Apparently, Becky's idea of fun was different from Lily's by a long shot. It wasn't that she didn't like her first week of Hogwarts. Actually, she rather enjoyed it. But she would have liked it a lot more it Becky hadn't waited until the fifth time they got lost on the way to the dungeons for Professor Malfoy's class that she pointed out Hogwarts had one hundred forty-two staircases, and that the chances were minuscule that they'd find the right one on their first trip to the dungeons. She had to explain a number of times to them that she had never gone to the dungeons because she had been warned not to. The first day, they found she had been warned rightly.
Besides that, Lily, Doug, and Soup stuck to Becky like glue until they started to find their own ways around, which wasn't easy. The portraits were always moving, usually to visit some other portrait. Lily made quite good friends with many of them as she, Soup, and Doug asked for directions. Lily always made sure that the spiders left the portraits alone.
Speaking of the spiders, they were truly a nightmare. James had acted so snobby that even the snakes had refused to talk to him- except Poison. Lily, however, was beginning to believe that she had a deficiency where she couldn't help but be nice. She wouldn't have minded talking to the spiders from time to time, or having them visit every now and then, but they most often visited her during her classes. Not just one or two, either, but whole groups of them. It seemed that the spiders were so excited about having a human to talk to that spiders from miles around were making some sort of pilgrimage. Lily tried hard to keep them out of the way during Ron's class.
The quartet discovered on their second day the poltergeist named Peeves, and they also found that his name suited him. Sure, what Peeves did was almost funny when he did it to someone else, but when it actually happens to you, you take a different view towards it.
On Monday, their first class was Transfiguration. Becky led them all safely to Hermione's classroom without getting lost, pointing out things that didn't move which they could use as landmarks. Thankfully, Peeves had apparently gone off to torment Mrs. Norris, the pet cat of Mr. Filch, the caretaker. The poltergeist seemed to be having trouble tormenting the cat and owner since the two had become ghosts themselves.
Hermione waited until the first years had entered and promptly made a lecture. "I want all of you to know that Transfiguration will be very dangerous. There are several rules which you must learn to respect, or else I will have no other choice but to send you out of this classroom and make sure you don't come back. Is that understood?"
All the students nodded their heads sullenly. Just then, a pair of first years ran through the door and quickly grabbed two seats in the back.
"What happened to you two?" asked Hermione.
"We got lost," one of the girls mumbled. Lily recognized her as one of the Gryffindor first years from her dorm, Mandy. "Honestly," Mandy continued, "doesn't anything in this place stand still?"
Hermione sighed. "All right. Just get an earlier start tomorrow until you find your way, and no, nothing I have ever seen in this place stands still."
Many of the first years groaned. Becky chuckled.
Hermione smiled. "Don't worry too much. You get used to it with time. And many of the ghosts and portraits are often happy to help. Simply remember to ask politely. Oh, and there are three doors on the third floor. The first one has to be tickled right on the top if you want it to open. The second needs to be asked politely three times. If it doesn't open by then, simply tickle the wood next to the knob. The third one won't open no matter how hard you try. The wall there likes to pretend sometimes."
Renewed groans echoed throughout the classroom.
Hermione grinned briefly and then decided she needed to get to business. "First, on everyone's desk is a match. We'll be turning it into a needle today, hopefully. Not all of you are expected to get this right on the first try, so no pressure."
Halfway through the lesson, when Lily's match had become a metallic color and one end was pointy, Brownie crawled up on her desk.
My, my, she said slowly. The other spiders have told me about this class. We won't be coming to this one- They're afraid that woman will turn them all into robins. Disgusting creatures. But we will all be coming to see you in your Defense Against the Dark Arts. Everyone can't wait to meet you. Did you hear about James's snakes? They all left. They're in the Forbidden Forest now, poor things. They couldn't stand your brother or Poison. Oh, and speaking of the Forbidden Forest, I'm going there sometime soon. Would you like to join me?
I'd like to, but we aren't allowed to go to the Forbidden Forest.
"What are you doing?" another first year boy, named Will, asked.
"Nothing," Lily muttered. Except it came out as Areanatu.
Will shrugged, then jumped slightly. "Hey, there's a spider on your desk." He pulled his leg up and started pulling off his shoe. Before she could stop him, he was bringing his shoe down on her desk as Brownie simply stood there.
"NO!" Lily shouted, grabbing his wrist. As he stared at her, his shoe dropped out of his fingers, heading straight for Brownie. Lily gasped. Then, as she watched, the shoe veered off its course and fell over the edge of her desk harmlessly. She'd read in her books that witches and wizards could use raw magic without spells or wands, but that had been the first time she remembered actually working any magic like that.
Brownie just then started to walk away. I knew you'd be good for something one day, she told Lily. Glad to see your using your magic wisely. See you in your Defense class.
Lily sighed and sat down again. With a slight start, she realized the entire class was staring at her.
"Are you feeling all right, Lily?" Hermione asked, obviously concerned.
Lily nodded. "Yes, it's just that Will was about to squash Brownie."
"Brownie? It was a spider. On her desk, too."
"She wasn't just a spider," Lily said, slightly irritated. "She's a friend."
Hermione sat on the edge of someone's desk, thinking.
"Wait a minute," the girl next to Mandy, named was Erica, said. "Can you talk to spiders? Like your brother can talk to that snake?"
Lily nodded. She realized she had the entire class's attention, just as Hermione realized it.
"What did Brownie say?" Hermione asked.
"She said that the other spiders wanted to meet me and that they were coming in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, because that's the only one where they won't be changed into robins." Lily suddenly jumped out of her seat. "Wait a minute! Doesn't Ron teach that class? He hates spiders!"
Hermione had realized this before Lily had, however, and Hermione was now rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically. She sat up and giggled a bit. "Too bad you can't call them off." She started laughing again.
Lily frowned and started working.
"Does this mean that spiders will be nesting in our dorm?" Abby, the last Gryffindor first year girl, asked.
"If you don't want them to, I'll ask them, but I can't make them promise not to."
"That's okay. I like spiders. They're cool."
Lily raised her eyebrows as many other kids agreed, some looking at others first. They actually liked spiders here? Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
"They also said that, well, you all know James, right?" They nodded. Hermione stopped laughing. "And you all know how he can talk to snakes?" They all nodded again. "Well, all of the snakes except Poison have left. They're all in the Forbidden Forest now."
Becky shouted with delight. "That makes my dad's job easier," she told them. "He always has to get snakes' bodies out of the owlery. But if the owls can't find them, he'll have a few hours off. Plus, it serves James right."
Many of the kids who had already met James nodded in agreement. Lily didn't mind that much. She was beginning to feel the same way.
At the end of Transfiguration, Hermione was once again chuckling- along with the rest of the class- but everyone knew that no one would be telling Ron- as long as they kept Lily away from him. Lily was the only one who had successfully changed her match into a needle- all five of them. The rest of the class had all come fairly close. Hermione smiled widely.
"I see we have a very bright class. Five points for each match that looks, even remotely, like a needle," she said at the end of the lesson. "We might be able to get two lessons in a day if we keep on like this."
"Will that mean more on the exams?" Doug asked.
Hermione grinned but didn't answer.
After this, they had forty-five minutes before their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. During that period, many of the first years told the older Gryffindors, who in turn told their friends from other houses. Everyone successfully kept Lily away from Ron so she couldn't tell him, and they took Lily to eat something, carefully looking for spiders so she couldn't tell them anything. Ron, however, couldn't understand why Hermione started laughing every time they saw each other in the hall. Harry couldn't understand it, either.
Rumors started leaping around in no time. One of the favorites was "I'll bet that the spiders wrap everything in a web and Professor Weasley won't be able to do a thing about it!" There was also, "I'll bet the spiders will wrap up Professor Weasley and hang him from the ceiling."
The Weasley twins were obviously thinking this was more fun than Christmas. "Our own uncle," they told everyone.
However, the actual class was much better than the rumors.
Ron, glad to escape the people in the halls who were all staring at him and chuckling, and Hermione, who by now, with hearing the rumors, collapsed where she was in fits of laughter that brought tears to her eyes, sat down in his room fifteen minutes before the start of class. Looking up after collapsing in his chair, he saw all of the first year Gryffindors already there. He looked for Lily and Becky and saw them sitting in the back of the classroom.
"Is everyone here?" he asked. If they were, they might as well simply get a start on the lesson. Odd how they were all here early and sitting at their desks silently.
Several of them nodded. Lily looked apologetic, but, not wanting to act like he was favoring her, he wasn't looking at her at all.
"All right. Everyone take out their books." He was surprised to see that they already had them on their desks. "Okay, then. Turn to page one. We'll be starting with griffins. Now then. All of you who have come from wizarding families probably know that in the presence of a griffin, you can't tell a lie. For witches and wizards, this can be a bit of a problem, since muggles can't find out we exist. Thankfully, there are things we can do to keep the griffins from affecting us. One way is by using charms- You'll have to talk to Professor Welts about that. But you can also..."
Lily noticed something on the floor and heard Brownie say, We're here. Every spider in Hogwarts.
Lily knocked her quill onto the floor and bent to pick it up so she could be closer to the crack Brownie was beginning to crawl out of. Areanatu carried a long way, but she didn't want anyone else to notice what she was doing. She knew perfectly well everyone didn't want her to call off the "joke" on Ron.
Stay there, she whispered. Don't- She felt something cover her mouth and turned to see Becky there, glaring at her and holding a hand over her mouth.
Becky shook her head.
Brownie, however, hadn't caught on. What do you mean stay here? I have the entire spider population of Hogwarts here! We're coming in.
Lily watched as spiders ran through the crack like a wave, with Brownie sitting on her fallen quill and waving her arms triumphantly. Mandy turned to see what was happening and gasped; then the rest of the class, including Ron, turned to see what was going on, and everyone gasped. Ron jumped on his desk, but everyone was too busy watching the spiders as they climbed the furniture, walls, and ceiling. Some people were even covered with spiders. As soon as Becky let go, Lily commanded them to get off the people and sit somewhere else.
The spiders started to talking all at once, all of them trying to get Lily's attention and introduce themselves. They all mentioned a few million times that they'd never had a human to talk to before.
The room started to get crowded as more and more spiders entered through cracks. The surge started moving towards Ron as he stared at them, horrified.
Lily jumped up. Stop! she shouted as loudly as she could. All the spiders froze. Now, Lily said as she realized she had everyone's- spiders' and humans' attention- I know this is the safest place class for you to come and see me, but this isn't the best time. My teacher is afraid of spiders.
Afraid of spiders! a few shouted. Why is he afraid of spiders? We wouldn't hurt him unless he hurt us first! Many spiders turned to shake their fangs at Ron, who was pouring sweat and shaking horribly, the spiders thinking he had done something to one of them.
I don't know how, but he won't kill you. You will, however, give him a heart attack. He's a good person, and perhaps you could come to my house later on- Gryffindor- to visit. No one there is afraid of spiders.
Hey! I know where Gryffindor is! shouted a spider. Lily grinned. He was obviously one of the younger ones.
We all know where the Gryffindor house is, several spiders snapped back at him.
Lily grinned as they started to agree and looked at Ron. "I'm sorry, Professor, really, I am. You see, Brownie came to me during Transfiguration, and said that they were coming in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class. By the time I realized you taught that class, it was too late. I tried to call it off, but I couldn't talk to the spiders, and I... couldn't get to you."
Ron thought about this shakily. No wonder everyone had been watching him and laughing at him in the halls. And why Hermione- Ron was so mad at Hermione that he nearly snapped his wand in half.
He looked at Lily, who was looking nervous. She was like Harry more than either of them knew. Harry wouldn't have come right out and said, "People were trying to keep me away from you and the spiders so I couldn't tell anyone" either.
"It's okay, Ms. Potter. I think I understand. Um, but could you please call them off? They're a little... distracting."
"Yes, sir." Lily told the spiders that Ron wanted them to leave so he could teach.
Brownie walked onto her desk. We don't want to leave, she said firmly. So we won't.
Lily told Ron with sigh. "I'm sorry, sir, but that's the bad thing about spiders. They won't do anything they don't want to do."
Ron nodded. "Can't you make them?"
Lily shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't."
The class waited while everyone thought of something. Ron and Lily tried to think of some way to get the spiders to leave while the rest of the class tried to think of some way to keep the spiders from leaving.
Suddenly, the pale man Lily had seen at the teachers' table the night before crashed through the doorway, dragging the Weasley twins behind him.
"That's Professor Malfoy," Becky whispered to Lily. Lily nodded. She could see why they had been warned not to go to see him alone.
"Weasley- I mean, Professor Weasley," was it just Lily, or had he said "professor" with just the slightest sneer? "What is the meaning of this?"
"What is the meaning of what, Professor Malfoy?"
"Nearly half of the students from Hogwarts are gathered in the hall outside your door!"
"Oh, that. We were having an unexpected lesson today." Ron waving his wand, indicating all of the spiders that had covered the room in colors from black to brown with a few specks of white, red, and yellow.
Malfoy looked at the colors and realized that they were caused by thousands- no, millions of spiders. His jaw dropped. "That Potter girl, I suppose," he muttered to Ron.
Ron simply glared at him.
Do me a favor, Lily asked. Although she couldn't hear it, she could tell that the sound was carried around the room, although her whispering was only audible to Becky, Doug, and perhaps Soup and the first years in front of her.
What is it? Brownie asked.
A man just walked in. On your way out, could you please... I don't know...
Attack him? Brownie offered hopefully.
Just don't kill him, Lily ordered. She hadn't met Malfoy one on one, but she already didn't like him. And she definitely didn't appreciate the way he was talking to and looking at Ron.
The surge of spiders moved as one. Ron jumped, but stood his ground, looking at Lily a bit fearfully. She winked at him and pointed at Malfoy. A nasty grin began to spread on Ron's face. Chris and Kevin stood, frozen to were they stood as they watched the spiders swarm towards them. They looked at each other uncertainly and then looked to Lily, who winked at them also. She pointed to Malfoy again. The twins grinned at each other and took a few steps to get as far away from Malfoy as they could. Kids were crowding the door, trying to see what was happening, and then quickly turning to run when they saw the spiders heading for them. Malfoy was frozen to the spot, a look of pure terror on his face.
The spiders reached him and stopped as they surrounded him. After a few seconds, he started moving again, trying to stomp on the spiders. "NO!" Lily screamed.
The spiders, however, had apparently expected this.
Don't worry, Brownie told Lily. He's tried to stomp them before.
The spiders, undaunted, started climbing up his leg- inside the robe and out. Malfoy started hopping around, batting uselessly at his robes. Lily began to notice thin, fine lines start to cover his robes, and Malfoy didn't seem able to move as much. Ron had fallen on the ground, much like Hermione, and was shaking with laughter. The twins were chuckling in between giving each other high fives and giving Lily the thumbs-up sign. A few kids were poking their heads through the door again.
Malfoy danced/ran/hopped out of the classroom down the hall, yelling. The spiders were hot on his trail. Lily could hear them all laughing. Ron quickly followed him, chuckling, and knowing that he would have to stand up for Lily when Malfoy told his version of the story to Harry.
Brownie had stayed on Lily's desk. Thank you, Lily told her.
Brownie retorted, Don't mention it. They haven't had this much fun in years. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go join the fun, she said as she climbed down Lily's desk and across the floor. Who knows? We might make this a tradition. Awful man, he is. I say once a week will do quite nicely. Maybe we'll get him in his sleep next time. Tie him to his bed. Athena knows why humans sleep on those things.
Lily chuckled.
A few moments later, a bunch of Slytherins walked into the room. James was in the lead. He marched right up to Lily.
"Why did you do that?"
"What did I do?" Lily asked rudely. "It was the spiders, not me. They wanted to do that to him. He's awful."
"No, he isn't. Professor Malfoy is great."
Becky doubled over with laughter.
"I hope they expel you," James spat out at Lily. "The next time you pull a stunt like that I'll-"
"Sick Poison on her?" Becky cut in. "Brownie told us that all the snakes except Poison left because they couldn't stand you. Poison isn't even poisonous. He's a garter snake. Perfectly harmless."
"He has a few tricks."
"Yeah, like wrapping up around your ankle and refusing to let go. Or drooling on you. Hey, yeah, that's it. Poison could drown someone with his drool."
"He doesn't have to take that from you!" a Slytherin shouted at her.
Doug jumped up and stood and stood in front of James. "He has to take it if he doesn't get out of our faces."
"POTTER!"
Lily and James turned to see who it was. Malfoy had freed himself of the webbing and had shaken off the spiders. Ron was standing behind him, looking thoughtful
"Yes sir?" James and Lily asked at the same time.
"Not you James, you may join the rest of your class. Ms. Potter. The headmaster would like to talk to you."
Lily gasped quickly. She'd never been in trouble before. How could- She felt her cheeks grow warm with anger. Professor Malfoy! How dare he?! She stood promptly and marched down the stairs, being comforted by the sympathetic looks of her classmates, Ron, and the Weasley twins.
"I hope to see you in my class later on," Malfoy told her in a low and cruel voice., "To say good-bye to your friends and with your bags packed, that is." The Slytherins sneered.
Ron looked to the twins, "Show her to the headmaster's, will you?"
"That isn't necessary," Malfoy said. "James, please escort your sister to the headmaster's office." He sneered at Ron. "I gave all of the children a tour of the grounds their first night here. I believe many of the Gryffindor students are in the habit of getting lost." The Slytherins chuckled.
James grinned at Malfoy. "Yes sir. I'll show her to the Headmaster's office. I actually know the way."
Malfoy grinned evilly at Ron, who could by then easily imagine horns growing out of Malfoy's head. This time, Ron added huge fangs, and stuck Malfoy in a tutu, a trick he had learned from Professor Lupin (and Neville). He was disappointed to see that Malfoy didn't explode.
Lily turned and walked out of the doorway with James walking beside her, grinning as if it were Christmas.
"What's gotten into you, James?" Lily asked quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"You've changed. You aren't... good anymore. You remind me of Uncle Dudley, except when Uncle Dudley tiptoed carefully around matters concerning us."
"That's because he knew what we were- how powerful we are! We have real magic, Lily! Can you imagine what we can do with it?"
"I want to find our father and live with him," Lily said, not mentioning she knew who their father was.
"Well, we can't live with him. We can't even find him."
Lily stared at him in disbelief. He hadn't even noticed! Had whatever had a hold of him made him blind, as well as purely evil?
"What?"
"We're famous, Lily. We defeated the greatest wizard of all time- so did our dad. We're destined to be great. Can't you feel it? We can do whatever we want to! We can even- Oh, here we are." He stopped in front of a stone gargoyle which looked incredibly ugly.
"Password?" the gargoyle asked.
Lily, ignoring James's abashed look which told her that he didn't know the password, climbed up next to the goblin and whispered into his ear.
The gargoyle grinned and leapt out of her way and bowed to her as she walked through the wall, which had slid silently in two.
"You know the password?" James asked, incredulous.
Lily nodded. "I'm teaching Brownie English while I teach Becky Areanatu. She can't speak it, but she can understand it."
"Do you know the Slytherin house's password?" James asked, nervous now.
Lily simply smiled at him as the wall closed behind her.
She sighed and stepped onto the spiral staircase, which seemed to go continuously upward like an escalator. As she rose continually higher, she silently thanked Brownie for reporting to her all the English the small spider had understood at breakfast that morning. The Slytherins password, she had been told, hadn't changed in years. It was "Pure blood." The Hufflepuffs had "Whatchamacallit," and the Ravenclaws had chosen, "Riple Whople."
Lily roes higher, and she concentrated on looking at her shoes. Everything except the stairs seemed to be moving, and her stomach was beginning to churn.
At the top of the stairs, she saw a door that was made of an oak so clean that the wood nearly shimmered. In the center of the door was a gleaming brass knocker shaped like a griffin. As Lily stuck out her hand to knock, the griffin moved to look her in the face, sliding across the door as it did so. "You supposed to be here?" it asked.
"Yes," Lily said quietly. "I think I'm in trouble."
The griffin grinned. "On the first day!" He saw Lily's troubled expression. "Hey, don't worry, kid. You ain't the first one. The Weasley twins have been through here three times already. I mean, I know everything about those two, they've been here so many times. And besides, Potter's got a good sense of humor, don't let him trick you there."
The griffin saw her scar. "Another one! You Potters are nearly worse than the Weasleys. Good thing Hogwarts doesn't see as many of you pass through here, though. If so, this place would've been burned to the ground long ago!" Lily didn't ask what he meant.
"Here," the griffin told her. "Knock, Potter will come, you'll have your talking to- if you're really in trouble- that is, and then you can be out of here in time for your next class. But you can't come in without permission. Rules, you know."
"Thank you," Lily said, as the griffin offered her its clasped brass wings to knock. She pulled on it and dropped it three times.
"Come in," said a muffled voice from the other side of the door.
The door swung open silently, and Lily stepped through.
It wasn't much of an office, although it was still much more elaborate than any others she had seen so far. Maps and astrology charts were fixed to the walls, squeezed in between bookshelves crammed with books. In front of her, there was a wooden desk made of shiny cherry oak which was itself covered with papers, quills, and other knickknacks which Lily couldn't hope to name. On the other side of the desk was the man she'd seen next to Ron, Headmaster Potter. He rubbed his bangs over his forehead nervously when he saw her.
On his shoulder, a magnificent bird with orange, red, and golden plumage turned to look at her. It looked to Lily as if the bird had been crying. The headmaster's robe's sleeve was soaked.
"You'll have to excuse Fawkes," he said. "He's been trying to heal my internal bleeding- which I don't have- all morning." He shooed Fawkes with a hand until the bird jumped and flew into another room haughtily.
"Fawkes is a phoenix," Headmaster Potter said, seeing Lily's stunned look. "Phoenixes' tears have healing powers-" he raised his voice "-BUT NOT FOR CERTAIN THINGS!" From the other room, Lily heard an indignant squawk.
Behind her, Lily suddenly heard a grating sound as if metal was being scraped by wood. She turned to see what was causing it and saw the griffin, now turned around to face the office. It winked at her.
"Fred," Headmaster Potter said. "Turn around."
"But-"
"No buts. This isn't any of your business. Now go on."
The griffin, now having a name to match its face, turned, muttering, "I never get to see. The Potters! Something's bound to explode, too, but will I see it? No. Not Fred. Never poor Fred. Never me, nope. Not me!" He continued ranting while he turned around with a great amount of noise. His voice became muffled as he did so.
Headmaster Potter sighed. "You'll have to excuse Fred," he told Lily. "He's named after Professor Weasley's older brother, who caused quite a lot of mischief here in their day. His twin, George, has the staircase named after him. Sometimes George will stop suddenly so everyone will tumble down."
Lily grinned nervously, trying to ignore the fact that she was sitting right across from her father, whom she hadn't seen in ten years. "Headmaster Potter, I'm here about-"
He chuckled. "About Professor Malfoy. Superb trick, if I say so myself."
"I'm sorry-" Lily started, completely lost. She didn't think it was funny at all. It had been totally wrong, and she was sure to pay for it. And then here was the headmaster, congratulating her on a job well done.
"Call me Harry. I won't punish you, if that's what you're thinking. You said so yourself, you couldn't make the spiders do anything they didn't want to do, and you also said they wanted to attack Malfoy, so I can't hold you at fault. The fault is the spiders', and I can't very well punish every spider inside these walls, can I?"
Lily shook her head. He had a point, but still...
"So how is your first day at Hogwarts going?"
Lily hesitated. "Well, Transfiguration was all right, but I got kind of worked up when I found out Brownie was bringing everyone to visit me in Ron's class. I guess it was over nothing- Ron might actually be getting over his fear of spiders. When I first met him, he freaked when he saw Brownie and found out I could talk to her. I thought he was going to have a heart attack."
Harry chuckled. "Yes, Hermione told me about Diagon Alley. So you can talk to spiders, hmm?"
Lily nodded. "If I really wanted to, I could probably control them, but I really don't want to do that."
Harry nodded. "I understand. They're friends- just different. You still don't want to take advantage of them.
She nodded. "Exactly."
Harry looked at his watch, "My. Well, you'd better hurry. Ron's class is just ending. You have lunch and then- lucky you- Herbology. I'm jealous." If Lily was any good at all from getting feelings out of voices, she knew she wasn't going to enjoy Herbology. Harry had finished the sentence in a dry tone.
"Thank you, sir."
"Harry. And thank you, Lily, for giving me one of the best laughs I've had in a long time." He chuckled again. "You should have seen Malfoy come hopping in here. Your friends did a lovely job tying him up."
Lily grinned uncertainly. "Well, thank you, Harry, and, um, I'm glad you enjoyed it."
As she left, she wondered at how odd the people at Hogwarts were. Headmasters who were actually pleased to have tricks played on teachers. Still, she felt even worse for Professor Malfoy.
After she had gone, Harry went over to one of the many bookshelves and pulled out a certain book that was covered in dust. Harry looked at it briefly, wondering how long it had been since it had last been opened. He set it on his desk carefully, sending up a fine cloud of dust. He coughed as his eyes watered and opened the book, sending up another thick cloud of dust which made his eyes water again.
She knew who he was. He could tell. Perhaps not as well as Dumbledore could have told, but he could tell all the same. He had faith in her, plenty of faith. Hermione had told him of her success in Transfiguration. And he had been assured by both Ron and Hermione that Lily was different from James. Smart, quiet, unassuming, and definitely skilled. Harry knew to trust them, but actually meeting her had made up his mind that his two friends were completely right. Not only that, but he could feel it when she walked into the room. She was powerful. Perhaps more so even than himself.
He wasn't sure if he was doing it because he thought she would be perfectly capable of it, or if it was because he wanted to give her a gift- since he hadn't given her anything in ten years, or if he wanted to give her a reward.
Nevertheless, he found the spell and read through it. Then, he said it aloud.
He could feel it now, the room had a special spell on it. Anything said could be understood by spiders. If Lily wanted to, she could find out everything that was said in his study.
"You should have seen him, though!" Ron yelled in Harry's study. He stooped low to the ground with his harms opened wide. "He was like this- he had a hold of Chris and Kevin, you see- and then he saw all of those spiders coming towards him, looking terrible, and then he looked like this." Ron dropped his mouth and made it and his eyes as wide and open as they would go. "And then the spiders completely covered him and he started trying to squash them-" He started to jump around and stomp as much as he could. "-but he didn't get a single one- even though there was the huge swarm of them. And then the spiders started to cover him in webbing, and he tore out of the room. You should have seen him! By the time he got in here, he'd fallen nearly ten times because he couldn't move his legs! He had to move like this." Ron placed his feet together, his arms to his sides, and starting hopping around like a spring. "And then George knocked him off the stairs tons of times, and Fred wouldn't let him in until the spiders started to bite him. And, I must admit, I helped a bit. Every chance I got, I stuck my wand into the webbing near his feet so he'd fall again!" He let out a roar of laughter.
"Ron!" Hermione said strictly, but it lost its effect as she fell out of her chair, grabbing her sides and laughing. Her face had turned red.
Harry laughed. "You should have seen him when he came in here, Hermione. His face was completely beet red, and he was stuttering, and he couldn't even stand still. I am glad Fawkes kept the spiders out of the office, though."
Hermione wiped her eyes. "So, Ron, are you over your fear of spiders?"
"As long as they never do to me what they did to Malfoy."
Hermione chuckled. "You know what Lily told me?"
"What?" Harry and Ron both asked eagerly.
"Brownie wants to make it a tradition. Says that once a week will do nicely- maybe more often." Harry and Ron looked at each other, grinning. "And Brownie says that next time, they'll tie Malfoy to his bed!"
They all started laughing this time. Hedwig came through the window, looked at Fawkes, bewildered by the humans' behavior and promptly flew out again.
"I can't believe you didn't get in twouble," Soup muttered for the umpteenth time.
"I know," Lily said dreamily. The crowd of Gryffindors celebrating what had happened earlier to Professor Malfoy had finally left. Soup, Doug, Becky, and Lily, the only ones left in the common room, had just noticed that it was so late, it was early. "I can't believe I got to meet my father. After all these years."
"Cool, isn't he?" Becky asked with a grin.
Lily nodded. "I've decided."
Becky and Soup leaned in, giving her their full attention. Doug, who had been slightly troubled since Transfiguration, finally turned away from the window to look at her.
"I want to find out why no one told me Harry was my father."