The next morning marks the last week of classes before exams begin; Monday is eaten up with an extremely difficult Potions class, where Lily succeeds in brewing a perfect Babbling Beverage, which causes Slughorn to crow with delight and give her 5 point to Gryffindor. Lily's pleased, especially because she's the first to get it right and she notices Snape, whose potion is also very good, staring at her out of the corner of his eye. She blissfully ignores him. Sirius she keeps an eye on through class, but he partners up with Peter and doesn't really speak to anyone else.
Lily has Charms and Ancient Runes in the afternoon, and a Prefect's meeting after dinner. Mary goes off to an extra-long Quidditch practice; James is determined to beat Slytherin in the upcoming match and has been spouting off about it all afternoon. Mary winks at Lily on her way out the door, obviously determined to have a word with a few of the Quidditch team during practice.
The Prefect's meeting is a bit of a waste of time, but Lily sits next to Remus as she usually does. They're wrapping up and Lily leans over to him as he's packing up his bag, which seems to contain an extraordinarily unusual number of old books and rolls of cracking parchment.
"There's no chance I can talk you into giving me a hint with this bet?" she says, giving him her best winning smile. It works on most people, particularly boys. It doesn't seem to have any effect on Remus, who is handsome in a bookish, gangly way, but has never seemed to even glance at Lily like that. Or anyone, really. He rearranges a few pages in his bag and smiles mildly.
"Sorry, no," he says.
"Remus, come on," Lily implores. Remus glances up at her, his honey-colored eyes twinkling.
"You didn't really think that would work, did you?" he laughs.
Lily pouts. "But you do know who it is, don't you?"
"Oh yes," Remus says. "I do indeed. See you later, Lily. I'm off to the library for a bit." And he strolls out the door, looking a lot more cheerful than Lily feels at the moment. Lily stomps back the common room and reluctantly studies for Transfiguration with Dorcas, who reports that nobody else has had any luck.
The Quidditch team tramps in an hour later, grinning and splattered with mud. Mary catches Lily's eye and she and Dorcas follow her up the stairs, where Mary is peeling off her dirty uniform and dropping it into her laundry hamper.
"No good," Mary grunts, wrapping a towel around her middle. "I asked around and nobody seems to have a clue. He spent the whole time showing how he can hang from his knees from his broomstick. I thought Potter was going to take his head off." She vanishes into the bathroom to have a shower.
"Black's being awfully tight lipped about it," Dorcas is changing into her nightgown.
"WAIT!" Mary bellows from the bathroom. There's a clatter and the door flies open, steam pouring into their bedroom. "I've just had an idea!"
"Finish your shower first, you're letting the damp in here," Dorcas says.
"Oh, shut it," Mary vanishes back into the bathroom and the water stops running; she reappears a moment later with her bathrobe on.
"I was just thinking," she says, sitting down on her bed and starting to work a hairbrush through her wet hair. "What if it's Marlene McKinnon?"
"Marlene? Dating Sirius Black?" Lily frowns. "I still write to her quite a bit, you know, and she hasn't mentioned it."
"He did make a point of saying it was someone who goes or did go to Hogwarts," Mary says. "And she's been gone for two years now, she fits."
"She and Sirius were friends when she was in school," Dorcas has climbed into bed and has her Potions text propped up on her knees. "And Merlin knows he dresses like her."
"Black leather does not a relationship make," Lily says. "I just can't see Marlene wanting to date someone two years younger than she is, you know? Especially not a prat like Black."
"I don't know, Lily," Dorcas says. "It's not a bad theory."
"I know Marlene pals around with the Prewett's quite a bit these days," Mary points out. "And Black and Potter hero worship them."
"If I had the option between either Gideon or Fabian Prewett and Sirius Black, I'd choose a Prewett. Doesn't matter which one," Lily says. "But I guess it is possible. It's a great deal more likely than anyone else I can think of."
"I thought so," Mary looks very pleased with herself as she climbs into bed and turns off the light.
The next day passes slowly, as if in anticipation of the match. The heat is oppressive, but Lily forces herself to study anyway. She and Remus spend a few hours studying for Potions, which he's hopeless at, and he still doesn't cave in to her attempts to weasel the information out of him. He even says no at her offer to buy him a significant quantity of Honeydukes best at the upcoming Hogsmede trip.
"I got a lot of chocolate for Christmas one year from my Mum," Remus rolls his eyes, "and Sirius won't let it die so now the whole school thinks I've got a sweet tooth the size of France. As far as rumors go, it could be worse I guess. Sorry, Lily, you need to figure it out on your own."
Lily thinks about Snape, who is so determined that Remus is hiding something with his frequent absences, and sighs.
Wednesday, the day of the match, dawns clear and bright, but is spoiled almost immediately at breakfast. Lily's reading the Daily Prophet over orange juice and sausages when the Owl Post arrives. Remus, to her right, rips open a letter and so do James and Dorcas. A school owl drops off a letter from Petunia into Lily's lap. Lily opens it, and grimaces.
"Ah, the chickens are hatching," Remus is scanning his mother's letter. "Oh Merlin, she sent pictures." He rifles through several Muggle photographs of baby chicks and laughs, then looks up at the large brown barn owl fluttering over his head. "Tell them I'll write them back next week, after Tuesday's over," he says. "She'll worry otherwise." The owl departs.
"About your furry little problem?" Sirius, on Remus's right, asks, picking up a letter of his own. Lily doesn't know what he means. She heard Mary say once that Remus has a badly behaved pet rabbit at home.
"Yes," Remus digs into his waffle with gusto. "You know how she worries."
"Why the long face, Evans?" James, who is sitting a couple seats away, asks.
"It's nothing," Lily says.
"Doesn't look like nothing."
Lily considers for a moment. "It's my sister," she says. "She's getting married this summer."
"Oh," James frowns. "Older sister, right?"
Lily stares at him, surprised he remembers. "Yes, she's older. She just finalized the date of the wedding, that's what the letter's about. How on earth did you remember that?"
"Dunno. And that's bad?"
"I guess," Lily frowns, not really sure how to put her feelings into words. "She loves this bloke, Vernon. And he seems to treat her alright. But he, he's mean. And he sells drills."
"Drills?"
"They're like, I don't know, they're mechanical devices that Muggles use to put in screws and things."
"Right," James nods. "No idea. That's alright. Sounds awful, though."
"He is," Lily agrees. "Give him a wand and a bit of power and he'd probably end up a bit like Avery. And I've got to go to their wedding and be happy for her."
James looks like he's about to respond when Dorcas, who is reading a letter too, covers her mouth with her hand and lets out a little gasp.
"What's wrong?" Peter, to James's left, asks.
"My Mum just wrote to me. I guess there's been another attack on a Muggle village in Wales. Some wizards, I guess a witness says four or five of them in black robes and masks, tortured ten people and murdered two." Dorcas's face twists.
"That's awful," Lily whispers.
"That makes it the third time it's happened in the last two months," James says. "With crazies in masks and all. My dad wrote me about it last week. He's furious about it—can't find anything to connect the attacks to anyone."
"What does your dad do?" Lily feels a bit silly that she doesn't know this.
"He's an Auror!" Dorcas says. "One of the best. My Mum works under him."
"Anyway," James shrugs. "He hasn't had any luck finding out who it is, and he's pissed."
"I've got a pretty good guess," Sirius says darkly from behind his letter, which is written in blue ink and appears to be several pages long.
"Who's that from?" Remus is frowning suddenly, looking alert and attentive.
"Andromeda. She found out about it too, and she's got suspicions. I agree with her." Sirius has got to be referring to his cousin. "Exactly who you think. Bella, and Rodolphus and Rastaban Lestrange, and Malfoy."
Dorcas frowns. "Why don't you tell James's dad, if you think you know who it is? Can't he do something? Someone has to." Sirius laughs bitterly.
"I'm sure he's got an idea," Lily looks to Sirius and James for confirmation. "They do seem the type, don't they."
"There's just no proof. Even Aurors can't march into Castle Loony and attempt to arrest Bellatrix Black without proof. My Mum'd murder them, and call it self defense. Bella might be sadistic and cruel and fucked up, but she's powerful and she's smart."
"Are Andromeda and Ted still hiding?" James asks.
Sirius nods. "Yeah," he says shortly. He stands, swinging one long leg over his chair and grabbing the letter. "The price you pay for being the second-most hated Black family member."
"Second-most?" Lily asks. Sirius grins, but it's a little forced, a mockery of his usual dark amusement.
"Let's just say that Andromeda might have conned my aunt and my parents out of several thousand Galleons and then run off and married a Muggleborn, but at least she was sorted into Slytherin." And he stomps away. Remus, looking worried, pushes his chair back and follows him out of the hall.
Lily stares down at her own letter from her sister, and thinks that maybe it could be worse. And then James, desperate to break the silence, leans across the table in her direction.
"Match this afternoon," he says. He runs his fingers through his hair. "Give me a kiss for luck, Evans?"
Lily resists the urge to fling her full glass of pumpkin juice in his face.
