Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, everyone! Life took over and I didn't have the time to focus on bigger projects like this one, but I buckled down on the plane last night and pushed through this. Chamber of Secrets Part II is already written, so I promise that the wait won't be this long again. Hope you enjoy!
ALSO: for argument's sake, we'll ignore the apocrypha and imagine a world where Gilderoy Lockhart was in the same year as the Marauders, because it amuses me.
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Warnings: NA
Beta: Aya
Stacked with: MC4A; By Any Other Name
Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC (x4); Bow Before the Blacks; Brush; Ethnic and Present; Small Book
Representation: Celestial Petals AU; Romani Potter family
Bonus challenge(s): Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Teat Juice; Second Verse (Not a Lamp); Chorus (Pear-Shaped)
Tertiary bonus challenge(s): NA
4.
The Chamber of Secrets Part I: Parseltongue
Remus held the door open as she snuck out of the kitchen and onto the back porch, cake in hand. They sang along with Sirius, Hermione, Ron, and Neville. Harry was grinning, pleased at his first real birthday party with friends.
The kids had turned up that morning and they were set up to camp in the backyard that night. They'd been feeding them a steady diet of popcorn and whatever else they wanted to roast on a campfire, which had built up nicely to cake. Lily was quite proud of her masterpiece: she'd managed to make Quidditch hoops out of licorice and toothpicks and had recreated a pitch with icing.
Harry blew out all twelve of his candles and cut the cake into massive pieces.
"Thank you, Mrs. Potter," Neville said, accepting his slice of cake.
"That's Lily to you, love," she said. "Here, let's get you one of these Kit-Kat bleachers too…"
Neville smiled at her, and his shy and lopsided grin was like getting hit by the ghost of Frank Longbottom for a bit. Lily smiled back.
"Milk," Remus announced, coming out of the kitchen and putting a hand on Lily's back to avoid her backing up into him. "Why have cake without it?"
Their strategy thus far had been to swoop in, provide nutrition, and check for pulses before ducking out to let them have their fun. Remus and Lily had spent most of the day reading in the living room, listening to giggling and the outlines of heated arguments and discussions. That's where the three of them retreated, curling up on the couches with their cakes.
"They're good kids," Sirius said, gathering his hair up in a bun before digging in. "I'm glad Harry's found his people."
"I'm happy too," Lily said. "Also, I kept a slice of cake in the fridge, but that's for Mrs. Bagshot—don't either of you dare touch it."
"Or what, Evans?" Sirius scoffed. She dipped her fingers in the icing of his cake and smashed them on his nose. Remus burst out laughing so hard, milk came out of his nose, which made them laugh so hard that Lily's guard was down when Sirius retaliated.
There was icing everywhere when poor little Hermione wandered in, asking for a paper towel.
"Yes, paper towels! Good idea love," Lily said, dropping her paper plate on Sirius' lap and getting up.
"Bring some extra Evans, you missed a spot," Sirius called out.
Harry tiptoed into her room and knocked on the door.
"Hi love," Lily said with a smile. She wasn't in bed yet, just curled up in her reading chair. She made room for Harry to join her. "Did you have a good birthday?"
He smiled and his eyes lit up, which made Lily's heart squeeze.
"It was amazing Mum," he said. "Thanks. Can we do the same thing next year?"
"Of course, sweetheart," she laughed. She reached out and brushed his hair out of his face. "I'm glad I got to meet your friends. They're lovely."
"Yeha, they're cool," Harry said. "Next year we should invite Ginny though—you know, Ron's sister? She's coming to Hogwarts."
"Of course," Lily said. "Is something on your mind, love?"
"Yeah, I just had a question," he said. "Did the Potter family have house elves?"
"House elves?" Lily asked, chewing her lip. "Well, when your father first brought me home there were two—Ilia and Oddy. They were quite old though; they died not soon after your grandparents did, and in the middle of the war… Why do you ask?"
"Nothing," Harry asked. "Just curious."
"You know, when we go to Diagon Alley next, we can stop by Gringotts and see if there's anything you want to take out of the family vault," Lily said. "There's old family heirlooms, journals, photo albums—all kinds of things."
Harry grinned at that.
Remus came back from the full moon soaking wet and shivering. Lily was thankful that Harry had gone to the Burrow for a day of pick-up quidditch.
"Let's get you over here," Sirius said, guiding Remus to the living room.
"I'll get everything wet," he said weakly.
"That doesn't matter, love," Lily said. She cast a hot-air charm to dry him off, and Sirius threw a blanket over Remus' shoulders. With another flick of her wand she set the kettle to boil, and they sat on either side of Remus, rubbing warmth into his arms.
"What happened?" Lily finally asked.
"I—I think the wolf tried to swim," Remus said.
He was shivering, which had nothing to do with the cold.
Remus' current full moon strategy was to Apparate to this minuscule island off the coast of Northern Ireland so small that they'd only ever found it on one map; there it had been called Goat Hoof Island—an excellent name for a place so rocky, small, and abandoned. Padfoot wasn't strong enough on his own to restrain the wolf in case of an emergency, so using the sea as a natural barrier was their best option. Sirius would stand guard on the nearby cliffs, keeping an eye on their surroundings. While the island gave him plenty of room to roam, the wolf remained alone and turned on himself throughout the night. One of his eyes was black, and she'd noticed how gingerly he'd put weight on his left foot on his way in. His arms, of course, were full of scratches.
"There were two hikers," Sirius said at last. "Just these two tourists, American I think, camping on the cliff…"
"Oh, God," Remus said, burying his face in his hands. "He smelled them…"
"We don't know that," Lily said.
"Except we do," Remus said, looking up. "Look, if this isn't safe anymore, we need to go back to Plan A…"
"Absolutely not," Sirus said.
"Never," Lily said. "That's not even a plan."
"Which it would have to be to receive full consideration," Sirius said.
"Stop," Remus said. "The priority is to keep the wolf under control."
"No, the priority is you," Sirius said. "Fuck the wolf."
"No," Remus said. "Not if he's… getting stronger."
Sirius opened his mouth, but Lily shot him a look.
"We don't have to discuss this right now; we have another 30 days before this comes up again," Lily said. "For now, we have to bring your fever down and we can also start brewing those painkilling potions for your joints."
They'd timed their visit to Diagon Alley so that it lined up with the Weasleys and Grangers. Sirius and Remus immediately splintered off to go to the Apothecary's—Lily didn't really want to know why it was that they desperately needed kelpknot—which left her and Harry to go to Flourish and Blotts.
The bookstore was a nightmare.
"Harry—Lily, dear," Molly said, catching Lily's arm and pulling her in line. The other witches in line jeered.
"What in the world are they so busy for?" Lily asked. If Harry hadn't immediately beelined to his friends for a reunion, they would have turned back and gone home right away. Crowds, especially crowds in which she could lose her son, were not her favourite.
"Calm down, calm down," an employee—his name was Samuel, he and Remus had tea frequently—said. "Watch the books!"
"Gilderoy Lockhart is here!" Molly said giddily. "I never thought I'd meet him… Oh look—there, he's coming out!"
The crowd went wild. Lily winced at the noise.
"Oh God," Lily breathed. Molly looked up at her, frowning. "I went to school with Gilderoy—Molly, I'm sorry, he's a bit of a…"
"My word! That cannot be… Harry Potter?"
Lily's stomach dropped out of her. The kids, small and scrappy as they were, had managed to get to the front of the crowd and Harry was spotted.
She heard a murmur through the crowd and her son turned cherry red as a perfectly coiffed and overly groomed Lockhart rushed towards him, grabbing his arm and pulling him forwards—hoping for a nice picture for The Prophet, no doubt.
Lily shoved her way to the front of the crowd.
"Gilderoy," she said, stepping forwards and gently pulling Harry away. She gave him her best get back in the crowd look, and he was all too happy to join Ron, Hermione, and Neville on the sidelines.
"Well, well... Lily Potter herself—beautiful as ever, Lily, despite it all."
"Despite the scar you mean," Lily said. Gilderoy's practiced press face didn't even flicker.
"A picture for The Prophet!" a small wizard with a camera said.
"Of course!" Lockhart beamed. "Three of the greatest names in Defense Against the Dark Arts of the twentieth century—"
"Leave Harry out of this," Lily hissed under her breath at Gilderoy. She gave Harry a look that said stay put, but he didn't look like he needed to be told. Her son did not like this amount of attention, unless there was a broom under him and a Snitch in his hand.
"Of course, you and me then," Gilderoy said. He lowered his voice, "Just like old times."
"I have no idea what you're referring to," Lily said, smiling to the cameraman.
She felt his hand gently flit against the small of her waist, and in a small feat of wandless magic, she called forth a spark to push him away.
"You should know that the last man who tried to lay a hand on me without my express permission was Voldemort, and look what happened to him," she whispered. Only a few in the crowd heard, and Lockhart winced at the name. But, ever the showman, he took over again without even skipping a beat.
"It is lovely to see such young visitors here today!" he beamed. "These next generations of witches and wizards represent a new hope—and a perfect opportunity for me to announce something I had been keeping a secret… When young Harry Potter and his lovely mother entered this bookshop today, they were expecting to purchase a collection of my books on the reading list at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and perhaps pick up a copy of Me, the Magician while they were here! Little did Mr. Potter know that he would be walking away from the store with a complimentary selection of my work, signed, of course."
The crowd clapped. Lily just kept smiling. At least Lockhart wouldn't be getting a single galleon out of her.
"And, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that Mr. Potter and his friends will be benefiting from the presence of the real Magician every day this year! It is with great pleasure and honour that I hereby announce that I will be the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts for the upcoming year!"
Lily's smile nearly broke. Seriously? She didn't even remember Lockhart being in the NEWT classes with she and James… What was Dumbledore playing at?
The crowd, on the other hand, was quite pleased. A Flourish and Blotts employee motioned to bring Harry his books, but Lily intercepted him, took the books, and thanked him politely. She got cornered into a quick hug with Gilderoy, and he kissed her once on each cheek—avoiding the scar tissue, of course.
"It is quite a shame that Hogwarts doesn't have parent-teacher meetings, Lily," Gilderoy smiled. "It was a pleasure seeing you again."
Remus and Sirius laughed for twenty minutes straight when they found out.
"Lucius Malfoy, step away from my son," Lily said coldly.
Harry, Ron, and Neville had wanted to pop into the Quidditch store—well, Harry had, anyways. His friends followed except for Hermione, who had sat on the bench outside with Lily and was asking her questions about the charms theory that she had been writing on during Harry's birthday campout. There was no way a twelve-year-old could be expected to understand it, Lily legitimately felt as if Hermione was following along.
Anyways, the boys had been gone awhile, so Lily went to investigate—and lo and behold, there was Lucius Malfoy and a boy who could only be Draco. Lily had heard so much about him—nothing good, of course…
"Lily Potter," Malfoy said. "A charming surprise."
"Are you boys done?" Lily asked her brood. "Or were they bothering you?"
"Father was only explaining how he'd donated a fresh set of Nimbus 2001s to the Slytherin Quidditch team," Draco chimed in. In his voice, Lily heard a thousand other Pureblood boys she'd been to school with and she instantly understood why Harry despised him.
"That's the only way you'd get on the team," Harry shot back.
"Harry," Lily scolded.
"We'll see about that on the pitch, Potter."
"Harry," Lily repeated, more sternly this time. "That's beneath you. Lucius, I'd have thought that there would be something in the Pureblood Playbook for Perfect Conduct against taunting children. I'd throw bribery in there, but God knows that ship has sailed."
Lucius Malfoy gave her a look.
"You have a lot to say about pureblood life for a Muggle-born, Mrs. Potter."
"You can call me a Mudblood, if you like, Lucius," Lily said. "I know it's hanging off the tip of your tongue."
"There is no dishonor in being able to provide," Lucius said, changing the subject entirely. "I'm sure that that's one of the pleasures of old magic that your husband would have taught you."
"Had he not been murdered by a man who claimed old magic as his own, perhaps," Lily shot back, keeping her tone cordial. She held Malfoy's gaze, but he seemed to realise that any further conversation led to dangerous territory.
"Come along, Draco," Lucius said. "That's more than enough of our time wasted."
They left the store.
"Mrs. Potter, that was badass," Ron said.
"You best not use that language around your mother, but thank you," Lily said. She turned to Harry. "Love, I'm very serious. I don't care what he was saying; entertaining that is beneath you. All of you."
"Malfoy's dad is just as bad as he is," Neville muttered to his shoes.
"It's true Mrs. P," Ron said, particularly red. It was the curse of the gingers; Lily got so flushed when she was mad too. "Slytherin's going to slaughter the other teams this year, and not because they're good, but because they're rich!"
Lily pondered this. Her heart went out to Ron especially; her parents hadn't been wealthy in the Muggle world…
"You're right, that's quite unfair," Lily said, motioning for the boys to follow her to the cash register. "But one important thing to learn, especially when you're dealing with people like Malfoy, is that there's no purpose in getting angry when you could get even."
She smiled at the young witch at the cash register who had overseen the whole thing, and now looked a little afraid.
"Hello, how are you? I'd like to purchase twenty-one Nimbus 2001s, please," Lily said. "Would it be possible to donate them to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry anonymously, with a note asking Madam Hooch to ensure that they be made available to all players, regardless of their house, for games and practises."
The boys watched her complete the transaction, completely stunned.
"There's old Potter gold in Gringotts that isn't getting any shinier, and I do believe that your father would endorse all three causes at play here," Lily told Harry.
"Quidditch, equality, and getting back at Malfoy?" Harry asked. Lily smiled, and brushed his hair quickly.
"This is our little secret, do you understand?" Lily told the boys. "Now come along; the others will be waiting for us at Florian Fortescue's, yes? And don't worry Neville, we won't tell your grandmother we fed you ice cream for supper."
"Harry, your mum's the best," she overheard Ron whisper. She smiled.
One minute she was holding Harry's hand, the next minute she was standing on Platform 9 ¾ alone.
"Harry," Lily said. Her heart somehow stilled and started beating at a thousand miles an hour all at once. She looked back at the wall behind her. The brick looked unchanged, but when Lily touched it something felt… wrong. With the wards. She pushed against the wall but couldn't go back. The gate was closed, and Harry was on the other side, alone with Ron…
Oh God. She'd had nightmares less scary than this.
"Harry!" she called. "Harry!"
"Lily," Remus said putting an arm on her shoulder. She vaguely heard Molly asking about Ron backwards.
"Remus, something's wrong," she said, panic building up in her chest. "Remus, something's wrong!"
"Lily, breathe," Sirius said more strictly. "Step back from the wall…"
Remus and Molly held her hand as she watched one of Britain's top curse-breakers throw everything he had against the gate. It wouldn't budge. Now that the train had gone, a bigger crowd was trying to make its way back. Arthur and some other Ministry employees who were around held them back.
Sirius swore and backed away.
"I have no idea," he said, turning to them. "I can't even get a trace on this magic…"
And just like that, the wall shimmered. When Sirius tested the wall again, all of a sudden his foot could go through.
Lily was the first to cross the gate, the Weasleys and her boys hot on her heels. Aurors had gathered on the other side, probably called in to investigate, but Lily didn't care about them. She couldn't see Harry and Ron anywhere, and calling out their names did nothing.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Sirius swore.
"The crowd is huge," Lily said quickly. "The crowd is huge, Harry might've gotten claustrophobic. Maybe they went to wait in the car..."
And to the car they went; or at least they tried…
"They wouldn't have," Remus said, as they stood in the parking lot of King's Cross, looking around. Remus' certainty wavered. "Would they?"
Lily bit her lip and her memories sketched a quick portrait of the man she'd gotten the other half of Harry's DNA from.
"Yes," Lily said. "Yes, they would have."
"Oh, Merlin help us…" Molly gasped.
"Okay, nobody panic," Remus said, his eyes scanning the sky. "Sirius, you can get up there, can't you?"
"How on Earth would he do that?" Molly asked.
"Sirius has a flying motorcycle," Lily filled her in quietly.
"Really?" Arthur perked up. "That's brilliant!"
"Arthur Weasley now is not the time!" Molly roared. "If you weren't so blastedly obsessed with flying Muggle contraptions in the first place we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"Regardless, I have the motorcycle here. I'd been hoping to take it to work later," Sirius said. "Duty calls."
"Please tell me you have a helmet if you're going to be up in the air so long…" Lily said.
"Worried, Evans?" Sirius grinned. And then he turned to Remus. "Coming, Moony?"
"Absolutely not, the—" she caught herself before she could complain that the full moon had been just two days ago. They hadn't told Arthur and Molly.
"I am perfectly alright," Remus said, giving Lily a look.
"On the ground, yes," Sirius said. "I just remembered I've only got one helmet Remus, and you heard Evans."
"Send me word when you've found them," Lily said. "Get them to land right away, do you hear me, Sirius?"
He kissed her cheek and darted off without a clear answer.
The next they heard was from Sirius' shaggy patronus, which came to find them at The Woodland where Arthur and Molly had come for a cup of tea while they waited.
"Escorted the kids to Hogwarts—they said they'd wanted to wait for us in the car, but that it took off on its own accord. They didn't know where it was going, so they just took control of it and followed the train. Landing was rough, but kids are okay. McGonagall might kill them, though. On my way home."
"If she doesn't, I will," Molly said. "Well, mine anyways. I'll leave you yours."
Lily laughed.
"Outright murder aside, I would like someone to teach me how to send a Howler," Lily said.
"Rita Skeeter's having the time of her life," Sirius said, spreading The Prophet on the table.
Yesterday, they'd finished all the yardwork they needed to prepare The Woodland for Winter, and nobody had any reason to leave the house today. This translated to a lovely, lazy Sunday morning; Remus was making some elaborate breakfast he wouldn't accept any help with, and so Lily and Sirius were sitting at the table, brewing cups upon cups of coffee using the good beans.
Sirius showed her the article in question: "HOGWARTS PLUNGED INTO CHAOS AS CHAMBER OF SECRETS OPENS AGAIN."
"Give me a break," Lily said. "Chaos?"
"It sounds ridiculous, but it does seem as if something happened…" Sirius said. He read the piece out loud for them.
"Ridiculous," Lily said once Sirius was finished.
"Lily, you do know what the Chamber of Secrets is, don't you?" Remus said.
"Of course, I do," Lily said. "Muggle-borns talk, you know. Even legends circulated. Unless you two know something I don't..?"
"No," Sirius shook his head. "I mean, obviously we looked for it."
"It was our duty to be thorough—for the map, you see," Remus said.
"I'm sure," Lily smiled.
"Yes, and James became particularly obsessed with making sure it wasn't real when he started dating this redhead in sixth year," Sirius said. "We redoubled search efforts then, but never found anything."
"Then I'm not worried," Lily said.
"Yeah, and Mrs. Norris probably had it coming, wicked little thing," Sirius said.
"Lily, what a surprise," Lockhart said.
Lily looked away from Remus and took a deep breath.
"Hello, Gilderoy," she said, forcing a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Simply out for a stroll in Hogsmeade," he said. He was wearing a lavender purple outfit that made him look like an exotic bird—of the ridiculous type with an overly idiotic mating dance. "Keeping an eye on the children and so on."
"There seem to be no children this far from the village center," Remus said quietly. "Unless they have started teaching invisibility spells at a very young age."
"What brings you to The Hog's Head?" Gilderoy asked, not paying Remus any attention.
Remus and Lily were waiting to meet with Otticus Belby—the man who had placed a patent on the Wolfsbane Potion and had made Remus' life infinitely more complicated. They were hoping to convince him to lease them a license to brew the potion, but Remus hadn't been overly hopeful. After all, Belby making the Wolfsbane Potion harder to secure and had to be purely driven by a hatred of werewolves. There was no negotiating with that.
"Catching up with a friend," Lily said, nudging her head towards Remus. There was no way Lockhart knew they lived together, right? Right. She hoped that her tone was pointed enough to give Lockhart a hint that he was interrupting, but Lockhart was the kind of man who would not see what he didn't want to.
"Hello, Gilderoy," Remus said diplomatically. Lily knew it must hurt—Remus had had no patience for Lockhart when they'd been in school. Where Remus worked hard and in the shadows, Lockhart composed epics about every bead of sweat that formed on his forehead—the kind of bad epic with too many adjectives that Sirius was prone to singing when drunk.
"Remus," Lockhart smiled. "You look well."
The full moon was tomorrow and so Remus, in fact, looked like he'd been hit by a car (perhaps of the flying sort) which had then reversed to attempt a mercy killing but hadn't quite done the job.
Lockhart turned back to Lily again.
"You know Lily, I can think of much nicer places around Hogsmeade where two old friends may catch up, have a drink, spend a few leisurely hours enjoying each others' companies…" Lockhart said.
"Hogsmeade is lovely," Lily nodded.
Mercifully, a Hogwarts student burst into the pub.
"Professor Lockhart, Professor Lockhart!" he said. "Samir got his head stuck in the patio railing at that fortune-teller's house and she says she's going to curse his family for nine generations to come if he doesn't get unstuck!"
"There are those children you were meant to be keeping an eye on," Remus said jovially. Lily bit her lip to avoid smiling.
"It was nice seeing you again," she offered politely.
"It was," Lockhart agreed. "We'll have to stop running into each other purely by accident, you know…."
And with that, he left. Lily turned to Remus, one finger raised.
"Not a word."
"I wasn't going to say anything," Remus said. Then he grinned mischievously. "Sirius will say it all when we get home."
"Don't you dare," Lily said. "Remus John Lupin, I will hex you into next week if you tell him a word…"
Dear Mum,
I promise I didn't do it on purpose, but there was a duel and Malfoy summoned this snake and I thought it was going to bite Justin, so I told it to move but then I spoke Parseltongue and I don't know why or how I did it. I didn't even know it was a thing, Neville had to explain. Did Dad speak Parseltongue? Did anybody in the family do it? Hermione says Salazar Slytherin did, but I'm not a Slytherin so I don't know. I'm sorry that I snuck out after hours to go to the owlery and send this letter, but I'm confused and I want to know in case Dumbledore makes me come to his office.
Please don't tell Sirius. I know he doesn't like Slytherins because of his family. Also don't tell Remus. I know he tells Sirius everything.
I love you,
Harry
PS- I had detention with Professor Lockhart because of the car thing and he asked me about you. Did you go to school together?
Dear Lily,
I hope that this letter finds you well. I had the pleasure of reading your latest article in Charms Quarterly and was quite intrigued by your proposed theoretical framework. I do hope we can discuss the subject further over a cup of tea, as that is not my main purpose in writing to you today.
I know that you are Muggle-born, and that you carried out excessive genealogical searches during the last war to trace a wizarding ancestor with little to no luck. However, I was hoping you may know if speaking Parseltongue ran in James' family. There was an incident at the castle where Harry revealed himself to be able to speak Parseltongue, and he seemed as surprised by it as the rest of us. I thought you ought to know and was quite curious myself, as old men tend to be.
Best wishes (which of course extend themselves to Sirius and Remus),
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
She and Slughorn were having breakfast at The Three Broomsticks, and he was his usual happy, jovial self.
"I believe it's officially been ten years now since you told me you were going to retire, sir," Lily said.
"Well!" Slughorn said, buttering his toast. "I see you'll do an old man no favours in feeling young, Lily."
She laughed. "I hope Potions are treating you well."
"They are, though we are facing a bit of a strange situation," he said. "Somebody seems to be stealing from the Potion Master's store."
"Stealing potions ingredients?" Lily asked. She took a sip of coffee, frowning. "Does that happen often?"
"Well occasionally, a student will unfortunately try to brew a love potion or memory potion on their own—for academic and personal purposes, you see," Slughorn said. "But never have I seen such a wide range of ingredients go missing… I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is this thief is brewing. It must be something quite rare."
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
This letter will be quite short, as I know you are a busy man. Furthermore, I am sure you are facing questions on this matter from all sides, but I must ask because of who my son is. Is Hogwarts safe given these petrifications?
Best,
Lily (and Sirius and Remus, probably)
Lily loved, loved, loved Christmas markets. She loved the lights, the crafts, the warm apple cider, the baking, the music. She'd been proposed to at a Christmas market. She'd found Harry's first toy at a Christmas market. Once December hit, she Apparated to Christmas markets across the country—and the one at Ottery St. Catchpole was lovely.
Molly was going to be joining her soon, but Lily had arrived early, which somehow gave Gilderoy Lockhart the impression that she would like to talk.
"Lily," he said, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips.
"Gilderoy," she said, pulling her hand back. "Yes, wow... what a coincidence."
"There's no such thing as a coincidence Lily, though it is always such luck to run into you," he said. He flashed her one of his famous smiles, which looked so plastic. "Are you from around here?"
"No," Lily said, making sure not to give him any kind of information about The Woodland lest he start appearing directly at her home next.
"Then you are exploring," Lockhart said. "I do love exploring, though fame has made it quite difficult to spend a leisurely afternoon alone, discovering a new place, undisturbed…"
"I know," Lily said plainly.
"Oh, but there's nothing I wouldn't do for my fans," he said, flashing her another smile. She didn't react. "Are you cold, Lily?"
"I bundled up."
He ignored her. "May I suggest a cup of apple cider to warm up?"
Apple cider was ruined now.
"Actually I'm meeting someone, and he's just over there…" Lily said, pointing in the crowd to someone she happened to recognize.
"One day I will get that drink out of you, Lily!" Gilderoy called as she walked away and towards Amos Diggory. When she called his name, he recognized her and smiled. He'd commissioned her to do some charms work on a present for his wife years ago, and she quite liked him.
"Lily," the big, bearded man grinned. "Why, I haven't seen you in ages, how have you been?"
"Well, thank you," she said. "I heard from your boy Cedric recently."
"Yes, the thank you card from Hufflepuff House! He told me he was planning on sending something on behalf of the team." He lowered his voice. "Frankly, Lily, between you and me, I know that you donated those brooms anonymously for a reason, but everyone knows it's you, and you should take credit for it. It was a wonderful gesture. Cedric was telling me that his team has four Muggle-born players on it, two from families that could never afford Quidditch equipment, and then his old man would never do something so biased… Leveling out the playing field was marvelous, just marvelous. And I want you to know that I did raise as much of a storm about it at the school board as I could, but it was difficult given our current president…"
"Who's the president of the school board?" Lily asked.
"Lucius Malfoy," Amos told her.
"Is this guy bothering you?" Sirius asked. "Be honest."
"He's not bothering me so much as wasting my time," Lily said, her hands curled around a cup of tea. They'd just finished another Animagus lesson, and Lily was freshly showered and had changed into her chunkiest sweater. Lily still hadn't managed to budge an inch away from her human shape, but she wasn't fussed about it. Patience was a virtue, after all.
"Stop being nice to him, Evans," Sirius said. "Unless you're planning on getting nicer."
"I reject the implications that I would ever!" Lily said, smacking his arm.
"Well then you don't need to spend any energy on this tool. Tell him to fuck off, or I will," Sirius said. "Seriously Evans, you're too nice to people. It's fucking Snape all over again."
"That was different."
"At least Lockhart's hair is nice to look at, yeah," Sirius said.
She rolled her eyes, unwilling to open that can of worms, and leaned back against the couch, her head on Remus' shoulder.
"Lily?" Remus asked cautiously. "Perhaps… perhaps this story with Gilderoy brings up an interesting point regarding… well, your love life. Which should not include Lockhart by any stretch of the imagination, but…"
"Oh no," she said. "We're using the nice teacups; I should have known this was an intervention."
"It's not an intervention, we'd just thought we'd find a time to ask and apparently that time is now," Sirius said, shooting Remus a look. "Look, James has been gone for eleven years. Are you… okay?"
She arched an eyebrow.
"Well I've got these recurring nightmares about stepping over my dead husband's body and the corpse of the man who killed him to bring my child to safety, and I have the periodic existential crisis about why it is that I'm still alive, but don't we all? Other than that and this slight scar I've got, I think I'm doing well," Lily said.
"Okay, we asked for the news, not the sass," Sirius asked.
"Let me try," Remus said. "Are you okay being on your own? Because if you wanted to try and date…"
"I'm not alone. I have you two," Lily said. Her heart stopped. "Oh my gosh, are either of you going anywhere..?"
"No, no," Remus said. "No, it's not like that at all. We just… we want to look out for you."
"That's saying something from Mr. Parade-of-One-Night-Stands and his friend, Mr. Forever-Alone-Because-of-Lycanthropy," Lily said.
"Yes, well, you're neither of those people," Sirius said. He kissed the top of her head. "We're not going anywhere; we just want to make sure that you have what you need to be happy and safe."
"I do," she promised. "Or I will when Harry comes home from Christmas, I suppose."