Chapter 6 – About your hair
Always tease tease tease
You're happy when I'm on my knees
Should I Stay Or Should I Go – The Clash
Lily came back several times to see the painting – she had finaly achieved to localized the Owlery, and from there, the painting, which was three corridors before. She spent there some of her breaks, talking with the impressive knight and playing with the small black kitty who was joining them most of the time. Lily still doesn't know a thing about the knight on the painting – and neither about the kitty – but she was alright with it. It was always nice to come and have a talk about her new life at Hogwarts.
She usually went there on Friday afternoons, both because it was a free period and because it had been an habit since the first time she had found the painting. But it was the last Friday of September, and for the first time since she arrived at Hogwarts, Lily would not have time to go there, nor to take a walk around the lake, nor to write to her parents : for the first time, her Friday afternoon would be dedicated to Quidditch. Of course, Lily knew that only too well. James Potter had mentionned it every day of the week, each time insisting on how he couldn't wait to show how great he was at Quidditch. Also, most of the First Years were really excited by this new lesson. The last two weeks had been indeed really hard to keep up : lessons were getting more difficult and the professors more demanding. Even Lewis had been seen working at the library one evening.
It was with relief therefore that the students welcomed some time spent outdoor. The word « Quidditch » was on everybody's lips. Lily, who had shared her time the Friday morning between Hestia in Charms and Severus in Potions, had been quite spared by the Quidditch fever until lunch. However, it was another story when she arrived at the Gryffindor table. An overexcited James and Sirius were gesticulating all over their plates, as if they couldn't stay still longer than it take to put a full fork in their mouth. Peter Pettigrew had joined their performance too, under the enthousiastic look of Mary Macdonald and Anastasia Johnson. Lily was therefore more than happy to escape only few minutes later, when Remus, who had not eaten much himself, suggested they could go to the pitch.
When Lily got out of the castle in his company, she noticed that he seemed rather pale.
« Is that your first time on a broomstick too ? » She asked him.
Remus just hummed incertainly. Lily had to admit she wasn't feeling that well either – in fact, she was wondering how only two mouthful of broccoli salad could be lurching that much into her stomach.
They walked silently to the pitch, until they went seperate way to change themselves. Lily was pleased to see that the locker room was still empty when she arrived, and she had time to change herself before it was packed with a bunch of Slytherin girls.
On the pitch, only a few students were already there. Lily was looking for Remus, when she noticed that Severus was also here. He was barely recognizable in his old-fashioned Quidditch costume, who had the particularity to be too big but also too short at the same time. He looked grimmer than Lily had ever seen him. She came to sit in the grass with him, not far from Remus who was also looking quite gloomy.
Soon, other students arrived. Lewis was fooling around in the middle of a Hufflepuff group, apparently showing the muggle-way to use a broom. Lily wished she could be as relaxed as he was. James then made a remarkable entry swaggering about like a knight in a shiny armour wearing a devilish grin. Lily made a point to look only at the grass. A part from two Ravenclaws who ran from the locker room to the pitch at top speed, everybody was there when Professor Headwind showed up. Thanks to James continuing ramblings about Quidditch, even Lily knew that the tall and willowy man with long straight grey hair was a Quidditch star of the Thirties.
The lesson began easily, by some technical explanations about flying and a short summary about how Quidditch became the most favourite sport on broomstick.
« Is there other sports on broomstick ? » whispered Lily to Severus, but he only shrugged. Most of the students were hopping up and down with impatience, only wanting to mount the broom.
From Lily's perspective, the practical part of the lesson arrived far too soon, but she relaxed slighly when she realized she wasn't the worst one, from far. Severus next to her couldn't achieve to ask his broom to get up, and Remus seemed to use his broom as a mere stick not to fall on the ground.
When they all had been in the air for a few seconds – about half an hour later – Professor Headwind suggested they all made a lap around the pitch. For this, he asked his students to split up between boys and girls and to pair up.
And just like that, Lily saw Severus go with another Slytherin boy, Remus with Peter, Lewis with her Defense against the Dark Arts partner, Kingsley. She looked around her. Of course, Mary and Anastasia were together. Ludivine was in deep discussion with her two girl friends from Hufflepuff. Everybody had found someone else when finally Ludivine, sighing deeply and looking annoyed, came to Lily.
« Ehm – everything's alright ? » asked Lily politely.
« Yes. Hm, can we pair up ? »
« Of course, » answered Lily, relieved that she was ending with Ludivine. « You don't look really cheerful about that, though », she couldn't stopped herself to add.
« I wanted to be with my friends, » Ludivine said frankly.
« Oh, I get it, » Lily said coldly.
Wasn't she her friend ? But Lily couldn't help but see her point. She saw it very clearly now : her close friends were all boys. Of course, she was speaking sometime with her roomates, sometime with Hestia, sometime with Ludivine, and sometime even with Marlene in Second Year in the Gryffindor Common Room, but she wasn't really spending her free time with them. She promised to herself to try and know better at least Mary and Anastasia, who would be in the same dormitory as she will for the next seven years.
Each pair was called twenty seconds apart. Lily and Ludivine waited for their turn to take off with their broomsticks. They were half of their lap when a gust of wind threw Lily off balance. As she slided slowly, her broom tacked toward the ground. Lily focused all her energy to regain control of her broom. She achieved to slow down very much before hitting the ground. It almost looked as if she had naturally decided to stop and take a break on the grass at the next end of the pitch. She looked at Professor Headwind, but he hadn't seen anything.
« What happened ? » she asked to Ludivine who was trying the best she could to land next to Lily.
« You didn't see ? Potter, that's what happened ! He's such a jerk. He flew at top speed next to us, he nearly knocked you off your broom ! »
Surely, James Potter was swooping on them again, closely followed by Sirius. Ludivine and Lily climbed back on their broom hastily.
« Hey Evans, not too bad ! You know how to take a bend ! »
She was about to shout at him, making very clear that they should respect the twenty seconds intervals, when she saw how exhilarated he looked. He was shaking his disheveling hair in the wind, enjoying every move on his broom.
« Well, of course, you're not as good as me, » he added looping around her. « They'll beg to take me in the team, even if I'm not allowed… »
« How come you're so presumptuous ? » Lily asked as she tried to direct her broom, ignoring James annoying tacking.
« It's not presumptuousness. I just know my capacities. I'm sure I'll be the best chaser there had been in years ! »
« Oh, but don't you know ? » Lily asked in a lofty tone. « Marlene McKinnon got the only chaser position available on the team already. »
« I heard, » he said moodily. « But does she knows how to do that ? »
He went at top speed up in the air, but what he did next, Lily couldn't care less. She was at least rid of Potter and could now focus on catching up with Ludivine, who was showing on her face nothing but utmost contempt for both of them. Finally, Lily was about to finish her lap, James swooshing past her again and again - « and does she knows how to do that ? » - « and do you know how to comb your hair, Potter ? » when Professor Headwind whistle rang out. Lily was one of the nearest and therefore one of the first to arrive next to the teacher.
« I need someone to go to the Hospital Wing with this young man, please. »
On his side, Remus was barely standing on his feet, shaking like a leaf and deathly pale. Lily volonteered at once, and after Professor Headwind thanked her, she began to go back to the castle with Remus, who had to stop several times, sized by dizziness.
Once they were in the Great Hall, Remus seemed to come back to his senses. He said to Lily that he could go alone to the Hospital Wing, but Lily insisted to come along – mostly because she was curious to see the new Healer she had heard of – and Remus was too weak to argue.
They arrived in front of a big door slighly ajar. A copper-coloured sign read « Hospital Wing - Healer : Mrs Pomfrey ». Lily pushed it resolutely. Inside was only a woman in her thirties, with a delicate skin and kind eyes. When she talked though, it was in a very directive voice.
« May I help you ? What brings you here, please ? »
Before one of them could answer, Mrs Pomfrey gasped.
« Good lord ! You must be the young Mr Lupin ! You should have come way earlier ! » She grabbed Remus unceremoniously and made him sit on one of the hospital bed. « Sit here, I'm coming with a tonic potion in a minute ».
As Mrs Pomfrey was disappearing in her office, Lily approached Remus' bed.
« Funny that the new healer knows you ! » she said curiously.
Remus made greats efforts to answer her.
« Yes – it's because ehm – I've a weak constitution... »
« Oh, that's terrible ! Does it happen often ? Do you know what it is ? How are you feeling ? Better here than on the pitch ? » asked Lily. « It's okay, stay still, » she added as she saw Remus getting paler at every word. « I'm sure Mrs Pomfrey'll fix you up in no time. »
But it was really hard for Lily to stay quiet, and only a few seconds later she was already telling Remus how the Quidditch lesson had been going for her. She could see that he wasn't really listening, but she was afraid that if she stopped talking, he would pass out.
Suddenly, two other students appeared in the doorway. Before she even looked up, Lily had a bad feeling about it. And surely -
« Hey, Sirius ! Look who's there. »
« Gosh, Remus, you really don't look good ! » said Sirius, approaching his hospital bed.
« You mean, he looks worse than usual, » added James in a casual way.
« You really don't like Quidditch, do you mate ? » asked Sirius.
« Oh come on, it's obvious that it's Lily's speeches who makes him feel so bad ! » James smirked to Lily, before whispering loudly to Remus, « I know, she's dreadful ! »
« And what are you two doing here ? » asked Lily dryly.
Sirius laughed.
« Well, James ehm – how to put that in a nice way – crashed on the rows of seats. »
Indeed, James had a large bump on his forehead, which was slighly bleeding.
« That's not fair ! I only got a scratch ! »
« Well, it was enough for Professor Heawind to send you to the Hospital - »
« I just missed my dive, but from inches ! It was under control ! »
« Sure it was, » snorted Sirius.
« It's not surprising me in the slightest, » said Lily disdainfully. « Anyway, Potter, can you please stop to following me everywhere ? »
« What ? But I'm not following you ! Why the hell would I ? »
« I just don't know, but stop it ! »
« So according to you, I just crashed and nearly broke my neck for the sake of you - »
« Oh, I'm sorry Potter, I thought it was just scratches ? » interrupted Lily. James didn't raised it.
« - and, I would have earned a full Saturday detention, on purpose, because I couldn't wait to see you again ? »
« Beause you also managed to get a detention ? » scoffed Lily.
« Yeah, you should stop bragging, mate, » said only too seriously Sirius.
They all looked at Remus who meanwhile, had collapsed on his pillow and was now groaning in pain.
« Move aside ! » came Mrs Pomfrey voice from behind them. She administered a potion to Remus who winced in disgust. « There. You should feel a bit drowsy now, that's fine. Take a nap, you're staying for the night, anyway. »
Remus didn't answer, but layed on his back, eyes closed.
« So now, can you explain to me why there are so many of you in the Hospital Wing ? »
« Yes Ma'am », said James, « Professor Headwind told me to come to see you, because I hit my head. »
« Oh dear, I forgot Quidditch for First Year began today, » said Mrs Pomfrey. « Let me see. How come you hit your head ? What did you hit ? »
« Well, technically, I banged myself on my broomstick - » James looked daggers at Lily who had snorted loudly « - because it hit the ground, » he explained himself.
Mrs Pomfrey waved her wand a few times around James' forehead, but nothing happened.
« Well, I detect no trace of internal bleeding, you should be fine. » With a last shake of her wand, she cleaned the dried blood, and then took out of her pocket a small flask of a smelling green paste.
« Spread it on the bruise now and again tonight before going to bed, the pain should be gone tomorrow. Now, all of you, out ! If you want to come back and see Remus, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for tomorrow. »
Lily, James and Sirius got out of the infirmary and began to climb back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
« What do you think Remus has ? » asked Lily while they were waiting for some moving stairs to allow them to go to the next floor.
« How could we know ? » James said as if he couldn't care less.
Sirius, on the other hand, seemed worried.
« I don't know… I noticed he didn't slept well last night. And, he doesn't strike you as an healthy guy, don't you think ? »
« You don't think that he could be seriously-ill ? He told me he had a weak constitution... »
« Come on you two, Remus's fine, stop worrying for no reason ! »
« Hey mate, he's at the Hospital Wing for the night ! For the night. You nearly killed yourself today and you stayed in there for only two minutes ! » Sirius emphazised.
« It's because I have a good constitution, » grinned James.
« Honestly, I disagree with Mrs Pomfrey. You certainly have cerebral damage, » said Sirius thoughtfully.
« But he definitly had it before today's Quidditch, » Lily smirked. « Oh, look ! There is Mister Whiskers ! »
« Who has cerebral damage now, » muttered James as Lily took in her arms the black kitty who was rubbing himself against her legs.
« Don't do that, Mister Whiskers, I'm all cover in dirt ! » The cat was purring loudly, asking for more strokes, but he stopped suddenly, looking at Sirius and James tensely.
Without any warning, James came closer, stamped his foot hard on the floor and shouted « Boo ! ». The cat jumped from Lily's arm and ran off without further ado.
« Why did you do that for ? » she asked angrily.
« I don't like cats. »
« But this one hadn't done anything to you ! »
« He looked at me in a nasty way. »
« You're so thick ! »
« Give it a break, you two, alright ? I think I heard someone coming, » interrupted Sirius.
« It's not like we were doing something wrong, anyway, » said James moodily.
They all listened carefully. They could hear a voice calling « Mrs Norris ? » in the distance, but it was coming nearer. They looked at each other, frowning. Who Mrs Norris could be and who was calling her ? Before they could decide on what to do, the footstep grew nearer, and a panting man arrived at the end of the corridor. Lily recognized the new caretaker, trained by Apollyon Pringle who was hoping to retire soon. The man who, if she remembered well, was named Argus Filch, was now looking at the three of them suspiciously. James was still bad-tempered enough to looked back defiantly. Sirius wasn't easily impressionable either.
« Can we help you ? » he asked boldly.
The caretaker seemed to hesitate to tell him off, but finally decided otherwise.
« Did you see a cat ? Black, tiny, with a pink muzzle ? »
« No, » said James resolutly.
The man was about to turn around and walk away, when his eyes flashed toward Lily.
« Funny, because I can see some hair on your cloak, young girl, » he said nastily.
Lily got red, and sent James an accusatory look. He gave it back to her.
« Did you think you could lie to an adult at Hogwarts ? » Continue the cartaker menacingly. « Let me put this right for you. I see you're all in Gryffindor, I'll ask Professor McGonagall to take five points for each of you. »
« That's not fair ! » shouted James, but Filch only stared at him, and left.
When he was out of earshot, Lily turned to James.
« Why did you lie, you idiot ? »
« Why didn't you lie, you idiot ? You could have play along and said the hair was something else ! » retorted James.
« I'm not lying, it's a terrible thing to do ! »
« Oh come on, you're such a prude ! This man is obviously a nut ! We weren't going to help him find his cat ? »
« Hey, James ! » said Sirius, bursting suddenly out of laughter. « Mrs Norris ! »
James stared at him, confused.
« What about her ? »
But Sirius was struggling to find his breath.
« I can't believe it – how could you thought it was a male ? » he finally managed to say to Lily, panting. James began to laugh too.
« Oh I get it ! Mrs Norris ! The cat ! Well, at least you got the title right, Evans, » he sniggered.
« You're hilarious, Potter. »
Sirius and James were still in fits of laughter when she decided it was time for her to go back alone to the Gryffindor Common Room.
When she got out of the dormitory bathroom, feeling a bit more refreshed, she came accross Anastasia and Mary, and she remembered she had promised herself to try and see them more. So she tried to answer patiently to their numerous questions about the Hospital Wing. Lily soon noticed that if both of them showed little interest for Remus state, they were particularly curious about James.
« You should have been there, Lily, when he dived ! It was amazing ! He's brilliant ! » was saying Mary in an excited tone. « We were so worried when he hit himself ! »
« I think Professor Headwind had the fright of a lifetime. He gave a terrible earbashing to James, » added Anastasia.
« Yes, he was really unfair to him ! » continued Mary. « He said that since the beginning of the lesson he was only trying to draw attention to himself, and then, he said that he would personally ensure that James couldn't make the Quidditch team until he learns to have more sense ! »
« I guess Potter didn't like that, » said Lily. And against all her will, she couldn't help but feel a small pang as she remembered how happy he had looked on his broom.
Automn was now definitely setting in on Hogwarts ground. The mornings were chilly and the cold wind often blew in the corridors. The nice walks Lily enjoyed to take near the lake were getting a fight against the elements, and the growing amount of homework dissuaded her from doing it too often. She spent all her evenings working with Severus in the library. Lily liked to be with him. He was the only one who knew her family and who could truly understand what she felt when she was missing her home. On the other hand, Severus wouldn't talk at all about his parents, depsite Lily's persistent questions. Every time she would ask something on this matter, Severus would suddenly looked deeply absorbed in his Potion textbook.
Remus came back from the Hospital Wing the Sunday evening, still looking sick. He even had some bruises Lily was quite sure weren't there two days before. But he also stayed impervious to Lily's worryings and kept telling her he was feeling fine. Resigned, Lily sat with him at a quiet table in the Common Room and worked with him on their weekly Transfiguration essay, due to each Monday.
Days were going on fast, and Lily realized, one night she was talking with Marlene on a comfortable couch, that the first Quidditch match, traditionally organised the last day of October, was to take place on the next Friday.
« I don't feel ready at all, but we're already training three times a week, and my brother Hank says that the team is better trained than last year, » was saying Marlene after a particularly late training. « It's true that Victoria Vane – it's our Captain, she's a Seventh Year – is really encouraging. Anyway, as I'm playing chaser with her and Fabien Prewett who has been in the team for three years already, it should be alright. But it's also quite challenging to play with such experimented players… »
« I'm sure you'll do incredibly well for your first match, » smiled Lily. « Well, I should get prepared to go to bed, I want to take a shower before Mary and Anastasia occupy the bathroom. » She took her bag, waved at Marlene and took the stairs of her dormitories.
Twenty minutes later though, she was coming back downstairs like a bullet, her wet hair still wrapped in a towel, brandishing a shampoo bottle like a weapon. She went past Marlene and stopped abruptly in front of the next table, where James, Sirius and Peter were – surprisingly – studying. They all looked up at her.
« Ehm – can we help you, Evans ? » James asked.
« You ! » She stumbled, unable to find words to describe how angry she was.
« Yes ? »
« What – What did you do to my hair ? Put it back ! »
« Do you mean… black ? » James couldn't help but grin.
« Oh my god, I knew it was you ! » cried Lily, as black strands of hair escaped from the towel.
A lot of people were looking at them in the Common Room now, looking amused.
« At first I thought I cursed my mirror by accident, but no, you tricked my shampoo ! So whatever spell you put on it, now take it back ! »
« I'm sorry Evans, but you are strongly mistaken. I wouldn't dare using magic on you, » said James in an only too soothing voice.
« I know you have, and I will prove it, » she said threateningly. « And as you are not allowed to go in the girls dormitories, even less the girls bathroom - »
« I would never do that ! » continued James on a fakely offensed tone.
« Don't worry Lily, » said Sirius with a broad smile. « He was just trying to figure how would look his daughter if you two had children together, » he laughed loudly, joined by Peter and several people looking at the scene.
« Not cool mate ! » James said indignantly.
« And look at the bright side : you already got your Halloween style, » grinned Sirius, as he dipped his quill in the ink to complete his astronomy chart.
« Bright side is that you don't need to change anything for Halloween, as you're already monsters ! » Lily sent him a murdering look, but then, her eyes flashed to the only inkpot in the middle of their table. James was also dipping his quill in it. It looked as if -
« Potter, did you pour your ink in my shampoo ? » she strangled.
James wrote down carefully the name of Uranus on his chart, and looked at the result critically.
« Potter, did you pour - »
« I heard you Evans. But I'm afraid there is no counter-curse, » he said in a light-hearted voice.
« You will pay for that, I promise ! » Lily stormed out of the Common Room, still clunging to her shampoo bottle.
The week Lily had only increased her desire for revenge. First thing the next morning, Lily had to explain herself to Severus in Potion, who muttered something about 'Gryffindor's morons'. Professor Slughorn, who never looked quite awake in the morning, asked Severus who was his new Potion partner while he past next to the teacher's desk to reach the furnitures cupboard. Of course, Professor Slughorn had been heard by everybody, but the worse was probably Sirius loud comment to James.
« Don't you think that Snivellus' hair bleed onto Lily's ? »
Lewis and the other Hufflepuffs boys had a good laugh during the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, that they attended with the Gryffindors. If Professor Atrée did not comment on Lily new hairstyle, Lewis assured to Lily that her eyes were 'absolutely brought out', wearing a broad mocking smile.
During lunch, Lily saw Florian Fortescue, Ludovic Bagman and Dedalus Diggle go past her without recognizing her – but at she was almost thankful for it.
Finally, at the end of the day, when only Transfiguration was left, Lily was about to break down. Professor McGonagall began by giving back their last week Transfiguration essay, and seemed satisfied about it. Lily was glad at least to see that studying with Remus on this subject had considerably improved her results, but couldn't help but noticed that Mary, who was abhorring Transfiguration, had done even better. Her mood slighly improved at the end of the lesson, as she and Hestia were the first to manage to change their lettuce into a red cabbage – their first work on a living organism.
Later though, while Lily finished washing her hair in the sink for the fourth time that evening, looking desesparately at the black colour which wouldn't fade, she heard Anastasia and Mary whispering furiously in their dormitories, on the other side of the door.
« You shouldn't have done that, » came Anastasia disapproving voice.
« I swore to you, I never thought he would do that ! And I, for one, think that black hair fit her, » Mary said defensively. Lily froze in front of her mirror.
« Oh come on, Ana, you know how he is, » Mary went on with a hushed voice, « he just asked me for something, and it's hard to say no ! And I could really used his help in Transfiguration, look how well I've done for the essay ! »
« So you just stole Lily's shampoo in order to spend some time with James, did you ? »
Lily decided she had heard enough. She pushed the bathroom door, revealing her presence to Mary and Anastasia, who both looked suddenly very embarassed.
« Mary, did you do that ? » she asked slowly.
« Well, no - » Mary went very red. « I just wanted to be helpful... and James proposed to give me a hand in exchange. »
Lily couldn't believe her ears.
« But you knew he would trick me, right ? »
« No ! »
« Dammit, what else did you think he would do, Mary ? »
« Well - » but nothing came out of her mouth.
« Put dragon dung in it ? Replace it with glue ? »
« No, I thought… » Mary was getting redder and redder. « Actually, I just thought he wanted to smell your shampoo. »
There was a pause, and then -
« What ? That's rubbish ! » exclaimed Lily.
« No, it's not ! Come on, Lily, can't you see ? He's always after you ! » Mary had recovered her usual vigour. « Everybody knows he fancies you, » she added, somewhat bitterly.
« No, no no no. Potter just fancies making fun of me. He's a jerk ! » Lily turned around and added, before slamming the dormitory door, « And you're one too ! »
Lily refused to talk to Mary for the remainder of the week. After hours spent every night to wash her head, the blackness of her hair began slighly to wear away. The few free time she had left, she was spending it preparing her revenge. And on Friday morning, 31st of October, Lily was ready.
It was the clear morning of a promising day. Breakfast was a nice moment, as the school were celebrating Apollyon Pringle retiring. Lily noticed how popular he was when she saw that for his last morning at school, some students had prepared him presents. She observed him behind the huge pile of chocolate frogs, and admit that he looked good-hearted. With a last wave, the old caretaker left under the applause of the Great Hall. On the other side of the table, taking what must have been his tenth toast, James was sulking.
« There's nothing to be happy with getting stuck with Filch forever » he muttered.
Gryffindor students went happily to their first class, History of Magic, knowing that after this, Potion would be their last one before the weekend : the afternoon lessons had been cancelled for the Quidditch match. Lily took place next to Severus, but he absolutely refused to talked about Quidditch, and when Lily told him what she had planned to be avenged from James, he merely said that it was silly of her. Giving up on talking, Lily therefore expected to spend the dull lesson catching up some sleep. She was deeply absorbed in her blank parchment – her quill had dropped from her hand long ago – when a bullet of paper hit her back.
Severus turned around on his chair to see where it was coming from.
« Black, Potter, stop that immediatly ! » he hissed.
Sirius smirked.
« Hey, James, Snivellus thinks we want to talk to him. »
« What an idiot. »
« What do you want, you two ? » asked Lily angrily, who had also turned around.
« Finally ! It's quite hard to get your attention, Evans. »
« What ? »
« Look. » James aimed another bullet of parchment toward the classdoor. Lily looked at the bullet's trajectory, and just before it hit the ground, a black paw catched it. « Your Mister Whiskers' here. »
Mrs Norris, as Lily knew now to be her real name, approached her desk and looked vividly in Lily's eyes. Lily took a look at Professor Binns, their dull ghost teacher, but he hadn't spot anything. She looked back at the expecting cat, tried to stroke her, but she obviously wasn't looking for comfort. She miaowed, and several students in the classroom now were looking at the scene. Lily had the weird impression that the cat wanted her to go somewhere.
« What are you doing in here, Mrs Kitty Norris ? »
She miaowed again, and directed her eyes back on the classdoor.
« Look, I can't go now ! Here, I've got some fairy berries, » she said, giving it to the cat.
At that moment, the bell rang and every student, distracted immediatly, began to pick up things. In all the fuss, Lily couldn't see Mrs Norris anymore, who must had rushed out of the classroom.
After the Potion class, Lily hurried to the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. She arrived first, and took care to place the plate of roasted potatoes close to her. A moment later, Marlene, already changed in her Quidditch outfit, went to sit next to her – or more accuratedly collapsed on the bench. She looked really tensed. Lily tried to find words of comfort to cheer up her, but Marlene barely answered, and all in all Lily was glad that her classmate rather focused on swallowing the few pieces of cauliflower she had in her mouth.
« Evans, hand me this, would you ? »
Lily looked up. James was stretching his arm toward the roasted potatoes.
« You forgot the magic word, » she said lighly.
James sighed, and was about to grab another salad bowl, when -
« No ! » interrupted Lily.
James looked at her weirdly.
« Ehm – these ones are chopped popatoes, and I know you prefer the roasted ones, » explained Lily.
« Why on earth would you know that ? »
Lily had pulled herself together.
« Because, Potter, unfortunately, we happen to eat on the same table everyday, » she answered annoyingly.
James eventually stood up and grabbed the first plate of roasted potatoes under Lily's nose.
« Thank you for your precious help, » he said sardonically.
« You're welcome », she smirked.
Lily did not wait for long before she could hear Sirius confused voice.
« Ehm - what's happening to you mate ? »
« What ? » answered James, his mouth still full of potatoes.
As Sirius looked now torn between laugh and concern, James looked at the roasted potatoes plate, and then back at Lily. She was smiling widely as a furnished beard and mustache grew out of James jaws. His hair, usually thick and black, were getting sparser and turning grey.
Sirius, Peter, Anastasia and Mary were looking in amazement at James old face. Only Marlene continue to gaze through thin air as if nothing happened.
« What ? » asked Lily innocently. « Didn't you say the other day that you wished you already were older to be able to play Quidditch ? I thought I'd give you a hand. »
James spat the last bit of potatoe he still had in mouth, looking murderous.
« Well, I kind of see your point, » said Lily calmly. « I might have overdose the potion. You might be too old to play Quidditch anymore. But as you said, it's Halloween style ! »
She carefully picked up her bag and went out of the Great Hall before James could do anything, enjoying the pleasure of fulfilled revenge.
Lily was quite excited to see her first Quidditch match ever, even if she had to go alone : Severus wouldn't go, Remus was nowhere to be find, and Lily refused categorically the invitation of Mary to join her with Anastasia. So early in the afternoon, she went down on the pitch, hoping to have a last word of support with Marlene before the beginning of the match. But all the team had already disappeared in the lockroom. Lily climbed on the rows of seats, wondering what would be the best spot, when she noticed some flashy yellow Hufflepuffs already sit, and joined them. Lewis was there, along with the two Hufflepuff boys she was having Herbology with, Edgar Bones and Marty Brooks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, her Defense Against the Dark Arts partner, and another one that Lily couldn't remember the name.
« Ehm – you know that Hufflepuff isn't playing today, right ? » She asked.
« Yes, we know, we know, » waved off Lewis.
« So what team are you rooting for ? » she smiled. Lewis pulled a face.
« Well, if you sit here, we won't have any choice. »
« No no, I don't care », said Lily.
« What ? » said Marty indignantly. « What do you mean you don't care ? You're a Gryffindor ! »
« And your team have the most gorgeous Captain ever », said Edgar enthusiastically.
« Anyway, I won't support Ravenclaws, my sister's playing there ! And they're already ahead for the Housecup, » said Kingsley seriously.
« Okay, so you'll cheer with me for Gryffindor, then ! » said Lily joyfully as she sit down next to them.
« Wo, wo, we'll see, depending on how well Gryffindor's doing, » said Lewis.
The rows of seats were filling with excited students in no time. Blue and red colors were spreading everywhere, and Lily began to wish she too had bring something to support her team. Their bench was crowded as the match would begin any minute now, but at the last minute two other Hufflepuff elbowed their way through until them.
« Hi, guys ! Oh, hi Lily, you're there too ! »
Ludovic Bagman went to sit just next to her, pulling Florian with him.
« So, lucky you, I heard Gryffindor had quite a team this year ! » Ludovic said jovially. « Well, I can't wait ours teams meet ! »
« Oh, are you in the Hufflepuff team ? » asked Lily.
« Yes, since this year ! I play beater, with Amos Diggory, maybe you see who he is ? He's a Fourth Year, quite good, actually. I heard you Gryffindors have a new beater too, no ? A Third Year as it seemed, Frank Longbottom. Do you know him ? »
« Look, the Gryffindors are coming on the pitch ! » said Florian.
Lily saw Marlene walking with her teammates. From here, she couldn't distinguish any emotion on her face. In front of them, the Ravenclaws were coming too, their blue Quidditch cloaks flying by the wind.
« Nah, they don't stand any chance, » commented Ludovic loudly, causing some students wearing blue to frown at him. « It's true, look at their team, » he went on, not at all disturbed by the animosity around them. « They're players are all young and unexperienced. That's the problem with the Ravenclaws. They absolutely want to study and it's really rare to see some player older than fifteen… Look at it. Tom Pettigrew, Olivia Shacklebolt, Emmeline Vance, Lauren Edgecombe : they're all in Third Year ! »
« And they recruited a new seeker, Davey Gudgeon, which is only Second Year, » added Florian.
« Aren't you both 'only Second Years' ? », smirked Lewis.
The whistle rang out, and the fourteen players set off. Lily looked at the blur of colours around the pitch. Against her better judgement, she was listening to Ludovic snide comments.
« Look at that new chaser ! It's Hank McKinnon little sister, but she clearly doesn't have his talent ! »
Lily wanted to interfered, but she couldn't help but admit than Marlene was doing terribly. She looked paralysed on her broom, and loose all the passes the other chasers sent her. It was always catched by the Ravenclaws players, but on the other side of the pitch, Hank McKinnon who was playing keeper, was indeed doing wonders.
The match went on, but it get quite boring, as none of the team achieved scoring. Gryffindors couldn't strike properly, and their keeper and the two beaters were defensing too well for Ravenclaws to come near the goals. Then, suddenly, the imposing silhouette of Bilius Weasley, Gryffindor's seeker, was diving toward a golden sparkle in the pitch ground, tailed by Davey Gudgeon.
« They saw the snitch ! » bounced Florian up and down.
And very soon, the whistle rang out again, Bilius Weasley's fist closed around the small golden ball, Gryffindors students cheering all around in the seats rows, celebrating the 170 points score of their house, against the 50 points of Ravenclaw.
« I told you Ravenclaw doesn't stand a chance, » said Ludovic dismissively. « God, I should do bets ! »
While the rest of her house went to celebrate in the Common Room, Lily waited next to the changing rooms for Marlene. She got out the last one, looking absolutely disheartened.
« I ruined everything, » she said bluntly.
« No you didn't, come on ! Gryffindor won ! »
« You're a nice girl, Lily, » Marlene said with an attempt to a smile. « But even Hank told me off. Said he never saw me play as badly as today. »
« Well, I'm sure that he wanted to say that he knows you can do better, that's all. »
« Of course I can do better ! Lily, I crapped out ! »
« Don't be so harsh on yourself ! It was your first match ever ! »
« My first and my last, you mean, » she muttered.
« No. You'll train harder, and you'll be fine. Now, we go back to the castle, you have a nice and comforting shower, and let's think of Halloween feast ! »
The feast was better than everything Lily had imagined. Onion squash pies, pumpkin juice, coco-ghost biscuits and haricot beans soup were moving along the tables, each thing Lily ate looking more delicious than the previous one. Even James, white tuft of hair still springing from his head, had drop the roasted potatoes plate for turkey with chestnuts. The Quidditch match seemed to have calm down his murdering feelings towards Lily, as she observed him talking animatedly with Nearly Headless Nick. He was showing him how he had plaited his new white beard.
« Dear Mr Potter, if your hair hadn't turned grey but red, I daresay you would look very much like Godric Gryffindor himself with that style ! » Nearly Headless Nick was saying to an overexcited James.
« Really ? And now ? » James asked, as he pretended to take out a heavy sword from his pocket, like he had did the first day of school.
Lily laughed, as she tried to imagine an old ginger James, but then, the sight stroke her. An old man, with a red plaited beard… She left her fork in her plate as she ran out of the Great Hall, and began to climb the stairs at top speed. She tried to not think of her stitch, getting higher and higher in the stairs. It has to be it, it must be…
When she arrived at the corridor next to the Owlery she knew too well by now, it seemed different. It looked -
« Empty ! » panted Lily. « No, come on ! I have to ask the knight ! »
But the whole corridor was free of paintings.