I do not own Harry Potter. Please don't rub it in.


Hogsmeade was bustling on Saturday afternoon. The small streets were filled with Hogwarts students out in hordes, with the occasional resident trying to go about their daily business through the crowds.

Marlene seemed to have partially recovered. She had returned to classes on Thursday and resumed her role as the lovable goof. Sometimes Lily would catch glimpses of her when she thought no-one was looking, staring into space and her usual smile nowhere to be seen. So this morning, Hestia had convinced her that what she needed was to go to the Three Broomsticks and have as much butterbeer as they could afford, along with several tonnes of sweets from Honeydukes.

By five o'clock, the sun was setting and more and more people were cramming themselves into the inn, resulting in Madam Rosmerta buzzing around like a fly in order to serve everyone.

'Glad we got here early,' Hestia said, nodding in the direction of the crowd. 'Look at all those poor people who can't get tables.'

'Idiots should have thought ahead,' Dorcas said dismissively.

'Meadowes, I take offence to that!' a voice behind them exclaimed. Lily turned around to see, much to her dismay, Black stood behind them with Peter at his heels. She looked around but couldn't see Potter or Remus anywhere. Black, she didn't mind as much. But she was very glad Potter wasn't there.

Marlene scooted on the bench, causing Lily to wince as her hand was sat upon. 'Sit with us,' she smiled brightly, her eyes focused on Black's. 'We've got room, and it's not fair that we wouldn't share with fellow Gryffindors.'

Black beamed charmingly and plopped down beside her, Peter taking a seat next to Hestia. Marlene and Black fell into immediate conversation about the Montrose Magpies, and Dorcas tried very hard to look like she wasn't listening to them. Peter sat staring at his butterbeer and fiddling with his jumper sleeve until Hestia asked him how his holidays had been, at which point he relaxed considerably and chatted to her with ease.

Lily took a sip of her drink before helping herself to a cauldron cake. The inn was so packed that she was unsure of how the others could hear each other, and didn't hear a voice calling her name until she was tapped gently on the shoulder.

'Can I join you?' Remus asked, holding two over-flowing glasses in his hands. Lily nodded and moved a little closer to Marlene so as to allow him room on the bench. He set the glasses down and turned around. 'Prongs!' he bellowed. 'Lily says you can sit beside her!'

Lily's cheeks flushed. 'No I certainly did not!' she cried indignantly, glaring up at a smirking Remus. 'Why would you say that?!' Remus shrugged and sat down beside Dorcas, who seemed to be trying her best not to look at him. Dorcas could be a little anti-social sometimes, but Lily suspected this was different.

Potter seemed to apparate on the bench beside her, grinning like an idiot. 'So the gnomes did the trick, then, did they? Thawed out your cold, cold heart?'

He can't be serious, Lily thought, making a face at Remus. Remus didn't care though, as he was now interrupting Black and Marlene to tell them that the best quidditch team was obviously Puddlemore United.

'I'm pulling your leg, Evans,' Potter said, still grinning. 'But I hope you acknowledge the effort that went into that particular one. Bewitching four garden gnomes to serenade you is no easy feat.'

'I'm sure it's not,' Lily replied. 'I presume you thanked Remus for bewitching the gnomes for you?'

Potter put a hand to his heart in mock-offence. 'Evans, I am wounded – wounded – that you would say such a thing. I always thought you to be such a kind and considerate person, but now … now I don't know what to think.'

Lily smirked despite herself, and did her best to cover it by taking a large gulp of her butterbeer. Potter luckily didn't spot this slip as he'd have teased her relentlessly for it if he had. Lily dreaded the very idea of it.

He asked about her Christmas and about her family and about how she was finding being back at Hogwarts, and being on her fourth butterbeer, Lily decided there was no harm in answering his questions. They ended up chatting for about an hour and Lily was surprised how little she hated it. Whenever he said something to make her smile (which was more often than she would have liked), she had to remind herself of how cruel he was to Severus.

Marlene had become very quiet over the hour, and Hestia noticed. She suggested going back to the castle, without drawing attention to Marlene, but the four 'Marauders', as they called themselves, chose to stay for a while longer. Disturbed by how little she was repulsed by Potter's jokes, Lily volunteered to head back too, and Dorcas followed suit.

Marlene and Hestia were walking a metre or two up ahead of Lily and Dorcas, arms linked and giggling about something. Dorcas was quiet, as she always was, but there was a small smile on her lips.

'So you like Remus, huh?' Lily asked.

'Yeah, he's nice,' Dorcas replied nonchalantly. She seemed not to realise what Lily was asking. This was not unusual. The last time Dorcas had a crush (their Head Boy Fabian Prewett when she was in second year), everyone knew about it except Dorcas. Now it seemed no different. Lily decided that since she and Remus spent quite a bit of time together, both being Prefects, she would try to find out if Remus reciprocated Dorcas's feelings. And if he didn't, she wouldn't have any problem with trying to make him have those feelings. Dorcas and Remus made quite a nice couple in her mind.

They made it back to the castle and Marlene retired to bed early – she was attending the funerals of Owen and his family early the next day. Dorcas retreated into a corner and began sketching a Grindylow. Lily and Hestia began to play gobstones, but soon had to give up on their game because of the arrival of a certain rowdy bunch of boys.

'Remus, is that Firewhisky I smell?' Lily demanded. 'You're a Prefect! What sort of example are you setting for the first years?!'

'A fun one,' Remus replied with a smirk, sauntering off to go to bed. Lily frowned and watched him slip spectacularly on the stairs; he had accidentally (or at least Lily hoped it was an accident) attempted to ascend the stairs to the girls' dorms. Potter, Black and Peter all found this hilarious, and Black actually fell to the ground with laughter. Remus rose from the floor and began laughing too, before vomiting on a passing first year.

A fun example, Lily scoffed as she did her best to console the now-weeping first year while Hestia helped him wash the vomit from his clothes. How many people think being vomited on is fun?

The boys went upstairs and were still to be heard giggling by the time Lily retreated to bed, wondering if Dorcas still harboured feelings for Remus after witnessing that spectacle.


Lily spent the majority of the next day by herself. Hestia required Dorcas's help in studying as she had only scraped an A in her Christmas exam for Ancient Runes, and with Marlene at home in Bristol, Lily had no-one to spend time with.

She decided to track Severus down today, when he couldn't say he had to get to class. The problem was, Severus was nowhere to be found. Lily asked many Slytherins, most of whom apologised and said they hadn't seen him. Others (such as Mulciber and his gang of supremacist toerags) simply ignored her, or sneered at her as if she was nothing more than a piece of gum on their shoe. Eventually she was told that Severus didn't want to talk to her and that she should clear off before she got what was coming to her.

Lily, infuriated, stormed down to the dungeons to Slughorn's classroom. She didn't know exactly why she chose this as her place of refuge (the Head of Slytherin was hardly the ideal place to shelter from Slytherins) but she had always liked Slughorn and she knew for a fact that she was his star pupil – he had said so quite a few times, in front of the class no less.

She flung the door open in anger and stood in the doorway for a few seconds, fuming. Slughorn looked around from the shelves he was stocking to see her. 'Lily,' he smiled, sound genuinely pleased to see her. 'What can I do for you, my dear?'

Lily closed the door behind her and thought about what she was actually doing here. She was wasting his time on something petty that must have happened all the time, and she was better off just going back upstairs and keeping it to herself.

Slughorn set down the bottles in his hands and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. 'Lily, my dear, are you alright?'

Lily looked up at him and shook her head forlornly. 'I don't know what's wrong with me,' she murmured.

'Are you ill? Shall I take you to see Madam Pomfrey?' Slughorn asked. Lily shook her head vehemently. Slughorn paused for a moment or two. 'How about a cup of tea?' he said. 'I have a box of Ginger Newts I've been meaning to open, and my good friend Ambrosius kindly gifted me with an extraordinarily large bag of crystallised pineapple yesterday.'

Lily smiled and nodded. She felt very small suddenly, but safe, like she was being wrapped in a blanket. She was reminded of when she was much younger. She used to be scared of thunder, so whenever there was a storm she would creep into Tuney's room and they'd curl up together under the blankets.

She had only been in Slughorn's office a few times before, and was always amazed by how much light shone in despite it being in the dungeon. Slughorn explained to her once how he got Professor Flitwick to enchant the windows so that it was always sunny, even if there was a hurricane outside.

Slughorn motioned to a large leather armchair in front of his desk in which Lily sat, and sat down in his own smaller upholstered armchair. He tapped a bottle-green teapot with his wand, and it emitted a jet of steam before pouring tea into two bottle-green cups. Slughorn passed a cup to Lily and offered her a Ginger Newt, which she accepted without hesitation.

'So, Lily,' he said after a minute or two. 'Would you like to tell me what's wrong? Is there anything I can do for you?'

Lily looked down at the cup in her hand and took a deep breath. 'It's just … Professor, some Slytherins are … they're just cruel and horrible and did you see what Avery said to Mary MacDonald? They're despicable and ignorant and today some of those supremacist bigots threatened me because I was looking for my friend! Because I had the audacity to even be in their presence! Those narcissistic, egotistical, self-entitled, evil bast -!'

'-Lily, I think you'd better stop that sentence there,' Slughorn chimed in quickly. He paused to think about how best to respond to Lily's outburst. 'That sort of behaviour will not be tolerated, my dear, especially in my House. Tell me who said what to you and I assure you, they will be severely punished.'

Lily frowned. 'But Professor, it's not about what was said to me today. It's about the fact that Mary MacDonald is scared to even go to the bathroom alone any more. If you're a muggle-born, you're ignored – or worse. If your family are what they call "blood-traitors" then you're just as disgusting to them. I'm not asking you to punish the people who said things to me today, because that will only make it worse. I'm asking you to teach your students that blood purity means nothing any more. The only pure bloods left at this stage have got to be either lying or inbred! That's how stupid this whole thing is!'

Slughorn was slightly amused by what Lily had just said, but did try not to show it. He explained how he had made a point of telling his students that discrimination of any kind would not be tolerated, but they had ignored him.

'That's because you're tolerating the intolerable discrimination!' Lily cried, exasperated and furious. 'How are they supposed to have any respect for authority if authority fails to make good on its threats?!'

'Miss Evans, I think maybe you should go to your common room and calm yourself down,' Slughorn said, suddenly cold. 'Five points from Gryffindor – yes, Miss Evans, I'm serious! You should have a lot more respect for your teachers, especially as a Prefect! I will be sure to tell Professor McGonagal about this.'

Lily stared at him, stunned. Slughorn had always been so kind and understanding. It wasn't as if she was insulting him personally. Maybe he believed all this blood-purity bullshit? No, Slughorn wouldn't. He couldn't. Right?

She wordlessly stood up and left the dungeons, and retreated to an empty corner in the library to read.


She must have fallen asleep because the only thing Lily remembered before being screamed at and exiled from the library was reading something about Cliodna the druidess and thinking about how heavy her eyelids felt. She apologised and hastily scurried from the library, being stared after by many students.

Still bitter from her conversation with Slughorn, she stormed through the castle, ignoring the stares, until she arrived back at the Gryffindor common room. Hestia and Dorcas were still bent over their books and many scrolls of parchment, and Lily didn't want to disturb them as she knew Hestia was quite stressed about her grades. So instead, Lily went up to her bed and rooted around in her bedside table for a quill and some paper.

Dear Mum and Dad,

How's everything back home? Is Dad's knee still killing him? (I told you you were too old to play football!) How is Petunia finding London? I wrote to her about a fortnight ago, but she hasn't replied. Please tell her I hope she settles in soon.

Things here are … different. Severus still isn't talking to me. I tried to ask him why but he just left. It's quite sad because as you know, Severus was the first person who told me about magic and Hogwarts. When I go home for the holidays, Severus is my link to Hogwarts, and when I'm at school he's my link back home.

Marlene (remember her? She came over in July for a sleepover. Mum kept asking if she could do her 'beautiful hair') has had some bad news and is trying to put on a brave face, but I know she's very upset. I don't know why I told you two that! Don't mind me. Ignore that!

Anyway, there's been a shift in the mood in school recently. I told you over Christmas how some people have become obsessed with the idea of 'blood-purity' – don't worry, I don't get it either – and things are getting a little out of hand. It's quite worrying for me if I'm honest, but I had a word with Professor Slughorn (my Potions teacher) and he said he'd do his best to sort things out.

Remember I told you about Professor Dumbledore and his ridiculous new hat in my last letter? Update – the hat burst into flames at dinner last week. No-one knows quite why and Dumbledore didn't seem surprised. It's almost as if he bought it with the intention of causing disaster and giving us all something to talk about. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him. We're talking about a man who once bewitched snowmen to follow people and throw snowballs at them. I saw him giggling to himself from the window when an army of snowmen were targeting Slughorn.

I'm feeling a little off since I got back. Obviously, I love Hogwarts and I'm delighted to be back, but something's just got me feeling a bit … down. I don't know what it is but I just feel a bit sad most of the time for no reason at all, and the only word I can think of to describe the feeling is nostalgic. I don't know what's wrong with me. I should be feeling great – I love being back at Hogwarts, I love being with my friends all the time. I guess I just miss you two and maybe even Tuney. Maybe!

You forgot to include what happened in Doctor Who last week in your last letter. I was talking to another Muggle-born and she said her parents told her about it, and she has been telling me about all this stuff that supposedly happened in the episode, but I don't know which parts are true and which parts she's teasing me with. She told me Sarah Jane died. PLEASE tell me that's not true.

Please don't send me anything for my birthday. All I want is a card. No repeats of last year's 221B Baker Street fiasco. While I appreciated the idea of a board game to play with my friends (even if the board game completely exhausted the poor owl who had to carry it for miles), and you know I love Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, my wizarding friends have no idea who they are.

I wish I could see you for my sixteenth. It's a big day, and I miss you two. I feel like you should be with me when I turn into an almost-adult. I guess I'll just have to wait until Easter. I miss you guys a lot.

I don't have anything else to write here. I love you and I miss you loads! Write soon please. Sending all the love and hugs and kisses in the world,

Lily.

Lily wrapped herself in a coat and scarf, then took the letter and began the trek to the Owlery. It was hailing outside and she regretted not bringing a hat with her. She had to run so as not to be injured by the massive pellets of ice thundering down from the heavens.

When she made it to the Owlery, she climbed what felt like a thousand slippery steps and picked herself up from the floor twice as a result of the slippery steps. Once inside, she selected a small tawny and attached the letter to his leg. She carried him over to the window and watched as he hooted happily before taking flight.


So Lily was the original WhoLock fangirl - if Supernatural existed, I'm sure she would have loved that too.

Anyhoo, I now have a plan for the next ten chapters or so. That doesn't necessarily mean anything (me being me, Procrastinator Extraordinaire), but there should be more chapters coming soon(ish). SHOULD.

Reviews make my day, even if they're only one or two words. Please let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions, PM me or just comment.

Thanks if you made it this far!