Lily's Fifth Year: Part One
Author's note: As you can see, I've decided to skip on to the fifth year. You all know what happens in between the first and the fifth years, don't you? The only thing that happened that wasn't mentioned in the books was that Sirius' little sister, Arianna (Ari) Black, started at Hogwarts. Sorry that this took so long to write! Anyway, I'll stop blabbing now so you can read the story.
"Lily, Lily!"
Lily heard two voices calling her name. She turned to see two girls running to her side-by-side, one with red hair and the other with blond tresses. They hugged. Lily was so happy to see Leona and Kayla again.
Leona looked very excited. "I know something you don't know," she taunted mysteriously. Lily and Kayla begged to know what it was. Leona laughed. "My sister's going to have a baby! I'm going to be an aunt!"
Lily was shocked. Then again, the moment Molly Valdez had turned eighteen, she had married Arthur Weasley, so she shouldn't have been surprised that she was going to have a child.
"What is it, Leona?"
She shrugged. "We just found out a month ago, Lily, it's not like we would know the gender already. But, if it's a boy, they're probably going to call it Bill."
Lily and Kayla nodded. The three girls walked onto the train, talking about their summers.
"Where shall we sit?" Kayla asked. Leona shrugged.
"Wait! Are you two prefects?" Lily asked, hopefully. The two looked embarrassed.
"Yes," they admitted, and dug prefect badges out of their suitcases. Lily found hers, too.
"So am I, so let's go sit with them!" The three girls lugged their suitcases to the front. Ebony moaned, wanting to be let out of the cage. "Stop whining, Ebony. I'll let you out as soon as we find a seat." The cat hissed impatiently.
The first compartment was full of other prefects. The second only housed four people, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They grinned up at the girls. Lily cringed a little when she saw Remus. She still couldn't believe he was a werewolf.
"You aren't all prefects, are you?" Leona asked, dumbfounded.
They looked at each other. Sirius turned back to the girls, smiling. "No, but James is, and we, er…convinced the teachers to allow us to sit with him." At this, all four boys burst out laughing.
Lily didn't exactly believe Sirius. Judging from the looks on Leona and Kayla's faces, they didn't, either.
"Okay, whatever," Kayla said, and the three sat down at a seat across from where the quartet sat.
"Hey, Sirius, where's your sister?" Remus asked mischievously.
Sirius looked annoyed. "I don't have a sister," he declared.
James laughed again. "You can't fool us, Sirius, we know Ari is your sister. Especially me." Sirius glared at them.
"Okay, fine. I don't know where she is, and I don't care. Probably off with her second-year friends."
Lily laughed. Sirius always pretended that he didn't have a sister; even though it was obvious they were related. They looked nothing alike but had so many personality traits in common that they quarreled much. The seven got into a conversation about their summers and talked the whole way to Hogwarts.
The tall towers of Hogwarts greeted Lily. She was happy to see them, and was eager to get inside her dormitory. James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Leona, Kayla and Lily waved at Hagrid as he led the first years into the boats. He waved back.
After Professor McGonagall had given Lily, Kayla, Leona, James and the other Gryffindor prefects the password, Lily watched the Sorting with minimal interest. She ate dinner quickly afterwards. Her and the other Gryffindor prefects led the Gryffindors down the hall. They told the students and the Fat Lady the password, and led them inside the common room.
Lily, Kayla and Leona showed the first year girls their dormitory and then went to theirs. Lily was happy to see her old bed. She let Ebony out of her cage, and watched roam around for a while. The cat stretched her legs and wondered outside the dormitory.
Lily wasn't worried. She knew Ebony would come back, like she always did. She now looked to see what Kayla and Leona were doing.
They were both reading books, probably the ones that they had been required to have. Lily settled down to read Hogwarts, A History.
The next day was relatively uneventful. Everyone was happy to be back, or so it seemed. Lily and the others soon got caught up with all the work they had to do.
On the third week of September, Remus was missing, once again. James, Sirius and Peter seemed very restless to get through their classes on that day, Lily noticed. Even Peter didn't really pay attention in class.
In Potions, their last class for that day, James and Lily were supposed to work on a Changing Color potion.
"Okay, now put the hickleweed in, James…" Lily looked over to see what her partner was doing. He was looking at his watch, seeming very impatient. "James, didn't you hear what I said?"
He looked at her. "Huh? Sorry, Lily, I didn't hear what you said."
Lily sighed. "Put the hickleweed in," she instructed. James tossed a yellow plant inside their cauldron and stirred it furiously.
"How come you're so impatient today?" Lily asked James. He looked up at her quickly.
"I'm not acting any different!" He insisted, nervously. Lily didn't mention it again. After James added in some dragon liver, the potion exploded. Yellow goo was everywhere. Professor Carpetra was very disappointed when she saw whose cauldron had exploded.
"Potter! Stevens! What is going on here? Did you add too much trainsprouts?"
James looked abashed. "I guess so, Professor. It's not Lily's fault, I wasn't really paying attention…" Lily was amazed. She knew something must be up, because James never screwed up on Potions.
They ended up having to stay afterwards to clean up the mess they had made. James was upset, because he knew people would tease him about messing up. Lily assured him that it would be okay.
At dinner, Lily was surprised to see James, Sirius, and Peter wolf down their dinners. They usually ate slowly, so this was a change. Lily felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Leona looking at her strangely.
"Hey, Lily, is something wrong? You've been looking at those three all day, " she commented.
"Yeah, Lily, you're acting like Leona today!" Kayla teased. Leona jabbed her hard in the stomach and gave her a firm look. Kayla just laughed.
"Nothing's wrong with me, but haven't you noticed how impatient those three have been today? Peter didn't pay attention at all in Transfiguration, and James messed up our potion today!"
Leona and Kayla looked at each other "Well, they did seem a little different…" Leona admitted. Kayla scoffed at them both.
"Well, I didn't notice anything. I have better things to do then watch boys. I knew Leona was gone, but now you, too, Lily?" Kayla put on a face of mock sadness. "I've lost both my friends to boys," she sniffed.
Lily laughed. "Nice try, Kayla. Don't worry though, I don't like boys yet…" She stopped. Was that the truth? Not really, because she did like one Ravenclaw boy…but who said Kayla had to know that?
Kayla didn't look like she believed Lily, but went on eating. Leona tried to convince Kayla that she didn't like boys, but Kayla and Lily both knew that she did. Lily decided that it was rather silly to watch James, Sirius, and Peter so she spent the rest of dinner talking with her friends. It was only at 9:30 when she began to wonder again.
Lily, Kayla, and Leona were doing their History of Magic homework. Nathan Thomas, a fifth-year, was playing a restless game of chess with Sirius, whom Lily thought was losing on purpose, so Nathan could leave. James was helping Peter with his homework, but they didn't seem to be getting much done.
"Sirius, I can't believe I'm winning you! I've never done it before," Nathan squealed as his bishop knocked out Sirius' queen. Sirius looked impatient.
"Nathan, you're too good, I surrender!" He threw a white cloth at Nathan. This was too much for Nathan to handle. Sirius never surrendered in any game, and always managed to win. He whooped.
"All that practice over the summer helped!" He was smiling jubilantly. Sirius didn't look too happy about it, but cheered up when Nathan headed for bed. He started talking with Peter and James.
Slowly, one by one, the other Gryffindors leaked out of the common room, leaving only Lily, Kayla, Leona, James, Sirius, and Peter inside.
"Don't you girls ever sleep?" James asked them desperately.
Kayla looked insulted. "We do, but we need to finish all of our homework!"
"Why are you so eager to have us all out, anyway?" Lily asked quietly.
They looked at each other uncertainly. "We aren't eager to have you out, " Peter explained. "We're…"
"Worried about you! Yes, you girls need your sleep so you can do your best tomorrow!" James said, all too eagerly. "So go on, now, go to bed…"
"And I suppose you boys don't need to sleep?" Leona asked, suspiciously.
"Of course we don't!" Sirius piped up. Lily sighed.
"All right, boys, we'll go to bed," she said, and started putting her books and papers away. Leona and Kayla followed rather reluctantly. They left, with the boys thanking them every step of the way.
Lily crawled into her bed. "Hey, Lily." She turned to see Leona staring at her. "What do you think those boys are up to, anyways?"
Lily shrugged. Leona turned around and said nothing more.
Lily looked at her sleeping figure, and then at Kayla's. They're both so different, she thought. Leona is more of the romantic type, and Kayla's much more serious.
She also thought of the boys. James was the one she liked best of the four. He was also the bravest, and the smartest. Sirius was the joker, the mischievous one. He was very daring, and very protective of his friends. Remus was the serious one, as he was reading almost all the time. He was also a werewolf.
Lily shivered as she thought of the scary beasts. She turned her mind back to where it had been. Peter, was, well, sort of the coward. He wasn't too good at studies, wasn't brave at all, and was always teased by the Slytherins. She didn't really know him too well at all, Lily realized. She turned and thought about this for a while and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next day, the boys looked very tired, but were in better moods than anyone. Remus came back two days later, looking pale and exhausted like he usually did, but was in better spirits than usual. The same thing happened every month after that. What was going on?
Lily momentarily forgot about it because she was looking forward to Hogsmeade in October. When the day came, Kayla, Leona and her rushed to the sweetshop.
"Eeek! Blood pops!" Kayla shrieked as she looked at the red lollipops. Lily and Leona laughed. They bought hundreds of sweets and stopped at the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer. They had a great time.
The weekend after that, the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor Quidditch game took place. The Slytherin team cheated a lot, but James managed to catch the snitch, winning the game! Lily, Kayla and Leona congratulated him afterwards. He was thankful, and very tired.
After Christmas break had come and gone, Lily became very preoccupied with her studies. Divination and Arithmancy were the new classes she had taken in her third year. She was quite good at Divination, and actually saw some things inside the teacups, etc, while the boys mostly thought it to be loads of trash. Leona and Kayla also took Divination and Arithmancy.
One day in January, Remus was missing again. Lily needed to borrow a Transfiguration book from James, to study out of. It was one of those days where he was forgetful and impatient. He reached into his bag and pulled out a book, face down. Without even looking to see if it was the one she needed, he shoved it towards her and ran away.
Lily sighed to herself. She really wished she knew what James and his friends were up to. She walked to the library. For some reason, she felt like not waiting for Kayla and Leona. They knew where to find her, anyways.
Lily sat down at an empty table. She turned the book around and gasped in surprise.
Author's Note (Yes, another one): I've always wanted to make a cliffhanger! *laughs maliciously* Okay, I know it's not really much of a cliffhanger, actually, I'm pretty sure you guys know what makes Lily gasp at the book. But I can try, can't I? I'll try to get the next part up sometime next week, but I'm not promising anything. As always, all characters except Leona, Kayla and Nathan are J.K. Rowling's, blah, blah. -April