Chapter Seventeen: The Fickle Moon

"You don't seem to hate James Potter anymore," Marlene commented two weeks after the encounter where they had decided to be 'civil.'

"We're even now," Lily said offhandedly. "I've no need to. What was the incantation for that water spell, again?"

"Aguamenti, and I'm still curious," Marlene said. "You don't glare at him in the corridors like you used to, but you never return his smiles either. What's going on?"

Lily shrugged, unwilling to dissect the intricacies of her new relationship with James. "There's just no point in it," she said evasively. It was with relief that she added, "Anyway, I have to go to the first Prefects' Meeting of term now. I'll see you later."

This was to be the first meeting with James as Head Boy, and she left the Gryffindor common room in plenty of time, wanting to get there early to introduce him. But in her hurry, she miscalculated: halfway up the Grand Staircase, her foot sank into an empty hole where a step should have been. Lily swore viciously. After almost seven years navigating Hogwarts's twists and turns, she should have known better.

She had to wait until someone came along to free her – a long wait, at this time of evening – before she could race along on her way. By this point she was ridiculously late. Stopping outside the classroom door, she straightened her robes and combed her fingers through her dark red hair. She could hear the murmur of voices behind the thick wood. With a deep breath and hammering heart, she went in.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone. I got stuck on the vanishing step."

Lily flushed as every pair of eyes came to rest on her.

"You're meant to be Head Girl," Slytherin sixth-year Wilkes said accusingly.

"Shut it, Wilkes," a voice said sharply. Lily blinked in surprise at James, who was scowling at him fiercely. "That's no way to talk to your Head Girl."

Wilkes's mouth fell open. "What the hell?"

"Twenty points from Slytherin," James snapped. He shot her a sidelong glance, and Lily flicked her wrist to indicate indifference. She had always known that the Slytherins only tolerated her because of her blood; now that James had come along with his Potter lineage they would naturally all flock to him.

There was an awkward silence while Wilkes skulked and nobody seemed to know what to say.

"Well," Lily said. "Does anyone have anything new to report?"

"Yes," Hufflepuff Mary Macdonald said. She stood up.

"Attacks on Muggleborns around the castle are increasing, and as always, it's one very specific group of Slytherins responsible. I want them brought up before Dumbledore so that Muggleborns can sleep safely in their beds at night." She slid her gaze towards the small knot of green-and-silver-clad teenagers in the corner.

"Excellent point," Lily agreed. "However, without evidence there's nothing we can do. So everyone, keep your eyes and ears open and be careful when you're travelling around after dark. Anything else?"

There was a pause, then the door abruptly banged open.

"You!"

Lily flinched at the sudden high-pitched squeal that rent the air. A girl, no taller than her shoulder, had thrown herself into the room in a blur of glossy chestnut hair and black robes. She caught a glimpse of a tear-stained red face before there was a loud curse.

"Bloody hell!" James Potter bellowed as the girl struck him full in the stomach. They both went sprawling.

For a moment Lily was in too much shock to anything but watch as the girl rammed her fists into his chest. He dwarfed her, however, and it was easy for him to lift her off his body and try to toss her away. She hung on with the strength of a limpet.

"Flagrante!"

A jet of slender flame shot out of the girl's wand. James's robe ignited, and he roared with pain.

At that point Lily's customary presence of mind finally reasserted itself, and she leapt into action.

"Aguamenti!"

Her own arc of water countered the fire. It went out, but James made a growl of pain when she hurried over and tried to pull the smoking material away from his skin. He curled into a ball away from her. Lily took pity on him, uncomfortably reminded that this was not the first time she had seen him in such a state.

"Stupefy!"

He had not been sensate enough to expect it. It would at least ensure that he felt none of the pain that was undoubtedly coursing it way through his body.

"Someone take him to the Hospital Wing," she ordered. "Adrian – Laughalot – you two, levitate him there. Knock him out if need be."

They saluted. Steve Laughalot flicked his wand and James' prostrate body raised itself to hover off the floor. The three of them left.

"Now, you." Lily turned her attention to the girl, who was being restrained by two of the bigger prefects, although she had given up fighting and hung limp in their arms. There was something about the cast of her features that was vaguely familiar; she had on a green-and-silver tie, and she was not much younger than them, perhaps fifteen or sixteen. "What on earth is wrong? What did you do that for?"

"It was him," she snarled. "He did it."

"Potter? What did he do?"

The girl's blue eyes had been hazy and unfocused with rage, but now latched onto Lily with startling clarity. She took an involuntary step back at the gleam she saw there.

"You. You're Lily Black girl, aren't you? The one who's in Gryffindor."

"Yes," Lily said impatiently. "What do you mean, he did it? What did he do?"

A prickling suspicion, twisted with a jealousy she would not have admitted to under pain of the Cruciatus Curse, was beginning to wind its way through her. She did her best to quash it.

No. Surely James wouldn't have chosen another girl, as he had chosen her. She had been – well, special seemed like a bad of choice of words, but that was what she had been, wasn't it? In a sense. Girls with red hair, girls with green eyes – she had seen them slip through his fingers, his for the taking, always girls who looked a little like her. But he had never done to anyone else the things he had done to Lily. She had clung to that knowledge for the last two years, as a blessing and a curse, and she did not know what she would do if she discovered that another girl had lain under James Potter's body and wand as she once had.

"It wasn't just him," the girl said flatly. "It was your cousin as well."

A terrible déjà vu came over Lily. Her suspicion mounted, even as the Prefects exchanged glances.

"Get to the point," Lily hissed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The girl turned her luminous blue eyes on her. "Last night, James Potter and Sirius Black murdered my twin sister."

And Lily's first feeling was relief.

AN: Coming to the real nitty-gritty of the plot now! Lily has no idea how to feel... Do drop me a line below to let me know if you have any thoughts. Otherwise, I'll be back tomorrow morning :)

I'm a little short of time tonight so Ellie and Shruthi, I'll reply to your reviews for Chapter 16 tomorrow morning too xxx