Chapter Fourteen: Masters of Their Fates

Regulus Black was the only cousin Lily actually liked, and that was because he had been this close from being Sorted into Gryffindor.

It was a secret only the two of them knew, for Regulus was too terrified to tell his purist parents and older brother that he had almost been placed into Slytherin's worst enemy. In fact, the only reason he wasn't in Gryffindor was because he had asked not to put there, much the same way Lily had asked not to be put in Slytherin.

That might have made him a coward, but he was still the only person currently residing in Grimmauld Place that she could stand.

"Do you think I'll lose a mark in my mock Potions NEWT because I said dittany had mermaid scales instead of merman scales?" he was worrying.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it, Regulus. I'm sure they won't care."

She was sprawled out on his bed while he sat at his desk fretting over the mock NEWTs he had taken just before the holidays. For once, she was feeling content. Kreacher had served a particularly good lunch, Uncle Orion had drunk himself into a stupor, Aunt Walburga was in the living room and Sirius and Potter were out doing God knew what. The house was calm and silent.

Until the silence was shattered abruptly by a screech. "Delilah! Regulus! Come down immediately!"

Lily gasped and rolled off the bed. Regulus leapt for her.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she choked, waving him away when he tried to help her up. With a wince she got to her feet.

"I said, come down!" Walburga called again.

"Coming!" Lily hollered back dutifully. The two of them made their way down the stairs. When they reached the living room they found Walburga sitting imperiously on the horsehair sofa. Her jet-black hair, threaded faintly with silver, had been scraped back into a bun that exposed the jutting edges of her sharp cheekbones, and her grey eyes were several shades darker than those of her sons. She pointed a long, sharp-nailed finger at them like a sword.

"Took you long enough," she sniffed.

"What is it, Aunt?" Lily asked. Beside her, Regulus shifted uncomfortably.

"I want you to find the boys and tell them I want them back," Walburga ordered. "I've just received some important news and they need to hear it."

"What important news?" Regulus said warily.

His mother rounded on him. "You'll find out in good time, young man. For now, go and inform that wretched house-elf to lay an extra setting at the table tonight. We're going to be having company." She dismissed them with a brief flick of her wrist.

Lily departed for her own bedroom. If she had to go outside she'd need proper Muggle clothes, not the silken green robes she was wearing now. She had absolutely no idea where the boys might be so it was probably going to be a long afternoon.

With a wave of her wand, she transfigured her robes into the same jeans and blue blouse she had sometimes seen Marlene wearing. She squinted critically at her reflection in the mirror. It didn't look quite right – her jeans seemed to be made from some material suspiciously close to their original silk, rather than denim – but it was the best she could do. With them went the leather boots she had arrived in. The front door unlocked itself at the tap of her wand, and then Lily stepped out.

Disappointingly, it had not snowed this Christmas. But it was New Year's Eve, and Lily gazed with interest at the harried-looking Muggles carrying bags who rushed past her. She performed a discreet Hot-Air Charm to heat up her freezing hands and surveyed her surroundings.

There were really only a couple of places Potter and Sirius could be, since Grimmauld Place was in a residential area. Lily glared at a beer can-carrying teenager who eyed her as he wandered past. It wasn't as if any of these Muggles could hurt her, but still...

She decided to try the local shopping centre first. The Angel Central was a huge glass-and-chrome behemoth which it would probably take her hours to search, but at least it was warm and served nourishment. The blast of warm air as she entered through the automatic doors made her cheeks flush.

It was bustling with activity. Lily searched the crowd for two boys, one with a mop of black hair and the other's head sleek and dark. Nothing. She groaned in frustration. Why hadn't they had the decency to tell someone where they had gone?

She shouldered her way through the mass of people to a drinks shop she could see, the word Costa printed in bright white lettering against a scarlet background. A warm drink would help her gather her strength for the upcoming search. Though her wallet was filled with Galleons, she transfigured them into a solid approximation of Muggle money with a sidelong glance at the other patrons, knowing she would be long gone before the enchantment wore off them.

"A hot chocolate, please," Lily said to the cashier.

He slid one over to her. She cupped it with her hands, allowing the heat to soak through as she carried it over to an empty table and sat down. The warmth was soothing against her cold palms.

Then she saw him.

James Potter was sitting at another table, talking to some Muggle girl with long red hair. Lily blinked at the jealousy that suddenly coiled within her. What did she care who he talked to? His gaze freely roamed the rest of the shop, and he was evidently not finding it a scintillating conversation since his attention was elsewhere, but still it pricked at her.

"How fitting that your eyes are already green."

She jumped and turned her head. She had been so focussed on them that she hadn't noticed Sirius slip in beside her, regarding her with his head tilted impishly to the side. Her cheeks crimsoned and she scoffed to cover her surprise.

"You think I'm jealous?"

"Oh, everyone's jealous of something," Sirius said airily. "You, me, James, Regulus... We're all jealous. But you in particular – you're jealous of his looks, and how popular he is, and how smart he is without trying." He winked at her. "Can't blame you. I'm sure I would be too, if I were you."

"I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are," she snapped. "I'm not jealous of him. I hate him."

"I'm sure you think you believe that," he said. His voice had become uncharacteristically soft, for once lacking its usual twist of mockery. "You've convinced yourself that you hate him, because that's easier for you to deal with than being jealous of him."

"My grades better than his," Lily growled, knowing even as she said it that she was playing into Sirius's hands.

He raised an eyebrow. "And how long do you spend doing an essay? A week, and that's without all the research you put in beforehand. I've seen James roll out an O-graded essay in ten minutes."

Her knuckles whitened around her drink. "So he's some kind of genius. Good for him."

"And," Sirius continued relentlessly, "he's liked. Even without us Marauders, he's never short of girls, or people hanging onto his every word. You have... the half-blood, the Mudblood, and the brainless Longbottom boy. That's it."

Lily crumpled the plastic lid in her hands viciously. She hated to admit it, but what Sirius was saying had struck a chord; why did Potter, being in Slytherin and steeped in the Dark Arts, command so much of Hogwarts when she might as well be a part of the wallpaper?

"What's your point?" she said tightly.

Sirius sighed. "Just... it may seem like he's got everything, but appearances can be deceiving."

"Whatever," Lily muttered. "Why are you telling me this, anyway?"

He tilted his head. "Because I want to. Because I can."

And that, as Lily knew, was the only reason she would get; generations of Blacks had lived and died, killed and healed, loved and hated – all simply because they could. Nobody ever knew why Sirius, charming and mercurial, did the things he did, so Lily accepted it without question when he abruptly changed the subject.

"What are you doing here?"

"Aunt Walburga sent me to find you. She has some kind of announcement for us," she said. "She wants us home."

He nodded and rose. "I'll get James."

The short walk home was done in silence. Lily trailed slightly behind the other two, focussing on the back of Potter's head. Was she jealous of him? She didn't like to think so, but there was a part of her that she knew felt envious at how everything seemed to come so easily to him. Even now, nearly seven years later, many of her own House still treated her differently for her Slytherin heritage.

Lily shook off such thoughts when they entered Grimmauld Place.

"We're home, Mother!" Sirius yelled.

"Come into the living room!" she called back.

The three of them found Regulus already standing there with his hands laced behind his back. Walburga took in their Muggle attire and wrinkled her nose, but said nothing.

"I want you all to be on your best behaviour tonight," she said. "We're to have guests."

"Who?" Sirius asked.

"Pius Thicknesse, Advisor to the Minister... and your father, James."

Instinctively Lily turned her head to Potter. She was surprised by what she saw. All the blood had drained out of his face, leaving it chalky pale, for all the world as though he had received some terrible news. She knitted her brows together.

His father was visiting. Surely that was good news?

Not if his face was anything to go by, and she began to feel a certain interest in what the night's dinner would bring.

AN: Coming up to (what I think is) one of the most important chapters in this story! Up this evening. Old readers may remember it...

I have since discovered, in the intervening seven years since that chapter first came out, that James's parents are Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, not Charlus Potter and Dorea Black. It's a little sad - 'Fleamont' just doesn't have the same fear-inducing potential as 'Charlus', considering this is a Dark wizard we're talking about - but I have submitted to canon. Canon reigns supreme. (Unless it's The Cursed Child, which can go bite itself. What do you guys think of The Cursed Child?)

Ellie, I LOVE the quote in the last chapter too! I'd be tempted to make it the title for a whole book, but I think it's a little overused haha. This whole project is really making me realise how many amazing quotes Shakespeare came out with! Shruthi, I'm glad my chapters are giving you so much happiness :)