Chapter 11: A Treasure Hunt
The news that Lily Evans had finally succumbed to the charms of James Potter spread like wildfire. By breakfast the next morning, people on the Gryffindor table applauded as they entered, while Sirius walked in front of them shouting, “Make way, make way for the lovebirds!”
Lily could hardly believe what had happened in the last few days. The last time she had checked, her head had been screwed on and her feet were on the ground. She would be glad once the next few days were over, as people would leave for the Christmas holidays and things would calm down again, giving her time to think.
She was confusing even herself. A few months ago, she would never in her wildest dreams have believed that she would be here in this place. But something had changed, and she was suddenly happier than she had been in a long time.
The next few days were a blur. She spent most of them caught up in the great amount of work they were being given for the holidays. It was immense, and she didn’t have much time to think about her new feelings for James.
She had decided a while ago to stay behind for Christmas, as she didn’t think she could bear the thought of returning home at the moment. James had offered his house for the holidays, as Sirius was staying as usual anyway. But Lily had decided against it. “Its too soon for any of that. I think it would be a good idea to spend the holidays apart. Gives us some time to think.”
James and Sirius left with the others for Hogsmeade to catch the Hogwarts Express. Lily gave him a cautious hug goodbye before kissing him on the cheek. “Have fun!” she said.
“You too. I’ll write as soon as I get home.”
“Come on, Prongs! Give her a smooch and lets get out of here!”
James smiled and raised his eyes. “See you then.”
Sirius grabbed him by the arm. “Sorry Evans. If I don’t use physical force I’ll never get him away.”
“Be my guest,” she said.
Sirius pulled James’s arm and jerked it backwards behind his back.
“Aargh!” James yelled. “Alright, alright, I give, let’s go!”
He smiled once more at Lily, Sirius winked at her, and they turned their backs to join the queue of people filing out of the grounds on the way to Hogsmeade.
The castle was strangely empty at Christmas. Lily had only ever spent it at Hogwarts once during her whole seven years at the school. Yves stayed behind every year, so at least she had her best friend for company. After using the first day of freedom relaxing and recharging their energy, they spent most of the first few days getting the bulk of their homework out of the way. It took a lot of persuasion from Lily to get Yves to work, but once they had got through a sizable amount, they found the rest of the holidays highly enjoyable.
On Christmas morning, Lily awoke to find Yves ripping paper off her presents.
“Merry Christmas, Lily!” she said, getting out of bed to give her friend a hug.
“Wow, that’s a sizable pile! What have you got so far?” Lily asked.
“Oh, bits and pieces really. Mainly from my parents.”
Lily looked at her own pile with a smile. She loved Christmas. Her first present was from her parents: a beautiful hand-knitted scarf with matching gloves. The next few were also from her parents: a pair of warm boots for walking in the snow, some new dress robes, and a huge box of chocolates. She sat nibbling on the chocolate as she opened the rest of her presents.
“Nothing from Petunia this year…” she said glumly. “Not that I expected her to have bothered. She usually gives it to me in person, and I’m not at home this year. I doubt she will be either.” She suddenly felt very guilty for leaving her parents alone at Christmas.
Yves changed the subject. “What did James get you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t opened his present yet.” She looked at the few she had left and found the one that read “To Lily, have a very Merry Christmas, love James x.”
“Not as cheesy as usual,” Yves noticed.
“Well he doesn’t have to be anymore, I suppose.”
She ripped off the paper, and out fell a box. Opening it, Lily found-
“A piece of parchment?”
“Read it!” Yves said, excitedly.
Lily unrolled the parchment.
Lily, I know you probably have a lot of eating and present opening to do, but if you can spare me a few minutes, then follow the signs. Love James
P.S: Merry Christmas!
Lily looked up, puzzlement on her face. “Follow the signs? That boy gets weirder the more I get to know him.”
“Well get dressed then! We’ve got a treasure hunt to do!”
“Treasure hunt?”
“I read about them. It’s a Muggle sport.”
“I know what a treasure hunt is, Yve, my family are Muggles, remember? And it’s not a sport, silly, it’s a game.”
“Well whatever it is, they sound fun!”
Twenty minutes later, and they were dressed and ready to go. They began in the common room.
“I don’t see any signs, Yve,” Lily said, still puzzled.
“Well, it’s clearly a riddle… let’s think… follow the signs…” she trailed off, lost for words.
Lily sank into a nearby armchair. “Do you think he was supposed to put up signs for us to follow, but forgot?”
“No, silly, or we’d have seen them before this morning. Now, where do we find signs?”
“I have no idea,” Lily said, clearly at a loss.
“Help me, Lily! Signs…”
Lily hazarded a guess. “Divination?”
“Could be! The North Tower!” Yves said, shooting off.
Lily followed, not sure whether all this was just a silly Marauder joke. Once at the top of the tower, however, they found another box that read ‘For Lily’.
The scroll inside held few words, and was even more confusing:
‘Stirring the Slug’
Lily’s mind was at a blank. This was so typical of James, making her run around the castle on Christmas day.
“What do you reckon?” Yves asked, scratching her head in confusion.
“Uh, the Greenhouses would have slugs, wouldn’t they?”
“Not if Professor Sprout and her slug repellent have anything to do with it. Besides, the greenhouses get locked at Christmas.”
“Do they?” Lily read the scroll again. “Stirring the Slug… stirring the… Wait “ Stirring. That could refer to potions, and Slug would be Professor Slughorn, right?”
“Brilliant! Let’s go!”
They made their way down the stairs of the North Tower. Lily was out of breath by the time they reached the bottom and hurried along the corridor.
“We have to go all the way to the dungeon?” she exclaimed despairingly. “Couldn’t he have put it somewhere a little nearer?”
Once they reached the dungeon, somewhat breathless, they proceeded to Slughorn’s office. It was locked.
“Alohamora!” Yves said, pointing her wand at the lock. Nothing happened.
“Yve, no teacher would be dumb enough to lock their office door using a charm that ‘Alohamora’ can counter. It can’t be in here. Maybe we got it wrong.”
Lily pulled out the scroll again and read it. “Hmm, shall we go back up and do it later? I’m getting hungry.”
As they walked up the staircase leading to the Entrance Hall however, they bumped into Slughorn.
“Ah, Miss Evans, Miss Shaw, a very Merry Christmas to you both!”
“Thank you, Professor.”
“Oh, Miss Evans, I have something for you in my office. It arrived this morning addressed to me, but the gift is labelled as ‘For Lily’. I suppose the owl must have been confused.”
“Thank you, can I take it now?” Her eyes shone with an excitement that Slughorn couldn’t resist.
“Of course, I would not like to deprive you of a present on Christmas day! I’m on my way down there now, as it happens.”
Lily went with Slughorn and left Yves standing in the Entrance Hall. She took the box form him, wished him a hasty ‘Merry Christmas, Professor’ and ran back to Yves.
“What does it say?” Yves asked excitedly.
Lily opened the small box and took out the parchment. It read:
'Take Flight'
"Well, this one's a little easier," Yves said, taking the scroll from Lily and rolling it up. "The next one's in the Owlery." She grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her up the stairs. Again.
They were once more out of breath before they reached the Owlery. Lily leant on the windowsill to get her breath back. "Why - couldn't - he - put - this - clue - after - the - North - Tower - clue... much - easier..."
Yves smiled. "Maybe he thinks you need to lose a bit of weight, so he's sending you round on a workout."
Lily stuck her tongue out at Yves, and they began to search the Owlery for signs of another parcel.
Lily looked up. "Yves! It's there!" She pointed towards the ceiling, where a particularly fat owl was sleeping on its perch with a parcel attatched to its leg. There began several minutes of cooing at the bird in an attemot to coax it down to their level, but to no avail. Once they had made enough fools of themselves, Yves turned to Lily, who was impersonating an attractive bird.
"Give it up, Lils. I'm gonna have to go up."
"Up?"
"As in, climb up and get it. Give me a leg up."
Lily hoisted Yves up to the first perch, where she methodically began climbing until she reached the fat owl. It woke up, and tried to take flight. "Oh no you don't," Yves said, grabbing hold of the parcel and loosing it from the owl's leg. "Lily, catch!"
She threw it down to Lily, who caught it in one hand and unwrapped it.
"What does it say?" Yves said as she climbed back down.
"It says ‘Feast’..."
“That’s it? What’s on the back?”
Lily turned it over. “Nothing. It just says ‘Feast’.”
Yves reached the bottom. “Speaking of which, I’m starving, and everyone’s going into breakfast. Shall we eat?”
“Sure. I suppose this can wait.” There was disappointment in her voice.
They made there way back down the many flights of stairs and entered the Great Hall with the few others who had stayed for Christmas. There were half a dozen Gryffindors at the table, and Lily and Yves joined them for breakfast. The Feast would be later, so breakfast was a normal affair. The girls chatted with the others until everyone had finished eating, and then went for a stroll around the grounds. It had been snowing the last few days, one of the plusses of being at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, as it was so scenic.
Everything was white. Lily, Yves and three Sixth Year boys from Gryffindor walked around the lake, chatting merrily, and then had a very enthusiastic snowball fight. An hour later, they were all soaked through, and Lily could barely feel her fingers or toes from the cold.
It was time for Christmas dinner in the Great Hall. The five Gryffindors made their way slowly and painfully towards the oak front doors, and into the warmth of the Great Hall, where pupils and teachers alike were beginning to sit down at one, long table in the middle of the Hall. Lily scanned the table to find seats. Her eye caught a glimpse of two familiar bodies sitting in the middle, waving enthusiastically at them.
“No way! It’s James and Sirius!” she exclaimed, completely shocked.
“Where?”
“Over there!” She pointed.
“What on earth are they doing here?”
“I have no idea…”
They approached the pair, shock on their faces.
“Surprise!” James said, smiling. “Merry Christmas!” He got up and kissed Lily warmly in full view of the rest of table. She sat down, a little flushed, with James on one side and Sirius and Yves on the other.
“What are you-“ she began.
“I know its lame, but I thought I would lead you on a wild goose chase. This is where the clues end. At the Feast.”
“So where’s my present?”
“I’m right here!” he said, spreading wide his arms and grinning.
“Oh, great present!” she said sarcastically.
Yves raised her eyes. “So we ran round the whole castle for this? We could have just turned up as normal and been just as surprised.”
“I know, but this way was much more inventive, don’t you think? Besides, I was kidding before. This is your present.”
“He pulled out another small box, the same as all the others, labelled ‘For Lily’.
“If this is another-“
“Just open it.”
Inside were two pearl earrings.
“I found them myself. The pearls I mean. When I was abroad in the summer holidays, we went diving in the sea and I saw those at the bottom. I got them made into earrings for you. They’re unique.”
“They’re beautiful. Thank you.” She kissed him on the cheek.
Yves turned to Sirius. “So what the hell are you two actually doing here? Don’t you spend Christmas at James’s house?”
“Yeah, we spent the morning there. Then we Apparated to Hogsmeade and walked here. They didn’t mind, anything to get us troublemakers out of the house for a few hours of peace and quiet! We cleared it with Dumbledore before we left. Impressed?”
“I didn’t know you could Apparate!” Yves said.
“We both passed our tests last summer. Can’t you?”
“No. I failed. Badly.”
Dumbledore stood from his seat at the Head of the table and spoke. “Now that we are all seated, I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas. In times like this it is important that we all have a little, if not a lot, of merriment in our lives. So on that note, I hope you stuff yourselves silly and laugh louder than you have in ages! Enjoy the food!”
The table was suddenly filled with every kind of Christmas food imaginable. Turkeys, geese, ducks, pheasants, chickens and hams took up most of the room. There were also piles of sausages, heaps of vegetables, tureens of gravy, and masses of stuffing. They piled their plates high and began eating. It was food like Lily had never tasted before. All too soon, they were all clutching their stomachs, happily full and ready to sleep.
Once the Feast was over, Lily and Yves walked James and Sirius to Hogsmeade, where they Apparated back to James’s parents’ house for the rest of Christmas.
“Thanks for my present, James,” Lily said, as they were ready to depart.
“No problem. Have a great time during the rest of the holidays. I’ll see you soon.” He smiled.
“You too.”
James and Sirius waved goodbye, and were gone.
Love Conquers by dumbly_dorr
Chapter Notes: The (finally) new couple Lliy and James have to spend Christmas apart. But James won't let the holidays go past without his presence being felt!