A/N: Thank you all again for the fantastic reviews! Sorry about my little hiatus. My last term was hectic…but I have more time now, so I'll do my best to keep up with you all!

Chapter Twenty-five: Photograph

Things were tenuous between Lily and Mila, so she refrained from even trying to sit at Lily's table. Instead, Lily noticed as she idly mashed her fruit and yogurt, Mila had made it a point to eat with her old Ravenclaw friends, back blatantly facing Lily.

Lily sighed and jabbed a blueberry with her fork.

Charlotte, who had sent her diet straight to hell as soon as she'd lost the position of queen bee to Helen, crunched happily on a piece of bacon. "Not hungry?" she said between chews. "Feel all right?"

"It's just…the tonic Madame Pomfrey gave me," she lied, jamming the blueberry into her mouth. "See? I'm fine."

"Ah," Charlotte looked unconvinced, but simply popped the last bit of bacon in her mouth and then daintily reapplied her lip gloss. "Shall we?" She stood up and looked at Lily expectantly.

It was Hogsmeade weekend, of course. Lily wasn't sure she'd quite recovered from her Quidditch pummeling, but Charlotte was extremely eager for her company and wouldn't take no for an answer. Although, she couldn't lie…there was more eating at her than just that foul medicine from Madame Pomfrey: her argument with James still nagged at her.

But she pushed the feelings aside and turned to Charlotte with a bright smile pasted on. "Lead the way."

When they arrived, they broke free from the gaggle of students and headed down the cobblestone street, Charlotte practically dragging her.

"Oof! Charlotte," Lily hissed after she'd nearly been rammed into an old goblin who gave her quite a nasty look, "do you think we could be a tad more careful—ouch!" She stumbled over a wobbly stone and nearly crashed into the corner of Alexandria's Fine Fittings. It took her a moment to realize they'd stopped. She looked around, noticing that Charlotte had stuffed them both inside a narrow close. "What are we doing here?"

Charlotte looked shifty.

"Charlotte…?" Lily prodded.

"Right. So here it is…" she began with a deep breath, "Remember all the stuff that I've been buying?"

"To make Helen jealous?"

"Er…yes," Charlotte's eyes wandered awkwardly. "Well…" she shuffled closer to Lily as a tall Hufflepuff boy passed by. "I have a little…problem."

"Like what?"

"It's nothing major," she brushed the air with a manicured hand. "It's just a bit of debt is all."

"What?" Lily cried exasperatedly. "Did you learn nothing from my experience with Wizard Credit?"

Charlotte giggled. "Well that's just it. I mean, I know that you seemed to wrap things up quite neatly in the end, and I thought you might let me in on your little secret." She whispered the word 'secret' and nudged Lily with a twinkle in her eye.

Lily frowned and pinched the bridge of her bruised nose. "Charlotte…" The cobblestone street was getting more packed as the students flooded past the shop toward Zonko's. She lowered her voice and took Charlotte by the elbow, pulling her to whispering distance. "James paid for what I didn't work off at Alexandria's!"

Charlotte blinked and bit her lacquered lip. "Oh. Well…do you think he could spot me a few Galleons?"

Lily groaned and threw up her arms. "Exactly how much debt are we talking about here?"

Charlotte cleared her throat. "I'd rather not say."

"Well considering you just bought a 3,000 Galleon pair of shoes the other day…" she grimaced.

"That's exactly why I needed to find them!" Charlotte cried. "They are, I swear to you, the most expensive thing I bought. If I can just get those shoes back and return them, I bet I can work off the rest. But…I need a favor."

Lily hesitated. "What?"

"Well…" Charlotte eyed the glass window of Alexandria's with its glittering robes teasing the passerby. "Since you worked here, I thought perhaps you could put in a good word for me?"

Lily almost burst out laughing. "You're going to work. You."

"Yes, me! I'm perfectly capable of mingling with the…how do you Muggles say it? Bourgeoisie."

"You mean proletariat?"

"Whatever. Bourgeoisie is much more fun to say."

At least Charlotte was absorbing something in Muggle Studies. Lily conceded. "Fine, Karl. But you'd better not make me look bad."

"Deal," Charlotte grinned. "And who is Karl?"

The rest of the day was actually quite fun. It was the first chance she'd had to really spend time with Charlotte, who, oddly enough after everything that had happened between them, had turned out to be a good companion. The world truly was full of surprises.

However, as soon as the following week picked up at Hogwarts, Charlotte became practically nonexistent what with her exorbitant hours at Alexandria's. Without Charlotte or Madeline, Lily was left with little to no buffer between her and Florence and Helen who delighted in tormenting her every moment.

It was like being back at the beginning of the sad, sorry year: friendless, dateless, tormented, and not without a properly bound copy of Hogwarts, a History to keep her occupied.

So this was where the year had brought her: full circle. Lily sighed as she shuffled down the halls, carrying a teetering pile of books in her arms. She attempted fruitlessly to blow a particularly sticky strand of auburn hair from her eyes as she rounded the corner, and as a result ended up losing her balance and subsequently the tottering stack of books as well.

"Not again," she groaned, flopping to the floor to gather them up, trying to smooth the crinkled pages.

One of the books lurched out of her grasp and hit her hard in the knee when someone kicked it, its pages fluttering open. Her head whipped up to catch Helen Halverson tailing James Potter, Edith Baldric, and Peter Pettigrew as they sauntered off down the hall with a few other Gryffindors and Slytherins. Helen was giggling like mad, and kicked another of Lily's books with an evil grin before whirling around to catch up with the others.

Lily grimaced as the group threw her snide looks. James didn't even bother; he just pulled Edith tighter to him and laughed at something Peter said. It was as if she didn't exist. They rounded the corner and disappeared.

It was going to be a long, long rest of the year.

"Oy, Evans."

Two raggedy sneakers appeared before her, and she followed them up the outline of a bulbous Gryffindor. "Hi, Kenneth," Lily said glumly, massaging her temples.

He was slurping on a sugar quill, staring idly at the books strewn across the floor. "Having troubles?"

"Something like that," she muttered, stacking them back in the correct order.

Kenneth didn't bother to help. "So, er…I needed to ask you something."

At the sudden uncharacteristic awkwardness in his voice, Lily looked up with concern. "Ask me what?"

"Er…well," he shifted his feet, "I heard you and Mila Lofgren got into some sort of fight."

Her eyes narrowed and she stood up. "How did you hear about—Wait. Did Ingrid put you up to this?" Lily had nearly forgotten that Kenneth was dating Mila's little sister.

"Well…she was just thinking that maybe you two should talk. After all, it seems like a misunderstanding…"

"Kenneth, no offense, but neither you nor Ingrid knows what's going on. Besides…if Mila wants to be my friend, there's nothing stopping her. Obviously she's harboring some problem of her own."

"Oh."

"Yes."

"Well," he shifted awkwardly again. "I guess I'll go then."

"You do that," Lily made certain her freshly shined prefect badge was visible. "I'm perfectly capable of handling such matters, after all."

"Right," he furrowed his brow. "So I'll see you around then?"

"Sure."

Just as Kenneth was turning away, a Hufflepuff slammed deliberately into him, causing him to stumble into the wall. He caught himself awkwardly and looked away as the boy shot him a foul sneer. "How's it going, traitor?"

Kenneth just stared at his feet, frowning.

"Hey!" Lily stood, whipping out her wand.

The Hufflepuff froze and his face turned wan. He didn't seem to notice that a sixth year prefect had witnessed his jibe.

"Just where do you get off treating your fellow students like that?" she growled. "Apologize right now. What's your name?"

"Eric."

"Eric what?"

"Mulligan. I'm…sorry," he grumbled to Kenneth.

"Brilliant," Lily spat. "30 points from Hufflepuff. Now get to class."

Eric Mulligan looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it, turned with a pout, and scurried off.

"Really, Kenneth," Lily turned back to him. "That boy was half your size."

"You didn't have to do that," Kenneth was still staring at his feet.

"Well, it's my job," she replied tautly.

Kenneth looked her in the eye suddenly, his face scrunched angrily. "Now I'll be even more of a laughing stock. I don't need some snitch trying to protect me!"

"I—"

"Leave me alone, Lily."

Appalled, Lily watched Kenneth lumber away, feet smashing the floor bitterly as he went.

She groaned to herself and bent over to finish gathering up her books. She was getting quite good at making enemies lately. She made her way back to Gryffindor Tower, scolding a few pranksters in the halls along the way.

Relieved to be at peace once more, Lily flopped down on her bed, drew the curtains shut, and began flipping through books. Unfortunately, she'd come up with nothing so far on Edith Baldric. Not a single bit of juicy info, nor family history, nor anything relevant in Prophet clippings. Her plan was clearly failing.

Mila hated her. She had nothing on Edith. Charlotte was too busy to talk to her. James treated her like a brick wall. Edith was still breathing oxygen. Madeline's father was out of the job. Her father was out of the job…

…Just a few items on the long list of Lily's problems. She frowned and slammed the book shut. It was going nowhere. Edith Baldric's dirty secrets were tightly sealed beneath that shiny head of black hair atop that stupid, sickeningly beautiful head.

There was only one thing Lily could think of that might calm her down: reorganizing.

Whipping out her wand and a pair of protective gloves, Lily dove into her bedside table and trunk, systematically pulling out odds and ends and separating things into color-coded piles.

"Scourgify," she hummed as she went, her mood brightening with every pocket of dust she obliterated. In no time, her spirits were up, and she was seated cross-legged on the floor beside several neatly labeled stacks and piles.

Finally, she reached the bottom of her trunk, pulling out one of James' dirty socks. She scowled and burned it to a crisp on the spot, blowing the remaining ashes happily out the window. Lastly, she scrounged up her copy of Detoxify, De-stress, and Don't Explode- Literally- for the Modern Witch and a warm smile spread across her face. She blew the dust from the cover, remembering her anxiety at the beginning of the year. Even though she seemed to be spiraling backwards socially, she knew that deep down she had grown at least somewhat. The swirling gold letters that formed the name Melinda Moonshine sparked her memory.

Quickly abandoning her project, she scurried over to her desk and drew out her quill and ink. In a matter of minutes, she'd penned a letter to Melinda:

It's been so long since we've last written, and so much has happened—more than I can properly put in words here. But most certain is the fact that I miss you terribly…especially now!

I remembered you mentioning the article you were writing about your cousin Charlotte's family and the loss of their business. Strangely enough, she and I have become friends…or something like it, anyway. But in regards to the article, I was hoping you might be able to give me any details you've found regarding the Baldrics who bought out the Vane's cauldron company. Anything at all would be…much appreciated.

Write soon,

Lily

Rolling it up with a flourish, Lily scrambled out of her dorm and all the way up to the owlery to send Rue off with her message. It was really her last hope to find something—anything—on Edith.

Eagerly she awaited a response, and the weeks rolled by. February dissolved into March, and the snows began to melt with the coming spring warmth. Mostly, it was all a dull blur, Lily simply doing her best to retain some semblance of sanity.

Prefect meetings were conducted, and she icily ignored any direct instructions from Edith which garnered Lily a snide smirk in return. And though they met in the hallway with a bit of awkward conversation, Mila had pretty much returned to her old friends. While they'd apologized for the fight, Lily remained disinterested during any conversation which simply pushed Mila further away. Even Charlotte, who thrived on being the sole contributor in a conversation, pointed out that Lily was acting like a recluse.

But there wasn't much she could do. Lily just didn't feel…whole anymore. During the brief moments that she did see James, she remained unaffected—for the most part—as she'd properly conditioned herself against all irrational reactions to his piercing stare.

Well, except once.

Because she'd lost all interest in things, she placed most of her focus on studying once more. The one and only goal she'd set for herself was to become Head Girl, and she would stop at nothing to get that. Keeping focused on the prized was the only thing that kept her going, but in the process, she'd become such a regular at the library that Madame Pince actually shot her a genuine smile one day.

It was the same day, in fact, that she spotted James.

He simply entered the library alone one afternoon while Lily was perusing the Herbology section, seated himself at one of the tables and cracked an arbitrary book. She tried desperately to ignore him, but he just sat there, his eyes blazing in her direction.

For three hours he just watched her: sometimes chewing on a pencil, occasionally flipping a page, but not once actually looking at the text.

Lily could feel the blush creeping up her neck, but out of some illogical need to challenge him, she stayed and acted as nonchalant as possible while he blatantly toyed with her. It was almost like the staring game to see who would give out and blink first. Unfortunately it was Lily.

All it took was one of her casual glances to linger a bit too long on his hazel eyes. A smirk flashed instantaneously across his handsome features and she turned quickly away. She knew perfectly well that her face was an open book—all of her thoughts written right out there for him to read—and whatever he saw pleased him. When she gathered the courage to turn around again, he was gone, the book still propped open on the table.

That little fumble had been a week ago, but thankfully since then she hadn't seen James at all.

Lily lingered on this thought while chewing on a dinner roll.

"So then I told Hilda, 'Listen—I am not a bloody slave! I don't care if Mrs. Higgins is our best customer, she had no right to place an engorgement charm on me so that I could try on garments for her fat niece!" Charlotte slammed her fist down on the table, breaking Lily's train of thought.

"Huh?" she blinked. "Oh…how nice…"

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. Her blonde hair was frazzled and her uniform a bit less put together than usual, her Alexandria's nametag askew. Seeing it reminded her of the time James doubled as her boyfriend when her mum and Petunia visited, helping her hide her secret job and debt. "—listening to me? Lily. LILY."

"What?" She was jerked back to the present.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" Charlotte growled. "You've been in spacey ever since I started working this job. I mean, really, Lily, I know it's hard without my usual constant presence—how could it not be—I'm fabulous—but the reality is that life goes on." She placed a hand congenially upon Lily's left shoulder, an unusual display of affection on Charlotte's part.

Lily eyed it strangely and shifted awkwardly away. "I'm fine, really, Charlotte. I know you're busy."

"You know, you never talk about James anymore."

"That's because he's a nonissue," Lily dismissed her brusquely.

Charlotte was taken aback. "Okay. Relax. Just making an observation." She watched for a moment as Lily pushed some peas around her plate. "Alright…I wasn't going to say anything, but since you're obviously not over James—"

"There's nothing to get over."

"Right. Anyway. Since you're obviously not over…'nothing'…I may have something to cheer you up."

Lily made to stab a pea, but it shot off of her plate and hit the jug of pumpkin juice. "Really."

"Yes, really," Charlotte sounded offended. "Lily, I've been doing some of my best work here, for Merlin's sake."

The echoing sound of chatter in the great hall was deafening.

"Come with me to the courtyard and I'll tell you all about it," Charlotte grinned, eyes gleaming with mischief.

Lily sighed and dropped her napkin on her plate. Within seconds, it was cleared away, and a fresh one replaced it. Lily stood and followed Charlotte drearily out of the cafeteria, making it a point to ignore James' obvious stare as she passed right by his table.

Relieved to be out of his sight, she leaned exhaustedly against the double doors as they slammed shut behind her.

"What's the matter with you, anyhow?" Charlotte glared, dragging Lily off by the arm. "You look ridiculously tired."

Unfortunately, ignoring James Potter was turning out to be quite draining, but she wasn't about to tell that to Charlotte. "Just not much sleep."

"Ah, the raging hormones will do that to you."

"What?" Lily frowned, blushing as a Slytherin boy passed by and gave her a once over before sneering. She folded her arms tighter across her chest and focused on Charlotte as they walked.

"You must be pregnant."

Lily gaped, a hearty red flush spreading from her head to toe. "I'm not pregnant!" she hissed.

"Well it would certainly explain your mood swings as of late. It's James' isn't it?" Charlotte shook her head.

"NO!" Lily bellowed, attracting the attention of a few passersby as they exited the castle and wandered into the courtyard. She frowned and lowered her voice. "That's not possible. I—I'm still—"

"A virgin?" Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Of course you are. Now, do you want to hear the news or not?"

Lily crossed her arms, pouting slightly. "Fine."

Charlotte suddenly lowered her voice, peering over her shoulder covertly. "Alright. Well…I've actually been keeping this for some time and I even used it last week to get my shoes back from Helen—"

"That's great! That's 3,000 Galleons knocked off the debt," Lily smiled.

"Well…I was going to wear them out just one more time before I say goodbye—But anyway, what I wanted to tell you is," she leaned in, her eyes gleaming beneath the shade of her thick lashes, "I heard a rumor that Edith has been cheating on James."

"What?" Lily blanched. "R-really?"

"Yes," she smiled deviously, "and that's not all—" she whipped something out of her pocket. "—this is where it gets good. Let me just tell you, Lily, that getting me that job in Hogsmeade is the best move you could have possible made for yourself."

"What do you mean?" Lily eyed her nervously.

With a flourish and a distinct look of pride, Charlotte unfolded what appeared to be a photograph.

"What's this?" Lily took it.

"This is Edith and Sirius Black, having…er…shall we say, a little party behind the dumpsters at Alexandria's."

Lily's jaw dropped as she scrambled to look at the photo. Her astonishment steadily faded to confusion. "Er…Charlotte…it's a bit dark, isn't it?"

"Well, yes—"

"And grainy—"

"Of course, it was nighttime—"

"And I can't really tell if it's actually them."

Charlotte snatched the photo back. "Well it needs a bit of work. But when I'm finished with it, it'll be clear as day, I promise."

Lily sighed. "Charlotte, are you sure it's them?"

"Lily, it was dark, but I swear it on my blue Martina Marigold heels." Her eyes were earnest.

Lily bit her lip. Her thoughts carried her back to the conversation she'd had with Remus when he told her he'd caught the two of them talking cryptically in an empty classroom. "Well…is this a good thing?"

"Of course it is!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Now you can finally prove that Edith is a cheating ninny and James will be all yours!"

Swallowing hard, Lily folded her arms. "But…it's Sirius."

"So?"

"So! It's Sirius! After all he's done for me, I can't just…throw him under the bus!"

"Lily," Charlotte frowned. "Let's be reasonable here. This is the proof you've been waiting for! You can't finally get back at Edith."

Lily sighed. "I know…It's just…" She flopped down wearily on a bench.

Charlotte sat daintily beside her. "I think that there is more at stake here than Sirius Black. He's already been labeled as a black sheep. We're talking about hundreds of jobs…And don't forget Madeline and her father."

She was right, Lily knew. But still... "Then what do you propose? A photo isn't really going to prove anything, is it?"

"No," Charlotte smirked, "That was just to show you. All that you need to break the contract is a witness—a la me!" She waved a hand indicatively over herself and winked. "I just testify and voilà—James is all yours."

Lily's stomach did a somersault. Was she really going to do this? She knew she could muster the courage to unmask Edith as a cruel liar, but was she prepared to hurt Sirius in the process?

Charlotte sighed and reclined on the bench. "Sometimes my own brilliance frightens me."

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