CHAPTER 14 "Loyalties"

James and Remus were sitting in the Library surrounded by piles of large books. James took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

"This is taking forever," he said. Remus interrupted his reading to look up.

"Did you expect to find what we needed in the first book?" Remus asked sarcastically.

"No, but something close," he said, "I'm beginning to think that we won't find the spell we need. In what kind of book can we find spells needed to make a tracking map?"

"I never expected to find something specific," Remus said calmly, "I found this spell," he showed James the page he was reading.

"Homenum Revelio, human presence revealing spell," he read out loud and smiled, "This could work, we could just modify it a little so it reveals it on paper!"

"And how on earth do you modify a spell?" Remus asked and James stopped smiling.

"We'll have to keep on reading," James said disappointed, "I wonder if Peter has finished the sketches,"

"Go, leave. Go check on him," Remus said, "You're driving me crazy with you twitching."

"But we have to find the spell," James said.

"I'll keep looking, you're only distracting."

"Whatever," James grinned. He placed his bag with books on his shoulder and left the Library. James almost ran back to the common room, he was happy to be free from the tedious reading. He suddenly stopped, he saw Severus Snape, alone, entering what James knew was an empty classroom. He grinned and followed.

"Hey there Snivellus," James said and enjoyed watching Snape jump as he was startled, "What are you up to?"

"Piss off," Snape said and turned his back to him.

"No, thank you. Whatcha reading?" James said and pulled a big black leathered book Severus was holding in his arms. "Secrets of the Darkest Arts, has Evans seen your choice of literature?"

"Don't you dare talk about her," Severus said through his teeth.

"Ah, Lily, Lily, Lily. I will never understand her," he paused to think, "Sympathetic towards the likes of you."

"Of course you can't," Severus said proudly, "You only know what it is to be despised by her," James lost his smile.

"Are you sure?" James said with the most mischievous smile he could make. Snape didn't move a single muscle and only stared at him, he got the implication. James was only able to notice him squint his eyes just a little.

"Don't mess with me," Severus said calmly as he pointed his wand at James, "You will definitly lose," James looked at the tip of his wand.

"Hex me are you? I'm not scared," James smiled and moved to place Severus's wands tip on his chest. Severus swallowed, he could hear what James heard, people on the other side of the door. There was no way he could do anything to him and get away with it. He lowered his wand and walked past him.

"You'll see," he said and left the classroom.

James rolled his eyes in disappointment. He had hoped for a little more from the git. He shrugged and walked back to his common room. He hadn't realized it but as he entered he scanned the room. He found who he was looking for and grinned.

"Hey there Rosie," he said and sat next to Lily who was working on some homework. She didn't look up, just kept on with her essay.

"Been chatting with your greasy buddy just a while ago," he leaned back on his chair and ruffled his hair. Lily rolled his eyes but didn't look up.

"We talked a bit about our reading tastes and then we mentioned you a bit," he smiled as he finally got a reaction from the girl. She had looked up and sent him a burning stare. "He says you've always hated me and always will," he paused, "I don't think that's completely true," he looked up to the ceiling as if analyzing the situation.

"And what makes you think that?" Lily said in a monotone voice.

"Well, the fact that you'll marry me someday,"

Meredith, who was sitting in front of Lily focused on her homework, looked up with a snap and smiled. Mary giggled. Lily turned purple in embarrassment and looked away, she couldn't keep looking at him. Clenching her teeth she shuffled her things and picked them up.

"Potter, you only talk because you have a mouth because what you say is bull," she turned around and walked up to the girl's dormitory.

"Potter, you should really give her some slack," Meredith said, laying down the feather she was using.

"There's no fun in that," James laughed.

"You really should, with her mom dying and all," Phyllida said, she wasn't the type to sugarcoat anything.

"Her… Her mum's dying?" James looked up at Phyllida, he had lost his smile and was replaced by a panicked expression.

"Yes," she said, "any day now," James shifted in his seat feeling uncomfortable, he finally decided to leave but was interrupted by Mary,

"Any developments on you know what?"

"No," James answered continued towards his dormitory, "We're still in the same place."

He ran up the stairs into his bedroom, on his way in he slammed the door.

"Maaaaaate, what's with you?" Sirius was laying on his bed.

"Did you know Evan's mother is dying?" he asked.

"What? No, of course not," Peter said.

"Damn," Sirius exclaimed.

"And all I did was bug her," sighed James., "Can't imagine how she feels. How's the map going Pete?"

"Almost done," Peter said excitedly and showed him his prints. They were very good, only the Gryffindors tower was missing. James remarked on this and Peter said, "I left the best for last."

"I see you even got that tree over on the field," Sirius noted.

"Yes, even Hagrids hut," he smiled, "I wanted to be as exact as I could."

"Perfect, Pete," James slapped his hand on Peter's back proudly.

"Find any spell to mark people on the map?" Peter asked.

"No," James' bad mood came back, "The map is useless if we can't find it. We can't guess the perfect's rounds."

"You'll find a way," Peter said, "You always do."

James rolled his eyes.

Dear Mother,

Today is a practical Saturday, I've been full of homework but I was able to finish all of it today. I'm in my room right now because I was just told who I'm supposed to marry and he is pretty sure about it. He's the biggest git in school so I believe it is completely improbable. Flying lessons have become my favorite. We've learned to do circles and stuff. I love the wind on my face and the feeling of weightlessness. I'm missing you guys terribly. I'll speak to my head of house to see if I can go home for my birthday. I'll be letting you know once I get an answer. How are you feeling today? How's dad holding up? Send him a big hug for me.

Love you terribly,

Lily

Lily put her pen down and folded her letter, stretched a bit, and placed the piece of paper in one of her big pockets. She looked in the mirror, she didn't recognize herself. Her eye socket was deep and gave her a sad look. She had been focusing on all her studies that she hadn't even looked at herselg before she left that morning. Her hair was a mess so she tried to comb it a bit with her fingers, failing. She grabbed a scrunchie and tied it all in a high ponytail. She didn't understand why she had suddenly become so self-conscious.

"Damn Potter," she murmured.

She left her room with her head held high, she waved at her friends when she walked by, happy to see Potter was no longer there. She opened the fat lady's portrait and left her common room, she walked a little quickly until she found herself in front of Professor McGonagall's chambers. She knocked, no answer. She knocked again, and again no answer. Lily sighed disappointedly and turned around to keep on her way.

"Miss Evans?" It was Professor McGonagall, Lily smiled.

"Professor, I was just looking for you," she said.

"I noticed. What is it you need?" the professor asked as she adjusted her cuffs.

"Well, you know about my family situation," Lily stated. "I was wondering if I could go home for the weekend. My birthday is on Thursday."

"It would be inconvenient to move a whole train for just one student," Professor said thoughtfully.

"But you always do," Lily said, shocked at her teacher's hesitance. "I mean, Remus Lupin always goes home."

"Mr. Lupin? Oh, well yes," she looked thoughtful, "I'll speak to the headmaster and let you know. I believe there wouldn't be any problem with your circumstances." Lily breathed in relief, she thought for a second she wouldn't be allowed.

"Thank you, Professor!" Lily said and curtsied for some reason and left to the owlery.

Lily sent her letter with one of the barn owls the school had, she was anxious and really wanted to go home. She walked back down to the entrance hall where she would meet Severus, of course, she was early but she didn't mind waiting alone.

"Hi, Lily,"

"Hi, Sev!" Lily looked up from the book she was reading, "You're early."

"So are you," Sev answered and sat next to her.

"Well yes, just escaping some unwanted attention in the common room," Lily sighed.

"Mmm…" Sirius said and whispered, "Potter."

"Yes, but let's ignore anything related to that person. Like my mother always says: Ignore bad behavior."

"How is she? You're mum I mean."

"She says she's stable, but I can't be sure. I asked Professor McGonagall if I could go home this weekend."

"That's nice."

"Yes," Lily said, "Could you believe she almost said no?"

"I sure they're not used to sending students home for their birthday."

"Remus Lupin is always leaving to visit his mother. Why wouldn't I be allowed?"

"Now that you mention it, he does miss tons of classes," Sirius looked thoughtful.

"His mother is sick. Well, so is mine," Lily crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry, Lily," Severus said.

"Yeah, I know." There was a moment of silence between them.

"Do you want to do anything this Thursday?" Severus asked.

"I'm not really in the mood for anything,"

"Let's have breakfast together at least"

"My table or yours?" Lily asked, stating the problem.

"Outside," Severus said, "I'll get the food and stuff."

"Okay, sure," she smiled. "So… I have something to ask you."

"Go on,"

"You know about the... disappearances," she stated.

"Yes?"

"I heard a rumor," Lily decided not to go with the whole truth.

"And what would be the rumor?"

"That there's a teacher involved." Severus kept silent. "Would you know anything about that?"

"And why would I?" Severus asked sharply.

"You were doing stuff with the Slytherins, thought you could know something."

"Lily, I told you I would stop going to those things."

"Well, you've gone. You should know something."

"Drop it, Lily. Nothing changes if I know or don't know what's going on."

"It would give me a little bit of peace of mind if muggle-borns weren't the ones disappearing,"

"Don't worry Lily," Severus sighed, "Nothing will happen to you."

Lily looked up at him. He still didn't understand.

"What about my friends, Sev?" Severus swallowed and looked to the side. "See what I mean? I need to do something about it!"

"I can't help you, Lily. I'm sorry."

Lily walked back to her room feeling disappointed. What made Severus an excellent friend just backfired. He was a loyal person, but not only towards her.

"Mission failed," Lily said as she sat on her bed. Her friends were already in their pajamas and in bed.

"What mission was that?" Mary asked.

"The one in which I had to get some information from a certain Slytherin."

"Finally," Phyllida said.

"Could you guys let all this drama go already?" Meredith said, a little flustered.

"No, I can't Mere!" Lily was tired of her indifference, "It is not Ok for people to go on practicing dark magic on students."

"But what are you, an 11-year-old, going to do about it?" Meredith sat straight on her bed.

"All that I can. Even if it adds up to nothing, at least I tried!" Meredith pouted and hid behind her bed's curtains.

"Potter says he has no new developments," Mary said.

"I don't care what Potter says," Lily said loudly. Mary looked up at Phyllida, Lily was in a mood. She changed and went to bed.

4 chapters left! At least that's the plan.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you do :)

Saludos ;)