“Lily, Mary, Martha! What a lovely surprise. Chasing after me during holidays, too?”
Lily scowled, Mary sighed and Martha giggled.
“Nice to see you, too, Sirius,” replied Lily sarcastically. “Forgive me if I don’t get up and worship you immediately, but I’m dry and I don’t want to be put off my food.”
“Come on you two. Get out of those wet things and join us,” said Hereward Potter, getting up from the table and ushering the two boys up the stairs.
James and Sirius trooped upstairs and returned five minutes later, rubbing their hair dry with clean towels.
Sirius sat next to Martha, whilst James pulled up a chair next to his dad and opposite Mary.
“So,” began James, ostensibly to Mary, but he kept glancing at Lily, “What are you doing here?”
“We didn’t know you lived here,” Lily said quickly. “We’re on a hiking trip to visit the Founders’ places of birth. Mary and Martha went to Huffle-on-the- Hill; we all went to Ravensglen; now we’re in Godric’s Hollow. Tomorrow we’ll head off for...” She stopped.
“Head off where?” asked Sirius with interest.
“Well, we’re not totally sure of Salazar Slytherin’s birthplace.”
“Somewhere dark and slimy, I’m sure,” said Sirius. Lily ignored him but Martha giggled again.
“We wanted to talk to Bathilda Bagshot about it, but she’s away,” Mary continued.
“No problem,” said James. “My dad’s almost as knowledgeable as old Batty. He’ll help.”
“Really!” exclaimed Mary. “Can you help, Hereward?”
Hereward looked at her and smiled warmly. “I can try. I’ll have a look tonight for you.”
The conversation turned to O.W.L.s.
“How did you do, James?” asked Mary.
“Four Outstandings, five Exceeds Expectations and an Acceptable in stupid Divination,” he said nonchalantly as he speared a potato. “And you?”
“Not as good as you. I got four Exceeds Expectations, one Acceptable, two Dreadfuls; but I did get an Outstanding in wonderful Divination,” replied Mary, grinning.
“How about you, Evans?” asked James, looking across to Lily. It was the first time he’d addressed a question to her since he’d sat down.
“Four Outstandings and six Exceeds Expectations,” she said quietly. As she looked up, she saw James staring at her. He looked away hurriedly.
“Well done, Lily,” Hereward congratulated.
“How about you, Sirius?” Martha asked, turning her face towards him.
His face froze; he laughed bitterly.
“I don’t know. My old mum opened the results and I haven’t seen them.”
“Wow!” said Martha, oblivious to the tension that greeted any mention of Walburga Black. “You must have done really badly.”
Sirius laughed and suddenly the tension was diffused. “Quite the opposite, I think she flipped because I’d done well in Muggle Studies.”
“You saw that result then?” stated Lily.
“Nope, but I had to write an essay about a form of Muggle Transport. James will tell you about my fascination for speed and motorbikes.” He spoke matter- of- factly, but with confidence in his voice.
“Pride comes before a fall, Sirius,” said Lily.
“In the Black family, it’s pride comes and you don’t fall “ ever,” he replied, the bitter note returning to his voice.
There was a silence as everyone stopped eating.
“Professor Dumbledore will send your duplicate results soon,” Hally said soothingly.
“Hope so. I have no idea which books to buy for next year.” He turned to Lily. “What were your O’s in?”
“Herbology, Arithmancy, Charms and Potions,” she replied. She looked at Sirius and smiled slightly; there was a note of pride in her voice.
“Good Godric, Evans!” said James, picking up another slice of meat. “That’s amazing. Potions! I thought that was impossible.”
“James,” said his mother reprovingly. “Lily has a perfectly lovely first name, so why do you always call her by her surname?”
James spluttered on his pumpkin juice. “I err...don’t know but Evans, I mean Lily, always calls me Potter.”
“Because you call me Evans!” she retorted, her eyes flashing.
Sirius groaned and helped himself to more potatoes. “They’re off again. Let’s change the subject. Lily, well done on your Potions result; Prongs is obviously miffed because he only got an E.”
“What were your O’s in then, James?” asked Martha, who was barely touching her food, pushing it around the plate as she watched Sirius.
“Transfiguration, Defence, Charms and History of Magic,” he replied, and smiled at his dad.
“History of Magic! But you always mess around in the lessons,” Lily cried in amazement. “You two are the only ones whose names Binns remembers!”
“Oh-ho!” Hereward chuckled. “Now we’re getting to the truth.”
“Binns is so boring, even Ev... err, Lily will admit that, but I have Dad and Bathilda nearby. She used to babysit, so I picked it all up from them. Seriously though, that’s an impressive Potions result,” said James earnestly.
He did sound impressed and Lily felt a faint glow inside her “ as if, somehow, his opinion mattered.
“Sluggy will be pleased with his star pupil,” said Mary, laughing. “You’ll be Queen of the Slug Club.”
“Slug Club?” questioned Hereward. “What’s that?”
Mary turned to him to explain.
“Professor Slughorn, our Potions Master, likes to encourage certain students. Usually, this is because they come from the right family or have a special talent.”
“So, it isn’t wealth he looks for?” enquired Hally with interest.
“No,” replied Mary, “he’s not that crude. Lily was selected on talent alone. I think it shocked him that she was Muggle-born.”
Lily found herself blushing. “Stop it, Mary. He asked those two as well,” she said, pointing to James and Sirius.
“He grudgingly asked me. I don’t think he’s got over the shock of a Black in Gryffindor. Anyway, he won’t ask me back now that I’ve left home,” said Sirius, with an air of unconcern.
“But you’re a member, James?” said his mother.
“Supposedly, Mum, but I never go to any of his ‘soirees’,” replied James scornfully.
“You mean you were chucked out for spiking the mead at the Christmas party,” said Sirius, laughing and winking at Martha. She smiled back.
Hereward looked across at his son, a twinkle in his eye; James looked back at him and snorted.
“What colour did they turn?” Hereward asked in a stage whisper.
“Very green,” James replied and grinned at his dad.
“And we stayed that way for the whole weekend!” complained Lily. “I haven’t forgotten, Potter.”
“Oh, come on, Evans. I did warn you off the mead to start with, and I offered you the antidote; you refused it!” protested James.
“They’ve started again,” said Mary, sighing.
“So,” Sirius said, to change the subject. “An O in Divination, Mary. I didn’t know you were that good.” He looked directly at Martha “Are you a mind-reader too?”
“It’s our Celt blood,” Martha said laughingly.
“You don’t look Celtic at all,” he said, and he gently tugged one of her blonde curls, “more Saxon.”
Martha smiled widely; Lily noticed how Sirius mirrored her smile as he looked into her face.
“You’re from a Seer family, then?” questioned Hereward. “True Seers are incredibly rare.”
Mary grinned. “I’m good at sensing moods and body language, that’s all. It’s Hally that seems to be the Seer, predicting that storm.”
Hally laughed. “Not really, don’t you ever think you can smell rain?” she said; Mary nodded but the others looked nonplussed.
“Wonder how Remus and Peter did?” mused James, as he finished his last potato.
“They’ll tell us when they get here,” replied Sirius, turning his attention back to his near empty dinner plate.
“Five Outstandings and five Exceeds Expectations,” said Mary, swallowing her food down in one gulp.
“Say again?” said James.
She swallowed more thoroughly. “Remus got five O’s and five E’s. He told me in his last letter,” she repeated, and they could all hear the vicarious pride in her voice.
“Good Godric! Five O’s. That’s almost indecent,” exclaimed Sirius. He began to help himself to Martha’s food so she pushed her plate towards him.
“What in?” asked James, a note of envy in his voice.
“Defence, Charms, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies,” recited Mary.
“There you are, James,” said his mother slyly, “you’re still top in Transfiguration.”
James smirked, and then said, “Padfoot will have an O as well. I don’t mind sharing with him.”
“Is there no one else from your year likely to get top marks?” asked Martha.
James was silent and Sirius stopped eating as though the question was distasteful.
“Severus Snape,” said Lily quietly. “He could.”
“The Slytherin boy that you get into all that trouble over?” asked Hally with disapproval in her voice. “You never said he was clever.”
“Sneaky, ambitious and, yeah, clever. He spends most of his time cooking up dark hexes in his dungeon of a dormitory,” said James darkly as he stabbed his fork into a piece of broccoli.
“Mwah-ha-ha-ha!” laughed Sirius, imitating a Vampire and pretending to bite Martha’s neck.
I hate all this rivalry, thought Lily. If they hadn’t picked on Sev from that first day, I wouldn’t have lost a friend.
“What are you thinking, Lily?” Hally’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Were the House rivalries really intense when you were at school, Hally?” she asked, looking into her pale-blue eyes.
It was Hereward who answered. “Not for me,” he said. “I had friends from different houses, especially fellow Quidditch players.” He looked at Sirius. “I counted your Uncle Alphard as a friend in those days.”
“Are you really telling me that you didn’t hate Slytherin?” said James, taken aback.
“It was never hate, James, we had a healthy rivalry, but they were different times. It was before Grindelwald’s reign of terror and Voldemort’s “ sorry,” he said, noticing the three girl’s alarm, “You-Know-Who’s rise.”
“So you think You-Know-Who is behind all the tension, Mr P...err...Hereward?” asked Lily as she placed her knife and fork in the centre of her plate.
“His influence, certainly, is a malign one,” replied Hereward.
There was another long silence, broken only by the sound of Sirius scraping his plate.
Hally got up, went out to the kitchen, and returned with the treacle tart. She brought it over to the table and served up seven portions with fresh cream.
“Wow, this is wonderful,” said Sirius. “I will marry the girl who can cook a treacle tart as well as Sukey. Where is my favourite house-elf, by the way?”
“Sukey’s not back yet, Sirius,” replied Hally. He looked up to see her laughing at him.
“Lily,” declared Hereward, “I believe Sirius has just proposed to you!”
Wrong-footed, for once, Sirius looked at Lily. She was amused, whereas Martha looked a bit downcast.
“Fantastic!” he roared. “I can’t wait to tell my parents. Shall we make it a June wedding, Lily, or would you rather not wait? I could probably squeeze you in next Thursday.”
“I’m not sure about the name, Lily Black “ it makes me sound like a death omen,” mused Lily.
“At least his surname isn’t White,” said Mary, snorting with laughter. “Lily White, eternally pure.”
“Urgh! No good for the honeymoon and while we’re on that subject,” said Sirius with an exaggerated leer in his voice. He leant over the table to stare into Lily’s eyes. “Where should we go Mrs Black-to-be?” He began to laugh, and then stopped as he noticed James glaring at him and Lily flushing at his insinuation. Smirking slightly, he sat back in his chair.
It appeared that Hereward had also noticed his son’s demeanour, for he began speaking again.
“Hally, my dear, you should fill them in on your rivalries at school.”
“Rivalries, you, Hally?” exclaimed Sirius. He sounded surprised.
“Couple of Ravenclaw girls I couldn’t stand, a Hufflepuff, a Slytherin and one Gryffindor in particular.”
“Mum, you’ve never told me this! What happened to your ‘live and let live’ philosophy?” James was amazed.
Your father’s ex-girlfriends,” she said succinctly. “One or two of them were remarkably persistent.” She glared at Hereward and, for a moment, Lily had a glimpse of the feisty girl Hally must have been.
“Boys, help me with the plates,” she said tersely. Sirius and James stood up immediately and began to clear the table.
“That’s good,” said Hereward, as she left. “I thought she was going to bring up the Valentines’ Day incident when I triple booked.”
“You were seeing two other girls whilst dating Mrs Potter?” questioned Martha, shocked.
“Oh no, Martha, I was never untrue to Hally. I had to chase her for a long time so, once she agreed to go out with me, I didn’t dare mess it up.”
“Like father, like son,” whispered Mary to Lily, who pretended not to hear.
James and Sirius came back carrying a decanter of mead and some glasses.
“Mum’s gone to bed,” announced James. “She said sorry for not staying up, but she hopes to see you tomorrow.” He began to pour some drinks.
“Not for us, thank-you,” said Lily. “We really should be going.”
“You’re not thinking of camping are you? I don’t think that was the last of the rain and you could easily stay here,” said Hereward.
“No, we found a guest house in the main street,” replied Mary.
“Oh, Margaret Abbott’s place “ very suitable. Well, if you’re sure, then the boys will walk you there, but please, make sure you come back tomorrow and I’ll see what I can discover about Salazar for you.”
“There’s no need,” Lily tried to say to James, but he was already wrapping himself in his, now dry, cloak.
“It’s been raining,” he mumbled, “and the paths can be slippery when muddy.”
The three girls turned to say goodbye to Hereward. He courteously kissed each one on their hands before pouring himself some mead.
James opened the front door and stepped out onto the path. Something glinted on his cloak. At first, Lily thought it was a buckle, but under the moonlight she could see it clearly.
“Congratulations.” She nodded towards Martha, who was giggling as Sirius was attempting to wrap his cloak around them both. “You were right; Preston got the chop.”
“James,” squealed Martha. “That’s brilliant!”
She turned away from Sirius, rushed to James, and standing on tip-toe; she kissed him.
Caught off guard and taken aback by her enthusiasm, James staggered, clutched hold of her; and then kissed the top of her head.
“You’ve pulled, mate,” said Sirius, but Lily noticed a touch of acid creeping into his voice.
Lily watched as James looked down at Martha. He seemed to be considering something. He saw Lily watching him, blinked, and released Martha.
“Come on, it’s this way,” he said abruptly. Bemused by the turnaround, Martha followed him, leaving Lily with Sirius and Mary.
“Well, Oh Noble Seer,” said Sirius, in a mocking tone to Mary, “what do you make of that display of body language?”
“Sirius Black, if I didn’t know you any better, I’d say you were jealous,” Mary teased.
“Nonsense,” he scoffed.
“You’re right,” she agreed, “but… just in case I’m not, the Martha you saw there is not the one with a crush on James. She’d never have done that a year or even a month ago. Body language is all wrong.”
He was quiet and kept his face down as they trailed after James and Martha.
“You don’t have to ask my permission to go out with her,” Mary continued after a while. “Just don’t hurt her. It could be messy what with me seeing Remus.”
“I don’t hurt people intentionally,” he said sulkily.
“I know, it’s just that you’ll always put your friends first, won’t you?”pointed out Mary
Sirius glared at her. Mary looked at Lily who began to speak.
“Sonia told us, you know. It was the reason she didn’t mope when you finished it. She told us she’d asked you to choose and you chose them.”
“Girls shouldn’t issue ultimatums if they’re not prepared for the results,” he muttered darkly and started to scuff his shoes along the wet ground.
Mary stopped walking. “I’m not as stupid as Sonia. Just don’t be too greedy with Remus, eh?”
Sirius looked into her dark brown eyes, at the moonlight casting silvery shadows across her face.
“As long as Remus is happy, we won’t interfere,” he said plainly.
They could hear Martha and James talking about Quidditch and sped up to catch them.
“Did you get your broom back?” Lily heard Martha say.
“No,” James replied, and his head drooped a bit. “I’ll have to buy a new one.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” said Lily. She was climbing over a stile and James held out his hand to help her down. He winced.
“Have I said something wrong?” asked Lily in bemusement, as she landed on the muddy track. “Oh Merlin! It wasn’t your dad’s was it?” She looked straight at him, horrified at the thought.
James smiled wryly. “No, nothing like that. He bought it for me when I made the team in the second year and he’d carved my initials and the date of my first match into the handle. After that, I recorded every match date I played on the broom. It’s a tradition he started in his Hogwarts days and carried through on his Puddlemere United broom. Did he show you that?”
Mary and Martha nodded, but Lily looked blank.
“I stayed in the kitchen making treacle tart with your mum,” she explained apologetically.
James laughed. “Mum will think she’s found her soul mate; someone else who despises Quidditch.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t despise it,” said Lily.
“But you do.” It was a statement not a question.
For a moment his hazel eyes gazed into her green ones; they looked, of all things, beseeching.
“No, I don’t despise it.” She dropped her gaze.
“And that,” Lily thought she heard Mary whisper to Sirius, “is the body language you should be looking out for, Mr Black!”
It seemed the storm had washed away the stickiness. Although still warm, the humidity had gone. Lily and Mary decided that they would move on that day, once they’d talked to Hereward and said goodbye to Hally. Martha reluctantly agreed, although she’d been hoping they might stay longer in Godric’s Hollow.
They made their way to the Potter’s house. James answered the door, wearing only pyjama trousers and chewing a piece of toast.
“Sorry. Are we too early?” asked Lily.
He snorted. “Not at all, Mum and Dad have been up for ages.” He grinned at them. “I’m lazy, but at least I’m awake “ Sirius is snoring like a dugbog.”
He led them into a room full of books where his dad was sitting at a desk studying a map.
Hereward peered at them from beneath his glasses.
“Ah ladies, come in. I think I’ve found a candidate or two for Salazar’s home.”
James yawned. “I’ll leave you to it. It’s time to wake the slacker.”
They soon heard a yell coming from upstairs. It seemed the whole house shook, as a fleet-footed James ran into the garden followed by an enraged and very wet Sirius, wearing only underpants.
“Prongs!” he yelled. “Get back here and...” He stopped, noticing Hereward’s guests.
“Ah!” he said, feigning casualness. “Morning girls. Admiring my muscles? Care to see the mighty Sirius Black gain revenge on the feeble Potter?”
Martha giggled and followed him into the garden.
“Colloportus!” said Hereward to the door as Lily and Mary studied the map. He turned back to them.
“It’s very hard to be accurate about Salazar Slytherin’s birthplace,” he began. “Far harder than the other three Founders. Do you know why this might be?”
“Because he was secretive?” suggested Lily.
“Very good,” said Hereward approvingly, “but not the whole story. Tell me, what did you notice as you came into Godric’s Hollow?”
“The war memorial in the village square,” said Lily promptly.
“Correct “ and the inscription is for the valiant. What about Ravensglen?” he asked.
“Oh!” said Lily, her eyes widening in understanding. “The library.”
Hereward beamed, and then carried on. “Of course, the most influential of the Founders is indisputably Helga Hufflepuff. Huffle-on-the-Hill, Helgastow and Huffend all have good claims. Have you been to these places?”
“I didn’t, but Mary and Martha went to Huffle-on-the-Hill,” replied Lily.
“What did you think?” he asked her.
Mary considered carefully. “It was...diverse, I guess. There were lots of different types of people living and working together. Oh, I see what you’re getting at now!”
“The places where the Founders were born are imbued with their spirit and the values they held dear. In Helga Hufflepuff’s case, it’s everywhere she lived!”
“So why is Slytherin’s birth place so hard to find?” asked Mary.
“Partly, as Lily said, because of his secretive nature but mainly because of his pure-blood insistence. Any place he influenced has died out through inbreeding “ they didn’t welcome newcomers “ the very antithesis of Helga Hufflepuff.”
“So, it’s a dead end then?” said Lily despondently.
“No, there are places you can try, small hamlets, perhaps, with a Parselmouth connection and we know from the Sorting Hat that he was from the fen area of England.” He pointed to Cambridgeshire on the east coast. “Serpents’ Lair, Slythy Fen. They were both in this area, although they are the old names.”
Hal opened the door bearing a tray with Butterbeer and more Jaffa cakes.
“Do you want this in here?” she asked cheerfully. “Or would you like to join us all in the garden?”
Hereward took the tray from his wife whilst Lily and Mary followed Hally as she led them into the garden.
The Potters’ back garden had the appearance of a field. At the top there was a patio with large pots of flowers in riotous colours. Hereward placed the tray onto a wrought iron table and quickly summoned three additional chairs for them all. There were some small steps leading down to a huge expanse of lawn
“Wow!” said Lily. “What a fantastic garden.”
“Useful for Quidditch practise,” said James, who was now as wet as Sirius. “Fancy a game, anyone?” he continued.
“Thought you didn’t have a broom?” said Mary.
“Oh, we’ve loads in the shed, and Sirius has brought his.”
Mary and Martha agreed; so whilst James and Sirius ran back to the house to get changed; Hereward selected three brooms. Then, with James playing alongside Mary, and Sirius with Martha, they began.
It was a cheerful game, as far removed from the House Quidditch matches as anything Lily had ever seen. But, even though it was a friendly and even though she was no expert, Lily could see that James was exceptional. Not only that, but he seemed exhilarated by flying. Sirius was confident on a broom and flew with speed but James’ broom seemed to be an extension of him. She found herself cheering along with Hereward when anyone scored.
“Do you fly, Lily?” Hereward asked her.
“Not very well,” she admitted.
“You should get James to teach you,” said Hereward. “He showed endless patience with Peter and you’re far prettier,” he added roguishly.
Lily spluttered and upset her pumpkin juice.
“Don’t embarrass the girl, you old charmer,” tutted Hally. “Not everyone thinks Quidditch is a religion.”
But Hereward had turned back to the game.
“Sirius, watch where you’re putting the Quaffle!” he bellowed as the ball whistled past his ear.
“Come on, Padfoot,” jeered James. “No one can be that bad.”
“Just biding my time, you toerag,” snarled Sirius.
“Really,” said Hally. “I don’t know where they get these expressions from. I mean, what is a ‘toerag’?”
Lily suppressed a smile. She noticed that Sirius seemed to be spending most of his time protecting Martha rather than the hoops, and that whenever she scored, he insisted on rather a lot of celebratory hugs. Martha, for her part, didn’t seem to be protesting.
“Well done,” congratulated James to Mary, as they landed on the grass. “You’re nearly back to form. Will you try out this year?”
“Yes, I think so,” she replied, her face flushed from the exercise.
“I demand a rematch!” yelled Sirius.
“Not today,” said Lily firmly. “I’m sorry to spoil the fun but we have to think about getting a move on.”
“Yes, Miss Evans,” bleated Martha.
They gathered their things together. Sirius, in what he said was the spirit of Gryffindor chivalry, took Martha’s bag from her and said he and James would escort them to the bus stop. This appeared to flummox James and he couldn’t work out if he was supposed to carry both Mary and Lily’s bags.
“Don’t worry about it, Potter,” said Lily, but she was laughing. “I’ll take good care of your map,” she promised Hereward. The three girls gave Hally a kiss goodbye and then they set off.
As they walked, Sirius and Martha kept up a constant stream of chatter with Mary contributing occasionally; James and Lily lagged a little bit behind, walking in silence.
“Your parents are lovely,” she said at last.
“And you’re surprised at that,” he stated. “What did you expect?”
“Oh, less down to earth, more...” she stopped, unable to think of a polite way of saying it.
“Arrogant? Is that the word you’re looking for? I guess I’m the apple that fell far from the tree, right?” asked James, a touch acerbically. He sighed and looked down at his feet. Lily was silent; their conversations since the lake had been awkward. In a strange way, she almost wanted the old James back “ the one who was a jerk “ then she could get back to disliking him.
“They had me very late in life,” he continued after a while. “Mum was fifty- four which is old “ even for a witch. She told me she’d given up all hope, and then suddenly found she was expecting. I know I’m spoilt, Lily, but I also know how lucky I am “ especially when I look at Sirius.” He shuddered.
“What happened to him?” she murmured.
“I’m not sure yet. Something about a Muggle girl and his O.W.L. results. I think Mum knows more, but he’ll tell me when he’s ready,” replied James.
They arrived at the bus stop. “I hope your mum is better soon,” said Lily. “We weren’t a burden, were we?”
James looked puzzled. “Mum’s fine,” he said. “She had a bit of flu recently but she’s okay now.”
Lily looked away, determined not to give anything away by a look or word. Obviously, James had no idea that his mother was in almost constant pain.