Lily awoke in a soft, white bed. She would have thought she was in heaven if it weren’t for the unbearable pain that shot through her side as she tried to sit up. She gasped, and James Potter’s face was suddenly above hers, worry in his bloodshot eyes.
Definitely not heaven, Lily confirmed.
“Lily,” James breathed. “You’re awake.”
“Really, I didn’t know,” she replied, unable to keep her sarcasm at bay even through her extreme discomfort. James laughed softly. Lily grunted in pain as she propped herself up against the back of the bed. Outside the hospital wing windows, she noticed, it was dark.
“How long was I out?” she asked James.
“Around six hours,” he replied. Lily realized he must have been at her side all night. She also realized she was not wearing the same clothes as she had been before. Madam Pomfrey must have changed her bloodied robes to tend whatever wound was throbbing above her left hip. Had James been present while she was being disrobed? She decided she really didn’t want to know. James, seeming to have read her thoughts, turned slightly pink.
“What happened on the train?” Lily asked, trying to change the subject.
“Well, after you fainted “”
“I did not faint,” Lily interrupted defensively.
“Oh, very well. After you were brutally attacked with a Muggle weapon and lost consciousness,” James continued, “Dumbledore arrived and did some serious duelling with the Death Eaters. All the ones he didn’t take care of Disapparated almost right away. He fixed the train up and brought us all back here.”
“Who… who else is hurt?” Lily asked. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to that, either.
“Well, most of those who were in the same car as we were got scraped up somehow. There’s one Gryffindor with a broken leg, a Hufflepuff missing some fingers, three Ravenclaws with more broken somethings, and… and one dead.”
“Who?” Lily demanded urgently. Her thoughts were jumping to Gwen and Bridget. Frantically, she looked around the hospital wing, her eyes darting from one nondescript form to another, unable to tell who was who in the dark.
“A second year,” he replied, noticing the fear in her eyes. “I don’t know his name.”
Lily sighed with relief, then mentally kicked herself. How could she be relieved that someone else had died instead of her friends? What sort of witch did that make her?
“Are you okay to get up?” James asked her. “Dumbledore wanted me to take you to his office as soon as you woke up. Pomfrey’s gone now, so if we hurry we can probably get past her.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go now.” She moved to get out of the hospital bed, but her side protested with a monstrous wrench of pain and she sat back down, gasping loudly.
“Maybe you should wait awhile…” James said tentatively.
“No,” Lily gasped. “No, I can go now. Madam Pomfrey’ll just come back and won’t even let me wiggle my toes.” Slowly this time, she sat up straight and got out of the bed. Why are there no painkillers in the wizard world? she thought bitterly. Surely magical morphine was not out of the question?
Halfway to Dumbledore’s office, Lily got very dizzy and collapsed into the wall. James immediately rushed to her side and, grabbing her hand, slung her arm over his shoulder. She tried to tell him she did not need his help, she was perfectly fine, and that he ought to give her arm back before she hexed him.
“Shut up, Evans,” he told her bluntly. “I will carry you if need be. You can’t do it yourself.”
Lily wanted to protest, but she knew he was right. Though he wasn’t exactly her first choice for a human crutch, she appreciated the assistance. Besides, she was too light-headed to really argue.
When the two finally reached Dumbledore’s office, James reluctantly let Lily go. It had been intoxicating, being so close to her. Three and a half years of chasing after the same girl, and that original infatuation had never faded into something more practical. He savoured the moment of her small hand sliding around his neck, trying not to act as if it hadn’t given him goose bumps. He then muttered “Bogey Bertie Botts” to the stone gargoyle. It immediately began spiralling upward, and Lily and James climbed on the stairs. The thin stairs made for tight quarters, and James grinned down at Lily from where he stood, very nearly pressed up against her, his breath against her face.
Lily scowled. “Don’t push it, Potter,” she grumbled. He only laughed. Even after she was attacked by Death Eaters with a giant gash healing fast in her side, Lily could still manage to be that feisty little red-haired devil he had fallen in love with so long ago. Why didn’t she notice how well they fit together? How could she possibly miss the sparks that flew when he looked into her bright green eyes, the eyes that never failed to leave him breathless?
James sighed and turned away to face Dumbledore’s office, now in front of them. The headmaster was sitting at his desk, waiting for them. James made sure Lily was sitting secure in a chair before he took his eyes off of her.
“Miss Evans, Mr Potter,” Dumbledore spoke. His normally twinkling blue eyes were grave beneath his half-moon spectacles. “As I’m sure you are aware, the situation we are in is very serious. Never before have Hogwarts students been attacked by Death Eaters. Of course…” he trailed off for a moment before continuing, “Never before have there been Death Eaters in these numbers. Lord Voldemort is a very powerful wizard, and his followers are growing faster than I could possibly imagine.” Dumbledore ignored Lily when she winced at the name. Surprisingly, James stood still, unaffected.
“This is why I am expecting you two, as Head Boy and Girl, to take extra care in your duties. This year, you must not only work to keep the student of Hogwarts in line, but to keep them feeling like they are in good hands, safe from harm. The last thing I want for this school is to have students who feel unsafe.” Lily fancied she saw Dumbledore’s eyes clouding, as if he were about to cry. Dumbledore crying? “The Hogwarts staff and myself will be working as hard as we can to ensure the school’s security,” he said when Lily opened her mouth to protest that students shouldn’t feel safe if they weren’t. “But I need you two and the other prefects to help prevent the outbreak of panic among the students. Hundreds of fear-crazed students are far less safe than calm ones. Can you do that for me?”
“We’ll do our best, Professor,” James said. Dumbledore peered deep into his eyes for a long moment, seeming to pierce James’s soul. It was not an entirely comfortable moment, as James had the distinct feeling that Dumbledore was able to read his every thought, that his memories and emotions were laid bare on the table for Dumbledore to examine from behind his glasses. He did his best to return Dumbledore’s gaze with his chin held up in confidence until the headmaster finally nodded his approval.
“Very well,” he said, seeming to have put the entire issue behind them. “All that remains now is to show you your room.”
“Professor,” Lily laughed, “we’ve been here for six years now. I think we’ll be able to find our way.”
“I am well aware of that,” Dumbledore replied with a wave of his hand. “However, as Head Boy and Girl, you receive extra privileges throughout the year. One of these includes your own personal common room. In it, you will be able to hold prefect meetings, study in private, or even take advantage of the large vine that grows outside the window to escape from the stressful N.E.W.T. lifestyle, if need be. But I didn’t tell you that.” Dumbledore grinned at them both, his previous seriousness appearing to have been left back in his office.
Lily blanched. Share a room with James Potter? Even if it was only a room for meetings, she would still have to be in those meetings with her least favourite person on the planet. She thought murderous thoughts as Dumbledore escorted them to their new Heads’ common room. The headmaster eventually came to a rather abrupt stop, and James bumped into Lily, who grabbed her side in a sudden spasm of pain.
They were facing a very faded portrait of a pale woman in some sort of toga “ Lily was reminded of the goddess Aphrodite. Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but instead of saying a password like Lily and James had expected him to, he simply said, “These are the new Head Boy and Girl, Lily Evans and James Potter.”
There was a moment of silence that followed, in which the woman in the washed-out portrait gave each of them a rather appraising look. Suddenly, though, the portrait regained all its colour. It was as if it was instantly brand new again. The waterfall roaring behind the woman was a brilliant, sparkling blue, the leaves on the olive trees turned a dark green, and the woman’s eyes and hair were suddenly a warm, deep brown. Lily, despite having spent six years at a magical school, couldn’t help but be surprised at this transformation.
“Let us hear the boy’s mind tonight,” the woman spoke. Both Lily and James turned to Dumbledore, confused, but he only nodded toward the portrait. “Young Mr Potter,” she said, but then Dumbledore interrupted.
“Start out easy, if you will, Romana. It is, after all, mildly unsettling the first few times.” The woman in the portrait nodded, and then continued.
“Mr Potter, how many are there in your life who are more important than the one to your left?”
Lily was confused. How many what? And who was the portrait talking about anyway? She was standing to James’s left! James looked over at her and blushed before speaking. “Three, Miss.”
The portrait nodded, as if in approval, and swung open. Dumbledore preceded them into the room, and James allowed Lily to enter first. The room on the other end was not unlike the Gryffindor common room, only about tenfold more marvellous.
It was enormous. The high, vaulted ceiling was dotted with skylights, allowing the moonlight to seep in and illuminate the contents of the room. Here a writing desk stood, equipped with numerous colourful inks and different sizes of parchment. There stood a tall, deep purple chair, accompanied by a matching couch, both of which faced the smouldering fireplace that was about as tall as Lily was. On the other side of the room was a large window overlooking the grounds, framed “ as Dumbledore mentioned “ by thick, climbable vines. Lily could spy the lake winking at her with reflected, fragmented moonlight.
She could not help herself. A small “wow” escaped her lips. Beside her, James stood ogling at it all, his eyes wide. The effect was deepened by his glasses, which made his already wide-open hazel eyes appear enormous to an alien degree.
“Dumbledore, is this a joke? They can’t have built this place just for prefects and the Head Boy and Girl.” Lily was slightly taken aback at the informal way James addressed his headmaster.
“No, Mr Potter, it is definitely not a joke. This room has existed since Hogwarts was built.”
“But, Professor,” Lily interjected, “if this room has always been here then why have I never seen it? When I was a prefect, meetings were always on the grounds or in the owlery or some other random place.”
“Patience, Miss Evans, I was just about to get to that,” Dumbledore said. “As Head Boy and Girl, you will be required to hold meetings with the younger prefects at least once a week. These meetings will mainly consist of everybody arguing over who gets the best spots for rounds in the next week, but you two should try and make them more productive. Talk about the past week, ask them if they’ve had any problems with the other prefects or students, remind them to stick to their duties, et cetera.
“Though it is recommended you hold the meetings in here, you can opt to simply hold them elsewhere “ like the grounds, the owlery, and other places I’m sure you’re familiar with, Miss Evans. In the past, you see, Head Boys and Girls have preferred to keep this room a secret, as it is an incredibly convenient place to retreat from the hectic student life and to study,” he turned his head pointedly towards James at this, “in peace and quiet. Any questions?”
Lily and James shook their heads. James found himself impressed by the way in which Dumbledore had regained his composure from being near tears only minutes ago. The casual way in which he was addressing the two teenagers filled them with assurance that everything was going to be fine, that there was no need to worry about the evils outside the castle walls.
“Right then,” Dumbledore rubbed his hands together, “better send you two off to bed “ long day tomorrow, I’m sure. Miss Evans, you can get to your dormitories through the tapestry to your right, Mr Potter, the same is to your left “ no, not the scenic one, the one with the angry gargoyles. Straight ahead of you both, that door takes you to the prefects’ bathroom. Good night!”
“But “ Professor!” Lily called as Dumbledore turned to leave “ partially because she was curious and partially because she wanted to prolong for as long as possible the time before she had to be alone in a room with James Potter. “How does it work? The tapestry, I mean. If there’s only one passageway “ and there’ve been Heads from all four houses “ how does it… know which house to go to?”
Dumbledore winked at her and whispered, “Magic.” And then he was gone.
As soon as James and Lily were alone, Lily made a beeline for the tapestry that would lead her to safety. Before she could get away, though, James called after her. “When should we do the first meeting?” he asked.
Lily shrugged and didn’t turn around to face him. Maybe if she just stared straight ahead and her eyes never found his body, he would disappear. Maybe if she didn’t acknowledge his existence for long enough, she’d be able to resist the urge to break something.
“I guess I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow, then?” he offered.
Lily gave a noncommittal “sure.”
“Well… good night then,” he finished lamely. She took this as her chance to leave, slipped behind the tapestry, and opened a door that led into a small, dark passageway. She felt her way through the dark and, after about five steps, bumped into what she assumed must be the door. She chuckled and remembered Dumbledore’s last word: “Magic.”
Slowly, she opened this door and slid out from behind the heavy piece of fabric that, until today, had only ever been a tapestry to Lily. She wondered why she had never bothered to check behind it “ or any of the tapestries, for that matter. I guess I never expected any of them to be hiding secret passageways behind them, she thought, laughing at her ignorance.
Tip-toeing gently to her bed so as not to wake her already sleeping friends, Lily slipped into the pyjamas that Gwen must have laid out for her. She crawled into her familiar four-poster bed and welcomed sleep with a tired smile. Only right before it came did she realize Madam Pomfrey was probably wondering where she had gone.
Lily was woken before the sun by the sound of loud breathing. She opened her eyes slowly “ and shrieked. Gwen and Bridget were both kneeling on the side of her bed, leaning over her with expectant, puppyish looks on their faces.
“What the hell is going on?” Lily gasped, her heart still racing furiously. A furious throbbing above her temple was now accompanying the one in her side.
“We want to know all about what happened last night!” Bridget whispered.
“Yeah, how was it with Potter?” Gwen asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow and nudging Bridget with her elbow.
“Where’d you go?”
“How’d you get away from Madam Pomfrey?”
“Yeah, sorry we “”
“ENOUGH!” Lily roared. She sprang out of bed, knocking her shocked friends to the floor. Hastily, she grabbed her robes from her trunk and dashed under the tapestry and through the door before her friends even realised what had happened. She was in the Heads’ Common Room before either of them stood up, and sank to the floor by the time Bridget asked Gwen where she was.
Lily sighed heavily. It was only the first morning of term, and already she had to retreat to the place she wanted least to spend her time in.
It was going to be a very long year.
Reciprocation by LD Noble
Chapter Notes: So, here's my Chapter 2 (finally). Of course, the world of Harry Potter belongs entirely to JK Rowling.
Chapter Endnotes: So sorry for the impossibly long wait! Promise it won't happen again. Please review!