1976
There was something about the sound of a single set of footsteps echoing in an empty corridor that made Lily feel home at last. A month into the new semester and she was finally beginning to fall back into step with the magical world after a summer so apart from it.
She tried not to dwell on it, but the summer had been one of the worst of her life. Without Severus' company, Cokeworth was depressingly lonely and after the run in with his father, it got unimaginably worse as she had found it impossible not to wonder where her ex-best friend found sanctuary. The only thing more terrible was picturing in what state he had needed to seek out that sanctuary.
But when he slinked onto to platform 9 ¾ accompanied by haughty Seth Mulciber, it wasn't terribly hard to guess.
Whatever sprawling, decrepit mansion Mulciber lived in must have suited Severus' bill quite nicely. Perhaps, she thought with a painful twinge, it suited him better than their muggle neighborhood ever had. More disturbing was the thought that maybe she had been the only one who hadn't guessed at that ages ago.
Though Lily made a point to never look upon the lanky dark haired boy she once knew so well, the few glances she stole of him were not of the person she remembered.
She had once considered herself an expert on the limited array of muted expressions Severus allowed to play across his face, and the one he wore most frequently now was one she'd never liked to see. It was a mix of anger and haughtiness that scrunched up his nose and raked up his eyebrows, and since he had grown yet another inch or two over the summer, the whole look created the effect that he was sneering down his nose at everyone. With a sigh, Lily acknowledged that was likely exactly what he was doing.
And for the first time since she traveled the halls of Hogwarts, she never ever felt his gaze upon her. Not in the Great Hall where he lounged with Mulciber and Avery, not in the few classes they shared where they no longer bridged the stark divide between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and not on the rare occasions they crossed paths in the halls. His eyes would pass over her vacantly, like she was nothing but thin air.
Over the three months of the summer, their relationship had ended, apparently for good. She was a ghost to him, maybe even less, and while part of her was relieved she didn't have to harden herself to any apologies, the majority of her felt lost without his companionship, without his acknowledgment.
She had steadied herself against his hardness for so long that she wavered without his support.
If it weren't for Lumpy (the name she had assigned the gray kitten Potter had brought her – mostly chosen in protest of the wizarding custom of naming pets outrageously pretentious names - apparently much to James' delight) she was sure she would of died of loneliness locked up in her house for the rest of the summer. He had been a great comfort in Cokeworth and now she treasured him even more. Every night, when she climbed into her four poster bed and finally allowed the despair at her lost friendship to wash over her, his warm little body cuddled up next to her made her feel less alone and his gentle purrs lulled her hectic mind into peaceful sleep.
Potter was a bit of a mystery himself. He had changed over the summer as well, nearly as much as Severus, but in a far more amiable direction. Once he had seemed to Lily no more than an arrogant, haughty bully, but now his hardheadedness was mixed with moments of softness and at times, he even seemed humble.
He had found her at Platform 9 ¾, greeted her parents as if they were old friends, and escorted her to a compartment, pulling her hefty trunk for her. He had always played chivalrous around her, but it had developed into a habit, and now that she spent more time around Gryffindor haunts, his companionship was almost constant.
He saved her a seat at mealtimes, whispered jokes to her during classes, and devotedly played with Lumpy every night in front of the fire. Perhaps strangest of all was Lily's new found tolerance of it all. She even occasionally laughed at his antics.
Somehow the fight had gone out of her, and since technically Potter was far better behaved, she told herself it didn't matter if she hadn't insulted him properly in weeks, or if a part of her looked for his smiling face at breakfast. He wasn't tormenting other students anymore, least ways not publicly, and she was beginning to realize she really was no match for the endless energy he directed in her direction.
Skirting around the second stairwell up from the dungeons, a well known hangout of Peeves at this late hour, she carefully made her way back to the dorms. If she ran into a prefect, it'd be easy to talk herself out of trouble, especially since Slughorn would always get her off the hook for these late night trips, but Filch would likely try to put up a fight, and Peeves would definitely rouse the whole castle if he saw a lone student at night.
But those worries were small and she smiled as she mulled over her evening with her favorite professor.
Lily knew well enough that most of the other students only grudgingly put up with Professor Slughorn, even those who most ardently worked to be on his good side, but Lily quite liked the old man. He was funny and surprisingly clever, even if he did have a penchant for favoritism. Besides, it was easy to forgive him those faults when she seemed to be the apple of his eye.
To her, Slughorn was the complementary, overindulgent uncle that she never had, and as she began to plan for the future, he was surprisingly encouraging when she confided in him her thoughts of becoming a healer. He even offered to introduce her to some healers by way of his ever connected social web. She had stayed after her Friday evening N.E.W.T. class so that he could put her in touch with a previous student, now working at St. Mungo's.
Evenings with Slughorn were always a pleasant break from the organized chaos of the common room with the Marauders serving as ring leaders. Slughorn liked to have the house elves bring up special treats just for the two of them and he'd drink a little wine (and slip her a glass with a wink) and tell her riotous stories about faculty and famous people that Lily likely shouldn't know. Other times he'd be very serious and talk to her kindly over the future she envisioned for herself, giving her unusually thoughtful advice.
"You know, with all your impressive friends, I never imagined you'd know so many humble healers, Professor," she had jokingly half chided him earlier that evening as she skimmed through the rare medical potions book he mysteriously acquired and far to generously had gifted to her.
"Well my dear, healers are exactly the kind of people you want to know in some binds," he had answered with a wink and went on to tell her the ridiculous story of the time he had gotten mixed up with a hippogriff (Lily imagined to procure pricey potions ingredients) and had to call upon an old friend to fix him up to avoid confrontation with the authorities.
She chuckled to herself as she took the winding stairs out of the dungeon two steps at a time, emerging onto the dimly lit passageway that led to the main stairwell. Lighting her wand, she had only a momentary prickle at the back of her neck before a rough voice called out behind her, "Expelliarmus!" and her wand soared out of her hand and over her shoulder.
She whirled around, half expecting James to have finally given in to his incessant need to tease her, but instead found herself facing Seth Mulciber and Creighton Avery, the last two people on earth she'd hope to find herself facing in a darkened hallway, unarmed.
She tilted her head and shifted her weight into what she hoped was a nonchalant pose.
"What do we have here," sneered Avery in his heavy country accent, the two boys slowly approaching her, Mulciber twirling her wand between his stubby fingers. "A Mudblood out after hours?"
Lily felt her fists tighten at her sides. This was going to be ugly. As her heart started to pound she took a steadying breath, eyes narrowing and concentration focusing. It wasn't the first time she'd been cornered by a blood purist but with her wand already out of her hands, she'd have to think her way out of this one.
"Finally mastered a second year spell, Mulciber?" she responded lightly, trying to ignore the way her extremities tingled as all her blood rushed to her heart, preparing for fight or flight. But flight wasn't an option when two wands were pointed at her in a corridor with no doors.
"I wouldn't say much if I were you," Mulciber responded heavily, anger coloring his wide face. "Mary was pretty mouthy last time we ran into her..." He let that sentence trail of heavily into silence and Lily's face darkened. The bastards had the audacity to gloat about that? She squared her shoulders. Now they definitely weren't walking away unscathed, though the situation was still frightfully one sided.
Avery's leered at her down his thin nose as the two came to a stop a few feet away. She resisted the desire to take a step back, refusing to give them the satisfaction. "Yeah," Avery said picking up Mucliber's trail, "But I 'spect she learned to keep her mouth shut."
Anger boiled up instantaneously and she made to lunge at Mulciber, but before she'd taken a single step, she was pushed back heavily by a spell with the force of a speeding truck. She hit the ground hard, landing on her side and twisting her arm underneath her body rather painfully. She brought a shaking hand up to her throbbing nose and felt something wet.
"Oh look Seth, she's bleeding!"
Somewhat ungracefully sprawled across the hallway floor, she felt immensely venerable. As she forced her aching body to sit up, she self consciously tugged down the hem of her uniform skirt which had risen to her mid thigh. Her cheeks burned as every cell in her body ignited with anger.
She lifted her head up to glare at the two Slytherin's standing over her with matching malicious grins. These two fools thought they could get away with anything. Growing up with Severus as her best friend, she had learned how to handle her fair share of bullies and these two were itching for a taste of her wrath.
"Pity her blood's so filthy though," Mulciber answered darkly. With a casual gesture of his wand goosebumps crept up her skin as the hem of her skirt was pushed back up to reveal her thigh as if by an invisible hand. She scowled but remained silent, patiently observant. She had an advantage here they could never imagine.
"'Spose that doesn't matter for some things though, does it?" Avery added nastily, his beady gaze traveling her body before glancing nervously back to his companion.
"No I suppose not," consented Mulciber. "And now Snape's thrown her out, I don't see why we can't have some fun." They were so sure of their dominant positions, neither were particularly attentive with their wands.
In one quick lash, Lily's tightly coiled muscles snapped out. A swift sweep of her legs and Mulciber came crashing to the ground as she knocked his feet out from under him. Before he had mustered more than a surprised squawk, her fist collided with his nose and a satisfying crunch told her she'd broken it. His hands immediately dropped both wands in favor of clutching at his face.
Avery called out a loud "Oi!" but by the time he had his wand raised at her again, she had snatched hers up from the ground and threw up a shield strong enough to stagger him. Even Mulciber was rolled over with the force of her spell. With a shaking hand she collected Mulciber's discarded wand as well, feeling triumphant.
"You hit me?!" Mulciber's muffled voice wavered.
"Just like a Muggle," Lily panted back haughtily, the blood pounding in her ears as every fiber of being flamed up in anticipation of a duel.
But over the sound of her own heavy breathing and Mulciber's muffled groans, heavy footsteps echoed up the corridor, approaching fast.
Lily whipped her head around ready to curse the living shit out of any Slytherin reporting for back-up but was instead greeted with the familiar lanky form of James Potter, rounding the corner at full speed. Relief flooded through her and she felt every muscle release as she sagged against the floor. She couldn't imagine anyone she would be happier to see, though even in her adrenaline fueled state, she mentally frowned at that passing thought.
James' hazel eyes swept over the scene as he came to skidding halt in front of her and she could read comprehension clearly across his features as they morphed from anxiety into boiling fury. Avery had just slipped behind the tapestry concealing the hidden corridor before James flung a curse in his direction. It was so powerful her hair was swept back in a breeze from it's wake.
Just then, Sirius and Lupin ran up behind James followed shortly by Peter, wheezing and gripping his sides. "He went through there," James indicated the tapestry and Sirius and Lupin were off, running past Lily and slipping under the tapestry.
Mulciber stared fearfully over his clasped fingers at James, his thick body beginning to tremble with terror. A glance at James and she could understand his worry. His usual soft hazel eyes were locked on Mulciber with a predatory stare as he raised his wand. "Stupefy," he said, his voice unfamiliar for its hardness, and Mulciber crumpled to the ground.
"Wormtail, take him to the empty classroom down the Potions hallway," James spoke coldly.
Still panting, Peter approached smirking and with a gleeful, "Levicorpus," lifted an unconscious Mulciber into the air and guided him down the hall and around the corner.
Lily ran a slightly shaking hand through her hair and mustered up a half smile for James who crouched down beside her, all traces of his earlier unfamiliar hardness replaced with the tender look she was starting to become familiar with.
"Lovely evening," she quipped lightly looking up at him through her lashes, her voice almost steady. As the endorphins dissipated in her blood, she was sensing a sudden and overwhelming need to cry but she fought the sensation back. She didn't want to do that in front of James Potter or anyone else for that matter, so she held it in.
Potter frowned, his face entirely too close as he cupped her face with one hand and used the sleeve of his sweater to wipe the blood from her face. He snorted in response to her statement. "I'd hardly call it that. Jeez Lily, you alright? Anything hurt?" his voice was soft as his long fingers gently prodded her nose but it only dully ached.
"I think I twisted my arm but I dare say I'll live," she answered lifting one eyebrow. This coddling Potter was strange to her but she still had to fight the ridiculous urge to place her hand over his where it cupped her cheek and lean into it. She still felt her relief in every muscle of her body and his oddly affectionate ministrations were too calming to rebuff but she refused to release what little sanity she had left. She firmly kept her right hand grasped on her wounded left arm.
His gaze dropped to her arm and with gentle hands, he took her arm from where she had been cradling it against her chest, his hand gripping the back of hers with her forearm facing up. Before she could protest he lightly dragged his wand down her skin and uttered, "semet explicare." A tingling spread from her shoulder to her fingertips and the pulsing pain ebbed away to nothing.
"You know, I could have done that," she said flatly and James' mischievous grin slowly painted itself across his face.
"Yes, but I rather wanted to," he replied jauntily, his hand still holding hers. She wearily rolled her eyes.
Then, strangely, a "pssst" sounded from James' pocket in what was unmistakably Sirius' voice. Lily's brow furrowed as Potter reached in and pulled out a compact mirror. Another "pssst" sounded before he snapped it open and looked into the small circular mirror resting in his palm.
"Got him," Sirius' voice sounded from the other side of the mirror and curiosity had Lily's hand reach out to spin it around. There reflected in the glass was Sirius' face, his features lit by wand light. Behind him she got a glimpse of Lupin levitating a very disgruntled looking Avery. While she had shamelessly gawked into the little compact, James situated himself next to her.
"Huh," Lily said quietly to herself and she could see Potter study her face and grin out of the corner of her eye. With a raised eyebrow he turned back to the mirror.
"Excellent. Take him to the classroom down the potions hallway. Wormtail's already there. I'll join you in ten," Potter spoke to mirror Sirius who grinned somewhat teasingly.
"Yes, best walk the lady back," he answered very hum-drum. "Perhaps you better tuck her in as well..." he trailed off suggestively but Potter slammed the mirror closed and tucked it soundly back into his pocket.
"What a clever spell," Lily admitted aloud as she allowed James to tug her to her feet. For some reason the self-satisfied look that crossed his features didn't annoy her as much as it used to.
"You like that? Just a little Protean Charm, if you're curious," he bragged.
"You two are impressively inseparable," she answered but he only chuckled in response.
Lily and James slipped up the dungeon stairs on quiet feet. "I couldn't help but notice Mulciber's wonderfully busted nose. What sort of spell did that?" James asked quietly as they both peered around the corner of the entrance way. The coast was clear and they scurried across to the stairs leading to the third floor corridor.
"No spell. He had my wand at the time so I punched him," she answered with a shrug but James had to subdue a fit of incredulous giggles. She frantically shushed him as they ducked into a darkened corridor but found herself grinning as well.
"Oh how dearly I would have liked to see that," James said between chuckles as he composed himself. "You're tiny compared to that hulking ape!"
"Hey," she chided him, somewhat affronted. "You may have thrown you're first punch this summer but I've been decking overwrought bullied for years now," she said pointedly. "I didn't always have spells and magic to keep me safe."
His laughing died down as he looked at her curiously but she was distracted whispering the password, "bonum vinum," to the Fat Lady.
They climbed through the portrait hole together and once again they stopped to face each other at the foot of the stairs.
"I think this is becoming a habit of ours," James said suggestively, a hand shooting up to tousle his hair "Maybe tonight we can upgrade to a kiss."
Lily arched her eyebrow disbelievingly. "Not likely. And so you know, I could've managed myself," she said, sounding a little angrier than she'd meant. She was gaining the upper hand by the time James came around the corner, even if she had been painfully relieved to see him and the Marauders show up for support.
James held his hands up in supplication. "I know, I know. That shield charm you threw tripped me up from halfway down the corridor." She appraised him carefully with her arms folded across her chest. "But you know, part of being friends is helping each other out every once in a while..." he trailed off suddenly, looking away shyly. "I guess I figured we were friends now..."
Lily sighed heavily and let her arms drop. "Friends generally don't ask for payment by way of kisses," Lily deadpanned and James had the audacity to blush, even while he smirked. "Unless there's something more going on between you and Sirius than I know about."
James outright laughed at that, shacking his head. His eyes were unusually bright when they met hers.
As his laughing died down, his face turned serious again. "Listen, I'm not sure how you want to handle this, but the decisions up to you. If you'd like I could take those two to McGonagall..." he trailed off, Lily easily catching on to his implication. She could turn Mulciber and Avery over to the proper school authorities to be punished by Dumbledore and their Heads of House, or she could allow the Marauders to seek more immediate retribution.
She thought that over quietly.
Letting a pack of rowdy teenagers punish her attackers seemed like the 'wrong' thing to do but with a frown, her thoughts drifted to Mary.
She'd been found one night, utterly confused and the victim of a heavy handed Memory Charm. Mulciber and Avery were brought in having been spotted harassing her by a terrified Hufflepuff. The two claimed they had only used her to practice Memory Charms and there was no way to prove otherwise short of breaking the spell on her mind. After a heated discussion, Dumbledore and McGonagall had decided some things are better left forgotten.
They had pushed to get the boys expelled but of course a legion of pureblood officiates stepped in. Even though Mary herself was from a long line of magic, the McKinnon's were considered blood traitors and she received little sympathy.
They boys had served detention for the remainder of the year and escaped any real punishment.
Meanwhile Mary, once one of the brightest students in Gryffindor, now had trouble remembering the simplest of lessons and Lily listened to her cry out in fear and pain every night in her sleep.
A somber look came over Lily's face as her emerald eyes took in James' bespectacled face.
"No," she answered slowly but surely. "No, that wouldn't do at all." Her eyes dropped to take in James' lean form, his wand still clutched in his fist, her blood smeared on the cuff of his sweater. "Take care of it, James," she finished, looking back up to his face in time to catch a malicious grin.
She turned sharply to climb up the stairs to bed, feeling his eyes watch her as she ascended the spiral staircase. Before she disappeared out of his view she stopped a moment and without looking back uttered, "Thank you, James," before carrying on up the stairs.
She crept quietly into the sixth year dorm. Alice and Mary were fast asleep, their breathing heavy in the silence. She crawled into her own bed, tugging the curtains closed around her before situating a purring Lumpy in her arms. In the hazy darkness, she could just make out his glinting eyes appraising her quietly from beside her.
He meowed quietly, questioningly, and she rubbed him between his ears, his soft head leaning into her hand.
She fell asleep crying, her fingers tangled in his long gray fur.
The next morning she woke with a start, violently coming to and sitting straight up with a gasp. Lumpy stared at her silently from where he sat patiently just below her feet, looking for all intents and purposes like he knew exactly how she would wake up. She tussled his cheek fur and groaned as she pulled back the curtains.
It was later in the day than she usually woke up. From the looks of the golden sunshine filtering through the windows, it was nearly noon. The room was empty but Lily was glad for that as she struggled to shake of the unpleasant dreams that had haunted her the night before.
Even now that she was back in school and had clearly seen he'd made it through the summer alive, her nightmares of searching endlessly for Severus continued with a new clarity.
She dressed and readied herself groggily before descending the stairs to the common room, Lumpy dashing on ahead of her. She was surprised to her hear James' good matured "Hey, Lumps," before she reached the bottom step. She suspected that little traitor ran straight for Potter's lap.
Despite the beautiful early autumn sunlight filling the room with light, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were gathered around a table near the windows pouring over a piece of parchment spread over the table. Except for them the room was empty, everyone else presumably enjoying the gorgeous weather.
Almost as one, four heads turned to face her and James jumped to his feet. His features lit up in smile while his hand shot up to bury itself in his hair. "Good morning Lily!" he greeted her and Lupin chimed in with a quiet, "Hey, Lily."
Movement caught her eye and she spotted Sirius surreptitiously fold up the parchment they had been pouring over and and tuck it into a book. Quickly her eyes darted back to James before Sirius could catch her watching.
"Good afternoon, more likely," she answered, casually approaching their table. She came to stand between where Sirius is seated and James stood hovering next to his chair. The Quidditch book Sirius had tucked the parchment into sat directly in front of her on the table, though she only allowed herself a glance at it. "Was your evening pleasant?" she asked carefully, growing a little concerned as Sirius' unusually sharp incisors are revealed by a wide smile.
She turned back to James who feigned innocence while he seated himself again. "Oh yes, it was most invigorating." Lupin smiled and grimaced at the same time while Peter's breathy laughs permeate the empty common room.
"A productive night, but all accounts," Sirius added, still grinning his mad, wide smile and for a moment Lily almost regretted agreeing to their antics.
Then she remembered two leering faces staring down at her and swiftly brushed her guilt aside.
"You don't think they'll say anything to get you in trouble, do you?" she asked curiously. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sirius ever so casually slide the Quidditch book to his other side, just out of her reach.
"I doubt they'll be saying much at all for quite some time," Sirius replied smugly and Lily's brow furrowed.
A sudden thought crossed Lily's mind and she leaned against the window casement. She fixed James with a penetrating look but he only seemed please to once again be the focus of her attention. "You know I've been wondering..." She cocked her head slightly. "How did you know?"
"Know what?" James replied innocuously.
"How did you know I was in trouble?" she answered seriously
"Ah, that. Intuition," he responded charmingly, far too pleased with himself.
Her eyes narrowed. "You were charging down the corridor full speed. All of you were." She fixed her gaze on each boy in turn. Sirius smiled lazily, Remus blankly averted his eyes, and Peter was squirming restlessly in his seat. "Do you regularly sprint through the castle on nothing more than a hunch?"
She turned back to James who looked like he was mulling the question over. When a smile started to spread across his face she knew where he would go with this.
"We must be made for each other," he answered mock seriously.
Lily only hmmmed in response, drifting away from the group towards the fireplace where Lumpy had situated himself on an armchair. Those sneaky bastards, she thought to herself. They were hiding something. She could practically hear their collective sigh of relief.
With a sudden realization, she discreetly pointed her wand in their direction and whispered, "Accio Quidditch Through The Ages," and turned in time to catch the book hurtling towards her.
As one, the boys jumped up and scampered towards her, Sirius practically vaulting the table to lunge after her but she had leaped over the couch, putting it between herself and James and Sirius. Remus headed off the girl's dormitory stair well so she tugged the piece of parchment out of the book, throwing the thick tome hard at Sirius who caught it against his chest and faltered back onto an armchair.
As she climbed atop a table, she shook the parchment straight before reading aloud, "Messers. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present the Marauder's Map..." she trailed off as James picked her up over his shoulder and dragged her to the floor, Sirius snatching the map out of her hands indignantly.
Before James had set he back on her own two feet she was already asking, "What is it? A map? A map of what?"
James looked flustered as he straightened his clothes and pushed his round glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "It's nothing," he answered.
"Not for prying eyes," Sirius added over James' shoulder looking affronted. She turned to look at Remus who shrugged in response and she grinned.
"Didn't look like nothing," she answered smartly. "That's what you call each other, isn't it? Moody, Wormtail, Padfoot, and... what was it...?" She put a finger to her chin in thought.
"Prongs!" James answered, upset it was his own name she forgot. The winning smile that spread across Lily's face told him he had played into her hands. He groaned.
"Why don't you just tell her," Remus chimed from behind the group, putting a leading arm around Sirius' shoulder and guiding him back to the table by the window.
"What if she turns it in," Sirius said harshly and from Peter's vehement nods he must have agreed with that sentiment. Remus was beginning to put up an argument but Lily tuned it out as she focused her attention back on James who looked frustrated but bizarrely impressed.
She tuned back into the fight by the window when Sirius remarked, "You don't know that! She's always getting up to trouble with the unsavory sort." She frowned and brushed past James to join them at the table.
"Not anymore," Remus whispered back, glancing nervously over to Lily who had caught his guilty gaze.
"I won't turn it in. Whatever it is. Just last night I requested you do some highly prohibited actives on my behalf so I think it's fair to say I owe you one."
"Then maybe you should drop this," Sirius snarled in her face but she only pouted back in response.
"It's okay Padfoot," James spoke as he approached, a silly grin stretching his face. "Can't fight this girl's stubbornness." She tried to frown at James but found she couldn't keep from smiling as she turned back to the table excitedly. "But you tell no one," he added, catching her eye.
"Yes, sir," she answered seriously, with a smirk of her own.
Remus gently pried the map from Sirius' fingers, and even as the dark haired boy shot out one more furious look, Remus spread open the parchment across the table.
Lines and shapes elegantly laid out took form as understanding dawned on her. "It's Hogwarts!" she said, thrilled.
"Obviously," muttered Sirius under his breath but she continued her study undisturbed.
With her eyes, Lily followed the familiar path from the Entrance Hall to the Gryffindor tower and she spotted at least two passages that she had never seen before along the way.
Sirius huffed above her. "Not just the castle but the grounds and the inhabitants as well," he asserted gruffly. She smiled up at him. He was the least receptive to show her the map and now he was the most determined she recognize them for their genius.
"Inhabitants?" she wondered aloud as she let her finger slide over the wall with the Fat Lady portrait and into the common room where she found five dots. Upon closer inspection, each dot was labeled with a name. 'Peter Pettigrew,' 'Remus Lupin,' 'Sirius Black,' 'James Potter,' and 'Lily Evans.' She recognized Sirius' elegant handwriting forming all their names.
Her mouth had fallen open as she abruptly stood upright to take in the faces of the sixteen-year-old boys standing around her. While they varied in degrees of sheepishness, they all looked very pleased at her reaction. "This is brilliant!"
Unable to keep from it, she returned to studying the map. Far out on the grounds, she could see Hagrid weaving up and down in his garden, likely tending the pumpkins that had begun coming in. She saw Madam Pince seated at her desk in the library, a gaggle of Slytherins lounging in their common room (Lily's heart jolted unexpectedly when her eyes too easily spotted 'Severus Snape'), and Ablbus Dumbledore, pacing in his study.
"Look here," Sirius pointed to the hospital wing and in two adjacent beds the names 'Seth Mulciber' and 'Creighton Avery' sat unmoving. "A bit of our handiwork," he said smugly.
Lily was surprised to find that at some point she had taken a seat, one leg curled under her on the chair so she could lean over the map. The boys too had seated themselves except James who hovered over her looking expectant.
Her eyes darted back to the map, caught by the few long passageways that trailed off the map. She found one under the Whomping Willow and looked up to Lupin. "Is this where you go?" she asked and he nodded. "Where does it lead?"
"The Shrieking Shack," Remus answered tentatively.
"'Cept it's Moony doing all the shrieking," Sirius added with a bark of laughter, basking in the glory of being praised and appreciated. "And this one leads to Honeydukes cellar," he added, pointing to a statue of a one eyed witch.
"You guys did all this?" Lily asked, amazed. There were more secret passages and hidden rooms than Lily had found, and her and Severus did a fair share of sneaking around in their day.
"Well, it took us a few years, but I think we've got most of it," James answered, an unusually shy expression blooming on his face, one that Lily reluctantly admitted she found rather charming.
"But this is amazing," Lily added, still utterly baffled. She knew, just as everyone else in Hogwarts did, that the four boys in front of her comprised of some of the most brilliant minds in school, but she had never imagined that they used their incredible intellect for more than playing pranks and fooling around. Admittedly, she was sure this map played a heavy hand in many of their shenanigans but the amount of time, effort, and inventive magic that must have gone into its creation utterly blew her mind.
"You sneaky bastards," she whispered delightfully, almost to herself, reiterating her earlier thought. She heard Remus above her chuckling.
She pulled up suddenly in understanding and fixed a narrow eyed gaze up at James. "This was how you found me last night," she stated more than asked and when his hand darted up to ruffle the back of his head she knew she hit it on the nose. With widening eyes she added, "And this is how you always..." she trailed off sharply clamping her mouth closed before she could finish ...knew where Severus and I were hiding out. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and focused on the nervous looking brunette in front of her.
"James spotted you and went tearing out of the dormitory like a madman. Left the rest of us to chase after him," Remus answered when James couldn't quite meet her stare.
"Didn't take much of a guess to know who he was tearing after, the way he always sits over that map with doe eyes," Sirius added snarkily, taking a quick step back to jump out of reach of James' shove.
James' face was scarlet and despite her slight annoyance at having been spied on for who knows how long, she was deeply enjoying watching him look so unsettled. It was so rare an occurrence.
"But how'd you know I was in trouble?"
James thickly cleared his throat before dragging his hazel eyes back up to her face. "Avery, Mulciber, and a dark corridor at night isn't exactly the set up for a fairy tale ending," he answered, his eyes unsure as they searched hers.
"No," Lily responded darkly, "Definitely not." After a moment of silence she shrugged and continued on lightly, "But I guess I owe you another thanks for looking out for me, even if it is a little..."
"Creepy," Sirius suggested.
"Alarming," Remus supplied.
"Stalker-ish," Peter added.
"...Strange," Lily finished with a grin.
A small purely happy smile curled up the corners of James' lips when he replied, "It's always my pleasure."
