Lily's heart pounded as she walked through the doors to enter the castle, almost immediately she heard her name being called by her head of house.
"Ms. Evans. I need to see you in my office. Now." Her head of house breezed past her without another word and Lily followed in silence. They wound up the stairs until they arrived at the imposing wooden door that led to the office. It opened on its own for the owner of the room and shut with a snap when Lily crossed the threshold.
"Ms. Evans it has come to my attention that you visited the village of Hogsmeade this afternoon and attended a meeting hosted by Tom Riddle."
Lily blinked but did not reply.
"May I remind you Ms. Evan's that you've only just had your detention revoked last year and you are very close to receiving yet another one to last this year. Were you or were you not in Hogsmeade this afternoon?"
"I don't recall Miss." Came Lily's automatic reply. This caused McGonagall to come up short as it was not an expected answer.
"You don't recall, you don't recall going into the village to a meeting wearing a Slytherin uniform?"
Lily continued her look of innocence, but it was faltering under the stern gaze of her head of house. There was a quick knock on the door and McGonagall rose to answer it. Lily took a moment to compose herself. How could she do this without Bella next to her?
"Ah, Professor McGonagall, I believe there has been a misunderstanding." Came the voice of Horace Slughorn. "I am glad that I have caught you here with Evans. It's alright Evans, you can run along. I will explain everything to Professor McGonagall."
"Excuse me Horace but with all due respect I don't expect other teachers to interfere when I am disciplining a student of my house."
"Oh by all means no no Minerva, I am simply here to help you avoid punishing unjustly. You see Evans was in Hogsmeade by my request. I know it was a terrible oversight on my part to not inform you but she was there with permission."
Professor McGonagall looked as if she had just sucked on the most sour of lemon candies as Lily tried to make her face look as if this was not a surprise to her.
"You see a former pupil of mine, you may remember him, Tom Riddle, was giving a talk and I wanted the Slug Club to be in attendance as a show of solidarity. The boy is toying with the idea of politics and I wanted to show him some encouragement."
The professor was at a loss for words, her face was beginning to take on an ugly shade of puce.
"Again, I do apologise for not communicating this to you however I don't feel that punishment is warranted in this case as it was my fault."
"Right you are Professor, you are at fault and I will be speaking to the head master as soon as he returns from London."
Slughorn made a small bow and McGonagall turned to Lily. "Under the circumstances Evans you may go."
Lily hurried from the room and heard McGonagall raise her voice as the door snapped shut. Around the corner, out of sight of the professor's office stood Bella and Lucius.
"You didn't think we'd let you get into too much trouble, did you? Horace will talk her down and no harm no foul." Lucius said putting his arm around Lily shoulders as Bella stifled a giggle.
"Oh, please tell me what that old bat looked like when he told her." Bella said jumping up and down slightly from excitement.