Lily looked to the teachers' table, and caught Malfoy's eye. She quickly looked away as her scar began to burn. Her scar had done that every time she'd seen Malfoy since Monday. The problem was, he wasn't the only one who was beginning to make it burn. Every time James looked at her, it felt as if it were on the point of exploding.
However, every time Harry looked at her, the scar seemed to warm, but it was a pleasant feeling. Not one that would nearly scare her half to death.
Everyone was in the Great Hall, eating breakfast. Soup was sitting to her left, with Doug on his left, and Becky sitting on her right.
"Mail should be arriving any minute," Becky whispered to her.
"Gee, can't wait," Doug muttered sourly. Every morning, he got an owl from his mother, and he would always hastily scribble down on the parchment she sent him before he sent it back. After this, he was always in a bad mood, and the others had learned to stay away from him for a while.
Several changes had been made since Monday. Now, no matter what time it was, there were always spiders around the Gryffindor table, and spiders could always be found in the Gryffindor common room, always getting more and more at home. The Gryffindors, however, were actually enjoying this. They often left out food to attract flies for them. Lily would have expected this to frighten many people, but instead, everyone seemed to be amazed at the thought of somewhat tame spiders, and they enjoyed the reputation it brought.
Another change was that Ron, from that point on, entered the Great Hall with his arms pressed to his sides and hopped up to the teachers table, always asking Malfoy if he'd seen any spiders around lately. Ron also seemed to have gotten over his fear of spiders- but he still wouldn't voluntarily get within ten feet of one.
"It's Fwiday," Soup muttered, also staring at Malfoy.
"I can't wait," Lily mumbled, unpleased.
"You know," said Chris from next to Becky, "I'd watch out for Malfoy. He absolutely hates Gryffindors, and with that fabulous display Monday, he'll be out to get you."
"In more ways than one," Kevin added.
"Meaning?" Becky pushed.
"If you don't watch out, he'll probably try to get your heads on silver platters."
"He's the Potions master, so he'll probably try to make a curse so you'll boil down to-" Kevin looked at his brother. "Well, he's been known to do some pretty drastic things."
"Turn people orange.
"Melt a bunch of holes in them.
"Shrink certain things for laughs. One time, he shrank Albert's arms and refused to grow them back again."
"Or he makes things bigger."
"Noses."
"Lips."
"Eyes."
"Sometimes, he'll sneak potions into your food and drink that make you gag so you can't breathe."
"And your face starts to change shape."
"You start having spasms right on the floor."
"And you can't speak because the potion burns your lips together."
"So you look like a blistering idiot."
"And he refuses to do a thing."
The twins paused thoughtfully, looking from each other to the four fearful faces staring at them.
Kevin spoke again. "Or he could just give you detention."
The quartet sighed, realizing they'd been taken for fools. One by one, they all looked to Becky, who had more experience and would surely put the Weasley twins in their place.
Becky stared back at them. "What?" she asked when they hadn't blinked in nearly a minute.
Soup pointed at the Weasley twins, who were now grinning and toasting each other and then glared back at Becky.
Becky sighed. "I'm not saying they're right or wrong, I think I know that they were putting us on, but the point is, I wouldn't put it past Malfoy to do any of those things."
Lily gasped. Soup and Doug looked at each other and then stared at their food. They all sat in silence for a while.
"But we are going to the library this afternoon, aren't we?" Lily asked sharply. They hadn't had a chance to do research yet. Tuesday, they had spent the afternoon and night sleeping off the night before, and Wednesday, they'd had to get up at midnight for Astrology class with Professor Nadim in the Astrology tower. Thursday, they'd slept off the effects of that. But they'd have this afternoon off.
"Sure, sure," Doug muttered, secretly hoping something would come up and they wouldn't be able to make it. He had never been a fan of research, and he wasn't going to start now.
"MAIL!" someone shouted.
Lily gave a slight start. She'd nearly freaked the first day the hundreds of owls had spilled into the room from every direction, and she still gave a slight jump every time she saw it.
Orion hadn't brought her anything yet, but Wendelyn had always amused her, flying in and then flying in circles above them as Doug hastily wrote to his mother.
However, this time, Lily spotted Orion in the crowd of owls and stared as he flew towards her. He dropped a scroll on her plate, which she luckily hadn't filled yet. Hastily, Lily picked it up and undid the string. She unrolled it and showed it to Becky and Soup, but Doug was muttering to himself as he wrote to his mother.
Lily read aloud, "Would you like to eat lunch with us all at Hagrid's cottage?"
She looked up and waved at Ron and Hermione, who were grinning broadly at her.
"Well? Shall we?" she asked Becky and Soup. They nodded eagerly. Lily swallowed and reached over to poke Doug gently. He looked up, a distant look in his eyes.
"What?"
"Do you want to go to lunch with Ron, Hermione, and anyone else who might be there?"
Lunch? That would mean they wouldn't have to go to the library if he made it last for a while. "Sure."
"All right." Lily took out a pen, which she carried around with her out of habit. She wrote "Can't wait- We're all coming. Lily." She rolled up the scroll again and handed it to Orion, who hesitated.
"Oh, I think I understand. Here, take some bread. How about some bacon?" Orion hooted happily and dug in.
A few minutes later, Orion finished Lily's meal, grabbed the scroll in his talons, and took it to the teachers' table, dropping it on Ron's lap.
"At least we'll have something to look forward to in Potions," Lily said hopefully.
Potions, however, was worse than they could have thought. They had forgotten that they had double Potions with the Slytherins until Doug reminded them. He seemed to be in a better mood than usual. Lily supposed he had the lunch to look forward to.
They left the Great Hall and headed back to the Gryffindor house to get their books before setting off to the dungeons.
When they entered, the first thing Lily noticed was that it seemed as if all the spiders in Hogwarts were crammed into the common room. The many Gryffindors in the room were staring at all of them in awe. They'd never seen so many spiders in here before.
Brownie! Lily called out immediately. A sudden hush fell over the spiders as the humans in the room turned to stare at Lily, watching for any hints of what was going on.
Coming, girl. I'm coming.
In the name of Athena, Lily rushed, what is going on here?
Harry's- Headmaster's Potter's study is going on, that's what, Brownie told her crossly, not appreciating the way Lily had used Athena's name. All the spiders can understand what is said there.
Everyone waited in silence. Lily looked around. Can you understand what is said in here?
No. Nowhere but that study.
And you can understand everything said there?
How many times must I tell you? Yes!
Lily told the kids in the common room and explained- only mentioning that the spiders could understand everything said in Headmaster Potter's office. The Weasley twins, who had just walked in, let out an excited whoop. "See if they can tell us where they're hiding the packet of cherry bombs they took from us yesterday," Kevin asked.
Lily repeated this to Brownie.
It's in the cupboard of Hagrid's cottage, Brownie told her crossly.
When Lily told them this, the twins looked crushed. "Hagrid's cottage," Chris muttered. "We'll never see them it again." He looked at Kevin and the two grinned evilly at each other before dashing off.
Until it was taken, Brownie said evilly.
How could that happen? Lily asked Brownie. How can all of the spiders understand all the English spoken in Harry's study but nowhere else?
The Wise Ones are looking through the Webs now, Brownie told her.
However, this explanation merely managed to confuse Lily more. What? she asked.
Brownie made her most human-like sigh. A long time ago, the Ancient Ones recorded all the spider magic in Webs that serve much like humans' books. The first person like you taught us how to record things, and ever since, special spiders we call the Wise Ones have looked after the Webs, keeping them in tact and such.
Lily nodded to herself. She motioned to the others, and the quartet went to the far side of the room where Lily explained to them what had happened.
Becky looked up suspicious. "Why would they do that?"
Lily shook her head. "I don't think they could understand what was said before, which means that it happened sometime this week."
"This week. The first week of school," Doug muttered slowly, mostly to himself.
"The first week when his kids come to Hogwarts," Becky added.
"Isn't it obvious?" Soup asked. They looked at him in surprise. "Lily knows what they say, and then they can make out all that's said in the study. The guys wanted Lily to know what was said, via the spidas."
Lily nodded. "But what would be so interesting about what's said in his study?"
Becky shrugged. "It would be their first gift to you, besides the owl, in years. Maybe they're trying to catch up."
Lily nodded and smiled. "Maybe if something interesting happens, it'll be a great gift."
"Just hope they don't do their taxes in there," Doug pointed out. "My mom says that's the most boring event of every year."
Soup checked his watch. "We'd betta go. Potions is in a few minutes."
"How many minutes?" Becky asked, suddenly sounding tired.
"Five."
"FIVE!"
With that, they tore out of the room, dodging spiders and their webs.
They arrived just in the nick of time. Most of the other students were already there, standing next to their already fully set-up cauldrons. Everyone turned as they ran in, out of breath and practically gasping for air. Not only had they had only five minutes, but Becky had gotten them lost a number of times, and they thought they had made pretty good time.
"Ms Potter and company," Professor Malfoy sneered. "How nice of you to join us. Wanted to make an entrance, did you?"
"No sir." Lily said cautiously, not wanting a previously made enlarging potion to suddenly appear and hit her out of nowhere. "We got lost on the way here, sir."
"Did you? Then I suggest you don't get lost in the future. Now find a place to set up your cauldrons. Two to each."
As they walked to the back of the room to set up their cauldrons, several of the Slytherins turned to sneer at them, muttering about how typical it was of Gryffindors to get lost on the way to class.
"No spiders are coming, are they, Ms Potter?"
"No sir."
"Then let's begin. Everyone, take the crushed spider legs..."
Lily froze and looked to Becky, who was sharing Lily's cauldron with her. Becky nodded, almost imperceptibly, and scooped the spider legs into her own hand. Malfoy saw this out of the corner of his eye and became thoughtful. After a while, Lily realized that he was trying to make Becky wait to get rid of the spider legs in her hand.
"Now, if we wanted to make a potion that would turn someone's skin green, what would we add to it?" He looked around the room to call on someone. James had his hand in the air, confident in his answer and seemingly acting nonchalant. He was sitting with another Slytherin directly in front of Becky and Lily. Lily, although she knew the answer, was too busy staring, frozen, at the crushed spider legs in Becky's hand to raise her own hand. Had Professor Malfoy meant to do this? What was she thinking? Of course he'd meant to. It was some sort of revenge for what the spiders had done to him Monday. Okay, she might have had a small part in it, but it had mostly been the spiders.
"Ms Potter?"
"Eye of newt and a chokecherry, sir."
She looked away from the spider legs just in time to see, momentarily, a look of surprise on Malfoy's face. He quickly covered it up. "All right. Next question. Where could you find a splintop?"
"On the island of Sri Lanka, sir."
"Okay, answer this. If I wanted to make a boiling potion, where would I look to find a fluent?"
"You wouldn't waste your time, sir. The fluent went extinct long ago, and even back then, the boiling potion was sometimes faulty."
"It didn't say that in the book."
"Yes it did. The fourth paragraph on the page."
"Which page?" Malfoy snapped, snatching up Becky's book. Becky glared at him, and then looked at the crushed spider legs in her hand thoughtfully, as if thinking how wonderful it would be to simply throw all of the crushed spider legs in his hair- or, even better, his eyes or mouth. She grinned evilly and looked up by mistake, seeing Lily's glare, which was directed at her. Becky tried her best to calm down.
"Page 138, sir." Lily wasn't sure how she remembered, but she was certain it was on that page.
Malfoy flipped to the page, nearly tearing the sheets out. He skimmed the page Lily had said. His eyes seemed to pop out, and he went back to the beginning to read over the page again. This time, he kept his eyes an inch away from the page, staring at each letter and word as if it were a traitor, and at any moment he might shoot it down.
He threw the book back on the desk. "Yes, well." He cleared his throat and went back to the front of the room.
Many of the Gryffindors turned to Lily and gave her the thumbs-up sign, smiling at her. Nearly all the Slytherins turned to sneer at her. James hissed "Show off," and "Know-it-all" at her. Lily tried her best to ignore him.
"Mr Potter, at what point would I put the eye of newt and the chokeberry into the cauldron?"
James immediately turned around and looked angelic. "You would put the spider legs in when the water starts boiling, along with the eye of newt. You would then stir those together until it makes a kind of brownish color, and then you would add the chokecherry."
Malfoy grinned at him. "Very good. Very good, indeed. Five points to Slytherin."
The Gryffindors gaped at each other. It was obvious that Malfoy had already run the Slytherins through this, step by step. James would have gotten it right! It even sounded like James had quoted it word for word from a book. No, he had probably quoted Malfoy. Kiss up to the teacher. But Lily had gotten all of the tough questions, and she hadn't gotten a single point! Not even half of one! James turned and grinned maliciously at Lily, who smiled back. She hadn't counted on receiving any points. And she knew that Malfoy wouldn't be giving her any.
"Now, everyone fill your cauldrons, set on the heaters, and wait for them to boil. We'll see if you get this right."
Lily filled their cauldron with water- since Becky could only use one hand unless she wanted to lose some of the spider legs- and flicked the switch to turn the heater on, briefly thinking of how lucky they were. She'd read in A History of Magic that in the old days, they'd had to burn wood and set the cauldron above it and then wait for it to boil. Now, all they had to do was flick a switch, and a second later, the cauldron would boil.
As it began to do so, Becky brushed the crushed spider legs into the water, and Lily dropped in the eye of newt. They began to stir. Lily watched the color until it turned a brown color and dropped in the chokecherry.
The chokecherry seemed to explode as it sank under the water, and sent out a thick yellow cloud into the water, when the cloud had seemingly stopped moving, the water slowly but surely began to turn green.
In front of her, Lily heard James whisper to his partner how it was such a shame he and his siter and been placed in different houses. After all, Professor Malfoy had said twins were stronger than other wizards and witches- especially together. Lily dismissed it, knowing that James was probably trying to play a trick on her.
Malfoy was walking through the cauldrons, making comments on what had been done wrong to the Gryffindors, but telling all the Slytherins what a fine job they had done. He smiled at James, saying that the potion he and his partner, Tomas, had brewed was perfect. He reached Becky and Lily's cauldron and peered into it. Lily waited, certain that he would say "Too green," or "Not green enough," or some other picky tidbit. Instead, he straightened himself again, glared at her- making her scar burn- and walked away.
As he was observing Doug and Soup's potion, Lily heard James in front of her tell his partner, "Hey, check this out." James leaned closer to the cauldron. "Double, bubble-" Instantly, the cauldron started to boil, sending up small splashes and a few green bubbles that popped. The droplets fell back into the cauldron. James looked up and grinned at Tommy, who was getting the Slytherins' attention, and, by doing so, was getting everyone's attention except Malfoy's. "-Toil and trouble. Fly from the cauldron, and land on..." He looked around for a victim, no doubt a Gryffindor, but the Gryffindors were all leaning in, trying to see what was going on. "...ABBY!"
The potion flew out of the cauldron, heading towards Abby, the nearest Gryffindor. Abby held her hands out as if to stop it, but it did no good. She gave a quick shriek as the potion landed on her, and everyone in the room began to hear it sizzle. Abby's skin started turning green.
"What is going on here?" Malfoy shouted, wheeling around as if he had just noticed that something was going wrong.
"It's Abby, sir," James said. "I think she botched up her potion somehow. It exploded right in front of her."
"Ten points from Gryffindor," Malfoy said, ignoring the fact that Abby's potion was still in the cauldron, but James's cauldron was perfectly empty. "Foolish girl. I would have thought anyone would have had more sense." Malfoy continued to lecture her.
Lily dropped in another chokecherry into the potion and watched as it turned a shade of blue. Collecting a spoonful, she walked over to where Abby was kneeling. Without saying anything so as not to interrupt Malfoy's lecture, she took Abby's hands and spread the blue mixture, which had become a bit gooey, on them. When she rubbed the potion off a few seconds later, Abby's skin was normal again.
"Ms. Potter, what are you doing?" Malfoy snapped at her, just then realizing that she was there.
"I was trying to help Abby, sir."
"And how did you think you were going to do that?"
"If you add one more chokecherry, you get a counter-potion"
"Go to your seat. Ten points off Gryffindor for a student moving out of her place when not told to."
"But-" Becky interrupted.
"Silence!" roared Malfoy. "If anyone speaks without first being spoken to, they will lose points for their house! Do you understand, Longbottom?"
All of the Slytherins snickered, and even many of the Gryffindors grinned (although they tried hard to hide it). Becky was the only one who didn't seem to think her last name was funny- besides Lily, Doug, and Soup- the boys, though, were also trying desperately to cover up their grins.
"Yes, sir."
Class went on in much the same way. Although Lily had worked out a cure for Abby, Malfoy still sent Abby to the infirmary, saying that was she had done was dangerous and if it were up to him, he'd never have her in his classroom again, and that she should be thankful the potion hadn't been life-threatening.
Towards the end of the class, many of the Gryffindors were checking their watches, trying not to let their actions be seen by Malfoy. What the older kids had told them was true- Malfoy hated Gryffindors and loved Slytherins.
"It was awful!" Becky complained loudly. Neville frowned and seemed about to stroke her hair, stopping when she realized that she was probably too old for that. Meanwhile, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid tried not to laugh out loud.
"It wasn't that bad," Lily said honestly.
Becky stared at her in awe and amazement and, maybe, even a little disgust. "Aren't you upset with him at all?" she asked, incredulous, as she stirred the batter for the cake Hermione was making for dessert. "He took ten points off of you! In all the other classes, you made points. You didn't have them taken away. And then in his class, you can't get points. Instead, he just takes them away."
"Gryffindor is still in the lead for the House Cup," Lily pointed out. "As long as I don't do anything to give him a reason to take any points away, he won't."
Ron ran his hands through his hair. "Goodness. Another Hermione in the making."
Hagrid and Harry both choked on their tea and had to cough for a few minutes, although they laughed the entire time, which didn't help. Hermione simply stood in the kitchen, looking sternly at Ron with her hands on her hips, her wand clutched tightly in her hand as Neville tried to figure out what was so funny. To him, Hermione was fine. What would be wrong with another one?
Hoping to change the subject, Lily asked, "Why aren't we allowed to go into the Forbidden Forest?"
Harry cleared his throat. "Many things. The first that Hagrid is one of the few people here who can go into the woods and then find his way out. Most people get lost."
Ron grinned. "My nephews being among them."
Now Hagrid grinned. "I'm jus' glad they haven' learned their way 'round there. Then I'd really 'ave my work cut out." He laughed while the others chuckled. Lily looked at Becky, conveying the message that this seemed to be a private joke of Hagrid's, and that anyone who laughed merely did so to be polite.
Harry continued. "There are tons of dangerous creatures."
"Like Aragog?" she cut in.
He nodded, though whether it was to her or to himself, she wasn't sure. "Yes. Aragog and his entire family. Then all the other spiders. Centaurs are there, too. Unicorns. Speaking of which, Hagrid? Has there been any trouble lately?"
"'Pends what kin' yeh mean."
"Any animals at all."
"The snakes 'ave all left. Couldn' handle James, I guess." He laughed while Harry and Lily grinned feebly and Neville breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, it was Hermione's turn to change the subject. "I think you'll like it here at Hogwarts, though, guys. We'll have a Halloween feast. Everyone goes in costume."
Ron frowned. "Speaking of which, I overheard Chris and Kevin talking about the feast. And they only talk about things that early when they're planning something."
"I know nothing," Soup muttered.
Ron looked at him with a suspicious grin while Hermione stared sternly at Soup, and Harry looked at him, amused, but they didn't push anything.
Lily looked at them curiously. Ron saw the look and grinned widely at her.
"My nephews have a habit of getting into trouble. We let them get into it. I guess you could say we need as many laughs as we can get."
The younger children smiled politely although Becky was the only one to actually laugh. Lily, Doug, and Soup looked at exchanged confused looks. None of them had ever had teachers like these.
Everyone worked through dinner. Talking to the adults is actually easy, Lily thought quite often to herself. They aren't much more than kids themselves.
After dinner, Hermione looked at her watch and jumped. "Goodness! If you four don't move fast, you're going to be the late! The Fat Lady always goes to visit other portraits at nine!"
"The dishes-" Lily began.
Hagrid grinned. "Don't worry about the dishes. You'd better get goin' 'fore she leaves, o' you'll be locked out."
The four children obediently ran out of the cottage and across the grounds.
Doug fell in step with Lily, who was having trouble holding up her robes and keeping a grip on her wand at the same time.
"Can you believe them?" Doug asked her. "I've never met teachers like those." He shook his head.
"I know," Lily agreed. "I hate to say it, but I almost miss my old teacher. They were... predictable."
Doug nodded in agreement. "I can't wait till Halloween already," he told her. "At least things are supposed to be weird then."
Hermione started putting the dishes in the sink to soak. Although she was one of the most talented witches of the time and a teacher at Hogwarts, she still tended to do some things the muggle way- something Ron never failed to point out.
Harry cleared his throat loudly. "I've been thinking," he announced. He was going to tell them now. They had to know- or did they? Well, he'd gotten half of it out of the way; he'd just have to finish. He'd decided they should know, so he'd tell them. Simple.
Hermione flicked her wand and the dishes started washing themselves. She turned to face Harry, already knowing by the awful feeling in her stomach what he was going to say. Ron and she exchanged nervous glances.
Hagrid sat down patiently. He'd learned after time to be patient with Harry. If the younger man wanted Hagrid to know something, Harry would tell him.
Neville, however, was leaning forward in his seat, threatening to tip the chair over. He'd always wanted James and Lily to be able to stay at Hogwarts. Becky, in his opinion, needed a friend, and he had never understood why Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid moped about the problem when the answer was so simple.
"Yes?" Hermione prodded.
Harry cleared his throat again. "I've been thinking that maybe James and Lily should stay with me. Just over the summer."
Neville and his chair fell onto the floor with a crash. Hagrid helped him up while Ron set the chair back.
"Harry," Hermione said evenly, in an all-too-patient voice. "We discussed this. They're better off at the Dursleys. It's safer."
"I know, but-"
"You said so yourself, Voldemort will never think to look for them there. Why take a chance now?"
"Because-"
"No, Harry. It's too dangerous."
"Can't I at least tell them that I'm their-"
"Why?" Ron asked, stepping into the "conversation" for the first time. "Why now? You'd only get their hopes up. They'd have a lot of questions. And I don't think they're ready to face Voldemort yet."
"Oh all-"
"You might have them jumping at shadows," Ron went on.
"Ron I-"
"They'd want to leave with you," Hermione added, "and then you'd have to explain why not."
"I said I-"
"The point is, Harry," Ron finished, "is that we don't think you should tell them."
"I GET THE POINT!" Harry shouted. Neville covered his ears with his hands.
Harry stormed out of the room, silently seething. He'd gotten the point. He'd tried to tell them so, and then they had just simply interrupted him as if what he said didn't matter. He didn't have to be reminded so often. A simple "no" would have done just fine!
He stopped in the middle of the trail, hidden from the cottage by trees and stood looking at Hogwarts, trying to get his breath back. He just couldn't help thinking that maybe his father would have been headmaster or teacher at Hogwarts after being forced to give Harry up to the Dursleys. His mother would be there too. But how would he have felt, never knowing they were his parents? Never knowing what had happened to him except for what other people told him, like it had been when he'd been growing up? What if he were in Lily's or James's shoes? Why couldn't any of the others understand that?
With a frustrated sigh, Harry continued up the path to Hogwarts.
Back in the cottage, Hermione sighed. "What's his problem?" she asked no one in particular.
Ron shrugged. "You know Harry," he muttered. "Spoilsport."
Hermione knitted her brows. "How is Harry a spoilsport? You two are almost as bad as both sets of twins."
"I don't know," Ron said, using his exasperated voice. "He just is."
Under her breath, Hermione muttered, "Whatever."