"Why didn't anybody stop me?" Lily said, letting out a groan and burying her face in her hands. This day was already starting off so well. With her luck, it would get even better.

"How?" Ron asked.

"Come again?" Lily said, looking up from the safety of her digits.

"How were we supposed to know you were going to kiss her?" Ron asked, eating a bite of toast.

"I don't know- somebody could have gotten me out of the water, at least! It was only freezing out there."

"Why would we? You seemed to enjoy yourself."

"Shut up, Neville."

"Come on, mate, don't tell us you didn't like it."

"Shut up, Ron."

"I mean, really," Ron said, shoving the rest of the buttered bread into his mouth, "who hasn't at least thought about kissing one?"

"Speak for yourself," Neville said, playing with his now-cold porridge.

"Well, sure, mate, but you're too busy trying to snog the Venomous Tentacula."

"It was Cuddly Catatonias, and you know they require physical affection in order to grow."

"I don't remember anyone else hugging the things."

"I was," Lily grumbled, setting her face back into her arms. The plants were actually quite nice, too, with large leaves that felt like pillows.

"Well, sure," Ron said, grabbing another piece of toast, "but I don't think we should be basing normal behaviours on what you do."

"You just said everybody has thought about it!"

"That doesn't mean we'd do it. Blimey, I don't know if you're ever living this one down, Lily."

"Don't remind me. I'm the one that has to deal with this particular memory being burned into my skull permanently, thanks," Lily said, looking briefly up from her personal darkness only to go straight back to burying her face, lest the other dining students see her and continue blowing kisses to increase her shame. "As if I didn't already have enough things keeping me up at night."

"Look on the bright side," Neville said, finally eating some porridge with a grimace on his face. "At least you have a girlfriend again."

Lily just let out a groan, wishing she was dead. That was another conversation that was going to keep her up for the next century. The princess said she was flattered, but she wasn't at all interested in an interspecies relationship. They, of course, had that conversation after Lily had taken her antidote and was in the process of thinking about every embarrassing thing she'd done. To make matters worse, the side effects of a dose of Elation Fixation were rapidly setting in, and if it wasn't for Dumbledore noticing and cutting off the connection to her Telly Bubble, the whole stadium might have seen her crying over it.

It was mortifying enough that the judges saw it all, especially with Umbridge staring down at her with an unhealthy dose of smug satisfaction. She ended up avoiding the common room party meant to celebrate her success and spent the entirety of her Sunday moping about in bed, therefore blowing off her 'date,' and likely last chance, with Katie Bell. That she was sitting here at breakfast on this horrible Monday morning was a testament to how much she didn't want to hear any complaints from one Hermione Granger.

At the very least, her scores for the task were about as good as it got; a perfect 10 from Bagman, Dumbledore, and Maxime, another 4 from Karkaroff, and a 2 from Umbridge for 'starting an international incident.' The awful woman tried to give her a 1, but the chorus of boos resounding from every corner of the stadium were enough to bump it up by at least a point. Not that Lily noticed; she was too busy being dragged off by Sirius. The man almost had to fight off Bagman and a few eager reporters, but just being out of the public eye was a tremendous relief to her quickly declining mental state.

Fleur was the second to come out of the water, carrying a large chest of sparkling rocks and coins, taken directly from the palace treasury. She took advantage of the commotion Lily was causing to sneak right in unnoticed, and received far more consistent scores than Lily did, as she was the only contestant not to be caught. Krum was the last to emerge, carrying an entire statue of a previous merfolk chieftain that he took from their public courtyard. From what Lily was told, as she was too busy trying to smooch a mermaid to notice herself, he even used it as a rudimentary weapon to fend off some guards that got a bit too close to him.

Despite Lily's excellent scores, her marks from the first task were holding her in second place, and Fleur's first place stance was not changed in the slightest. The Champions were each told they would be told later what the Third Task consisted of a whole month ahead of its scheduled event; June 18th, the last day of exams at Hogwarts for the year and, by complete chance, Father's Day.

"We should get to class," Ron said, standing and pushing his plate away. "If Belby is back, she'll kill us if we're late."

"You guys go on ahead," Lily said, her voice muffled by her arms. "I'll just stay here and die."

"Oh, come on, Lily, don't be so dramatic. I was joking. Your little kiss isn't that big of a deal."

Lily lifted her head and glared at Ron. Then, with a dramatic sweep, she raised a hand and gestured to the Great Hall around them, where half the school was wearing a mermaid outfit and trying to grab her attention through various antics. Fred and George's were at least funny, but Lily had high doubts that the rest of them were done with the same friendly spirit.

"Honestly," she said, burying her face in her arms again. "I think I preferred when they were all avoiding me."

"At least they aren't wearing those ape suits anymore."

"Ron, one more word, and I'll kill you."

Lily was drumming her fingers on the desk in front of them moments later, doing her best to ignore the excited chatter around them, as well as the few mermaids. Most students who were daring to wear the rubbish seemed to know better than to wear the stuff during class. A few Beauxbatons students, however, seemed to be emboldened by Potions still being run by their professor. They weren't wearing the full get-up, sure, but their little blue outfits were clearly styled to resemble scales on the lower half of their bodies. Some even wore shoes shaped like fins. Lily didn't know what was worse; the taunting or that part of her thought the outfits were cute. That same part of her brain wanted to learn where they got it all from. She did her best to ignore it.

Harder to ignore was the sudden, muffled swear from the ginger boy sitting next to her. She had to pull her eyes away from where Hermione was sitting (although her eyes were mostly focused on Mandy Brocklehurst next to her) with her two Ravenclaw friends to see what the boy was making such a big deal out of.

She repeated his swear, just a tad louder, when she saw Snape striding quickly towards the front of the classroom.

"Two points, Potter," Snape said without even looking at her. "Today we will be-"

"Where's Belby?" a French boy asked.

"Not here," Snape answered in a perfect French. "Today we will be-"

"Is she alright?" a French girl said this time.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Snape said. "Today we will be-"

"Why did they send you?" Lily said.

"Another two points, Potter," Snape said. "The next person to interrupt me will be given a detention. Today we will be-"

"Don't," Ron said quietly, putting a hand on her arm when she opened her mouth to protest further. "Just put up with him. We won't have him much longer."

"Why would they send you instead of a Beauxbatons professor?" Lily asked. She earned quite a few agreeing grumbles from Beauxbatons students as well a grimace from her good friend Ronald.

"Detention, Potter," Snape said. "The faculty of Beauxbatons are busy attending to their own classes and duties. Maxime and Dumbledore both agreed I was the man for the job. Now, today we will be-"

"Slughorn is supposed to be teaching our year," Lily said. "Why didn't they send him?"

"Another detention. Professor Slughorn is teaching the sixth years during this week's timeslot. Today we will be-"

"Vhy not one of ours?" a Durmstrang boy said.

"Detention," Snape said, his face starting to turn red. "Your Durmstrang professors refused the opportunity. Today we will be-"

It was a testament to how much Snape was despised by the international community that over half the class launched into a barrage of questions and protests. Lily leaned back in her seat, content to watch Snape writhe and roar, trying to regain a handle of control over the escalating situation, still puzzling over why Snape would be here over Belby.

"You don't think this has anything to do with what Moody told you?" Neville asked on her left.

"Must be," Lily agreed with a small nod.

"Come to think of it," Ron said, scratching at his chin, "she was gone last week, too, wasn't she?"

"One week is one thing," Lily said. "Could have been sick. Nobody would question it. But Pomfrey can cure anything in a day. Something's off, here."

"Think Snape would notice if I snuck out of here to grab the map?" Ron asked, eyes watching the increasingly frustrated Potions master.

"Absolutely," Lily said, reaching into her bag for her Potions text. "Leave it alone, Ron."

"What? Why?"

"Because it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"How does it not matter?" Ron said. "If she's in the castle, we could find her, and then-"

"Half the castle isn't on the map anymore," Lily said, flicking towards the end of the book. "Let the professors handle it. It's none of our business."

"None of our- have you lost it?"

"Not at all," Lily said, nodding when she found the Tantalization Foundation. A weak little poison: you'd mix a special little something into it during the brewing process, and it would make the victim hyper focused on it for the duration.

"Lily," Ron said, leaning closer. "Moody told you to stay away from the woman and then she disappears. Aren't you at all curious?"

"Of course, I am," Lily said, shrugging. "But nobody's going to tell me anything, even if I did ask, so why bother?"

"Because we're not asking."

"And we're not finding, either," Lily said, pulling on her dragonhide gloves.

"Lily, we solved a mystery in our first year! We can do this."

"It's not about our ability," Lily said. "It's about- look, if the staff find out I'm putting my nose where it doesn't belong again, they're going to get angry with me, and then they'll tell Sirius, and then he'll be angry, and it'll be a whole thing, and then Hermione will find out and I won't be able to escape it anywhere, and I don't want to deal with it. Alright? So just drop it."

"Alright," Ron said, drumming his fingers on the table and watching the increasingly loud Snape trying to shout over foreign students. "Me and Nev will just do it ourselves, then."

"Come again?" Neville said. "We're doing what, now?"

"We'll find her ourselves," Ron said, nodding his confidence.

"Suit yourself," Lily said, Ron starting to slide downwards and out of his chair. "Just don't get me dragged into it."

"Weasley! Get back in your seat!"

Ron ran up to get the map during their brief lunch break, instead, and he wouldn't stop poring over it during their Charms lesson. At the very least, he made a little fort of books to hide the thing from prying eyes (a lesson he no doubt learned from Lily). Lily just rolled her eyes on him and did her best to pay attention to their lesson on Stepping Mists. With them, you could create little clouds of mist in the air, hard and solid enough to support one's weight (when done properly). Basically, you could make stairs to wherever you needed to go. Lily didn't see much use in it for dueling, but it she could see some potential for the others (she didn't need it, being able to apparate and all). The main issue Lily had with it was that every cloud had to be cast individually. Easy and fast enough for her, sure, but that was because of silent casting; Nubicendi was quite the mouthful to speak repeatedly, over and over, if you were in a hurry to get somewhere.

Ron found nothing before they split off so Lily could attend her Arithmancy lesson. That class was spent with Lily mostly stressing out over the multitude of worksheets they were assigned to complete. The subject was becoming very difficult, and there was a frantic, tension filled atmosphere filling the room. If somebody was breaking the silence, it needed to be to ask a question related to the hordes of mathematics, lest you earn the wrath of your peers.

It took hours for Lily to finish all her work after a quick, stressed supper. By the end of it, she almost felt like crying, but since Hermione was sitting at her own desk, looking increasingly frazzled over her own pile of homework, Lily didn't want to break their uncomfortable silence with the sound of tears. And that was just for Ancient Runes; she still had to finish her work for Transfiguration that was due the same day. That took another two hours, by which point Hermione was asleep in her bed and the only light in the room came from the wand in Lily's hand. She needed to do Care of Magical Creatures, as well, but that was something she could pump out quickly over breakfast, which was… three hours from her current point in time.

Lovely, Lily thought, collapsing face first into bed, still wearing the day's school robes. She closed her weary eyes for a second, and when she opened them, Hermione was shaking her shoulder, trying to hurry her up or they'd be late for their first class, the room filled with bright light, and she had no time at all to do anything.

It was going to be a long day, and she already felt like death just trying to roll out of bed.

"You've got to manage your time better," Hermione lectured her on their walk up to Transfiguration shortly after. "I know we've got a lot going on, but you can't just keep putting off all your homework until the night before it's due, assuming you do it all. We've got to stay ahead of things, Lily, we've got OWLs next year!"

Lily felt like her blinking was out of sync. Her feet were heavy as lead, and every time she rose one to take another step, she thought for sure she'd never be able to lift it again. All she could manage as a response was a caveman-like grunt.

"I'll make you a proper schedule," Hermione said, nodding to herself. "If you stick with it, you should manage to get everything done nice and proper and well ahead of time."

Lily grunted again, following Hermione into the classroom on autopilot. She slid into the seat next to the girl, at the front of the room, and did her best not to fall asleep during McGonagall's lecture. A nap would have to wait until Care of Magical Creatures; Hagrid would forgive her. After supper, the rest of her night was once again consumed with endless amounts of studying and assignments, as each professor kept piling it on and on.

That thought did little to help her sleep, though. She managed five hours that night, opposed to the previous's three, and managed to stay awake and semi-alert up until History of Magic. Binns was talking, which meant she stood no chance at all. He opened his mouth, she blinked, and next thing she knew, Hermione was shaking her again, and Lily found herself using her textbook as a pillow, her drool staining it's open pages.

"You've got the Seventh Goblin Rebellion on your cheek, Potter," Clara said with an insolent giggle as she passed by towards the open door at the back of the classroom.

"Ignore her, Lily," Hermione said when Lily opened her mouth.

Lily wasn't very good at following orders, but Binns was already out of the room, and it wasn't like he ever gave out detentions, anyway. The Prefects that came in to investigate the loud noises did, however, and Lily received three more for cursing Clara's nose into that of a pug's.

The first of her detentions was that night, served in Snape's office, where she had to scrub out all the first year's cauldrons by hand. As far as Snape punishments went, it wasn't too bad. He even left her alone the room during it, only returning to dismiss her at the end of the day. The homework that was waiting for her back in the dorm was worse, in Lily's fine opinion.

And then she was right back in classes the next day, feeling thoroughly burnt out from her brief "reprieve" of the weekend, standing in McGonagall's classroom while the woman ran them through a little activity: she would call out a material, and you'd have to change the item in front of you into that material. If you failed, if there was even a slight hint remaining of the previous item's origins, you'd sit back down until the next round, and whoever won the most rounds received a prize. As the round went on, McGonagall's orders would get faster and faster.

"Stone, wood, water, fire, air, wood, stone, glass, crystal, dirt," McGonagall would call out to a chorus of students repeating the correct spells.

Lily sat down, along with half of the remaining students. She was the only student who was casting silently, but she still just couldn't keep up with the demand. She set her wooden ball down in front of her, swatting it back and forth with her hands as if she was just a bored cat (in fact, the little toy might make an excellent gift for her real one waiting downstairs). She wasn't surprised at all when McGonagall asked her to stay after class, nor when she was led to the woman's office.

"Miss Potter," she said, sighing as she sat at her desk. "What do you believe I've called you here for this time?"

"Who knows?" Lily said, nonchalantly taking a biscuit. "It's an eternal mystery."

"Your homework, Hazel," McGonagall said, sounding completely frustrated as she placed a stack of papers down in front of her. "More specifically, every bit of what you've turned in all year."

"What's the problem?" Lily said, not taking the hint and refusing to look at the stuff. It was easier to just eat biscuits.

"The problem," McGonagall said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "is that you've clearly not put forth much effort in most of your classes."

"I did all of them, didn't I?" Lily said, crossing her arms and feeling like this wasn't very fair considering how awful her week had gone so far. "Not a single missed assignment, just like you asked."

"That is not the issue here," McGonagall said, sighing deeply once again. "The issue is that this quality of work is unacceptable for someone of your capabilities."

"I don't know what you mean," Lily said slowly.

"Question 1," McGonagall said, lifting the top sheet of paper and reperching her glasses. "What is Ignatius Kettleburn's First Law, and how did it revolutionize the school of Transfiguration?"

"I don't know," Lily admitted, although that could just be the fatigue that she felt in every inch of her body. Give her a good night's sleep and she'd likely-

"Hardly surprising," McGonagall said. "Consider that here you answered: 'food can be duplicated, but not created.'"

"What's the problem?" She was fairly certain that was the answer, now that she'd heard it.

"First of all," McGonagall said, peering at Lily with a gaze that said she was almost at her last straw, "That is not Kettleburn's Law. That is one of Gamp's Principles of Exemption. Second of all, you did not even try touching on the second half of the question."

"What's it matter?" Lily asked, shifting in her seat. "I don't have to take exams this year, anyway."

"Potter, please try to understand," McGonagall said sternly. "This assignment was meant just as revision from your previous years. You learn Gamp's Principles in first year. You learn Kettleburn's Laws in third."

"Well, it's no wonder I couldn't remember, then," Lily said, throwing her hands up. "I can't expect to remember every little fact we've learned, can I?"

"And, yet," McGonagall said, taking a sheet off the other stack, "On every Potions and Charms assignment, you answer every question in exemplary fashion. Why can you not do the same in your other classes?"

"I don't know," Lily said, tapping her fingers against her arm. "Does it matter?"

"Hazel," McGonagall said, softening her voice. "It is no wonder you struggle in my class if you're not putting in any effort for it."

"That's not fair!" Lily protested. "I spend more time practicing your spells than any other class!"

"But you haven't touched the theory at all," McGonagall said, probably tapping the stack of mediocre assignments harder than she meant to. "If you do not learn the theory, you can't expect to learn the practicality- the art. We have had this conversation before, and I am growing weary of repeating it."

"I don't have the time for all that rubbish!" Lily said. "Honestly- I'm stuck in a death tournament, in case you haven't noticed, and all I ever do is practice or- or study, or-"

"Of course I've noticed," McGonagall snapped, "but it is your future I am worried about. Your OWLs are next year. You cannot expect to earn even an Acceptable at your current rate. The OWL examiners will look at an answer of this quality and assign it a Dreadful. Perhaps even a Troll. Do you understand?"

"Who cares?" Lily said, groaning as she slumped in her seat.

"Potter," McGonagall said, staring at her as if that was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard. "You are the Champion of our school. How do you think the world will react if you earn anything less than an E?"

"Probably the same way they react to everything else," Lily said grumpily.

"Perhaps if you do not have the time to keep up with your studies," McGonagall said, "it is time to cut back on your extracurriculars."

"Absolutely not," Lily said, nostrils flaring. "It doesn't matter what I get for my OWLs if I plan on playing Quidditch."

"Do you?" McGonagall said, raising an eyebrow. "You've put some thought into it, then?"

"Yes."

"Then why is it you've failed to attend your regular training sessions?" McGonagall said sharply.

"I don't know," Lily said, shrugging. "I don't need to- look, it doesn't matter, Quidditch is all I'm good at, isn't it?"

"And what about Potions?" McGonagall said, tapping the stack of her good work again. "Professor Slughorn has been going on for weeks about the potential apprenticeship he has secured for you with Madam Puddifoot. Would you spurn that opportunity?"

"No," Lily said reluctantly, her fingers tapping again.

"Potioneers require an O in Transfiguration, Astronomy, Arithmancy, and, of course, Potions," McGonagall continued. "That is why Puddifoot has merely agreed to a tour. At the moment, I am only confident you will succeed in one of those classes, despite taking all of them."

Lily just clenched her jaw and kept tapping.

"All I'm saying, Hazel," McGonagall said, softening her voice, "is that if you'd like to maintain your options, you need to put in more effort for your studies. You have a brilliant mind. You just need to apply it."

"I'm doing fine," Lily grumbled.

"You are not," McGonagall said, tapping the stack of bad work again. "You need to put the effort in, Potter. And that means a change in your study habits. Perhaps a tutor?"

"I don't need a tutor!" Lily said. "I'm the tutor!"

"And you have been doing remarkably well," McGonagall said. "Hazel, it is alright to admit when you need help."

"I don't have the time," Lily said after a very long pause, during which she stared at the tin of biscuits with increasingly burning eyes. "I feel like, every time I start to get ahead in one thing, everything else gets worse. I mean- I just got past the Second Task after months of agonizing over it, and now I have to worry about classes, and- and once that's done, I'll have the Third Task, and- I just-"

"Do you need help?" McGonagall asked softly.

"Yes," Lily admitted reluctantly, sinking further into her seat, arms still crossed along her chest.

"Then all you must do is ask," McGonagall said softly. "Ms. Granger is still your roommate, is she not?"

"Yes," Lily said in a grouchy manner.

"Then try her," McGonagall said simply. "I will not force you to give up Quidditch or your art at the moment, nor do I want to in the future. Perhaps have her accompany you? Recite your notes for you while you train or paint? You'll be surprised how much information your brain can retain through sheer repetition. You have a lot ofground to cover, but there is a lot of time remaining between you and your OWLs. I recommend you start at first year Transfiguration."

Lily paced outside the dorm room for five minutes before finally entering. There she was, scribbling away at her desk, head bent over a book. She did look up, briefly, upon hearing the door open, and she did offer a brief smile before turning back to her work. Lily took a deep breath as she closed the door behind her.

"I need a favour," she said.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, setting her quill down and looking back up. Lily still wasn't used to seeing her with shorter hair.

Lily let out a sigh, ready for the smug satisfaction to begin. "I need you to tutor me because McGonagall thinks I'm too stupid to pass my OWLs without it."

"Oh, stop putting yourself down so much," Hermione said dismissively. "You're not stupid, Lily."

"Fine," Lily snapped, heading straight for the door again. "Don't help me."

"I didn't say I wouldn't!" Hermione called after her, the door already closing.

Lily just sighed and walked her way back to the common room, wondering just when things went so wrong.

"Just apologize to her, mate," Ron said over supper.

"I'm not the one that did anything wrong," Lily said, poking at her peas with her fork.

"Just do it," Ron said. "I mean, blimey, all you do now is mope about not talking to her, and that's somehow even worse than the constant bickering."

"If you miss her, just tell her," Neville said.

"I don't miss her," Lily said, scoffing at the complete absurdity of the idea. "I don't even really want to talk to her, but McGonagall says if I don't get at least one session scheduled by the end of the week, she's going to give me a lifetime of detentions."

"Since when is that anything new?"

"Oh, shut up, Ron," Lily said burying her face in her hands. "Merlin, why can't anybody ever just give me a break? Maybe I'd have more time for studying if everyone would just piss off and leave me-"

"Hey, Lily!" Lavender said, plopping herself down in a seat right next to the girl, looking absolutely radiant today, her mere presence thawing Lily's cold, dead heart. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?"

"Yes!" Lily piped up, immediately sitting up straight.

"Parvati isn't talking to me right now, see," Lavender continued, "because she wants to leave S.P.E.W., but I wanted to stay, and I don't want to go by myself, so I thought you might want to-"

"Yes!" Lily repeated. "Please! Absolutely!"

"Great!" Lavender said, hopping back to her feet and doing a little clap that got Lily's stomach doing somersaults. "I'll see you there, then? Oh, actually, do you want to walk there together? We can-"

"Yes!"

"Oh, good!" Lavender said. "We'll talk about it later, I don't want to interrupt anything. Bye!"

"Bye!" Lily said, waving after her until it was far past a reasonable decision.

"You know," Ron said, smiling at her. "I gotta say, it's a lot more fun watching you embarrass yourself in front of girls now that I know what's going on."

"Oh, shut up!"

Lily was still in exceptionally high spirits when she returned to the dorm. She almost completely forgot about her conversation with Hermione until she saw the girl sitting in her chair, staring at the door expectantly, as if she spent the entire day just waiting for her to come back.

"We need to talk," Hermione said.

"No, we don't," Lily said, still feeling exceedingly happy. Maybe she'd even go for a jog now that it was finally starting to get warmer.

"Lily, come on. I'm sick of this."

"Apologize, then." No, it was definitely an art night. Yes, that sounded very nice.

"I don't have anything to apologize over!"

"Neither do I," Lily said, humming slightly as she grabbed her favourite easel and her box of supplies.

"I talked to McGonagall," Hermione said. "You're not supposed to be going out again until we have at least one tutoring session."

"I won't tell her if you don't," Lily said, a hum in her voice.

"Lily, come on."

"Later," Lily said, heading for the door. "It's not like you care, anyway."

"Of course, I care," Hermione said. "Lily, I- What do you think this entire thing has been about? What do you think I've been trying to tell you?"

"I don't know. You wouldn't tell me. Does it matter?"

"Yes!" Hermione said, fists planted firmly at the sides of her hips, her cheeks puffed up. "I care, Lily- I really do."

"Well, you have a funny way of showing it," Lily said, watching Hermione's shoulders deflate, followed by Hermione's gaze turning towards the corner, where her Christmas painting was still sitting, unloved and uncared for.

Lily took that as a final sign and turned to leave the room, art supplies still in hand. She was surprised when, after struggling to get the door open with busy arms, Hermione called out to her from behind.

"Wait," she said, hurrying over to the trunk sitting at the foot of her bed. "I've got something for you."

Lily swore softly when she almost dropped all the stuff she was holding. She made the impulsive decision that today was just going to be a drawing day, abandoning her easel and large box of paints in favour of a sketchbook and charcoal tucked behind her ear. She was digging around for a pencil or two, as well as an eraser (which she desperately needed to replace soon), when Hermione found what she was looking for and made a little noise of excitement.

"Here!" Hermione said, quickly skipping over, face filled with a mixture of nerves and eagerness, a thick, ancient book held in her hands.

"A book?" Lily said, taking it gently. "This supposed to help me with Transfiguration?"

The cover was faded and made of leather, but she could just make out the words The Tales of Beedle the Bard engraved on the spine. Whatever was on the front was long gone, and the pages inside were cracked and yellowed like all the best tomes in the restricted section.

"It's a collection of fairy tales," Hermione said as Lily cracked it upon. "Don't give me that look. It's not an insult, it's your birthday present."

Lily wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. What did it say about her that the ideal gift (received over a month late, by the way) was something meant for little children?

"Why would I want a bunch of stories?" Lily asked, glancing over the first story, anyway, titled 'Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump,' a little sketch of a jumping rabbit under the chapter name.

"Well, aside from it being an interesting look at wizarding culture," Hermione said, "it also happened to belong to your dad."

"What?" Lily said, sharply looking up and clutching the book just a bit closer to her chest.

"Sirius helped me track it down," Hermione said. "See, when- after they died, a lot of their belongings ended up on the market. Merlin, you can still find some of their stuff in display windows, but Sirius says most of that stuff is fake. This, though, he said is definitely real."

"Oh," Lily said, wondering why her heart was beating so quickly over a stupid little book that she couldn't stop holding close.

"He said your grandparents gave it to your dad before they died," Hermione said, voice going a bit softer and gentler. "Said they've passed it down for centuries, actually, so- err- it might be a bit hard to read. Old English and all, you know."

Lily nodded absentmindedly, flipping a few pages further, wondering if her mum and dad ever got the chance to read any to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't give it to you sooner," Hermione said, wringing her hands together. "I had it in my trunk before we even went to Beauxbatons, but- but I just wanted to surprise you with it for your real birthday, because I- I knew it bothered you, and I just wanted to make you feel better. I must have taken it out of my trunk over the Holidays when I was pulling everything else out to study, and then I- I just forgot to put it back in, and then I had to write to mum, and then she couldn't find it anywhere, and then dad just sent it to me a few days ago after he found it in the car, and I don't know how it even got there in the first place, but-"

"Shut up," Lily said, pulling Hermione into a nice, tight hug, book held tight in one hand against her back. She had to blink away the stinging in her eyes. "Thanks."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, squeezing her own arms tight around Lily's waist and back and burying her face into the nook of Lily's shoulder. "I love you, Lily. That's all I wanted to say."

Lily nodded, her heart beating quickly, an ache in her chest accompanying it. Hermione smelled like a nice, pleasant mint, and she was so soft and- and Lily didn't want to let go. Hanging on seemed like an equally bad idea, with her brain and heart freaking out together, but removing her arms seemed like a herculean task.

"I'm sorry, too," she said, her voice shaking slightly. She took a deep breath, deciding there was really only one way to seal the apology. "Umbridge is the one who was messing with my memories. I'm almost sure of it, even if I don't know why."

"I'll look into it," Hermione said without skipping a beat. "She can't be that clever. If she did it, there'll be some sort of trail."
"How?" Lily pulled a bit tighter, her heart rate increasing and her mind wandering for a conclusion she didn't really want to face.

"I don't know," Hermione said, "but I'll figure it out. I- I might need to ask for help. I don't exactly have access to the Ministry."

Merlin, she smelled so nice.

Lily pulled away, not able to stand it anymore and flipping through more pages of her book to distract her racing mind. It felt odd, now, feeling so disappointed with it moments ago.

"Lily?"

"Just leave her alone," Lily said, heart skipping a beat at the sound of her name. "I'm handling it."

"How?"

"I- err-" Lily's eyes flickered back and forth, unable to bear the potential disappointment. Ah, well, she was in too deep to back out now; no more secrets. "I might be blackmailing Rita Skeeter."

"I- come again?"

"I'm going to have her look into it," Lily said, running a finger over the faded image of a cackling witch. It looked straight out of a Muggle's fairy tale story. "I'm just waiting to see if she'd prefer that or her entire life being ruined. No big deal."

"Lily-"

"I'll tell you about it later," Lily said, closing the book, tucking it under her arm, and heading for the door. "I- I think I need to be alone for a bit." She had a lot to think about.

"Alright, just- I'll see you later. I love you."

Lily nodded as she left, walking as quickly and as purposefully as she could, trying to ignore the dryness in her mouth. Despite the desperate sensation rising up to the surface and pooling at the edge of her vision, her strides were light and free, and she could feel the beginnings of a smile working at her lips. She even ignored the usual taunts, instead blowing a kiss at Pansy Parkinson and leaving the girl with a very confused look on her race.

She kept walking until she found herself alone on the new sixth floor. Most of the rooms here were unused, a few exceptions being for lower years which had more crowded student bodies. Lily waited until there wasn't a single person around and then ducked into a classroom. The thick heels of her boots clicked with a heavy thud on the dusty floor, all the way to the far corner of the room, where she leaned against the wall before sinking all the way down, back pressed against it and legs crossed in front of her. She leaned her head against the stone wall and closed her eyes, trying to picture Hermione, her short hair, and how it felt to have their bodies pressed so close together.

She had a lot to think about, much of which she really didn't want to. For now, she laid the open book across her lap and settled in for the first story.

Hermione was right about the Old English, but Lily didn't mind at all; after how many dusty, ancient tomes she had to dig through just to learn her most recent batch of potions and spells, she felt like she was getting very good at reading it. Of course, it was harder when she started crying halfway through Babbitty Rabbitty, and then still couldn't stop when she started the next entry.

She was so absorbed into her reading and sobbing that she didn't notice the other person enter the room until they were sitting right next to her.

"It's alright," Luna said as she wiped at her eyes. "The end of 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart' always makes me cry, too.'"

"It's not that," Lily said, her voice still thick and hoarse. "I was-" She took a moment to clear her throat, all the while Luna stared at her with those clear, grey eyes.

"Girl troubles?" Luna asked.

"Err-" Lily said, rubbing at her eyes again and thinking of Hermione. "Sort of?"

"Monthly or romantically?"

"Err-" She certainly hoped it wasn't romantically. "The latter. Why would it be monthly?"

"Well, your blood is just so powerful," Luna said nonchalantly. "That's why the Minister wants it, after all. I imagine it must make the whole ordeal much worse. How do you manage nosebleeds, anyway? I always get them during Potions."

Lily stared at the girl, blinking her still-stinging eyes slowly and wondering why in Merlin's name it had to be Luna Lovegood that found her.

"That's not the problem I'm having," Lily said very calmly. "I was just-"

She was interrupted by the door opening, two more individuals coming in. One was just as tall as Luna, perhaps a bit more so, while the other was the shortest among the four in the room by quite a bit: Sae Asari and Ginny Weasley.

"There you are, Luna," Ginny said. "We've been- oh. Hullo, Lily."

"Hullo, Gin," Lily said, feeling like the subsequent silence was just a tad awkward.

"What are you doing in here?" Sae asked, her brow furrowed.

"I was just-"

"I was following the nargles," Luna said casually. "There was a whole swarm of them. It turns out that Hazel was attracting them."
"That's nice, Luna," Sae said, pointing towards the redhead. "What about you, then?"

"I was just-"

"She was crying over girl troubles."

"Makes sense," Ginny said, smiling slightly at Lily's disgruntled expression. "Bad cramps again then, Lily?"

"No," Lily said defensively.

"The other kind," Luna said with a funny little giggle.

"Well, go on, then," Ginny said joining Luna and Lily on the floor. "What did you do to Katie this time?"

"Err- actually it's- it's not Katie." Although she certainly had a reckoning coming on that front, sooner or later.

"What's the book?" Sae asked, pointing at the still open pages on Lily's lap.

"Nothing," Lily said, quickly closing it and attempting to hide it behind her back. The last thing she needed was anyone else knowing she was sobbing over children's stories.

"Oh, she was reading some Beedle Tales," Luna said pleasantly, a slight hum in her voice.

Lily cleared her throat to shut up the laughter of Sae and Ginny.

"If you'll excuse me," she said, attempting to stand.

"Oh, sit back down," Ginny said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to the floor, where Sae was now joining them. "Why were you crying, Lily?"

"I don't know," Lily said awkwardly. "I- look, I wasn't crying over the stories, alright? I was-"

"Don't be embarrassed, Lily," Ginny said, rolling her eyes again. "Sae still sleeps with a stuffed Babbitty."

"I do not!" Sae protested. "And how would you even know?"

"It's a pumpkin, actually," Lily said. "She transfigures it into a pillow when it's bright out so nobody else finds out."

"I don't-"

"She named it Pompy."

"Oh, fine, just tell everyone, why don't you?" Sae said, throwing her hands in the air when Ginny and Luna laughed. "You know, I told you that in confidence."

"It's fine," Lily said, smiling, leaning forward, and really starting to get into it. "You know, Ginny named her little stuffed pig 'Edward III.'"

"The third?" Sae said, blinking slowly at her friend. "What happened to the first two?"

"Fred and George happened," Ginny said, resting her cheek on a hand thoughtfully. "Never did find the second. Even they don't know where he got off to, poor little guy."

"I have a little stuffed owl named Rowena," Luna said fondly. "Daddy gave it to me when I was just six."

"Sorry, no stuffed animals here," Lily said when all the girls looked towards her expectantly.

"She's got a poster of Gwenog Jones hanging above her bed, though," Ginny said.

"It was yours first."

"And you seemed to enjoy it a lot more. I never put it above my bed."

"I- what? Yes, you did, I saw it."

"No, I don't think that's correct."
"You did!"

"That's not how I'm choosing to remember it."

"I didn't even put it up there myself," Lily said. "It was just like that when I got home, I swear."

"Relax, Lily," Sae said, laughing again. "Nothing wrong with having a crush on a celebrity. Half the girls in school were fawning over Lockhart, remember?"

"Unfortunately," Lily said, crossing her arms.

"Lily was, too."

"I was not. He modified my memory to make me think I was."

"That doesn't surprise me," Luna said, nodding confidently. "Everybody knows that Lockhart's been secretly stealing stories from others for over a decade and wiping the memories of the true heroes so they can't call him out for it."

"Luna, come on," Sae said, rolling her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Lockhart wasn't-"

"Actually, she's right on that one," Lily said, narrowing her eyes. "How'd you know that? I never told anyone, and I know Ron and Percy didn't, either."

"The Quibbler," all three girls said together, Sae and Ginny sighing deeply.

"Ah, right," Lily said. "You know, I've been meaning to pick up a subscription. I think they're funny."

Without skipping a single beat, Luna pulled a scroll from her robes and placed it firmly in Lily's hand with a beaming smile.

"How long have you been saving that?" Sae asked while Lily unfurled the scroll.

"Since first year," Luna said, humming an extremely pleased tone as she watched Lily read over the subscription form. "I knew somebody would ask eventually."

"Why do you even have this on you?" Lily asked, regretting her joke a bit, now.

"Her dad runs the Quibbler," Ginny said.

"And writes most of the articles," Sae added under her breath.

"Right, well," Lily said, trying to hand the scroll back as gently as she could. "Sorry, Luna, but I don't have anything to write with on me, and-"

"You have charcoal tucked behind your ear," Luna said pleasantly.

"Oh," Lily said, glancing over at the two snickering girls angrily. "Right. Well- err- is it really two Galleons per issue?"

"Yes! 'Premium Prices for a Premium Service,' that's what daddy always says."

"Right," Lily said, reluctantly signing her name on the form with an instrument of art. "Well- cheers, then, I suppose."

She'd just have to cancel her subscription at her earliest convenience. The Potter Girl getting a regular delivery of the Quibbler would not be a good look.

"Thank you for your patronage," Luna said, happily tucking both signed scroll and two shiny Galleons back into her robe.

"Right," Lily said again, trying to rise from her seat again. "Well, I should-"

"Not today, Potter," Ginny said, pulling her back down again. "You still haven't told us what you were actually crying about."

"I was hoping you'd forgotten," Lily said with a sigh.

"Well, go on, then," Ginny said. "What was it?"

"Look," Lily said, sighing again, this time out of frustration, "unless any of you have any idea what it's like to be a girl that fancies girls, I don't think you can help any."

"We can try, can't we?" Sae said. "Go on, Potter."

"Why didn't you just say 'gay?'" Luna asked.

"Because it still feels weird to say," Lily admitted. "It doesn't really matter. I'm just being stupid."

"Oh, stop stalling and tell us."

"Alright," Lily said, running a thumb over the book cover's spine. "Well- it was mostly over the book, to be honest- or what it means, anyway- but, I'm- I'm also just a bit confused."

"What about?" Sae said, looking about the room. "Merlin, I wish we had some crisps or something. I'm starving."

"Alright, so," Lily said, doing her best not to tug at a loose bit of leather. "Hypothetically speaking, let's say- err- let's say you've been arguing with somebody for ages, and-"

"Wait, is this about Hermione?"

"No," Lily lied, perhaps a bit too slowly. "Can I finish first?"

"Sure, sure," Sae said. "Sorry."

"So, hypothetically," Lily continued, "let's say, you assumed the argument was about them hating you for- err- something. And let's say, hypothetically, that-"

"Stop saying that word so much."

"Fine. Let's say I wasn't willing to drop it all yet, but then this person gave me a book that- well, it means a lot to me for very specific reasons, which was- it was already overwhelming, and I was about to cry there, but then she went and told me she loved me, and I- I don't know, I needed to get some alone time to- to process all that, so I came here."

"Right, so it is about Hermione, then," Sae said.

"It's not about-"

"Lily, who else would give you a book?" Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, fine," Lily said, throwing her hands in the air. "I think Hermione might fancy me, and I'm not sure how to handle it."
"What's the big deal?" Sae said. "She tells you she loves you all the time. Merlin, we do it to each other, too." Sae gestured between the three third year girls. Luna hummed a happy little tune, a smile appearing on her face.

"I knew you cared," she said.

"This one just felt different," Lily said quietly. "I don't know. You weren't there. It just- it wasn't the same thing."

"Just ask her," Luna said simply.

"I can't!" Lily said. "What if I'm wrong?"

"What if you're not?"

"Then I still don't know what to do," Lily said awkwardly. "To be honest, I- I don't really know how I feel about her. I mean, I- I never even thought of her that way before now. She's just always been my friend, and- I don't know. Thinking about kissing her or- err- it just feels weird."

"You could just go to Hogsmeade with her, see how it goes," Sae said.

"I can't," Lily said with a sigh. "I'm already going with Lavender."

"Lavender?" Sae said, her brow crinkling.

"Lavender Brown," Ginny said helpfully. "A Gryffindor in her year."

"Oh," Sae said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I thought you were dating that Bell girl."

"No, she's been busy moping about in our tower," Ginny said with a sigh. "Don't think she's left the common room in weeks."

"I talked with her a week ago," Lily said. "We went on a walk."

"Really?" Ginny asked. "Huh. That's surprising. McGonagall's been visiting her every night, making sure she's caught up on schoolwork. Wonder why she hadn't just been going to classes."

Now Lily was starting to get confused. She could have sworn Katie had been on her way to class when they met up, and she definitely could have sworn she went straight to another one after their walk.

"I thought you were dating that mermaid," Luna said thoughtfully, tapping her chin. "Does this mean the wedding is off?"

"I- what?"

"Oh, that's next week issue," Luna said, covering her mouth and her eyebrows raising in a sudden realization.

"Spoilers, Luna," Sae said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I'm not dating a mermaid," Lily said with a long, long sigh. "The princess made that much very clear, thank you. Also, that was just the Elation Fixation doing the talking, I didn't really want to-"

"Hold on," Sae said, her voice suddenly going serious. "You were taking Elation?"

"No," Lily said quickly, swearing rapidly in her brain. She should have known Sae would recognize it, why did she-

"Lily, that's a poison," Sae said. "Please tell me you didn't actually take any."

Lily's brain was scrambling to come up with an excuse, especially when both Luna and Ginny turned to look at her, too. Her first response was to deny, deny, deny, but she was taking far too long to do that. Her second response was just to make a break for it, but they were all between her and the door. She was bigger, but if they all tackled her, they could probably manage it well enough. Her third response-

"It's not dangerous in small quantities," she said calmly.

"Oh, Lily," Ginny said with a sigh.

"I only used a few drops," Lily said. "Just enough to mix into my-"

"You mixed it into a potion?" Sae said, sounding completely mortified.

"It doesn't matter," Lily said calmly. "I don't plan on taking any more of it."

"There's more?"

"No?" Lily said, dragging the sound out far too long.

"Alright," Ginny said, hopping to her feet. "Show us."

"I- but there isn't any-"

"Show us," Ginny said, crossing her arms, "or I'm writing mum."

Lily grumbled and whined the entire way upstairs, but the three girls weren't hearing any of it. Sae was too busy lecturing her on how you shouldn't be willingly taking any poisons at all, regardless of positive effects, Ginny was too busy glaring at her, and Luna was too busy happily chatting about a Ministry conspiracy to overthrow the Chinese government by feeding Elation Fixation to their magical community. Lily tried not to pay too much attention to that; she was starting to greatly regret giving in to the whims of the Quibbler. She led them all the way up to the top floor, and Ginny was starting to give her odd looks.

"You didn't give any to Katie during your little walk, did you?" she asked finally.

"No, of course not," Lily said, looking down a couple different hallways when they passed an intersection. The last thing she wanted was to give someone feeling vulnerable a potentially addictive poison. Somebody else, anyway.

"Just checking," Ginny muttered under her breath.

"Where are we going, Potter?" Sae said, sounding a bit out of breath.

"It's just a few stairs, Sae," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Try not to die, will you?"

"We love in the dungeons. Merlin, I don't know how you lot do this every day."

"It makes it easy to keep weight off, at least."

Lily nodded her agreement as she turned them around the next corner. "Not to mention what it does for a girl's-"

"Lily!"

"What?" Lily said, shrugging. "We were all thinking it."

"I don't think we were."

"Oh, don't kid yourself," Lily said, turning on the spot and heading in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Sae asked, stopping in place.

"Nowhere," Lily said, turning on the spot again and waving to Barnabus the Barmy.

"Lily, you're supposed to take us to your little stash."

"I did," Lily said, turning one final time and enjoying the look on Sae's and Ginny's faces when the Secret Chamber door appeared.

"Oh, I've heard of this!" Luna said pleasantly. "Daddy says the 'Room of Requirement' is legendary."

"Room of Requirement?" Lily said, snorting as she reached for the handle. "Rubbish name, you ask me."

"Yeah?" Ginny said suspiciously. "What do you call it, then?"
"The Secret Chamber," Lily said, pushing the door open and revealing the mountains of lost items. Lily motioned for the girls to head inside as she held the door open.

"And you were making fun of our names," Sae said, passing by her first. "I mean, Secret Chamber? Really?"

"What's wrong with that?" Lily asked, closing the door behind her after everybody was in.

"What's wrong? Are you joking?"

"No," Lily said, taking a left past a pile of antlers. Where those came from, and why they were all in one stack, she didn't want to know. Nor did she want to know why Luna happily picked one up and carried it along with her.

"Lily, it's terrible," Ginny said. "I mean, we already have a Chamber of Secrets, yeah?"

"Yeah? What's the problem?"

"You don't think having two similar names is at all confusing?"

"No," Lily said, nodding confidently and blowing a kiss at the portrait of Wendelin the Weird. Wendy just cackled at her, still tied to a burning stake and having the time of her life. Poor woman. Every time, Lily thought about bringing her out of here and hanging her somewhere else, but she didn't think anybody else would enjoy their presence.

"Lily, where are we going?" Ginny asked.

"Just one more turn," Lily said, making a left and then pointing to wardrobe right across from them.

"How do you find anything in here?" Sae asked, glancing up at the towering stacks of refuse.

"I spend a lot of time in here," Lily said, sitting on the nearby couch and poking one of Ron's comics off the edge of the armrest.

"Aren't you going to grab your poison?" Ginny asked.

"No, I'm good," Lily said, leaning back and gesturing to the wardrobe again. "You're the ones that wanted to get rid of the stuff. You can handle it, I'm sure."

"Who's that on top?" Ginny asked, pointing at the marble bust sitting on top of the wardrobe.

"Barnabas Deverill," Lily said, quickly vanishing a couple empty bottles of stout before the others could notice. "Greek Warlock and tyrant, wielder of the legendary Deathstick, and bane of the Mediterranean, slain in 1682 by Loxias the Loathsome. You won't believe how much of my notes I had to dig through to find the bloke. He had a little crown, too, but Ron pawned that off. It really brought together his look, you ask me."

"Nice, Potter," Sae said, sighing and opening the wardrobe's creaky door. "Where are they, then?"

"At the bottom," Lily said, waving lazily at it. "In the box, under all the socks. I had about two dozen vials worth left over."

"Merlin, Lily," Sae said, sliding the box out. "You realize one vial is enough to kill somebody, right?"

"I only used a couple drops, I promise."

"Where did you even learn to make this stuff?" Sae asked, checking the contents inside. "There's no way Slughorn's been teaching you lot anything more capable than causing mild indigestion."

"Had to pull a couple favours," Lily said casually. As a matter of fact, it was Ron who got her the book; as she didn't have her cloak, and he had the map, it was up to him to break into the Restricted Section and steal it. Currently, it was still waiting under her bed for her to get back to copying its contents into her Potions notebook.

"Right, well," Sae said, closing the box and standing with it tucked under her arm. "Let's get out of here before all this rubbish falls on us."
"Where's Luna?" Ginny asked, all three girls falling into a very fast, very worried silence when they realised the airy blonde was nowhere near them.

They found her fairly quickly, wearing a large hat with the antlers stuck to the sides, making a necklace out of a collection of snail shells she found in the drawers of a broken desk. She, unfortunately, could not be persuaded to part with either as they made their leave of the Secret Chamber, but she at least agreed not to make any other fashionable articles. Sae led the way back, Lily lagging behind to speak with Luna. Honestly, she might be a bit batty, but the things she said had a knack for making Lily laugh or smile.

When they came out into the hallway, they only made it a few steps before the box Sae was carrying spilled from her arms, in turn spilling its glowing contents all across the tiled hallway. Lily's hands automatically went to clutch at the side of her head as glass vials rolled straight past her and Ginny and Sae scrambled to grab as many as they could, although she wasn't sure if that was out of concern that somebody would see them all and recognize them or if she was worried they'd break and she wouldn't be able to use them.

That kind of went against the point of letting Sae destroy them, though.

For a brief second, Lily wondered if Sae had truly dropped them at all. Standing this far back, and seeing a puzzled look on Luna's face, she could have sworn she saw it yanked just slightly backward. Her head turned automatically, ready to accuse whoever it was standing behind her.

Unfortunately, it was Katie Bell, who was kneeling on the ground and scooping up all the vials that rolled past the duo. Now Lily stood frozen for a different reason, and the pit in her belly only grew worse when Katie stood, hurrying forward with five vials in hand.

"Here you go," Katie said, handing them all to Sae. Her voice sounded like it hadn't been used since the last time Lily spoke with her.

"You're looking chipper, Katie," Ginny said, giving her a strange look. Lily didn't agree, but Ginny also might have just been saying that to be nice; Katie still looked like she wasn't sleeping or eating well, and, if anything, her hair was more unkempt than before.

"Lily," Katie said, staring at the ground and approaching closer to her. "Can I talk to you?"

"We're a little busy right now, actually," Sae said impatiently, the box now held more securely under her arm.

"What's up, Katie?" Lily said nicely, hoping this wasn't about to turn into a screaming match.

Katie glanced nervously at the other girls, but Lily wasn't going anywhere by herself. Not after blowing her off for a millionth time; she deserved to be scolded for it, but that didn't mean she wanted to be.

"Look," Lily said, deciding to go first. "If this is about me not showing up for Hogsmeade last weekend, I'm sorry, but, to be honest, we were probably both better off without it. I mean, I wasn't exactly any fun after the task, and with the school hounding me, it was better to just get out of sight."

"It's alright," Katie said, not really sounding like it was alright. "Listen- how about we try again next weekend?"

"Err-"

"Potter's already going with someone else," Sae said helpfully.

"Are you joking?" Katie said, glaring at Lily. "Really?"

"Yes," Lily said, her face growing red. "Err- I- I thought that you wouldn't want to- err-"

"You have got to be kidding me," Katie said, shoving Lily in the chest. She stumbled backwards, her ankle and boot slipping on the tile with a loud squeak, only staying upright at all because Ginny grabbed her at the last moment. "What is wrong with you?"

"Look, I'm sorry!" Lily said, quickly trying to back off when Katie approached again. "I was just- I didn't think you'd want to see me again!"

"How many times, Potter?" Katie said, jabbing her sharply in the chest with a finger. "How many times have you done this to me, now?"

"Err-"

"What is wrong with you?" Katie said, shoving her again, this time Lily spilling to the ground and landing on her rear, her book tumbling from her hands and skidding across the floor. "Honestly, give me a reason. Are you doing this on purpose or are you just stupid?"

"I- err-"

"I mean, how thick do you have to be?" Katie said hysterically. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Cancel your plans, Potter, because this is the last chance I'm giving you."

"I- I- err- I'll tell her-"

"She's not going with you," Ginny said, stepping in front of her.

"Back off, Weasley," Katie said, getting close to her and standing much higher. "This isn't any of your business."

"You're the one that broke up with her," Ginny said. "And you're the one that's done nothing but mope around since instead of trying to make things right. Lily isn't obligated to do anything with you."

Ginny didn't flinch away from Katie, despite being much shorter than the girl. Lily, for one, was doing her best to hide behind Sae despite being almost a full foot taller. Not her proudest moment, for sure.

"Just walk away, Katie," Ginny said, much softer. "This isn't like you."

Katie seemed to realize something, if the slight widening of her eyes was any indication. With one more quick glance at Lily, she whirled on the spot and stomped off in the opposite direction without another word. Lily, for one, was busy doing the same, trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes and hoping the third years wouldn't follow her.

Ginny, unfortunately, did, and she caught up with her on the next floor heading downwards.

"You forgot this," Ginny said, handing over her birthday present gently.

"Thanks," Lily said, voice still a little shaky.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I- I deserved it."

"No, you didn't, Lily," Ginny said, shaking her head sadly.

"Sure, I did," Lily said, using her free sleeve to wipe at her eyes and then turning to smile at Ginny. "It's fine, Gin. I'm fine."

"Lily, you already spent an hour crying in an empty room. It's okay to not be fine."

"Well, then, it's a good thing I am." Lily cleared her throat wen Ginny opened her mouth so the girl wouldn't keep pushing.

"Sae and Luna will destroy the Elation," Ginny said with a reluctant sigh. "I just wanted to walk you back to your common room so you wouldn't be alone."

"I'm fine being alone," Lily said, letting out a little laugh. "You can go with them."

"Lily."

"I mean, I just wanted to be alone, anyway. That was the whole point."

"And if you had been?" Ginny asked. "What if Katie had found you without us there?"

"It's not her fault," Lily snapped. "I mean- I've been horrible."

"That doesn't mean she can just assault you."

"Look, just forget it, alright?" Lily said. "It doesn't bother me, I'm used to it, just drop it. I mean, blimey, I've done worse when somebody makes me angry, and so have you."

"Not to people I care about," Ginny countered. "I'd never do that to you. You're family."

They fell back into silence while Lily kept working her jaw, doing her best to hold off the thick feeling in her throat. Merlin, why was everybody out to make her cry today?

"Thanks," she said finally, clearing her throat right after. "Well, on the bright side, at least I don't have to buy her another broom now."

"Honestly, I think I'll get the girls to take her out flying tomorrow," Ginny said, playing with a lock of her hair. "She's been cooped up in there too long, I think it's driving her mad."

"I'll come with you."

"Better not," Ginny said with a sigh. "She needs to come to her senses, first. I know she's having a hard time, but that's no reason to take it out on everybody else."

A lesson Lily wished she would learn herself already. Lily chewed on her lip as they continued walking ever downwards, thinking about a certain girl again.

"Say," she said slowly. "Err- what do you think about- err- what we were talking about earlier?"

"About- oh. You- you mean the girl troubles?"

"Yes," Lily said, scratching at her nose. "I- you were awful quiet, before, and- I don't know. I just- I was wondering what you thought about-"

"I think you should ask Hermione out," Ginny blurted out.

"I-"

"Honestly, just see what happens, Lily," Ginny went on, her face growing a bright red. "I- I think the two of you would be cute together."

Lily blinked slowly at the other girl, their progress stopped in the middle of an empty hallway.

"I'm sorry I kept pushing you to talk to me," Ginny went on, still speaking very rapidly. "I was just confused and I got all full of myself and didn't understand that it wasn't any of my business and that you were even more confused than I was. I should have just left you alone and let you figure it out on your own, and I'm sorry."

"Gin-"

"But you and Hermione are obviously very happy around each other," Ginny said, "I mean, you argue all the time, sure, but it always seems like you both enjoy it, and when you aren't arguing you're always smiling at each other or being all touchy, so- so just ask her out and be happy already, would you?"

Lily blinked at her again.

"I don't think she fancies girls, Ginny," Lily said, meaning that 'I hope she doesn't fancy girls.'

"Then just ask her," Ginny said. "Or I can ask her for you, if you-" Ginny stopped and cleared her throat. "It's just like when Percy refused to just ask out Penelope instead of sneaking around, and I had to make him after you told me. He was much happier after he did, and you will be, too."

"I'm already going with Lavender."

"And you don't know if she fancies you either, do you?"

"Err- no, I suppose not."

"Anyway, that's all I wanted to say," Ginny said, scratching at her nose and still looking away, her face still positively glowing. "So- so, I think I'm going to go check on Sae and Luna. Yeah, I- I 'll go do that."

"See you," Lily said as she was left alone.

She returned to her dorm room unmolested, except for when a few mermaids who didn't get the point of a death stare tried approaching her. They at least learned the point of a Bat-Bogey Hex quick enough. Lily was getting very good at drawing the necessary shape very quickly.

Hermione looked up from her own desk but didn't say a single thing before turning back to her work. Lily could have sworn there was excitement, or maybe nervousness, etched on her face. She stood at the door for what felt like ages, wondering what, exactly, she was supposed to say, or if she even wanted to say it. Her heart was beating quickly again, and she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, her cat taking that moment to rub fondly against her leg. Lily knelt down to scoop him into her arms, and as she came back up, it was then that she noticed what Hermione must have been nervous about.

Her painting was now hanging on the wall, right above Hermione's bed. She watched as the figures inside, her and Hermione, danced and laughed and moved around one another (she never did figure out how to make paintings audible, but she'd get there eventually), wearing their spectacular Yule Ball dresses. They were outside, in a frozen little garden, fairy lights blinking all around them, snow lightly falling from the sky and landing in their hair. It was then she had another realization: she really did cock it all up.

Merlin, she thought, it's no wonder she was so mad. She- she thought I was going to ask her to the Ball.

Lily's eyes swiveled to where Hermione was sitting, pretending to work on something and failing to notice that the quill in her hand wasn't moving. She stood there a while longer, mind still racing with questions.

Does that mean she really does fancy me? Or did she just think we were going to go as friends? Oh, Merlin, I told Ron I didn't want to go with a friend, didn't I? Did she- did she think I was going to ask her out? Did she want me to?

Does she still want me to?

Weasley was growing restless in her arms, so she walked him over to her bed and plopped him down on the blanket. She gave him a nice long scratch under the chin, a pit continuing to grow in her stomach.

Merlin, is- is that why I got so angry about the Ravenclaws? Was I- was I jealous?

Do I want to go out with her?

The answer her mind immediately raced to was 'no,' but that didn't make her feel any better. Now that she put it together, she didn't think she'd be able to pretend otherwise, and if Hermione figured out that she knew and didn't act on it, and Lily was right and she really did fancy her, well-

That could mean the end of everything, and Lily didn't think she could handle that. She stopped scratching her cat's head and turned her gaze back to Hermione, who was still sitting frozen at her desk. She took a deep breath, and she made a decision.

It was time to take a leap and see what happened. But she couldn't just blurt it out and get it over with; she had to be better than that.

Heart, lead, brain, choose, Lily thought, strolling straight over to her record player next to her wardrobe. Kneeling down, she flicked through her collection of albums. She passed straight by The Weird Sisters and The Thistlegirls, deciding on the most recent release from The Gazettes. Soft rock, nice and easy to move to.

She took another deep breath before placing the vinyl down. Once the music started, only then did she turn to face Hermione with a smile on her face.

"I believe I owed you a dance," she said, offering a hand to the poor, confused looking girl.

"Are you serious?" Hermione said, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure," Lily said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her up out of her seat. "It'll be fun. Then you can tutor me."

"Lily-"

"There you go," Lily said, placing Hermione's hands on her hips. Then, she wrapped her own arms around Hermione's shoulders, bringing the two of them very close together. Ignoring her own feelings on the matter, she watched Hermione's face very closely, waiting to see what she'd find.

"This is nice," Hermione said in a rather calm demeanour, her face unchanging.

"Yeah," Lily said, wondering if it was disappointment or relief that she felt.

Hermione cleared her throat while Lily moved them to the center of the room. She couldn't help but notice that Hermione moved her hands, preferring to wrap her arms around Lily's waist. Surely, that had to be some sort of sign. Again, Lily wasn't sure exactly what she was feeling; she expected the usual butterflies she got whenever Katie, or Lavender, or Fleur, or any pretty girl talked to her. This didn't feel like that.

Next step. Just figure it out, Potter.

"What do you think about the song?" Lily asked, nudging back towards the player with her head. "Too slow?"

"I think it's just perfect," Hermione said, laying her head on Lily's shoulder. "Thanks for this, Lily. This- this is nice. I think it's just what I needed." Hermione's arms squeezed tighter around her waist, pressing them together almost entirely.

Alright, that has to mean what I think it means.

Again, Lily felt the same aching in her chest, still unable to determine exactly what it meant. What she knew for sure, at that moment, was that Hermione most likely, almost without a doubt, did fancy her. She was humming along to the song, holding on tight as they danced slowly with each other, eyes closed and a look of pure delight on her face.

Lily took a deep breath, hoping she wasn't making a mistake. She'd have to apologize to Lavender later for breaking off their appointment. Even if she didn't fancy Hermione back, she didn't want to take the risk of losing her again. She'd just ask her and see what happened.

And, who knows? Maybe she could trick herself into enjoying it.

"Say," Lily said, feeling a strange mixture of calmness and nerves. "What are you doing for the next Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Actually," Hermione said, still humming along, "I've got a date."

"Come again?" Lily said, accidentally skipping a beat in their dancing, resulting in a step on Hermione's toe.

"I've got a date," Hermione said, apparently still too happy to notice it.

"With who?"

"Anthony Goldstein," Hermione said, sounding even happier now. "He asked me a couple days ago, when we were leaving he library."

"Oh," Lily said, blinking slowly and falling back into the rhythm, Hermione still humming, the vibrations tickling her shoulder.

I was wrong, she thought.

Lily laughed and swung Hermione around in a circle, the other girl letting out a little surprised noise and then laughing along.

I was wrong! Lily laughed again, set Hermione back down, and then gave the top of her head a little kiss.

"What was that for?" Hermione asked, still smiling.

"Nothing!" Lily said, laughing again. "We should do this more often, this is nice."

I was wrong! She doesn't even like girls! She couldn't believe she almost let the third year girls talk her into making the biggest mistake of her life.

"That'd be nice," Hermione said, beaming. "Once a week, then?"

"So long as you tutor me, it's a deal. Err- we'll have to find time, though, because I'm not giving up my painting."

"That's fine," Hermione said, leaning her head back on Lily's shoulder. "I'll just go with you. I can quiz you or recite your notes or something."

"Alright," Lily said, trying her best not to keep smiling like a big dumb idiot. "I'll warn you, though; painting isn't exactly a spectator sport. It's mostly a mixture of sitting around quietly between bouts of crying."

"Crying? Why would you be crying?'

"Because sometimes your colours won't blend correctly and everything looks like rubbish and you're a complete failure of a human being and deserve to die."

"I- what?"

Lily laughed and spun Hermione around again.

"Don't worry," Lily said, winking at her. "It's mostly the other girls that cry. I happen to be brilliant, and my colours never look muddy."

"Oh, yes, you're a real master of your craft," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, fine," Lily said. "My anatomy can be a bit rubbish sometimes, but I would argue that it's style, thank you very much."

"Your style is rubbish?"

"I- err- no? It's- it's surreal and- err- subversive."

"Are you- now you're just using words you've overhead others saying."

"No."

"Lily."

"Alright, fine," Lily admitted. "You've got me. I just like to draw and paint pretty girls."

"Then a certain mermaid princess will be making an appearance in no time, I'm certain," Hermione said, her eyes turned towards the painting of them dancing together.

"Probably," Lily said, leaning her head against Hermione's, taking her own turn to hum along to the music.

Maybe she should just own it. She kissed a mermaid for Merlin's sake, why was she ashamed of it? It was only a lifelong dream of hers. Yeah, you know what? She thought, holding tighter to Hermione when the girl decided to give her a twirl, why not? It's not like anybody would even know. I can just add it to the stack of stuff under my-

"So," Hermione said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "What was it like?"

"What was what like?" Lily asked.

"Kissing a mermaid," Hermione said, giving her hips a brief squeeze.

Lily desperately wanted to scratch the itch on her nose, but she thought doing it while dancing might seem a tad awkward.

"Don't right know, to be honest," Lily said after a bit. "Face was mostly numb; Warming Runes can only do so much. Felt really happy, I guess, but that could have just been the potion."

"Well, how do you feel now?"

"Now?" Lily repeated, staring her best friend in the eyes again, finally, after all this time. They were warm, brown, and filled with love. Lily smiled back at her, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.

"Absolutely brilliant."