A/N: Seventh year has proven a bit harder to write than the other years, because there's no solid timeline of events at Hogwarts, considering the trio wasn't there during seventh year. Consequently, this chapter is sort of a collection of summaries and anecdotes that work to convey how things were going at school while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were away.

Severus Snape's Regime

7th Year

Life at Hogwarts was certainly different now that Severus Snape was headmaster. Two new professors had joined the staff, for one. They were a brother-sister team, the Carrows. Alecto taught Muggle Studies, which was now a required course for all students, and Amycus taught Defense Against the Dark Arts (although he really just taught the Dark Arts bit). Detentions with the Carrows were said to be torturous, though Lily noticed it was mostly Gryffindors and a few other particularly bold students that were being punished, because they were the only ones brave enough to speak out against the new regime. Lily had been doing her best to lay low and stay out of trouble, regardless of the horrible things the Carrows were forcing them to learn. All the same, Lily was no Gryffindor, and she could keep her mouth shut if it meant keeping herself from being physically punished.

Also, the school was suddenly greatly lacking for Muggle-borns. Lisa Turpin, one of Lily's roommates, had not come back at the start of term, and her absence was a constant reminder of how different things had become. Lily often found herself missing Dumbledore, Xander, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, Roger, Corwin, even Nikolai, Cedric, and Sirius quite a lot. And even though she was still surrounded by several good friends, she felt quite lonely. It was strange being a seventh year, especially with so many people missing from her daily life. It was strange how much things had changed since her first day at Hogwarts.

Still, a lot of things were like they'd always been. Hogwarts still felt safe, even if the enemy had seemingly penetrated its walls. Ravenclaw was still home; Lily and James still stayed up late on the weekends playing Gobstones and chess, with Indigo near by drawing or reading, and always willing to play the winner. They even still had Hogsmeade weekends, and Quidditch was still being played.

In fact, by the end of September, through the joint efforts of Lily, Flynn, and Mason, the Ravenclaw Quidditch team had reformed nicely. Two fifth year boys, Samuel Lacewood and Maurice Mulready, were the new Chasers. Stephen Cornfoot, a sixth year, had stepped in to play Beater alongside Mason, and little Stewart Ackerly was the new Seeker.

They were practicing one night when Mason accidentally launched a Bludger towards Lily. It promptly collided, with a sickening crunch, into her right leg.

She screamed out in pain, swore, and then yelled "MASON!" with such force that it echoed through the stadium.

He flew over to her. "Sorry, Lily," he said, grimacing with concern.

"Every – single – year – Edgar!" Tears were streaming down her face now in a mix of fury and pain.

Lily felt as though she was constantly being pelted with Bludgers; more so than the average Quidditch player. In second year she had her knee dislocated by Slytherin's Beater. During a third year practice Lily had been staring towards the castle longingly, anticipating dinner, when Rohan's Bludger hit her square in the back of the head. She was knocked out for four days. Lily took a Bludger to the wrist in fifth year and another to the ankle sixth year; both Mason's doing. And now, here she was again, with her leg dangling limply and painfully over the side of her broom.

Mason apologized again and made sure that Lily made it to the ground safely. Flynn joined them there.

"Call practice," Lily said, balancing awkwardly on one leg, using Mason for support. Her leg was throbbing terribly.

"We're done for the night!" Flynn shouted to the rest of the team, who had gathered nervously around their captain. Then, more quietly to Lily he said, "You need hospital wing. Come on."

"Hold on," Lily said, taking out her wand and aiming it at her own ankle. "Ferula." A splint materialized around her leg.

"Goodness, Lily Carling, what have you done this time?" Madam Pomfrey asked as Lily hobbled into the infirmary with Flynn and Mason.

"Bludger to the leg," she said, sitting down on one of the beds. "Again," she added, glaring at Mason.

"Of course," Madam Pomfrey said, putting a pillow under Lily's leg and removing the splint. "Well, you know the routine. I want you here for the night."

Lily rolled her eyes, groaned, and laid down.

"Ready?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Yes," Lily said, bracing herself.

Madam Pomfrey took out her wand, tapped Lily's leg gently and muttered a complicated string of incantations. Lily winced as she felt her bones fusing back together beneath her skin.

"There," Madam Pomfrey said, moving Lily's leg in all directions to check her work. Then she rummaged in the bedside cupboard and pulled out a large vial of potion. She conjured a cup and filled it with bright blue liquid. "Now, drink this."

Lily did and all pain left her leg.

"I'm really, really sorry," Mason said yet again. Lily knew he meant it.

"It's fine," she replied. "But really, Mason, you've got to stop doing that."

By December Hogwarts almost seemed normal again. But perhaps that was because Lily had become accustomed to the Carrows' methods. She had yet to receive a detention, and she was sure that was only because of her Blood Status. She made sure that the Carrows were well aware of her relation to the Lestranges early on, and Lily was positive that this had played a major role in keeping her from harm. (She also made sure, though, that Neville, Ginny, and Luna knew she was still on the D.A.'s side, even if she wasn't brave enough to outwardly rebel.) However, Dark Arts students were now required to perform the Cruciatus Curse on those that had received detentions; Amycus thought it to be "good practice". But Lily had found a way around this, too.

The Carrows would take those to be punished and line them up against the wall, and then they'd place those that were going to cast the spell across from them. Lily always made a point of standing near Crabbe or Goyle, or anyone else that would say their incantation loudly, to distract from the fact that she wasn't saying any incantation at all. Then, instead of Crucioing her classmate, she would cast a nonverbal Tickling Charm. Rictusempra usually caused people to double over and writhe around on the ground, so the visual effect was nearly the same. She could only hope that the person she was cursing had enough sense to scream out in mock pain instead of laughing uncontrollably while the spell was working. The Carrows weren't bright enough to realize what she was doing, anyway, so her apparent skill at torturing students put her into even better favour with them.

Carrow classes aside, Lily liked her lessons, even though the seventh years were drowning in N.E.W.T work. Potions was easily her favourite class. She'd enjoyed Potions even when Snape had taught it, but since Slughorn became the Potions Professor, Lily's brewing skills had really taken off. Slughorn had been fond of Lydia, and in turn he was fond of Lily as well. He hadn't been aware of her parentage until the beginning of that year, however.

"Carling-Lestrange…" he had said one day during class in their sixth year. "Who is your father, Lily? Not Sawyer Carling, surely?"

"Yes, that's him," Lily said, smiling.

"Ah, yes, one of my students. He was a rabble-rouser, to be sure! Clever, yes, but he rarely applied that knowledge to his schoolwork. And Lestrange, you said? Then your mother must be Briar Lestrange?"

"No, she's my aunt."

"Ah, I always liked her. A Slytherin through and through. What is she up to these days?"

"She works at the Magizoology Institute in Salem."

"Of course! No surprise at all, she was always ambitious, your aunt. So your mother, then?"

"Lydia Lestrange."

"Ah, Lydia!" Slughorn said, his eyes lighting up. "I never could understand why Lydia wasn't in my house. A charming young lady. Very bright. Yes, yes, I see a lot of Lydia in you, Lily. You would've made a good Slytherin too, you know."

"Thank you, Professor," she said, smiling across the aisle at Draco. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "The Sorting Hat thought the same."

It was true, Hogwarts was different under its new leader. Still, the D.A.'s actions against the system gave everyone hope. Lily liked to sneak up to Gryffindor Tower when she could (though she never stayed out passed curfew) and listen to Potterwatch with Neville, Seamus, Ginny and the other interested Gryffindors. With news updates from the radio show and a quiet revolt being carried out by Dumbledore's Army, Lily was able to keep her spirits up. And, overall, she maintained that Umbridge had been a worse headmaster than Snape.

Michael Corner, however, didn't see things that way.

"How can you possibly trust him?" he asked her.

"I don't know," Lily said. "…something is off. He's not like the Carrows, not really. I mean, remember a few weeks ago when Luna and them were trying to steal that sword out of Snape's office?"

"Yeah," Michael said. "He caught them. And punished them."

"By sending them into the Forest with Hagrid!"

"…so?"

"He could've done them so much more harm. They broke into his office, for goodness sake! He could've sent them to Filch…or the Carrows! But no, he handed them over to Hagrid, who they all trust."

"I don't care," Michael retorted. "I still think he's pure evil."

"Oh, Michael! He's not pure evil. Personally, I just think his life didn't quite turn out they way he'd meant it to, and now he's bitter about it. I feel a bit sorry for him, to be honest. He's not evil."

"He lets teachers cast Unforgivable Curses on first years."

"I don't know, though. Dumbledore always trusted him –"

"- which was obviously a mistake –"

"No, it wasn't! It's all very curious, don't you think?"

Michael sighed.

"Either way, he's not as bad as Umbridge," Lily said.

"Umbridge never Crucioed students!"

"You don't know that. And besides, she still made them write lines in their own blood."

"You're too trusting, sometimes, Lily. That's going to get you into trouble someday."

"Well it's keeping me out of trouble at the moment!" she argued. "Maybe you're not trusting enough!"

"Let's just drop it," Michael said, exasperated. "I can tell we're not going to agree."

"Fine," Lily said. "Neither of us are thinking very clearly right now, anyway, what with this ridiculous Dark Arts essay we're supposed to be working on. 'Practical applications of the Imperius Curse'…honestly."

"Oh, just make something up," Michael said. "That's what I've been doing."

"That's what we've all been doing, I'm sure," Lily said. "This class is completely pointless."

"And it doesn't help that Carrow is hardly qualified to be a professor," Michael said. "He's hardly qualified to read, let alone teach."

The Carrows were something that Michael and Lily could agree on. They spent a good ten minutes bashing them, and both felt considerably more cheerful once they were done. They worked on their Dark Arts papers together, and had a good time using as many obscure words as they could, in the hopes of confusing their professor.