CHAPTER 9- Christmas without Prongs
“Horcrux? No, I can’t say I have, Evans. Are you sure that’s how it’s read?” Professor Marchbanks yawned and blinked.
“Oh, don’t worry, Professor, it’s nothing important. It was probably just a misinterpretation of mine. Thank you anyway. Erm, merry Christmas.” Lily left from the classroom after her tutoring, heaving her heavy bag of books. At the entrance of the Runes classroom, she stopped, suddenly hearing the sound of two people whispering. It was past nine. With the suspicion that one of those people was Sirius (and the other was probably an adoring fan “ or someone else she knew quite well), she gave a small cough.
“Hey, Evans, need a hand? Looks like your bag’s about to explode!” Sirius came from around the corner with a backwards glance behind him at a blonde ponytail that was leaving from the other way. Lily nodded and threw the over-flowing schoolbag into Sirius’ arms. She yawned and stretched her arms. After an hour of remedial Ancient Runes that she felt were useless, all she wanted to do was fall asleep. But, unfortunately, she had to patrol that night. Again.
“What do you want, Black?”
Sirius tried to catch up with her, but the bag gave him little choice. He was left to shout from the end of the hallway.
“Well, honestly, nothing, I just wanted to get away from “ er - that pack of Ravenclaws. Can’t seem to throw them off. Must be my dashing good looks.” He considered.
Lily paid no attention. She felt her eyes close and almost screamed with frustration. Three days until the holidays started; it still seemed a very long time. There must be some way she could avoid patrolling that night. She leaned on the wall and waited for Sirius, who was still struggling with the bag.
“What were you doing?” he asked with no real interest.
“Runes Primary,” Lily answered. Seventh-year students had to choose at least one subject for private tutoring once a week. She had chosen Runes as a Primary Newt, along with Potions and Charms.
“Runes? Nah, not for me. I chose Defence and Magical Creatures. Same as Wormy. James and Moony take Defense and Transfiguration. You look knackered, by the by, Evans.” Sirius yawned in sympathy.
“You would too if you knew you had to roam around the castle for two hours.”
“Hey, I think Moony isn’t doing anything tonight - anything worthwhile anyway. I could go ask him, if you want.” Sirius offered, looking surprised himself with this unusual exhibition of kindness.
“Oh, would you, Black?” Lily didn’t sound too grateful. “Yes, I suppose you do feel guilty, traipsing around here getting your hands on any witch you find, while I work like a house elf!”
“I was only offering-”
“Oh, go get your friend and leave my books in the Common Room. I’ll be waiting right here.” Lily’s tone was final. Sirius shrugged and left taking one careful step at a time.
“Idiot, honestly!”
Lily waited, sitting at a window seal, muttering about the uselessness of everyone but herself. After a while she heard the distinct sound of someone approaching. Anger and fatigue boiled up inside her and she readied herself for a fight. Sirius had been over ten minutes. Was he so stupid he couldn’t even get to the Common Room in one piece?
She crossed her arms and waited for Remus or Sirius to show up so she could vent her spleen on them. The footsteps stopped. This was not her lucky day.
James stood there, grinning sheepishly. On second thoughts, it was probably a luckier day than most. She could insult Potter to the point of becoming suspiciously like Bellatrix Black and he would not turn a hair. And she hadn’t done that too often these days for obvious reasons. But her head didn’t have room for any other emotion other than fury, tiredness and excessive thinking concerning Arithmancy progressions and Rune translations. Embarrassment did not even enter her mind.
“Oh, well, isn’t it Saint Potter? What, your friend sent you because he thought I couldn’t handle this myself? Or perhaps I needed some sense knocked into me by a fellow sufferer?” she sneered nastily, sounding nothing like herself.
As she expected, he didn’t even turn a single hair.
“I’m not going to argue about that - though there’s absolutely no reason for you to bite my head off. And what are you on about Sirius? Because I doubt you’d talk about Moony like that.” He took a bite out of chocolate éclair she knew he had stolen from the kitchens. Her stomach rumbled hungrily.
“If you’re going to pretend you don’t know, then I am not going to tell you. Do you really believe that I - ARGHHHHH!” Lily waved her hands helplessly as something feathery and without a sense of direction flew from the window to her face.
James was staring incredulously at the flying monster. “JAMS?” The winged thing gave a hoot at the sound of its name.
Lily, over her surprise and anger, stared at him and the woebegone owl. Lips slightly pursed and close to laughter, she repeated, as unemotionally as she could: “Jams?” Then, barely controlling herself, she burst into laughter.
“It’s our family owl,” James muttered through gritted teeth. “I didn’t call him “ it - that. It misjudged its name. My dad was calling me and the stupid bird heard jams. I think it’s almost deaf.”
Lily laughed even harder at this information and at James’ red face. She put a hand on the wall to stand steady but, gradually, her laughter subsided at the look of James’ face. As his eyes went lower reading the letter, they became narrow and scared. Lily gulped.
“James? James, are you alright? James, I’m talking to you.”
She finally did get a reaction, but most definitely not the one she expected.
“Oh, don’t worry, Evans, I can hear your ear splitting bloody voice! Oh, Merlin forbid that we don’t pay attention to bloody Lily Evans! But the whole world does NOT concern you. Some things are more important than your finger-sized brain!”
Lily, hurt, but knowing he meant nothing of what he said, raised her arms to calm him.
“Alright, James, alright. I’ll leave you alone, now, take it easy.” She turned to leave and then felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked at James’s drawn face. Her heart did a back-flip and she had no idea why.
“I’m sorry, Lily. I’m sorry.”
Lily, too concerned to think about what she was doing, pulled him closer and squeezed his warm hand.
“I don’t want you to tell me. Don’t feel like you need to. Just -”
“It’s my mum and dad.” James pulled away. “They’re at St Mungo’s.”
She looked at him carefully and pushed him to the end of the corridor.
“Go to McGonagall. Now. And I’ll do patrol. Go.”
He looked at her, his face glowing with thanks. James nodded and ran. Just before he was out of sight, she shouted.
“Let me know how it goes. Please, Potter.”
Dear Remus, Sirius, Peter, Lily and anyone
remotely interested (namely Alice and Luna),
Thanks for your Get well-Christmas card. My mum loved it - she’s a
madman for cards that sing or, in this case, screech none too reassuringly.
Anyway, to the point - mum and dad are fine.
The healers say it’s a matter of weeks before they’re completely
cured. They haven’t quite explained what happened to them but it’s a common
magical illness for people their age and apparently nothing to worry about. Stll,
I’ve persuaded them to let me stay a while longer.
Hope you have a great Christmas and Happy New Year,
James
“Well, that, I suppose, is one less thing we have to worry about,” Remus folded the letter in two and handed it to Lily. She smiled, tired after patrol, and scanned the letter for herself.
When she finished, she pocketed it and gazed around the empty room. It was Christmas Eve and everyone was in bed, except for Lily and Remus who had been asked to do a round of the castle before bed. When they’d entered the Common Room, they’d found the letter (which their friends had obviously left for them to read) on a small table round the fire.
Remus yawned.
“Sorry. Merlin, I am incredibly tired.” He rubbed his eyes.
Lily nodded. “Hey, Remus, why don’t we just fall asleep here? Christmas tomorrow, no one will care - and I can’t be bothered to change.”
“You read my mind. Goodnight.”
“Merry Christmas, Remus.”
It was almost midnight in the Gryffindor Common Room. All the seventh-years were slumbering on the armchairs savouring the relaxing holidays that they deserved. Also, half of the seventh-years had drunk too much very-mature-Firewhisky the night before (at Sirius’s suggestion) so there was an uncommon silence in the room. Of course, Luna’s arguing with Sirius contributed to the silence “ although Lily was quite sure the argument wasn’t all that sincere.
Remus suddenly stood up.
“Well, I’m going to bed. I finally made the fatal mistake of succumbing into Sirius’ very bad judgment of the amount of Firewhisky my body can handle. And besides, I’m not feeling up to myself these days. I think I may be falling ill, again.” No one but Peter quite understood the hidden meaning of his words.
“Yes, I think I’ll come too. With James coming tomorrow, I don’t think we’ll get much sleep.” Peter nodded and followed Moony to the boys’ dormitory. Tiberius, who had been playing Exploding Snap with Nat, his friend Colin and Alice, heeding Peter’s words and realizing it was his last night of peaceful sleep, jumped up and ran to his room, not taking notice of his burning pyjamas. After a while, Luna followed suit and bade them goodnight, making a point of not even glancing at Sirius. He, on seeing her leave, grinned mischievously and left too, making it as plain as daylight that what Lily and Alice had long been suspecting had indeed happened.
At midnight, once again, only a few people were in the Common Room, including Lily, Alice, Nat, Colin and a couple of yawning sixth-years. Nat, seemingly realizing this, gave a small nod to his friend, who, taking the hint, made a show of how tired he was and went to bed.
“You know, I’m awfully worn out, too,” Alice stretched and headed to their dormitory, though not before she politely pushed Lily back in her seat. “No, really, Lil, you stay, I’ll be fine on my own, Luna’s not that terrifying in the nighttime “ you get used to it! G’night, Nat!”
Lily felt her cheeks grow hot. Alice had had the ridiculous idea that she and Nat liked each other (though she hadn’t said it quite like that) and was plainly trying fix up a situation that was not to Lily’s liking. Or so she said.
“Hey, Lily, d’you fancy going out for a bit? Do something wild for a change?” whispered Nat, so the waking sixth-years wouldn’t hear.
Lily was about to put on a scandalized expression and remind Nat of his “wildness” the other night, when the seventh-years along with some of the more daring fifth-years got hold of some Fire
whisky. But, suddenly, a recklessness took hold of her. Why not? She would prove them all wrong; Alice, James, Bellatrix Black, even Nat, who thought being wild was a change for her routine life.
“On one condition only; we’ll come back as late as possible,” Nat grinned and beckoned towards the portrait; none of the sixth-years noticed a thing in their sleep.
The Fat Lady too was asleep and so they were spared of an unwelcome lecture. As they walked on (Nat holding her hand, without Lily noticing), the Head Girl took out her wand. She had never seen Hogwarts this late at night and although she knew almost every nook and cranny, she couldn’t suppress a shudder and felt thankful of Nathaniel’s comforting hand.
“Hey, do you fancy going up to the Astronomy tower? It should be nice seeing; it’s gibbous moon tonight,” he whispered. Lily looked at him, puzzled for a moment. Then comprehension dawned.
“Oh, gibbous, when the moon is not completely full, you mean? I’m sorry; my astronomy is a little rusty, not having studied it since fifth-year…”
Nat lead her to the north of the castle with such ease that she was sure he had made this trip before. She felt a pinch of jealousy. Just how many girls had he brought up here? Even though she could hear nobody, she saved her question for when they got to the tower. Arguing would be less audible from there.
At last, they climbed the steps and Lily, although she had seen it many times with her telescope during her Astronomy classes, could not help but feel awed. There were millions of stars strewn in the dark sky and just above them was the almost-full moon. A breeze blew and Lily shivered, but even Nat’s noble (yet cliché) act of giving her his jacket didn’t let the question she had been dying to ask slip her mind.
“You seemed to know your way around, Natie,” she stressed the last word. “Have you brought your girlfriends here often?” A slight note of sarcasm managed to escape her lips.
Nat grinned.
“No, not any girlfriends. Girls that are friends, yeah, boys that are friends, too, girls that are sisters as well, but no girlfriends. Not yet, at least.” He didn’t let her comment. “Do you like it?”
“Mm, yes. Slightly cold for my taste, but other than that, I could not ask for a better place for a midnight outing…” Lily took out her wand and made a swishing movement; tiny flowers erupted from its tip, in different colours and sizes. Nat watched admiringly and Lily, feeling the need to show off, decided to reveal another of her abilities, less known to anyone but her close friends. Lightly, she raised her hand and picked up one of the falling flowers. As she held it in her hand, the flower opened and closed like a living creature. Nat, impressed, tried to do the same but however hard he tried, the flowers remained still at his touch.
“How do you do that?” he asked, puzzled and slightly annoyed after his ninth try. Lily laughed.
“I don’t really know; I could do it before I learnt I was a witch. I think it has to do with my affiliation to Charms, nothing special, but nice.”
She swished her wand once more, letting colourful bubbles from it, and they were both soon almost swimming in the tower. Finally, when no more than two small bubbles were left, Nat approached Lily decisively. When he was barely inches from her face, the last bubble flew between them. He stroked it with a finger and - with a pop! - it disappeared. Lily smiled happily and waited. Nat leaned and -
“Up here, you incompetent fools! Before the caretaker sees!”
Lily had seconds to decide what to do. Before Nat could argue, she cast the Disillusionment Charm on him and herself and backed away to a corner of the tower that was furthest away from the door. For a second there was silence; then the wooden door burst open and three people came out, all cloaked.
“Why have you brought me here, Cissy? To introduce me to your boyfriend?” asked the tallest of the three, a girl, in a very familiar voice.
The cloaked short one, Cissy, sneered in a mock outraged voice: “If that’s what you think of me, maybe I should have left you in your ignorance.”
The third figure twitched and said in a completely unknown (but with a strange bark to it), daunting voice: “This is no time for your fruitless quarrels. We have come here for a purpose. And if you don’t want to feel any of the repercussions, I suggest you get on with completing the assignment you were given.”
The mocking girl, Cissy, turned to her sister.
“You know from Rodolphus who now is his and our master. The Lord wishes to gain more supporters and he believes that the best place to start is here, at Hogwarts. You know of his ideas, you openly support them here and this is your chance to prove yourself. To do more than talk, to act, to rid our world of unnecessary scum. Join us!”
Her sister was watching her silently.
“I am no killer, Cissy. I dislike them, true, but I have no bloodlust.”
Cissy showed no frustration, except in pacing to and fro from her sister.
“But, we can get rid of those we dislike, those who have jeered us! My - our master has no love for those wizards who show affection for the mud dwellers! You know who I mean! We can be the ones who destroy them!” Here, Lily could see, Cissy had hit home. Her sister stirred uneasily and twirled the wand in her hand. She seemed to be debating the matter. For time, she turned her head to the silent boy next to Cissy.
“And you mean to say that he,” she spat the words with contempt “, too has, joined your cause? This cowardly worm?”
The boy made no move, but suddenly the air around them seemed more menacing.
“It is not me you accuse, cousin, it is my family; one member in particular. Although I need not remind you that you are closely related to us both. But my master did not seem to find it a problem. Neither should you.”
The girl looked almost apathetic, but Cissy shuffled uncomfortably. “Heed him. He is one of the few the Lord confides in. Besides me, of course.”
“Your arrogance knows no boundaries. But I am not concerned. You,” the boy turned to the tallest of the three, “have a short time to decide. Until the end of this week. Inform those you find trustworthy and bring them to us. Now, it is late. Go, both of you and do not let a word slip to anyone remotely uncalled for.” The two sisters, though they clearly despised being ordered by the boy, left the Tower.
The boy waited for a while, then threw back his hood, revealing long black hair.
“It is begun, my Lord. What you once started, I shall continue.”
As soon as he left, Nat lifted the charm and breathed deeply. Lily was gazing at the creaking door.
“Nat, do you know who that was?”
Nat swallowed agitatedly. Lily took a sharp breath of cold air, almost aware that what she was about to hear would change her life.
“'Course I do. Never seen two brothers less alike. Regulus Black is the complete opposite of Sirius.”
A/N: Well, here we have the appearance of the infamous Regulus, who’s important for my story, very much so. Another important point, Lily’s falling for Nathaniel. But don’t worry, fellow fans, for James is arriving soon. To post again soon!