2.

THE POTTERS', GODRIC'S HOLLOW

"Yo, Lily!" Sirius Black shouted when she and James arrived at the house.

"Hey, Sirius," she laughed as he crushed her in a massive bear hug.

"Whoah, Padfoot, my girlfriend, remember that?" James said good naturedly.

"James? Lily?" A woman's voice came from inside the house.

"Hey, Ma!" James said.

"Hi, Mrs. Potter." Lily echoed quietly.

"Lily!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed. "Please call me Mom, that's what Sirius does."

Lily smiled. "Okay." Just then, her owl landed on her shoulder.

"Oh," Mrs. Potter said, startled.

"Oh, this is Athena," Lily introduced her owl. "Now, what do you have for me?" she cooed to her owl.

"That thing's like her best friend," James explained to his mother. "She's had it since first year, Hagrid got it for her when he took her for her stuff."

"Oh God," Lily said quietly, tears filling her eyes. Mrs. Potter, sensing she was not wanted, snuck back inside the house.

"What did he say?" James asked angrily. "I swear, if he hurt you –" he broke off. "Lily?" he said quietly. She had sunk to the ground and was sobbing. Wordlessly, she handed him the letter.

He read it, silent, then handed it to Sirius. "I swear, I'm gonna go to Hogwarts and rip that git's head off." James muttered.

"Prongs," Sirius said sternly, "Don't let it get to you. He's a Slytherin, for Merlin's sake. He's not worth it."

"Padfoot, I don't think you get it. Snivellus called her a Mudblood. A MUDBLOOD, Sirius. That's not going to work."

"James, stop it." Lily said quietly. "You are NOT going to deal with this. And neither are you, Sirius Black," she added, when he made a motion to start talking.

"Oooh, feisty!" He muttered.

"Shut UP, Padfoot!" Lily said angrily. "You two are not going to deal with this. Remus is not going to deal with this. I will deal with this. And since he obviously doesn't want to see me again, I think that will be easy enough to deal with. Where are my books?"

"They're right here, Lil... Why?"

"I think there's an easy enough charm in here to deal with that. Professor Flitwick told us about it the other day... page 513 – where is it? – oh, here. 'Blindness – focused.'"

"Lily, you're badass." Sirius said, awestruck.

"I know!" she said nonchalantly. "Now, who wants me to practice on them?"

"I don't wanna die!" Sirius yelled as he ran into the house, "I'm too sexy!"

HOGWARTS

"Severus, I can't believe you'd –" Maya couldn't even bring herself to say it. "It's Lily EVANS, the girl couldn't hurt a fly if she tried. Even if it had just killed every single person at Hogwarts!"

"I know, May, that's what makes it worse. There's nothing else left to do. The thing that's most unlike her of anything out there is the Death Eaters – it's the only way I'll be able to forget her."

"The ONLY way?" Maya said, enraged. "Torturing and killing innocent people, that's what you'll be doing, do you realize that? These are the people who KILLED my PARENTS, Sev. They're the reason I stay here all year. I'm lucky my uncle is here. He's next, though, do you realize that? Avery and Nott, I heard them the other day – 'Slughorn – the Dark Lord wants him dead" I HEARD THEM! I heard them planning how they were going to kill my uncle." Maya paused. "He's the only family I have left. And it's pretty likely that you will get wrapped up in the plan to kill him if you join the Death Eaters."

"And then, Sev... I just... if you... you and killing people, they don't go together, Sev, they just don't, and I – oh, forget it. I'm not going to change your mind now anyway."

Just as Snape was about to speak, Slughorn burst into the room. "What the DEVIL is going on here?" he exclaimed. "You two should be at the feast! Come! Come! There's a special punch bowl! I'm particularly fond of the ladle!"

"Yes, sir," both Maya and Snape answered at the same time.

"Severus, you first," Slughorn said, ushering him through the portrait hole. "Now, Maya," he said gently, placing an arm around his niece's shoulders, "Really, what the devil was going on in there? What did he do to you, love?" It's nothing, Uncles. Just – just an argument." she said.

"Oh, come on, Maya, your old uncle isn't totally clueless. Something more was going on there than a simple disagreement. Severus is joining them, isn't he?"

"How did you know?" Maya asked.

"Oh, he had that look about him. There's a look," he explained to Maya, who was confused, "about new followers of him – You Know Who – they look scared... but powerful, almost. They have one of the most powerful men, if you would go so far as to still call him a man, in the world as their leader – they can do absolutely anthing they want and get away with it." Slughorn stopped abruptly. "Ah, I've said too much, now – it's time for the feast. Shall we?"

And then, for the last time, though he did not know it yet, Horace Slughorn walked into the Great Hall of Hogwarts with his niece.