Well, it's been a while - sorry about that! Luckily spring break allows me to write more than normal, so hopefully I'll have the next chapter ready by next Sunday, back on schedule. Before I get started, though, I'd like to thank Hypermuse and Sparkle_Ninja27 for reviewing the story the last time I updated (over two months ago, sorry about that!). I hope this chapter makes about for the long wait - it's not quite as long as some of the past chapters have been, and is a little slow at the beginning, but a bit of a cliffhanger ending, plus some Lily-James stuff, so hopefully you'll like it! And Happy Easter, to those who celebrate it, and if you don't, Happy Normal Sunday!
Disclaimer: I may not own the world of Harry Potter, but I hope to own my own copy of the seventh movie very soon!
Chapter Nine: How Things Change
Lily woke up with a jerk as she felt something jump onto her bed. Opening her eyes slowly, Lily smiled as she saw her cat, Sasha, curling up at the end of her bed, her little black body warm against Lily's feet. With all the craziness going on, Lily hadn't had much of a chance to spend time with Sasha. She missed Sasha snuggling up with her while she was doing homework or just reading.
Glancing over at Ivy, Lily smiled. Her friend looked exhausted - she had stayed at the party last night a lot longer than Lily had, surrounded by admirers - but she had a smile of her own on her face, probably dreaming of the Quidditch try-outs.
Slipping out of her bed, Lily headed into the bathroom, taking a shower and getting dressed quickly. She stepped back into the dormitory, toweling off her red hair as she fed Sasha, absentmindedly petting her on the head as she pulled on a pair of shoes. She glanced at Ivy again before heading downstairs, planning on getting to breakfast early to have a little time alone to read the paper.
The Great Hall was fairly empty. Glancing at her watch, Lily saw why: it was barely 6:30 on a Wednesday morning. Most people were probably still in bed, especially the Gryffindors who been partying the night away. Lily was sure that many of them would be nursing hangovers that day.
Lily looked up at the ceiling as a lone grey owl flew done with a Daily Prophet clutched in its talons. She slipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out a few Sickles to stick in the pouch on the owl's leg.
Opening up the paper, Lily quickly scanned the various articles, looking for something about Muggle attacks or Voldemort sightings. It had become a habit, making sure that she didn't find any names that she recognized, like her own family. She knew they were probably safe in their normal home, far away from the wizarding world, but she couldn't help but worry about them anyway. Muggle attacks were becoming more common, especially Muggle families who had children at Hogwarts. The Death Eaters probably thought that by attacking the Muggle-born students indirectly, they could take down the school of Hogwarts, though it might take some time. Lily couldn't help but worry whenever she went home for the holidays, away from the protective walls of her magical school. She was thinking about staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, but she had plenty of time to decide.
As Lily was reading an article about some of the new security measures that the Ministry of Magic was taking in Hogsmeade, a shadow fell across the paper. She glanced up and flinched as her former best friend sat down across from her, his dark hair unusually greasy today. His face looked paler, too, as if he had spent his entire summer break locked up in his house for fear of seeing the sun. Lily couldn't help but notice that there were great bags underneath his eyes, probably from lack of sleep.
Lily sighed. "What do you want, Severus?"
Severus paused for a few seconds before answering, as if he was choosing his words carefully. "I'm worried about you, Lily."
"I'm the one who should be worried about you - you look awful. Have you been getting any sleep recently?"
"Don't worry about me. I'm not the one who is in danger."
"What are you talking about, Severus?"
"Those messages are only the beginning. It's only going to get worse, and you're in danger."
"I repeat, what are you talking about, Severus?"
"Lily, they want to hurt all the Muggleborns, especially you. You're the head girl and one of the brightest witches in this school - they'd love to take you down a few pegs. You're in danger."
"You keep repeating that, but how can I be in such danger? What's anyone going to do in a school full of powerful professors who will do anything to protect their students?"
"You don't understand, Lily. They have elaborate plans, schemes that will keep them from getting in trouble. They aren't playing around - they're prepared to do whatever it takes, and they aren't about to get caught when they have so many ideas. They want to wipe out all the Muggleborns in this school, and they're not going to go down without a fight."
"Do you know what these plans are? If you do, you have to tell Dumbledore - he can stop this."
"No, he can't, Lily. This is so much bigger than anything he can handle."
"So why are you telling me? If Dumbledore can't stop this, then what can I do?"
"Nothing, Lily. You shouldn't do anything, other than get out. Out of this school, maybe even out of the country. You need to get as far away from all of this as possible."
"You want me to run away? Are you insane?"
"No, I just want to keep you safe. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
"I'm not going to run away with my tail between my legs like a bloody coward, Severus. Hogwarts is my home, and I feel safe here. If you want to help me, you'll tell Dumbledore what you know and we'll fix this. But if you're not willing to do that, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave me alone to enjoy my breakfast in peace."
Severus sighed but got up, his hands shaking slightly as he smoothed his robes. "You'll be sorry that you didn't heed my warnings, Lily. Things will get much worse before they get any better."
Before Lily could snap back, he was already walking quickly away, leaving the quiet atmosphere of the Great Hall as he headed somewhere, probably the dungeons - he always seemed to find solace in the dank underground of the school, surrounded by whatever potions he was currently working on. Lily used to spend many hours next to him, coming up with new concoctions together, but now she could barely stand to be in the dungeons unless it was for class. It brought back too many memories, especially when Lily just wanted to focus on her present life.
"Good morning," a voice brought Lily out of her thoughts. Lily looked up and smiled at the sight of Emma Vane. Emma's curly dark hair still had the appearance of slight bed head, but other than that she looked a lot more awake than most of the students already in the Great Hall.
"Good morning, Emma. You're up a bit early, aren't you?"
"I tend to get up early so that I can fit a little Quidditch practice in before class starts. I'm surprised to see you up so early, though - normally everyone else in our dormitory is still fast asleep when I get up."
"I just felt like getting up early and reading the Prophet by myself for a little while. I figured this place would be completely deserted, but I guess I'm not the only one who decided to get up a little early today."
"Yeah, there are always a few people who enjoy the quiet of the morning before this place is full of screaming students."
The two girls stopped talking for a little while as they dug into their breakfasts; the only sounds were their chewing and requests to pass the butter or sugar. Lily never really got to spend a lot of time with Emma - she was normally hanging out with Ivy or the Marauders or Dillon, and, in the past, Severus. Emma and Lily were always civil to each other, and they often did homework together, but she never really got a chance to talk to her otherwise.
"So, when are the results of the try-outs going to go up?" Lily asked once they were done eating.
"I think James said it'd be either tonight or sometime before the weekend. I'm going to be a bunch of nerves until he puts them up, I just know it."
"I wouldn't be too worried - I was at the try-outs and thought you were great. Probably the best trying out for keeper. Where'd you get so good?"
"Thanks. I practiced with my older brother, who was the keeper before he graduated from Hogwarts. He's working at the Ministry now, but he helped me practice whenever he could."
"Well, the practicing paid off - if you don't make the team, then I'll just have to talk to James myself."
"Ooh, I'm sure he'd like that."
Emma and Lily looked up at Remus, who had just arrived at the table. He sat down next to Emma, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket.
"Well, if James doesn't put Emma on the team and I have to talk to him, he'll be sorry because I won't be in a happy mood at all. Wasn't Emma amazing? She definitely deserves to be keeper."
"Lily's right - you were by far the best keeper of the bunch," Remus assured Emma between bites. Emma blushed slightly but looked incredibly happy to receive the praise.
"Well, I'm going to go off to practice now - if I make the team, I want to make sure that I'm amazing and James doesn't regret his decision," Emma said as she got up and grabbed her broom, which had been sitting on the empty bench next to her. "Bye Remus, Lily. I'll see you guys in class."
"Bye, Emma. Make sure you don't stay out too long - it looks like it may rain soon," Lily said, indicating the gloomy sky that was above them, courtesy of the enchanted ceiling. Emma nodded and waved as she headed out.
Lily and Remus soon fell into a conversation about the upcoming Quidditch season, which Lily had difficulty really getting into. They were soon joined by James, Sirius, Peter, Ivy, and Dillon, though, and the conversation grew, taking over the group as they laughed and ate and forgot all about the problems going on inside their school. By the time that Lily and the others headed to their first class, Lily felt like things were back to normal.
The positive mood was still around when Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table for dinner. She was happily munching on a dinner roll when a letter suddenly fell in front of her, landing neatly on her lap. She looked up to see an owl flying out of the hall, probably heading back to the owlery. Most owls were there right now, since post normally came in the morning, but sometimes letters were too important to wait until the next morning, and owls would swoop into the hall to find the recipients of the letters as soon as possible.
Seeing it, Lily's stomach immediately dropped. Was something wrong back at home? Was someone hurt? Why else would she get a letter now, rather than the next morning?
"Um, I'll be right back," Lily croaked as she got up, quickly leaving the hall with the letter clutched in her sweaty palms. Her heart was beating rapidly and seemed loud enough for everyone to hear as she made the long trek out of the Great Hall and into the privacy of the landing outside of it.
Lily found an empty bench to sit on, her hands shaking slightly as she ripped it open. She read the letter, her mood changing as the words sunk in.
Dear Lily,
Don't worry, nothing's wrong - this letter is purely good news. I told your mother that you would instantly be worried if you got a rush letter like this, but she didn't want this news to wait: Petunia is getting married.
Yes, I know that she's only been dating Vernon Dursley for six months, but Petunia swears that they're in love and perfect for each other. You know how Petunia is - once she decides something, there's no changing her mind. So they're planning for a late June wedding - Mum's request, so that you can be there for the wedding - and we think Petunia is going to ask you to be the Maid of Honor. I know that you girls haven't been getting along much lately, but you've been sisters longer than you've been enemies, so I trust that you two will put aside your feelings, if only for the wedding.
Mum sends her love, and we hope to see you at Christmas, although we understand if it's safer for you to stay at school. In the meantime, work hard and make us proud.
Love,
Your Father
Lily let the letter fall to the ground, her mind racing as she tried to decide what emotion she should be feeling right then. She'd only met Vernon a few times, and each time he annoyed her more and more. He was a very large man who worked with drills, and was hoping to own a drilling empire by the time he was thirty. He was two years older than Petunia, although he looked at least ten years older, his black hair already starting to get specks of grey, probably because he was so freaked out by Lily.
Petunia had been forced to reveal the truth about Lily a week before she left for Hogwarts. Their parents didn't want to lie about anything, especially since they believed Petunia's relationship was serious. Apparently they had been right, even though Vernon had originally freaked out when Lily showed him what she could do by turning his glass of wine into a frog, which proceeded to jump all over him before Lily managed to change it back, fighting back laughter the entire time.
"Are you okay?"
Lily looked up to see James, who had his hands in his pockets as he looked down at her, concern written all over his face.
Lily mustered up a tiny smile, but her heart wasn't in it. She tried to stick the letter into her pocket, but her fumbling fingers were much too slow for James' quick ones. Lily sighed and looked at her fidgeting feet as James quickly read the letter, sitting down next to Lily as he did.
When James was done reading it, he handed it back and slowly put an arm around her shoulder. Lily didn't bother pushing him away - instead, she lowered her head onto his shoulder and closed her eyes. With all of the danger going on in Hogwarts and the wizarding world, it was easy to forget about her family drama. The letter brought it all back, though.
"I assume you aren't happy about this announcement, huh?" James asked, his voice soothing.
"That's one way to put it. I hate this man that Petunia's dating, and now it sounds like he'll be family." Lily shuddered slightly. "He's the worst kind of Muggle imaginable - he hates me, after we told him the truth. He can barely stand being in the same room as me, and now my parents want me to be my sister's maid of honor. She won't allow it, I know she won't - Petunia hates me. She'll probably pretend to go along with my parents' plan and choose one of her own friends at the last minute."
"Do you want to be the maid of honor?"
Lily bit her lip, turning the question over in her head. "I wish I didn't, but I do. I love my sister, even though she hates me now. I've always hoped that she'll change her mind, and we'll go back to normal. But I don't want to be the maid of honor if my parents have to force my sister to do that - I want my sister to choose me. We may never have a good relationship again, but this could help mend things, at least a little."
"So why don't you talk to your sister?"
"That wouldn't work - Petunia doesn't speak to me anymore. She gave me the cold shoulder the entire summer break - I'm pretty sure the only time she talked to me was when she thought I borrowed a dress from her and forgot to give it back. And even then, she merely yelled at me the whole time - not exactly the heart-to-heart that I've been hoping for. I won't be able to see her until at least Christmas break, and I may not even go back then, so the only way I have to contact her is by sending a letter, but Petunia hates owls, so she'll just ignore it, or not bother answering me. There's nothing I can do."
"So you're just going to give up?"
Lily felt a tear slip down her cheek. James was right, but she didn't want to admit it.
Standing up suddenly, Lily pulled away from James, quickly running her fist across her face to get rid of the tear - she wasn't going to let anyone know how much this hurt, especially James. Even though they were becoming friends, she wasn't ready to use him as a shoulder to cry on.
"I'm tired - I should work on my homework before I fall asleep," Lily muttered before turning around and walking away as fast as possible. Her footsteps weren't alone, though - she heard James behind her, and he quickly caught up, matching her pace but not saying anything. Lily thought about yelling at him to leave her alone, but she felt as if she didn't even have the strength to do that, plus he wasn't doing anything to annoy her yet.
"Listen, I know you don't want to talk about this with me. But you need to talk to someone. I'm sure Ivy or even Remus would know what to do. Who you talk to doesn't matter, though, you just need to talk to someone. You try to act really strong but you don't have to keep everything inside. No one's made of stone, not even you, Evans," James gave Lily a small smile but stayed out of her personal space, seeming to realize that she needed space.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Lily said, her eyes staring straight forward rather than looking at him. "But you're right - I don't want to talk about this right now. Don't sell yourself short, though - you could be the right person to talk to. You sure have changed since we first met on the Hogwarts train, back in first year. Remember that day?"
"Ah, how could I forget? For you, it was hate at first sight. You and Snivellus were thick as thieves, and Padfoot and I were already beginning our beautiful friendship. How things change, though, huh? Could you ever imagine that one day we would be friends and Snape would be the one you avoided?"
"Yes, things have changed. Sometimes you seem like a completely different person from that day. I think I like that different person a lot better than the Potter I first met."
James gave her another smile, a little bigger this time. He stepped around her, blocking her path and forcing her to stop walking. Lily looked up at him, her bright green eyes unblinking as she watched him and waited to see what he was going to do.
"Have I changed enough yet?"
"Changed enough for what?" Lily asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
"Have I changed enough for you to finally give me a chance?"
Lily's breathing increased slightly, and she averted her gaze, unsure what to say in response. She had been thinking about James a lot lately, but she wasn't sure what he was exactly. So she did the first thing that popped into her head - she rose up on her toes, gave him a light kiss on his cheek, and whispered, "Maybe."
James smiled again and stepped out of her way, and they continued their walk back to the dormitory in silence, both lost in thoughts.
After a few minutes of only their footsteps, Lily heard another noise, barely noticeable. She stopped and tried to figure out what she was hearing, but all she could hear was silence. Then she heard another sound, almost like something falling to the hard ground, coming from a deserted corridor to her right.
James noticed that she had stopped and retraced his steps, coming to a stop next to her. "What's wrong? Why'd you stop?"
Lily held her finger to her lips as she tried to hear more, but there was nothing.
"I heard something, but I'm not sure what."
"Do you want to check it out?" James looked around, trying to figure out where she was looking.
"I'm not sure - it could have been nothing, or it could be the person who wrote those messages. I'm not sure if I want to confront them, especially if they're dangerous."
"Don't worry - I'll go with you. I'm sure whoever it is, they won't want to take on both the Head Boy and Girl. We could give them enough detentions to last until Halloween."
Lily chuckled slightly at his cockiness, but as she walked toward the corridor, she felt nervous. Hogwarts might be the safest place around, but that didn't mean that it didn't have monsters hidden in its walls - after all, the worst wizard ever had once roamed its halls, a student himself. The next great antagonist to the wizarding world could be a student at Hogwarts right now, just hidden away.
They inched forward quietly, wands out in front of them as they both listened for any noise ahead of them. Lily wished she were anywhere other than here - if only she hadn't received that letter, then she would probably still be in the Great Hall, laughing with her friends rather than sneaking around with James, worried that they might be about to stumble upon the person who had been writing such threatening messages on the walls of Hogwarts. If only she had one of those fabled Time Turners, then she could return to that happy mood she had been in. But she knew that wishing for things that couldn't happen wouldn't change anything, so she pulled herself out of her thoughts and back into the present, where they were about to turn the corner and see what could be making noise. Lily was desperately hoping that Peeves, the poltergeist, was merely playing a prank and had dropped something, but she had a feeling that Peeves wasn't the culprit.
"Stay behind me," James said as quietly as possible, barely audible even in the silence of the corridor. Lily nodded, happy to let him take the lead and be the one to dash out in the open rather than remain in their hiding spot.
James took a deep, silent breath before stepping out, his wand in front of him as if it were a sword, his face emotionless. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
Lily peeked around the side, her eyes trying to adjust to the total lack of light. Even though there weren't lights in all of the corridors, they were all enchanted to be partially lit, so it was very odd that this one was pitch black. Someone had obviously used magic to hide what they were doing, which meant it couldn't be a good thing.
"Evans, look here," James whispered, lowering to his knees as he looked at something in the darkness, his eyes squinting to see. Lily followed his gaze, trying to figure out what he could possibly be seeing, but it was too dark and she was too far away to see. She inched closer, illuminating the small space with her wand. She gasped as she took in the sight before them:
A girl lay on the ground, motionless. Lily immediately felt for a pulse, and was relieved to find one, but it was weak. Lily could see why - the girl was covered in bruises, and a small cut on her forehead was lightly bleeding. Scratches covered her pale cheeks, and closer inspection revealed fading fingerprints on her throat, as if someone's hands had been squeezing her neck. Her lip was split and one of her fingers was bent at an angle. Lily felt tears spring to her eyes as she noticed how young the girl looked - she was a second or third year at the most. She was a Hufflepuff, at least according to her yellow and black-striped tie, which was wrapped around her arm, practically cutting off her circulation. Lily unwound it, gently tying it around her neck, as if that could make her feel better. She tried to lift her up, but the girl, though small, was too heavy for her.
Seeing her struggle, James picked the girl up carefully, his face angry and sad at the same time. He looked at Lily with such darkness in his eyes. "Lily, go get Dumbledore - tell him that there's been an attack."
I hope you liked this chapter! Hopefully the next one will be longer - reviews will definitely help increase the length (hint, hint)... Until then, happy reading!
