Chapter One: Friends and Foes

Lily Evans woke up and stretched her arms towards the ceiling. There was barely a week left of the holidays before she got to go back to Hogwarts and begin her sixth year. She could hardly wait.

She came from a family of Muggles; which meant for the holidays she had no real connection with the magical world. Granted, Lily loved to see her family, but after five years of living with magic she missed having it around.

She got out of bed, and slowly padded over towards her mirror. Lily’s usually shiny red hair was lank and greasy, and her eyes were so puffy that you could barely see their bright emerald green. She had gone to bed late, and Lily wasn’t a morning person, no matter what time she fell asleep.

Yawning, she put on her dressing gown and slippers and made her way to the bathroom down the hall. Petunia was just exiting, wearing her favourite salmon pink sundress and lathered in so much makeup Lily was surprised her face didn’t fall off.

‘Morning, Tuney,’ Lily said.

Petunia glared at her and hurried downstairs, looking a little frightened. When Lily had first found out she was a witch, Petunia had done everything in her power to try and become one too. After that didn’t work she began to treat Lily like dirt, but lately it had descended to just horrible looks. Petunia was jealous, Lily knew, but everything she did to try and repair their relationship was met with insults and unkind remarks.

Lily rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom, which smelt sickeningly like her sister’s expensive perfume.

After she had showered and dressed, Lily went downstairs to breakfast, still feeling not at all like herself. Although the shower had improved her looks, it hadn’t managed to wash away her drowsiness or the tiresome thoughts running through her brain.

Lily hadn’t been sleeping well for a while now, and it was all because of Severus Snape. They had been best friends since they were ten, but last year Lily had broken off their seven-year friendship for good. Deep down Lily knew she had done the right thing, but that didn’t stop her from missing him like crazy and wondering what might have happened if she hadn’t ditched him.

She poured herself a coffee and made some buttered toast, slamming things around a little more than she would usually. Her father looked up from his newspaper and raised his eyebrows.

‘Sorry,’ she muttered, sitting down to eat her breakfast. Stupid Severus , she thought. It’s all his fault.

A few minutes later, Lily’s mother bustled in with the post.

‘An owl just delivered this, dear,’ she said, handing Lily an envelope that bore the Hogwarts crest. Lily opened it eagerly, skimming through the booklist for the upcoming year. She had received enough OWLs to continue with any subject she wished, even though her Transfiguration mark had only just scraped an E.

Lily had only just finished her breakfast when a familiar barn owl flew in through the open window. Smiling, Lily took the letter from the owl and stroked it.

‘Thanks, Delilah. I’ll just go reply to this and you can take it back, okay?’

She made to leave the owl there and go upstairs to her room, but Delilah hooted and jumped onto her shoulder, watching Petunia, who was edging around the table as far away from the owl as possible. Lily sighed and bounded up the stairs two at a time.

Once she was back in her room, Lily sat down at her desk, moving a pile of homework off the chair. She would have to clean her room before she went back to Hogwarts. It was a complete mess. Delilah jumped off her shoulder and onto Lily’s Herbology essay to watch her read.

Lily –

Have you got your Hogwarts letter yet? Well, of course you would. I’ve got mine. Your house is further, but by the time you get my letter you should have it.

Anyway, do you want to come to Diagon Alley with me today? Is ten o’ clock good? Mum’s going in already, so she’ll come pick you up and bring you back here, and then we’ll go by Floo Powder.

Love,
Maddi

Lily went back down to the kitchen to ask her mum, who was starting the breakfast dishes.

‘Can I go to Diagon Alley with Maddi today?’

Her mum nodded. ‘Will Mrs. Collins be picking you up?’

‘Yes, and she’ll drop me off again afterwards, if I don’t stay at Maddi’s.’

‘You can go then. Have fun!’

Lily kissed her mum on the cheek and ran back to her room to reply. Madeleine Collins was her best friend. Even if Lily said she couldn’t go, Maddi would still probably send her mum along to try to make her come with. Lily had been friends with her long enough to realise that when Maddi wanted something, she would do everything in her power to get it.

Maddi,

Sure! Ten’s great. See you then!

Lily

Delilah stuck her leg out so Lily could tie the letter to it, and then the owl hooted and flew out her window. After watching her fly into the direction of Maddi’s house, Lily glanced at the clock, which told her she had approximately two hours before Maddi’s mum came to get her. She set to work cleaning her room, which would probably take that long.

After an hour Lily was lying on her bed, exhausted. She had moved everything off the floor and vacuumed it, but the result of this was that every surface in her room was now covered in her schoolbooks, clothes and everything else you find in a teenage girls bedroom.

There was a knock on the half open door, and Lily glanced up to see her sister Petunia standing there, looking a little frightened.

‘Hi, Tuney!’ Lily said, beckoning her older sister in. Petunia glared at her and didn’t move.

‘Don’t call me Tuney.’

Lily blinked. Sure, her sister had been horrible to her lately, but she had called her Tuney ever since Petunia was born and Lily couldn’t pronounce her name. She had shortened it to Tuney, and rarely called her anything else since.

‘What do you want, Petunia?’ Lily asked coldly. Petunia looked even more scared at the change of tone.

‘M – Mum told me to tell you not to stay at your – your – friends house tonight, because Vernon’s coming over.’

‘Who’s Vernon?’ Lily asked, getting up and beginning to toss all her clothes into the washing basket, which cleaned up a lot of the mess.

‘You know,’ Petunia said, smiling smugly. ‘My boyfriend . One of the things you don’t have ever since you broke up with that evil one. What was his name? Sav? Sev?’

Wham. Clothes went flying everywhere as Lily threw her washing basket onto the wooden floor. Petunia had touched a nerve. The Evans family all knew talking about Severus was off limits, but apparently Petunia had decided to test Lily’s non-existent patience with the subject.

‘Don’t you dare call him evil, Petunia,’ Lily hissed, advancing on her sister. ‘You don’t know a thing about him, and you never will!’

Petunia looked terrified, but she stood her ground. For once, she wanted to be able to get one over her sister. Petunia had never been brave like Lily, and she would never be able to perform magic, but she still had a trace of spirit left in her.

‘I heard you talking to Mum about him,’ she said viciously. ‘He did awful things … you’re all such freaks! I knew you would turn out horrible!’

‘Horrible?’ Lily shrieked, incensed. ‘Horrible? You’re the horrible one! Strutting around this place calling me a freak just because I’m a witch? You wanted to be just like me once!’

Petunia’s face burned red at the memory. ‘I was a lot younger then!’ she cried. ‘At least I don’t hang around people who try to hurt others, like you and your nasty friends!’

Lily drew her wand and pointed it into her sisters’ face.

‘Shut up, Petunia,’ she hissed. ‘If you say another word I’ll curse you until you’re slime on the floor.’

At that moment, she was so mad that she didn’t care what the consequences would be if she cursed her. All she could think about was that Petunia had confirmed one of her worst fears. That Severus was evil, like all his Death Eater friends, and she had blindly followed him down that path.

Lily’s horrendous glare and narrowed green eyes scared Petunia almost as much as the wand and threats. With a frightened whimper, she turned and fled out the room. Lily strode to the door to yell after her.

‘Don’t expect me to be here for your stupid boyfriend tonight!’ she cried.

With that Lily slammed her door shut and let out a heart-wrenching sob.

* * *

Half an hour later she was still sitting in the same position, with her clothes strewn across the room. Both her parents had tried to talk to her, only to be met with silence. So when Chloe Collins arrived, she was shown upstairs without much hope.

Madeleine’s mother owned a Muggle aromatherapy shop, which was a huge success, considering all the magic that went into producing everything. Chloe had needed masses of permits from the Ministry of Magic to get it started, but it was worth it once the money started rolling in.

Chloe’s husband had left them when Madeleine was born, and Chloe had been a little older than Lily was now. Maddi thought her mother was a complete embarrassment, but Lily thought she was amazing.

‘Lily, honey? It’s me, Chloe. May I come in?’

Lily opened the door and let her in. Chloe took one glimpse of her tear-streaked face and gave her a hug.

‘Poor Lily.’

After ten minutes, Lily had managed to choke out the story of what Petunia had said, and gathered all her things together so she could stay at the Collins’ house until school began. Chloe was going to offer anyway, but now she saw how much Lily would really need it.

Lily said goodbye to her parents, and did nothing but glare at Petunia, who was sulking on the phone to Vernon after she had been scolded for her argument with Lily. Chloe took her arm, and then Lily found herself experiencing the unpleasant feeling of side-along Apparation.

It was soon over, and Lily was gasping for air on the Collins’ front lawn. Madeleine rushed over to give her a hug, since she hadn’t seen her since the end of last term.

If you didn’t know her, Madeleine was the kind of person you could easily pass in a crowd. She had straight brown hair and brown eyes, and sometimes Lily thought that she had gone to some trouble to look different to her mother, whose outrageous clothing matched her personality. But Madeleine couldn’t fight the Collin’s spirit. She was more alive than any other person Lily knew.

‘Lily!’ Maddi squealed, jumping up and down. ‘How are you? I haven’t seen you for – what’s wrong?’

For she had looked at Lily, and seen the tear stains and bloodshot eyes that could only mean she had been crying. It only took Lily one sympathetic look from her best friend to start the tears all over again.

‘I had a fight with Petunia,’ Lily choked out. ‘It was awful.’

Maddi gave her a hug. ‘It’ll be okay, sweetie,’ she said. But Lily shook her head.

‘I don’t think it will,’ she said. ‘Not this time.’

Chloe picked up Lily’s luggage and the three of them walked inside for a cup of tea and some tissues.

* * *

The three of them left for Diagon Alley not long after lunch. Lily’s fight with Petunia was still on her mind, but it had at least faded into the background.

‘What do you want to do first?’ Madeleine asked, deliberately turning away from her mother as Chloe stopped to a witch trying to sell herbal remedies for magical diseases.

‘I dunno,’ Lily said, looking around. ‘How about we go get our books?’

The two girls bade goodbye to Chloe, Maddi looking relieved to escape her. They headed through the crowds to Flourish and Blott’s; stopping every now and then to talk to people they knew from Hogwarts.

In the bookshop, the store assistant walked over to them.

‘Hogwarts?’ he asked, and then without waiting for an answer, he continued. ‘Which books?’

Lily went first, reeling off the books she needed to continue with Herbology, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. The assistant rushed around the store, dropping books into her arms as he went.

Maddi was doing all the same subjects as Lily, as well as Arithmancy. She wanted to be a Healer after she left school, and Lily an Auror.

Ever since Lord Voldemort had come into power in her first year at Hogwarts, it had been Lily’s dream to try and defeat him, and become a famous Auror. Now, at sixteen, this dream had become more realistic, and she just wanted to try to protect people from him.

After Maddi had collected her books, they paid for them and left the shop. Walking down Diagon Alley, they chatted happily as they bought all their other school supplies.

Chloe met them outside Florean Fortescue’s as they were buying large chocolate ice creams. She had a jar of smelly plant extract, which she proudly told them would cure any illness. Madeleine looked at it doubtfully, but decided not to comment.

They got back to the Collins’ house just before five. It wasn’t safe to be out after dark anymore. Most people in Diagon Alley had left by that time, and the Leaky Cauldron was empty when they passed through.

After dinner, Lily and Maddi walked down to the phone box so Lily could call her parents to tell them that she was fine. They were always concerned for their daughters’ safety since she had told them about Voldemort’s rise to power.

Lily’s mother, Penelope Evans, answered the phone.

‘Hello, Evans household.’

‘Hi Mum,’ Lily said, and Madeleine tactfully wandered a few metres away so she wouldn’t overhear the conversation.

‘Lily! No trouble then?’

‘None at all. Mum, is Petunia there?’

Lily could practically hear her mother thinking in the silence that followed.

‘Well … she is, but I don’t think that she –’

‘Hello?’ a third voice picked up the extension phone at the Evans house.

‘Petunia?’ Lily asked, and there was a groan.

‘Mum, tell me if Vernon calls, okay? He’s late.’

‘Petunia, can I at least talk to you?’ Lily cried. Her sister gave another irritated groan, and her mother discreetly hung up.

‘If you’re quick.’

Now Lily had the chance, she couldn’t even think of anything to say. She could apologise, but Lily had no reason too, and she wasn’t going to just to get her sister talking. But she needed to say something.

‘What do you want?’ Petunia snapped. Lily finally found the right words.

‘Look, Petunia, I know we haven’t been very close over the past few years,’ Lily began, and there was a snort from the phone, ‘but I really think we ought to stop fighting. We used to be such good friends! I don’t want our relationship to stay this way.’

There was silence. ‘Petunia?’ Lily asked.

‘I – I have to go,’ Petunia said, and her voice cracked. ‘Vernon’s here.’

‘Tuney –’ Lily began, but she was interrupted.

‘I have to go.’

The phone was slammed down and Lily was left with nothing but the incessant beeping of the disconnected line. Leaning her head against the cool glass of the phone box, she sighed. Lily still couldn’t believe everything she had with Petunia had changed just because she was a witch. It wasn’t right.

There was a hand on her shoulder, and wordlessly, Lily turned to follow Madeleine home, her mind occupied with worries about her sister.

Chapter Two: The Sixth Year Begins

‘Lily! Wake up!’

Lily groaned and pulled her blanket over her head. It was too early for this.

‘Lily! It’s ten to eight!’

Okay, maybe it wasn’t. Lily opened her eyes to Madeleine’s anxious face. Yawning, she sat up and swung her legs out of bed. It was cold. Maybe she could have a few more minutes –

‘Come on!’

Maddi seized her arm and yanked her out of the bed, and they both tumbled onto the ground. Lily glared at her best friend.

‘I was up!’

Being hauled out of bed at eight in the morning was not Lily’s idea of a good start to the day, let alone the day she had to go back to Hogwarts. But it had the desired effect. Within ten minutes Lily was dressed and dashing around Madeleine’s room looking for her Hogwarts things.

It was their ritual every September. No matter how early they set their alarms, Madeleine and Lily would always sleep through them and as a result, almost miss the train.

‘Girls!’ Chloe called up the stairs. ‘Would you like some breakfast?’

‘No!’ Maddi yelled back, looking under her bed for a misplaced set of robes. Lily’s eyes lit up and she headed for the door. Packing made her hungry, and she couldn’t go to school without some of the famous Collins pancakes, could she?

‘You haven’t finished packing yet,’ Maddi said, removing her head from under the bed, a pair of dusty robes in her hand. Lily shrugged, and Maddi sat there for a moment, torn between packing and pancakes. Eventually the latter won and she dashed down the stairs to join her mum and best friend.

After a fulfilling breakfast, the two girls returned to their remaining packing, which was done rather hurriedly. At a quarter past eight, Mr. and Mrs. Evans arrived, ready to take Madeleine and Lily to Kings Cross. Chloe had to work, and in any case, she didn’t have a car to take them in.

By the time Maddi and Lily were ready, they were running late. Mr. Evans piled their trunks in the boot of the car, and then they started the painstakingly slow trip to Kings Cross amongst all the traffic.

* * *

Despite everything, they got to the train station at a quarter to nine, which was rather early by Maddi and Lily’s standards. With a quick goodbye to the Evans, the girls took the barrier at a run and emerged on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters giggling like mad.

The platform was crowded with students and their families like usual, and Lily looked around eagerly for people she knew. Mary MacDonald, who shared her dormitory, waved to them from where she was standing with her parents. Lily and Maddi waved back, and then the former tugged on her friend’s sleeve.

‘Come on,’ Lily said. ‘We need to find a compartment.’

They dragged their trunks through the crowds and onto the train, where they walked along looking for someone to sit with. Eventually they found a spare compartment halfway down the train, and they stowed their luggage away, before collapsing onto the seat, panting from the effort.

‘I have to go to the Prefect’s meeting,’ Lily remembered, looking at Maddi apologetically. ‘We should’ve found someone for you to sit with –’

‘It’s okay, I’ve got Delilah,’ Maddi said, poking her fingers through the bars of her owl’s cage. Delilah nibbled them affectionately. Lily bit her lip, not wanting to leave her friend alone. Then Mary McDonald walked past their compartment, and Lily called out to her.

‘Come sit with us, Mary!’

The girl turned back and dragged her trunk into the compartment.

‘Thanks!’ she said, looking relieved. ‘I thought I would never find anywhere to sit!’

Mary McDonald was a very studious, quiet girl. She didn’t have too many friends, which was why Lily often took pity on her. Mary was nice, and genuinely sweet, but sometimes she was just too much so.

‘Well, I need to go,’ Lily said, ignoring Madeleine, who was shaking her head behind Mary’s back. Maddi got sick of her very easily, but Lily was sure she’d rather be with Mary than all alone.

‘See you later!’ Mary said brightly.

‘Bye,’ Maddi said, slumping down in her seat and plastering on a fake smile for Mary’s benefit when she started asking about her holidays.

Lily hid a smile and exited into the corridor as the train began to leave King’s Cross. As she made her way towards the Prefect’s compartment, the crowds in the corridor slowly lessened.

‘Lily!’ a voice called. She turned, and grinned as she saw Remus Lupin walking towards her. He was the other Gryffindor Prefect, and they had gotten to know each other well over the past year.

‘How are you?’ he asked upon reaching her. Remus had grown a lot taller over the summer, and now Lily only just reached his chin in height.

‘Great!’ she said. ‘I stayed with Maddi for the past week, so that was fun. I had another fight with Petunia though.’ Lily grimaced at the memory.

Remus smiled sympathetically. He knew all about her relationship with her sister. He didn’t know that Petunia hated her because she was jealous, but then again, the only person apart from Lily who knew that was Severus.

‘So did you do anything interesting in the holidays?’ Lily asked, smiling again.

‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘Peter and I did stay with James and Sirius for a week – did you know that Sirius moved in with James? He’s finally had enough of his family.’

‘Good for him,’ Lily said. She had heard enough about the Blacks to realise what they were like. Needless to say, they were not people she would like to meet.

They had reached the Prefect’s compartment by now, and Remus and Lily went in, saying hello to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Prefects. They ignored the two Slytherins, one of whom just happened to be Severus.


‘Now that we’re all here,’ said the Head Boy, Frank Longbottom, ‘we can get started.’

He winked at Lily and Remus, who smiled back. Frank was a Gryffindor seventh-year, and Lily was pleased to see that he had the position of Head Boy. He would have been her first choice for the position. Frank was a true Gryffindor, and he was pretty popular with people from the other Hogwarts houses too, with the exception of Slytherin.

The Prefects meeting just involved the Head Boy and Girl (a Hufflepuff called Amelia Bones) reminding them all of their duties, and giving them the new passwords. All the same, it took a long time to go through everything, and Lily was bored after ten minutes.

* * *

Eventually it finished, and Remus and Lily left the compartment together to return to their friends.

‘At least we’ll never have to sit through that again,’ Lily said, rubbing her hands over her face and trying to wake herself up again.

‘Unless you become Head Girl next year,’ Remus said, smiling. Lily laughed.

‘If I’m made Head Girl, you’ll be Head Boy, Remus,’ she said. Remus’s smile disappeared and he shook his head.

‘I wouldn’t want it,’ he said, looking serious all of a sudden.

‘Why not?’ Lily asked, but then someone bursting out of the compartment in front of them proved as a big distraction.

Sirius Black did not look happy with his new lodgings, and without even noticing Remus or Lily, he banged on the closed compartment door angrily.

‘Prongs! Wormtail! Let me back in!’

‘Hello, Sirius,’ Remus said. The dark-haired boy spun around and pulled Remus towards him.

‘Remus! I haven’t seen you since – since –’

‘An hour ago?’ Remus supplied. Sirius shrugged.

‘It felt like longer. PRONGS! LET ME IN! I’M HOLDING MOONY HOSTAGE!’

‘Well … see you later, Remus,’ Lily said uncertainly to the Prefect, who was now being held in a headlock by Sirius. Both boys turned around.

‘Oh, hi Evans,’ Sirius said, noticing her for the first time.

‘Hello, Black,’ Lily said with a tight smile. She wasn’t altogether fond of him. Yet her feelings for him were nothing compared to her feelings for the messy-haired boy who burst out of compartment upon hearing her name.

Lily had loathed James Potter from the minute she met him on the train in their first-year. He had been a horrible, bullying toerag then, and he hadn’t changed much in the past five years. And then there was the added annoyance that James was in love with her, and asked her out at pretty much every opportunity he got.

‘Evans!’ James cried, running a hand through his hair. ‘How are you? Do you want to come into our compart –’

‘Goodbye, Remus!’ Lily said pleasantly, pushing past James and continuing down the corridor to where she had left Madeleine and Mary.

Three other people had joined them, so now all the Gryffindor sixth-year girls were in there. Alice Mitchell, Frank Longbottom’s girlfriend, who was excellent at Herbology and wanted to be an Auror; Carrie Roberts; who was the Keeper on Gryffindor Quidditch team; and Sophia Daniels, who was a very pretty blonde girl with a brain the size of pea.

‘Hi, Lily!’ Mary said with a sweet smile. ‘We saved some food for you … look …’

‘Thanks,’ Lily said, collapsing in the seat next to Carrie and taking a pumpkin pasty from her. The conversation started up again as Lily ate.

‘So do you know who the new Quidditch Captain is?’ Lily asked Carrie.

Carrie was tall and lanky, which suited her well for being a Keeper. She lived and breathed Quidditch, but the other girls in her dormitory had little interest in the sport. Sure, they would watch it to support Gryffindor, but it didn’t fascinate them like it did Carrie.

‘James Potter,’ Carrie replied, biting into a Chocolate Frog. Lily groaned.

‘He just tried to accost me in the corridor,’ she said. ‘He’s such a pain. But he is good at Quidditch, I suppose.’

‘Good? He’s great!’ Carrie said. ‘He’ll make an excellent captain. I just hope he chooses a good team …’

Lily had tuned out by now, and she turned instead to Alice, who was waiting patiently to ask her a question.

‘So, do you think Frank will make a good Head Boy?’ she asked, pushing her long wavy hair away from her face.

‘The best,’ Lily said. Alice beamed with pleasure. She adored Frank, and he adored her. They had only been dating a year, but Lily wouldn’t be surprised if they announced their engagement.

After a while of making conversation with her classmates, Lily glanced out the window to see the darkening sky and the bare countryside.

‘Maybe we should get our robes on,’ Lily said to the group. There was a murmur of agreement, and they spent ten minutes getting dressed in their Hogwarts robes. Just in time, too, because the train started to slow not long after.

They exited the train not long after, Madeleine clutching Delilah. When they got onto the station at Hogsmeade Lily and Maddi got separated from the other girls.

‘At least I don’t have to listen to Mary anymore,’ Maddi said as they were shunted along by the masses of students. Lily frowned. She didn’t particularly like Mary either, but sometimes Maddi was just a bit too mean towards her.

Thankfully, Mary didn’t get into the same horseless carriage as them, and they were joined instead by Alice and Sophia, and the latter started prattling on about her new hairstyle. Personally, Lily much preferred Mary to Sophia, because at least Mary had some brains.

They didn’t have to endure Sophia for long though, because soon they arrived at the castle. When Lily got out of the carriage, she gazed in wonder up at her home. Even after six years, she still felt the excitement she felt with her first glimpse of the castle at eleven years old. Somehow it managed to calm her.

‘Come on, Lily!’ Madeleine said, pulling on her arm so they could go inside. Lily tore her gaze away from Gryffindor Tower, where she would be residing later that night, and followed her friend into the Entrance Hall, where from there they were shown into the Great Hall.

Lily looked around smiling as she made her way towards Gryffindor table. It was so good to be back. She sat down alongside Maddi, and much to her displeasure, Sophia sat on Lily’s other side.

‘I hope the Sorting doesn’t take long,’ Maddi said. ‘I’m hungry.’

Sophia looked around Lily at Maddi.
‘I’m on a new diet,’ she said. ‘I can’t eat carbs or anything with too much protein, which includes …’

Lily rolled her eyes and looked up to the staff table where Filch was putting out the Sorting Hat. A minute later, the door banged open and Professor McGonagall came in, herding a group of first-years.

Everyone fell silent as they were ushered towards the Sorting Hat. After instructing the first-years on what to do, Professor McGonagall pulled out her list and cleared her throat.

‘Adams, Claudia.’

A tiny girl with mousy-brown hair stumbled forward and put the hat on. It took barely ten seconds before the hat opened its brim and announced her house.

‘RAVENCLAW!’

The Ravenclaws all cheered excitedly as the girl took the Sorting Hat off and ran over to them, looking relieved.

‘Bertrand, Thomas.’

‘SLYTHERIN!’

The Sorting continued for another half hour. It was starting to get a bit boring, since it was Lily’s fifth one to watch. But it was unavoidable, so she sat through it until Professor McGonagall rolled up her list and the feast began.

Chatter resumed throughout the hall, and Madeleine and Lily talked happily about what people had done since they had seen them at the end of last term. New haircuts, new boyfriends and – Lily shuddered to think of it – less relatives. You-Know-Who didn’t go on holiday like they did.

She was horrified to learn that Carrie’s twin sister (a Hufflepuff) had almost been killed by Death Eaters when she was out with her boyfriend during the summer. They had been having lunch in a Muggle restaurant when the Death Eaters showed up, ready to engage in their favourite sport – Muggle killing.

‘But Lola’s okay?’ Lily asked worriedly. She had met Carrie’s sister on several occasions. ‘And her boyfriend?’

‘Her boyfriend, Jesse, was stunned almost as soon as the Death Eaters arrived,’ Carrie said grimly. ‘Lola had to practically drag him out of there.’

‘Why didn’t they stay and fight?’ Madeleine asked, frowning. Carrie gave her a sad smile.

‘Maddi, Jesse was in no condition to fight. It was all Lola could do to get him out of there. And if she had fought, she would have been killed instantly. Or if she hurt one of the Death Eaters, she would definitely be killed, and then they would have gone after our family.’

‘I suppose … what a horrible thing to happen,’ Maddi said, shuddering. Lily nodded fervently, and pushed away her plate of tiramisu. She wasn’t hungry anymore, but a few minutes later the plates cleared themselves and Professor Dumbledore stood up.

‘Welcome and welcome back to all students,’ he said, smiling around the hall. ‘I trust you have all had a pleasant holiday, and are ready to begin the new term. But first, I have a few announcements to make.’

‘I would like to remind you all of the rules here at Hogwarts, including especially regarding prohibited items and the Forbidden Forest.’ Lily noticed how he looked towards the Marauders as he said this, and Sirius and James smirked at each other. ‘The list of banned items can be found in Mr. Filch’s office, and remember, the forest is out of bounds.’

Madeleine leaned over to Lily as Dumbledore moved on to Quidditch tryouts.

‘Do you think Filch will let me keep the love potion I bought?’ she asked devilishly. Lily turned and stared at her friend.

‘Madeleine Collins, why on earth did you bring a love potion to school?’ she demanded. Maddi laughed at the look on her face.

‘To slip some into your and Potter’s drinks, of course.’

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but when no words came out she closed it again. Madeleine laughed even harder, which provoked Lily into speech.

‘Maddi, if you do anything of the sort I swear I will never rest until I kill you,’ she whispered furiously. It was then that Sophia interrupted, and said bossily, ‘shush!’

The two girls returned to listen to their Headmasters speech, Lily red in the face and Madeleine wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

‘I want you all to listen to what I have to say next, because it is of utmost importance.’ Dumbledore paused to look around the hall gravely, and everyone sat up to attention. ‘As you very well know, Lord Voldemort is continually growing stronger.’

There was the usual sharp intake of breath at hearing the name.

‘Now more than ever, we need to be there for each other. Several of our students had close encounters with Death Eaters over the summer, which just goes to show that nobody is safe. One person alone is not much of a threat. We all need to come together to have any hope of defeating him.’

After Dumbledore finished, a hushed silence fell over the hall. It dragged on for a few seconds, everyone deep in their own thoughts, until the Headmaster spoke again.

‘Now you should all be in bed if you want to be rested for lessons tomorrow. Off you go!’

He clapped his hands, and there was the usual scraping of seats and loud babble as the students all tried to get to the door at once. Lily was too tired to talk to anyone, and it was a relief when she finally got up to Gryffindor tower and collapsed in the familiar four-poster bed.