Hello everyone, here is chapter twenty-four. Readers, please review. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All (well, most, anyway) characters are from J K Rowling's brilliant best-selling series.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lily's Christmas

Christmas was coming. Lily could sense that the festiveness was present in Hogwarts as well, and Liz had told her that at Hogwarts, it was a tradition to decorate twelve Christmas trees every year. Lily wanted to experience Christmas at Hogwarts at least once, but that was not the year; she was looking forward to going home and spending the holidays with her family. She was going to visit Liz for the last three days of her vacation too, before taking the Hogwarts Express back to school. There were a few people who would be staying there, including Severus; Lily felt sad for him but there wasn't anything she could do – he didn't like staying at home for more time than he had to.

"I'll see you in about three weeks," she said, hugging him tightly as they stood at the Entrance Hall gates; it was the day they were all leaving for the holidays. "Sure," he said, a little sadly, "Stay safe, OK? I'll write to you," he added, and she nodded, a rather strained smile on her face. The last few weeks had been taxing for them both. For starters, Severus had told her confidentially that he'd been given a talking-to by a few seventh-years in his House for duelling with his own Housemates and he'd been warned: if he defended Gryffindors against any more Slytherins, he would be ostracised and become something of a pariah. He had been forced to apologize to Andrew McMahon, and he'd also been told that if he ever defied the older Slytherins again, bad things would happen to Lily. He had apologetically told Lily all of this, and the tortured expression on his face had melted Lily's heart into making the sacrifice for him: she would keep her distance from him for now. All this had put a strain on their friendship, and they hadn't been able to spend any time together; but Lily had done it for his own good. They had resolved to stay in contact with each other through letters throughout the Christmas holidays, though… That thought cheered Lily up ever so slightly…

"Come on, Lily," said Liz, and with one final friendly wave to Severus, she turned to join her best friend. Liz had been told of the situation with Severus, and while her friend had sympathized with her, Lily secretly felt that Liz happy that she, Lily, wasn't associating with Severus as much as she had been before the incident with the unfriendly Slytherins. Liz didn't trust him, and Lily didn't blame her. She was sure that Marlene and Mary didn't approve of her friendship with Severus, though they never said a word about it… But she had never cared what others thought of him. To her, he was still the sweet, kind boy who had defended her multiple times against nasty students from his own House.

Lily and the other girls spent most of the train journey trying to come up with different ideas to find out who was behind the attacks on Muggleborns. There had been another attack on the day after Lily's detention, and Lily had been saddened to learn that it had been one of the Gryffindors this time; a fifth-year boy named John Cook. Cook had been hit by a curse that caused the blood vessels to clot up, resulting in lack of blood flow to a particular organ, based on where the curse hit. He had been taken to the Hospital Wing with a blackened hand, but luckily, Madam Whitney had been able to fix him up, and within two days, he was back to normal.

"I still feel Remus has something to do with all this," said Marlene stubbornly. Liz snorted.

"Come on, Marlene – be reasonable here," she said sceptically. "Remus was in the Hospital Wing, and he looked in pretty bad shape. I don't think he attacked anyone…"

"But the timeline fits, Liz," exclaimed Marlene. Her cobalt-blue eyes shone with excitement as she added, "Look – these attacks have happened every time he wasn't there. He returned early once, he could've returned early before, too – secretly staying out of sight – yeah, it all fits!"

"No, it doesn't!" said Lily vehemently. "Marlene, you're being awfully ridiculous… Think about it. Remus has been home visiting his Mum. Why would he lie about it? He's so nice… He couldn't possibly be the one attacking people!"

"I'm not saying he is!" protested Marlene. "I'm only saying that he knows something. He's not there – people get attacked. He claims he's at home – but he was lying in the Hospital Wing, all scratched up. The next day someone else is attacked during broad daylight, in the afternoon, and we don't see Remus till evening. I tell you, he's up to something. Something fishy, and worth investigating."

"Oh, will you give it a rest with your 'it could be Remus' theory!" Mary exclaimed, and everyone looked at her in surprise. Sweet, gentle Mary normally didn't get worked up, but when she did, she could be a handful to deal with; She was still not talking to Peter, and he'd given up trying to apologise to her.

"But Mary – come on! Think logically – it's possible!" said Marlene, clearly surprised with her best friend's reaction.

"Possible, yes," interjected Liz, "Probable, no. Mary's right, Marlene – we know Remus, and he deserves the benefit of the doubt."

"Exactly!" said Mary, relieved that someone else was on her side.

But Marlene wasn't ready to back down. "OK – then why was he so shifty when we asked him why he was lying in the Hospital Wing the day of your detention, Liz – when he was supposed to be home?"

Lily considered this. Marlene was right – Remus had looked at his toes, away from them, at the ceiling (as he'd made an unconvincing attempt to roll his eyes) – anywhere but at them, as he'd told them why he'd been in the Hospital Wing. He'd been mauled by the ferocious neighbour's dog, he'd said. His father had seen it fit to send him back to Hogwarts for two reasons: one, to get him good medical care, and two, to get him away from his mother in order to protect her from being infected by his wounds.

Lily and Liz had accepted this narrative without question, but Marlene hadn't been sure. She had got it in her head that Remus was up to something, and that he was lying about the neighbour's dog. While Lily did agree with her – Remus hadn't been very convincing – she'd decided to attribute his so-called shiftiness to his trauma of being bitten and scratched. Liz was with her, too, as was Mary.

"It must have been the dog!" Liz said earnestly. "He was quite a bit shocked and upset at being sent back to school just after he'd arrived home, wasn't he? Yeah, I think that's probably why he came off as unconvincing… But we know him – he wouldn't do anything like this. You're making no sense, Marlene."

"Yeah, you're saying it like Remus is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," said Lily. Mary laughed, but Liz and Marlene just looked at her, confusion on their faces. "Er – who?" asked Liz, looking a little amused. Lily rolled her eyes and said, "It's a Muggle book – a story where an apparently good bloke takes a potion that allows him to lose his conscience and do things he wouldn't normally have done – rather like a good and bad side to someone's personality, see? He commits crimes and has no recollection of it afterwards…" Marlene and Liz still looked confused, and Lily's voice trailed off; she felt that she was doing a bad job explaining R. L. Stevenson's highly-rated classic. "Never mind," she said quickly. Mary stifled a giggle, and Marlene turned to Liz before continuing to speak.

"But then, Liz – you told me about James and Sirius – and even Peter, when you ran into them at Hogsmeade. They exchanged odd looks when you asked them about Remus, didn't they?" she asked shrewdly. "That means they know something – I'm sure of it."

"Maybe so, but it may be completely unrelated to the problem at hand," said Liz logically. "You're mixing two things, Marlene – maybe Remus does know something, and so do James and the others – but it may not even have anything to do at all with the attacks on Muggleborn students."

There was a pause, where Lily, Liz and Mary all looked at Marlene enquiringly. Marlene sighed and sank back into her seat, defeated. "All right, all right – you may be right – the attacks on Muggleborns during roughly the same time period as Remus being home is probably unrelated…"

"We can't say anything more till we know anything more," said Liz, and they all nodded. "That's fair," added Lily.

They spent the rest of the journey discussing their plans for the Christmas break. Mary was going to go to Marlene's place for a few days, and Lily was going to Liz's. They made plans to meet once during the break for yet another pow-wow at Liz's house, just before the next term began. They whiled away the afternoon playing Exploding Snap, but they were all subdued; a report of an attack in Dover the day before had dampened their spirits. Apparently, it was a Wizarding house that had been attacked, and the entire family residing in it had been murdered. The strange symbol that had appeared in Tickenham had made another appearance, terrifying people even more.

"The Dark Mark, the Prophet's calling it," said Liz as the train began to pull into King's Cross. "It appears where there's destruction and death by the Dark side – that's probably why everyone's even more scared. That symbol means terror, I tell you."

Lily shuddered. "I hope we don't see it again," she said, but she knew that her words were futile. With the war going on around them, it was likely that more attacks and deaths would occur, and with them the Dark Mark would keep making its sinister appearance. "It's so spooky," Lily added, shivering slightly as she alighted from the train, pulling her rucksack on her back. Like always, Lily never carried too many things home during the Christmas or Easter holidays. She had her clothes at home, and her robes at Hogwarts, so she didn't feel the need to pack and unpack her trunk every three months.

Liz grimaced. "I know, right? A big green skull with a dirty great snake for a tongue – disgusting!" she exclaimed, making a face. Turning to Lily, she asked, "So, a car is safe, right?"

"About as safe as a Blasting Curse," said Lily dryly, a slight smile on her face. Looking at Liz's stricken expression, she rolled her eyes and said, "Come on – relax, will you? It's even safer than a broom – trust me."

"Er – you don't like brooms, see? So for you, anything is safer than a broom," returned Liz. "To be fair, if you say that a car is safer than a broom – it's not really saying much."

Lily laughed. Her parents had driven down to Cherrywood the day before, spent some time with Liz's parents, and her Dad had offered to pick up the girls at King's Cross that evening along with Mr Huntington. They were to go back to Liz's before driving back the next afternoon, or so her parents had explained in their last letter. She'd felt good after reading it; it was nice to know that her parents seemed to be getting along well with Liz's parents, considering the vast differences in their cultures… Well, only one difference, really, she thought dryly… Magic and no magic!

"Come on, it'll be fun!" she said to Liz reassuringly. Liz snorted. "We'll see," she said. "Mum told me that she and Dad even got a – er, fellytone, I think it was – installed in our home."

"Telephone," corrected Lily. "That's great! Now your Mum won't have to go through all that work to connect your fireplace with mine every time we want to talk to each other – I can call you up – just like that!" she said excitedly, snapping her fingers together.

"You'll have to teach me how that thing works," said Liz. "Mind you, I didn't take Muggle Studies because you said you could teach me all about Muggles – now do it."

"Sure," said Lily, gratified, and they waved goodbye to Marlene and Mary before walking together through the barrier that would take them back into the Muggle world.

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It was after dinner on Christmas day when Lily sat at her desk, penning a letter to Severus. She was extremely upset, in a terrible state of mind. Christmas was supposed to be the season of joy, she thought furiously. This shouldn't have happened… But it had. She was relieved at last that the day had ended, and she felt a stab of mingled happiness and sadness; she was happy to be going to Liz's the next day itself, and sad to be leaving her parents so soon after meeting them.

She began to write.

Dear Severus,

Happy Christmas! I hope you had a good Christmas… Thank you so much for the box of Chocolate Frogs, did you buy it the last time we were in Hogsmeade? They're my favourite sweet, it's super of you to remember! I hope you liked my present, too.

Liz told me that Christmas at Hogwarts is really wizard (haha, that's a pun!). So, how was it? What did you have for Christmas dinner? And did you pull crackers, too? That part would've been fun… I hope you had a better day than I did, because I had a terrible Christmas. Terrible is putting it mildly, to be frank…

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"Happy Christmas!" said Lily brightly as she arrived downstairs on Christmas morning. She had just finished opening her presents, and they'd all been to her liking: a box of Chocolate Frogs from Severus (it was her favourite Wizarding sweet), a book called Quidditch Through the Ages from Liz, Marlene and Mary (she supposed that her friends didn't want her to feel out of place at Quidditch matches, as was the case at times), a Five-Galleon coupon for the Diagon Alley Apothecary from the Marauders (she dismissed it as a joke, but was rather gratified with the gift; if one thought about it, she could refill her potions kit for free before the start of next year), and a rather nice tropical-patterned skirt from her parents. There was a gift from Petunia, too – a painting of a Christmas tree, but based on the brush strokes, it wasn't one of her best efforts. She didn't care, though; she had got her sister something too, and she meant to try and set things right with her that year. Lily knew that her parents were troubled by how the once-close sisters treated one another, and she had resolved to make them happy by making an attempt to mend her relationship with Petunia.

"Happy Christmas, Princess," her father greeted her enthusiastically as looked up from his morning paper. "I liked the gloves," he said, his eyes twinkling, "Nice material, that… What is it now, some kind of strong leather?"

"It's dragon hide, Daddy," she said, kissing his cheek. He ruffled her hair affectionately, and she made a face. "You know I don't like that, Daddy," she said reprovingly, but her smile gave her away. Her father laughed and said, "Wow, so dragons are real – is that right?" Lily laughed. "I'm afraid so, Daddy," she said mischievously, "Though now that I think about it, I haven't actually seen one."

Just then, her mother bustled into the dining room, carrying a vessel that emitted a delicious scent. "Wow, that smells wonderful, Mummy," said Lily, breathing in deeply with her eyes closed. Her mother grinned and said, "Egg-and-sausage casserole – the lady next door gave me the recipe." Lily was pleased to see that Mrs Evans wore the same scarf she had sent her from Hogsmeade. "I love the scarf, darling – it's so soft!" she exclaimed, and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Happy Chirstmas!"

"And Happy Christmas to you, too," said Lily cheerfully, "The skirt is so cute – I think I'll wear it at Hogwarts when the weather is warmer." Her mother grinned again and began to set the table. Breakfast passed without any untoward incident as Lily and Petunia barely exchanged a word. Lily had left Petunia's present in her bedroom itself, meaning to give it to her later. Therefore, it was after breakfast, while they were drinking tea, that Lily spoke.

"Tuney," she began tentatively, "Will you come to my room for a few minutes?"

"Why?" Petunia said, her tone a little sulky, but her expression confused.

Lily bit her lip. "I've got your present there," she said. "So, will you please come to my room now?"

"All right," said Petunia, her tone still unfriendly. But she followed Lily out of the dining room, all the same. Just as they neared the staircase, Lily stole a quick backward glance at her parents; they both smiled and nodded encouragingly. She felt braver; after all, her parents were in on her plan to try and mend fences with her sister, and they approved of it.

They entered her room, and as Petunia looked around, Lily quickly retrieved a small box from her rucksack. She'd ordered it from Diagon Alley, and it had come to her at Hogwarts. She'd felt that in order to try to get back on normal terms with her sister, the present must be delivered in person. Petunia would appreciate the gesture even more. She faced her sister, smiling nervously.

XXXXX

Lily paused. The memory of what happened next was extremely painful, and she immediately felt close to tears, as she had multiple times all day. But just as she before, she suppressed her pain… With a half-glance at the wall above her bed, she continued writing furiously.

Anyway, I stood there facing her, and gave the present to her. She opened it – rather eagerly, I'd say – but she didn't look very happy with what she found. It was a paint bottle, Sev – the kind that changes colour – she likes painting, so I thought it would be a nice gift, see? She could paint whatever she wanted, and it would change colour – I honestly thought that she'd like it. I know she feels bad that I get to come to Hogwarts and she doesn't, and we know how much she wanted to, too… So I thought that this could make up for it to an extent. Magic paint – she may not be a witch, but she has a trace of magic in her life. I thought she'd love it! But instead –

XXXXX

"—And it changes colour, see? That's the best part, you'll be able to enjoy all your paintings in different colours!" Lily said. She felt rather proud of herself to have gotten her sister such a thoughtful gift.

There was a pause as Petunia examined the bottle of paint. Her eyes met Lily's, and Lily was dismayed to see that her sister's pale blue gaze was hostile. "So let me get this straight – you thought I'd like this – because it changes colour?" she said, her voice colder than the snow brushing lightly against the window outside. "Why would I want to paint something that changes colour? What if I paint a cherry, what then? If this paint becomes yellow, what is the point? Whoever's heard of a yellow cherry?" she asked, her tone mocking.

Lily took in a deep breath. "Er – look at it this way, Tuney – say you paint a tree, and it's green –then the paint changes colour to orange-red, that depicts the autumn colours! Or even – say you're painting the sky – then the colour of the sky could tell you the time of day – you can have one of those paintings that have a constantly changing sky, that way it covers the entire day –"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Petunia interrupted. "You and those other freaks – you're all alike. You think you're better than us, the normal, common folk, isn't it?" she spat, and Lily shivered at the harshness of her tone. "You think you're better than us," she repeated viciously, "That is why you got me this paint, didn't you? You wanted to rub my nose in it – colour-changing paint, so fancy, so cool – d'you think you can patronize me? Well – here's what I think of your stupid paint!" Petunia screamed, and with a violent heave, she threw the bottle of paint on the wall above the headboard of Lily's bed.

Lily watched in utter disbelief as the glass bottle shattered into a thousand pieces. Glass pieces scattered all over her bedsheet, and the paint formed a huge stain on the wall, where it kept changing colour repeatedly, from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to purple to black… Behind her, she heard an indignant hoot as Cavana woke up early from her usual daytime slumber. Lily looked back at her sister, still in shock, as Petunia lifted the cup of tea she'd set on Lily's table. She looked calmly triumphant, and there was a slight smirk on her face.

That smug little smirk was the final straw. Rage she had never known before coursed through her. She saw, in place of the blonde girl in front of her, nothing but a mean, callous and baleful person. Petunia was not the girl Lily had known her to be in their childhood. She had turned into someone who hated Lily with all her heart.

Taking in a deep, calming breath, Lily said, her voice low, "You should not have done that, Tuney." She could feel hot tears in her eyes, but she knew that they weren't a result of sadness, but anger… Looking at her sister directly, she repeated, "You should not have done that."

"Oh, going to cry now, are you?" said Petunia disdainfully. "You were always a cry-baby – I guess some things never change."

"YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT!" Lily screamed, losing control completely, and in that moment, she felt the same emotion that she'd felt when she'd turned Matthew's cup into a crab so many years ago – she wanted to hurt her sister, hurt her badly in order to pay her back for what she had done with the present she'd so lovingly and thoughtfully given to her.

Before her very eyes, the teacup in Petunia's hand turned into a fat, brown rat. Petunia screamed as the rat, utterly confused, bit her thumb, before bounding over her shoulder and on her back. Yelling in dismay, Petunia fled out of Lily's room. A derisive shout of laughter escaped Lily in a voice most unlike her own. She felt powerful at the moment, so powerful…

A series of thuds brought her out of her reverie. She rushed out of the bedroom to see Petunia lying at the foot of the stairs, stirring feebly; her eyes widened with horror as she saw a dark red stain slowly forming on the carpet below, and her parents bent over her sister, calling out her name repeatedly. "Tuney!" she screamed, all thoughts of her sister's cruelty just minutes ago forgotten as she flew down the staircase. Oh no, this is my fault… Please let her be OK…

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Lily paused guiltily at the memory. True, it was partially her fault that Petunia had bounded down the staircase in fear, causing her to fall just as she neared the bottom. She shuddered as she remembered Petunia's still form… She continued writing.

Tuney was bleeding from the head, so we decided to go to hospital. At that moment, an owl tapped onto the window, and delivered an official-looking letter – I knew instantly what it was, so I just took it but didn't open it. I decided to do the deed later – right then, Tuney was the biggest concern.

Anyway, we went to hospital – there weren't many people there on Christmas day – and Tuney was all right, they just gave her a thorough check-up and fixed her up. She had to take an injection for the rat bite – and she even had to have stitches put on her forehead, the cut was rather deep – but luckily, she wasn't dizzy or nauseous, as is common with head injuries. Full bed rest for the rest of the day was advised, though. In all the confusion, I didn't get a chance to tell Mum and Dad what had happened, and were they outraged… They stayed silent till we got home, though, for which I was thankful – then again, they don't like to cause a scene at public places anyway. Once Petunia had been put to bed, they asked me what had happened.

I told them exactly what had happened, Sev. But they were still seriously angry with me. I mean, it wasn't even my fault. OK, OK – it was, I shouldn't have lost control like that – but it just happened! It's enough to make anyone fly off the handle if they see their present being smashed against the wall. The rest of it was just bad luck, I guess.

I endured an hour of shouting. They said – well, they said that if this was the sort of thing I was taught at Hogwarts, they might as well put me back in my old school – at least the students there are taught good values and other such stuff. I didn't cry at all when they were yelling at me, though, but I felt terrible. Once or twice I even felt annoyed, and I argued, but that just made them angrier than ever, so I just stopped talking until the storm weathered.

Once everyone had calmed down, we all went up and cleaned my room. Daddy used his new dragon hide gloves – he even joked that it wasn't how he'd pictured breaking them in. I just stood there silently, feeling terrible – I really did, Sev. Then Mummy changed the sheets, gave me some bread and cheese, and said that it was all I'd be getting. I felt even worse when I heard that – Christmas dinner was something I've always looked forward to. But it was nothing compared to how I felt when I read that letter…

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Feeling hollow, she sat down in her chair and began to read the letter. It was from the Ministry of Magic. Well, I can't feel any worse than I do now, she thought, and read:

Dear Miss Evans,

We have received intelligence that a Transformation Spell was used at your place of residence this morning at eighteen minutes past ten. As you know, underage witches are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).

We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.

Enjoy your holidays!

Yours sincerely,

Judith Watson

Improper use of magic office

Ministry of Magic

She was wrong; the letter had made her feel worse. She smiled mirthlessly. Here was she, Lily Evans, someone who abhorred breaking the rules, someone who was known as a Goody Two-Shoes by the rest of the school, someone who told people off for doing anything against the rules – she was the first one, the first one out of all of them, to get a warning from the Ministry of Magic for performing magic outside of school. She couldn't help but reflect sadly upon the irony.

More mirthless thoughts came to her. She'd performed a – a Transformation Spell, of all spells. She wasn't even so good at Transfiguration – she struggled with it! And yet, here she was, being warned for performing it outside of school. Why couldn't she perform such good transfiguration at Hogwarts? My, the ironies just keep on coming, she thought sardonically.

She slumped backwards and thought about the entire day. Apart from the egg-and-sausage casserole, her day had been downright horrible. The rejection of her present, the rat, Petunia's injury, her parents scolding her, the letter from the Ministry – all of it swirled around in her head, until she suddenly stood up. She just couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to yell, to shout, to cry, to vent out her feelings – but now wasn't the time or place to do it.

A sudden inspiration came to her. I'll go to Liz's, she thought. Well, I was going to go there anyway, but I could just do it now… I'll come back when I'm feeling better, or maybe directly in the summer. She couldn't bear to be in the same house as Petunia, not after how her sister had treated her. She just couldn't…

Liz has a telephone now, she thought. She got up and began to go downstairs. There was no one in the living room; it was dark outside, and her parents were probably in their bedroom. I'll call Liz and ask her if I can come over for the rest of the holidays, she thought decisively. Then I'll tell Mum and Dad… They'll understand, they're anyway not happy with me at the moment. Then I'll call Liz again and tell her if I'm going to be coming tomorrow or not. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do…

She picked up the telephone and began to dial.

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She thought about the past hour, when she had explained to her parents in the calmest way possible that while she regretted the way her sister had gotten hurt, she was so angry that she couldn't bear to stay in the same house as her for the time being. That left her with only one option – to go to Liz's. Her parents had been angry and disappointed, and had been in half a mind to not let her go anywhere, but they'd agreed in the end after she'd promised to call them up once every day.

She wrote further:

It took some cajoling, but they agreed. I talked to Liz again, and her parents, sweet people that they are, were all right with it. I didn't tell her the reason over the telephone, though. Mrs Huntington is coming to pick me up tomorrow via Floo Powder – I'll tell Liz when I get there. So, when you want to reply to this letter, make sure you send it to Liz's!

Thanks for reading such a long letter, Severus. It means a lot to me that you did. We may have to keep our distance for now, but it feels good that you're still by my side… Have a good holiday, and I'll hopefully meet you in January!

Not-so-cheerful-unlike-always,

Lily

Lily set down her quill and looked at her owl, who was quietly watching her. "Come here, girl," she whispered, and Cavana obediently stuck out her leg. Lily rolled up the parchment and tied it up with a little thread before tying it to Cavana's leg. She stroked the eagle owl's feathers and said, "To Severus, girl… And come to Liz's after you deliver the letter, OK?" Cavana gave her a knowing nod, nipped her finger affectionately, and did something she'd never done before – she thrust her head forward right into Lily's neck and rubbed it against her cheek. Lily's eyes filled with tears; she knew that her pet was trying to comfort her, and she appreciated it. She opened the window; Cavana gave her a final affectionate nip before taking off into the night.

Closing her window, Lily picked up her open rucksack. She had some packing to do…

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The moment she came spinning out of the Huntingtons' fireplace, she immediately threw herself into Liz's arms and began to sob unrestrainedly on her shoulder. Shocked, Liz tried asking her what the matter was, but Lily wasn't paying attention; she had held her feelings in for too long, and now it was like a dam breaking. Mrs Huntington stood next to them silently, occasionally patting Lily's head and saying something soothing that she wasn't really listening to.

It took about fifteen minutes for Lily to calm down. Finally, with a steaming mug of tea in front of her, Lily explained what had happened the previous day to Liz and her mother. She didn't leave anything out; she just told it like it had happened: her present to her sister, Petunia's cruelty, her loss of temper, her anger, accidental magic and Petunia's injury… Her parents scolding her, rather unjustly, while not saying anything to her sister who had started it all… The letter from the Ministry, the warning… The memories came back to Lily one after another, and she began to sob once again as she came to the end of her tale of woe. Liz hugged her again, and Mrs Huntington stroked her hair comfortingly, until her sobs subsided into sniffs.

"Th-thanks, Mrs Huntington, for allowing me to stay here for the rest of the holidays," Lily said, trying to dry her eyes, "You must think I'm a bad person, taking liberties like this – I know I'm an imposition –"

"Sssshhhh, sweetheart, that's enough," said Mrs Huntington gently, putting her index finger onto Lily's lips. "You're not an imposition, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want to. And you're not a bad person, dear – whatever made you think that?"

"I shouldn't have lost my temper like that," said Lily, and tears formed in her eyes again. "I did magic outside of school – if it happens again, I'll be expelled – oh, how could this happen, I've never broken a single rule voluntarily in my entire life –"

"Well, Lil, from the looks of it, you were perfectly justified in losing your temper," said Liz, "I have half a mind to Floo back to your house and give your sister a box on her ears." Lily looked at her friend in surprise: Liz's voice was uncharacteristically rough. Lily knew that while Liz was stoic and calm most of the time, and the most level-headed of them all, she was fiercely protective of her, and if anyone dared to do anything to her, it wasn't very unlikely for Liz to lose her temper and teach that person a lesson. While Lily appreciated Liz's support and protectiveness, she didn't want Liz fighting her battles for her. She had to do it herself.

"That's enough, Liz," said Mrs Huntington reprovingly. "No talk of hitting anyone, understood?" Liz looked mutinous, but stayed silent. Lily decided to move the conversation into safer waters.

"All the same, Liz – I turned a teacup into a rat," she said, and Liz giggled a little. "I wish I'd been there, it would've been funny to watch," she said, a little wistfully. "It was a little funny," conceded Lily. "The rat just ran up her shoulder and into her hair – she screamed, jumped and took off like a scalded cat! I mean, rats aren't so scary, are they?" she asked, as Liz let out a snort of laughter. "Yep – they're not scary at all," she said, "Now, on the other hand, if you'd set a snake on her… A really big one, like a cobra or a python or even a boa constrictor… That would've been another story." Lily shuddered slightly.

Mrs Huntington stood up. "Well, Lily, I hope you like our special Boxing Day breakfast," she said cheerfully, "Winter golden turkey – with vegetables and poached egg." Lily smacked her lips. "Sounds delicious, Mrs Huntington," she said politely. "Come on, then," said Mrs Huntington, and led the way to the dining table, and Lily and Liz followed her, Lily feeling more cheerful than before. Perhaps it would still be a good holiday after all…

Just as Lily had hoped, she had a wonderful time staying at Liz's. They completed all their homework, and spent some time walking along the beach. The sea water was cold, and it even snowed for a few days, but Lily liked it; she felt at peace with the world as long as they didn't stray out of the protective spells on Huntington Cottage and the beach next to it.

It would've been a peaceful holiday had it not been for more attacks and deaths. The Dark Mark had started to appear even more frequently now, and on New Year's Day, there was a report of an attack on a New Year's Eve party somewhere in Leicester. It was an attack in which five people were killed, with more than twenty injured. The Ministry confirmed that it was a Muggle party, and the situation remained grimmer than even, with Muggle attacks happening with alarming frequency.

"I wish we could do something about this," said Lily, as they packed their stuff up on the last day of their holidays. "Too many people are dying, and You-Know-Who is getting stronger than ever – if he's the one behind this blood purity nonsense, that is."

Liz snorted. "Blood purity," she said scathingly. "It's pathetic that people are actually supporting this maniac. We'd have died out years ago if we hadn't mixed with Muggles, wouldn't we? Everyone is human… And here is one bloke trying to wipe out Muggles and Muggleborns. I mean, doesn't he have better things to do?" Turning to Lily, she said, "Nah, there's nothing we can do, Lil. Not now, anyway – we don't know enough magic. But maybe after we pass out of Hogwarts – perhaps we can join the fight then," she added thoughtfully. Lily nodded fervently. "Yep, that sounds like a good plan," she said.

"For now, we can focus on the issue at hand," said Liz. "Small scuffles aside, there's someone at Hogwarts who is a danger to all Muggleborns – we don't know who it is, and we have to find out."

"Yes, that's right," Lily agreed. "Let's do that first."

Marlene and Mary had come over to Liz's two days ago, and the girls had discussed their plans to apprehend whoever was attacking Muggleborn students. So far, after careful thinking, they had figured out that the attacks took place at the end of every month, within twenty-eight or twenty-nine days of each other. Mary was sceptical about the reason for counting the number of days between attacks, but Lily remained firm on it; she was sure that it was significant. Mary had attributed her wanting to quantify things to her liking for Arithmancy, and Lily hadn't debated that point; it was, after all, probably true.

Besides, she had had a letter from Severus, too – he'd supplied information that there had been no attacks over the holidays, though he'd been confused as to why she was asking him that. This particular fact had strengthened Marlene's resolve that Remus knew something or had something to do with it; they had all tried to convince her otherwise, but she'd remained adamant. She had also pointed out that the days on which the attacks had happened were days when Remus was supposedly home, and yet, Liz had once seen him in the Hospital Wing when he shouldn't have been there. Marlene remained firm in suspecting Remus of knowing something, and the others had dropped it for now.

Thinking carefully, they had come up with a plan; firstly, they would wait by the end of January to see if any more attacks took place. If so, they would involve the boys but not Remus, following which they could keep a watch on possible suspects. Lily and the others were sure that the perpetrators were Slytherins, who were most vocal about blood purity. It had become a thing of paramount importance that they learn the Disillusionment Charm, should they have to spy on someone. The Black Smoke spell, along with the Light Intensifying Spell, were good for a quick getaway, but didn't serve their purpose if they wanted to spy. Liz's father had demonstrated the Disillusionment Charm, inspiring them to double their efforts to learn it.

I hope we find out what's going on, she thought as she fed Cavana an extra-large owl treat. I hope we do it soon…

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Author's note: In Philosopher's Stone, Petunia rants about Lily turning teacups into rats. I thought it'd be funny if this was the incident in question. Cheers!