(minor corrections, 17th January, 2017)
Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. If I am deriving anything other than satisfaction from posting this, would someone please tell me about it?
Note: The following is a one-shot of supplemental material to the story Alternate Scene by the Lake 4, and follows on immediately from the chapter 'The Perturbations of Lily Evans' in that story. It covers the last days at Hogwarts of Lily Evans at the end of the fifth school year after Severus Snape snapped his own wand and quit the school. It takes place in, suffice it to say, an alternate universe where some characters and events are starting to go in much different directions to canon. The Marauders are going to be rather big-headed (and arguably obnoxious), carried away with their successes, the school is otherwise getting out of balance due to the shockwaves of Severus' departure, and Lily... Well this is an alternate universe where she's pretty confused right now, not least because Severus didn't ever say 'mudbloods like her'...
Further Note: Updated 12th May 2012 (well it is in the UK at the time of posting) with Author Notes and an adjustment to some of the conversation on the train.
Author Notes updated for reference to 'Not According to Plan', 4th June 2012 (well it is in the UK at the time of posting).
Lily had to gloomily admit that between them, her dream selves had raised a number of very good points. It looked as if, at least at the moment, the headmaster was insane, Severus' only goal in life might well be to join the Death Eaters now, and she hadn't the faintest idea what to do about any of it.
Her life was not improved by the mood of the Marauders at breakfast. If she thought they'd been full of themselves yesterday, with Severus leaving, that was as nothing to the high which they were on today. What was worse, they were being mysterious about whatever it was that had happened, which – if it were possible – was even more annoying than them just coming out and boasting about it.
Potter made an attempt to flirt with her which Lily brushed off rather brusquely:
"There's only room for two people in most relationships, Potter, and between you and your ego there's already barely enough space for you, without adding a girl to things."
Potter looked rather miffed at being informed this, although she overheard Sirius 'stage-whispering' to Potter "I think she likes you if she thinks you're worth an insult like that".
And then the school day and the process of examinations recommenced, and the torment began in earnest. The Marauders, with Severus gone, started to look for other targets that they disapproved of to 'accidentally hex' or to prank. One of them filled Lily's shoes with lime jelly one morning whilst she was still asleep, either with the connivance of one of the other Gryffindor girls, or by breaking into the girls' dormitory, although fortunately for Lily she wasn't such a sleepyhead as to pull on her shoes or any clothes these days without checking them first. She took twelve points off them collectively for that prank, and the fact that they didn't even attempt to protest the deduction but just smirked told her she'd got the perpetrators right.
One afternoon she caught them with what she could have sworn was a piece of parchment which looked like a map of the castle for a moment, arguing about the current location of Henry Mulciber and John Avery, although when she tried to get a closer look, they instantly clammed up and it seemed that what they had been looking at was actually just a sheet of parchment with silly comments scribbled on it under their Marauder nicknames. She knew the Marauders were actively looking for Mulciber and Avery though, since Sirius had as good as vowed to hunt them down and drive them out of the school, but the two Slytherins were apparently proving particularly elusive, and seldom either on their own or in just a pair.
Several days after Severus' departure, Lily ran into Ygraine Trescothick, the sixth year Slytherin girl prefect, in the prefects' bathroom whilst Lily was getting ready for a mercifully Marauder-free soak in the bath.
"Ah, Evans: I'd been hoping to have a private word with you." Ygraine said.
"If it's about the Marauders, I'm doing my best to try and put a lid on them, but it's an uphill struggle right now." Lily said, sounding just perhaps a shade annoyed. "Most of the house is behind them, which means every time I take points off for their activities, I'm being blamed for being a 'spoilsport', and the one who ends up being complained about to our head of house. I seem to be the only prefect in Gryffindor interested in trying to keep order, right now – though the fact that one of the Marauders is one of the other Gryffindor prefects doesn't help matters much, Merlin knows."
"It's not about that, but it's Marauder related." Ygraine said. "Slytherin house has afforded you special treatment up until now, as you were one of Severus' favourites, but the situation will be under substantial review over the holidays. It's possible that next autumn term you'll be treated as if you were a regular Gryffindor prefect of your background." She sounded slightly apologetic. "I'm sorry about that, but to a lot of Slytherin pupils it's looking like you're just another Gryffindor, right now, and one whom Potter fancies. And since you're perceived as being a softer target than Potter…"
"I do NOT fancy that bloody idiot back." Lily shot back.
"It might help if you publically hexed him then. Or made some other demonstration that if you're not exactly an ally of Slytherin house, you're certainly not The Enemy."
"I'm a prefect, Trescothick, and a Gryffindor one. Hexing students – even ones who write the most awful verse you ever heard, and who find absolutely stupid rhymes for 'Lily' – is regrettably not an option. I'm supposed to be setting an example of good behaviour, even if it's taken me most of the year to wake up to that." Lily sighed. "Thanks for trying to help me, though."
"You need to do something to look out for yourself before the end of term." Ygraine counselled. "We lost one of our champions these past few days, and at the moment Slytherin house is in confusion and retreat. But over the holidays, plans will be made, and set in motion, and by the start of next term it may be too late to change minds about you. And you're not bad for a muggle-born, Evans."
Then there was the incident in the library. With the exams over and the school year winding to a close, Lily had been hoping to get some study in, alongside fellow Gryffindor fifth year, Mary MacDonald, for next year's charms course. Of course, she and Mary ended up in the library at the same time as the Marauders in what it turned out was a planned Marauder ambush. She and Mary had ignored the Marauders hunched up around a table, whispering and pointing – attributing that as normal Marauder behaviour – and were browsing the shelves when it happened. Mary pulled a book off a shelf, and through the gap she'd opened in the rows of books, hundreds of spiders suddenly came pouring out, all over her, and onto the carpet.
Mary's piercing scream could possibly have been heard down by the Black Lake.
Lily, annoyed and deducing this was a Marauder prank involving summoned spiders, dealt with the spiders accordingly, but by the time she was done the librarian had thrown Mary out of the library 'for making undue racket', whilst ignoring the Marauders who were busy whooping with excitement. Apparently the librarian was a Marauder fan.
Lily approached the Marauders, a scowl on her face.
She had the questionable fortune to overhear James Potter telling the others:
"See, I said Evans wouldn't scare that easily."
"Four points from Gryffindor for disrupting the regular function of the library." Lily said to the Marauders. "And I'm strongly tempted to throw in a detention too, for scaring my friend, but that falls outside what my remit is, I figure."
"You owe me a galleon, Remus." Peter Pettigrew said exultantly. "I bet you she wouldn't do more than take five points, initially."
Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Oh great. Apparently the Marauders were now betting on what punishment she'd assign if she caught them in the vicinity of mischief they'd almost certainly initiated. That and her fellow prefect, Remus, was actively conspiring with the other Marauders in finding ways to mess with her life – which showed just how little he thought of the position of prefect or the responsibilities it was supposed to entail.
She shot Remus a look of disgust, and saw him mouth back: 'They're my friends…'
"Miss Evans:" Professor McGonagall said. It was the day after the spiders-in-the-library incident and Lily had been summoned into Professor McGonagall's private office. "It has come to the headmaster's attention that you appear to have gone on a points-taking spree of late, with regard to your fellow fifth years James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus. The headmaster has requested me, as your head of house, to ask you to ease off the points deductions, and to notify you that detentions are not suitable substitutes, either. The headmaster considers the current boisterousness of James and his friends to be 'only natural, given the hard year that they've had', and he has informed me that if you continue to penalise them for 'just blowing off steam', he will start reversing your deductions or any detentions you may issue to them." The head of Gryffindor was tight-lipped. "I regret to say that in this particular case, whatever the headmaster's reasoning, he may have a point. In their current moods taking points from James or any of his friends will likely just provoke them into further action, to see if they can get another 'rise' out of you, and it's probably best to let them get this need for hijinks out of their systems now and hope they'll come back more civilised at the start of the next year. As your and their head of house I'm ordering you not to take any further points from Mr. Potter or any of his friends for the rest of the term, unless they are engaged in activity likely to put a member of this house or Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw in the infirmary, or which actually puts a Slytherin in danger of their life – since the majority of their actions seem aimed at Slytherins, they need to be afforded greater leeway for accidents in that regard. And I forbid you from giving either Mr. Potter or his three close friends detentions, unless you consult with myself or the headmaster first." She sighed. "I appreciate that this may seem rather contrary an approach to take, Miss Evans, but it is my sincere belief that we will all be better served at this point by leaving it until the start of the next school year to crackdown; new academic year, new disciplinary regime makes for a much clearer cut message."
Lily drew in a deep breath and tried to remember that she was supposed to be a Gryffindor.
"In the meantime, professor, what am I supposed to do about the rumours which will duly spread – once I stop taking points – that I have been 'gagged' by you because I've been nobbling the headmaster's favourite four pupils, who have carte blanche from him to do anything up to and including attempted murder? It's around most of the student population as it is that the Marauders can do practically anything they want to anyone without fear of punishment, and this could just end up reinforcing that belief."
"We are Gryffindors, Miss Evans." Professor MccGonagall looked scandalised. "We do not care about tittle-tattle, and idle gossip. September will show the rumour-mongers wrong, and in the meantime, the policy of the head of Gryffindor house will not be determined by idle speculations originating – I have little doubt – with those of ill-intent towards our house, who are determined at any cost to spitefully misrepresent us in the hope of advancing their own goals."
Fine words butter no parsnips, Lily could have sworn she heard her Slytherin side whispering in her head. What guarantee do we have that come next September things will change, and that some further excuse for not disciplining the Marauders will not instead be found?
Lily bit her lip.
"Am I at least allowed to give them stern talkings-to if the Marauders don't appear to be engaging in life-threatening activity?" she asked, trying to salvage something out of the situation. She preferred to take points, as that constituted an 'official' reprimand, but she was capable of deploying scathing wit above and beyond anything the Marauders with their rather puerile minds were usually able to effectively respond to.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips.
"I really don't think so, Miss Evans. There's not a lot of point to delivering lectures which the Marauders will know can't be backed up. That would just make you a laughingstock. It's probably best if you just ignore them."
"With respect, they're attention seekers. Ignoring them could well lead them to try ever more outrageous acts to get them the attention they want."
"Just so long as they're not doing anything harmful to members of their own house, that's not our problem for the rest of this school year, Miss Evans." the head of Gryffindor said frostily.
Lily had to wonder at this moment if the Marauders had perhaps confunded Professor McGonagall, because she was certainly acting right now as if they had… The woman was the deputy headmistress, for crying out loud. Surely she had a duty of diligence to more than just her own house, even if the headmaster for whatever reason apparently wanted to play favourites with the Marauders?
Lily really wanted to believe that Professor McGonagall was convinced a little short-term pain was necessary for a long-term plan, but she couldn't quite manage that in light of what was currently going on in the school…
The next occasion that the Marauders struck when Lily was actually on the scene was at dinner-time in the great hall one evening, when a series of croaks suddenly emanated from the Slytherin table, as a whole swathe of Slytherin students abruptly turned into toads.
In response to this, all four Marauders got to their feet, and bowed to the head table, and then to the hall in general, practically admitting they were responsible, whilst the Slytherins remaining unaffected by this reduction to amphibian form glared.
Lily was unamused, and didn't notice any of the teachers bothering to take points or award detentions. She figured this was high time for a cutting remark.
"Trying to convince yourself that you and your mates aren't the only ones who puff themselves up around here, Potter?" she directed at him acidly as he sat back down again, just across the table from her. He had an annoying habit these days, of sitting opposite her so he had an excuse to ogle her as much as he wished during meals.
"What exactly is your problem, Miss Evans?" Potter conversationally asked back.
"You think you've got a God-given right to do whatever you want to whomever you want and never have to take any consequences, and apparently the teachers round here want you to carry on believing that." Lily gave it to him straight, since he'd asked. "Don't you ever stop and ask yourself why they do, by the way?"
"Could it be because I'm rich, from a highly influential very old and respected pure-blood family, I'm handsome, I am a quidditch-god, and I'm unbelievably intelligent and talented?" Potter smirked. "Oh there are other qualities which I have, too, but those are the main ones."
"That's funny, because there are Slytherins, I'm sure, who'd say exactly the same things about themselves as you've just listed." Lily said. "Only they don't have the headmaster and the deputy letting them do whatever they want."
"Because they're in the wrong; they are Slytherins, therefore they are without exception always wrong."
"Oi, Prongs: my cousin Andromeda was a Slytherin, and she's not too bad." Sirius Black who was sitting next to James and half paying attention to the exchange added. "She even married a muggle-born, and they've got the cutest little toddler you ever saw. Called her Nymphadora."
"I stand corrected." James said. "There are very occasional Slytherins, who are the exceptions which prove the rule, who are decent-minded."
"But you're certain that not only can you do whatever you want, but that you are entitled to do so, because you are always in the right?" Lily pressed.
"Of course I'm always in the right." Potter said. "And I'm sure our esteemed headmaster or our head of house would correct me were I not so."
"Unless they think you're too sensitive a flower to be able to take a reprimand." Lily said. "They seem to think you need protecting from points deductions and detentions if I catch you doing anything you shouldn't be doing. I'm not even supposed to give you 'official' dressings-down."
Potter looked miffed.
"I do not need protecting from anyone, least of all you, Evans."
"Our esteemed headmaster and head of house certainly seem to think that you do."
It was petty, but she felt a faint glow of satisfaction at Potter not having apparently having a comeback to that one. He poked at his food moodily for the next couple of minutes, and seemed to have forgotten even temporarily his triumph at what he'd just done to a lot of Slytherins. Then his mates drew him out of it with a couple of wisecracks about 'slimy Slytherins' and he was back to his usual arrogant self.
Professor Slughorn had requested a 'private word' with Lily after the penultimate potions class of the year.
Once the other pupils had filed out, with an effortless flick of his wand he erected a privacy ward.
"Well, the summer holidays with all their frivolity are soon upon us, Miss Evans," Professor Slughorn said with what Lily felt was a slightly forced air of gaiety, "and minds and hearts can turn to matters other than schoolwork." He grew serious. "Strictly speaking, I probably shouldn't be doing this, but I gather that you were a rather close and personal friend of Mr. Snape – and as his former head of house, I am not unaware of his address. If you would like me to run any messages to him for you, or to perhaps assist in arranging a little liaison, I may be able to find a day or two out of my summer schedule to assist…" He winked. "I can guarantee absolute discretion – especially if anything of an intimate nature may be involved."
Lily blinked in surprise.
Sure, she and Severus had been friends for a long time, but there hadn't ever been any romantic angle to it, what with his interest in the dark arts getting in the way in the past couple of years.
And, uh, Professor Slughorn cared about this why, anyway? Was it because she and Severus were two of his favourite pupils, or guilt because Severus had left Hogwarts or…?
She became aware that there was a burning sensation spreading through her cheeks – which said a lot more about the romantic possibilities which she thought that Severus actually had than she'd ever consciously realised. Well not except maybe in a couple of those recent weird dreams.
"Umm, thank-you sir." she shook herself out of her momentary fazed state and managed not to mumble too badly. "I can, uhh, make my own arrangements though. Mutual acquaintances." She lived only a mile or so from Sev, for crying out loud. She could walk over in only a quarter of an hour or so. However, since she wasn't in Professor Slughorn's house, there probably wasn't any reason for him to know what her address was or that she even lived in the same town as Sev.
"Quite, quite." Professor Slughorn beamed and looked relieved. "Very good, Miss Evans. Dismissed."
Lily wondered, as she left, if maybe if she were dating Sev, she could take his mind off wanting to be a Death Eater? Plus, she was pretty sure that Lord Voldemort had a strong anti-muggle-born stance, and if Severus had a muggle-born girlfriend that would probably be a problem for his joining…
Several days before the term was due to end, Lily was heading for the library just after breakfast when out of nowhere, in a flash of red, the headmaster's phoenix, Fawkes, was there. Lily just had time to register the bird grabbing onto her right shoulder, and then there was a strange sideways motion, and she was stumbling and somewhere else. The phoenix let go of her, and landed on the back of derelict chair, a little off to her left. Its eyes were fixed on a scene playing out a short way off.
It looked to Lily like she was in a hallway in the Hogwarts dungeons, and just ahead of her in the hellish illumination cast by the flickering torches, Sirius Black had his wand drawn and pointed at a crouching, younger, female, Slytherin student. Lily couldn't remember the girl's name, but was pretty sure she was Slytherin prefect Ygraine Trescothick's younger sister, who was a third year.
"I suggest you cooperate:" Sirius said in a menacing voice to the girl he was looming over. "Because if you don't, something altogether unforgiveable might happen to you."
"Oi. Black. What do you think you're doing?" Lily called at him, her hand going to her own wand, but not yet drawing it."
"Keep your nose out of this, Evans. This is for the greater good." Sirius noticed her for the first time and sneered back.
Ygraine's sister whimpered in fear.
"Where are the other Marauders? Do they know you're down here threatening a younger girl?"
"She's a slimy snake, Evans, and snakes only understand threats." Black retorted. "And the others won't question too much what I do, so long as I get the results we need."
There was a weird light gleaming in Sirius' eyes which Lily decided she didn't like at all. All the Blacks were said to be a bit insane at times, but right now Sirius was looking considerably more than just a bit round the bend.
"Sirius. Our head of house may well have given me instructions to the effect that I'm supposed to cut you and you friends some slack, because you've had such a stressful term, but I'm going to have to take points or give you a detention if I see you do anything to her."
"Then look away now." Sirius gave a short, barking, laugh, and raised his wand.
The girl gave a desperate sob, stumbled to her feet and tried to make a run for it.
Fawkes hurled himself through the air at Sirius and his wand hand.
Caught between trying to keep his prey and fend off the phoenix Sirius aimed wildly and shouted "reducto" sending a blasting curse flying.
Lily heard him start to shout again, "red…" but at that moment she lost consciousness because Sirius' first, stray, blasting curse had caught her.
Lily woke up in the infirmary. She was in a bed, and aching all over, and her head was bandaged and her left arm was in a sling. By the illumination in the infirmary, and the darkness visible through the windows it was night outside.
The headmaster was peering at her, inquisitively, and a phoenix chick was perched on the bedside table next to her.
"So you're awake at last, Miss Evans." the headmaster said. "You've been out of this world for some hours. Madam Pomfrey was seriously worried about you, when you were brought in."
His face, right now, was an impassive mask, giving away nothing of what he thought or felt.
"Is Miss Trescothick okay?" Lily asked. She'd glanced around quickly, and couldn't see any sign of her.
"Hmm?" Dumbledore peered at Lily quizzically. "She is quite intact, and has been sent home ahead of the end of term, since I have yet to determine the truth of what occurred this morning. As a Slytherin, the account which she gave must be considered unreliable, concerning as it does a generally popular, well-known, Gryffindor student. Especially since she seemed a touch hysterical when giving that aforementioned account. Hysteria in a witness from one group with a history of animosity for members of another group that she is making accusations against makes, alas, for highly unconvincing evidence. Were it not for the fact that something so very clearly happened to Fawkes and that Mr. Sirius Black's wand seems to have been involved – I found traces of a number of blasting curses in it when I examined it for recent magic – I would not have been minded to take the matter so far as to now request your own account of proceedings?"
Since the headmaster apparently expected her to say something at this moment, Lily tried to explain what she could remember of what had happened.
"Fawkes grabbed onto me out of nowhere, when I was heading for the library, and somehow he took me somewhere – I think it was in the dungeons – and I saw and heard Sirius Black threatening Miss Trescothick with 'something altogether unforgiveable'. I tried to get him to stand down, then Miss Trescothick tried to make a break for it, then Fawkes headed for Mr. Black and Miss Trescothick, and Mr. Black started throwing blasting curses. The first one caught me, sir." She hesitated. "I'm sorry if that sounds all rather muddled sir, but it was all rather sudden."
"It is, nonetheless, an admirably clear account on many points which matter." said the headmaster. "Did you actually see or hear Mr. Black actually cast an unforgiveable curse?"
"No, sir."
"Splendid. I think that he may very well have been bluffing, I think we will find. Could you be certain where Mr. Black was aiming his blasting curses?"
"No sir." Lily said. "Fawkes was flying at him. I think he was having trouble aiming at anything."
"Exceptionally splendid." the headmaster looked bewilderingly happy. "Officially, Miss Evans, I believe you will find you were the victim of a prank by Miss Trescothick to get Mr. Black in trouble, for which I shall try, very hard, not to have her expelled. Unofficially, Miss Evans, I am pleased that Mr. Black is making such progress. Last year, according to the Hogwarts rumour mill, he tried to feed a student to a werewolf. This year, if the worst he's done is try to bluff a student with unforgiveables – and I note that Fawkes apparently intervened on his behalf to prevent him from going too far, so Fawkes clearly thinks Mr. Black is a worthy cause – that could be considered a vast improvement on his track record."
The headmaster's eyes were twinkling away madly.
"Sir: how is it that Mr. Black is the one at fault, but Miss Trescothick is the one in danger of expulsion?"
"I shall indulge your sceptical tone, Miss Evans, since Fawkes apparently likes you. Mr. Black is important to this school and the wizarding world. Mr. Black is the first Black of any significance to be sorted into Gryffindor for generations. Of course he has his problems, having had an unfortunate upbringing, but he needs to be helped and understood, because he will have a major role to play in our society when he leaves Hogwarts at the end of his seventh year. Mr. Black needs my assistance, to attain his full potential, for the good of all of us. I explain this to you, purely in confidence, and in the hope it will help you to better understand and to work with me, in future, in helping Mr. Black and his friends take their rightful places in society. In one sense, Miss Evans, Mr. Black and his friends are our futures if those futures are not to be the dreams of Voldemort."
Lily's head was starting to ache and she had no idea if it was as a result of her injuries or with the effort of trying to wrap her thoughts around what the headmaster was apparently trying to explain to her. One thing was clear to her however.
"You sound more like a politician than a teacher, sir."
For a moment Lily saw the headmaster look inexplicably frozen. Then he recovered.
"Yes, well, Miss Evans: a headmaster, unfortunately, has to be both teacher and politician by turns."
"I think I'd like to rest now." Lily said.
"Excellent. Enjoy your sojourn in Morpheus' arms." the headmaster beamed, getting up to go.
He patted her on the shoulder and went.
Lily was vaguely aware Fawkes was giving her an odd look, before she drifted off to sleep. Her last thought before she slipped away into unconsciousness was rather belatedly that the headmaster had indicated that what limited steps he was taking to investigate were being done purely because his phoenix had taken a hit – and that he was apparently unconcerned that Lily Evans, Gryffindor prefect, had also been a victim of a blasting curse…
Following that encounter with the headmaster, Lily was unsurprised to dream herself to be in the Gryffindor common room with several of her other selves. Hufflepuff Lily was dozing in a wheelchair, and Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Lily seemed to be arguing on one of the settees about whose fault something was? Lily looked around, for another self, but couldn't see her.
"Excuse me. I hate to break in, but where's Slytherin Lily?" she asked Gryffindor Lily and Ravenclaw Lily.
The pair looked at her, and Ravenclaw Lily scowled, whilst Gryffindor Lily rolled her eyes.
"She's getting used to it still." Gryffindor Lily said.
Lily looked down, and belatedly realised she was wearing robes with a Slytherin crest and a Slytherin tie.
She did a double take.
"Following the recent interview with the headmaster, what are you feeling?" Gryffindor Lily asked her.
"Umm, scared, angry, and with a strong desire to avoid being at Hogwarts altogether next school year if at all possible. Black hit me with a blasting curse, for Merlin's sake, and the headmaster didn't say he was doing anything to punish him, but gave me a talk about the greater good. In fact he didn't seem to care that I'd been injured at all. I mean we'd guessed already that he was crazy, but not that he was playing with that many cards short of a full deck."
"Right." Gryffindor Lily said. "We're going Slytherin in reaction to that. I'm getting weird cravings to be ambitious, she" she jerked a thumb at Ravenclaw Lily, "is getting the urge to be cunning, and I'm not sure what Hufflepuff Lily's undergoing, but it's probably a sensation of wanting to be loyal to us and our interests first and foremost, or maybe to work tirelessly to advance our schemes. Don't worry. I don't entirely blame us for what's happening now, and we had a good run, I have to admit, as me. But times and circumstances change, and we're changing." She sighed. "I don't know if or when we'll get together again like this. When Severus snapped his wand, he set in motion a chain of events and threw us into turmoil, but now, given the interference of that interfering old coot, the headmaster…" she winced and made a face "ugghh, I can't believe I just said that… Anyway, it's clear we've made our decision now and are heading in a very specific direction. If that hat re-sorted us tomorrow, we know which house we'd end up in. It's important to remember, I feel, that just because we're now at least Slytherin at heart, we don't have to go completely crazy and evil. I'm sure there are perfectly nice normal Slytherins around somewhere, and if not, then hey, there's an ambition for us."
"I'm just a bit upset we couldn't take a more cerebral approach to things in response to this crisis." Ravenclaw Lily puckered her face.
"Nah. We're a hands-on, action girl, whether it's out in the open, or sneaky and undercover." Gryffindor Lily said. "But right now we do need a cunning plan, other than just charge at the problem. Whatever plans Severus may have had, snapping his wand like that, and quitting, we're not quite as brainy as him, and haven't been planning for this at all, but we need a plan right now to stay out of Hogwarts next year whilst, if possible, continuing our education."
"Well the Evanses aren't exactly wealthy, and I suspect some hefty fees would be involved if we tried to get into a continental school such as Beauxbatons or Durmstrang." Ravenclaw Lily considered. "And we'd have to pick up a foreign language over the summer, when we have only the basics in French, from primary school, at best."
"Umm." said Lily, remembering something from a talk by one of the teachers – she thought it had probably been their head of house, Professor McGonagall. "If we can't think of anything else, in the few days left before term ends, there's at least one possibility which we know about…" She and herselves exchanged 'significant' glances, and Ravenclaw Lily brightened up, noticeably.
"Excellent reasoning, Miss Evans. Twenty points to Gryffindor. Or should it be Slytherin now?" Ravenclaw Lily frowned. "Well, twenty points to us, anyway. Although it's a bit rough around the edges and could use improvement. Fitting our parents in could get quite tricky."
"Look, we're completely new to this Slytherin stuff, and it's the best I can think of on the fly." Lily said.
Actually, she was belatedly starting to work out the quite sneaky way to use her position as a prefect and the Sorting Hat which she'd hinted at to herself the previous time she'd had one of these dreams. The trouble was, it depended on Lily's being at Hogwarts next school year which was something which she now intended to avoid if at all humanly possible. The Marauders she could just about cope with; a head of house who indulged their whims and an absolutely insane headmaster who quite possibly wanted her to work with him 'in future' in setting one group of deranged lunatics against a deranged dark lord and another group of deranged lunatics – if she'd understood Professor Dumbledore correctly – was something way out of her current league. Especially since aforementioned headmaster seemed fine with one of his aforementioned pet lunatics using her for accidental target practice and to be more concerned about his immortal bird which had dragged her into that mess being hurt than about the way the not-so-immortal Lily Evans had been put in the infirmary.
In the background Gryffindor Lily and Ravenclaw Lily had started arguing about the relative merits of cunning and ambition. Lily found herself rummaging in her robe pockets and pulling out a small handy mirror, which she'd had the weirdest sensation she knew was there. She examined herself in it, and tried various poses and facial expressions. It was weird but now she was going Slytherin, she did feel better dressed and pretty sexy, actually…
The school year was finally over and Lily (who had recovered and been discharged from the infirmary by the last day of term) made sure that she and a group of her female Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends grabbed their own compartment on the Hogwarts Express for the trip home. She had a bad feeling about what might happen otherwise.
Potter and his cronies dropped by, anyway, sliding open the door, but noting the absence of space.
"Evans! Planning to date the most popular boy in the school, next term?" Potter called out to her in passing.
"If you mean you, no. You've chosen your way, Potter, and it's a different one from mine." Lily snapped back. "I couldn't help but notice neither you nor any of your cronies could be bothered to visit during my recent infirmary stay to offer sympathy or to apologise for my being there." She directed a particularly hostile glare at Black.
"Come along now, Prongs, seeing as this compartment's full." Sirius said hurriedly, tugging at Potter's arm.
"Next term, Evans." Potter gave her a cheerful wave, and then the door slid shut, and they were gone.
"Well, I never!" said Cassidy Adams, a Ravenclaw prefect. "That boy just does not know how to take 'no' for an answer."
"Is his bothering you serious?" Mary MacDonald asked. "If you like, I'll write a letter to the headmaster, or sign anything you want to write."
"The headmaster would do nothing. Potter and his cronies are his golden boys right now." Lily huffed. "I never heard Black got any kind of punishment for putting me in the infirmary with a blasting curse, and Professor McGonagall goes weak at the knees at the sight of Gryffindor's big quidditch heroes, I'd swear. The day after their spiders in the library prank she told me off for taking points off the Marauders, and ordered me not to do it any more except in extremis, making some vague remarks about how they were special cases and maybe she'd take action to rein them in at the start of the next school year… It comes to something when a head of house takes the side of a bunch of troublemakers against one of her own prefects."
The other girls looked a mixture of shocked and bemused.
"That is an absolute disgrace." Cassidy said. "His Tininess, our own much loved Professor Flitwick, would never countenance deferring taking action against any of us 'claws if we went too far until the start of another school year, let alone neglect to do it altogether. He's altogether logical and fair and just, and I must say, it has been a relief to me on many countless occasions that we have such a head of house. He may be diminutive in stature, but his mind is as high as any other witch or wizard's, and to us 'claws his stature is that of a titan."
"Actually, I think Potter's kind of sexy, and I wish he showed me the interest he shows you, Lily." fifth year Gryffindor Sheila Bellinger pouted. "And the Marauders' pranks are mostly directed at Slytherins and just harmless fun."
"Potter's mate, Black, blew me off my feet with a reducto." Lily said. "That didn't feel very harmless. And he was threatening Ygraine Trescothick's sister with Unforgiveables." Lily said.
"I heard that was the Slytherin's fault. She'd driven him mad with a potion or something." Sheila said. "Not that it probably took much doing, given it was Black anyway, and the poor man's half-insane to start off with, coming from that nasty Slytherin home. She'll be lucky if Dumbledore doesn't expel her, I heard. Not that it was right or good of Black to hurt you, Lily, but it was the girl you should be angry at, for doing those things to him. She was probably planning to put him under an Imperius Curse or something. And anyway," she concluded rather vaguely, "if Mr. Black had been in any way to blame, don't you think that the headmaster would have punished him for it? But it's that nasty little Miss Trescothick he's sent away from the school."
Lily bit her lip and remembered Dumbledore's comments to her in the infirmary about the 'official' version of events and recollected his implicit threat that he was telling her things in confidence. She was saved from a response by the Ravenclaw Angelette Soroides.
"Well in Ravenclaw we've noticed how much the headmaster favours the Marauders, and hands them out points like those revolting lemon-drops he keeps in a bowl on his desk. It wouldn't surprise me at all – if Mr. Black had been in any way at fault – if the headmaster had just swept it under the carpet. And we noticed that shortly after the Snape boy snapped his wand and left the school, Gryffindor suddenly and mysteriously gained a large number of points overnight."
"We reckon the headmaster gave the Marauders the points for getting rid of Snape." Cassidy added. "And in the final reckoning those points were enough to cheat Ravenclaw out of the House Cup, yet again."
"Hey, let's not argue over the house cup." Lily said, moving in to head off a nasty argument. If this was going to be her last ever ride on the Hogwarts Express, the last thing she wanted was the memory of it spoiled by a bust-up over the house-points system. "The contest's a menace and completely irrelevant as far as the world outside Hogwarts' walls is concerned, and we're all friends here, right?"
They all looked at one another, the Ravenclaws appearing to unbend a little and somewhat mollified by Lily's statement that she, a Gryffindor, effectively couldn't give a damn who won the wretched thing.
"Right." Cassidy conceded, and Lily silently thanked her. "So, let's find something else to talk about."
The conversation meandered for a while and eventually, and inevitably – occurring as it did in a compartment of upper year female students – turned towards members of the opposite sex generally, and how to manage them and their expectations. Whilst Lily always paid some attention to such important topics, she was a good deal more attentive than she usually would be to such a discussion, taking copious mental notes. The others of course noticed this, and Mary even archly commented:
"You're looking more on the ball than usual for this topic, Lily. Could it be you have a secret boyfriend you haven't told anyone about?"
"No. But after several weeks of Potter's insufferabilities, I'm thinking I could do with a distraction over the summer. Maybe even," she might as well put in some groundwork for the likely gossip of next September, "checking out the talent down the local disco."
"Eww. You'd rather snog a muggle than Potter?" Sheila Bellinger looked a mixture of amused and grossed out.
"Why not?" Lily shrugged. "I'm muggle-born anyway, so as far as most witches and wizards are concerned I'm already practically on a muggle's social level – and let's face it, Potter's ideal date would be a mirror, so he could spend the whole evening talking about how wonderful he is with an appreciative audience practically as good-looking as himself who won't try to argue with him. Professor Binns would probably be a better date for a girl than Potter, and Binns brings his own special definition to the term dead boring."
Which of course set off a round of speculation about what it might be like to date a ghost…
Eventually, the Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross, with the light gradually dying in the evening sky and the girls (or at least the ones about to head into the non-magical world) changed into their 'normal' clothes. They said their farewells and parted, a few discreet lightening charms applied to their trunks before they left the train and technically came under the purview of the underage magic restrictions.
Lily sped down the platform, giving the Marauders a wide berth. They looked serious, huddled around a piece of parchment which Sirius was holding, and which they seemed to be urgently discussing. Lily suspected they were probably planning to try and ambush John and Henry again, and hoped that Severus' friends got out of the station intact. In between words Potter and his gang certainly seemed to be looking up and down the platform for someone.
She ducked her head, averted her eyes, and hurried on.
Lily had passed the Marauders and was most of the way to the ticket barrier, when she heard Sirius yell in her direction:
"Oi! Evans! I need a word with you!"
Lily redoubled her pace and thanked her lucky stars the Marauders were still in wizard robes. They'd have trouble pursuing her on the other side of the barrier without causing a fuss unless they stopped to transfigure their clothes first.
There were sounds of the Marauders giving chase, and of someone getting in their way, and then Lily was out into the non-magical world, breathing hard, and relatively safe for now. She spotted her father waiting, and her relief increased. A speedy and immediate getaway was guaranteed. She had no idea what the Marauders had wanted with her, but she suspected it was for something bad. Maybe Sirius wanted to hex her for her attempt to talk him out of whatever he'd been intending to do to Ygraine's sister. It wouldn't surprise her if he did. The last thing she'd heard of the Marauders had been Lupin saying – she didn't bother to think of him as 'Remus' any more – "Forget it, Sirius. There'll be plenty of time to catch up with her at the start of September."
There wouldn't be, if Lily had any say in things. She hadn't really been able to improve on the plan she'd dreamt up in the infirmary, which she had some doubts and reservations over, but she'd just had all the additional incentive she needed to put it into operation. The sooner she could make contact with Severus, the better…
Author Notes:
Well, that turned out to be trickier to write than I thought it would be.
The story underwent several revisions, with various pieces being toned down or scrapped altogether. Originally Dumbledore himself was going to summon Lily to his office to dress her down over taking too many points from the Marauders, with a dream sequence resulting from that, but it seemed slightly too hands on for the headmaster, given his interest in Lily is purely nominal at this stage, and something he'd much more likely delegate to Lily's head of house (who properly speaking probably ought to handle affairs concerning Gryffindor prefects anyway). So that finished up as a partial rewrite, and the attached dream sequence was scrapped.
Then there was the love potions plot, abandoned because it was an unnecessary complication and it seemed to me that the Marauders (especially at this moment) would have too big egos (except maybe Peter) to use love-potions to get girlfriends for themselves (although using them to humiliate other people would be another question altogether) and there was another scene cut where Lily actually had a private conversation with the Sorting Hat and was thinking about being re-sorted into Slytherin. Whatever final decision Lily came to, I preferred it to be reached pretty much on her own, without much help/advice from mentors – well not apart from her real or imagined house-specific selves.
Getting back to what actually did make it in, a couple of things have been going on behind the scenes, of which Lily is not aware, which pertain to this story. First, Professor Horace Slughorn (who was Severus' head of house) actually went to see Severus' (maternal) grandfather and came away highly concerned. Professor Slughorn's post-potions conversation with Lily was the result. Professor Slughorn is perfectly well aware that Lily lives close to Severus (he's a Slytherin and well-connected plus informed after all), but he was hoping to nudge Lily into think about Severus' romantic possibilities – if she wasn't already doing so – since Professor Slughorn sees Lily as about the only positive influence of any significance in Severus' life that might save Severus from himself. Second, Albus Dumbledore did punish Sirius for 'killing' Fawkes with a reductor curse and also putting Miss. Evans in the infirmary. The headmaster confiscated Sirius' wand until the end of term, but let him have it back for lessons with practical elements, and supplied him with a replica to carry at all other times. Dumbledore didn't want to embarrass Sirius by letting it be known publicly that he was being punished in such a fashion, and in his desire for secrecy Dumbledore succeeded to the extent that practically everyone (Lily included) simply assumed that Sirius hadn't actually been punished... Dumbledore also advised Sirius that he and his friends should probably avoid Lily for the rest of the term, rather than risk a public scene, hence the lack of any kind of infirmary visit or apology from Sirius or the Marauders.
As regards Lily and where she's going, by the end of this piece she's feeling somewhat betrayed by a number of fellow Gryffindors (students or teachers). Remus' being prepared to connive with the Marauders was disappointing but probably not a major shock; Professor McGonagall's effective 'stop punishing them unless they're serious dangers' was something Lily couldn't understand; and then came the encounter with Dumbledore, which owing to the steps the headmaster had taken to protect Sirius from embarrassment both obvious (the plan to shift the blame to Miss. Trescothick) and of which Lily was not aware (disciplining Sirius, but covering it up that he had done so) pushed Lily past her own breaking point. But rather than do what might be a classic Gryffindor thing, which would be stay and fight to the bitter end, Lily's in a position of there not being anything she cares sufficiently about at Hogwarts for the battles she sees ahead to be worth fighting, and she just wants out, if at all conveniently possible. And she's even concocted a half-baked plan (she's been in Gryffindor for five years, after all, not Slytherin) to attempt to not be at Hogwarts but to at least continue some of her studies...
Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall mean well. It's just that Albus regards winning the war against Voldemort as a higher priority right now than running a school effectively, and Minerva is absolutely loyal to her headmaster and prepared to rationalise if Albus says something with which her instincts might tell her at face-value seems to be wrong. Lily's comment to the headmaster that he sounded more like a politician than a teacher gave him a very nasty moment (canon Dumbledore or at least his phantasm in book 7 tells Harry he avoided the Minister job because he felt getting that involved in politics would be bad for him), but he brushed it aside and managed to convince himself that she was just joking. The positions adopted by the headmaster and his deputy, in combination with Marauders who are triumphant, rather full of themselves, and experimenting with just what they can get away with is rather bad for the school. Albus Dumbledore may be essential to the Ministry for the war effort, but there are consequences coming nonetheless. And then, besides the run-of-the-mill stuff, there's Lily.
The road to wherever it is that Lily is going right now has been paved for her by Albus and Minerva's best intentions...
This story is a one-shot.
Update: The narrative now continues with 'Not According to Plan' over in Alternate Scene by the Lake 4.