A/N: Look who's back again! Meee! Sorry, I need to calm down... I dunno, I'm just in a really good mood today. Maybe because it's Easter and I've got a whole chocolate egg to myself.

To my wonderful guest reviewer, I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter! And also thanks to everyone following, favouriting and just reading this story. I'm grateful to all of you.

Anyway, let's get back to the story.

Disclaimer: Sorry, I still only own the storyline.

Chapter Five

Upon entering the Great Hall for breakfast, Lily noted how Severus and his friends looked particularly pleased with themselves. Her eyes narrowed as her former friend caught her observing him and hastily stopped smirking. That was never a good sign. If he hadn't stared right back at her that meant something had happened that she wouldn't like. And, though this realisation made her stomach clench, Severus was probably involved in some way.

Nothing seemed out of order as she reached the Gryffindor table. The Marauders were laughing loudly at something or other further down the table; as a general rule of thumb, Lily measured the seriousness of in school rumours based on how loud the four boys laughed at breakfast (barely any laughter was a warning sign). Mary and Dorcas were bickering about something menial while Hestia and Emmeline threw bits of cereal at them, hoping to enrage them; and Marlene was watching them, her face expressionless as usual, but she shifted along the bench to make space for Lily.

As she sat down, Lily's nerves grew. If whatever Severus, Mulciber and their cronies had been smug about had been school related, everyone on the Gryffindor table would know. But no one seemed to think anything was out of the ordinary. That meant the cause was from something external; something that she discovered when her daily subscription to the Daily Prophet dropped into her lap.

Maidenhead Massacre

Late last night, Death Eaters marched on Maidenhead, a primarily Muggle town in the county of Berkshire, desecrating the town centre and burning down the homes of any Muggles in the vicinity. The official number of deaths is as of yet unknown, although St Mungo's spokesmen Eileen Johnson estimated it to be around 20 alongside over 100 casualties as Death Eaters invaded the surrounding homes.

This makes for the second large scale attack conducted by the Death Eaters in the last three months, the first being the failed ambush of the Hogwarts Express, which resulted in zero deaths and zero injuries.

Lily scoffed.

The apparent change in tactics by He–Who–Must–Not–Be–Named and his followers begs the question: is he intent on full scale war or is this just – Continued page 2 column 4.

Feeling Marlene's gaze on her as her temper rose, Lily thrust the newspaper at her, helped herself to a piece of toast and left the Great Hall. She couldn't bare to be in the same room as Severus and his friends when their smugness radiated across the Hall. How could they be so pleased by such a thing? It was disgusting to think that they might even have been involved in some way, that they might even have killed someone themselves. Severus and Lily might no longer be friends, but she was still constantly aware of him. The revulsion she felt as she thought of his possible actions coupled perfectly with the anger coursing through her system.

Here at Hogwarts they were so protected but outside the castle walls there were people dying. It was all very well her getting an education in protecting herself but what about the poor Muggles who were defenceless against magic? Where was their protection? And what about her own family? They were just as vulnerable.

'Fuck this.' Lily muttered to herself, striding down the stairs in the Entrance Hall into the dungeons, making her way to her first lesson of the day. There was a good chance Professor Slughorn was already in his classroom; on weekends he never appeared outside of his quarters until the early afternoon but on weekdays he sprung about his classroom from as early as seven in the morning.

'Good morning, Lily!' he greeted with his booming voice as she slipped into the room, her anger abating at his jovial attitude. 'A little early, aren't we? Not that I mind your enthusiasm, Lily dear!'

'Morning, sir.' she replied, smiling at him. 'I just thought I'd make a start on preparing my ingredients. What potion are we doing today?'

'Any potion that takes your fancy, Lily.' Slughorn replied merrily. 'Provided it's in the textbook.'

'Okay…' Lily pulled out her copy of Advanced Potion-Making and ran her finger down the contents page. 'I think I'll make an inflammation antidote.' she decided out loud, thinking she could then take it down to Hagrid that afternoon. He liked soaking bandages in it to be used on creatures in the forest.

'An excellent idea.'

Lily worked contentedly for the forty minutes before lessons officially began, the methodical nature of preparing ingredients calming her fully. When the rest of the class arrived, Mary and Marlene took seats either side of her. The chaos of everyone brewing their potions presented an excellent opportunity to chat without being interrupted.

'Lily,' Mary said, tapping Lily on the shoulder with one hand and carelessly throwing some knotgrass into her cauldron with the other. 'Marlie's mum sent her letter saying there's a protest happening on the nineteenth of December – the day after we break up. They're protesting in Diagon Alley to increase the protection Muggles are getting.'

Lily glanced at Marlene, who nodded, for confirmation.

'So, what do you say?' Mary pressed, lowering her voice as Slughorn walked past. 'You in? My parents'll never let me but I'm sneaking out and Marlie's going with her mum anyway.'

Lily bit her lip. Something was niggling at the back of her brain, making her whole body tense. Then she shook herself. She was a Gryffindor and this protest would be a chance to make a difference.

'I'm in.'

Mary squealed, pulling both Lily and Marlene into a bone-crushing hug.

'Merlin, this is exciting!' she exclaimed once she'd let go. 'I've never been to a protest before. Dorcas has – she said they can get a bit chaotic.'

'Oh well.' Lily grinned. 'I can stand getting trampled on.'

Mary squealed again, earning her some strange glances from the other students in their class. She and Lily laughed, turning back to their potions, while the corners of Marlene's lips twitched upwards.

…

After her last lesson of the day finished, Lily made her way out of the castle and down to Hagrid's hut, lugging her cauldron of inflammation antidote with her. She hadn't gone to visit the Hogwarts Gamekeeper yet this term, something that made her quite guilty, and those visits always made her feel better. Agreeing to going to the protest had been egging at her the whole day; she was excited of course, this was the opportunity to do something worthwhile she had been waiting for, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was bound to go wrong. Such a protest was sure to attract as much negative attention as positive attention.

She knocked on Hagrid's cabin door. It opened relatively quickly, and Hagrid beamed down at her, helpfully relieving her of her burden.

'Hullo, Lily.' he said as she squeezed past into his comfortably warm cabin. She grinned up at him.

'I thought I'd bring something useful with me.' she told him, sitting down at his large table. 'I know you like soaking your bandages in that stuff.'

'Cheers.' Hagrid deposited the cauldron in his sink. 'I've been right popular today. James came an' saw me this mornin'.'

'Good I came later, then.' Lily joked as Hagrid started to make tea. She stood up, going to collect mugs from his cupboard and setting the table.

'Don' yeh try and hide nothin', Missy.' he accused, wagging his finger in her direction. 'He's told me yeh was gettin' on well las' time you spoke.'

'Maybe he's lying.' Lily suggested, smirking as she sat back down. 'I can't believe you'd take his word over mine.'

'I always told yeh he weren't so bad, didn' I?' Hagrid said, chuckling appreciatively.

'And I always told you he'd Imperioused you.' she quipped. 'You just never listened.'

Shaking his head, Hagrid poured the freshly boiled water into a teapot and threw in two teabags before putting on the lid. He brought the pot over to the table and sat down opposite her, his beetle black eyes crinkled in a benign smile.

'So, yer friends now?' he asked, pouring Lily a large mug of tea.

'I don't know about friends but we're being civil at least.' she replied, shrugging and taking a sip of tea. 'I'm guessing he didn't tell you about the huge row we had in the library two weeks into the start of term.'

'He mighta left that out, yeah.' Hagrid admitted, laughing. Lily grinned.

'He would.' she said, thinking of the self-confidence of the boy in question.

'But he's an all righ' bloke really.' he said, watching her carefully. 'Bit of a git at times but he means well.'

'You're really selling him to me, Hagrid.' Lily giggled, almost spitting tea everywhere so she clamped a hand in front of her mouth. 'I'll tell him you said that,' she added once calm.

'Yeh do that, Lily.' Hagrid waved an enormous hand carelessly. 'Might do him some good.'

They finished their tea and after that Lily helped Hagrid soak bandages in the antidote she had brought, hanging them in front of the fire to dry once soaked. Once they were finished, Lily said she was in desperate need of stretching her legs and Hagrid agree, saying he wanted to check the spells on the school gate. He stumped around the table and ducked down to the drawers beneath his bed, pulling out a golden instrument of some time. They shrugged on their coats and Hagrid collected his pink umbrella before shutting the door behind them.

'How's yer leg?' he inquired as they made their way down the lawn. 'Bin meaning ter ask.'

'Getting better.' Lily replied vaguely. 'I'm just glad I don't need crutches anymore. They were a nightmare. I never realised how weak my arms are until I used them.'

'I took the train ter Hogsmeade that night yeh got yer injury.' Hagrid said, adjusting his hold on his umbrella. 'Once you lot had gone. Dumbledore wanted me to keep an eye – let him know when them Death Eaters was all gone. Got a good view of 'em down in the Three Broomsticks.'

'Mary said they drank everything.'

'Destroyed the place more like.' Hagrid corrected darkly. 'Drank some an' smashed the rest.'

They reached the gate and Hagrid ran his golden instrument along the lock. All of a sudden, little lines of light streamed from the large padlock, twisting in and out of each other until they covered the whole gate in a glowing shield. Lily looked at it in wonder, reaching out a hand to touch the magic, feeling a rush of warmth up her arm as she did so.

'Dumbledore's magic that.' Hagrid told her softly. 'He keeps us safe he does.'

Through the shield, Lily could just make out the path that wound down to Hogsmeade.

'It's strange to think there's only this shield between them and us…' she murmured, tracing her finger along the shield, noting the varying areas of pressure as she switched between lines of light.

'Wha's that?' Hagrid asked, edging closer to her.

'I just meant, when you think about it, the only thing that stops anything bad getting in here is this.' Lily elaborated, looking up at Hagrid with a strangely sad smile. 'A wall of spells.'

'Ruddy good spells.' he said, clapping her on the back so that she almost fell over. 'Sorry.' he added gruffly, steadying her with one massive hand.

'Ruddy good spells.' she agreed, with a quiet laugh.

'You all righ', Lily?' he asked, watching her, his eyes growing concerned. 'You look a bit odd.'

'I'm just thinking…'

'Abou' wha'?'

'It doesn't matter.' Lily smiled. 'I'm just getting hungry. It'll be dinner soon.'

'If yer sure.'

Lily said goodbye to Hagrid and then headed off back up to the castle, perhaps walking a little faster than she normally would. Seeing the enchantments on the gates had made her feel stupid for being nervous about the protest. If a thin wall of spells could protect an entire school, then her and her wand would survive a protest if things got a bit out of hand. Even if she was doomed.

So what did you think of Hagrid's accent? I've been having a slight crisis about it. I want Hagrid to have a bigger role in this story than he has in any of my others but I've always been a bit scared of his accent. I'm hoping it's turned out all right.

Anyway, make my day and leave a review!