AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so, do I get the award for the worst fan fiction author out there?? Who leaves her readers hanging like this for months on end?? I am so cruel. I hope no one has forgotten about this story! Please, read, review, and enjoy!

All standard disclaimers apply.

~Teller

Flee, Fly, Floo

Chapter 5

"Movement and Memories"

It was summer time at Hogwarts, and Lily was settling into her new room as a Professor. The Gryffindors were sorry to see her go, but she was glad that she and Harry would be living somewhere a bit less . . . noisy. She had a suite of rooms all to herself, and found out that so did every Professor. Her rooms (they used to belong to Professor Redding) were connected to her office via a sliding panel behind a painting of Merlin. Behind her office she had a two bedrooms (one for Harry and one for herself), two bathrooms (again, one for Harry) and a small but comfortable living room. She was free to furnish them however she wanted -- which was a good thing, because Professor Redding's garlic and crucifix motif, although typical for a teacher of Defense Against The Dark Arts, was not really her style. So, with the help of Sirius and Remus (and, she was sure, James, although she had not seen him since the SnowBall) she had soon decorated her rooms with warm reds, cool blues, and simple whites. Her office was quickly cluttered with books upon hundreds of books as she planned out the next year's curriculum. Sirius and Remus made it a point to visit at least once a week for dinner and perhaps a trip to Hogsmeade, and she became very close with almost all the other Professors at Hogwarts. Except for one . . .

Snape, or rather, Professor Snape, clearly still felt the animosity towards the Marauders as he had during his high school days. He never said anything about it, but whenever he saw Lily with Sirius or Remus, he would leave the room or turn and walk the opposite direction, leaving an almost palpable cloud of hatred behind him. For some unfathomable reason, Snape seemed to hate Harry the most out of the four of them. Lily couldn't imagine why, and didn't mention it to Sirius -- but she was sure he had noticed it as well. She had taken to sort of shielding Harry with her arms whenever Snape walked by, as if he might lash out and curse Harry out of spite.

Harry, however, was getting into enough trouble without Snape cursing him. He was walking now, and getting into everything he could reach -- and sometimes more. Once he got hold of Lily's wand while she had been napping, and the results had been disastrous. It had taken three weeks to dispell all the suits of armor. Peeves had a field day - literally.

"Already following in his father's footsteps, hmm?" Dumbledore murmured, winking at Harry as he waved his wand to stop six 12th century suits of armor in the middle of a three-legged race through the Charms classroom.

Voldemort's attacks had increased in brutality and frequency across the country ever since Lily had slipped through his fingers, and he seemed to be gathering more and more followers. There were Muggle killings almost weekly, and outside of Hogwarts the entire magical community trembled in fear. His reach had begun to spread beyond England and into western Europe and even America. It was whispered in some circles that soon even Hogwarts would not be out of the Dark Lord's grasp.

Severus Snape sat in his office, brooding. His left arm still stung viciously from Voldemort's last calling, and he rubbed it ruefully. Ever since Lily's return to Hogwarts, he had seriously been questioning his allegiance with the dark forces. There was no doubt in his mind that Voldemort would have killed Lily, had he gotten the chance. Most of the Death Eaters had assumed that the target within the Potter household was James, the nosy and hated Auror who had thrown many of their number into Azkaban. But Severus knew that the Dark Lord had actually wanted to kill the child, and had wanted to kill him very badly.

Severus took a long drink of an amber liquid that glinted red in the firelight and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The color reminded him of Lily's hair. But then again, everything reminded him of Lily. It had always been that way. The sound of birdsong made him think of her laughter; a summer breeze of the gentle touch of her hands; the vibrant colors of the forest in springtime seemed to reflect her emerald eyes at every turn. She was like a song he had only heard a fragment of a long time ago, but was now unable to get out of his head. He leaned back in his chair and propped up his feet on his desk, thinking back to the first time he had heard that song . . .

It had been almost thirteen years ago that Severus Snape traveled from Platform

9¾ for the first time. He remembered even now the lurch of nerves he felt as he stepped onto the busy platform crowded with witches and wizards and their assorted luggage. He saw several students of his own age talking excitedly in small groups here and there. He knew no one going into Hogwarts, and looked around curiously.

There was a boy his age with light brown hair standing not too far away from him, looking tired and drawn. His skin had an alarming grayish tint to it, and there were deep bags under his eyes. He stood with his shoulders hunched and his head down, as if ashamed of something. Severus assumed he had been sick recently, and gave the boy a wide berth as he passed him, almost running straight into another boy with glasses, brown eyes, and dark hair that looked as if it hadn't been brushed or cut for some time. He was standing with another dark haired boy, taller and broader shouldered, and the two were laughing about something. Severus hoped they hadn't been laughing at him.

"Sorry," the boy with glasses said, taking a step back to give Severus enough room to pass. Too nervous to speak back to him, Snape nodded stiffly and continued through the crowd, slowly making his way to the train. He caught a few words of the boys behind him as he walked away.

"A little standoffish, wasn't he?" The first boy was saying.

"A little greasy, too," snickered the second. They laughed, and Severus hunched his shoulders in hurt and anger. This time, he did run into someone headlong, and had the nerve to apologize.

"Sorry," he grunted, lifting his gaze. It was a good thing he had spoken before he had looked up, because if he had seen the girl he had run into beforehand, he was quite sure he would have been unable to speak for some time.

She had long red-gold hair and sparkling green eyes framed with dark lashes. She laughed and shook her head, sending cascades of strands of firelight waving down her back. "Not to worry," she said, in a voice Severus was sure came from a throat strung with harp strings. "It's so crowded that everyone is bumping into each other. Do you need a hand with your trunk?" Her smile revealed perfect white teeth set in a beautiful cupid's bow mouth. He managed to nod mutely and tried not to stare as she bent and picked up the other end of the trunk. Together the two of them hefted the big black chest into the scarlet train and then into a compartment just inside the door. When they had set the trunk down, the girl straightened and held out her hand, a perfect appendage with beautifully manicured nails.

"My name is Lily, by the way," she said. Severus shook her hand and treasured the soft feeling of her palm.

"Severus," he said, wincing inwardly at the sound of his voice, which came out in a sort of squeak. "Severus Snape."

"Nice to meet you," she said, smiling genuinely, and Snape felt the ability to speak melt out of him again. She looked past him through the window and waved at someone on the platform. "I've got to say goodbye to my family," she said apologetically. "But I'm sure I'll see you at Hogwarts!" She left the compartment, and Snape sat down in a chair near the window, watching her say goodbye to her parents, a small boy with red hair matching Lily's, and a young girl with an unfortunately long neck. He noticed the two boys he had seen earlier watching Lily with expressions similar to his own, and felt the first prickle of jealousy as they approached her bravely.

The first boy, the one with messy hair and glasses, swept a gallant bow as soon as Lily had turned away from her parents and extended his hand.

"Good morning, my lady," he said, smiling mischievously at her. "You seemed to have dropped this." He handed her a silk handkerchief embroidered with her initials. Lily looked surprised and patted her pockets.

"Thank you," she said, bemusedly. "I wonder how I dropped this." She took the handkerchief from him and replaced it in her pocket.

"The villain is skilled in sleight of hand, milady," the second boy said conspiratorially. "He'll steal the nose right off your face."

"Ah yes, you mock me, Sirius" said the first. "But who's laughing now?" He held up a purse fat with coins. The eleven-year old Sirius checked his pockets and yelled in outrage, snatching it back from the first. Lily giggled charmingly, and both boys turned their attention back to her. Sirius pushed past James and extended his hand.

"Please ignore the village idiot," he said, jerking his head in James' direction. "My name is Sirius Black."

"I'm Lily," she said, shaking his hand and laughing. "Charmed." She turned to James. "And you are . . . ?"

"James Potter," he said, grinning and shaking her hand. "And the pleasure is all mine."

"Oh, that was original," Sirius scoffed. "Congratulations, you sound exactly like Sean Connery in Thunderball."

"At least I don't look like the druidess Cloidna!" James snapped.

"At least I don't walk like Charlie Chaplin!" Sirius shot back. Lily was doubled over in laughter, and again both boys stopped their squabbling to beam at her.

A whistle blew, announcing the train's departure for Hogwarts. The three young people turned and headed for the nearest entrance, James and Sirius pushing each other behind Lily's back. They followed Lily into a compartment, and she watched them curiously.

"Did you put your luggage in here as well?" She asked, smiling slightly. Both boys looked a bit taken aback.

"What? Oh - erm - yes, of course!" James said, smiling broadly and patting a nearby trunk. "What - did you as well? What a coincidence!"

"I did," Lily said. "Actually, that's my trunk you're petting."

James removed his hand quickly, laughing nervously. "Oh, of course, of course. Silly me. My trunk is over there." He pointed.

"The one that says 'Remus Lupin'?" Lily asked, grinning now. "Or perhaps you meant the one labeled 'Peter Pettigrew.'" James and Sirius blushed fiercely and Lily laughed. "Not to worry," she said. "There's enough room for five of us. It'll be a bit squashed, but we can do it." She plopped down in a window seat, and there was a short but furious battle between James and Sirius for the seat next to her. James won, his speed beating out Sirius' size. Glaring, Sirius contented himself with sitting across from Lily, who watched in amazement. Luckily, the two boys were saved from further embarrassment when the compartment door slid open and a thin, pale boy wearing somewhat worn robes entered. He looked surprised to see other people sitting there, and Lily said quickly,

"I hope you don't mind if we join you. Come, sit down." Still looking faintly surprised, the boy nodded and sat down a seat away from Sirius, who laughed.

"Come on, I won't bite," he said. "Sit with us!" Looking shocked and worried, the boy hesitantly moved over one more seat, so that he was next to Sirius and across from James, who extended his hand.

"James Potter," He said happily, shaking the poor boy's hand so enthusiastically that his whole, frail body shook.

"Sirius Black," Sirius said, once James had let go of the boy's hand.

"R - Remus Lupin," he said shakily.

"My name is Lily," Lily said finally. She looked concerned. "Are you ill?" Remus looked frightened.

"N - No," he mumbled, folding his arms around his chest and hugging himself tightly.

"Nervous?" Lily pressed. Remus nodded vaguely.

"Well, relax, old chap, no one is going to feed you to the wolves," Sirius exclaimed, grinning and clapping Remus on the back. At this comment, the boy looked flat-out terrified, but as Sirius and James guffawed heartily, he relaxed a bit and laughed nervously.

"I say, did you catch the Quidditch match last week?" James asked after a somewhat awkward pause in the conversation. Sirius and Remus nodded.

"Ludo Bagman's first game, what an amazing Seeker!" Remus said, relaxing even more.

"The Wimbledon Wasps are definitely going to win the championship this year," Sirius said, nodding. "With Bagman playing like that, how can they loose?" James and Remus nodded in agreement and the discussion became friendly and relaxed. As the train began to move, the compartment door slid open again and a short, fat young boy with thin, mouse-brown hair and thick glasses scuttled into the room, breathing heavily.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I almost missed the train." Sirius and James laughed, not unkindly.

"Well, take a seat," James gestured. "You must be Peter Pettigrew." The boy looked surprised and slowly sat down next to James.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"Elementary, my dear Watson," said James, tapping his forehead knowingly.

"Surprisingly, this twit can read," Sirius said impatiently. "Your name is on that trunk." He pointed, and Peter Pettigrew blinked.

"Oh - oh," he said. "Of course."

Across the hall, Severus Snape listened to the laughter coming from Lily's compartment jealously. He sulked as the train began to move, and did not look up when the compartment door slid open.

"Oh," a cold voice drawled from the doorway. "I didn't know this compartment was taken. Narcissa, you don't mind, do you?" Someone sighed.

"I suppose not," a second voice sniffed. Two people entered the compartment and sat down a few seats away from Snape, who refused to look away from the window.

"I can see we might as well be alone," the first voice said. "Apparently some of the first years are a bit sulky."

Snape's pride got the better of him and he flashed an angry glare at the newcomers. They were two older students, a boy and a girl, probably third or fourth years. The boy was tall, thin, blonde and pale, with cold eyes and a mouth that seemed as if it would sneer even while asleep. The girl was slim and blonde as well, and would have been pretty but for the expression in her face that said anything was better than sharing a compartment with Severus.

"So, he decides to show his face," the boy said contemptibly. "I hope you don't mind if we ask you to move . . . Sharing a compartment with a Mudblood is really too stressful for Narcissa." He patted the girl's bony hand. "And simply too disgusting for me." Severus did not make any sudden movements in anger, nor did he yell or blush. Instead his eyes narrowed and a tiny furrow appeared between his eyebrows.

"My blood is easily cleaner than your scummy face, you fool," he said calmly. "My name is Severus Snape." The boy's attitude changed immediately.

"Snape, is it?" He repeated thoughtfully as he extended his hand. "Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy. And this is Narcissa," he said, waving a hand carelessly in the girl's direction. "I hope you don't mind the Mudblood comment. Can't be too careful these days, even at Hogwarts." Snape said nothing and faced the window again. Lucius didn't seem to care.

"Going for Slytherin?" He asked in a voice that implied it would be better for Snape's health if he was. "Narcissa and I are both in it. I'm a fourth year and she's third. It's the *only* House to be in, you know . . . Imagine if they had put me in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" Snape snorted in derision. Lucius seemed to take that as agreement. "Bunch of idiots, Hufflepuffs . . ." he continued, sneering. "Practically all of them are Mudbloods, and the ones that aren't might as well be. Gryffindors are just as bad, Muggle-lovers, all of them. And as for the Ravenclaws . . ." Lucius laughed darkly. "For all their intelligence and quick wits, they haven't a clue what's going on in the real world." The boy continued to talk in a slow drawl, apparently enjoying the sound of his own voice. Snape curled up in his seat and looked out the window, watching the scenery fly by as he thought about Lucius' words. Lily had said goodbye to what looked like a Muggle family at the platform. Could it be that she was not a pureblood? His heart sank. Pureblood or no, she was the most beautiful witch he had ever seen . . .

. . . The most beautiful witch he had ever seen, Sirius thought dreamily, staring openly at Lily, who was laughing at a joke James had made. His gaze drifted over to James, and he recognized the look in James' eyes like a punch to the stomach, although he didn't quite understand why his realization was so painful to him at the time.

He's in love with her, he thought. Head over heels. Poor boy.

Poor Sirius, actually. It would be a long time before he realized that he too was in love with Lily, perhaps more in love with her than James would ever be.

Sirius rolled over in his bed, trying futilely to keep thoughts of Lily from his mind. It was getting harder and harder to control himself around her, especially since she seemed to grow more beautiful every day.

James loved her, he told himself fiercely. It was always James. Lily and James. And James was your best friend.

When he was fairly sure he understood that, he allowed himself to drift into a gentle sleep, hoping fervently it would not be one peppered with dreams of his best friend's wife.

Lily tucked Harry's blankets in around his tiny body, careful not to wake him. She smiled at the sleeping baby and kissed his forehead lightly, marveling again at the resemblance between Harry and his father. As she climbed into her own bed, thinking of the first time she had met James, she realized with sudden clarity that thinking of her husband was not as heartbreaking as it had been nine months ago. Still bittersweet, of course, to think of the life they may have had, but she found more joy than pain in the memories of time they spent together. She curled up on her side, pondering this.

I still love him, she thought firmly. I always have, and I always will. She fluffed up her pillow and rolled over, searching for a comfortable position. So why doesn't it break my heart to think of him as much as it used to? Can it be that I'm forgetting him? She frowned into the darkness and bit her lip. Starlight gleamed on the rail of Harry's crib, and the corner of her mouth turned upward in a smile. How could she be forgetting James when she lived with a miniature replica of him? Satisfied that she was not being a bad widow, she closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep, thinking of good times she had spent with James . . . At Hogwarts, at work, on vacation . . . At their wedding, on their honeymoon, at the park with Harry . . . She relived every moment she had with him before falling asleep, but the last conscious image in her mind was not of James, but of Sirius as she had first met him, and he was looking at her in a way that James never had.

Severus Snape jerked suddenly awake. The embers in his fire were burning low, and the brandy glass was empty. Had he fallen asleep? If so, what had woken him? He pulled back the left sleeve of his robe and shuddered. The Dark Mark gleamed evilly on his arm. So, Voldemort was summoning them again. Sighing, he unlocked a magical chest and pulled out his Deatheater's mask and cape, hiding them underneath his robe. It was an inconvenient nuisance not to be able to Apparate in and out of Hogwarts, and it made the Dark Lord most unhappy every time he was late. Scowling darkly, Snape strode out of his office and into the unlit halls, heading for a small side door that opened almost directly into the Forbidden Forest. Making sure no one had seen him, he slipped outside and darted into the Forest. When he was far enough from Hogwarts to Apparate without problems, he pulled on his Deatheater's hood and cape and Disapparated to the Dark Lord's side.

Remus sat in his library, poring over a new book on werewolves. He paused in his reading to take a sip of tea and stared absently out the window, his thoughts somehow drifting to his first days at Hogwarts. James and Sirius had both fallen for Lily the moment they had met her, that much was clear to Remus, although James had apparently not noticed Sirius' similar affections. Sirius would rather have died than take something James loved away, and so he pined in silence and tried to move on. Remus saw the heartache in Sirius' eyes whenever Lily and James were together, and perhaps understood it better than Sirius did himself. Who understand love better than the lonely? He thought bitterly.

But Lily was oblivious to Sirius' love for her, perhaps only because she had thought of him as a friend for so long. And it was becoming harder and harder for poor Sirius to accept that, to finally put an end to his lifetime of daydreams. Perhaps he could push the two along just a bit . . . Remus smiled faintly. It had been a long time since he had played matchmaker, and he had forgotten just how much fun it could be.

The next morning at the breakfast table, Dumbledore noticed small changes in certain of his staff. Severus looked pale and angry, flashing glares at everyone who looked his way and glancing worriedly at Lily Potter and her son from time to time. Professor Potter, on the other hand, was looking happier and more beautiful than ever, laughing with Minerva about some prank the Marauders had pulled during their time at Hogwarts as she bounced Harry on her lap. She seemed to be completely oblivious to the gazes she was receiving from the other end of the table. Dumbledore laced his long fingers together thoughtfully.

A vague flash of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head slowly to his left, keeping the ghost in his peripheral vision. He had enough experience with Hogwarts ghosts to know that looking straight at certain of them made them hard to see, but that looking through the corners of your eyes made many things visible that were previously unseen. This ghost seemed to be pacing up and down the staff table, eyeing each individually. He paused when he reached Lily, and Dumbledore couldn't help sucking in his breath suddenly. The ghost had messy hair and thick glasses . . . He reached across the table to pat Harry on the head. The child looked up at the ghost and smiled, as if seeing him was quite a normal thing. He giggled happily, and the ghost smiled back, then suddenly looked up at Dumbledore. He nodded once, respectfully, and vanished. Harry looked disappointed.

Lily shivered as a draft went through the Great Hall. "Is it getting cold out already?" She asked Minerva, peering up at the enchanted ceiling. "Perhaps I should have worn a sweater." Professor McGonagall looked at Lily, surprised. But Lily had looked up at Dumbledore, who was watching her with a strange expression on his weathered face.