"It's still weird."
"Hmm? What's weird?"
"That."
Lily followed Agnes' line of sight until she happened upon the visual of the Head Boy giving a couple students a stern talking to at the end of the Great Hall. She smiled.
"Yes, I suppose it is a bit," she said, returning her attention to the parchment in front of her.
"A bit? He's telling off second years. Five minutes ago he was the one being told off. It's unnatural."
"It's kind of his job," Lily pointed out, quill scratching away.
"Head Boy. James Potter. Never saw it coming," Agnes said for about the one hundredth time that term. Lily uttered an indecipherable sound, and Agnes felt herself acceptably agreed with to carry on muttering into her lunch.
James Potter as Head Boy had been quite the shock announcement of the year, not least of all because he had been appointed so without having been a Prefect in Fifth and Sixth years, which was usually a prerequisite of the position. Lily had had her doubts, but as Professor Dumbledore had so eloquently pointed out, James had come a long way over the past year. It really was amazing to see how much he had settled down into a mature young man. Even Lily could admit that throughout his years at Hogwarts, despite the perpetual troublemaking behavior, he had always shown signs of being a strong leader that other students listened to and respected. Nobody could quite draw a room's attention like James could.
And so this year, for the first time in a very long time, Hogwarts had a Head Boy and a Head Girl from the same House.
When the meal was over, Lily packed away her quill and parchment and the women left the Hall on their way to their afternoon classes.
At the door to the Potions laboratory they parted ways and Lily took her seat beside her Potions partner. The two happily made conversation until Professor Slughorn made his presence known, bursting through the door grinning widely and greeting his precious students.
"My dear Lily," Slughorn exclaimed, pausing at the desk of his most favourite student. "Truly fantastic work on Golpalott's Third Law last week, I am very excited to read your parchment on the subject."
"Thank you, Professor," Lily said glowing.
"I expect to see much of the same enthusiasm for this week's work, I think you'll enjoy it very much," he said, giving a small wink before leaning closer and speaking in an unusually quiet tone, "and the goldfish is still on the go you'll be happy to hear."
"Very happy, sir."
Lily smiled. She was pleased to hear the regular updates from Professor Slughorn concerning her charmed gift to him. Not only because it proved that her charm was holding, but also because it showed her just how much the small gift meant to him. He'd always been one of her favourite professors.
Slughorn began the class with all his usual bluster and the lesson proceeded as normal. At one point, as the students set up their equipment, Lily could feel a familiar pair of eyes looking at her from across the room. It was happening more infrequently now, perhaps because she was better able to prevent herself from reacting. This time as well she steadily ignored the gaze of her former friend and focused on the task at hand. When she felt that he had shifted his attention elsewhere, she glanced at Severus out of the corner of her eye. He looked much the same, his black hair even longer and uneven, in need of a trim. Or did he look thinner? No, Lily turned back and refused to look at him more closely. He had chosen his path. She should not concern herself anymore, not after all this time. Especially as the word "mudblood" still occasionally echoed in her dreams.
"Evans? Evans!"
Lily turned on the steps of the main stairwell to see James Potter pushing through students presumably to reach her. The corridors were busy as students changed between classes. Lily herself had been heading to her Charms class. Now she paused and watched the crowd which was severely hindering James' progress. Behind him, Sirius Black was doing his best to keep up with his friend while calling out in a loud voice.
"There are so many little people. Where did you all come from? Move aside, move aside, his majesty the Head Boy coming through."
"Evans? Hold on."
James had almost reached her when Lily felt a familiar jolt. Automatically she reached for the banister of the staircase as the top of the stairs unceremoniously parted company with the corridor James and Sirius had just come through, cutting off their route.
"Are you doing this on purpose?" James called out accusatorily, running a hand through his dark locks.
Lily snorted delicately.
"I appreciate your confidence in my skills," she said, "but I'm afraid even my enchantments aren't this good. What were you going to say?"
"Dumbledore said… so will you…"
The din created by the people on the staircases hadn't abated and James' words were lost amongst them.
"What did you say?"
"HE SAID DUMBLEDORE SAID YOU HAVE HIS BLESSING," shouted Sirius, repeatedly batting away James' hands trying to cover his mouth, "SO WILL YOU MARRY HIM?"
Lily rolled her eyes.
"What did you really say?" she called out, cupping her hands around her mouth.
James held out his hands, asking her to wait, and she shrugged and made her way down the steps. Another staircase had rejoined James and Sirius' corridor and they raced each other down it, laughing and jostling like they were going on twelve instead of eighteen years old. They disappeared into a corridor on the other side of the stairwell, no doubt making their way towards Lily via walkways that didn't move without warning.
"Hello Lily!"
"Hello girls." Lily smiled at the group of giggling third-year Gryffindors as they walked past. As James came sliding round the corner, they paused and giggled louder.
"Sorry about that," James said, not the slightest but out of breath. Running a couple of corridors was clearly no problem for a well-seasoned Quidditch Chaser. He nodded at the group of girls who were still watching behind them, and again they fell into peals of laughter and waved enthusiastically.
"No Sirius?"
"Huh?" James looked behind him, and then seemed to remember something and shook his head. "Oh yeah, no, I told him to go away. He was being a prat. What I was trying to say before was Dumbledore caught me on the way out of Transfiguration. He said he wants us to do the rounds in pairs from now on."
"The Prefects already do the rounds in pairs," Lily reminded him.
"No, us, as in me and you." James dragged his hand through his hair again, fluffing up the back as was custom. Especially when he was being exceptionally arrogant. Or nervous and not wanting to show it. "With all the stuff that's started happening on the outside, he doesn't want us going round on our own anymore."
"Hogwarts is the safest place there is. I know he's worried but…"
Lily narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering briefly if James was making it up as one of his old tricks to spend time with her. But no, looking at James' face it didn't appear so.
"It's just a precaution, what with the Slytherins… well, you know. Nothing to worry about really."
Lily could guess at what James had stopped himself from mentioning. It was something that wasn't said out in open corridors like this. The professors were trying to keep as much of it from the students as possible. Dissent was beginning to run rife within the Slytherin House and the situation was only just-about being contained. Some Slytherin students had already been pulled out of school by their parents. Supposedly there were being trained to be… 'Death Eaters.' It was a word that was starting to make people shiver. Other students were supposedly attempting to turn others on the inside. Behaviours were changing, becoming more unmanageable and at times downright cruel. Hogwarts could only hope to keep so many uninfluenced for so long.
When such had been said in a meeting called between the Headmaster, Heads of House and Head Boy and Girl, a name both Lily and James had thought of hung in the air, unspoken. Someone who had already turned down a darker path.
James smiled reassuringly and tucked his hands into the pockets of his cloak.
"Okay," Lily said, nodding. "I'll meet you outside Gryffindor to start the rounds this evening."
"Right you are."
Without so much as a cheeky comment, James turned and went back the way he came, whistling an unfamiliar tune. Lily very much appreciated that he hadn't brought up Sev-… Snape at any point this year when the Slytherins had been mentioned.
Lily walked to the edge of the corridor and looked up into the stairwell. Chatter and laughter rained down from staircases above, and murmured from staircases below. Some students held on as their pathways changed, and others ran to and fro, cheered on by characters in nearby paintings. She couldn't for a moment envision any of this changing. Surely Hogwarts would always be this, would always be Hogwarts; a place of happiness and laughter. Anything else was… simply unimaginable.
Lily arrived early in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was snoring softly, but to her surprise James was already there, sitting on the steps, tossing a Snitch up and down; or perhaps more like letting it fly away for a second before reflexively catching it before it could get too far.
"You're still playing with that thing?" Lily hadn't seen him with it for a while.
James looked up in surprise and almost let the Snitch get away, but managed to pitch himself forward to grab it in time.
"An old habit," he said smiling and standing up, tucking the Snitch into his cloak.
"Not trying to impress someone with it?" Lily ventured, surprising James with her lightheartedly teasing tone.
"Only you here, Evans," he replied, eyes twinkling. "I wouldn't dare. Shall we?"
He extended his hand out to Lily, and for a moment, she was confused. Did he want her to take his hand? But no, James was gesturing back down the stairs which was their route for the evening. Feeling silly and slightly embarrassed, Lily whirled around and led the way quickly into the corridor below, leaving James to catch up from behind.
The corridors were blessedly quiet. They'd been walking the halls for almost an hour but Lily and James had yet to see any signs of students being where they weren't supposed to be. They had checked in on a few Prefects who had said much the same. All was quiet at Hogwarts.
As their rounds were coming to an end, James stopped by one of the windows that looked out upon the grounds below. Not far from the castle lay the edge of the forbidden forest, and just out of sight the Whomping Willow stood its ground. Hogsmeade was laid out even further beyond that. Lily could just see a few lights twinkling in the distance.
"You can see pretty far tonight," she remarked.
"Mmm," said James. "It'll be a full moon tomorrow."
Lily peered up at the moon, which lit up the grounds in a silver glow. To her it looked it could very well be full right now.
"How can you tell?"
"There's a small shadow on the moon. See there?" James was pointing, but to Lily it just looked like he was pointing at the moon. "No? Oh, hold, on, right there see?"
James stooped down to her eye level and was leaning fairly close so that they almost touched, but not quite. Lily looked up at where his finger was pointing, and when she breathed in she could smell fresh soap. Giving herself a mental shake, she nodded her head even though she still couldn't quite see what he saw.
"That's sort of impressive. You were horrible at Divination."
James straightened and paused, and she wondered if she'd offended him, but then he said, "I was horrible at Divination as a whole, but I was alright with the astrology bit."
This was news to Lily.
"You like astrology?"
"I didn't say I liked it, I said I was good at it. But hey, I think there might be something to it."
"That's ridiculous."
"An Aquarius would say that."
Lily raised an eyebrow inquisitively, stifling a laugh.
"What do you know about star signs? And how do you know mine?"
"For the longest time I made it my business to know everything about you, Lily Evans."
James said this while looking out the window, and so he missed the soft shadow that passed over her face. She wasn't sure what to think about that sentence; wasn't sure how to read his tone. Before she could say anything, James looked back over his shoulder and cupped his hand around his ear.
"What? Can you hear something, Potter?"
"Yes."
Lily peered into the dark corridor but could neither hear nor see anything.
"What is it?"
"I can hear… it sounds like… yes I think it is."
Lily grew worried at his evasiveness and felt for the reassurance of her wand in her cloak.
"What?"
"My bed. Yes I definitely think I can hear my bed calling to me. Shall we off?"
Lily's mouth was left agape as he strolled back down the corridor. Sometimes James was… James was… downright annoying! She sighed and shook her head. No, James Potter was James Potter. And as much as he had changed, he would also always stay the same. Lily took one final look out of the window, noting how beautifully the moon's light touched the tops of the trees and made the dewy grass sparkle, before speeding up to catch up to her incorrigible partner.
The next day, classes seemed to pass in a blur. Before she knew it, Lily was sitting with Agnes and Iria having her lunch. The owls were late that day, and arrived a few moments after the students had filled the Hall for their midday meal instead of at breakfast which was the usual time for post.
Lily's mother had written to say that they were doing well, although Petunia was acting rather strangely again and refused to tell them why, so could Lily write her letter to see if she could find out what might be the matter. Lily doubted that would do any good. Petunia had never replied to any letter she had ever sent her over the last six years. She'd always suspected that Petunia had thrown away her letters without ever opening them. But she endeavored to write again anyway to appease their mother.
Of more interest was the addition that her mother had added in blue ink at the bottom of the letter. It appeared she'd added it just before she'd sent the letter. She wrote that there seemed to be an increase in news on the television concerning mysterious disappearances. It was causing quite a stir, particularly in their neighbourhood because it seemed that Mrs. Temple from No. 49 hadn't returned from her holiday and her relatives had come looking for her. Lily's mother asked in the letter whether there was any news in the 'magical community' that muggles weren't being told about.
Lily put down the letter, deep in thought. She didn't know much herself, but what she did know she wasn't sure she should yet share with her parents. The muggle prime minister was probably more aware of what was going on than the news was portraying. But it was probably privileged information. Lily was so deep in thought that she didn't know she was being called until a hand waved right in front of her face.
"Sorry, Potter, hello."
"Evans," James said after a beat and sat himself next to her on the bench. "I wanted to tell you that I won't be able to patrol with you tonight."
"Won't be able to patrol? Why?
"Professor Beetie has asked me to help him set up the DADA class for tomorrow. It's apparently something akin to an obstacle course, requires heavy lifting, and he's like, 150 years old."
"Well, that's fine then I suppose. But I thought we weren't supposed to do the rounds on our own anymore?"
"Right, so Remus is out of commission too, you see, he's very poorly, can't even leave the dorm, so his Prefect partner is going spare too. I already asked her and she said it wasn't a problem. She'll meet you where I did last night."
Lily mulled over this information as he looked at her expectantly, and then nodded.
"Okay, but both of you owe us. We're going to have to do double the work to cover both routes."
James saluted her.
"Yes ma'am. 200 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, and 2 extra patrols. You got it."
"Just the patrols will do." Lily smiled.
There wasn't much that made Lily mad.
Granted the Marauders had managed to find all those few buttons and had pushed them frequently throughout the years, but on the whole there wasn't much that made her mad. But sitting on the steps outside the Gryffindor tower, 15 minutes past the start of patrols, it could arguably be said that Lily Evans was royally ticked off.
She wasn't sure whether James had failed to communicate with the other Prefect correctly, or whether the Prefect had just decided not to show up. Either way, Lily didn't like to be kept waiting, and she didn't like it when people shirked their responsibilities.
Finally after 20 minutes, she gave up on waiting and began the double load of patrols by herself. Thankfully the corridors seemed to be as quiet that night as they had the previous night. Walking through the hallways with hundreds of sleeping portraits helped to diffuse Lily's anger, and she actually found herself enjoying the task, just as she always had. There was something about being able to wander around after dark when the school wasn't being used as a school that felt exciting and adventurous. The light cast by her wand created shadows wherever she went, not that Lily Evans was afraid of a few shadows.
It was late by the time she traced her usual route passed the window she and James had stood at the night before. Just like that night, she gave pause to stare out into the peaceful night. Just as James had said, the moon was full, and perhaps Lily could discern a small difference to how it looked yesterday. The light touched the tops of the trees in the same way, and even fewer lights sparkled in the distance over in Hogsmeade.
Lily was about to turn away when something caught her attention on the grounds below. Three small figures were running away from the castle. They stopped for moment, and from this far away it was hard to tell why, but then they continued running. They headed away from the castle, skirting the edges of the Forbidden Forest. The only thing Lily knew of that was in the direction they were heading was the Whomping Willow. She cursed under her breath. They were probably first years on a dare to get as close to the tree as possible. It was so unbelievably dangerous, but it was also a very popular dare amongst students.
Lily sprinted as quickly as possible along the corridor and into the stairwell, choosing staircases carefully that would lead her quickly down to the ground floor. Her footsteps echoed along the stone hallways as she sped along. She hoped to come across another Prefect, or perhaps a Professor, in case she reached the students too late and needed help, but no one was about. Lily bolted out of the castle doors that led to the grounds and made her way as quickly as possible in the direction she had seen the students go.
The school grounds went on for many miles, but the area in which the students were allowed to roam freely ended at the beginning of an incline. There was no direct path that led to the Whomping Willow, but it was easier to get to than it should have been. While not unfit, Lily found herself breathing heavily as she climbed. She couldn't yet hear the students, but she knew they had to be ahead and stayed alert.
In the distance, the sound of a wolf crying out in the night stopped her momentarily in her tracks. All manner of beasts roamed the grounds during the day, but even more came out at night. Another howl echoed from much closer by, and then another. The hand that reached into her pocket for her wand shook slightly, and Lily took a deep breath to steady herself before beginning the ascent again.
Finally, as the top of the Whomping Willow came into view, she heard the sound of hushed whispers.
Lily crept forward quietly. If she alerted them to her presence too early they might startle and flee into the Forbidden Forest. Lily didn't want to imagine what might occur if that happened. She managed to keep her balance when one of the students suddenly let out an almighty howl into the night, followed by another from his companion. An answering howl pierced the night, more animalistic than their calls. Lily gritted her teeth in annoyance at their stupidity. She tucked her wand back into her cloak and managed to get within a few feet of the hooded figures without them seeing her, and then when she saw one begin to move forward, she reached out and grabbed him.
"Got you!"
All three figures whipped around in shock. Lily grabbed another one by the arm and then looked at the third boy.
"Don't even think of running off, Henry, I know it's you."
The first year Gryffindor boy looked over at the Forbidden Forest.
"Don't. Even. Think about it," Lily repeated firmly. "All I'll be doing to you is taking you back to the castle and you'll probably get detention. In there something will probably eat you."
Henry bowed his head, giving up at once, as did his friends who stopped struggling in her hands.
"And who would you be?" she asked, looking at the students she was holding. "No telling fibs, now. You'll be in even more trouble if you do."
"Oswald Braithwaite."
"Lewis Creswell."
"Hufflepuff?" Lily asked, noting the symbols stitched onto their clothes, and they nodded. "And I imagine you're here, Henry, to make sure they go through with the dare."
Henry scuffed his shoe on the ground, still unable to look Lily in the eye.
"You can count on hearing the lecture you should be expecting about wandering outside after hours and how dangerous the Whomping Willow is, but first we're going to get back to the castle. It's not safe out here. Do not do this again."
The boys nodded meekly, and they turned back to the castle.
However, before they could take many steps, an animal howled from somewhere behind them. The sound froze them in their tracks. Wasn't it a little closer than before? Lily looked tentatively over her shoulder but couldn't see anything. Carefully extricating her wand from her robes, she whispered "lumos" and used the light to check the shadows that formed all around them. Nothing.
"Keep moving," she said stiffly, and the boys reacted immediately, hurrying along the rough terrain, using the light of Lily's wand to keep from tripping over. The howls continued behind them and the group picked up their speed. They had to climb higher before they could climb back down again, and as they did so, Lily risked a glance behind her. Birds that should have been sleeping were suddenly flying away. Nearer and nearer they left their havens and flew to distant trees. An odd sound was growing from that direction. Whether it was thumps or pounding, the sound grew louder. When the tree tops began to shake, Lily whipped around and looked at the students, who were looking back at her with wide, fearful eyes.
"Run!"