word, didn’t I?”

“What word? Everything you said was clean… for once.” Lily rolled her eyes. James picked up the sarcasm in her voice.

“The word… the word that every time I mention it, you roll your eyes. There! You did it again!”

“What word?” James knew she was just acting as if she had no idea what he was talking about. He decided to play along.

James pretended to look around to make sure no one was listening. He leaned over so his face was barely an inch from hers.

“The EVIL word,” he murmured slowly, as if to create suspense.

“What ‘evil’ word, Potter?” Lily answered back. “You know, you’re beginning to annoy me.”

“Quidditch!” he quickly whispered into Lily’s ear. She laughed.

The Marauders and Lily’s friends turned their heads and all were in small disbelief that Lily Evans was laughing with James Potter. It was unbelievable.
~
Lily shut up automatically.

What broke the silence was an army of owls swooping into the Great Hall. A large, reddish-gold owl landed on James’s shoulder and Lily watched at James patted his owl on the head and removed a bundle of letters and packages from its legs. Then, the owl hopped off his shoulder and began pecking at Lily’s pancakes.

“Um… James?” she said. “You’re owl is eating my breakfast.”

“Oh sorry…” James reached over and tugged slightly on his owl’s tail. “No, Godric! Don’t eat Lily’s pancakes! Eat Sirius’ food instead.”

The owl, Godric, obediently abandoned Lily’s food and started nibbling Sirius’s corn flakes.

“What the…? James! How could you?” Sirius was desperately swapping the bird away. It only responded by sitting on the bowl and falling asleep.

Lily brushed her ruined pancake over to the edge of her plate and served herself more food.

Lily looked up and observed Julianne opening a small package and pulling out a pouch full of Galleons. A label was attached to it that said: “For Hogsmeade Visits.”

Next to her, Remus opened his little package and pulled out a glass bottle the size of a water bottle. A small trail of smoke was coming through the cork.

“What’s that for?” Lily asked Remus.

“Uh… nothing, just some medication.” Remus hurriedly pocketed it and resumed eating.

James had set down a copy of the Daily Prophet on the table and began reading his letters from home.

“Can I read this?” she asked James.

“Sure. You can have it if you like.”

“You sure?”

“Of course.” Lily caught Julianne’s eye and she shrugged. She unfolded the newspaper. The front page shocked her beyond belief and she instinctively let it go and shuddered.

“What’s wrong, Lily?” Amy asked. She then peered down on the cover of the newspaper and nearly spilled her pumpkin juice. Julianne dropped her fork with a loud clatter. Maya clutched her heart in shock.

“What’s going on over there?” Peter wondered. Amy picked up the newspaper by the top corners and showed to Peter. He squeaked and fell off his chair.

“Get a grip, Wormtail,” Sirius said. “The picture can’t be THAT terrifying-HOLY DUNG BOMBS!”

Sirius had seen the picture too, and he dropped his goblet onto Godric’s head and it landed with a loud “clunk.”

The owl screeched and flew up and circled over the Marauders and the girls as Lily spread the newspaper on the table.

On the front cover, there was a large picture of a dementor’s hood. It was so close-up that Lily could almost see it’s ghastly mouth. She buried her head in her hands and breathed slowly.

“That’s what a dementor looks like?” Maya asked. She shuddered. “That’s what was on the train?”

“I guess so…” Remus said slowly.

“What does the article say?” Julianne asked, “I can’t read upside down.”

“I don’t care what the article says. It might be worse than the picture.” Maya looked away.

Lily felt something brush against her shoulder. She put her hands down and saw Sirius sticking his head between James and her.

Sirius read out loud because James was gaping at the picture and Lily couldn’t bring herself to look at the newspaper again.

Horrors at the Hogwarts Express

As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of platform 9 3/4 at 11:00, no one expected any unfortunate events as it made its way to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, when it arrived at the famous school, a student was almost dead.

Lily bit her lip.

The Ministry of Magic kept this mystery a tight secret, but during a press conference, Minister John Sumpter and Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, released astonishing news.

“Before the start of Hogwarts first school term, the train was intercepted by a stray dementor,” Minister Sumpter announced. “Many departments are working day and night on this case. Nothing like this has ever happened before and we intend it never to happen again.”

After the minister had stepped off from the platform, Professor Dumbledore took the stand and took questions. He was extremely careful and strict with his answers, but what can be determined was that during the middle of the train’s journey, a dementor (similar to the one in the picture above) had boarded the train. Fortunately, no one was kissed, but one student went through critical treatment in the school’s hospital wing.

“The student has now returned to Hogwarts’ normal schedule and is feeling well.”

Continued on page 3.

“Don’t go to page three, Sirius,” James and Lily ordered at the same time.

“I agree with them,” Julianne shivered. “That portion was bad enough. We don’t need another page chock full of misery.”

“And I did NOT go through critical treatment!” Lily shot at the newspaper.

“There is no, I repeat, NO possible way that a dementor could have gotten on the train!” Maya exclaimed. “I just can’t believe it!”

“Well, believe it, cause its true.”

No one spoke for a while, but then Maya stood up and said she was going to the common room.

“Yeah, I’ll come,” Julianne agreed. She got up from the table as well.

“Me too,” Remus put in. He abandoned his bacon and eggs and followed Maya and Julainne out of the door.

“Hey! Your not leaving me behind, are you?” Peter peeped.

“I think he is, Peter,” Sirius commented, still staring at the dementor.

Peter scrambled from his seat and ran after Remus.

Now only Sirius, James, and Lily were left.

Lily couldn’t help think that if she didn’t help James on the platform, he couldn’t have saved her from the dementor because… because he would have been dead... There would have been two deaths instead of none, both Head Boy and Head Girl.

Lily felt tears filling up in her eyes and she didn’t want the two Marauders to see, so she grabbed her schoolbag and ran out of the Great Hall.
~
Sirius looked at Lily and turned back to the newspaper. “Hey James.”

“Yeah?”

“Here’s a riddle-”

“I don’t feel like answering riddle right now, Padfoot.”

“You have to. What’s worse than a dementor attack?”

“Nothing.”

Sirius made a noise like a buzzer. “Wrong. The answer is a Diggory Attack. See for yourself.” James, alarmed, twisted in his seat and saw Diggory following Lily out of the Hall.

Nothing would stop James now. He had his badge and his wand now, so nothing could get in his way. Not even Amos Diggory.

Without the mask where will you hide?
Can't find yourself lost in your lie

I know the truth now
I know who you are
And I don't love you anymore

It never was and never will be
You're not real and you can't save me
Somehow now you're everybody's fool

Evanescence- Everybody’s Fool





“Let’s go.” James and Sirius tracked Diggory down. He was following Lily to the Divination Tower. Suddenly James remembered that the Gryffindors had Divination with the Ravenclaws and his fists clenched.

“Lily!” he heard Amos call just around the corner. His throat closed.

“Yes, Diggory?” James heard Lily reply. James turned his head and saw Amos at the foot of the stairs and Lily halfway up.

“I just wanted you to know that I would have fought a thousand dementors and a thousand Peeves for you, Lily.” James scowled. He sounded so fake and unreal.

James saw Lily grip her shoulder bag tightly. James couldn’t decide if it was a result of excitement or not. He swallowed and his hand reached for his wand. Sirius grabbed it.

Diggory was taking James’ material and using it for himself! All his hard work for Diggory to take? James thought not!

“That’s… that’s very thoughtful of you, Diggory,” Lily answered. He knew that tone all too well. She had used it on James countless times.

James almost laughed with glee at Diggory: Lily was mad! He smiled.

“So... will you go to Hogsmeade with me, then?”

James’ smile evaporated instantly. He hoped he was right on the Lily-is-mad theory.

Lily turned and faced Diggory. James stopped looking around the corner and shut his eyes.

“No.” James heard that word echoed over and over in his head. No… no… no… no… no… no….

James and Sirius looked at each other and they both doubled up in silent laughter of joy. James stuffed his fist in his mouth to stop him from yelling all his feelings out.

“What?” Diggory sounded surprised. James guessed that Diggory wasn’t used to being rejected before.

“I said ‘no,’ Diggory. Is that so difficult to understand?”

“Aw, come one! I only know that you won’t say yes because of Potter! He’s just an arrogant, little-”

“HOW DARE YOU?!?”

“What? You mean you like Potter?”

James’ jaw dropped and his fist fell out. He looked at Sirius, who gaped back.

“I don’t hate him, if that’s what you mean!”

“But why won’t you go out with me?”

Then Lily whispered something that James had to press his ear against the wall to hear.
~
“Don’t pretend to be something your not, Diggory.”

“What do you mean?”

Lily was finally angry beyond her limit.

“I MEAN ATTACKING THE HEAD BOY BEHIND MY BACK,” Lily shouted, “ON THE FIRST NIGHT OF SCHOOL!”

“But... but he cursed me, too!”

“Yeah?” Lily raised her eyebrow. Then she asked him an inescapable question. “What did he do to you?”

Diggory froze and swallowed. Lily turned and continued to Divination.

She sensed that Diggory was following her, so she whipped around and pointed her wand at Diggory’s forehead, which was only a few steps away.

“Stop following me, Diggory,” she warned, “Or I’ll add a nice button nose to your collection of rabbit features.”

Lily was about to run to class, when a movement in the corner of her eye made her changed her direction. She was quick enough to see James Potter pull his head behind the corner and out of sight.

He had heard! He had heard everything! How could she have been so stupid? She should have told Diggory calmly in private, instead of yelling at him in the middle of the staircase.

Hurriedly, she pocketed her wand and raced up to the tower, hoping… praying that she was wrong.
~
“Oh great! Thanks for pushing me, Padfoot!” Lily had seen James’ head and nothing could change that.

During Divination, Professor Zindel randomly mixed Ravenclaws with Gryffindors. James had the misfortune of being paired up with Amos Diggory. But that didn’t dampen his feelings very much.

James was actually quite content because Lily was angry with Diggory. His feelings must have shown because Diggory snarled, “What are you so pleased about, Potter?” Diggory fidgeted in his seat, as if sitting on something annoying. James grinned wider.

“Wow, you still haven’t gotten that tail off, have you?”

“Shut up, Potter.” Diggory looked away and stared at the front of the room.

“All right, children!” came the quiet voice of Professor Zindel. Professor Zindel had minuscule glasses and straight, white hair that she kept up in a huge, loose bun. He skin was all wrinkled and she was shorter than James. Peach and sand colored cloths fell from her shoulders to her feet and a lavender silk scarf hung around her neck. Professor Zindel reminded James of an old duck, the way she waddled across the room, and a mouse by her nose and size.

“Today, we will do an advanced and… painful way of seeing the future, regardless that it’s the second day of school! This will tell you what gruesome events are to pass in you life. The only twist with this is that you must use your own blood if you wish to pass this lesson. Now… on all you tables, there are little knives. You may jab yourself on the finger with it and then let a drop of blood land on your crystal ball. Then, the ball will reveal your future. Take notes. A simple reminder: the more blood you draw, the more your future will tell. You may start.”

Silence…

James was positive that everyone thought that the little, old woman had gone senile over the summer heat and being cooped up too long in the tower. They were supposed to cut themselves up? He had already fell headfirst onto the platform, injured his shoulder from slipping on ice, been attacked by a dementor, and tonight was full moon! James felt as if he were going to die before winter break. He smacked his forehead against the table.

Professor Zindel looked around. “What is everyone looking at me for?” Then she waddled back to her small circular desk and began drinking her tea and reading her tea leaves.

The quietness was broken by everyone murmuring under his or her breath and discussing where he or she was going to poke them.

“So Potter… are you brave enough to slice yourself open?” Amos smirked. “Or are you too vain?”

James grabbed the pocketknife from the table and flipped it open. “You know, Diggory, I’m surprised that you weren’t placed in Slytherin.”

“I’m surprised that you were even accepted to Hogwarts at all.”

“I was placed in Gryffindor for being brave. As I’m about to show you.” James let the blade touch the underside of his wrist. Then, he slowly dragged it across the bottom of his wrist. Diggory twitched.

“Alas… blood! The blood of a Gryffindor!” James cried dramatically. He waved his bleeding arm in front of Diggory, who almost fell off his seat.

“Wonderful! 10 points to Gryffindor, Mr. Potter!” Everyone turned to watch James smear his blood on top of his crystal ball. Girls groaned and looked in the opposite direction while the boys started cutting themselves up to impress everyone else.

“You think you’re so great, Potter. No wonder I didn’t miss your head the night back. It’s so big!”

James tried to keep cool, but he pointed his wand at Diggory and whispered, “I can give you big, buck teeth… or maybe cute, puffy paws… or just a detention.”

Just then, a little paper owl no bigger then James’ fist landed in front of him. James picked it up and unfolded it. Inside, someone had scrawled: Watch it, Prongs. Evans is watching you and she’s not happy with your behavior. �“Sirius

He looked at Lily who turned away and pricked her finger, ignoring him.

James wrote back: I’m not doing anything! It’s Diggory! -James

As soon as James’ hand lifted from the paper, it folded itself back up into the tiny owl. It then fluttered across the room to Sirius, where he was paired up with Peter. James took another quick glance at Lily and he pocketed his wand.
~
Remus slowly lifted the knife and poked his arm. He then let two drops of blood fall onto the crystal ball. He and Julianne peered into the ball. They had been paired together. (A/N: How random…)

A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. Julianne sighed and rested her head on the table, impatiently, and then sat back up.

“They shouldn’t force us to take Divination,” she said. “We should choose what classes we should take. Not everyone has an ‘Inner Eye.’”

“Yeah…” But Remus was seeing something. A faint silvery glow was shining. He knew that shine all too well. In fact, he would be seeing it tonight.

“So… do you have anything planned?” Julianne asked randomly.

“W-what?” Remus was startled.

Julianne realized her mistake and quickly covered up. “I-I meant any pranks with you and the Marauders.”

“Oh… um, actually we were planning one over the summer but James was made Head Boy so we had to quit it.”

“What was it?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Suddenly, an owl made of parchment zoomed on top of Remus’ head and bounced into his hands.

Remus glared back at Sirius, who only gave him thumbs up, but then unfolded the miniature owl: Stop flirting already and ask her out!

Remus swallowed.

“What is that?” he heard Julianne ask.

“Nothing. Just a note that Sirius sent to me.” Remus crumpled up the parchment and chucked it at Sirius’ head. It hit him smack-dab in the center of the forehead.

Sirius stared, aghast, at his ruined owl-masterpiece.

Remus turned back to the bloodstained crystal ball. He stole a look at Julianne and got lost in thought… her long brown hair… her light brown eyes… even when she looked bored, Julianne was interesting in his eyes.

“Well, well. What do we have here?” Both Julianne and Remus were pulled out of their reveres and stared at the mousy/ducky Professor Zindel.

“Er…”

“What do you see in the ball?”

“Oh, may I try?” Julianne asked.

“Of course!” Julianne took the knife and cut her finger. Drops of blood dripped on the crystal ball.

“I see… Hogsmeade!”

“Well, there is a Hogsmeade visit the next weekend!” Professor Zindel noted, “What else?”

“Well… I see two views of Hogsmeade. One has me all alone while the other has me with someone else.”

“Who, my dear?”

“Well… that’s the thing. He hasn’t asked me yet. I’ve been waiting for him for a long time now, but nothing has come.”

“Interesting… good job, Julianne.” Then she waddled over to two other Ravenclaws.

Remus suddenly felt all bubbly and nervous inside. He felt like chucking more owls at Sirius. Was she talking about him?!?

“Julianne?”

“Yes?”

“Well, Sirius, James, and Peter wanted to go to some joke shops in Hogsmeade, so I’d be all alone… maybe you’d like to come with me?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. I’d love too!”

“Come on Remus!” James said, his voice full of anxiety, “We have to hurry!” Sirius followed James and Peter to the common room. James had his invisibility cloak in his arms.

Remus quickly grabbed his smoking bottle of potion and popped open the cork.

“Who’s down there?” a voice asked. James heard someone run down the staircase, light illuminating the way. Remus dropped the bottle in surprise. It crashed and broke on the floor, spilling all its contents.

James covered all four Marauders with his cloak and they stood silently behind the couch.
~
Lily arrived at the bottom of the staircase, swinging her wand-light around, searching for the speaker.

“Who’s there?” she repeated. “Come on, this is not a game!”

She wandered forward and her bare feet stepped on cracked glass.

Lily screamed quietly and grabbed the wall with one hand. She examined her foot with the other. Her wand light showed a small hole on the bottom of her foot.

“What kind of idiot would leave broken glass pieces lying about?” She looked around as if looking for someone and then whispered, “Reparo.” The glass bottle pieces flew back together and formed the bottle again. But the smoking liquid still lay on the floor. Lily grabbed the bottle out of the air and inspected it, curiously. Suddenly, she looked from the potion on the floor, to the bottle in her hands.

She remembered this bottle… but where? Which student had this bottle today?

“Remus…” she realized. She recognized Remus’ bottle. She had asked about it at during breakfast.

Remus was here… that meant the so were the other Marauders… but they hadn’t left yet. She still had time.

“Lupin! Black! Pettigrew! Potter! Don’t you DARE leave this common room!” She ran to the portrait and stood in front of it, blocking it. “You are NOT going to sneak out on your first week back! Not even you, Potter!”
~
“Wow,” James murmured. “She’s good at guessing.”

“What do we do now?” Peter whispered.

“We go anyway.”
~
Suddenly, James appeared from behind the couch and held his hand up. Sirius, Peter, and Lupin followed suit, all the hands up in surrender. Lily stared at them. Since when did the Marauders surrender? They usually fight even if the battle is over.

“Potter! You should know better than to sneak out!”

“I’m sorry, Evans, but we REALLY have to go to the bathroom!” James cried.

“You have a bathroom upstairs,” she replied coolly.

“It’s clogged!” Sirius whined, a pained expression on his face.

“And I have to go really, REALLY badly!” Remus said.

“Me too!” Peter exclaimed, clutching the part where his legs meet. Lily looked somewhere other then Peter for a moment, but then agreed. After all, Peter couldn’t act or lie properly and Lily though he was in a rather awkward position.

“Alright,” she sighed, “But I’m coming with you.”
~
James paced up and down the boy’s bathroom with his hand to his head.

“What do we do?”

“Well, we already stuffed Remus through the extra small window so he could get a head start to the Whomping Willow.”

“Yes! But we have to make sure he gets there!” James knelt over the sink, pondering furiously.

“How?” Peter asked stupidly. “Lily’s outside and we can’t distract her or anything. And I certainly am not going through that high window, rat or not!”

Then Sirius stood up from his position on the toilet seat. “Yes, we can distract her!”

“How?” James looked up from the sink.

“Well, I’ll just take her wand away from her! And she won’t even know it was me.” Sirius smiled at his own idea.

“How-” James began, but was stopped by Sirius transforming into a great, black dog.

James bit his lip, but reluctantly agreed. “O.K. Just don’t hurt her, Padfoot.” Then he opened the door for Padfoot to leave.
~
Lily was leaning against the wall thinking. What could those boys possibly be doing in there that was taking so long?

She barely had time to think when suddenly, a huge, black dog jumped out of nowhere and knocked her to the floor. She landed on her knees and scraped them.

“Hey!” She pulled her wand out of her pocket to see exactly what attacked her when the dog came back again tore the wand from her fingers. It then bounded down the hallway.

“Oh no.” Lily groaned, kicked the wall, and her eyes followed the dog until it disappeared into the darkness. She looked around desperately and grabbed a flaming torch from its handle on the wall and chased after the dog.

“Stupid dog,” she grumbled underneath her breath. As she ran, she thought in her head. The dog had come from the boys’ bathroom. Lily frowned as she decided that James’ must have transformed a toilet into a dog and set it after her.

She was about to turn the corner and grab the scruffy dog by the tail when it came bolting back at her and knocked her over again. The torch clattered on the floor and extinguished. Lily coughed on the smoke and she almost choked when she heard a voice say, “Who’s there?”

The wand-less girl scrambled to her feet and hid behind a knight of shining armor. She held her breath as a light traveled around the corner and illuminated her hallway.

She could not see the owner of the wand’s face but she could see the silhouette of him, and several others. She could only recognize the silver and green shine of their Slytherin badges.

Seems like the Marauders aren’t the only ones taking a night walk, Lily thought.

“I’m telling you, Malfoy,” came the voice of Bellatrix Black, “There’s no one here except that stray dog that ran into us.”

A chill went up Lily’s spine and realized that she was in serious trouble, head girl or not.

Malfoy lowered his wand a few inches, but raised it back up again. “No,” he whispered, “There’s someone else wandering the corridors at this time of night. Find that person. No one must know we were here.”
~
“Peter! Why do you have to be slow now, of all times?” James was speeding down the hallway in the opposite direction of Lily. Peter was tripping over his shoelaces, meters behind him.

“Wait up for me!” Peter moaned at James while tying his left shoelace for the third time.

“No! You catch up later!” James burst of the front doors and tumbled down the stairs. He got up and heard Peter rolling down the staircase behind him, grunting with every step he smashed against.

James hid behind the bushes and waited a minute, just in case anyone was following him (except for Peter) and changed into his illegal animal form: a stag.

Prongs got up and glared at Peter who had unwisely turned into a rat where anyone peering from the window could see him. Prongs snorted. At least he had no shoelaces to trip over.

Wormtail attached himself to Prong’s ankle and the stag galloped to the Whomping Willow.

I hope Sirius doesn’t take too long, he thought. Wormtail pressed the knot on the root of the wild tree and James and Peter hurried down the secret tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack.

“Hurry up! We don’t have all night you know!” Malfoy was shining his light in a broom closet as his fellow Slytherins searched along the hallway.

Lily pressed herself against the cold wall and closed her eyes, hoping that they would not see her. Ten seconds passed and her bare feet felt like ice already.

Lily felt something hairy brush against her leg and he almost screamed. She slowly pushed her head down and almost kicked the black dog that was smiling back up at her.

“You ruddy dog,” she whispered, “Where’s my wand? Oh, you’d better not have snapped it in two with your bloody teeth, or I will personally pull them all out!”

“Did you hear that?”

Lily clasped her hand over her mouth and looked at Malfoy. His head was out of the closet and he had his wand pointed at the knight in shining armor.

“Hear what?” Bellatrix asked.

“There’s someone behind the knight.”

Lily looked from Malfoy to the dog. She swallowed. The dog nodded in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. Then it grinned again.

Stupid dog, Lily thought. But at the same time, she was about to do as the dog had advised her to do. Malfoy began advancing towards her hiding place, wand prepared for hexing.

The black dog crouched down in a springing position and let out a low growling. Malfoy faltered for a second but continued walking. When Malfoy was two feet away, the dog jumped from behind the knight and pinned Malfoy to the floor, smiling his heart out again as if he had been waiting for that moment all his life.

“ARGH! Get this beast off of me!” Malfoy yelled. He tried to punch the dog but a huge glob of drool splattered onto his face. The dog seemed to be having the time of his life.

All the Slytherins’ head turned to face the fight between Malfoy and the dog, so Lily took this opportunity and bolted to the staircase.

Malfoy wiped his eyes with his robe and gasped when he saw Lily escaping.

“There! There!” he yelled, pointing at Lily’s shrinking figure. “Behind you, idiots!” The Slytherins all whipped around and started chasing her.

Oh great, Lily thought, I have no wand and I’m being chased by Slytherins. This isn’t my night.

“Stupefy!”

“Immobilus!”

“Petrificus totalus!”

Five hexes in total were shot at Lily, but the only one that hit her was a Tripping Hex. Lily’s chin met the floor and began to burn fiercely. She tried to get up again, but her foot was wedged firmly into a crack in the floor that was never there before.

“We got her!” a voice cried, victoriously. The footsteps slowed down and Lily looked at them through the corner of her eye. They were walking towards her now that she couldn’t go anywhere.

“Who is it? Off you bloody animal!” Lily saw Malfoy tossing the dog off his chest and into the wall. The dog whimpered and fell down on an injured leg.

Someone grabbed Lily’s hair and pulled her head back. Lily found herself looking into the empty eyes of Severus Snape.

“It’s the mudblood!” he snarled. He tightened his grip on her hair and pulled her head farther back.

“Let go of me, Snape,” Lily said calmly.

“Or else what? You’ll take points off? I’d like to see how much that can scare me.” Snape sneered his infamous sneer and tossed her head back. Lily was going to make another run for it, but suddenly, her wrists were bound together in front of her by a glow of yellow light.

“What are you doing out here, Evans?” Bellatrix Black shot rudely.

“What are you doing out here, Black?” Lily replied a bit more politely.

“It is not any of your business.”

“Oh, I think it is.” Lily slowly was able pulled her foot out of the crack and backed up the stairs. Everyone followed her. “Don’t you think it’s a bit odd? Slytherins leaving to a secret hiding spot in the middle of the night?”

The Slytherins just looked at each other.

“What do you have to talk about in private and secret? Or are you going to a meeting of some sort with other students?”

All the Slytherins now had their wands out of their pockets and pointed at Lily.

“You will say no more, mudblood!” Malfoy ordered.

Lily saw a movement back in the hallway. The dog was up again and stalking Malfoy, teeth bared. Lily smiled. For once, she was glad the dog was awake.

“Oh yeah?” She grinned wider. “Make me.” She tossed her head teasingly. She backed up a few more steps.

“Hex her,” Malfoy told his comrades.

Lily held up her bound hands and pointed a finger at them. “That would be a very unwise decision, you know.”

“I don’t think so, mudblood. You may be head girl, but that doesn’t make me have any respect for a piece of filth like you!” Malfoy opened his mouth to utter a spell but a loud bark from behind made him turn around. So did everyone else so Lily began running up the stairs, biting the rope binding her hands. A spell hit the staircase above her and a cascade of rocks fell down. Lily screamed and backed down the stairs as her pathway was blocked.

Someone grabbed her arm. Malfoy had her in a headlock, but she stomped on his foot. Lily grabbed his sleeve, brought it back, and whacked him.

“Let…” She hit him once. “Me…” She hit his arm again. “Go!!!” She hit him harder. Lily brought back her hand for another punch, but the sleeve ripped off.

The rip seemed like an eternity. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stared at Lily and Malfoy. Bellatrix Black absentmindedly let go of the dog that was standing on top of Snape, one paw on top of his head and digging it into the stone floor. Three other slightly shorter Slytherins, with hoods over their heads, stopped shouting spells and stared at Malfoy’s naked arm, which was inches from her face. Lily slowly turned her own head and looked at the arm and shrieked. Then, eternity was shattered into a million pieces.

Lily tripped over her own feet and collapse to the carpeted floor, still screaming her lungs out. The dog remained immobile for a moment but then got off of Snape and began prowling towards Malfoy., snarling more than Lily had ever heard a dog snarl before.

“Silencio!” Malfoy roared over Lily’s screaming and the dog’s barking. Lily went suddenly mute. But she was still screaming a silent scream and her eyes were as wider then they had ever been. “And someone PLEASE get a hold over that annoying animal!” Two hooded students grabbed the dog’s torso. The black dog fidgeted and growled menacingly but he was held in place. Malfoy turned back to her and looked at her, as if making sure he knew what had happened.

He waited until it seemed Lily had stopped screaming and caught her, then, he removed the curse. Lily backed away from him until she was sitting against the railing. She wanted to be as far away from the Slytherins as possible.

“Y-You’re… you’re Death Eaters,” she stuttered. She looked around. “All of you are.”

“So you have discovered are little secret, Evans. What luck! So now you get to turn us in, am I right?”

Lily didn’t answer. She was still getting over the shock of a Dark Mark on Malfoy’s arm.

“But you will not tell. You know why?” Malfoy walked forward and bent his legs so his face was level with Lily’s. She looked away, at anything other than the Death Eater in front of her. Malfoy grabbed her face and jerked it towards him. “Answer me!”

Lily took two slow breaths and whispered, “Yes…”

“Excuse me, I didn’t hear that. What did you say?”

“Yes…” Lily said a bit louder.

“Yes? You will tell? That would be a very foolish choice, Evans. You want to know why?”

Lily glared at his pointy face. “Yes,” she said, “Try and give me a reason not to turn you into the authorities!” Lily was regaining her Gryffindor strength again.

“For beginners, what do you know about the Dark Lord?”

“I know quite a few facts and none of them are very nice, to tell you the truth.”

“Such as he enjoys killing off muggles, for instance? Would that be one of them?”

“Yes…” Lily said slowly.

“Ever question yourself why we call you a mudblood?” Malfoy smirked.

Lily suddenly realized where this was going. She sent her fist flying in his direction. It smashed against Malfoy’s jaw and sent him flying backwards. Blood began dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Lily grabbed his wand off the floor, stood up, and with both hands, pointed it at Malfoy.

“DON’T YOU DARE DRAG MY PARENTS INTO THIS! YOU WILL NOT USE THEM AGAINST ME!” Lily bellowed.

“We gave you a choice, mudblood,” came Snape from her right and she pointed the wand at him in case he tried to attack her. “If you do not turn us in we will put your parents at the Dark Lord’s mercy. If you do, we’ll stand by the Dark Lord as he sends a Dark Mark into the sky over your house.”

Tears were filling up in Lily’s eyes and her aim was shaking. She gripped the wand so tight that her hand turning white. When she felt as if her hand would implode, she threw the wand back at its owner. But she would not cry in front of Death Eaters, ever.

“I won’t tell anyone, alright? You have my word on it.”

“You can’t even tell your reflection in case someone will hear,” Malfoy added, “We will be watching every single move you make to be sure you don’t tell on us.”

Lily nodded a very tiny nod. The dog nipped at Snape’s feet and his throat rumbled like thunder.

Malfoy undid Lily’s rope with his hands and murmured to her, “Which is more deep: you love for you pathetic muggle parents or you hatred for us? Which are you more willing to give up: the ones you descended from or the satisfaction of turning in six supporters of the Dark Lord?” He pulled the last string off and clapped his hand on Lily’s shoulder.

“Let’s go,” he ordered. Everyone turned away from Lily and began walking back down the hallway. Lily fell to her knees and released all her tears that were so eager to get out.

“Lily? You have been awfully quiet the past few days.”

Lily just picked at her food. She rolled the pea across her plate and into her demented gravy volcano. She hadn’t heard Maya’s remark. She was about to roll another pea into the gravy-filled mountain when Maya tugged her arm.

“Lily!” Maya yelled.

“What?!?” Lily yelled louder. But then she lowered her voice after a few disapproving glances from other students. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“You didn’t hear anything Julianne or I have said, did you?”

“Um… no?”

“I didn’t think so.” Lily gave a very weak smile and crushed her pea.

“Well,” Julianne continued, “It is Chaser try-outs tonight and I want you all to try-out.”

Maya looked at Amy in an is-she-really-serious-because-I-can’t-stay-on-a-broom way.

“Oh, come on! At least try! You won’t kill yourselves!”

“Oh yeah, sure, Julianne,” Amy said, serving herself more chicken, “As if I’m going to survive a fall of a broom 50 feet in the air!”

“I can’t hold a quaffle and throw it without sending anyone, including me, to the hospital wing,” Maya agreed.

“Fine, you can watch in the stands, but at least be there,” Julianne stuck out her chin at her friends and then asked Lily who was about to resume playing Roll The Peas Into the Messed-Up Volcano. “Will you try out Lily? Please?”

“Well… I don’t know…”

“James said you’d make a great Chaser.”

Lily began choking on her pumpkin juice. “WHO said that?”

“Lily has returned to us! Praise the Lord!” Maya laughed.

“James Potter?” Julianne ignored Maya and her nonsense giddiness.

“And he would think that, why?”

Julianne struggled to find a correct way to put it without Lily blowing off her head. “Well, there was that day with Peeves. I heard you chucked a glass orb right through his greedy head.”

Lily thought back to that unfortunate morning. “Oh yeah. I remember that.”

“So PLEASE try-out! I beg of you!”

“You beg of everyone, Julie,” Amy remarked.

“Fine. I’ll try-out.”
~
James was secretly watching Julianne ask Lily to try-out for him. Of course, he couldn’t walk right up to Lily and beg on one knee for her to try-out. So, last night, he had “accidentally” slipped to Julianne a list of people who he thought were good. He emphasized when he mentioned Lily. Even though Julianne knew where he was going, she was going to ask Lily, all the same.

James watched Lily slowly nod her head and Julianne smile.

“Hello? Prongs?”

James snapped out of her reverie and took his chin off his arm. “What?”

“We’re in the middle of forcing Padfoot to tell us what happened on full moon.” Remus stared at Sirius again.

“You know: the night Lily became extra quiet and distant?” Peter asked.

“Those are my words, you rat,” James hissed at Peter.

“Sorry.”

“What… happened, Sirius?” Remus demanded.

Sirius looked up at the rainy ceiling above and sighed. In an annoyed voice, he said, “I told you guys a million times: I can not tell you in the middle of lunch! I’m not really sure I can even tell you! If you really, really, really want to know, you’re going to have to either wait or ask Lily.”

“Well, what can you tell us?” James inquired.

“Um… well, nothing here, really.”

“Was it Slytherins? I’ll kill them all if it was.”

“Calm down, James,” Remus advised.

“Maybe… or it could have been evil house-elves on strike and she fells all bad for them and going to start a stupid Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare.”

“Did you make that spell ‘spew’ on purpose?” James asked momentarily distracted by the corny joke, “’Cause it’s not very funny, you know.”

“Stay on task, Prongs,” Remus ordered. “Sirius, I’m really serious about this. There was a huge mountain of rocks blocking the staircase when everyone went down for breakfast the next morning!”

“I recall hearing that… though I don’t know who caused that.”

“Did you give Lily back her wand, at least?”

“Yeah. I left it in her bag that was lying about in the common room. Do you know what else I saw in there?”

“A book?”

“Yeah, that too, but something else.”

“Did you conduct a whole security search of her belongings?”

Sirius ignored Remus’ comment and skipped to what he was originally going to say. “I found a flower.”

“A flower? That’s all?” Remus rolled his eyes.

James’ jaw dropped. That was not all! She still had it? She still had the lily from the first night of school? That made it one week!”

“It was a lily.”

Remus sighed and started jabbing his meat. He obviously didn’t notice James’ expression. Sirius served himself some more corn, shooting James curious looks. Peter started nibbling his bread like a mouse. He hadn’t paid attention to the lily conversation. James didn’t fell hungry anymore. He decided he was sick and announced he was getting a head start to the next class.

“Why?” Sirius asked.

James shrugged and said, “I don’t know. Meet me at Potions.”

“Right then, mate.” Then Sirius returned to stabbing his defenseless chicken leg.

James walked out the Great Hall door and began walking down to the dungeons. He passed a small, metal door and shuddered. He had been hung by his wrists there twice already. One was for jinxing the knights so that they would try to skewer any Slytherin that passed them. Another was for bewitching other student’s quills so that they wrote inappropriate words on parchment paper. His arms had never felt so numb. But it had been worth it, seeing screaming Slytherins and befuddled first years.

He rested his back on the arch of the N.E.W.T. Potions door and flipped open his textbook. He was just reviewing in case Professor Madres decided to pick on him again, like he usually did.

He remembered a moment in which an angry spark flickered between them two.
~~()~~
“Potter!” Professor Madres tapped his wand at the brim of James’ cauldron.

“Yes, sir?” James asked politely.

“What is this?”

“Draught of Peace.”

“It looks more like your useless mind.”

“Looks like someone forgot their naptime. You should use the Draught of Peace more often.”
~~()~~
“You are early, Potter,” came a cold and sharp voice. James’ head shot up and he saw Professor Madres peering at him through the small barred window.

“I-I wasn’t hungry anymore, sir,” James said. Seeing two pale eyes staring at him through a barred window had scared him quite a bit.

“Then why don’t you step inside the classroom and take a seat?” he asked. James swallowed and nodded. He wasn’t exactly thrilled to be alone in the head of Slytherins’ classroom with no Sirius or Remus to back him up, if needed.

The classroom door opened by itself and James cautiously stepped inside. It was pitch-black dark and James had no idea where the teacher had gone.

My theory is correct, James thought, he is a vampire!

But as soon as James was about to let his imagination get the best of him, all the candles wicks were ignited and the room wasn’t as dark as before. Professor Madres was sitting in front of the classroom at his broken and old wooden desk. His hands were folded in front of him. To James, it was his sigh language or “Run now or get hung by your wrists again.”

James quickly sat down in the farthest table back. He rapidly resumed scanning the pages of his book. He was in for a rough period.

He hated Professor Madres. He hated the way his brown hair went down in curly locks to his neck. He hated his french mustache and his one golden tooth. He hated his soulless eyes that only shined for Slytherins.

A hand appeared on top of the book’s spine and slammed the book down. James yelled as his left hand was wedged in between the cover and rough wood table. He yanked it out and hid it under the table.

“What was that for?” James half yelled, half asked.

“You know perfectly well what that was for, Potter,” Professor Madres snarled.

“I bloody well do not!” James shot back.

The creepy teacher leaned forward across the table so that his nose was an inch from James’s. His breath smelled of garlic. He definitely isn’t a vampire, he thought while holding his breath.

“Stubborn, I see. Maybe a night hanging by your wrists will help you remember.”

Lily stood up from the bench and said, “I’m full.”

“You didn’t eat anything,” Julianne reminded, pointing her fork at Lily’s full plate.

“So? I’m full.”

“No, you are not.” Julianne stood up as well and pointed her fork at Lily. “You will sit down until every single pea is gone from your plate!”

“Wait, who are you again?”

Julianne rolled her eyes. “I am concerned for your health!”

Lily’s eyes revolved around their sockets. Julianne shouted, “I am the Keeper and you must obey me! You cannot resist my power!”

“Dun, dun, dun,” Maya and Amy chanted together.

Lily grumbled something about not being hungry and slumped down back to her seat. She grabbed her fork and scraped all the peas off her plate and onto the floor. Then she gave Julianne one last hard stare before running away from the table.

As if on cue, several Slytherins got up from the table and followed her at a fair distance to not draw suspicion. Unfortunately for Lily, one no noticed.

Every level Lily descended, she looked over her shoulder just in time to see a student’s head or a flash of silver and green.

Wow, they’re really spying on me, aren’t they, she asked herself.

Lily hid behind the wings of a Pegasus statue and stayed still. She heard several pairs of feet slowing down and stopping.

“Where’d she go?” a voice asked.

“I think she went that way.” The students ran off in the other direction. Lily stepped out from behind the stone wing and ran down the stairs.

She was about to enter the classroom and slam the door behind her when she heard Professor Madres talking in a low voice to someone.

“Don’t lie to me, Potter. It was you!”

“I told you! I have no idea what you are talking about! Whatever I did, if I did anything, I certainly don’t deserve to be hung by my wrists again!”

Lily groaned. What did Potter do now?

“You and your little friends thought it would be very funny and decided to cause a rockslide in the school!”

Silence tensed in the professor, James, and Lily. Lily clapped her hand over her mouth. It wasn’t James! She wasn’t exactly sure which Slytherin did cause the stairway to crumble, but Potter was probably doing some other prank in the school.

“That… was… NOT… me! That was someone else!”

“Like Mr. Black?”

“It wasn’t him either! How many times do I have to tell you? I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT! What the bloody hell would I want to vandalize Hogwarts for?”

“Don’t you raise you’re voice at me, Potter!”

“Let go of me you-!”

Before Lily had time to react, the door was banged open and Professor Madres was holding James by the scruff of the neck. James’s eyes widened with shock as he saw Lily standing there, but Professor Madres’ eyes glared with hatred for the redhead.

“I will be back in a moment, Evans,” he pronounced. “Come with me, Potter.”

It really didn’t look as if James had a choice. The teacher had his neck firmly held in his hand as he pushed James to a cell door several rooms away.

“Professor Madres! You cannot do this!” Lily almost smacked her head onto the wall when she realized that she was the one shouting this.

The teacher stopped and turned his head. “Why not? This boy is guilty of an unsolved crime right here in this school!”

“You have no evidence of that!”

“I don’t need evidence, miss,” he shot curtly.

“Yes you do!” Lily roared. Why was she doing this? Couldn’t Potter get himself out of this?

You are a kind soul and you don’t wish others pain, Lily soothed herself, even if it is James Potter.

“Students are innocent are proven guilty, and that includes the Marauders as well!”

Lily ran up and pulled James away from Professor Madres. She had enough of the prejudice teacher. Lily dragged James by the sleeve of the robe back into the classroom.

She led him down the steps and let go of him.

“Er… thank you, Lil-… Evans.”

“Your welcome.” Lily set her bag on the table two rows in front of James. As she set “Complicated Concoctions” on the floor, she felt it again. It was the feeling that he was watching her. She felt had felt it for seven years now, but this time it felt somewhat different…

She turned her head and looked at James over he shoulder. He looked down at the table and sat down, burying his head in his book. Lily moved her chair and sat down as well. Professor Madres had not begun to return yet.

“Who caused that rock fall?”

“What did you say?” Lily asked. She turned around and saw two, curious, hazel eyes peeping out from the top of the book.

“Who caused the rock fall?” James repeated.

Lily was stunned. “Wh-Why are you asking me that?”

“Because you were there.”

“What?” Lily mouth dropped. How could he have known? Had he been watching? “I wasn’t there when it happened!”

“You went down that hallway.”

“Only because you turned a toilet paper roll into a dog!”

“No I didn’t!”

Lily ended the conversation with a sigh and returning to staring at the chalkboard.

James stood up and moved up to the desk in front of Lily. He took a wooden chair and spun it around so it faced her. He sat down and rested his chin on the tabletop.

“This conversation is finished, Potter!” she snapped. She opened her book and pretending to be interesting in how to make a potion that will cure toe warts.

“Which is why I’m starting a new one,” James announced cheerfully. Lily stared. His voice sounded too out-of-place in the dark dungeon. “You haven’t shown me the plans for the school.”

“Oh…” Lily slowly closed her book and got several pieces of parchment. She set them in front of James, cautiously, and James surveyed it.

After reading the list, he asked, “You really think that we should have a Christmas party?”

“It’s not a “Christmas Party,” it’s a Christmas celebration,” Lily corrected. She swiped the papers from James hands. “And I’m not going with you as your date.” She stuffed the plans into her bag.

“I wasn’t going to ask-”

“Yet!” Lily finished for him. “Why else would you have brought it up? To ask me out again?”

“Maybe…”

Lily groaned and thrust her head up to the cobwebbed ceiling and then brought her head on the table.

“Not to the party! That’s too far away! I just wanted to know if I could get you a butterbeer at the next Hogsmeade visit?”

“No. I can get my own.”

“How about a cake or something.”

“No. It’s not my birthday.”

“What about a-”

“NO! What number is that?”

James seemed to be counting in his head. “What number of what: how many times you have refused me, or how many times I’ve asked you out?”

James couldn’t see because Lily’s head was still squished against the desk, but she rolled her eyes.

“2, 997 and a half times!” declared a proud Sirius. He was practically skipping into the classroom. He was so proud of himself for keeping track of all the attempts James had made to persuade Lily to go out with him. “Plus those last three with make it an even 3,000 and a 1/2!”
~
“A half?” James asked Sirius when he plopped down in the seat next to him.

“Well, in our 4th year, you never really got all the words out because little Snape just happened to walk by.” He said “little Snape” with more amount of disgust as usual.

James laughed. “Oh, yeah. I remember that. I began to try out my Love Spell on him…”

“But it didn’t really work. You hit Wormtail instead.”

“Oh…”

“Then we had to keep him locked up in the dungeons or else he would have-”

“That’s not funny! Why do you pick on Snape all the time? What in the world has he done to you?” Lily had lifted her head and she was glaring at James.

Sirius fell off his chair. “What the…? You’re still standing up for that bloody git?”

“…Yes?”

“After what he did to you?”

There was a pause and James started to work out everything in his head. “What do you mean?” Lily asked in an unusually high voice. Her voice was tight as well.

James suddenly bolted out of his seat, standing straight up. “What did Snape do, Lily?” he demanded.

Lily shook her head very slightly and fiddled with her hands under the table. “Nothing.”

James grabbed Lily’s arm. “What did he do?”

“Stop it! Let go of me!”

James kept his firm, but gentle, grip on Lily’s arm. “What did Snape do? Did it have anything to do you the destroyed staircase?”

Lily didn’t answer. She just looked down.

James let go of her and faced Padfoot.

“Will you tell me, then? I really don’t enjoy picking out the details and figuring stuff out on my own.”

“Nope, mate. You can try asking Lily again.”

Before James could open his mouth again, Snape entered the room. Furiously, James had his wand pointed at Snape’s forehead before he had reached the first desk.

“Spill it out, Snivellus!” he snarled. “What happened, you slimy git?”

---

Author's Note: lalalalalala- DIE SNIVELLUS DIE *cough cough* I mean, please explain yourself, Mr. Snape, before I blow you into oblivion.

Snape, as if he was bored of this routine, just looked at James. Then he pulled out his own wand and pointed it to someone behind him. James was stunned. Snape had done it so easily, as if he had rehearsed it!

No! James pushed back that thought. Snape hadn’t outwitted him!

“Let down your wand, Potter,” Snape said coolly, “Or your little friend will pay a special visit to the Hospital Wing.”

Without thinking, James turned his head and saw Snape’s wand pointing, not at Sirius, but at Lily. Sirius stepped in front of Lily like a bodyguard.

“Leave Evans out of this, Snivellus,” Sirius warned, “She didn’t do anything wrong…. James, look out!”

Suddenly, a fist collided with James’s bottom jaw. Before James was able to react, his stomach was hit with a ball of dark green light. James was thrown backwards into the blackboard in the front of the room. He then crumbled to the floor, along with several other blackboard pieces, stomach threatening to burn him alive. Warm blood was sliding down his mouth.

He heard Lily scream and Sirius start cursing his head off. James knelt over, clutching his aching stomach. A hand rested on top of his head and shoulder.

“Are you alright, James?” he heard Lily ask. He wished he could say something, or nod at least, but he felt that if he moved, his chest would explode.

He heard a cold laugh and Snape’s voice say to Sirius, “I’ve been waiting so long to do that. How could I have missed that opportunity?”

Sirius was in the middle of shouting a curse and a spell at Snape, but another, much older, voice broke in, a flash of white light burst, and Sirius’ dark brown wand skidded across the floor.

“Dueling, are we, Mr. Black?” Professor Madres asked. “Twenty points from Gryffindor. Please take a seat, both of you.” Snape and Sirius sat down in opposite ends of the rows, shooting each other their most deadly look.

Lily stood up from behind the teacher’s desk.

“Miss Evans! What are you doing behind my desk? Why is my board destroyed? Another twenty points from Gryffindor!”

“But, sir! I have to take James to the Hospital Wing!”

“Potter? To the Hospital Wing? What is this? I turn my back for five minutes and havoc wrecks in my classroom!”

Several other students had begun entering the classroom, inspecting the blackboard in front of them, but Professor Madres started bellowing at them. “OUT! OUT! OUT!” He ushered them all out into the hallway and slammed the door shut.

Students swarmed outside the window, fighting to catch a glimpse of what was happening at the scene. But Professor Madres flicked his wand in the air and the shutters came together and James could hear the groans and mutter of disappointment of the students.

“Where is Potter? What has he done to my desk and chalkboard? This is worth a detention!”

James wasn’t about to be caught lying helpless on the floor with blood all over his mouth. He wiped his face with his robe and stood up. He rested his arm, inconspicuously, on the desk for support and gave Professor Madres a weak smile.

“I was just inspecting your floors, Professor. They’re a little on the dirty side, if I say so myself.” James almost collapsed again. His stomach felt as if it were melting. He cursed Snape under his breath.

“You look a bit on the poor side yourself, Potter. Off to the Hospital Wing, then. I want two rolls of parchment tomorrow on why dueling in my classroom would be a rather stupid idea!”

“Oh, no! I’m fine, Professor. Snape just tried to stun me, that’s all.”

“What nonsense is this? A student from my house attacking another?”

“Yes! It’s something they would do.” The boiling in James’ chest had bubbled down. Snape was smirking.

James looked on the ground and saw his wand lying underneath Sirius’. Professor Madres summoned them to his hand and said, “I’ll be holding on to these until the end of the period.” He then pointed his wand at the board and all the pieces flew back together. A small piece of white chalk began writing complicated procedures for a potion on the board.

“Take seat, Potter, Evans! Or I’ll chip more points off Gryffindor!”
James took a seat next to Sirius and Lily sat behind them.

Professor Madres flicked his wand in the air again and the classroom door opened again. Students poured inside excitedly, but took their seats glumly when they realized that there was nothing interesting to see.

~Halfway through the class~

Lily was adding pixie dust to her blue bubbling potion, which immediately turned to a golden color, when a crumbled up piece of paper fell next to her hand. She picked it up and looked in the direction in which it came from. Malfoy was looking at her through the corner of his eye. Lily looked at Maya next to her, who was stirring the cauldron, absent-mindedly and had not noticed the unwelcome note.

Slowly, she unwrapped the parchment of paper.

It wrote: Don’t try any tricks next time, mudblood, or I’ll teach Snape more that that simple spell he practiced on Potter. And there are your parents to consider.

Lily shivered. James, who was about to retrieve troll’s hair from the cabinet, saw Lily holding the note. Lily caught sight of him raising his eyebrows and she knew he had recognized Malfoy’s handwriting.

He was about to snatch it out of her hands and read it, when it burst into flames.

Lily gasped in surprise and dropped in onto the wooden table. The flames rose higher and higher. Lily backed away from the fire, stunned and in shock, like the majority of the class. Malfoy pocketed his wand and took a step away.
~
“Holy smokes!” Sirius shouted. His voice triggered the nerves in James’s system. He swept the burning parchment of the flammable table.

He was too late. The fire had caught onto the wood and had begun burning. The fire quickly engulfed Lily’s and Maya’s desk. Amy grabbed Maya and Julianne pulled Lily away from the blaze.

“FIRE!!!” James roared. “EVERYONE OUT NOW!” Screams erupted everywhere and everyone made a run to the only exit. Professor Madres took out his wand and pushed everyone quickly out of the room.

A flame leapt from Lily’s desk to James’. Then another flew onto Julianne’s desk. James saw Julianne’s hand licked by fire and she let go of Lily.

Amy had already left the room, screaming her lungs out. Julianne ripped off a piece of her robe and wrapped it around her hand. Remus ran next to her and stared, frightfully, at the tall flames scraping the ceiling.

Lily, Maya, Sirius, and James were trapped in a circle of fire. Smoke began clouding the room.

“REMUS!” James coughed as loudly as he possibly could. “GET DUMBLEDORE!” Remus didn’t need telling twice. He sped out of the door and bolted past the crowd of students and up the stairs bellowing, “Fire in the dungeons!!! Fire!!!”

“Julianne! You get out, too!” James was using his robe to swat the fire out, but he had to take it off for it too had caught fire.

“But you’ll die!” Julianne cried. “You’ll burn to a crisp, or even ashes!” She pulled out her wand and a stream of water splattered onto the table. It didn’t work. The fire was too big. Another table caught fire.

“Julianne! PLEASE get help instead of describing various kinds of terrible ways to end our mortality!” Tears were forming in Lily’s eyes because of the stinging smoke.

Lily’s cauldron tipped over and the contents spilled all over the table, dissolving Maya’s cauldron and the table into dust and ash. Sirius leaped over the ashes and melting pewter and stood by Maya, protecting her from the flames. James buried Lily’s head in his chest against her will and better judgment.

“Let go of me, Potter!” Lily ordered. She had begun trying to push him away, but James didn’t loosen his grip.

The fire had now spread to all the desks and way beyond the control of the four teenagers.

James frantically looked around. The fire slid onto a few strands of unicorn hair and they exploded and sparks flew everywhere.

“There!” Maya pointed to an empty corner of the room with only a stone floor.

“No! We can’t get here unless losing a limb!”

“Oh sure, Maya has permission to see see, but I can’t?” came Lily’s muffled voice.

“We don’t want to ruin those beautiful eyes of yours, Lily.”

Lily gave one final shove and pinched his arm. “O.K. O.K. I’m letting go of you. Happy?”

Lily panted and clasped her forehead with her sweaty hand. She took off her robe and folded it into a rectangle.

“How is that going to help?” Sirius asked.

“I put it over a section of the fire. It will extinguish for a few seconds, which is just enough time for us to get out of this flaming square of death.”

“Oh… I knew that.”

Lily stomped her robe over a part of the fire, creating a thin walkway. Lily jumped over it, followed by James, Maya, and Sirius.

“Um… James? Our wands?”

“Right, you go with them. I’ll get the wands. GO!!!” James ran towards Professor Madres’ desk. The wands weren’t on the top. He looked back up at Sirius. He was dragging Maya and Lily towards the door.

He opened one drawer. It only contained several spell books. He pulled in out and threw it to the floor. Flames greedily swallowed it.

He opened the next one. It only had plans for the next several classes. He threw that one into the fire.

“JAMES! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!” James eyed the doorway. It was now completely filled with smoke and flames. A figure was standing on the other side. He was trapped in the classroom. A huge boulder fell from the ceiling and shattered on the floor. James closed his eyes and told himself the truth.

I’m going to die. I’m going to burn too toast and all the Slytherins will celebrate my death.

He opened his eyes one last time and focused his entire mind on the doorway when the ceiling finally crumbled down.
~
“JAMES!” Sirius hollered back into the classroom. “JAMES! COME OUT!!!”

Lily was standing a few meters away from Sirius. Maya was standing right behind her, hand over her mouth in shock.

1… 2… 3… The seconds ticked by. With each passing moment, Sirius shouted louder and the tears and misery of Lily Evans grew larger. Sirius’ voiced weakened and he fell to his knees.

Sirius took a deep breath and shouted at the classroom, “PRONGS!!!”

The only reply was more unicorn hairs meeting the fire and exploding. Sparks poured out of the doorway and one window.

Lily screamed and took a step forward. She wanted to assist. But what was there to help? She had no way of getting in there.

“James… why James?” Lily found herself saying.

Suddenly, a figure leapt through the doorway and bounced off the stone floor on his back.

“James!” Sirius yelped. James shirt was playing host to flames. James rolled around the floor, shouting as if he had been hit with “Crucio.”

“Create a thunderstorm, Maya!” Lily ordered.

“A what?”

“A thunderstorm! You’re the only one who has the ability to make one! Hurry!”

Maya whipped out her want and muttered a quiet incantation. A thick cloud erupted from Maya’s wand and floated to the ceiling. Rain immediately splattered onto the staircase, the dungeons, James, and everyone else.

Girls started shrieking about their hair and boy started swearing about Maya.

James was lying on his stomach, breathing heavily. Sirius was bent over him, pouring water from his hands to James’ back. Lily ran over to James and fingered all his scars.

She shook her dripping wet head and said, “This does not look good. He needs immediate help.”

“I was thinking along the same lines. But we can’t move him.”

James groaned and turned over, coughing.

“James, James,” Sirius said, “You’re alive. Calm down, man.”

James slowly opened his eyes and raindrops trickled on his glasses. “It’s raining indoors,” he said faintly. Then he flinched as Sirius poured more water over him. “Ouch. Stop it, Padfoot, that hurts.”

The students had now gathered around the three of them, but Sirius suddenly stood up and flapped his arms at them. “Spread out, spread out! Give him room to breathe!”

Lily knelt down next to James and wrapped her hand around his.

“You gave me a good scare there, James.”

“Sorry. I was just trying to find my wand.”

“Bloody hell, you almost died! I wouldn’t want that on my conscious!”

James gave a teasing smile. “You couldn’t last another year without me, could you?”

Lily was about to snap back a reply, but Remus and Dumbledore pushed their way through the crowds.

“My God, James. Are you O.K.” Remus bent down next to Lily.

James said, “I’m fine.”

Dumbledore held out two wands. “I believe these belong to both you and Mr. Black.”

James took his wand and twirled it. “Yup, it is. Where was it?”

“Professor Madres had it. Next time, I would recommended valuing your life about a piece of wood, Mr. Potter.”

James nodded.

“Let me through! Let me through, children! A fire! My, my! Who needs my medical attention? Oh, you, Potter? Again? Heavens, I always knew something like this would happen!” Madame Curtis tripped through the crowd of people and put her hands on her hips.

“Well, I assume I can fix you up, Potter, so you’ll be able to hold the try-outs tonight. But just don’t fly too fast. I’m getting quite tired of you and you’re recklessness.”




~~~
A/N: Yes, it was Malfoy who caused the note to catch fire, but he didn't intend for the entire classroom to burst into flame! Please R&R! I'm very lonely.

James threw the Quaffle back and forth with the other chaser, Charles, and Julianne on the grass of the Quidditch field. Sirius had gone bored enough to begin sitting, cross-legged, on the floor and tapping his forehead with the beater’s bat.

James was waiting for everyone planning to try-out for Chaser to walk out onto the field.

Thud. “Ouch,” Sirius mumbled.

James passed to ball to Julianne who caught it with one hand.

“How’s your hand, Julianne?”

Julianne examined her palm and answered, “It’s fine. How’s the rest of you?”

“I’ll live.”

Thud. “Ouch…”

Julianne bombed the Quaffle at Charles who reacted quickly enough before his head was crushed.

Thud. “Ouch…”

Frank’s twittery, golden snitch zoomed around James’ head. He tried to swat it away, but it just kept zooming around and around and around and around…

“I was so scared when I heard about the fire,” Frank said, “Thank God I’m not in N.E.W.T. Potions.”

Thud. “Ouch…”

James snatched the ball out of thin air and suggested, “Sirius, there are better ways to pass the time that giving yourself a concussion.”

Sirius just looked at James and tapped his head again. Thud. “Ouch…”

“I don’t think he’s completely forgiven himself for your injuries. Finally! They’re coming!” Julianne placed the Quaffle under her arm and sat on the bench that had been propped up in the middle of the field. Frank walked up to James and snapped the Snitch out of his hands and sat down next to Julianne. Charles and Michael Roberts sat next to him. Sirius continued sitting on the floor, tapping his head over and over again. He didn’t take notice of the advancing crowd.

Thud. “Ouch…”

“Sirius,” muttered James, “…Sirius!”

“What? I’m concentrating, James!” Sirius glared up at James and saw the entire team staring at him. “Oh, sorry.” He pushed Julianne and the whole line over to make room for himself.

James surveyed the queue of people. He didn’t catch sight of any red-haired girl in the crowd. He looked behind him at Julianne but she only shrugged.

“I’ll go look in the girl’s locker room, if you’d like.” She got up from the bench and started jogging towards the girl’s locker room. She waved at her three friends in the stands.
~
Lily was lying down on chairs in the locker room, hands folded over her chest and staring at the ceiling. She was looking for pictures in the ceiling. All she found were “J Loves R” on it and “Why am I the only girl on the team?” scratched into the wood.

This was her plan. She was going to camp out in the Gryfindor girls’ locker room for the entire school year. No Slytherin would find her here. No teacher. No James Potter.

“Are you planning to camp out all school year here?” a voice asked. Lily sat up and saw Julianne standing by the door.

“Yes…” Lily answered simply.

“Why?”

“I’m not going to try-out.”

“What? Why not?”

“I just don’t feel like it.”

“Oh, c’mon. Everyone’s wanting you to play!”

“Define ‘everyone.’”

“Maya, Alice, Amy… me.”

“And Potter?”

“Leave him out of this, please.” Julianne wrapped her fingers around Lily’s broomstick and handed it to her. “Don’t take second thoughts now!”

Lily eyed the broomstick and looked into Julianne’s desperate eyes. She looked back up at the ceiling.

“Who’s ‘R’?” she asked.

“Who?”

Lily pointed up at the ceiling. “You wrote ‘J Loves R.’ Is it Remus?”

Julianne’s unbreakable face grinned sheepishly. “Maybe…. Oh, forget it, come on!”

“You’re love is like a turning wheel. It is spinning, spinning around.”

“Shut up! You’re going to be great at Quidditch!”

“Fine. Just don’t start mocking me when I’m in the Hospital Wing!”
~
James was organizing groups for the try-outs when Julianne dragged Lily out onto the field. He was holding the Quaffle and twirling it in the air. He gave Lily a quick smile, which she did not return.

“I’m assuming everyone here knows how to ride a broom,” he continued, “So if you fall off and suffer any injuries, I am not to be blamed for it. I have my own. The same goes to the rest of the team.”

He looked around, seeing any signs of weakness in anyone’s faces. One or two people shuffled nervously. He threw the quaffle at a third year boy.

He had not been expecting that. The quaffle hit his chest and slipped from his late fingertips. It thumped on the floor.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. He picked it up and gave it back to James.

“Don’t be sorry. You have to be ready.” He threw it over his back to Charles, who caught it plainly. Charles chucked the quaffle over the heads of the crowd, to Julianne.

“Enough, James,” Julianne said, holding the red ball, “Just make the teams.”

“Alright.” James studied the crowd. 13 people had come. “Those who are willing to commit their time to Quidditch practices stay. The rest leave now, or forever hold your peace.”
~
Lily was about to leave right then, but Julianne grabbed her arm.

“Stay.”

“Cai, Levine, and Lesnoy make Team 1. Wu, Netrakanti, and Modi are Team 2. Shah, Lessner, and Solidum are Team 3. Patel, Bickerton, and Rubenstein are Team 4. Team 1 plays Team 2 on that side while Team 3 and 4 verse each other on the other side. Charles will monitor 1 and 2 and I will watch 3 and 4.”

Lily looked at Julianne. “Why wasn’t I called?”

Julianne shrugged. “I don’t know. All the teams are even. Ask James.”

Lily looked back at the captain, but he was directing Sirius and Michael to be the beaters for each game. Then he walked over to the other end of field and watched teams 3 and 4 score their first goal by Rubenstein.

Fifteen minutes later, Frank tossed the snitch, lazily into the air and caught it. James blew the whistle, signaling the end of both games. He walked back to the center of the field and stood up in front of Lily.

“Your turn, Evans,” he grinned.

“Against whom, Potter? Everyone else has played!” Lily stood up from the bench, holding the broomstick like a staff. She felt so humiliated. Everyone was formed in a circle around the two of them.

How DARE James try to make a fool of herself!

“I haven’t.”

Lily swallowed, unnecessarily.

“Oi, Prongs, that’s not fair!” Sirius said.

“Yeah! It’s like Peter against You-Know-Who in a duel,” Julianne brought up.

Everyone began to protest, too, but James seemed unaffected by their comments. He was looking at Lily with his eyes as if asking, “Do you dare?”

Lily said, “Fine.” Everyone stopped bickering and mouths dropped.

Sirius threw James’ a broom and he caught it with one hand.

“No regrets?” James asked.

“None whatsoever.” Lily was about to fall to pieces.

*You’re going to make a HUGE fool of yourself* ~I’ll do my best.~ *That won’t help! You’re about to face the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen in front of twenty people!* ~I can take it.~ *You sure about that?* ~Um… no?~ *Exaclty*

James and Lily mounted their brooms and right before Julianne threw the quaffle into the air, Lily had a flashback.
~~
It was Lily’s first flying lesson in first year. She was about to fly for the first time. She had never felt so excited.

Julianne had already known how to fly so she was giving Amy a few last minute tips.

“Remember, stay balanced, unless you want to crack your head open,” Julianne advised, “And go forward so you get somewhere while you’re at it.”

Amy didn’t seem very comforted.

The flying instructor put the whistle to her lips and blew.

Almost immediately, two figures shot right up into the air.

They looked like two ants flying recklessly in the sky when one of them shouted, “Ha ha! You can’t catch me, Black! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”

“I don’t need to catch you! You’re not worth catching!”

Lily rolled her eyes. How immature could Potter and Black get? All the same, she kicked off of the ground and flew a few meters above the ground. Flying was not was as hard as Julianne had made it seem. It was actually fun! She was defying gravity

She sped up a bit. She was about to ascend up to Julianne’s level, but two speeding racers dived down on each side of her. She was so startled that she slipped on her grip and her body slid off. She was left clutching the broomstick with one hand.

“Sorry Evans!” James called out, beaming lively. He laughed out loud again and winked at her.
~~
Lily’s eyes snapped open and she suddenly hated the smirk on Potter’s face. She was determined to wipe it off.
~
James moved his eyes from the Quaffle the Julianne held up and took a glance at Lily’s face.

She was prepared for a fight. It was the same expression she wore whenever he was taunting Snape. She was no longer a little flower anymore.

I’ll go easy on her, he thought.

But when Julianne tossed the ball into the air, James realized the “going easy” was not an option.





~~~~
A/N: I hope you’ll review and tell me where the DJ Sammy lyrics are! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Also, everyone who showed up for the Chaser Try-Outs are named after people whom I am friends with! Heehee...

As soon as the red ball left Julianne’s hand, Lily kicked off of the ground, imagining it to be James. She grabbed the Quaffle and did a loop around him and sped towards the middle goalpost. Before she knew it, James was shoulder leveled with her and reaching out to for the Quaffle. Lily held it out of his reach. James pushed her to the side a bit, trying to make her drop the Quaffle.

“Ha, ha! You can’t catch me, Potter!” She dropped down and zigzagged to the goalposts, James always trailing at least a foot from her broomstick tail.

A few meters away from the goalpost, Lily raised the Quaffle to score. James rose up and grabbed it. Lily tried to tug it away from James, but he never loosened his grip. Lily didn’t look down but she felt everyone’s tension and almost heard the hold his or her breath. She would not let Potter wrench the Quaffle out of her hands. She was so close to showing him that he was not Hogwarts’ “All Star.”

~

James was not about to let Lily beat him. He pulled the Quaffle closer to his chest, dragging Lily along with it. He managed to pull the Quaffle and Lily back to the middle of the field. Their faces were inches away and James dared not to breathe. Lily was glowering into his face.

Her eyes caught something behind him. He quickly shot a glance at where she was looking. Slytherins…. Snape and Bellatrix Black were sitting in the stands, observing Lily and him play.

@#$% them, James thought.

A palm gently, but forcefully, pushed against James’ chest and his was thrown off the Quaffle. James focused his attention on the game, but it was too late. Lily was already spinning off towards the goal, escaping him.

James dove down to the crowd of anxious students beneath him. As he whipped past Sirius, he said, “Slytherins.” He raced after Lily, who was already halfway towards the goalpost. His new model broomstick, Novastar III, was twice as fast as the school’s broomsticks (a.k.a. the one Lily was riding), outdated Stardust 86’s. He was level with Lily again, both their stomach’s pressed down against their broomsticks.

“Had to stop and chat, did you, Potter?” Lily growled.

“Yes,” he admitted, “but we have some unwanted guests.”

“You’re going to let Black tackle the Slytherins?”

“It’s the least I can do for you, my sweet flower.” James weaved his fingers through Lily’s arm and knocked the red ball out of her arms. It rose into the air, the setting sun’s light bouncing off its edges.

*Slow motion*

James pointed his broom in a vertical position and thrust his arms out. Lily gasped and rose her broom so it was level with the Quaffle. Then she stuck out her legs and her foot made contact with the ball.

*Slow motion ends*

The Quaffle shot right through James’ arms and scored through the middle goalpost. A ringing sound echoed throughout the entire Quidditch field, as well as the screams of excitement from the spectators.

James was left staring numbly at where the Quaffle had shot through the ring. How? How did that possibly happen??? He almost let go of the broom and slipped off.

He glumly looked behind him and saw Lily diving towards her thrilled friends. On the opposite side of the field, Sirius was chasing the pair of Slytheirns off the field with his bat and a bludger.

He caught the falling Quaffle with his fingertips and spun it over his head as if nothing historical happened.

~

Euphoria flooded through Lily. She flew straight into Julianne’s arms and they squealed and danced and did all girly things that excited seventh years do when they beat an arrogant Quidditch stars.

“Oh my god, Lily!” Amy screamed. She was jumping up and down, clapping her hands. Alice and Maya ran down from the stands.

“I TOLD you she was going to win, Alice!” Maya laughed, “Next time believe me!” Maya and Alice squirmed through the crowd that had gathered around Lily.

“Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily!” the group of chaser try-outers cheered over and over. Frank Longbottom and Alice were spinning in tick circles, laughing their heads off. But then some common sense knocked into Lily. Where was James?

She bent down and looked through the legs of the crowds and saw four pairs of feet trudging towards the boys’ locker room. Lily wove herself through the crowd. “Excuse me, excuse me.” Once her leg was through the swarm, she scrambled to her feet and ran after the Marauders.

“James! JAMES!” She slowed down and James turned around.

“You, er… you played well,” James said, before Lily could say anything. He gave a feeble smile and they shook hands.

“You did too.” James took his hand back and stuffed it in his pocket.

“I was going easy on you. So… you’re really thinking about joining the team?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it, and Julianne nudged me the rest of they way.”

“You mean that Quidditch isn’t just a sport for big-headed show-offs?”

“Only when you talk about it.” Sirius sniggered and covered his mouth. Lily saw a foot collide to where his legs meet. Sirius groaned and his knees buckled.

“Ouch, Prongs! That hurt!”

“Accident,” James replied without a care in the world. Sirius mumbled something about James being a bad friend and started inching towards the locker room on his knees.

“After all I’ve done for you, James!” Sirius cried, “This is how you repay me? I want children! O Lord, have mercy on me!” He gave a pretend sob and continued to drag himself to the boys’ locker room. “O.K. 1… 2… 3. Good I still have all of them.”

James still blocked Sirius’ pleas. “So, you want to talk about the plans for Hogwarts tonight during patrols?”

“I showed you them during Potions.”

“The parchment burned to ashes.”

“Oh, yeah…” Lily ran her finger through her hair. “So we have to rewrite them. That will take a while.”

“So? Tomorrow is Saturday. No lessons!”

“I know my days of the week, Potter.” James just tilted his head and swung his broom over his shoulder.

“You know, maybe we could meet at Hogsmeade and discuss-”

“NO! For the… what number was that, Sirius?!?”

“3,001 1/2 times, I think. I can’t concentrate at a time of crisis like this!”

~

James held out his hands and looked to the Heavens.

“I was just asking!” he cried. “Geez…”

“Well, you been ‘just asking’ for the past 6 years and it’s sparking my nerves!”

“I’m waiting for the correct answer.”

“The only answer I know for that question is ‘no.'” Lily turned on her heel and reminded, “9:00 by the Unicorn Fountain. This is just to redo the Hogwarts plan. Don’t be late, or I will leave at 9:01 flat.”

It was raining hard at 8:55. Lily stood underneath a bare tree in one of the school’s courtyards, jean coat over her head.

“How can a perfect sunset turn into a storm in half an hour?” Lily grunted to herself. “Oh, yes, Maya told me to take a raincoat, but did I listen? Noooooo!!!! I have to listen to Seers more often!”

She ran to the next tree. All the little raindrops hanging onto the loose leaves trickled onto her face and onto her schoolbag.

She jumped over a puddle, but accidentally landed in a deeper one. She bit the corner of her lip and stood in the puddle while her sneakers became more and more soaked with water.

“Damn! Is James Potter really worth going through all this trouble?” She stepped out of the puddle and leaned her right foot against the courtyard wall. With one tap of her wand, she transformed her soaked sneakers into waterproof combat boots.

“There,” she sighed, happily even though her hair was clogged with water and her shirt was soaked. “I’ve always wanted a pair of those.” She tightened the shoelaces and checked her watch again.

8:57 PM.

She ran around the corner, just as an entire cascade of water slid off the ceiling of a wall.

“Oh my gosh! I do NOT believe this!” She tapped her head and her entire body became waterproof. “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

She walked through a stone arch, cautiously in case more water decided to annoy her.

As she stepped into the courtyard with the unicorn fountain, she instantly regretted her decision of meeting place.

The unicorn fountain was in the middle of a barren stone patio, overlooking the lake. The fountain was almost as big as two of the horseless carriages lined up together. In the middle was a little island with a stone figure of an unicorn rearing, water shooting out of its horn.

It would have been a sweeter place to be, if it weren’t raining and she wasn’t going to meet Potter here.

She picked up her bag and protected it from the rain.

Raindrops splattered in puddles all around her. She saw her face in every single one of them, but no Potter.

Maybe he’s forgotten already, she thought.

She looked back at her watch.

8:59 PM… 9:00 PM.

“He has fifteen seconds,” she whispered to herself, “… Ten… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

She looked up from her watch and scanned the scenery. No sign of the Head Boy.

She sighed and was about to return to the Gryffindor Common Room, disgruntled and indignant, when she bumped into the person standing behind her.
~
“You really though I wouldn’t be here, Evans?” James asked a startled Lily Evans.

God, she looks really pretty, he sighed.

“How long,” she demanded, “have you been standing there?”

“For fifteen seconds,” James guessed, “More or less.”

Lily nodded and folded her arms. “You’re stalking me now?” she asked.

“No,” he said, “You invited me here.”

“I had to!”

“It was you’re own free will.”

“Whatever,” Lily scoffed, “I don’t like you.” She walked past him and into the covered walkway, where it was dry. James followed her.

“O.K. Be like that,” she continued, “But let’s just get to work on the ideas.”

She sat down on the floor and spread some pieces of parchment out on the stone floor. James sat down, realizing he hadn’t brought a quill or an inkbottle either.

He gritted his teeth, foolishly, watching Lily take out her own supplies.

“You didn’t bring anything?” Lily noticed.

“I did!” With one whip of his wand, a small table, several quills accompanied by ink appeared out of nowhere. “Lumos,” he finished, and his wand illuminated the writing area.

Lily picked up the parchment and piled them on the desk. “Thank you,” she said as indifferently as she could try to do.
~
Half an hour passed, and Lily was scribbling down on her last piece of parchment decorations for the End-Of-The-Year Feast.

“What should the graduates wear?” she asked James, who was sitting opposite of her, drawing the Great Hall plans. She was surprised that he was actually putting his mind to good use and not pelting her with plaguing questions of visits to the next Hogsmeade trip.

“Definitely not black,” he dissuaded, “I’m getting pretty tired of it. Seven years is enough. I don’t want to say good-bye to the best place in the world while wearing that depressing color.”

“Then what?”

“Uh… how about they wear a colored cloak that represents their house colors? And they can have a brooch with their house animal on it. Underneath can be the formal dress or suit of their choice.”

“That sounds alright. Just as long as you don’t bewitch the brooches to make them bite their wearers, or something else that germinates in your mind.” Lily made a small note in the corner of her parchment.

She tied all the papers together and put them in her bag. “I’m done. You?”

“I’ve been done.”

“Then what have you been drawing?”

James folded up his papers and pocketed them. “Nothing important.”

“Don’t show me a hideous portrait of myself again.”

“Oh, come one. It’s not THAT bad! And the other one wasn’t ugly!” James tried to defend his last sketch of Lily holding his hand by the lake. He tapped the desk with his wand and it disappeared, along with the quills and inkbottles.

“It was a revolting stick figure!”

“You’re lucky I didn’t draw you in greater detail.” James grinned mischievously.

“You little-!!!” Lily gave James a playful push, and started walking back to the Gryffindor Tower.

They were halfway finished with their walk Lily’s mind was swirling with horrible images of James coming out of the flaming dungeons.

“About the fire, are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, Madame Curtis healed all my burns… but that bloody git, Snape.” He clenched his teeth together.

“Oh.” Lily didn’t say anything to counter James’ anger. She was beginning to hate Snape just as must.

Everyday, her stomach became even more and more upset. Her parents were in danger by the passing hour. She desperately wanted to tell them and Dumbledore.

“Potter?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Can I borrow Godric?”

“Sure, why?”

“I can’t use my owl.”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t.”

~

Back in the common room, James was just about to say good night to Lily, when Sirius, Remus, and Peter raced down the boy’s dormitory stairs.

“James! James! You’ve been followed!” Sirius unfolded the Marauder’s Map and tapped it with his wand, muttering “I solemnly swear I am up to no good” so Lily wouldn’t hear. The map of the school blossomed on the parchment and Remus jabbed his finger at a speeding dot racing through the corridors, labeled “Regulus Black.”

“My bloody brother was following you guys the entire time!” Sirius moaned.

“Did you see him?” Peter questioned.

“Please tell me he didn’t get away!” Remus peeked behind him at Lily, who was as pale as the parchment.

“A… a Slytherin followed me?” she asked. She was breathing unusually quickly. “How close was it?”

“Pretty close,” Peter said, “If you had turned around, you might have seen him.”

“James, can I use your owl now?”

“He’s in the owlery right now. I could go down and deliver the letter for you.”

“Without being seen?”

“I have my ways of not being caught.”

Lily nodded and disappeared into her room. A few minutes later she returned with a letter. She whispered a spell and the letter became tightly sealed. Before handing it to James, she said dangerously, “Do not dare open it.”

James nodded, took the Marauder’s Map, and walked out of the potrait hole.

A few hallways from the owlery, he looked around and opened the letter and read what Lily was so worried about.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Remember the letter I wrote to you saying that I was having a great time at Hogwarts? I lied. Things are not going well. There is a Dark Lord killing wizards and muggles, and he has some supporters here at Hogwarts.

One night, I was doing patrols when I stumbled across their secret. Please don’t be alarmed. I’m unharmed and in good condition. It’s just you that are in danger. The supporters of the Dark Lord, or “Death Eaters” as their appropriate name, have proposed to me an inescapable deal. If I revealed their identities, they vowed they would kill you both. For the past days, I did not want to risk that. But now it seems that I have no choice.

Please, I am begging you! Please flee. You are not safe where you are. Go to my friend, Julianne’s, house. I gave you all my friend’s addresses before I went back to school. Show tyem the letter and it will explain everything,

Love,
Lily Evans

His mouth dropped open. Death Eaters at Hogwarts? Right under Dumbeldore's nose?

Who?

Names raced through his head as he called Godric down from his perch.

Malfoy... Bellatrix Black... Snape.

James snarled with hatred. Godric, sensing his master's anger, picked the letter out of his hands and flew off into the night.

As he sped back to the Gryffindor Common Room, the shadows and painting of the school no longer seemed friendly and welcome. They seemed to reach out for him, to tear him apart.

He checked the map again and saw Regulus Black standing by Severus Snape.

James yelled as loudly as he could, arousing several portraits from their sleep.

He was furious beyond insanity. How DARE Snape bribe Lily! And even Sirius knew about it. His best friend!

He walked up the staircase that had been recently crumbled. He pointed his wand at one step and growled a curse that he had never used. The step glowed for a moment, but resumed to its original stone color.

“This is for those bloody Slytheirns, may all their feet fall through that step.”

James jumped over it, because if he stepped on it, his foot would fall through.

“It’s the least I can do.”

---

AN: This was the birth of the infamous "trick step" that Neville Longbottom's inept foot always forgets to skip. Anyway, I hoped you liked it! Read and Review, or I will punish you all with my awsome potato powers! Fear me!

In case all of you are tired of waiting for me to update, I do have some poetry, too! Please read and review my poems, too!

Lily walked towards Care of Magical Creatures, as depressed as she usually had been for the past week. Sirius and Lupin walked on either side of her a few steps up. Behind her, James and Peter followed. Lily gritted her teeth again, remembering that James had stole a peek at her letter, her private letter. She would never forgive him for that.

She shot a dangerous look at James. But he didn’t see. He was staring at the ground, amazingly fascinated by his untied shoelace.

Ever since James revealed to Peter and Remus (to Lily’s surprise, Sirius didn’t seemed as shocked as the others) that there were Death Eaters at Hogwarts, they were her guardians. At least one of them stood outside the girl’s bathroom doors when she went inside. They sat around her while she was eating. She was never alone. It was peevish, but comforting. At least she was protected.

Since the Marauders had discovered her secret, Lily had to confront her friends about it, too. Amy had nightmares that night, and Maya carried her miniature crystal ball wherever she went. Julianne just held her new boyfriend’s hand, tightly. Remus comforted her as best he could.

But she would still never forgive that bigheaded jerk.

Snape passed by and James lifted his head. The other Marauder’s noticed him to. James whipped out his wand and sent a small, red spark chasing after him. It snapped Snape’s ear and he let out a sharp holler. He swatted at the red spark, brutally.

The spark flew away, but u-turned back. It grabbed a bunch of Snape’s greasy black hair and tugged forcefully on it (yes, this is a red spark). Snape fell down and the spark grabbed one of his dirty shoes and pulled it up towards the ceiling. Snape was lifted off the ground, feet up.

Snape held his robes up, trying to cover his graying underpants. All his parchments papers, quills, and inkbottles cascaded from his pockets. The students eagerly stopped in their footsteps to see a nasty Slytherin get taunted.

“James! Stop it!” Lily ordered. “You’re Head Boy! You should be able to control yourself!” But her voice caught in her throat when she saw an envelope slip out of Snape’s pocket.

She bent down and picked it up. Her blood ran cold and her throat closed when she saw the address. It was labeled to her parents, in her own handwriting. The envelope had been ripped open, and the letter read.

Lily looked back up at Snape. She tried to say something, but failed to. She only managed to shake her head.

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted, you mudblood,” Snape snarled.

James jerked his wand and Snape went flying across the hall. He smashed into the wall and slid to the ground. The red spark gave one, final electric shock to his forehead before exploding itself with a small “squeak.”

Sirius took out his and pointed it at his enemy’s forehead.

“You can go on to class, guys,” he said. “It’s only takes half a monkey to flip this slimeball over.”

James took Lily’s arm and guided her up the stairs.

“Let go of me, Potter!” Lily demanded. She shoved his hand off of her arm. “You think you’re helping but your just making my problem a heck of a lot worse!”

“You think I’m trying to help while not sacrificing anything?” James asked her.

“What do you have to lose?” Lily shouted. “Your life is a wonderland, isn’t it? You have a marvelous time pulling immature pranks on innocent people and you mess up your future with high hopes that it’ll all turn well. Well, I’ll tell you this, Potter: Playing the role of Head Boy is the only lucky toss of a coin you’ll ever get!”

James glanced again at the floor. Lily scoffed heartlessly and stomped through the main doors and out to the outdoor classroom.

He closely stalked her and added quietly, “Fine, I’m a big headed jerk. But, who cares? No one really cares about my head or my attitude. Except for a select few Slytherins… and you.”

Lily’s hair shook and she sped up. So did James, but he always remained half a step behind her.

“And none of your insults hurt me. After all, I’m not human to you. I have no parents who aren't in danger either.”

Lily’s pace weakened and she stopped so abruptly, that James’ nose almost bumped into her head.

She whipped around and dropped her bag. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I’ve been so preoccupied with my own parents that I haven’t really cared about anything else.” She gave him a quick, reassuring hug and picked her bag back up. “Thanks for reading the letter and for being such a butthead about it. I would have never locked it all inside.”

She brought the letter out form her pocket and slipped it into his hands. “Hold on to it. It’s safer with you than me.”

She hurriedly walked down the small slope and disappeared inside the Care of Magical Creatures classroom and left James there, smiling.

Julianne, Amy, Maya, and Alice rushed past James and met up with Lily. James seated himself on the dirt and rested his head on the ground.

He was happy. Several passerbies looked down on James. It’s wasn’t every day that you saw someone lying on their back on the mud and dirt and worms and grass and dead ants and where other people’s shoes have been.

Three familiar heads peered over James.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked.

“I don’t suck, do I?” was James irrelevant response.

“No…?”Sirius replied. “Are you O.K.? You look much happier than usual.”

“It’s actually quite scary from this position,” Remus added. “Look at him, he’s smiling like a maniac. Stop it, James, you’re scaring little Peter over here.”

“He looks just like his did in third year,” Sirius recalled, “when we blew up the boys bathroom. Doesn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah, and Snape happen to be in it?”

“Yup, that was fun.”

“We blew up the bathroom?” Peter scratched his head.

“Don’t ruin my mood, Wormtail.” James got up and wiped the mud and dirt and worms and grass and dead ants off his back and stared dreamily at his next class, hardly waiting to sit across from her.

---

Author's Note: Finally! I haven't updated in ages!!! I'm really sorry about not sending in chapters sooner, but I just took the CTP4s (I'm gonna fail) and my mom forced me to study study study study study. It's all over now, so I'M FREE!!!

---

Would all you respected reader/reviewers please pay tribute for all the innocent and dead ants by spending 10 seconds of your lives by thinking about the ants. Please leave reviews with you're best wishes and hopes for the future generation of ants. R.I.P. ANTS.

Professor Kettleburn rapped his stubby horsewhip on the board sharply. Lily winced. She hated that whip. He always carried it around with him and slapped it, without warning, on some various surface. That “surface” could be a piece of wood, the board, or even someone’s wandering hand. Once, that whip had been long and quick. But, since an angry grindylow snapped most of it off, it was more of a horsewhip.

“Silence!” he barked. All the jabbering students shut their mouths and looked up at their teacher on his platform. “Miss Alice! Please stop talking and pay attention!”

Alice stopped whispering to Amy out of the corner of her mouth about an anonymous love note sent to her during breakfast. Her cheeks were tainted pink and she folded her arms behind her back.

“Now…” Professor Kettleburn’s dark blue eyes scanned the room for any remaining blabbermouths. Satisfied, he climbed down his small flight of stairs and paraded through the clusters of students. They made a respectable walkway for him.

“Now, my little N.E.W.T. class, we will be handling a very ancient creature. But, beware, for Newt Scamander, the author of ‘Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find them,’ has published a piece about this animal with a total of four X’s.” A gang of boys in the back perked up their heads.

“Now, who can inform me of the meaning of four X’s.” He waved his short whip in the air and spun around. “No one? Yes, I know you know, Miss Evans. Let someone else have a turn this time.”

Lily slowly brought down her raised hand. She saw that either no one had read Newt Salamander’s novel or just did not bother answering.

Prof. Kettleburn pointed his whip at someone towards the door. “Yes, Mr. Potter.”

Lily blinked, numbly. She had not seen James’ slightly raised hand in the back. James Potter was actually going to remark something that did not include the latest Zonko product or when the next Quidditch game was?

~

“Professor, the classifications for perceived dangerousness of an animal was founded by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Beasts. They consist of five categories. One X signifies that the animal is boring and dull. Two X’s signify that the animal is harmless and may be domesticated. Three X’s mean that the animal should be around a competent wizard. Four X’s represent that the animal is dangerous and a skilled wizard may handle it. Finally, five X’s warn that the beast is a known wizard killer and is impossible to train or domesticate.”

The whole room was silent. But that didn’t dampen James’ pride. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Lily staring at him. No, he admitted to himself, she hadn’t been expecting it.

Professor Kettleburn was the first to speak. “Well… I believe Mr. Potter here has deprived this class of their homework tonight.” Cheers came from everyone’s mouths and Peter hugged Sirius out of pure joy.

“Uh… Peter… you can get off now.” Sirius untangled Peter’s arms from his and pushed him away.

“And…” He waited for silence. “Twenty points to Gryffindor.” Louder cheers poured out of the Gryffindors’ mouth. The Hufflepuffs clapped politely.

“Alright, settle down class, settle down. We have to get to work. Now, I was talking about our latest creature we’re going to be studying. With four X’s, it originated in Greece, and its body is mixed between different species.” He pulled out his wand from an inside pocket of his leather cloak and tapped it in the air. A cage appeared out of nowhere. Inside was the most magnificent creature James had ever seen.

It was a griffin. Its hind lion legs scratched the metal cage floor. Its scarlet, eagle wings flapped furiously in its prison. Its beak tugged on the bars, screeching and entreating for freedom.

Students closest to the cage backed away, but James took a few steps forward. But, he was not the only one to do so. Several daring Hufflepuffs and a couple of Gryffindors yearned for a closer look.

“This, class, is a griffin,” Professor Kettleburn announced. “They are very fickle creatures. Now, just for precaution, do any of you know what ‘fickle’ means. Yes, Mr. Lupin?”

While Remus was giving the definition of fickle, James continued to wander forward. The griffin’s feathers were smooth and elegant. Its claws were unlike any James’ eyes had seen. Its brown eyes were captivating and mysterious, and they once again stared into James’.

Free me, the eye seemed to beg.

“Yes, Mr. Lupin is absolutely correct. Griffins are very unpredictable creatures, which is why I have fastened a magical collar around this throat. It allows it to be its natural self, except for the instinct, that is to maul intruders. See?”

James looked through the griffin’s feathery neck and was surprised to see a plain, old, leather collar.

~

The griffin looked at Lily straight in the eye. It let out another shriek and flapped its wing, fruitlessly. Muscles tingled down her neck and spine.

“Now, who’d like to get a closer look?” Professor Kettleburn announced, happily. Lily held her hands behind her back, struggling not to shoot her eager hand up in the air.

“No one?” Professor Kettleburn began to stroll around the room, inspecting each student’s faces. “Then, I’ll just have to hand pick some unlucky individuals.”

Several cowardly students hid behind others. Professor Kettleburn frowned at them.

“Why not our head students? Mr. Potter? Miss Evans? Why don’t you two step forward?”

The only “forward” was towards the griffin cage. Amy gave Lily and quick shove. Lily met up with James on the platform next to the caged animal.

~

“Have you ever been in contact with griffins before?” James asked her. He wanted to know if she was afraid. But she didn't seem afraid. In fact, she looked more relax than he felt.

“I’ve met more dangerous creatures than this one.”

“Everyone please step back…” Professor Kettleburn motioned everyone to back away. A tall fence erupted from the ground, circling Lily, James, and the imprisoned griffin.

“Try me,” James answered. “I know you’ve had… brief connections with a dementor, but other than that your life seemed very simple.”

“Well,” she answered, “There’s always Malfoy. He gets on my nerves. Professor Madres-”

“You mean you hate all Slytherins?”

“I don’t have a reason to hate all the Slytherins, and Slytherins aren’t the only ones I should he careful of.” She looked at him in the eye when she said the finals words.

---

A/N: Sorry about the delays! This chapter was rejected due to some speeding and wandering ideas of mine. Of course, the speeding ideas got a ticket and the wandering ones were told to go home. I tried to patch it up best I could and I hope it gets through!!!

SpRiNg Is cOmInG!!!!!!

“Potter! Evans! Pay attention or you’ll go to the Hospital Wing without any arms!”

“I wonder what that feels like…” James said, quietly under his breath. Lily hiccupped.

“Now, you must know that a griffin is very powerful! Even with the collar, it might do some very unexpected things. Please have your wands out.”

Butterflies in Lily’s stomach started fluttering about. She had thought she was safe. She had believed that there was a hundred percent chance of her being all right.

She was wrong.

There was a fifty-fifty chance that she would not be all right.

“Now, the spells you must keep in mind are ‘stupefy’ and any other pausing or freezing spells.”

Sirius was pressed up against the bars shouting, “It’s O.K., James! If you die, I won’t let Snape have your stuff!”

“He’s not exactly the most comforting guy, is he?” Lily asked James, after she looked away from Sirius. She pulled out her wand and folded her arms to keep herself from falling apart.

~

“No… Remus is most helpful during these situations, but he’s with Julianne.” James twirled his wand and searched for Remus in the crowd.

“And to think I’m stuck here with you…”

James lost interest in his procure for Remus. “Oh, come on. I’m not that big of a loser, am I?

“You think of yourself too often as a winner.”

“Oh… and it took you six years to say those words of advice?”

“They just popped into my head now.”

“But I’m still a bullying toerag, right?”

“You always will be, James,” Lily sighed, “You always will be.”

“O.K. I’m releasing the griffin now! Be cautious, because this is for a grade!” Professor Kettleburn flicked his scratched wand in the air, and the cage fell apart.

The griffin shrieked and stretched. Then, its eyes rested on James and Lily. It squawked and began prowling in their direction.

“Wands at the ready,” Professor Kettleburn ordered. James pointed his wand at the griffin’s forehead. But, without warning, the griffin leaped in the air and jumped on James, pinning him into the ground with its giant talons.

James’ wand went flying out of his hand and under the griffin’s foot.

Lily screamed, but tried to push the griffin off him. The griffin lifted its hind leg and kicked Lily in her stomach. Lily’s knees buckled and she looked as if she were going to throw up.

James used his free arms to try and push the griffin off him. An electric spark shot out of the griffin’s collar, and the griffin cried in pain. It jumped off James, leaving a soon-to-show bruise on James’ other shoulder. It reared and tried to rip the collar off.

James knelt over Lily and asked, “Are you alright?” She flicked his hand off her shoulder and answered, “I’m fine. I don’t know why you’re the one asking.”

“Oh my god, look out!” cried a hysterical Hufflepuff girl. She and her frightened friends started screaming their heads off and waving their arms in the air.

Both Lily and James looked just in time to disconnect. The rampaging griffin stumbled past them and rammed headfirst into the bars. It screeched and started hurtling towards Lily.

James grabbed hold of the animal’s tail and it dragged him across the straw. Even with the extra weight, the griffin continued charging towards Lily.

Professor Kettleburn leaped into the arena and sprung a spell at the griffin. The griffin leapt to the side and the spell hit James’s hand, paralyzing it.

The griffin reared and it’s claws backed dangerously close to James’s face.

~

Lily pulled out her wand and reins flew out and harnessed itself on the griffin. It screeched and bolted for Lily.

No spells were wandering in her mind in her state of panic, and Professor Kettleburn was too far away to help. She backed away.

Her ears overheard James growling, “Oh no you don’t, you greedy animal. I saw her first!” Then, James jumped onto the griffin’s back and grabbed the reins. He swerved the griffin in to Lily’s right. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up behind him. The charging animal cawed angrily and ran at Professor Kettleburn. He squeaked and jumped back through the wired fence door and into the crowd.

Lily held in tight to James because it was the only thing secure, but he was about to fall off the griffin himself.

The griffin spread his wings and bucked with such force that the riders were thrown to opposite sides of the room.

Lily groaned as she slammed into a wall, practically headfirst.

Pardon my rowdy behavior, came a deep voice. Lily tried to open her eyes, but her head hurt too much.

Who’s there? she replied.

We are not too different, you and I.

Who are you?

Isn’t it obvious? We both wish to be free, but in different ways. You secretly wish for no worries. I wish to be free to fly amongst the ones who I was kidnapped from.

Lily grabbed the wall for support. The griffin’s voice was inside her head!

Ah yes, I am the griffin. But it does, and should, not matter. We both have courage that we demonstrated today, as well as you brave, little male-friend over there. I heard his name was James. Am I correct?

Yes.

Continuing, on your bravery, I sense that there is something deadly and deep troubling you.

Well, I-

I do not I have time to listen to long-winded explanations, Miss Evans. You are a Gryffindor! Courage, bravery! Fight for those you hold dear! Do not beg the snakes for mercy. Lions are too noble for kneel to slithering creatures. Do you hear me?

Yes.

Do you understand me?

Yes.

Will you follow your heart or listen to me?

She paused, trying to conjure an intelligent answer. Does it make a difference? We are not so different, you and I. Aren’t we?

Though she could not see it, she was aware of the griffin’s smile.

Just a note, Lily… You’ve been giving second chances to the wrong people.

~

James was thrown across the room and his side made fierce contact with the wired fence.

He felt hands pull at him and making sure he was all right.

“James! Say something!”

“You ‘kay, Potter?”

“Oh my god, it’s looking at him!”

A soothe, low voice weaved into his head. He made fragile attempts to push the strange intruder back, but it came repelling back with even more force.

Dizzy and confused, James cautiously let the voice in.

Hello, Mr. Potter.

Who the hell is this?

Please excuse me, for I believe I chucked you and Miss Lily off my back too suddenly.

Oh my god! Get out of my head!

Do not feel alarmed! I am on the other side of the room, if that make you feel any better.

If you rest one hair on Lily, I’ll pull your stupid lion tail so hard, your ancestors will feel it!

The voice chuckled delightfully.

No offense taken, youngling. All my hatchlings were like you. Strong, brave, and willing to prove themselves to anyone. Often they were too daring and courageous.

Are you trying to insinuate me something here?

Perhaps you too are trying too hard to get what you want.

Er… and what do I want? I’m happy the way I am.

The mental figure of him crossed his arms crossly. The griffin smiled.

Isn’t it obvious? Show your true colors and you will get you target.

I show all my colors, whatever that means. Lily called me a peacock once in my 4th year. And what target?

Yes. You’re goal. And a wonderful goal it is. Perhaps that has been the one, true mature characteristics that has shone through you all these years. Perhaps it is proof that there is a man in you.

What do you mean my “goal”? I want to be an Auror so… HEY! I AM A MAN!

James, listen to me: This is you last year!

… Yes… I know that… But my last year for what?

The griffin sighed. That trail of thought will get you nowhere. You’re not being straightforward with me. Be completely straightforward with her.

James was about to demand that the griffin stay out of his personal thoughts when Professor Kettleburn entered the area. With one swift brandish of his wand, the griffin disappeared and a screech was heard in another room.

Sirius was the first one to bend over James. Before long, half the class surrounded James, boys and girls.

“That was awesome, man!” a hufflepuff boy said.

“Oh my god, James,” another hufflepuff girl squealed, “that was so brave!” The girls started tugging on his shirt, unnecessarily.

“You have to go to the hospital wing!”

“Oh! I’ll take him there!”

“No! I will!”

“Ha! You wish!”

James shook the hands off him. Sirius made a wall between the girls and James. “Ladies, ladies, break it up!” He was using his oh-dear-I-seem-to-be-capturing-more-hearts-by-the-second voice on the girls. “Poor Jamesies is currently not up for grabs. He needs some recovery time.”

The girls sighed and groaned. “But, I haven’t yet got a date for the next Honeydukes visit.” The girls perked up their heads, curiously.

“Turns out Miss Vera Elizabeth Claythorne and I weren’t meant to be,” Sirius sighed. He bowed his head in sarcastic sorrow. There was a dramatic silence of shock for the girls.

Then they all started jabbering to Sirius all at once. James rolled his eyes. They were so gullible.

He had never heard of a girl named Vera Elizabeth Claythorne in Hogwarts before, but he was quite sure Sirius got that name from a murder novel* Remus kept on talking about.

“I will announce my decision at the beginning of dinner tonight. You have an entire day to get my attention!”

~

Julianne and Alice held Lily’s arms while Lily tried to support herself.

“Bloody hell, that was horrible!” Lily gasped when she had managed her footing.

“I know! It was totally out of order for Professor Kettleburn to bring that creature in on the first weeks of school!” Amy crossed her arms and shook her head, agreeing with her own statement.

“But those talons were wicked cool!” Frank Longbottom exclaimed. “Did you see the way they lashed out? Wow, Lils, I’m surprised your not sent to the hospital in a teacup.”

“Don’t call me Lils.”

“You need to be sent to the Hospital Wing, man,” Julianne laughed. She punched Frank arm playfully.

“I will if you keep on punching me like that!”

“But it’s fun! Especially when you squeal! Ha, that’s funny.” Julianne jabbed her finger into Frank’s back. Frank gave a fake groan and fell to the ground, writhing in obviously pretend pain.

“Come on, help me, Alice!”

Alice blushed and shook her head imploringly. “Oh, no. I’d rather not. He might get hurt.” Her head was a light pink and was turning pinker as she was blushing and trying to suppress it all at once.

Julianne sighed. “Fine… Then you’d better not loose next week’s match against Ravenclaw. We need to eat Diggory’s head to a pulp.”

Amy stopped twirling her hair, as if realizing something. “Oh, did you hear? He’s dating Teresa McGarland now.”

“Glad to get him off my back,” Lily replied.

The corner of Amy’s mouth twitched.

“Oh, you like him, do you?” Maya asked, raised eyebrows.

“Who, Amos? No.”

“Diggory sucks,” Frank said in a dangerously low voice, as if he was an evil lord. The group cracked up.

The bell rang and Professor Kettleburn shouted as the class departed, “Fifty points to Gryffindor!”

---

A/N: Begging your pardon. I wish to be excused. My computer is very old and the Internet hasn’t been functioning properly.

*If you can tell what mystery novel I’m describing, I’ll mention your name in the preview of the next chapter.

EDIT: AHA! I found the problem with the italicizes! It look me two weeks to find out where the missing / was... but I got it!!!

“Vera Elizabeth Claythorne” is from the mystery and murder novel, by Agathe Christie. It has several titles, ranging from “10 Little Indians” to “And Then There were None.” Congratulations to:

-lady_potter7447
-mlstr
-nighteyes
-HermioneRules
-ProngsPrincessLexi
-MexiChick
-miss_marjorie_back
-ldsldybg
-HpRoCks2much
-mefi
-alohomora7
-lilythemarauder
-ViernaAurora
-loonyluna63
and
-Limey

for coming up with the answer! Give yourselves a pat on the back!

---

“Ew, this conversation is turning into a girly one too quickly for me. I’ll go somewhere where real men bet on the Quidditch World Cup or something.” Frank was sitting next to Alice, at the edge of the group of girls at the Great Hall dinner tables. Amy and Julianne were bickering over how a local quidditch team should have their color pink. Maya was recording them with her wand, using a new spell. She seemed bored, running her hand though her black hair and observing the ceiling.

Frank turned, but he quickly changed his mind. “Never mind. Here they come anyway.”

Lily looked down to the entrance of the main hallway. “Joy,” Lily mumbled.

“Oh, yeah, Sirius is going to announce his ‘chosen one.’ Apparently, he wants a girlfriend for the Hogsmeade visit. He doesn’t want to end up empty-handed again. I just hope he doesn’t choose me.”

The group’s laughter stopped when five heads turned and saw almost half the school heading in their direction. They were lead by the Marauders, as usual. Actually, Sirius was leading the Marauders and the girls. The boys didn’t want to be alone, so they followed as well. Lily guessed that they wanted to be sure their girlfriends weren’t picked.

“What would they want from us?” Lily asked.

“Oh my god! It is me!” Frank made a show of trying to hide under the table.

“Get up, Frank,” Alice giggled, tugging at his shoulder.

Sirius strolled boldly into the small group and linked arms with Amy. He pushed Julianne off to the side and made room for himself. He gave her his most charming grin and recited, “Amy Wellings, the most beautiful girl in all of Hogwarts, will you go to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday? It will be my treat.”

Several different expressions filled the hall at once. Amy’s face was so astonished and delightful that Lily could have sworn she had inherited all the gold in Gringotts. Lily, Maya, Alice, and Julianne were taken by surprise. It was not everyday that one of the most popular guys in school, Sirius Black for example, asked a girl, specifically one of Lily’s friends, out to Hogsmeade. The Marauders flung out their arms as if to say, “The Marauder Drama continues!” Then James sat next to Lily and rested his chin on the table. The high-hoped girls were prepared to burst into tears because Sirius didn’t select them. They guys were hollering at Sirius because Amy was now taken, which completely bummed them out.

Amy was so shocked that all she could stutter after several long seconds was, “O-o-okay.”

“‘Kay. How ‘bout Honeydukes? There’s going to be a Limited Edition Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Bean package coming out, and we can share it.” Sirius continued overwhelming his new girlfriend, with his prearranged plans. Amy didn’t seem to be paying attention. She was just staring at her new partner.

Remus sat next to Julianne, his new spot, and said, “Want to come to Honeydukes with me this weekend?”

“Yes.” Julianne gave Remus a peck on the cheek. Maya twirled her wand.

“Aw, adorable…” she exclaimed.

~

James bit his lip. The advice of the griffin echoed through his head.

Show your true colors and you will get you target… This is you last year!

He turned to his neighbor, “Say, Lily, would you-”

“No,” she said, flat out. Several boys laughed but shut up when James scanned the crowd.

James decided that her rejection wouldn’t stop him. “Would you like to discuss school projects over butterbeer this weekend?”

“We can do it over at the library.”

“But-”

“No.”

James showed signs of hopelessness. But that’s not what he felt. He never had given up. Never have and never will. “Fine. Forget I said that.” Lily had declined his invitations ever since first year. What would make this any different?

He would ask her again later.

“Ah… spurs of the moment, not?” Frank rubbed his hands together. “Well, then… Miss Alice… you look more beautiful than you did five seconds ago.”

“Uh…”

“Will you join me at the Three Broomsticks?”

Alice looked happier than she had ever before. She hugged Frank as if he were all that existed.

“Longbottom… you try too hard.” Sirius nodded his head, agreeing with himself, and sipped some pumpkin juice.

Peter’s nose twitched and his eyes fell on Maya. Maya held up her hand on this one. “No thanks, Peter. I’m fine.”

“Sirius should write a book,” Lily said to James. James assumed she was addressing him because he was the only one who was listening now. Everyone else was focused on Amy and Sirius.

“He doesn’t have enough attention span… or parchment. But, he’s so full of himself. He was going to write an essay about how he could make it do all sorts of tricks and stuff, but McGonagall wouldn’t accept it.”

“Honestly?” Lily took a sip of water. “I don’t think you should write a book either.”

“I know! My handwriting’s horrible!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

To make a better presentation of himself, James took his chin off the table and sat up straight. But that didn’t draw much attention from Lily. Instead, the rest of the girls realized that James was still single.

Taylor Hexington, whom had hooked up and broken up with seven boys so far into the school year (Sirius’s school record, with girls, was three on the first day, and 28 by the end of the first two weeks), seated herself next to James. His expression turned grim. She had tried to seduce him in their 4th year, at the Halloween Dance behind the pile of pumpkins, knowing fully well that he had no interest in her.

“Hey James,” she composed smoothly.

James, as if noticing she was just there, nodded and replied lowly, “Hullo.”

“Sirius has a magical charm around the girls, doesn’t he?”

“I suppose so.”

“This is his first date this year? Or does Claythorne count at a ‘date?’”

“Go ask him.”

Taylor giggled. How James hated that laugh. He was frustrated with hearing it’s mixed chords everyday, that he actually dreaded it. “No, it’s alright. I’ll stay here and keep you company.”

“Er…” James thought, Oh, sh-

“Hey, girls!” Taylor motioned to her standing friends. “I got us a seat!”

All the girls scrambled to get the seat closest to Taylor and James. Lily scowled at the noisy girls joining their table, uninvited. They weren’t even in Gryffindor.

“So, James,” Taylor continued. “I am a huge, huge, huge fan of Quidditch. You know, the, uh… er…” She snapped her fingers as though trying to remember. “The Quidditch World Cup! My dad got them last week. Top box! Would it appeal to you?”

“No, thanks.”

“Why not?”

“Oh, wait, that depends. Who’s playing?”

“Er, I don’t know. My father didn’t tell me. His handwriting’s really messy, so yeah. Well, I lost my transfiguration essay in my dormitory, so I was wondering if you could help me find it by tomorrow.”

“No-” James began, but he had not been watching Lily closely enough. She was beyond annoyed by Taylor Hexington. She could not contain it anymore.

~

“You shouldn’t even be here-”

“No one asked you.” Taylor rolled her eyes at Lily. “Go back to stuffing your face with chicken.” Her friends laughed.

“I could have you temporarily suspended if you took one more step!” Half the Gryffindor table stopped talking and all eyes were on Lily and Taylor.

“Oh my god, you fancy him?”

Lily was not wavered by this question. She had heard it so many times, she knew how to avoid it. She pretended not to hear it and stayed on task.

“Just go back to the Slytherin table.”

“Make me, you faker.”

“I am not faking anything.”

“You liar.” Taylor leaned forward, knowing she had Lily at a distraction. “You refused James’ proposal just now to cover up your feelings.”

“Five points from Slytherin! I can make it 50.”

Taylor leaned closer and snarled, “Hiding your inner feelings? Dream about Jamsies often?”

The clusters of Ravenclaws nearby quieted down too. They revolved in their seats and watched the girls’ every move.

Lily tensed that all the attention. She knew they were swallowing every slick word Taylor uttered.

“Have fun making this up as you go along, because I haven’t the faintest idea of what you are talking about.”

Rachel, next to Taylor, began laughing and said, “Your face is tuning red. Oh my god, you do fancy him!” All the girls burst into laughter and began pointing at Lily’s face. The surrounding tables began to murmur.

“A lie can travel halfway around the world, while the truth is just putting on its shoes.”

“Yeah,” Jamie giggled, “You haven’t put on your ‘shoes’ yet because you’re too ‘busy’ with James.”

Julianne and Maya stood up. Lily, regaining her lost courage, stood up, too.

“Detention, Hexington!” she shot.

“Oh, you want me to stop before I reveal all? Luck isn’t on your side, Evans.” Taylor calmly got up and put her hands on her hips. Professor McGonagall excused herself from the teacher’s table and began rushing towards the two girls. “Teacher’s coming to your rescue, Evans.”

“Professor McGonagall is coming to save you, Hexington.” James, using his super physical-contact-sensing powers, recognized his moment and stepped between the two girls. “Break it up.”

Taylor smirked and murmured, “Got extra lucky there…”

“That’s enough from you, Hexington!” James yelled.

“… mudblood.”

A lump caught in Lily’s throat.

“THAT’S ENOUGH, HEXINGTON!”

Taylor lazily twirled her wand in her hand. “Evans doesn’t want you, James. You’re sucking up to the wrong person. My door will always be open... literally.”

Lily had hidden her wand in the cloak and she was pointing it thought a button hole at Taylor Hexington. She uttered an incantation and a blue jet of light burst from her cloak, past James, and hit Taylor straight in the stomach. Before James grabbed her, Lily bent down next to her enemy and hissed, “You’re going to eat all your words.”

“Excuse me, excuse me! Please separate!” Professor McGonagall parted Lily and Taylor before any more conflict happened. “Get up, Hexington.” Professor Madres appeared behind James.

~

“We’ve got everything under control, Professor.” James growled at Professor Madres. Then he circled to the other side of Professor McGonagall.

“Professor… if I could speak to you…” he began tediously, but Professor McGonagall cut him short.

“No, thank you, Potter. Continue your meal while I take Miss Evans and Miss Hexington to my office.” Her eyes caught the other Slytherin girls and she barked, “Back to your table!” They got up, looking warily at their friend.

“Oh, dear,” McGonagall murmured, “Are you alright, Hexington?” Taylor looked as if an entire pitcher of lemon juice had been poured into her mouth. “Miss Hexington?”

“Taylor has to eat all her words. She now has a foul taste in her mouth. But don’t worry, she hasn’t said too much these past five minutes.” McGonagall looked horrified. James began to laugh but turned it into a fit of coughing when Professor Madres glared dangerously at him.

“It’s, er, the mashed potatoes! I think a fly got in it…”

“Where in the world, Evans, did you learn that spell? Too my office, girls! And you ladies return to your tables!”

Taylor’s friends made their way back to the Slytherin table. James glared at them menacingly, as all the tables burst into gossip.


Later that evening…

James was sitting, Indian style, on the sofa in front of the fireplace. The fire was burning down, but he allowed it to fade. He checked his watch. It was more than two hours past dinner. He had done his rounds, half inspecting the corridors and half looking for Lily. He passed Professor McGonagall’s office and had peered inside, finding it dark and empty.

He gave up on his potions essay; he could not concentrate. Everyone had retreated upstairs to their dormitories. Sirius had taken the Marauder’s Map and hidden it in a safe hiding place, so James was clueless as to Lily’s whereabouts.

He waited five more minutes, and then decided to survey the school again. He packed his books and quill in his bag and hid it under the chair. When he looked up, he saw Lily walking through the portrait.

She did not notice him as she went to the staircase. But she did seem quite disgruntled. Then, she stopped, as if remembering something.

“My potions essay!” she whispered. James looked down in his hands saw a neat essay with the name “Lily Evans” on the heading. “Ooops…” Lily went back into the common room and started walking in James’ direction. She finally saw him.

“Oh, hello James,” she mumbled. She reached down on the table and shuffled through the pile of papers. “Why aren’t you in your room? Feeling alright?”

“Good,” James replied. “You?”

“Uh, I’m… have you seen my potions essay?” She shuffled through the pile again, much faster.

James held it out to her. “Here.” Lily snatched it out of his hands. “Some lil’ kids were sneaking peeks at it.”

“Oh.” Lily pushed a lock of red hair behind her ear and held the essay. She changed the subject quickly. “What are you doing here?”

“I was finishing my potions essay,” he began, but added at Lily’s glare, “But I didn’t cheat off yours, I swear!”

“You and your friends were probably the ‘lil’ kids sneaking peeks at it.’” Lily packed the essay in her bag and snapped the bag together tightly.

“No way!”

“Sure…”

James stood up and put the essay away. Lily looked at the fire, noticing that it was dying down. “Why’d McGonagall keep you late?”

“Just several speeches about responsibility. Then, I did my rounds around the castle.”

“Really? I didn’t see you,” James asked, surprised.

“You must have missed me by around five minutes, then.” She paused.

~

All Lily was holding inside burst out. But she kept it calm “You don’t really believe that liar, Taylor Hexington? Because what she said was not true!”

James shook his head and replied, “Of course not-”

But Lily was not finished. She hated Taylor Hexington so much. “She enjoys picking on others just for their reaction and I guess I gave her what she wanted. But it’s not true. She doesn’t blows kisses at me, you know.”

“I do.” Lily glared at him and he drew back an inch.

“Oh, shut up. I haven’t heard that in five months.” Lily waved her hand in front of her face and looked downwards. She sat down on the sofa, staring at the fire, eyes threatening to leak.

Not in front of James, please.

“Julianne loves you. Amy loves you. Maya loves you. Alice loves you. All the Gryffindors love you. Most Ravenclaws admire you. Hufflepuffs, well, they love everybody. Remus likes you. Sirius likes you. Peter likes you. I like you.” He sat down next to her.

“I guess not.” She looked at him. “Stop being so tall.”

James slumped in his seat, so his shoulders were level with Lily’s.

Stop being so innocent, she thought.

~

---

Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long for my to update. It was rejected several times, so I redid it, was unsatisfied, and slightly edited it back to its original version. This must be a cursed chapter or something…


Additional Note: This review was the highlight of my life:

Sophia Mack says:

I swear, are you J.K Rowling?

*faints*

Additional Note #2: While I’m waiting for the queues to reopen, I’m tell you about my day yesterday… I GOT THE ELDEST!!! There it was, in Costco, right next to Harry Potter. That’s a really cool/scary red dragon on the cover. Scary enough to make the Hungarian Horntail jealous… I was up all night reading the first 150 pages. I think my mom is angry at me.

Edit: I finished The Eldest. It was amazing! Go pick it up or die.

The rest of the week passed, but it wasn’t an enjoyable one. The excitement over the pair of Sirius and Amy was still going strong. Amy was continually receiving hate letters and notes, though she stowed them all away in a locked box. The teachers ordered a stop for all the hate mail, but everyday, one or two letters would find their way to her hands.

Lily and James weren’t going so well either. Lily received hate mail, too, from those who believed she and James were going out together. James kept on getting stopped in the hallway by students, asking if the rumors were true. He was late to class every other period and the teachers gave him warnings.

James stared out of the train window, watching the scenery go by. Sirius and Remus were playing wizard’s chess. Julianne whispered moves into Remus’ ear.

“Check, Sirius,” Remus said for the ninth time after he moved his queen.

Maya showed Sirius a way to get out of check. “Ha, Remus!” Sirius barked. “You can never defeat the awesome smartness of me, Sirius Black!”

Julianne pointed to Remus’ bishop, and Remus said, “Check.”

“What?!”

James took his head off of the window and said, “Sirius, it’s kind of obvious. Move your queen to F7 and you automatically win the game.”

“Really?” Sirius grinned and his queen moved to F7.

“Check-mate, Padfoot.” Remus leaned back and grinned. James looked back out the window, smiling to himself.

“James! How could you?”

James put on a deeply innocent face and said with a sarcastic drawl, “I never intended on that happening!”

~

Lily and Amy were leaning against the wall of the train hallway, staring at each other, in thought. There were no empty compartments to talk, so the hallway was the only option.

Amy finally spoke, “That Taylor deserves to die.”

Lily looked down to the carpet and said, “No, she doesn’t.”

“Are you kidding me? She’s my number one blackmailer and she’s your number one enemy. Of course she should burn in-”

“That’s not the point. I just want her to go away, not die. I couldn’t possibly have someone’s death on my conscience.”

Amy wrinkled her nose and snorted, “Stop being so sensible. That’s not what weekends were made for.”

“She’s right, you know.” Lily whipped around and saw James’ head sticking out from the compartment door at her waist level, smiling. He stood up correctly and said, “You’ve been out here for two full minutes.”

“Two minutes is not enough.” Lily pushed his head back into the compartment and closed the door.

There was another silence for a few seconds. Amy asked, “Do you actually like James?”

“Define like.”

“Like-like.”

“No! I ca not believe you! Actually listening in on that rubbish!” Lily’s temper flared for a second or two, so Amy tried to protect herself.

“I was just checking! You’ve been spending a lot of time with him lately-”

“We’re head boy and girl, and we're supposed to work together. What did you expect?”

“Well, I-I, er…”

Lily caught sight of two feminine heads poking out of a neighboring compartment, eavesdropping. She barked, “Your heads might get run over by the food trolley or something. Better stick ‘em back in!” The two heads retreated immediately.

Lily faced Amy again. “So, we’re clear on everything? The hate mail is only from jealous people who wish they were you and… Potter and I are not… together.”

“Not yet,” Amy muttered. Lily, who was about to go inside the compartment, swiveled her head around and asked sharply, “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Amy replied, pushing her hair behind her ear and strolling into the compartment and seating herself next to Sirius, not saying a word of what Maya had predicted while Lily was out on evening patrols.

“Oooooh! Chess!” she squealed. “So, how does it work again?”

Lily avoided James’ face.

~

When the train stopped, the Marauders were the first ones out. The instantly flung themselves on the ground and started screaming prayers and exclamations of gratitude.

“We love you, Hogsmeade!”

“Oh, how art miss thou!”

“Butterbeer… Zonko’s….”

“I could barely contain myself all summer!”

The girls got off the train. Julianne and Amy scowled at their boyfriends. Amy tapped her foot by Sirius’ head impatiently and Julianne crossed her arms.

James heard her say, “I’m not that dedicated to a bunch of shops.”

Remus sat down on the ground and said, “Sorry. I haven’t been here in a while.”

James and Sirius stopped simultaneously and stood up. “Where to, fellows?” James asked.

“Oh, no,” Amy jumped in, “Sirius is coming with me to get some butterbeer.”

“And Remus promised we’d spend today together, too. Right, Remus?”

“Oh, yeah…”

Sirius locked his arm around Amy’s neck. “So, it’s just you and Peter for the entire day.”

Peter was overjoyed. “Really?! That’s so cool! Hi, James! Let’s go to Zonko’s.” Then he took off like a broomstick and bumped into a couple of 4th year girls examining a window display.

James twitched his eye at Sirius, but Sirius only shrugged. “Get a date in the next five minutes and meet me and Remus at the back table, man.”

James’ shoulders dropped and his eye hurt from all the twitching.

“No chance of that. Catch up with you guys later.”

~

Lily and Maya pulled up next to the bookstore. Maya pointed at a book displayed in the window. “Look! ‘Squib Against Squid, Special Edition.’ I heard it’s a great book. Everyone’s talking about it!”

Lily looked at a crowd of people in the store, “Yeah, all the smart people. Others would rather buy ‘How to Be the Queen of Hogwarts’ than a book on how a squib is taken hostage by merfolk.”

Maya looked into the store and frowned. Taylor and one of her friends were pointing and laughing at the pages and pictures in the book, then finally gave the clerk a few coins. But, they didn’t leave the store. They just spread around, picking up magazines and posters. It didn’t even cross their minds to go to get some butterbeer or even look out the window.

A pair of arms locked around Maya’s and Lily’s neck. Lily flinched, but let go of the sudden wariness when James poked his head between the girls’.

“There are better places to be than in a book shop.”

Maya picked James’ arm off her shoulders and said, “No way. You take Lily and Peter, while I get that book. I’m not leaving without it.”

“Fine, fine.” James took a few steps back. Maya opened the door and Lily followed, rather quickly. Maya mouthed “no.” Lily looked at her friend in astonishment and imploringness.

“Go with James,” Maya said.

“What?” Lily whispered back.

“Go with James. You know every inch of this store. Learn something new.”

“With James?!”

Maya shrugged. “Choose: James or Taylor.”

Lily squinted at her friend, turned on her heel, and said to James, “I’m not going in there. Taylor might rip me to shreds.”

~

“This... this is a Disappearing Parchment,” James explained. He picked a sheet of parchment and gave it to Lily. “Someone writes on it, and a few hours later, it turns invisible. So, it’s really funny when a student writes an entire essay and then it’s gone.”

Lily put it back on the Zonko’s shelf. “Really witty. You could give someone a heart attack with that. Honestly! Making them write an entire essay that took them hours and then all the work goes to waste.”

“But it reappears a few hours. So no harm done.”

“Well, that’s better.” Lily crossed her arms as the door opened and an icy gust of wind flew around the store. It flipped James’ already messy hair up to the ceiling.

A few 3rd year boys popped in front of Lily and James and threw some exploding confetti in the front of them.

The boys stuck their tongues out at Lily and James, as if showing them who was boss, as the confetti popped all around Lily and James. “Lovers!” one of the boys shouted, as he and his clan escaped into the aisle next to them.

James swapped the confetti aside and pulled out his wand, a childish grin on his face.

“Yeah? Well, kiss this!” He levitated two buckets of Exploding Confetti and dumped it into the adjacent aisle. He pulled Lily down and covered his head.

There was an explosion in the aisle, following by the sound of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean waterfalls.

“What the-?” The manager came running down the aisle, his face plump and pink. He looked at if he was not used to running, because James noticed his growing wheezing and strain.

“Oh, great,” James murmured, “Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the clusters of Hogwarts students, his face hardly concealing excitement. He dropped a couple of galleons on the table and pulled out of his pocket on of the many “Sorry about the mess” notes with a neat signature of “Prongs” and placed it under a coin. He always had one ready in case he had to leave one.

He pulled Lily out of the store, never letting go. Not because Lily would have stayed behind if he did, but because this had never happened before.

They ran to the bookstore. He peered through the window and saw Taylor’s wavy hair in the back of the store, surrounded by her friends, reading out loud from a magazine.

James cautiously opened the door and dragged Lily behind a bookshelf.

“Can you let go of me now, James?”

“Oh, yeah.” He rapidly let go of her hand, only wanted to hold it again. He began to push the books back in order, pretending they were digging into his head.

~

James sat on the cushioned window-seat, looking out of the window. Lily was watching him through the spaces between bookshelves. She unconsciously removed “101 of the Most Stupidest Minister Quotes” and flipped the pages. Maya stood on a stool and picked up “Dreams of Crystal Balls, Crystal Ball of Dreams” and nearly fell off.

Lily had never noticed this side of him before. Yes, he had always seemed smart and clever, but the naughty and mischievous kind. He was brave, she'd grant him that. But, before, to Lily, it seemed like he was just foolish and careless of the consequences.

Perhaps it was time to give him a chance…

A pair of sticky hands covered her mouth. Lily gripped the bookshelves and tried to scream. The pair of hands held tighter and pulled Maya and Lily backwards.

Amy waved at them. The hands loosened and Lily sighed and glared at the owner of the hands.

“Sirius!” she exclaimed. But Sirius put up his finger three centimeters from Lily’s lips.

“Shush! We just came back from the Three Broomsticks!” He took his finger away and took out his wand. He looked at the window seat, where James was sitting. “Where’d he go?”

Lily stared at an empty window seat. Two chatting girls walked past them, taking a sour glance at Sirius and Amy.

Sirius stomped his foot in pretend, childish frustration. “Hmmph!” Amy patted his shoulder.

“Better luck next time.” She kissed him and ran her hands up to his cheeks. Lily looked back at the vacant window seat and walked over. She stopped when she saw James’ face staring through the window. He was not looking at Lily, though she was momentarily thankful, because it was the same face he made when he saw her talking with Diggory on the train. He was glaring at Sirius. His eyes showed numbness and his mouth showed astonishment. He glanced at Lily for a split second and then he turned away.

Maya and Lily ran to the window, looking at the gradually shrinking figure of the Marauder.

“Where,” Maya asked, “does he think he’s going?” James turned a corner and he was no longer in sight.

Suddenly, all the candle flames turned from yellow to bright red and started buzzing loudly. Amy and Sirius parted and they stared curiously at the buzzing, red candles.

Everyone in the store started talking.

“What’s going on?”

“What’s wrong with the candles?”

“People are trying to read here!”

The store manager came tearing through the aisles, her eye glasses bouncing off her chest madly. She waved her hands in the air, ushering, “Everyone, please go to the back of the store! Everyone, to the back of the store now! Please do not panic and quietly retreat to the back rooms in an organized fashion!”

But, people did not “quietly retreat to the back rooms in an organized fashion.” Instead, one 3th year thought it would be helpful, and yelled, “Dementors!!!”

There was screaming and running as everyone burst to the back of the store.

“No! No! Please! There are no dementors! Everyone please collect yourselves!” But the manager’s coaxing attempts did not stop the mad rush for safety. “Yes, this is an emergency, but please hush!”

“Dementors?” Lily looked out of the window again. She shook her head. “No, no… there can’t be dementors.” She touched the window pane. “It’s… it’s not cold.”

Sirius held Amy’s hand and said, “We should go to the back of the store anyway.” He jogged along with the crowd, pulling a reluctant Amy with him.

“Come on, Lil.” Maya put her hand on her shoulder. “Come on, Lily.”

Metal shutters snapped down on the windows and doors, and the store was pitch black, except for the red candles, which were now silent, and the light from the back of the store.

Lily decided that there was nothing productive in remaining where she was, so she followed Maya and ran to the crowd.

“Are you the last ones?” the manager asked, pulling Maya and Lily in one of the rooms.

Seeing Sirius’ shaded face, Lily suddenly remembered. “James!”

“Who?”

“James Potter! He went out! What’s going to happen to him?”

“Oh, your friend will be fine,” she comforted. “Everyone is being pulled into stores. No one will be left outside.”

Maya ran to Amy and Sirius. Lily looked at all the scared faces crowded together.

“What is going on?”

“I can’t tell you. Ministry officials will be here soon enough.”

“Ministry officials?” Lily stared hard into the lady’s face, searching her eyes for clues. “Are there dementors?”

The manager sighed. “I sure hope not.”

~

James kicked a small, twisted pine tree and chips stuck to his shoe. He kicked it again, with more force.

“Does…” “Whack!” “…he…” “Whack!” “…know…” “Whack!” “…how…” “Whack!” “…much…”
“Whack!” “… it…” “Whack!” “…hurts?!”

He asked the tree, as if it were a human being, “Does he realize how easy he makes it look?” The tree did not answer, as all trees do.

“Do you think- for a second- that my friend has liked Amy Wellings since the day he first laid eyes on her? Do you think Amy has ever given Sirius death glares?!” But the tree did not reply, or think, as all trees do.

“OK, maybe she did once in third year when he stole her panties from her drawer just for fun, but…”

James did not kick he tree again. “Do you think Sirius has tried so hard over the summer to be better, to change?” He paused and the sight of Amy and Sirius kissing still flashed in his mind. “Sure, he’s been on a kabillion dates before. None of them have affected me so far, except this one. Maybe… it’s just that he’s so close to Lily and I’m still as far away as before.”

James leaned against the tree, eyes closing. He had barely any sleep for days. He had done his rounds around the castle, practiced quidditch until his muscles stung, done his essays and research and letters, and gone to sleep past one in the morning. His nights were haunted by the distant faces of his dying parents and twirls of red hair. There was Snape behind a dark cloak and a pair of red eyes, watching the red-haired bundle, in the mist. He crawled out of bed at five-thirty every morning to get to the shower first, daydream for a few minutes, and finish his essays and research and letters.

James pulled his cloak over his head, and fell helplessly into waves of reveries.

“I’ll ask her to join the Quidditch team tomorrow…”

~

The miniature explosion in Zonko’s had scared the wits out of Peter. Tingling fear spread through him and he started yelling, “James? Hello? James? Where are you?!” He rounded the corner and saw Lily and James running down the street.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Peter ran past the counter, and a small mound of gold caught his eye, along with a note from James, that was not addressed to Peter.

Peter’s sneaky eye darted around him, searching for anyone who might be looking. Everyone had seemed to be at the explosion site, trying to get a first-hand look at what happened. He swiped a few coins off of the counter and dumped them into his empty pockets. He looked around again, and scurried out the door.

“Ja-a-a-a-a-ames? Lily-y-y-y? Where a-a-a-are yo-o-o-o-ou?” Peter was looking anywhere but forward, so he did not notice the figure he was walking towards until he bumped into it.

“Sorry-sorry!” he squeaked. “Sorry, sorry! I wasn’t looking! Sorry!”

The figure turned from the window display and Peter’s breath caught in his throat as he stared into the face of Bellatrix Black.

“Uh…”

Bellatrix took a glance at her accomplices, and when they gave her do-it looks with their eyes, Bellatrix giggled.

“It’s alright, Pettigrew,” she said smoothly, “These things always happen at school.” She put her hand on his short shoulder. “I’m sure it was an accident. No harm done.” She gave a smile that would usually give even Sirius the creeps, but Peter was taken by surprise by her act of kindness, that nothing else came to mind.

“Er… thanks?” Peter answered and/or asked. “I mean… ok?”

“I heard you were looking for Potter. You like being part of the Marauders?”

“Yes… and yes?”

“Well, my friends and I are starting a new group. Sort of like the Marauders. You see, we’re not sure how to start it or what to do so we thought that it would be very profitable if you were part of our group. You know, to help us out.”

“Cool! I can have James and Sirius and Remus join and maybe more people!”

Bellatrix shook her head. “We don’t want our group to get so big so soon. It’s also kind of private, so I don’t think that everyone should know about it. Just our little group.”

Peter nodded his head. “I see.”

Bellatrix tilted her head in interest and asked, “Do you want to go to our meeting place? Away from the crowds so we can tell you the rules and everything?”

“Sure!” Peter was so enthusiastic. They wanted to be his friends! They thought he was a better choice than James and Sirius!

As Bellatrix and her friends led him away, Peter made himself a vow.

I am going to be the best and most useful member their group has ever had.

~

Sirius, Amy, Lily, and Maya were in a circle, with Sirius’ illuminated wand. The rest of he students in their room had joined their little groups, and were talking in hushed voices.

“How long have we been in here?” Maya asked. Lily showed her a watch. “An hour?!”

“And I could be working,” Lily groaned, “on my Head Girl duties.” She patted her feet on the ground.

“Well, we’re not going anywhere. The ministry officials are still checking Hogsmeade.” Amy rolled her eyes. “What takes ‘em so long?”

Sirius crossed his legs and piped up, “How about a relatively harmless game of Truth-or-Dare?”

“We can’t play Truth-or-Dare in here, Black,” Lily snapped. James had asked her that exact question in 5th year. She had agreed. She supposed Sirius didn’t let from the red rash on James’ face afterwards.

“What about hide and seek?”

“That’s for three year olds.”

“No! They play peek-a-boo.”

Maya’s and Amy’s laugh was cut short and Lily’s small smile faltered when everyone heard noises outside. Lily stood up and walked to the closed door. She leaned against it and said, “There are people walking outside!”

Someone Apparated in the center of the room. Amy screamed at the figure standing at her feet. So did the rest of the students. Lily’s breath was caught in her throat and she tried to make herself smaller in the shadows.

But the screaming subsided when Albus Dumbledore lifted his head and stroked his beard.

“Ah, so I see this dark room has not bored my students numb,” he said cheerfully. “This was just a drill. Sorry it took so long. We had to make sure everything was working. Everyone back to the school for dinner.”

Everyone mumbled to each other as Professor Dumbledore strode to the door and tapped it with his wand. The door swung open, and everyone ran out to the light.

Lily was about to join them. She was extremely hungry. She saw Julianne and Remus in the crowd already outside, cheerfully talking with each other, but a voice held her back.

“Miss Evans, would you mind if I kept you here for a moment? You too, Mr. Black.” Lily and Sirius exchanged looks. “The rest of you may go.” The two of them returned to the old professor, wondering what could have happened.

Lily suddenly became concerned when she saw the strange look in Dumbledore’s eyes. He looked down on them and clasped his hands together.

“We have not yet found Mr. Potter.”