Part One: Curiosity

Chapter One: A Mystery, an Argument, and an Inability to Accept Not Knowing

Lily Evans had always been told she was curious. When she was little and wanted to know a million things about the world her parents laughed, saying that she was such a lovely curious girl. Strangers passing the family by on days out complimented Lily on her curiousness when they heard her asking question after question. When they were young Petunia had loved Lily's curiosity, she had loved being the person who knew everything, and had thrived on telling Lily all about life, pets, people, and relationships. Lily had loved mystery novels growing up, dressing up as Nancy Drew for her 7th birthday and playing spies with her friends after school. When they had been caught breaking into a golf course tailing a 'evil assassin' and were facing a thorough telling off she had pleaded that she had just been curious about where all the balls came from, and she and her friends had got off with a warning and a pat on the head. When she was eight she had beguilingly asked why her hair was red while Tuney's was blonde. Petunia had joked that it was because she was a evil witch before telling her about simple genetics while she plaited it for her, claiming that there was a logical explanation for everything that one 'ought to know'.

Severus had commented on how curious she was after he told her she was magical and she asked thousands of questions about that new world. When she had encountered Sleekeazy's Hair Potion in her 3rd year at Hogwarts she had been curious about the 'unique results for redheads' and just had to try it out. She found that on Sundays (and public holidays) it glowed in the dark, but most other days it was just fine. She still uses it. Her hair of course was almost auburn, so she didn't get the full show (she saw the Prewett twins try it once, for a dare, and their hair got so bright it looked like it was on fire), but everyone told her she looked great with glowing hair. The Hogwarts teachers had also admired her enthusiasm and questions in class, and how her curiosity made her do extra research into how everything magical worked. Professor Slughorn suggested it was her 'natural curiosity about what ingredients would do' that made her great at potions. Her friend Mary MacDonald said that her curiosity about people's lives made her interesting and engaging to talk to.

Everything people had said to her told her that curiosity was a good thing. So why was James Potter yelling at her for it?

"You need to keep your perfect nose in your own bloody business! This is none of yours!" He said emphatically, standing in the centre of the Gryffindor common room.

"I'm just curious," she replied defensively, trying to ignore the steadily increasing number of stares they were receiving.

"You're not curious," he threw his hands in the air, "Peter is curious about how the house elves decide what to cook each day. My cat is curious about why Sirius chases him around. But you? You have an inability to accept not knowing."

"I happen to think that knowing things is very useful." Her voice was beginning to rise to match his, and her cheeks flushed angrily.

"You sound like a goddamn Ravenclaw. The only way that you are 'just curious' is that you're a bloody curiosity. You're impossible to understand." Almost everyone in the room had stopped their conversations now, avidly watching the shouting match. A couple immature people in a corner started placing bets on what it was about, how long it would last, who would storm off first.

"You think I'm impossible to understand? I'm not the one keeping all the ruddy secrets."

"I will not tell you Evans," he said with finality, though the statement was hardly final, "don't ask me again."

"I don't need to ask you, I'll find out anyway!"

"It's a matter of life and death," declared James, trying in vain to get Lily to see sense. She just glared at him. The crowd held its collective breath. "It's matter of staying at Hogwarts or expulsion!"

"Fine," she said. The crowd exhaled as one. "I'll keep my perfect nose out of your secrets."

Naturally she only intended to keep her nose at such a distance where Potter couldn't see it.

As she walked off with her head (and shapely nose) held high the students in the common room quickly turned their gazes away and resumed talking, like a silencing charm had been suddenly lifted off.

"I said prefect. Prefect nose, not perfect," James called lamely after her, "I don't think your nose is perfect, you're a bloody prefect." He trailed off and wearily lifted his glasses off his own, fairly respectable if a little large, nose.

"You said perfect mate," Sirius walked up to him with a half grin of sympathy and a little enjoyment, "you said perfect."

James swore.

With the determination of a rebellious teen who had just been told not to do something, Lily threw herself into trying to solve the mystery of why and where to James and his roommates disappeared at night. She had first learnt of the nightly escapades about a month ago, when she had gone up to the boys' room (a place she usually strived to avoid) in search of Remus. She had only wanted Lupin's help with a particularly difficult Ancient Runes essay that was due the following morning, but came away with something far more confusing than Why the rune symbolising infinity had been changed from a phoenix to a grim in 1578. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she stayed up all night writing down possible reasons they were all gone instead of even an inch of her essay. Professor Babbling wasn't pleased. Probably not one of Lily's best ideas.

So for a couple weeks Lily had come up with more excuses to visit the boys' dorm during the night, lost quills, lost wand, lost sense of proportion. She didn't need any of them of course, except to mention casually to the girls in her own room before going over, because she found that the boys were never there. Sadly her excuses weren't as subtle as she thought, and after one time when she told her friends that she had misplaced her potions textbook and was going to ask the boys if she could borrow one, Mary pointed out that the incriminating book was sitting on her bed. The girls then proceeded to assure Lily that they knew, and she didn't need to worry about what they would think because they were all fully supportive. When Lily, suitably confused, questioned them about what in Merlin's name they were talking about, they told her they had assumed she was sleeping with James.

She stopped going around to the boys' room after that.

She did tell Mary what she had been investigating, and while Mary was sceptical she encouraged Lily to continue looking into it. And Lily did. At first the whole thing was just a fun little mystery she thought about in-between classes, but after she asked a bunch of subtly probing questions to James and his friends to not much avail and a whole lot of not-so-subtle subject changes, it began to be more of an obsession.

She adapted her list-of-possible-reasons-and-places-James-and-his-friends-disappeared-to into a more concise List of Possibilities, which she numbered appropriately according to their likelihood, and proceeded to try and get a confession.

When she asked Sirius if he liked Hogsmeade (and made sure he didn't think she was asking him out) he told her that after 3 years of boring dates and snow in his hair, he had bought everything Zonko's (and therefore Hogsmeade) had to offer.

She crossed off 4. Sneaking off to Hogsmeade and getting drunk.

When she asked Remus whether they had any elaborate pranks coming up that she should be prepared to avoid he said that they hadn't really been planning much recently, and while they would still maintain their devious reputation, their focuses had been elsewhere recently.

She crossed off 1. Planning a prank.

When she asked Peter about what he thought of Filch recently he was pretty non-committal, waffling something about them not being caught by Filch recently so the intense hatred had lessened slightly.

She crossed off 10. Plotting to kill Filch (or maybe just get revenge).

Eventually after crossing practically everything off her list (except 7. Something sexual, which she just didn't know how to bring up politely, and 12. Brewing Polyjuice potion and impersonating a teacher to find out all the gossip about McGonagall to later blackmail her into giving them all Outstandings.) she just outright asked James where they went. And well… That escalated into the aforementioned (very unreasonable) argument in the common room. And from that moment on, her desperate curiosity doubled like it had been hit with a Gemino curse.

As she sat pondering who to focus her first real effort on she heard a sharp tap on the window closest to her bed. Looking up she instantly recognised Snape's owl and resignedly lifted the latch and let it in. She removed the attached note, then let the bird fly back outside. When she first got back to school in September she had been inundated with apology letters from Severus, which she had managed to avoid during the holidays. After a couple days (and about 8 letters) her firm resolve to ignore them had shattered and she had torn them all open to read. She had been plagued with thoughts wondering what he had written, with the tiny flame of hope that he had decided to ditch all that dark magic urging her curiosity on. Of course she sent back all the letters magically 'unopened' after being disappointed, not wanting him to know she read them. And she read all of them.

This one she set aside.

She did intend to read it later, but for now her curiosity about James Potter's secret seemed more urgent than reading a repetitive empty apology incriminating the Gryffindor boys in all manners of ridiculous events.

If she was honest with herself she would have admitted that this obsession with the mystery was a distraction. It had been less than half a year since her friendship with Severus had broken down completely, and she what she needed more than anything was something to take her mind off it all. During the holidays it hadn't been so bad, sure it had been more fresh in her mind, but away from magic, away from Hogwarts, and away from the people and reminders that told her she was an outsider in that world she considered home, she could forget. Sighing at Petunia's haughty glares, and laughing at her boyfriend Vernon's blubbering pride, her parents' encouragement and affection, and the comfort of her old room all gave her a feeling of calmness. All the worry and unhappiness about the hostile state of the wizarding world just faded away in little Cokeworth. She didn't read the Daily Prophet, she didn't use her wand, and no one was calling her mudblood (although probably if it had been in Petunia's vocabulary of insults she would have been). But the moment she stepped through the barrier at Kings Cross she was isolated again. Her family couldn't come through, and all the worries, all the sadness, and all the anger she had locked away took their place standing next to her.

Everything about magic and Hogwarts she associated with him.

The train carriage where they had sat excitedly in their first year. The Great Hall where they would meet up each morning before splitting off to sit at their own tables. The Astronomy tower where they would sit and talk about the things they were going to do when they knew all the magic in the world. The Fat Lady's portrait where he had apologised. The potions rooms where they had spent so long experimenting. The spells. The lake. The grounds. That awful day after the defence exam.

This was why she needed a distraction. Her friends had helped, Mary, Remus, the other Gryffindor girls, she was slowly making new memories without Severus. And, despite the uncomfortable public confrontation with Potter, focusing on this mystery was helping.

So, thankfully forgetting the letter sitting beside her for once, she threw herself into writing out a plan of attack.

Well hello there dear reader, and thank you for starting my story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the next one should be up *shortly* (I have already written at least half of this story, and have the whole thing planned out, but I will space out the uploads so it isn't all '5 chapters in 5 days and then like a six month gap'). There'll be maybe 10 chapters in total? Varying in length (this one is one of the shorter ones just fyi).

Obviously I don't own Harry Potter!

Reviews and comments are always appreciated,

Your benevolent Ravenclaw author