~| Chapter 6 |~
Lily stalked down the lengthy corridor in a very bad temperament. She had taken on duties that normally didn’t require the least amount of anyone’s attention, let alone a rule-obsessed prefect. Her bad temperament only increased with the continued presence of the person “innocently” following her. James had made it a ridiculously annoying habit of accompanying her, uninvited, on her prowls for insurgents. She scowled at the reminder of her companion as he spoke.
“Did you know another way to get to--” he began.
“No. I go this way,” Lily interjected, trying to silence him. She continued on, nearly yelling when James grabbed her and began dragging her in the opposite direction.
“If you go this way, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and pain.”
“That’s to North Tower! I’m going in the opposite direction!” Lily’s eyes narrowed as he continued to half-carry-half drag her to a dead-end, empty corridor. He stopped in front of a portrait of a particularly large woman with a boil on her particularly large nose.
“Potter, if you’re going to tell me this is the woman of your dreams, you can save it. I’d rather clean up dragon dung.”
“You should know,” he muttered under his breath. He reached up and touched the disgusting boil, causing the portrait to swing forward and revealing a large, gaping hole. Before Lily could ask any questions, she was shoved none-too-lightly into the hole. She shivered at the difference in temperature.
“What is this place?” she asked, mentally yelling at herself for being so stereotypically female.
“Oh, a secret passage,” he said nonchalantly. “Filch knows about it, so we’ve got to be quiet.” Lily turned her head in his direction to ask a question, but walked straight into the wall.
“Bloody hell!” she cursed loudly.
“Hold my hand so you don’t walk into another wall,” James advised from a few feet to her right.
“Not on your life.”
James made a noise of disgust. “It’s not like I have cooties.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny,” she drawled, filling her voice with sarcasm. Instead, she nipped at the collar of his shirt with her fingertips.
This is the closest I’ve been to him in a long time, she realized. Quickly, she mentally shoved the thought away and focused on the task at hand.
What was the task at hand?
Ah yes, go to the Astronomy Tower and send all students back to their houses. So why didn’t she send James back to Gryffindor House? A valid question she was too coward to answer. Lily tuned back in to her journey through the unknown passage with James. Luckily, she noticed they were going up an incline. Moments later, she and James were at the top of the Astronomy Tower.
“Welcome to the Astronomy Tower. You may proceed forward and wreak havoc on its current inhabitants,” James announced like a game show host. Lily gave him a bland look before stalking onto the landing. There were about twenty people standing around and didn’t even notice Lily. She threw her shoulders back and began to bellow at the top of her lungs.
“Everyone return to your houses now! You are disobeying the after hours rules of Hogwarts! Return to your common rooms immediately!” All twenty figures jumped up, startled. Lily could see from their frightened looks that she was…wrong (a very disturbing thought). Professor Sinistra walked out of the shadows and gave Lily a questioning look.
“Can I help you Miss Evans? You seem to have interrupted my first year Astronomy class.” Lily’s jaw hung open for a full minute before she cleared her throat and attempted to speak.
“I’m sorry Professor. I…went to the wrong tower.” She backed up to the doorway, then quickly ran back down to where James leaned against the entrance to the secret passage.
“So, find any culprits?” he asked, closely examining the ceiling.
“Did you set this up, Potter? Did you purposely make a fool of me?” She stormed by him down the corridor, completely ignoring the secret passage.
“Why would I do that?” he asked, feigning a look of innocence. When she didn’t respond, James quickened his pace to match hers.
“There’s a Hogsmeade visit this weekend,” he began. “Would you like to go there with me for Valentine’s Day?” he invited. Lily abruptly halted and turned to face him.
“How many times do I have to tell you--”
“I’m sure it’s the most painful thing in the world for you to pretend to get along with me,” he said sarcastically. “You wouldn’t go as my girlfriend, but as my friend.”
Lily resumed walking for the sole purpose of doing something.
“Don’t you ever wonder what would have happened if we had…you know…stayed together?”
Lily glanced briefly at him and responded, “I don’t think about that, and neither should you.”
“Discounting the statement of you telling me what to think, it seems getting back together is absolutely against your wishes. Can you settle for being friends again?”
The truth was, Lily missed talking to James, joking with him, playing “harmless” practical jokes with him. She didn’t think she could ever trust him enough again to give him her heart, but there couldn’t be any harm in being his friend. She rolled the concept over in her mind and found she had already made the decision.
“I’ll be your friend, but that’s as far as it will ever go.” James fought to hold back a grin. She was acting exactly as planned.
The morning of the Hogsmeade trip dawned clear and beautiful, a sign that winter would soon be over. Many couples were off to Hogsmeade this weekend because it was Valentine’s Day. James, Remus, and Sirius accompanied Lily, Leda, and Gwen to Hogsmeade, attempting to be dashing gentlemen. The façade lasted for a full minute before Remus began an impromptu snowball fight.
After a half-hour of hurling snowballs at each other, the group managed to invade Honeydukes. Lily spent a comparatively small amount before going outside for a breath of fresh air and to be alone. Remus, unnoticed, followed her out.
“It’s nice out here, isn’t it?” Lily asked. She danced a little to stay warm and turned to Remus when he didn’t respond. He was looking quite ill as of late and looked especially pale today. “Remus, are you feeling all right?” she inquired, now concerned. “Are you upset over Gwen?” she suggested. Immediately, she realized how foolish of a question that was. Had there been anything wrong between Remus and Gwen, she would’ve heard it.
Remus took a careful breath before responding. Looking at his feet, Remus mumbled, “There’s something I want to tell her, but I don’t know how.”
“Are you…interested in someone else?” she said lightly (at least in her opinion).
Remus snapped his head up to look straight at Lily. His gaze was hard at her, not soft like she’d expected. “Why would I look at anyone else?”
“I was just wondering,” Lily grumbles, feeling like the lowest of single-celled organisms.
“You know, for such an intelligent person, you can be quite thick when it comes to matters of the heart. James wasn’t cheating on you. You know that; you’re too smart not to know and too stubborn to accept that you two were the celebrity couple of the school.” Lily, stunned into silence, gaped at the normally soft-spoken Remus. Remus gave her a pointed look as their group of friends burst out of the candy shop.
The day was rather uneventful, considering the meandering students and joyful inhabitants of Hogsmeade. You have to discount, of course, James getting thrown out of Zonko’s, though he was one of their most “valued” customers. Also, the incident with the keg of butterbeer and a stray goblin will remain singularly in the minds of those who witnessed it. One event worth mentioning was the run-in with Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black.
Narcissa walked straight into Lily and gasped as if just noticing what she had done. “Oh, I am just so clumsy. I am dreadfully sorry,” she snickered.
“Narcissa, destroy that robe immediately. It’s ruined with the Mudblood’s filth,” Lucius drawled in a long, slow, voice.
“You take that back!” shouted James and Sirius at the same time.
Narcissa gave her cousin a measuring look. “Cousin, I could never understand what went wrong with you,” she wondered aloud, aiming a killing look at Sirius.
James and Sirius stepped forward, inviting Malfoy. Unnoticed to them, Narcissa sidled up to Lily’s side and whispered, “Just wait until the Quidditch match, you disgusting creature.” Luckily, Leda grabbed Lily’s hand to keep her from hexing Narcissa (her best class was Charms, after all). Instead she whispered back haughtily, “So, Narcissa, how does it feel to have a juvenile delinquent as a boyfriend?”
Gwen walked in between Lucius and Sirius and James, ready to stop a conflict. “Come along boys, he’s not worth it. James, you’ve got the Quidditch match to think of,” she added in a low voice. That one statement stopped James in his tracks. If he got in a fight now, he’d surely be kicked out of next week’s Quidditch game. He was the Gryffindor Seeker and could not afford to be expelled from the game. With one last masculine warning look, James backed up and hurried away. Sirius followed his lead by backing up as well and jogging after James, Remus bringing up the rear. Lily, Leda, and Gwen, walked behind them at a slower than normal pace.
“What did Narcissa say to you?” Gwen asked softly.
Lily’s breath puffed as they sped up. “She said, ‘just wait until the Quidditch match.’ I wonder if that’s an invitation of sorts. Gryffindor will win, so I suppose it’s not for an after-game victory party.”
“I wonder if Narcissa will fight with her nails or her teeth,” Leda said, trying to get Lily mad. It worked.
“I could beat her any day whether with magic or Muggle way!” Lily exclaimed. Then she realized what Leda had done. She looked over at her friend. “I’m not fighting her.”
“Who says it’s a fight? And even if the threat was aimed at you?” Lily thought about the pure logic of it. She had no proof of who the threat would be aimed toward. As Lily’s mind raced, she found the simple conclusion that made sense in her gut.
“James!” she gasped. Behind her, Leda and Gwen exchanged victorious looks. “We have to tell him Malfoy will sabotage the Quidditch match!” She began to jog slowly before Gwen stopped her.
“Think about this: if you tell him now, you know he’ll go after Malfoy and he’ll be kicked out of the game.”
“You cannot tell him,” Leda agreed. Lily’s eyes widened.
“I can’t just--”
“You can,” Gwen began; and Leda finished, “and you will.”
The next week showed increasing animosity between the Gryffindors and Slytherins. The night before the match, Gryffindor Tower was in an uproar. Everyone was excited about the next day’s game to the point where no one was bothering with sleep. Sirius, to expel his reservoir of energy, was performing a remarkable act of acrobatics. Peter accompanied the act by singing “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” extremely off key. James, with the help of Remus, was transfiguring various objects into balloons and noisemakers.
At midnight, however, the captain of the Quidditch team, Bucky Thomas, shouted to the entire team that it was time to hit the proverbial sack. Much to the common room’s sorrow, they trudged up to bed, followed by Sirius’ rendition of “Ninety-nine bottles of Butterbeer on the Dragon’s Hide.”
Lily sat observing everything from a corner of the common room. She alternated between chewing on her lip, tapping her toes, and chewing on her lip and tapping her toes at the same time. With a huff of exasperation, she jumped up from her seat and began to pace. I have to tell him about Malfoy, she thought over and over. If I don’t, something might happen. Lily resorted to biting her fingernails. She decided to tell him. But when? If I tell him now, people will see me voluntarily talking to him and will get ideas. If I talk to him later, he’ll be half-asleep and I’ll be breaking school rules. Lily stopped herself. What am I doing?! She walked quickly over to James and caught him halfway up the boys’ dormitory staircase.
Lily nearly lost her nerve at James’ surprised expression. “I need to tell you something,” she stuttered. “Something about the…the Quidditch match.” Phew, there, I told him!
“I know how to play if that’s what you’re worried about,” he remarked.
Lily rolled her eyes. “That’s not it. I know”I mean, I think something will go wrong at the Quidditch game tomorrow.” A little of the twinkle left James’ eyes, yet he still joked.
“Slytherin losing is not a bad thing.”
“James, stop being dumb! I think Malfoy will sabotage the match.” James turned completely serious. He stepped down to be eye level with Lily.
“Are you positive?” His unnerving stare tied her tongue in several thick knots.
“I’m pretty sure,” she said weakly.
“And how did you find this out?” he pressed. If he got it out of her quick enough, he may have enough time to do something about it.
Lily nearly gave in. Nearly. Before she could, she developed some courage and put a brave front on. “I found out. It’s your job to decide what to do with the information.” She quickly turned and, surprisingly, was facing James again.
“How sure are you?” he asked again, pronouncing each word carefully.
“I told you. I’m pretty sure.” With that, she pushed past him and down the stairs.
Great, James thought. Now I also have to worry about Malfoy as well as looking for a miniscule flying golden ball. I should try not to worry about it. Yeah…Right.
Students woke up the next morning no calmer than the night before. The morning dragged on with agonizing slowness as every Hogwarts student waited impatiently for four o’clock, when the Quidditch match would begin. For James, it was perfectly normal to have a few nerves. He had more than usual, however, which extremely irritated him. He tried to shove them away by goofing off more than he typically did. Sirius, noticing his friend’s slight panic, was assisting him by acting like a complete buffoon. Remus had left at noon to go somewhere that no one knew. The remaining Marauders had covered his absence, almost. Only Lily really kept wondering about where Remus had gone.
His disappearances are pretty frequent, she thought to herself. About once a month he disappears and his friends act as if nothing is wrong. Do they even notice? The very statement shocked Lily. Of course they do! So why do they cover him? She mulled over this for a few minutes. Could he be a…Oh, stop it, Lily! This is Remus we’re talking about. He couldn’t possibly be that sort of monster! Unknown to Lily, her facial expression betrayed her.
James happened to look over during a bout of merriment and called over while laughing, “What’s the matter, Evans? You look as if you’ve seen a werewolf!” He laughed even harder and fell off the chair he was standing on.
You have no idea how close you are, Potter. She glanced over at him, laughing like a loon. A sudden thought struck her. Wait! James would know if Remus was a…werewolf. Why don’t I just ask him? As she stood up to go to James, though, Bucky came down and announced it was time for the team to head down to the lockers.
Twenty minutes later, Lily, Leda, and Gwen followed the rest of the school down to the Quidditch pitch. All three friends felt a twinge of apprehension as they passed the Slytherin stands. Lucius and Narcissa both looked down their noses at Lily, who looked straight ahead. Although chairs were available in the stands, no one used them. Every student stood on the balls of their feet, anxious for the match to begin.
“Welcome Hogwarts students (and staff) to what promises to be a suspense-filled event!” shouted the announcer, Blake Dickinson, a seventh year Ravenclaw. “I give you Slytherin: Avery, Nott, Smythe, Bowman, McClellan, Yoo, and Kierney!” The Slytherin stands erupted with cheers and applause as their team flew onto the field, looking smug in their green and silver robes. “And their brave opponents, the Gryffindors: Bower, Duncan, Thomas, Wilder, Angle, Wood, and Potter!” The Gryffindors cheered louder than anyone; enough, even, to drown out the Slytherins’ “boos”.
The fourteen players took their places in the air. The referee, Professor Chamberlain, stood on the ground with the balls waiting to be released. He looked at every team member.
“You all know the rules. Let’s follow them.” With that, he blew his whistle and threw the balls into the air. Smythe, a Slytherin Chaser, seized the Quaffle and raced down the Quidditch pitch toward their hoops.
Blake gladly commentated on everything. “Smythe dashes for the hoops, but Wilder chucks a Quaffle at him! Nice one, Wilder. Wood steals the Quaffle and races for the hoops”Go, Wood, Go! I have a bet on this match! Sorry Professor,” he added to Professor McGonagall.
James sat on his broom high above the action in the pitch below. Though he had only two eyes, he watched Kierney, the Slytherin Seeker, and one other eye on Lily in the Gryffindor stands and on Lucius in the Slytherin stands. He was smart enough to know that Malfoy would find a circuitous way to sabotage the match.
He snapped out of his reverie at the sound of Blake’s magnified voice. “WHAT IS POTTER DOING UP THERE? KIERNEY’S GETTING THE SNITCH!” James shoved his broom in a dive, racing, racing to get the tiny golden ball. Luckily, Wilder sent a Bludger Kierney’s way and she was forced to swerve. The move she made was enough for James. He urged his broom forward and felt pure joy when his hand closed over the Snitch. He hadn’t noticed the sky had darkened and thunder was beginning to rumble.
As fat drops of rain began to fall, Blake crowed, “And Gryffindor wins with a marvelous save by James Potter!” James tuned into the sounds around him. The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs all cheered loudly, assisted by Blake, who still possessed the magical megaphone. The Slytherins, however, wore looks that were reminiscent of those most often seen at a funeral. James forgot all of that when he was lifted onto the team’s shoulders.
Back in the stands, Lily, Leda, and Gwen were jigging to their victory.
“Oh, what a magnificent game!” Gwen shouted from her position on top of a chair.
“I know! James was up there day-dreaming and he came out of it like that!” Leda demonstrated by snapping her fingers. On impulse, she grabbed her wand and shot red and gold sparks high into the air. The rest of Gryffindor followed suit, showering everyone in sparks of color.
“What’s even better is that Malfoy didn’t ruin the match!” Lily said, more to herself. As they exited the Quidditch pitch, Lily saw “Lucius & Co.” loitering around the edges of the crowd of students. I think I spoke too soon. The thought was pushed away as Sirius swung Leda into his arms. The two began to laugh and talk in their own little mutterings.
“I’ll catch up with you guys later,” Lily said impulsively. When all three gave her strange looks, she searched for a reason. “I’m going back to meet James.” The look of triumph that passed between Leda and Gwen did not go unnoticed to Lily. For once, though, she decided not to say anything. With a wave, she pushed her way though the oncoming crowd.
Lily had nearly reached the pitch when she was pulled out of the tightly packed crowd. Her blood began to boil when she realized who had pulled her out.
“Snivellus. Lucius. Narcissa,” she said, looking at each person as she said their names. “Such a surprise to see you three together. And Narcissa, you’re outside. I do believe I see a delightfully pink pigment to your skin.” Lily forced herself to stay calm. She didn’t actually expect Narcissa to do anything. Snape and Malfoy, though, were another story. Warily, she stuck her hand in her robe pocket and clutched her wand.
“That’s what we enjoy about Mudbloods,” Lucius said conversationally. “They almost always have amusing returns to everything we say.” Before he’d finished his sentence, Snape drew out his wand and shouted a curse at Lily. Lily’s wand was out and she blocked the curse easily with a Shield Charm. The invisible wall held for Lucius’ curse as well.
Think Lily, THINK! “Stupefy!” she cried. Lucius, chicken that he was, dove behind Narcissa, who took the Stunning Spell and promptly fell over. Lily began to jog backward hoping to find someone to help her. She did literally run into someone, but they would definitely not help her. Another Slytherin goon grinned malevolently down at Lily. He pushed her to the ground and began to crack his knuckles menacingly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lucius and Snape striding over to her, smirking. And idea popped into her head. Please, Merlin, let this work.
From the ground, Lily pointed her wand at Snape and Lucius. “Impedimenta!” she shouted. She hit Lucius and repeated the spell to hit Snape. By this time, it was pouring rain and the Slytherin goon had caught onto her and made caveman grunting noises. She Stunned him and jumped to her feet as Lucius began to slowly come out of the curse.
Lily aimed and yelled, “Petrificus Totalus!” Lucius’ arms snapped to his sides and his legs clapped together. He fell over, face-first into the muddy grass with a satisfying squelch. Total surprise overwhelmed her as her wand flew out of her grasp. Snape! The greasy-haired Slytherin smiled thinly at her. When she took a step forward, he shot sparks at her.
“Tut-tut,” he teased. “Isn’t this an awkward position, Evans?” He opened his mouth to say more, but a look of surprise came over his face. Behind her, Lily heard a voice shout, “Stupefy!”
Lily picked up her wand at her feet and turned to face James. He glared furiously at the four Slytherins surrounding them on the ground.
“I could have handled that myself!” Lily shouted at him, equally furious. In her mind, she silently thanked him over and over.
“Why weren’t you with Sirius, Aleydis, and Gwen?” he asked, barely restraining his emotions.
“I was coming back to congratulate you. Apparently, I was mistaken; you don’t need congratulations,” she answered coolly. Dusting off her robes, she began to walk away.
“I haven’t gotten congratulations from you though,” he said, catching her arm. She looked back at him with an amused expression.
“I don’t want to contribute to the inflation of your already big head, Potter.”
James tried another tact. “You should have stayed with Sirius,” he told her angrily. “You knew they would try something today.”
Lily’s eyes flashed at him. “I warned you about the Quidditch match, okay? I thanked you for helping me out of a sticky situation. What more could you possibly want?” She poked him in the chest. “And another thing: why are you treating me as if I'm the Queen of England? I’ve no royal blood, so don’t treat me as if I have bloody royal blood!” She poked him in the chest through the entire rant, trying to prove her point. The last time she poked him, he grabbed her hand and held it in both of his.
“You have no idea how good that feels.”
“I’m practically punching you, how could it--” She drifted off to think about it and still had no idea what exactly he’d meant. Instead, she settled with muttering, “Pervert.”
“Lily, I’m tired of this.” Lily looked up at James.
“Tired of--”
“I don’t think we can be friends,” he stated.
Lily’s mind began to panic. No, this can’t be happening! What will I do if I can’t even talk to him? She no longer felt the falling rain. She was completely soaked, but didn’t even notice. Apparently, neither did James.
James pointed his wand in the direction of the pond. “Accio lily!” he muttered. Lily’s eyes widened as the delicate flower floated into her hand. James began to sing, which froze Lily to the spot.
"Your green eyes with their soft lights
Your eyes that promise sweet nights
Bring to my soul a longing
A thirst for love divine..."
“James, what are you doing?” Lily asked with a nervous laugh. He simply smiled and continued,
"...In dreams I seem to hold you
To find you and enfold you
Our lips meet and our hearts too, with a thrill sublime.
Those cool and limpid green eyes,
A pool wherein my love lies
So deep that in my searching for happiness
I fear that they will ever haunt me..."
Lily simply stared at James. Her mind was as blank as a fresh piece of parchment.
"...All through my life they’ll taunt me.
But will they ever want me?
Green eyes, make my dreams come true."
James took Lily’s hands. The scent of her namesake drifted between them.
“So how about it, Green Eyes?” he asked with a small smile. Before she could answer, Lily had to solve the puzzle that was confusing her brain.
“You’re the one who gave me the first flower.” Her mind raced back through all her dreams of the stag to the one where he’d given her the lily. Her closed eyes flew open at the impossible realization.
“But how could you--” James answered with a smile and a flash of blue-white light. The silver stag nuzzled Lily’s shoulder as she brought her hand up to stroke his nose.
“Prongs,” she breathed. The magnificent light flashed again and Lily’s hand now rested on James’ cheek. He brought up his hand and covered hers. He wasn’t sure how to interpret her expression. She looked surprised and amazed, but who knew what was going on in her head, behind her eyes?
“Lily?” he ventured.
Lily’s chest heaved as if it were her first breath. The contrast of her quiet voice startled James.
“You’re an Animagus. You’ve been in my dreams for months,” she whispered, studying his face in a new light.
Could it be? James wondered. I recognize that look. Merlin’s beard, let me be right.
“I don’t know what to say,” she started slowly.
James grinned. “How about, ‘I love you James’?” Lily answered by jumping into his arms and squeezing him with all her might. She wrapped her legs around his waist (much in the way that Lightwood had done once before) and her arms around his neck.
“I love you James.”
James could have strangled her for taking so long; he loved her that much.
“And I love you, Lily.” They kissed under the rain then, reminding Lily of the black and white Muggle movies she loved.
When they separated, they looked at each other and grinned. “We’re lovesick fools,” they said together. They held hands as they made their way to Gryffindor Tower.
“You haven’t congratulated me yet.”
“What do you need congratulations for?” Lily asked.
“On winning you”I mean, the match,” he answered, trying a sheepish tone.
Lily gave him a wicked sidelong glance. “Congratulations.” She turned her head to give him a considering look. “I didn’t know you could sing, Potter.” Her lips curved as he began to stutter.
“A once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, let me assure you,” he huffed. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. “Is there any chance you can undo that staircase thing?” James asked, running a hand down Lily’s back. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips before answering.
“Fat chance.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s an irreversible curse. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History. It was put in with the castle, but apparently, someone figured out how to undo it. I don't know how, though,” Lily explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Pumpernickel.” The Fat Lady swung forward and Lily and James stepped through the portrait hole. “Besides, I’m a prefect. It would be unethical if I did.”
“I can be very persuasive. Are you conveniently forgetting the fact you just Stunned three of your fellow students?”
“Two,” she corrected. “You got Snape.”
“Ah yes, I did,” he said with a look of satisfaction on his face.
The moment they walked back into the common room, Leda pounced on them. “You two had better be back together, or I’m breaking out the Spellotape,” she threatened.
To answer her, James swept Lily into his arms and began to walk towards the boys’ staircase.
“It took you bloody long enough!” Leda yelled after them.
Life is good, Lily thought as she looked into James’ eyes.