Chapter 38

A/N: Welcome to this chapter! The holidays are at an end once more and our characters are returning to school.

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise.

Enjoy :)

It was Second Breakfast and as I sipped my water I found my gaze drifting to James. He was sat a few seats down from me eating his cereal whilst listening to Sirius, who was gesturing widely, with interest. His forehead creased in a slight frown as Sirius' speech came to an end and leaned forward to mutter something to him. I often wondered what the boys were talking about but having known them since first year I knew better than to ask them about it. There's was no denying however, that at times they were a complete mystery to me. Their nicknames for starters made no sense to me, except Mooney, and another even bigger mystery was how James, Sirius and Peter managed to be around Remus during the full moon. Of course, with the Wolfsbane potion that was incredibly easy but before that…

In the book I had read from the Founder's Library written by a German Wizard trying to help his brother who was a werewolf I had found several suggestions but none of which I could imagine the boys doing. One idea I had come across was a song that when sung to a werewolf in wolf form they would do whatever you told it to.

Mooney…was Remus' nickname because he was a werewolf.
Prongs…that was because…because James liked forks. Obviously. And that's how he flew so quickly during Quidditch matches. Someone poked him in the bum with fork prongs just before he kicked off the ground and that was he got the speed instantly. Made total sense.
Wormtail…Did Peter have a wart or something on him that looked like a tail. And the others nicknamed him for it. That was horrible! I'd have to ask him about that. I could probably fix it for him if he still had it.
And Padfoot…What that fuck did that mean? Was Sirius secretly a masseuse? A smile slid on to my face. Well, James did like spa days.

James POV:

Mooney and Wormtail sat down by Pads and I. Immediately, conversation turned extremely energetic but I found myself tuning out and moving my gaze down the table to see if I could see a certain red-head. My eyes found her quickly and my heart leapt a little when I noticed she was looking at me. Her gaze was a little out of focus in a way that only occurred in Lily's beautiful emerald eyes – a mixture of trying to make sense of a situation and being completely unaware of majority of her surroundings. I had a feeling she didn't realise I'd noticed her staring. As if to add to this an absentminded smile slid on to her features. I found a smile shifting onto my own face as I watched her. Suddenly, she became aware of me and her smile turned awkward as a pink tinge formed on her cheeks. My smile turned into a full-on smirk and her face flushed positively beetroot as she glowered at me. I laughed loudly and she folded her arms in irritation. Her face remained a stubborn scarlet.

'Prongsie,' Padfoot's voice began in a very sing-song tone. 'We all know you're in love with Lily but d'you think you can pay a bit more attention?' My smirk changed instantly to a sour look that could easily rival Lily's.

Back to Lily's POV:

I was absolutely mortified by the fact that James had caught me staring. I mean, I must have looked extremely creepy and by the look on the faces of the Girls, who were sitting around me, they had seen me do so. Luckily, Andrew came over holding a squirming Oliver alongside Kieran and Frank. This distraction enabled me to hurry off to my first lesson of the day before they could take the piss of me. It was only when I arrived outside the classroom and saw my teacher sitting behind their desk that I realised I had Defence Against the Dark Arts with him. I was alone with Thornton and there was still a few minutes before the bell to signal first period.

He looked up from whatever he had been preoccupied with before at the sound of my footsteps and a twisted smile slid on to his face.

'Miss Evans.' Thornton greeted. With a flick of his wand I was pushed forward into the classroom as the door slammed behind me. I heard a click as the door locked itself. My heart began pounding fearfully as I pulled my wand out from behind my ear and backed slowly against the wall.

'Stay away from me.' I spat trying to sound braver than I felt and pointed my wand at him.

'You want to be careful, Miss Evans. I am your teacher after all.' He moved a little forwards with his wand ready to attack.

'Teacher?' I laughed coldly as I grew a little in confidence. 'One step nearer and I'll tell Professor McGonagall what you did!'

'Perhaps we should play the Who Would You Believe game. You're a 16-year-old student who hangs around with some of the most infamous Hogwarts miscreants ever. Not to mention, every single attack victim so far has been discovered by you. It doesn't bode well and many members of staff are a little suspicious already.'

'Don't you for one second suggest that. Mary's one of my best mates!'

'Well, it would be my word against yours. I'm a well-respected member of staff and if I so much as suggested your involvement in the attacks you'd be out of here by the morning so perhaps you want to be careful.' My entire body shook, all confidence gone, as he moved so close to me we were almost nose to nose.

'Y-You…'

'So perhaps you want to be careful with what information you're threatening to share.' The bell rang and he stepped back as I lowered my wand. He opened the classroom door and I moved into my usual seat as the rest of the class slowly filed in.

That night I made my way from the library to the Defence classroom and hummed some Elton John as I walked. As I neared the classroom I braced myself. I would talk to Thornton and show him that I wasn't scared of him. I would show him that I was the one in control and I was the one who could get rid of him. He wouldn't bully me. I'd told my friends that I'd been struggling with my Defence homework and that my past essays had all been Ds so that I had a reason to go see him. It was then that I became aware of movement behind the classroom door. I strained my ears and heard a female's voice.

'Get off me!' She begged.

'Quiet!' Snapped an eerily familiar voice that made me jump in fear. Thornton. 'You want to do this remember? I'll get you kicked out of Hogwarts if you don't.' I fell back in shock and my legs landed in a really awkward position that caused me to bite the insides of my cheeks to prevent any noise escaping me. Gingerly, I shifted my positioning and accidently wacked my neck my neck on a suit of armour that stood on the wall. The clanging and crashing that resonated from the falling pieces of metal could have been enough to alert everyone for miles around. The classroom door opened and my heart began pounding fearfully. 'Miss Evans,' Thornton said adjusting his trousers.

'Professor.' I said coldly.

'You remember what I said earlier, I assume.' He sneered at me as I nodded getting to my feet. That fall would hurt in the morning. 'Well, then I'm sure you'll have no issue with me tutoring Miss Harper on Monday evenings.'

'Of course not,' I whispered. 'Professor.' I added as an afterthought.

'Very good, Miss Evans.' Thornton said with a twisted smile. 'We're learning to keep our mouths shut, aren't we?' I nodded and hurried off.

As I turned the corner of the corridor, I stopped and breathed in deeply. I had to do something to help that girl with Thornton but I couldn't. If I did tell anyone, Thornton would make sure I was expelled and the girl would probably be expelled as well. Shit.

The next morning, I hobbled into the bathroom with my legs screaming in protest. The cool water that gushed out of the tap was welcome on my face and once I'd washed it I changed into my uniform. Looking at myself in the mirror I noticed a hideous purple bruise on my neck. Tilting myself so I could see it better I pulled out my wand to heal it.

'This is one shit situation you're in Lily.' I said with a voice that sounded like I had a bad head cold. Shrugging on my black robes I headed out of the bathroom and made my way down to the Great Hall. I ate my breakfast in a position that didn't cause excruciating pain in my legs trying not to draw attention to myself. When he sat down at the staff table my body began to tremble and I suddenly didn't feel like eating any more. Gingerly, I got out of my seat and shuffled out of the Hall as quickly as I could. I was in such a rush to leave that I bumped into someone on my way out. My on-edge body sprung back about a foot and I had to clamp my hand over my mouth so I didn't let out a small scream. It was about a minute later that I realised it was James who had knocked into me.

'Whoops!' He said thumping me on the back. I forced a smile before continuing out of the Hall. As I left I felt James' eyes on the back of my head.

The rest of the day past quite peaceably with only a few winces from myself when seating myself or standing up. We had Transfiguration last and as we filed into our seats I noticed a pile of small hand mirrors on Professor McGonagall's desk. Evidently, we were doing human transfiguration today.

'Good afternoon class. As I'm sure some of you have guessed, today we will be beginning to embark on human transfiguration. This branch of magic is extremely difficult and should anyone mess around you will be out of this room before you can say transfiguration.' She looked over at the Marauders sternly and I chuckled to myself as I heard Sirius' indignant gasp. 'Today, we will simply be trying to turn our eyebrows different colours. The incantation is on page 234 in your textbooks. Please take note of the correct wand movements and should you have any queries do not hesitate to raise your hand.'

And with that the bubble of talk broke out over the class as everyone began the task in hand. I was sat next to Mary and the two of us sat in front of Marlene and Alice. Mary had started attending two lessons a day since Christmas but still spent the rest of her time looking after Oliver; when she was in classes a House Elf would look after Oliver. The both of us turned around to chat.

'Guess what.' Mary began and I groaned as I knew already we were entering into gossiping territory. 'Harriet Ross w-'

'What the fuck's that slag done now?' Marlene cut in a little too eagerly. 'Honestly, she doesn't seem to get the fact that Kieran isn't in to her any more. The amount fucking of times that whore still tries to tell me my relationship with Kieran won't last because he wants her back is ridiculous.'

'Careful my dear.' I said glancing in my mirror as I transfigured my eyebrows to a dark emerald green. 'That almost sounded bitter.'

'Oh you're so fucking funny!' Marlene snapped and glowered in my direction. I shrugged my shoulders as Mary gave a loud theatrical sigh.

'Can we go back to what I was saying? Please?'

'Here, here.' Alice agreed looking with anticipation at Mary as though the knowledge of the latest gossip was the greatest information that could ever be bestowed on her.

'Thank you, babes.' Mary beamed at Alice. 'As I was saying, Harriet Ross was found in a broom cupboard with Patrick Harris yesterday!' Mary, Alice and I all turned to look at Marlene.

'WHAT?' Marlene shouted so loudly that the rest of the class and Professor McGonagall to look over at the four of us.

'Miss Young! Please keep your voice to an appropriate volume!' Professor McGonagall reprimanded. James caught my eye and raised a blue coloured eyebrow in Marlene's direction. I smirked at the colour of his eyebrow but then stopped when I remembered my own eyebrows were green.

'Sorry, Professor.' The Girls and I chorused.

'So Marls…Not cross about the whole Ross/Harris thing are we?' I asked trying to hide my smile.

'I'm fine.' Marlene responded. Alice snorted quietly and Mary hid her face behind her mirror. 'I'm with Kieran now…Why should I care?'

'Alright Evans?' A voice asked smoothly from next to the four of us. We all looked up at James and Sirius standing before us.

'Back to surnames, Ja-Potter?' I asked confused.

'Can I just say you look absolutely ravishing today. Your eyebrows match the colour of your eyes quite exquisitely.'

'I'm afraid I can't say the same for your turquoise transfiguration.' I turned to Sirius. 'Did something happen to him?' He snorted as I indicated at a smirking James. Slowly I returned my gaze to the smug looking boy. 'What d'you want, James?'

'What do I want? Well the possibilities are endless but at this moment in time? I was wondering since when you were i-'

'MARY!' Marlene bellowed and jabbed her wand aggressively. The spell missed Mary and hit me instead. Instantly, my face began to swell.

'Miss Young!' Professor McGonagall cried.

'Fuck you, Mary! Fuck you!' She yelled and stormed out of the classroom. I stared in bewilderment after her and removed the swelling jinx before turning to Mary. 'What did you do?'

'Nothing!' I raised an eyebrow. 'Fine! I may have said she still liked Patrick and-' I held up my hand to halt her.

'Professor, may I go after her please?' I asked.

'Of course. But I would prefer the two of you to return to my classroom at break.' I thanked her and packed up my things. With a quick spell, I shut James' gawping mouth and hurried out after Marlene wondering where on earth she could have gone. My first guess was correct and I found her in the nearest set of girl's loos. Upon catching a sight of myself in one of the mirrors, I corrected my dark green eyebrows back to their original colour.

'Marls?' I asked softly into the room. I heard sobbing in the end cubicle and moved swiftly over to it before gently pushing it open. Marlene sat on the floor of the cubicle with her head buried in her knees crying her heart out. For someone usually so tough, it was strange how vulnerable she could look. 'You can tell me, Marls.' She continued to wail. 'It'll be alright…We'll work something out; we always do…'

'I'm a slag!' She spat.

'I'm sure that's not true.' I said soothingly sitting down next to her.

'Yes it is! I snogged Patrick! Last night!' Marlene blew her nose loudly on a tissue I conjured. I leaned my head against the wall of the cubicle and frowned at her.

'I don't understand…Why would you…'

'He was helping me look for you last night and then we were talking and all of a sudden he snogs me.'

'And did you snog him back?' Marlene remained silent. 'You did!' I closed my eyes. 'I swear, Marls, I don't get you sometimes. Just before Christmas you were freaking out about Kieran's reaction to you telling him you loved him and now you're snogging your ex. I don't get it. Was that why you were scared about Kieran's feelings for you? You weren't sure you meant what you said?'

'No… If anything last night proved that.'

'So snogging Patrick was a test? A test to see if you are actually in love with Kieran?' I looked at Marlene with despair as she leaned against the wall as well.

'No… It just happened…'

'Then you have to explain yourself because you can't keep doing this to Kieran! Or to yourself, for that matter.'

'I…I don't fucking know!' She ran an agitated hand through her hair. 'He just snogged me and I let him. I didn't feel a thing but I should've pushed him off.'

'And what happened after that?'

'Well, I kind of forgot I was looking for you and ran to Mary and Andrew's rooms as it was nearest and I told them. Andrew left to see if Ollie wanted anything but Mary stayed with me and laughed a bit. I guess it's quite a shit situation.'

'So the thing she said today was completely intentional to annoy you?' I asked already knowing the answer.

'Probably.'

'Well, don't be too hard on her. Mary's sense of humour's always been a bit different. Does Al know?'

'I don't think she does but Mary might tell her in explanation of my anger.' The two of us were silent staring at the opposite wall of the cubicle. There was a piece of graffiti on it of Professor Slughorn eating a slug. Not such a nice image. 'Kieran's going to hate me now.'

'You don't know that.' I said evenly.

'I fucking cheated on him. Anyone would hate me for that.' Marlene said incredulously. 'Everyone hates me for it and I-I hate me too…' She burst into a fresh flood of tears and I put my arm around her.

'I don't hate you.' I pointed out and squeezed her shoulder. Marlene continued to shake with sobs as I held her. 'Mary doesn't hate you. Andrew doesn't hate you and Al won't hate you when she finds out.'

'Y-y-yes but Kieran will!' She sobbed looking at me with swollen eyes. 'I l-love him a-a-and he's going to hate me if he f-f-f-finds out.'

'What d'you mean if? You have to tell him! If you don't tell him he'll find out eventually and it's best if he finds out from you.'

'I can't!' Marlene cried.

'Well, otherwise he'll find out from Patrick! D'you want him to find out that way? At least is he hears it from you you're being honest.'

'Patrick wouldn't tell.' Marlene wiped the tears from her face. 'He hooked up with Harriet Ross later that night anyway.'

'I'm guessing you didn't know that until Mary said so in Transfiguration.'

'No I didn't.' She answered crossly and glowered at the floor.

'Patrick will tell, Marls. He will. Tell Kieran yourself and everthing'll work out better than if he finds out from your ex-boyfriend.' I said firmly.

'I suppose you're right, Lily.' Marlene nodded slowly and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

'Why were you even with Patrick?' I asked curiously.

'I told you: he was helping me look for you.'

'Why were you looking for me?'

'Well, you went to the library at the same time as Quidditch training but when I got back from practice at 9 you weren't back. Al was already asleep so I went looking for you. I checked the library but you weren't there. I remembered you'd had an issue with the Defence homework so I checked our DADA classroom and it was empty so I checked Thornton's office. It was locked and when I knocked no one answered. I bumped into Patrick on my way back – he was heading to Thornton's office to hand in some work. I told him Thornton wasn't there when I'd been looking for you and then Patrick said he'd help.'

My heart began pounding a little faster. 9 pm. Half an hour previous to that I would have been walking past the DADA classroom. After rushing off, I'd been pacing in a secret passage trying to think of something to help the girl with Thornton. I'd had absolutely no ideas. If Marlene said that classroom was empty then they must have moved to his office.

'I was in the grounds.' I lied. 'By the lake.'

Marlene's POV:

It was then that I knew Lily was lying. Lily never admitted to her night-time wanderings and would deny any mention of them. The fact that she had said she was by the lake meant I immediately knew that there was no truth in her words. I had known since first year that Lily wasn't alien to the idea of walking around the school at night as on many occasions I had woken at around 2 am in the morning to go to the bathroom and noticed Lily's empty bed. Where she went, I had no idea but I knew she left Gryffindor Tower.

Whenever anyone had a problem it was to Lily they went. She was the mother of our friendship group and always seemed have the answers. When the Marauders had had their rift at the start of 5th year it was to Lily they went. Remus, Potter and Pettigrew excluded Black and it was Lily who reconciled them. She was the one who went between all of them to try and solve their argument and she wore the biggest smile when they made up again. Every argument between the Girls and I was solved by Lily with her fair views and wish to see the best in everyone. But when Lily had a problem, who did she turn to?

No one was the most common answer. She was very good at hiding things she wanted unnoticed and when she'd lost lots of weight no one noticed until we were trying on dresses for Mary's wedding and when questioned about it her only remark was:
'It's not as bad as it was.'
When her relationship with Tom ended she only reluctantly admitted to Black that her feelings for him where going and didn't tell anyone they'd split up for ages. Potter found out eventually and the fact that the two had split up was the only thing anyone knew. Whether she was upset or not no one knew.
The Incident at the end of 5th year was another example. That was the only time I had ever seen Lily look broken and still she let no one in. She acted almost as though nothing had happened except for her frequent vanishing to places where not even the Marauders could find her.

In the midst of my reverie I found that Lily and I were returning to class. The bell had gone a while a go so everyone was already at dinner when we reached our destination. McGonagall was waiting for us and I felt a sudden idea form in my head.

'Miss Evans, you may leave me with Miss Young if you wish.' I nodded at Lily who left shooting me with a sympathetic smile. 'Now, Miss Young, I think we ought to discuss your behaviour in today's lesson.' I bowed my head. 'I was absolutely appalled by your language in this classroom. Such words are not tolerated in my lessons. You are a sixth year and should know better than to use such terms in a classroom environment. The only reason you're not going to be punished is because Mrs Wood explained the situation to me. I understand you to be extremely stressed today and I will therefore allow you to leave this room with a warning.'

'Yes, Professor.'

'You are excused.' She dismissed me.

'Professor?' I asked cautiously.

'Yes, Miss Young? Is there anything else?'

'Yes, there's something I'd like to talk to you about.'

'Well, then you'd better enlighten me for I am none the wiser if you leave it at that.'

'It's about Lily…'

'About Miss Evans?'

'Yes, about Lily. Well, she was doing tutoring with Professor Thornton for a while until she suddenly stopped it before Christmas. She said that they'd agreed she was better off without the extra lessons now she was receiving more homework from other subjects and that was that. Then yesterday she told us that she was having an issue with one of her Defence essays and needed Professor Thornton's help on it. I asked why it had to be him and she said she'd been getting Ds in her last few pieces of work and wanted to fix that. So yesterday evening she went to the library and I went to Quidditch practice. When practice ended, I went back to the dormitory and saw Lily wasn't back yet. I remembered she'd told me she was going to ask Professor Thornton for help. I went to look for her and she wasn't in the DADA classroom and Professor Thornton's office was locked.'

'Did you look anywhere else?'

'I asked Potter if he'd seen her and he said he'd look as well. He didn't find her – he told me when I bumped into him in the common room after I gave up searching – and I visited Mary and she hadn't seen her. Alice was already asleep and I gave up. I heard Lily come back into the dormitory at around midnight and today she's been walking really weirdly. I grew suspicious so at break I went to the dormitory and looked through Lily's school files. She files all her work and I looked at all her DADA work. She hasn't had a grade lower than an E in all of her work.'

'And you wish to find out what's wrong but know she won't tell you?' McGonagall asked shrewdly. I nodded in response. 'Very well, Miss Young. I will see what I can do and in the meantime, don't let her know you have confided in me.'

'Thank you, Professor.' I said earnestly, glad she didn't think my suspicions stupid. The idea of asking McGonagall for help had been a good one.

Back to Lily's POV:

I finished dinner quickly and returned to the dormitory as soon as I could. I sat on my bed completing my homework and as I wrote the conclusion to my last essay I heard an incessant scratching on the door. Listening closely to see if it wasn't my imagination, I wrote my final sentence and set down my stationery before hobbling over to the door. Opening it cautiously, I saw a silver tabby cat sitting on the landing of the staircase. I stared at the cat. It stared back.

'D'you want to come in here?' I asked stupidly. The cat fixed me with a gaze that could only be equated to a raised eyebrow. 'That was a stupid question, wasn't it?' If it was possible, the cat nodded and slunk past my legs into the dormitory. It settled itself on my bed and preened itself. I sat down next to it and watched as it licked its paws. Unsure of what to do, I fiddled with the hem of my school jumper's sleeve. At some point, I must have dozed off because the next time I opened my eyes daylight was pouring into the room and the cat was watching me its greenish eyes.

Thanks for reading!

This chapter took me ages to write and I have no idea why. I'm looking forward to next chapter however, and writing about our newly introduced cat.

Were your feelings about Thornton correct?

Please review :)