Lily confidently handed her DADA OWL to Professor Merrythought and swiftly strode out of the Great Hall where her fellow fifth years were finishing their exams. As she left the Great Hall and walked outside to enjoy the mind clearing air, she pushed all thoughts of OWLs, stress and frantic, midnight studying out of her head. She was done. Lily had successfully made it through seven OWLs – more exams than any other student in her year had taken upon themselves to complete. She plopped herself done on a large rock near the far end of the Black Lake, from where she had a clear view of the Entrance Hall so she would be able to see when her friends exited. Lily threw open her robes and lay across her favorite rock, spreading her arms out and soaking in the sun. She shut her eyes and let herself revel in the pleasure of her freedom. A while later, something brushed up against her, sending goose bumps up her arm, and Lily sat up with a start to see Elina lounging beside her.
"Hey! How was it?"
Elina groaned, "Can we please not do this? We are finally finished! I don't want to think about another exam until seventh year. Oh hell! Now I'm worrying about those bloody NEWTs."
Lily laughed. Leave it to Lina to start agonizing about NEWTs immediately after handing in her last OWL.
"Come on Lina, don't get all up in a dither about those now. We've got a whole year before we have to start worrying about NEWTs. When we come back after the summer holiday next year, you have my permission to go completely batty over NEWTs."
Lina harrumphed, "Well now I'm calm. Can we change the subject? My stomach acids are beginning to boil."
Lily patted her friend on the back with a sigh. Lina could really drama things up.
They chatted companionably about summer plans as they watched the mass of students steadily exiting the Entrance Hall. Well, Lina chatted, Lily mostly listened. Lily had plans for the summer as well but once Lina got talking, there was very little anyone could do to stop her.
"I got that internship at a dragon breeder's in Scotland." Lina told Lily animatedly, "My cousin went through some old Prophets in the Ministry's Archives to see who was advertising and found this MacFusty something or other advertising for help. It's all dragon dung shoveling and distributing the food but I'm going to be working with them up close. The owner told me in a letter – Merlin!" Lina yelped and jumped up so quickly she tripped over her robes and landed flat on her bottom.
Lily stifled a laugh, willing herself to keep a straight face and held out a hand to help her jabbering friend off the ground.
"What was that?" Lily asked with a curious expression, wondering what could have possible interrupted Lina's energetic monologue.
"I have to send the breeder an owl accepting the job!" And Lina sprinted off, her robes billowing out behind her.
Lily chuckled to herself. Only Lina would become so excited about something that she'd be too caught up to remember such a major detail.
Lily returned to sifting through the students leaving the Hogwarts building, looking out for Adilay. Alice was still in the Hospital wing and they had made up to go up and visit her after they finished their exam. At long last, she saw Adilay come out and with a smile Lily could see from across the lake, made her way over to the rock.
"What's with Lina? I saw her running through the building like her pants were on fire." Adilay asked, sitting down next to Lily.
"She had to send a letter to Scotland."
"Oh no. Did she forget to tell the dragon breeders that she's taking the internship?"
Lily snorted and nodded. Adilay knew their friend well. The truth was Adilay was extremely perceptive and could read all people very easily, though she never pried and wouldn't ever think of sharing something you had confided in her – or that she had guessed at on her own. She was constantly being told that she should work as a reporter for the Daily Prophet after graduating because of her people skills and knack for conversing. However, Adilay always responded that she wouldn't ever want to work for the Prophet, or any paper for that matter. She felt that reporters and newspaper editors were too cruel and thirsty to get a good story by any means necessary. Adilay was named for a heroine from a wizard novel and Lily and Lina had always thought that Adilay's parents must have had unbelievable foresight, for Adilay was the protagonist of that book in the flesh – kind, wonderful and able to read your feelings in a moment and work off them.
"Have you figured out what you want to do this summer, Lily?" Adilay's voice shook Lily out of her revere.
Lily shook her head glumly, "I guess I'll just be sitting at home with Petunia for two months." Lily wrinkled her nose at the prospect "I didn't bother applying for an internship anywhere; no one would take…someone like me."
Adilay wacked Lily defiantly on the back, "Stop talking that way, will you! Why do you always say that?"
"The way things are now, you know how difficult it would be for me to get a job. No one in their right mind would put themselves in that position."
"That's rubbish." Adilay looked at Lily with concern. Lily was so strong and brave. She was her friends' silent strength; she would, and could, battle a thousand Dementors to help you, or simply sit by your side if you needed her to and hold your hand. And yet, she was always doubting and pushing herself to do better, to prove herself. As if Lily, the brightest, most talented witch of their year, didn't belong in Hogwarts! The idea was absurd.
"I have to go send an owl my mum. She asked me to let her know when I finished my last exam. I'll come back soon with Lina and we'll go up to see Alice, ok?" Adilay wanted to add, "And meanwhile you can stop hitting yourself over the head about being muggleborn." But she bit her tongue. Adilay knew the one thing Lily detested was pity, over anything else.
Lily nodded her head and Adilay slipped off the rock and headed back into the school building.
A group of girls soon headed in Lily's direction and sat around the edge of the Black Lake, pulling Lily into their conversation.
Across the other end of the lake, Lily took stock of four boys who had come to lean against an old tree, one of them playing around arrogantly with an old snitch, his eyes darting ever so often to stare at Lily. Lily narrowed her eyes at him and turned back to the group of girls.
Suddenly the girl sitting next to Lily giggled and when the others stared at her, she pointed a figure at something across the lake. The four boys had stood up and the one with the snitch was leading the pack, his wand out and pointed at a greasy haired boy.
Lily twisted around to watch the scene and when she gathered what was going on, her eyes narrowed into two green slits.
"Let's go see what the Marauders do," the giggling girl, Marianne, offered, "It looks like it could get fun."
Lily whipped her head and gave Marianne a withering look before jumping up and beginning to march around the lake in a huff. She heard the group of girls get up and begin to run after her, a few of them chiding the idiotic Marianne for laughing. Lily was a prefect and they all knew how intensely she despised the Marauders, specifically James Potter, who just so happened to be the one advancing toward Severus Snape. The relationship between Snape and kind-hearted Lily no one could understand, but they knew what the consequences were when Lily would catch the Marauders teasing him as they so often did.
Lily was watching Potter, attempting to blow him into bits with her eyes, and then almost whipping out her wand to fulfill that wish when he hexed Severus, turning him upside down to hang in midair. Lily rushed to the scene as quickly as she could and pushed through the crowd that had formed to watch the taunting of Severus. She broke through the throng of people and into the clearing where Severus was hanging upside down, his robes drooping about his ears to reveal a pair of very old and dirty looking drawers. Lily's heart lurched in compassion for Sev and her blood boiled at the sight of Potter.
"Put him down!" Lily shouted at Potter and his group of moron friends. She was saddened to see Remus, the only one of the bunch whom she had grown to like over the year as they did prefect duties together, joining in on the act.
Potter turned to look at Lily and haughtily announced, "No problem Evans, but first promise to go out with me."
Lily had an urge to jump at him and throttle that stupid, inflated balloon of a head of his until it exploded. Instead, she took a menacing step towards Potter and answered dangerously, "I will when hell freezes over. Now put him down or I will give you and your gang detention until the end of the year!"
Potter eyed her wand warily as she came closer to him; he was not interested in another hexing experience at the hands of Lily Evans. Twenty times were more than enough.
Lily waited for Potter to lower his wand and release Severus and when he didn't she raised her wand to Potter's face, "I'm giving you one last chance. Put. Him. Down!"
Behind her Severus spoke, "I don't need your help, mudblood."
Lily froze, feeling as if someone had just driven a burning hot poker through her. She faintly took note of Potter growling at Snape to apologize.
"I don't need you to protect me, Potter." She barked. Lily turned away quickly, needing to get out of here, away from the dozens of eyes staring at her. She gave one last look at Snape, "Enjoy yourself, Snivellus."
Lily made for the Entrance Hall and the crowd parted to let her through. Behind her, Severus Snape's eyes were filled with tears, but she didn't give a backward glance. Lily made a beeline for the stairs and began to run up to the Gryffindor Common Room, attempting to hold in the tears threatening to begin to fall.