Alice was not the only person in the room who reacted to Lily's shocking revelation by dropping her jaw. Lily stared boldly back at them. If she was feeling the slightest bit anxious under their penetrating looks, she was hiding it very well. The shroud of insecurity that had governed her demeanour earlier had disappeared.

Alice herself felt how her pulse was picking up speed as the puzzle inside her mind suddenly became complete. For one wild moment, Lily's knowing gaze met hers, and from then on there wasn't a wisp of doubt in Alice's mind that Lily was telling the truth.

After what felt like a small eternity of suspense, the silence finally ended when everyone in the room besides Lily started talking at the same time.

"You can't be serious."

"You're Cassandra Queen?"

"How could you be a Seer? You've never had visions before!"

"She's lying. She's just trying to trick us."

"Silence, please!" Dumbledore shouted and raised his hand. He then addressed Lily in a much softer voice. "Lily, is this true?"

"Yes," she said, "It's been me the whole time."

She took a brief break, giving the others the opportunity to ask her more questions, but a stunned silence had filled the room yet again, and so she began her peculiar tale.

"For all of you who were claiming that I haven't displayed any precognitive tendencies before – you're absolutely right. Up until last year, I knew nothing about the future. I didn't take Divination at Hogwarts, and I'd never seen any kind of prophetic signs in all of my life. However, about a year and a half ago, something strange happened to me. I began to see these... dreams."

She paused and gazed at her audience, perhaps to see whether they were taking her seriously. From what Alice could tell, about a half of them did, while the other half stared at her with utmost disbelief. Nevertheless, Lily continued.

"I don't know what happened, or why it happened, but all of a sudden I saw these visions of the future. Of a future, actually – a future that could have been ours if it hadn't been for me. I saw the world years from now on, and learned everything that had shaped it into what it was. The dreams were so vivid that they felt almost real, like I'd lived it all myself. After a while, I realized that they were becoming reality, and that's how I knew that I really was having prophetic visions."

Alice took another look at her friends. Those who had been awe-struck before looked now even more amazed; those who had obviously doubted her looked even less convinced than before.

"In my dreams, the world had become a frightening place where many of our friends had been killed, and You-Know-Who was still out there, trying to seize power. The war was still raging, and our children had to grow up in constant fear. At first I was scared by what I saw because I thought that there was nothing I could have done to prevent all those terrible things. I thought that the future was already written, and that my attempts to change it would be futile. Eventually, I did discover that I could make a difference after all. That's how Cassandra Queen came to be. I needed to warn people about upcoming tragedies, but I didn't want my true identity revealed, so I used a false name."

"So that's it? You just suddenly gained the ability to tell the future for absolutely no reason?"

It was Dorcas Meadowes who decided to act as the voice of scepticism this time. Her low, calm voice dictated the thoughts that were clearly running in the minds of many of her friends, judging on the equally unimpressed faces of James, Moody, and the Prewett brothers.

"Actually, it is not at all uncommon for a witch to have a dormant gift of foresight that activates when she reaches maturity", Emmeline Vance suggested, "The great Manto of Thebes did not gain her power of clairvoyance until she became of age. The Sight is the most fickle out of all magical gifts."

"That's very interesting, but the question is not whether it's possible, but whether it's believable. Her story sounds too convenient to be true," Dorcas replied.

"Evans lies about everything," added James.

Alice had to frown at this, but then she reminded herself not to be too hard on James. He was a young man with a broken heart, and certainly not the type to keep his emotions to himself. He couldn't be expected to behave himself.

"Why would I lie?" asked Lily. She looked sharply at James, who instantly turned his face away from her, "What could I possibly gain out of coming back here just to spew out lies? I knew how I'd be received before I even came here, so if it had been in my interest to tell a lie, I would have prepared a better one. This is just the way it is."

"Maybe she's a spy!" Fabian Prewett yelled. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I'm the newest member of the Mudblood Death Eater squad. We fight for our own oppression."

"Very funny, but that's doesn't mean you can't be lying," Fabian insisted, "How can you even prove that you really are Cassandra Queen?"

Lily's eyes drifted to Edgar Bones.

"Mr. Bones, I understand that you've one of the people who has received a personal letter from Cassandra Queen."

Edgar, who had remained silent for most part of the evening, suddenly became the centre of attention. It wasn't until now that Alice noticed that he had fallen pale – probably as pale as Alice herself.

"That is correct," he admitted, glancing apologetically at the very surprised Dumbledore, "She – she warned me not to take the family to our summer house last August. She claimed that something terrible would happen to all of us if I did, and that I should watch my back in the future because You-Know-Who wanted the make an example out of us. At first I thought it was a joke, but then Cassandra Queen started to be all over the news, and I decided to follow her advice."

"Edgar... why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you," said Dumbledore. He sounded almost offended.

"I know Albus, and I'm sorry. Cassandra Queen told me not to trust anyone, so I kept the letter to myself. I only told my wife about it."

There was a strange look on Dumbledore's face when he turned back to Lily. "You were right to warn him, but I must repeat my question. Why didn't you tell me about this? I could have helped you make the best use of your gift."

Lily's cold, cold eyes flickered when she looked at Dumbledore.

"I'm not sure," she replied, "I suppose I was afraid that someone might abuse this information if it fell into the wrong hands."

"Did you predict Sirius's death?" asked James. An uncomfortable silence followed his query.

"No," said Lily. This time it was she who avoided his eyes, "It wasn't a part of my vision."

"So, are we to believe that you suffer from a case of selective precognition?" Dorcas Meadowes sneered.

"No. It's just that the future had already changed when it happened. The Ministry attack never went that far in the future that I foresaw. It seems like my clairvoyance was only temporary. I haven't had any new visions for over a year now, so I suppose whatever prophetic ability I possessed is either gone or inactive."

"How is that even..."

"Are you really suggesting that..."

"We can get to the specifics of your visions later," said Dumbledore, cutting Dorcas Meadowes and Fabian Prewett off before they could finish their questions, "Perhaps the wisest thing to do now is to end this meeting. You all must be very tired. Let's continue this discussion once Lily and I have talked this thing through. In the meanwhile, I take that we can all agree that Lily is welcome to rejoin the Order of the Phoenix?"

Looking at her fellow Order members, Alice could definitely tell that the decision was definitely not mutual. At least Dorcas Meadowes, Alastor Moody, and the Prewett brothers were still all looking highly sceptical. However, knowing the weight of Dumbledore's opinion in situations like these, Alice knew that Lily would be taken back no matter what.

The meeting was soon wrapped up, and the guests began to clear off. Alice took her time fastening her coat and putting on her scarf. She wanted to talk to Lily before she left, but she wanted to talk to her alone. Fortunately, Lily seemed to have the same idea in mind.

"Could you show me where the bathroom is?" she asked and grabbed Alice by the arm, "I've never been here before."

Alice nodded and lead her upstairs. She noticed Dumbledore following them with his eyes until they got out of his field of vision.

Once they reached the bathroom, Alice pushed Lily inside and locked the door behind them.

"So it was you," Alice began.

"Yes," Lily replied.

Alice didn't know what else to say. She felt hot tears appearing in the corners of her eyes as many months worth of suppressed fear finally began to surface.

"Is everything fine with Neville?" asked Lily.

"Yes," Alice replied, "He is alive and well."

Alice sighed, feeling like a deflating balloon. When she had first received a word of warning from someone called Cassandra Queen, she hadn't known what to do. The letter had stated that Lord Voldemort would be targeting her entire family because their unborn son was destined to vanquish the Dark Lord – or so he was to believe, because Neville's date of birth indicated that a certain prophecy referred to the son of Alice and Frank Longbottom.

At first, she had thought that it had to be some kind of a sick joke, but soon Cassandra Queen's prophecies were all over the papers, and Alice had chosen to heed her warning.

"But you have taken care of it?" Lily persisted, "Have you hidden Neville somewhere safe, like I suggested?"

"Better. We lied about his birthday," Alice said breathlessly. It felt oddly relieving. She had been guarding this secret for months, and somehow it felt good to be able to finally tell someone about it.

"He was actually born in late July, and not in early September like we told everyone else. Frank and I went to stay at his mother's house when I was due. Everything went well, and Neville came to this world in the turn of the month, just as you had predicted. We waited for a whole month until we announced that Neville had been born. His official birthday is in early September. If You-Know-Who is looking for a child who was born between July and August, he will not come after Neville. We don't have to hide him. As of now, Frank and I, Frank's mother, and you are the only ones who know the truth."

Lily's eyes widened.

"Alice... That's brilliant!" she said, pulling Alice into her arms in a whirl of emotion, "That's so much more clever than what I had in mind!"

Alice hugged her back, feeling very much relieved, even though she knew that the danger was not exactly over as long as the war was still on. Lily sighed and lingered in the embrace as though it had been a lifetime since anyone had held her. This made Alice feel somewhat awkward, for the two had never been close friends, but she allowed Lily to stay where she was as long as she wanted.

She couldn't help but feel sad that a person as young and inexperienced as Lily had been forced to carry such a responsibility. Alice didn't know her very well, but she had gathered that Lily was a very bright, and very brave. Still, she was carrying a heavy burden, and Alice for one could not hold it against her that she had taken some time out of the war after discovering her gift.

"Can you tell me what exactly it was that you saw in our future?" she asked tentatively. She wasn't sure whether she even wanted to know, but her curiosity got the better of her.

Lily pulled away from her, and gave her a distraught look.

"Your son being hunted by the Death Eaters because of the prophecy. Your entire family being attacked a few months after his first birthday. Him growing up... parentless."

A shudder went through Alice's body.

"And now that the prophecy can no longer be applied to him, we're all safe?"

Lily shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I just don't know. I've tangled this particular thread in time for good, and what I saw no longer reflects what's going to happen to your family. Hopefully, you'll all come out of this safe and unharmed, but anything can happen. Just remember to keep Neville's real birthday a secret. Never tell anyone the truth. Not even people you think you can trust. Not even Dumbledore."

There's was something unpleasant in her voice when she pronounced Dumbledore's name. Alice wanted to know more about it, but she decided to settle for her advice.

"I won't," she said, nodding firmly.

"Good luck, then. To all of you."

"Do you believe in it? In the prophecy?" Alice asked quickly just when Lily was about to leave, "Is Neville really destined to bring down You-Know-Who?"

Lily paused, and seemed to think long and hard before replying, "I don't think anyone's destined to do anything. If I've learned something in the past year, it's that anything can change. Anything, and anyone. But who knows? Maybe he will defeat Voldemort after all. Time will tell."

The confusing meeting had left Alastor Moody certain of only one thing: that Lily Evans was a liar. He did not require the aid of his numerous lie detectors to tell that she had not said an honest word during the whole evening.

After thirty years of experience as an Auror, Moody believed he had developed the ability smell dishonesty from a distance. Evans positively reeked of it. Even if story hadn't been stupidly convenient and full of holes, anyone with half a brain could have told that she wasn't being entirely sincere. Her mannerisms, the tone of her voice, the look on her face... everything about her made her seem untrustworthy.

And her appearance? She looked like a little girl playing dress-up with her mother's clothes. One could tell a lot about a person by the way that they dressed, and Evans's attire belonged to a person who was desperately wanted to be taken seriously.

Moody could see right through her. She was a pretender. He couldn't believe that Dumbledore was buying the dragon dung she was trying to feed them.

She wasn't under Imperius, that was for sure. He had silently tried all the curse-revealing spells he knew on her while the others had bombed her with questions, and nothing had come out. That still didn't rule out the possibility that she was working for Voldemort. Maybe Evans did have a motive for turning to the Death Eaters. People did all kinds of stupid things out of fear and greed.

Either way, Moody was willing to play along and pretend to believe her flimsy excuses as long as it took for him to discover why she was lying, and how did she know all the things she knew. He did not buy the ridiculous Seer story for a second, but she obviously had some access to knowledge regarding the future. He also wanted to learned what she expected to gain out of all this. Once he found about what she was after, the truth would be revealed.

He was waiting for her when she came down the stairs. Patience wasn't a virtue of his, but he was trying hard to exercise it when he greeted her with a grumpy nod instead of straight up throttling her for answers.

"Hey," she said, "Thank you for not slamming the door at my face."

"Can't say that it didn't cross my mind."

She gave him a stiff smile, and sat down on the lowest step.

"I need to ask you something, even though I know you don't trust me," she said.

"You got that right."

"I don't blame you," she said, and he expected her to follow it with another apology, but instead she just left it at that.

"What do you want, Evans?"

She sat up straight and met his eyes.

"You taught James and Sirius to duel last year, didn't you? I want you to teach me as well. Curses and defenses and such have never been something I excel in, and I'm afraid I can't hold my own when it comes to battle. I've been practising on my own, but I'd do much better with a tutor."

Moody weighed her words. Teaching the younger generation to defend themselves was precisely what the Order was for, but he had no desire to help her before he knew what she was up to.

"Why do you want learn to fight? he asked, having no patience left for anything other than a straighforward question.

There was a mystery in her eyes, one he could not even begin to unravel just by looking at her.

"I keep drowning myself in trouble. I might as well learn how to swim," she said.

Her reply made him grin involuntarily. Even now, the Evans girl seemed to find her way under his skin, and he felt an unexplainable urge to trust her.

Moody had liked Evans, once upon a time. She hadn't been the most powerful or the most talented member of the Order, but there had been something about her – some peculiar spark that had given him the gut feeling that he was in the presence of a young woman who was destined to become something special. She was clever, unyielding, and persistent – a combination of essential assets that reminded him of the best Aurors he had known in his life. But then she had gone and left the Order like a coward and he had been forced her out of his mind, thinking that he had been wrong about her.

And now she was back with the most absurd story he had ever heard, and yet a part of him was inclined to believe her. His instincts were telling him to both trust her and to doubt her, and he did not know how to rank the mixed messages.

"Evans," he said sternly, "I need to know exactly what kind of a game you are playing here."

He stared straight into her striking green eyes, still unable to solve the riddle the look in her eyes presented.

"It's not a game," she said, "It's a gamble."

Whatever she meant to say after that was forever lost, for Dumbledore had entered the room and she immediately shut her mouth. Moody noted how dark and murky her eyes turned when she looked at the old wizard, and added it to the long list of puzzling things he intended to look into later.

"There you are, Lily," said Dumbledore, "I was beginning to fear that you'd left before we got a chance to talk."

Moody took this as a cue to leave, but he didn't go far. He climbed up the stairs and out of Dumbledore's sight, but lingered within earshot of the two.

"What is it, Professor?" he heard Lily asking.

"These visions of yours. You should visit me tomorrow over supper and tell me everything you know about the future. It's best if we keep the details to ourselves. The rest of the Order shouldn't know more than they have to. A thoughtless person could do much damage with such knowledge."

"I agree," she replied, "No-one should hold this much power in their hands. It's bad enough that I do. That is why I'm keeping the full extent of my knowledge about the future to myself. I'm afraid I can't join you tomorrow for supper."

A heavy silence followed this revelation.

"I'm sorry, Lily, but I'm not sure I understand you."

"I have a duty to prevent the tragedies I've foreseen, but I also need to make sure that none of this information falls into the wrong hands. That means that I can't let anyone know the things I know until it's absolutely necessary. Not even you."

Moody raised his eyebrows, and could only assume that Dumbledore was doing the same thing.

"This isn't the way the Order of the Phoenix works," said Dumbledore, sounding uncharacteristically humourless, "If you wish to rejoin the Order, you must honour my leadership. I can't help you unless you tell me everything."

"If you want to work with me, you'll need to agree to my terms," Evans replied coolly, "I want to have a say in what is done with the information I provide. I will only tell you what you need to know, and only when you need to know it. I will not answer questions I don't want to answer. If I can't trust you to respect these wishes, I'm afraid I have to turn to someone else."

Dumbledore said nothing to this. Moody could hear Evans grabbing her coat and putting it on, and then Dumbledore spoke again.

"I shall consider this. I wish you'd trust me enough to tell me everything, but I understand that you want to be careful. Knowledge is power."

"No," said Evans, "It's solitude."

Once he had heard the door being opened and shut, Moody came down the stairs. Dumbledore was standing right where he had left him, and his cold, steely gaze was burning a hole in the door through which Evans had just departed.

"Were you listening to that?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Miss Evans has surprised me many times this evening. Who would have thought that a simple girl like her would grow up to be such a clever young woman? I'm going to have to take my time with this one."

Moody glanced at his old friend, and a nasty feeling pinched his insides. Dumbledore had been a friend and an ally of his for decades, but there had always been something about the way he treated people that left Moody feeling dirty.

Now he could not help but wonder whether the disdain in Evans's eyes had something to do with what she knew about things that were to come.

"Do you believe anything she says?" asked Moody.

"I believe some of it, but she's clearly hiding something. And she's lying, too. The question is why?" Dumbledore replied, stroking his beard pensively, "Let's humour her, for now. When she gets comfortable, it'll be easier to crack her open."

Moody's stomach lurched.

It was a cold night, but James didn't care if he froze. Lily had to leave the house sooner or later, and James would be outside waiting for her when she did. There was no way she was going to avoid him now.

He wasn't quite sure what he wanted from her. He didn't even know how he felt about her. Whatever it was, it was dark and strong – so strong that he found it difficult to stay put – and that he could not have a moment of peace if he couldn't unleash it. The least she could do was to look at him and witness what she had done to him.

Whatever he ended up saying to her, she had it coming. She couldn't keep pretending like the past wasn't real – like she hadn't loved him, lived with him, and almost married him before leaving him without a proper explanation. This Seer thing sounded like another lie, something she just said to divert them all from discovering the truth. James was fed up with being kept in the dark. He wanted answers.

When he finally saw her stepping outside, he came at her from the shadows and blocked her way, forcing her to face his raw anger. There was a flash of fear in her eyes when she first looked up at him, but it was soon replaced by the same arrogant look she had had all evening.

"I thought you already left," she said.

"You wish."

"Something you want to say to me?"

He hesitated, but didn't let any of his doubts show. What did he want to say to her? That he was angry with her. That he had missed her. That he hadn't felt right in months. That he had trusted her, and that she had betrayed him, and that he felt like she had torn out his insides and left him to bleed, and that he felt lost without her...

"Just wanted to let you know that I don't believe a word you're saying," he said instead.

"I gathered as much."

"I think you're a liar. I know you are"

"I don't care what you think."

She was walking away now, but James caught up with her. She wasn't getting away so easily.

"Do you really think that you can just come back here, like you never left? And some fortune-teller you are. You couldn't even save Sirius. I bet you let him die on purpose."

She stopped and turned around on her heels. Her green eyes were full of rage.

"Don't you think I would have saved him if I could have?" she hissed, "He was one of my best friends, and I would give anything to get him back. Fuck you for even thinking that I wanted him dead. And while we're there, fuck you for what you did to Severus."

He blinked. It took him a while to realize what she was referring to, and he still failed to see how the incident related to their argument.

"Snivellus? What does he have to do with any of this?"

"You attacked him, and you made him lose his job. He could have died if you had gotten your way. So don't talk to me like you're the hero of this story."

James rolled his eyes.

"Why do you care? He's a Death Eater. You haven't even talked to him since, what? Sixth year? I thought you were sane enough to see him for what he really is."

"I am," she said very seriously, "He's the best friend I've ever had, and a better man than you'll ever be."

James could not believe what he was hearing. This wasn't how he had pictured this confrontation. She had crushed him, and yet she wasn't even remotely sorry about it. Was she completely heartless? And now she was defending Snape, like getting back at a Death Eater was the greatest sin between the two of them. What reality did she even live in?

Deep down, James recognized that he had been a bit of an ass when he had been younger, but nothing he had ever done was half as bad as the things Snape did in the dark. Snape was evil, and anyone who thought otherwise had to be either blind, stupid, or just as evil as him.

"If you think Snape is innocent, you've lost your mind. But that doesn't really surprise me. Turns out you're all sorts of things I never realized you were."

"That's true. You know very little about me, and even less about Severus," she said.

He wanted to probe her mind a little bit more, just to get a better of sense of what was making her act so crazy, but she ended their conversation before he got another chance to talk. "I really don't have time for this, James," she said, "I don't have time for you and your childishness, and I never want to find out that you've been tormenting Severus again. Don't turn me into your enemy."

"I didn't start this. And I never said anything about becoming enemies," James replied, "If it had been up to me, we would have gotten married."

Her eyes pierced him like arrows.

"Yeah. But I said no."

With that, she was gone, and James was left alone in the street, too stunned by the depth of her cruelty to say another word.

When he finally came back to his senses, he did what he always did when he was angry. He pulled out his wand, and destroyed a trash can with a ball of fire.