He had Transfigured his miracle very nicely, into a hand-painted lampshade,
but it was slashed and disfigured and dusty. It did him no good to complain
that it was a lampshade.), and, accordingly, it was difficult. However, the
hardest exam for Lily was the Divination one, where she had to pretend to
be seeing the future in a pack of cards. It was hard enough, breathing in
that room, but when one has to think up convincing stories, the mind shuts
down because of the strain. Lily had had to find a way around that.
She did, too. Professor Trelawney never noticed that Lily was seeing odd patterns in the hanging beads that covered the doorway to her office, like birds, three sun-things, and an ax. She was also ignorant of the fact that Lily had no yellow canary with blue feathers (a bit of a contradiction). So when Lily told her teacher that someone would chop off her canary's head with an ax in three days, Professor Trelawney was surprised and pleased. Lily was rather amused.
That exam over, they only had two others left: History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts. History of Magic was held in a different classroom; James and Sirius having tried to cancel the exams by dropping a large crate of Dungbombs next to Professor Binns' chair before he entered. It failed, though; as Professor McGonagall pointed out, there were several hundreds of empty classrooms in Hogwarts and the existence of detentions. And Professor Binns liked to go to sleep early after making his notes for the next day's lesson, so he had no intention of giving the whole class detention (no one told him who did it), or, indeed, of thinking up different detentions for each person in the class. James looked as if he wanted to strangle Professor McGonagall when she pointed that out. However, Sirius mentioned that she would probably fight back and probably win, so James dropped that.
They had to sit through hour after hour of writing down names and dates and sites of famous battles and Lily was wondering, when she was through, what kind of drugs the mothers of goblins must have been on to name their children 'Urg the Unclean' and other interesting names of that sort. It was a great relief when lunch came around and they could leave the classroom that hadn't been dusted in years, it seemed. Professor Binns appeared to be used to dust, and he was wondering at the sneezing fits people got frequently. He evidently thought that the remedy for that was rapping his knuckles on his desk asking for silence, but he also evidently thought wrong.
Lunch had never tasted so good. And the Great Hall had never seemed so dust- free. Everyone that had just come out of that classroom was either, a), ticked at Sirius and James, b), dusting themselves viciously all over while yawning violently, or c), all of the above. Lily was a tiny bit of a) and quite a bit of b), though she was the only one that wasn't quite a bit of a).
Defense Against the Dark Arts was fun, for a change. Professor Vouladka had rounded up a boggart and three Red Caps; also a few grindylows and two creatures no one had ever seen before. They seemed to be a cross between a scaly sort of water creature and a baby dragon, but they had the most annoying spell-repelling shells anyone had ever seen. Lily managed to hit Abigail in the eye with a Shrinking Spell when she ducked out of the way of the bluish-green blast issuing back at her. Abigail wasn't too happy when she found that she had a pea-sized eyeball rolling around in a rather large socket, and she continued to be miffed all through lunch. Finally, after the hundred thirty-second "I'm sorry" from Lily (James had counted), Lily gave up and left Abigail by herself to sulk while she went outside with Eva to lie on the grass, counting stars. Eva got one thousand two hundred thirty-three; Lily got one thousand fifteen hundred eighty-six and a half. Which, as Eva pointed out, was a bit unrealistic, but Lily didn't care. Half of a star was just as good a unit as a whole star, and that thing that was white but didn't twinkle up there near the North Tower didn't deserve to be counted as a whole star. Stars twinkled, Lily said, firmly, and if you didn't twinkle you had no right to call yourself a star.
The next week was Heaven. Or Hell, if you counted the blazing heat the sun seemed to have fun giving off. But there were no lessons, no homework, no detentions (if you were lucky, which Peter wasn't; he had the odd gift of ticking off Professor McGonagall by doing absolutely nothing at all), and the only thing you had to worry about was how to avoid three vicious fourth years with all the time in the world on their hands. Though Lily didn't have to worry about that. She had already started on her summer work, and she lashed out viciously at anyone who dared to disturb her. The scars on Peter's arm were evidence of that.
By the time that there was only a day of time spent at Hogwarts left (you couldn't really call it school, since the only thing one learned was how to evacuate quickly if Dungbombs were dropped), Lily had finished all of her summer work and had turned it in to her teachers. She had to assure her friends and acquaintances frequently that she was not going for an extended stay at St. Mungo's, but she had the odd feeling they didn't believe her.
It was a blazing day outside; blazing hot rays of sunshine, that is. Every single student was outside on the lawns, preferably under a tree and close to the lake. Serena was a bit envied by several of the girls; about five boys had jumped up, giving her their seats. But Lily and Amanda, who were the ones left sitting on the grass with no sort of protection over them, got a bit fed up with the heat, threw off the annoying black robes, rolled up their pants legs and shirt sleeves, removed their socks and shoes, and jumped right into the lake, ignoring the threat of a month's detention for everyone if one student jumped in the lake.
It was refreshingly cool; and within a few minutes of splashing each other and tripping over rocks in the lake floor, they were completely soaked. The grounds, which a minute before had been filled with groans and noises of parchment being made into fans, were within instants teeming with splashing noises and small yelps and giggles and laughter. Also sparks and other things of the sort. Severus and his friends were cursing and jinxing everything in sight; in fact, Lily wasn't sure that he didn't use the Imperious Curse on Peter, making him jump in and out of the water, squealing like a pig before the slaughter, besides turning odd-looking somersaults in the air. It was rather amusing to look at, and, since everyone had been laughing at him, Peter didn't have the nerve to go and tell a teacher. Serena, Sheila, and Co. were the only ones left sitting on the grounds. They had no intention of getting their hair wet with that lake water, which no doubt held all of the refuse from all the toilets in Hogwarts. Besides, they might get wet. But, after a few minutes, of sitting down and avoiding droplets of water sprinkling the air, Diana threw up her hands and joined the crowd. Serena gasped affectedly when Miranda tripped her and she went flying, face-first, into a sort of hole in the lake bottom, but she sniffed and turned away when Diana came up spluttering with choked giggles. Lily was quite happy to see Diana break out of Serena's group; she really was a bit too shallow for comfort while she was in that clique. But when the real Diana surfaced, she was a quite agreeable person that laughed easily.
They had to get out of the lake before a teacher saw them, but even so, they came close to being caught when Professor Zimmermann saw them rushing for the showers, dripping wet. They didn't know if she was taken in by Lily's "Potter and Sirius have discovered giant water balloons," but, then again, she was a rather clueless person, even though she was a teacher. When they finally got back into their respective common rooms, the carpets were soaked with residue of shampoo and cold water, and the bathrooms were completely empty of towels; every girl had one around her head.
They were all rather exhausted from laughing and swimming and dunking each other, so the only energy they had left was spent in wondering if Dumbledore had heard of such a thing as air conditioning, trying to see if a powdery instant coffee creamer was flammable (it was) and whether or not the Exploding Snap cards would still explode if they were wet (they didn't). It had been the nicest day anyone had ever had in a long time.
All too soon, it was time for them to go to bed, and all too soon it was time for them to leave the school so as to catch the Hogwarts Express back home. Eva, Lily, Vanessa, Amanda, and Diana got a compartment together, near the back of the train. They amused themselves for the last few hours of their legal magic use by adding multicolored, curly, boingy, furry tails to whoever poked his or her head inside the compartment; all except the witch with the cart. When they got off of the train, Peter had one with sprouty little leaf things on it (it was Amanda's first try), Remus three, Sirius six and a half (Vanessa had messed up her spell), James seven, Serena one, Severus and Lucius four each, and Bertha Jorkins fourteen. Ever since she had gotten the idea into her head that James dumped Serena because of a certain red-head, she had taken to following Lily wherever she went, and they had caught her listening outside their compartment door numerous times. It was a great load of fun to see the odd stares she got when she stepped through the barrier to the Muggle world.
Mr. Evans and Petunia met Lily when she stepped through the barrier, pushing the usual heavy trolley in front of her. She was welcomed back with breath-murdering hugs, and, when they got outside King's Cross, blinking in the sunlight, Lily discerned the outlines of a new car that her father was loading the trunk into. A sort of a champagne color, it gleamed brightly. Petunia was swelling with pride as she saw the look on Lily's face.
"I picked it out. Don't you like it?"
"I do. I do." Lily was making a violent 'yes' with her head, almost blinding herself with the whip-like strands of hair that were lashing the air.
It was rather quiet to drive in; not as loud and squeaky as their other car had been, and it didn't break down quite so much whenever they had to stop suddenly. All in all, it was a rather nice car, and Lily had to admit that Petunia had nice taste, in cars, at least.
The beginning of that summer was wonderful. Lily had received several invitations to Eva's, Amanda's, Severus', and Lucius'. She'd turned them down temporarily, however, because she hadn't seen her family at Easter at all. Her father still had to work when she and Petunia were at home, but that wasn't really all that bad; they were left by themselves to make messes in the kitchen, visit some of Lily's old friends, and simply talk, sitting on Lily's bed.
Petunia might be extremely nosy, but she was still nice to have as a sister, Lily realized. They would sit on Lily's bed for hours, talking about meaningless things like Serena's face when James got rid of her (Petunia especially liked that), the question in Geometry Petunia knew she got right but the teacher simply hated her, and the fight she'd just had with Vernon.
But before long, two weeks into the summer vacation, to be exact, Lily started to leave the house at every possible opportunity. Petunia and her friends had started inviting boys over, and Lily didn't like it much when they started to stare at her. It simply made her writhe inside, almost as if she had just stepped onto a stage wearing nothing but a towel. And when Petunia started going around, introducing her to some of the boys and mentioning to them how well Lily had managed the household, it started to get really uncomfortable for Lily. Which is why she would usually be found spending the day at Amanda's, who lived four blocks away. She had to walk for a bit, but she didn't mind so much.
It was about three days before her birthday when she found herself on another jog down to Amanda's. Petunia was going to a party at the neighborhood pool, and Lily didn't want to stay in the house all alone, with nothing much to do. So, when she rounded the corner that turned onto Amanda's street, she was terribly startled as someone ran right into her, knocking her off of her feet, making her fall backwards onto the hot asphalt.
"You've never missed a summer without making me fall onto the street, have you? Will you quit!"
James stretched a hand out to help her up. "Sorry about that. Didn't see you."
Lily swung herself up off of the ground. "Oh, sure."
"I am. What are you doing here?"
She stared. "I might ask you that same thing! I live here, all right?"
"You do?"
"No; in Fourdrica."
"Huh? Where's that?" He looked genuinely puzzled.
"It's my imaginary country, doofus. It didn't exist till about five seconds ago."
"Oh." He helped her dust herself off. "Where you going?"
"Amanda's. What about you?"
He grimaced. "My cousin's. He's a Muggle, but Mom adores him. I don't know why, and I don't want to know why."
"That bad, huh?"
"He pinches my cheek. I hate that."
"And of course, you're always delighted when he does."
"Oh, definitely. You're going to Amanda's now?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "No; the Tooth Fairy palace."
"Oh." He pulled a wallet out of his back pocket, and, evidently finding it empty, turned to Lily. "Mind if I come with you? I'm currently broke."
Shaking her head, Lily turned the corner. "I would say all right, but the problem is, when I'm around you, we end up fighting. Every single time we talk."
He scratched his head. "You have a point. Want to try to make it a first time?"
"No."
"Come on! Why not?"
Lily kicked at a small pebble that was in her way, sending it into a trash can. "No."
"Hey, I'd like to have some fun once in a while, too! I hate being stuck at my cousin's."
"Get used to disappointment."
He shook his head. "You're a rude little brat, you know that?"
"And you're some things I won't mention because there are small children that live in this neighborhood."
"You little thirteen-year-old brat!"
"Fourteen in three days. I told you we'd start fighting!"
James looked rather sheepish. "I guess we are, aren't we?"
"You and your powers of deduction, Mr. Holmes."
"They're great, aren't they?"
"No."
He came close to coming back with a smart retort, but changed the subject instead. "Your birthday's in three days?"
"It was three hundred sixty-two days ago. What's wrong with you?"
"In other words, yes."
"Um," Lily agreed, trying to swat a wasp that was humming loudly around her head.
He shrugged and put an arm around her shoulders. "What do you say, want to try to turn over a new leaf?"
Lily eyed his arm suspiciously. "Get your hand off of my shoulder."
"Fine." He removed it, wrinkling his nose a bit. "You're really touchy, you know that?"
Lily frowned. Then, sighing loudly, she gave up.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just not in the best of moods right now."
"Really?" James looked concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just feeling really edgy and mean."
"Huh." James frowned, too, but his didn't last long as he caught sight of a house and its inhabitant across the street. "Look; there's Amanda. Are you letting me come, too?"
Lily looked at him quizzically, but then grinned widely. "Sure. We're planning to go swimming. Want to come?"
James smiled, too. "Perfect. I was planning to escape to the neighborhood pool."
"That would be a bad idea. Petunia's practically taken it over. Amanda has her own."
"Oh, awesome!"
Lily sniffed good-naturedly. "But don't set your sights on a black marble basin. This is white tile and chlorinated water."
"It's water, isn't it? Come on!"
He pulled her forward to Amanda, who stared at James, a bit puzzled."Lily, I thought you said you didn't have guests?""I don't. I met this git on the street. He wants to come swimming.""Oh." Amanda propelled both of them inside. "Sure. Eva's over here, and so is Vanessa, and Miranda. You're gonna have to put up with us girls; you know that, don't you?"James smiled. "What could be better? Do I have any competition?"Lily rolled her eyes as she withdrew into the bathroom. "Is that all you ever think about?""Pretty much, yeah," he yelled as she slammed the door.When Lily emerged, in her newer black suit, James was already changed and leaning back on a lawn chair, talking animatedly with Miranda about the Quidditch World Cup. "Is that all they ever talk about," Amanda whispered in her ear.Lily sighed. "Yeah, just about. It's sad that I know that.""It is. Come on. I'll race you." She threw off the towel she had been wearing, and, immediately, she and Lily dove into the water.
Lily was already leaning on the edge of the pool, tsking to herself as Amanda's head broke the surface."You know, that's why two-piece suits with frilly stuff on them are really pretty stupid to wear.""Oh yeah, Miss Streamlined?""Yeah.""Fine! We'll try again! Eva," to the blonde watching the race. "Mind saying 'go' for us?"Eva slid into the water. "I'll even stand at the other end to see who comes in first." She suited the action to the word, she hit the water forcefully, as the "Ready, set, GO!" rang though the air.This time it was a bit closer, but not much. Lily only won by about two feet. "Amanda, I'd suggest switching that pink thing for something else."Amanda snorted. "How about yours?""No. NO. Black is nice. I will not wear pink. I refuse to wear pink. Don't even think that you can make me wear pink of my own free will.""Honestly." Amanda switched from her dead-man's float to a float on her back. "James Potter!"
The called immediately jumped up from the lawn chair. "Yeah?""Would you race this brat over here? She's insisting that she's the best one around here."Lily's "I did not!" came a bit too late, for James was already in the water when it was half out of her mouth."All right, Evans, let's see! Come on!" He had been working on his swimming and Lily knew that. However, this was a challenge, and she wasn't about to turn it down."Ten laps. Eva, say go!"They were both clinging to the wall of the pool within seconds, feet poised against it, ready to kick off. When Eva hit the water with a foam mat, they took off, streaking through the water. They were neck to neck for the first few seconds, but when Lily saw James trying to knock her out of his way, she did a quick dive downwards, near the bottom of the pool.It was impossible for her to come back up for air now, and, out of the way of any annoying currents, she completed the first and second lap without a problem. The third one was going well, and she was pleased to note that her opponent was a few inches behind her, though he was on the surface and she on the bottom. Around the seventh one, she started running out of air, and her strokes became a bit wilder. On the ninth, she was rising to the top, exhausted, and, three feet away from the finish line with James ten inches behind her, she desperately reached for the edge. Suddenly, however, something struck her on the head, and everything went a sort of glazed white behind her eyelids.James reached the wall triumphantly, leaping out. "All right! Who's the man?Evans, I beat you this time!" His grin was infectious, and Vanessa, Eva, Miranda,and Amanda started laughing, too. After a few seconds, when Lily didn't emerge,he slowly realized something was wrong.
"Hey–where's Lily? She didn't climb out, did she?"
Eva shook her head. "No–Lily? Lily!" She stood up and walked to the pool, thenclapped her hands to her mouth and let out a piercing shriek. "Lily!" Her friend was floating near the bottom of the pool, dark red hair spread out overher face and entangling the water in its web. James and everyone else rushed tothe edge. Then he let out a small laugh."Lil, you can come up now! We know you're shamming!" He turned to the girls.
"She really had me fooled for a while. Where did she learn how to play dead like
that?"A bit reassured, Miranda and Vanessa regained their armchairs, and James, aftera few seconds, went to join them, but another shriek from Eva stopped him deadin his tracks.
"Lily!"
Everyone sped back to the pool as fast as they could. As soon as they stareddown into the pool, it was obvious to everyone why Eva had screamed. The form was still floating limply near the bottom, but a red tint was staining thewater for several inches around her head and neck. The girls stood there, frozento the tiles, and James knew enough not to expect any help from them. Ignoringthe towel he had wrapped around his waist, he dived in, towards the bottom. It was pretty deep; about ten or twelve feet, and before he had reached Lily, his ears started to pound. He ignored the stain that was dyeing his surroundings,and, with a bit of a shudder, he grasped the limp girl around the waist. Ashudder, for he had caught sight of an injury on her head. It was on the back ofher skull, and at least a square inch of complete red was visible. More than thathe couldn't see; the water was too chlorinated. Nevertheless, he pulled herupwards, kicking the bottom of the pool for greater speed.
His head broke the surface within seconds. Panting and frightened, he pulled Lily up.
"Some one get me a towel! Now!"
Vanessa obeyed quickly. A white bit of cloth was wrapped around Lily's head, andJames tried unsuccessfully to push her onto dry land.
"She's too heavy. Someone at least grab her hand and pull!"
Eva and Miranda immediately took hold of Lily. Vanessa was clearing a lawnchair; Amanda had run for her mother. Together, it took them barely ten secondsto get their friend out of the water. Gasping for breath, they lifted her onto thechair just as Mrs. Milton rushed out, accompanied
Lily tried to sit up again but failed. "Where is Dad?" She winced. Amanda put a hand on her arm.
"Making coffee in the kitchen. He and Jameshaven't gone to sleep since you got hurt."
"Really?" Eyes wide, she turned to James. "You bothered?" A bit sheepish, but more concerned, he sort of half-nodded. "Of course. You don't expect me not to, do you?"
"Well–kind of. I haven't exactly been the nicest person to you, have I?"
"That's beside the point."
"I'm too tired to argue." Her head dropped limply back and she fell into ahalf-doze, half-blackout just as her father entered the room. She kept waking up for a few seconds over the next few days, and she alwayssaw the same people there, with the addition of her sister. The only thing she atewas a thin sort of potato soup; about a bowl every other day. It was all she couldmanage; every time she stayed awake for too long, her head would start to swimand she would get faintly nauseous. But, three weeks after her accident, she wasable to eat a full meal and sit up without feeling nauseous. It was a ratherby a yapping poodle.
overdone reaction; no one else that anyone knew of had ever reacted this badlyto only a slight head wound, so everyone was on pins and needles during thosethree weeks. When she started to recover, though, she did so rapidly, and withinfour weeks of her accident, she was walking, running even, and going abouteverything that she had done before. Still, every time she bent over suddenly or strained herself too much lifting boxes or anything of the sort, the same well of nausea would overcome her, and she'd have to sit down for a while.
One morning, seven weeks into summer vacation, Lily was setting the table for alate breakfast for her and her sister; her father had already eaten; he had leftfor the office two hours ago. Lily was carrying the stack of toast and pancakes to the table when the doorbell rang.
Carefully, Lily set the loaded plate down on the table. Petunia ran for the door;opened it, and shouted for her sister.
"Lily, it's for you. That Potter kid."
Lily went to the door, writhing a bit, knowing that James had heard Petunia call him 'that Potter kid'. He didn't think that she called him that behind his back, did he? But why would she care what he thought? Her musings were interrupted by Petunia, who dragged her into the doorway and then abruptly vanished. As soon
as she had shut the kitchen door, James burst out laughing.
"She doesn't really like me, does she?"
"Obviously not. I'm sorry about that."
"It's okay." He stepped inside. "I came to see how you were doing."
"Oh." Lily ushered him inside the kitchen, to Petunia's annoyance. "Fine, I think.
Have something to eat?"
"Sure!" He took the plate of bacon, toast, and pancakes that was offered, and
Lily wondered idly why she even bothered to ask. She walked over to the cabinet,
searching for maple syrup. Meanwhile, James was trying to start a conversation
with Petunia.
"So…how are you?"
Petunia started, then assumed the look of a hunted rabbit, peeled eyes and all.
"Er–"
"Having a good summer?"
"Erm."
"Er–where do you go to school?"
Petunia found her tongue. "Somewhere civilized"
"Oh." James was finding this rather difficult. "I–er–I hope you like it there."
This remark fell on deaf ears. Petunia was thinking to herself how much shewould love to use a large amount of something sticky on James' hair, somethingthat would make it lie flat. She had corn syrup in mind.
"Have you been to Diagon Alley at all?"
"Yes. I wish I hadn't."
Unfazed, James continued. "So, next time you go, drop by Fortescue's ice cream place. I can give you and Lil discounts and stuff; I'm working there now."
Lily came back with the glass syrup bottle. "Really? Part-or full-time?"
"Part-time. Dad wants me to get a job even though he knows I'll not have to
later on."
"Oh, right." He had told her once before that his family was terribly rich. "I'll drop by, then. When do you work there?"
"One to five, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday."
"Okay. Orange juice or chocolate milk or milk or chocolate chip bread or cinnamon sugar for the toast?"
Petunia wiped her lips with a napkin. "Milk."
She did, too. Professor Trelawney never noticed that Lily was seeing odd patterns in the hanging beads that covered the doorway to her office, like birds, three sun-things, and an ax. She was also ignorant of the fact that Lily had no yellow canary with blue feathers (a bit of a contradiction). So when Lily told her teacher that someone would chop off her canary's head with an ax in three days, Professor Trelawney was surprised and pleased. Lily was rather amused.
That exam over, they only had two others left: History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts. History of Magic was held in a different classroom; James and Sirius having tried to cancel the exams by dropping a large crate of Dungbombs next to Professor Binns' chair before he entered. It failed, though; as Professor McGonagall pointed out, there were several hundreds of empty classrooms in Hogwarts and the existence of detentions. And Professor Binns liked to go to sleep early after making his notes for the next day's lesson, so he had no intention of giving the whole class detention (no one told him who did it), or, indeed, of thinking up different detentions for each person in the class. James looked as if he wanted to strangle Professor McGonagall when she pointed that out. However, Sirius mentioned that she would probably fight back and probably win, so James dropped that.
They had to sit through hour after hour of writing down names and dates and sites of famous battles and Lily was wondering, when she was through, what kind of drugs the mothers of goblins must have been on to name their children 'Urg the Unclean' and other interesting names of that sort. It was a great relief when lunch came around and they could leave the classroom that hadn't been dusted in years, it seemed. Professor Binns appeared to be used to dust, and he was wondering at the sneezing fits people got frequently. He evidently thought that the remedy for that was rapping his knuckles on his desk asking for silence, but he also evidently thought wrong.
Lunch had never tasted so good. And the Great Hall had never seemed so dust- free. Everyone that had just come out of that classroom was either, a), ticked at Sirius and James, b), dusting themselves viciously all over while yawning violently, or c), all of the above. Lily was a tiny bit of a) and quite a bit of b), though she was the only one that wasn't quite a bit of a).
Defense Against the Dark Arts was fun, for a change. Professor Vouladka had rounded up a boggart and three Red Caps; also a few grindylows and two creatures no one had ever seen before. They seemed to be a cross between a scaly sort of water creature and a baby dragon, but they had the most annoying spell-repelling shells anyone had ever seen. Lily managed to hit Abigail in the eye with a Shrinking Spell when she ducked out of the way of the bluish-green blast issuing back at her. Abigail wasn't too happy when she found that she had a pea-sized eyeball rolling around in a rather large socket, and she continued to be miffed all through lunch. Finally, after the hundred thirty-second "I'm sorry" from Lily (James had counted), Lily gave up and left Abigail by herself to sulk while she went outside with Eva to lie on the grass, counting stars. Eva got one thousand two hundred thirty-three; Lily got one thousand fifteen hundred eighty-six and a half. Which, as Eva pointed out, was a bit unrealistic, but Lily didn't care. Half of a star was just as good a unit as a whole star, and that thing that was white but didn't twinkle up there near the North Tower didn't deserve to be counted as a whole star. Stars twinkled, Lily said, firmly, and if you didn't twinkle you had no right to call yourself a star.
The next week was Heaven. Or Hell, if you counted the blazing heat the sun seemed to have fun giving off. But there were no lessons, no homework, no detentions (if you were lucky, which Peter wasn't; he had the odd gift of ticking off Professor McGonagall by doing absolutely nothing at all), and the only thing you had to worry about was how to avoid three vicious fourth years with all the time in the world on their hands. Though Lily didn't have to worry about that. She had already started on her summer work, and she lashed out viciously at anyone who dared to disturb her. The scars on Peter's arm were evidence of that.
By the time that there was only a day of time spent at Hogwarts left (you couldn't really call it school, since the only thing one learned was how to evacuate quickly if Dungbombs were dropped), Lily had finished all of her summer work and had turned it in to her teachers. She had to assure her friends and acquaintances frequently that she was not going for an extended stay at St. Mungo's, but she had the odd feeling they didn't believe her.
It was a blazing day outside; blazing hot rays of sunshine, that is. Every single student was outside on the lawns, preferably under a tree and close to the lake. Serena was a bit envied by several of the girls; about five boys had jumped up, giving her their seats. But Lily and Amanda, who were the ones left sitting on the grass with no sort of protection over them, got a bit fed up with the heat, threw off the annoying black robes, rolled up their pants legs and shirt sleeves, removed their socks and shoes, and jumped right into the lake, ignoring the threat of a month's detention for everyone if one student jumped in the lake.
It was refreshingly cool; and within a few minutes of splashing each other and tripping over rocks in the lake floor, they were completely soaked. The grounds, which a minute before had been filled with groans and noises of parchment being made into fans, were within instants teeming with splashing noises and small yelps and giggles and laughter. Also sparks and other things of the sort. Severus and his friends were cursing and jinxing everything in sight; in fact, Lily wasn't sure that he didn't use the Imperious Curse on Peter, making him jump in and out of the water, squealing like a pig before the slaughter, besides turning odd-looking somersaults in the air. It was rather amusing to look at, and, since everyone had been laughing at him, Peter didn't have the nerve to go and tell a teacher. Serena, Sheila, and Co. were the only ones left sitting on the grounds. They had no intention of getting their hair wet with that lake water, which no doubt held all of the refuse from all the toilets in Hogwarts. Besides, they might get wet. But, after a few minutes, of sitting down and avoiding droplets of water sprinkling the air, Diana threw up her hands and joined the crowd. Serena gasped affectedly when Miranda tripped her and she went flying, face-first, into a sort of hole in the lake bottom, but she sniffed and turned away when Diana came up spluttering with choked giggles. Lily was quite happy to see Diana break out of Serena's group; she really was a bit too shallow for comfort while she was in that clique. But when the real Diana surfaced, she was a quite agreeable person that laughed easily.
They had to get out of the lake before a teacher saw them, but even so, they came close to being caught when Professor Zimmermann saw them rushing for the showers, dripping wet. They didn't know if she was taken in by Lily's "Potter and Sirius have discovered giant water balloons," but, then again, she was a rather clueless person, even though she was a teacher. When they finally got back into their respective common rooms, the carpets were soaked with residue of shampoo and cold water, and the bathrooms were completely empty of towels; every girl had one around her head.
They were all rather exhausted from laughing and swimming and dunking each other, so the only energy they had left was spent in wondering if Dumbledore had heard of such a thing as air conditioning, trying to see if a powdery instant coffee creamer was flammable (it was) and whether or not the Exploding Snap cards would still explode if they were wet (they didn't). It had been the nicest day anyone had ever had in a long time.
All too soon, it was time for them to go to bed, and all too soon it was time for them to leave the school so as to catch the Hogwarts Express back home. Eva, Lily, Vanessa, Amanda, and Diana got a compartment together, near the back of the train. They amused themselves for the last few hours of their legal magic use by adding multicolored, curly, boingy, furry tails to whoever poked his or her head inside the compartment; all except the witch with the cart. When they got off of the train, Peter had one with sprouty little leaf things on it (it was Amanda's first try), Remus three, Sirius six and a half (Vanessa had messed up her spell), James seven, Serena one, Severus and Lucius four each, and Bertha Jorkins fourteen. Ever since she had gotten the idea into her head that James dumped Serena because of a certain red-head, she had taken to following Lily wherever she went, and they had caught her listening outside their compartment door numerous times. It was a great load of fun to see the odd stares she got when she stepped through the barrier to the Muggle world.
Mr. Evans and Petunia met Lily when she stepped through the barrier, pushing the usual heavy trolley in front of her. She was welcomed back with breath-murdering hugs, and, when they got outside King's Cross, blinking in the sunlight, Lily discerned the outlines of a new car that her father was loading the trunk into. A sort of a champagne color, it gleamed brightly. Petunia was swelling with pride as she saw the look on Lily's face.
"I picked it out. Don't you like it?"
"I do. I do." Lily was making a violent 'yes' with her head, almost blinding herself with the whip-like strands of hair that were lashing the air.
It was rather quiet to drive in; not as loud and squeaky as their other car had been, and it didn't break down quite so much whenever they had to stop suddenly. All in all, it was a rather nice car, and Lily had to admit that Petunia had nice taste, in cars, at least.
The beginning of that summer was wonderful. Lily had received several invitations to Eva's, Amanda's, Severus', and Lucius'. She'd turned them down temporarily, however, because she hadn't seen her family at Easter at all. Her father still had to work when she and Petunia were at home, but that wasn't really all that bad; they were left by themselves to make messes in the kitchen, visit some of Lily's old friends, and simply talk, sitting on Lily's bed.
Petunia might be extremely nosy, but she was still nice to have as a sister, Lily realized. They would sit on Lily's bed for hours, talking about meaningless things like Serena's face when James got rid of her (Petunia especially liked that), the question in Geometry Petunia knew she got right but the teacher simply hated her, and the fight she'd just had with Vernon.
But before long, two weeks into the summer vacation, to be exact, Lily started to leave the house at every possible opportunity. Petunia and her friends had started inviting boys over, and Lily didn't like it much when they started to stare at her. It simply made her writhe inside, almost as if she had just stepped onto a stage wearing nothing but a towel. And when Petunia started going around, introducing her to some of the boys and mentioning to them how well Lily had managed the household, it started to get really uncomfortable for Lily. Which is why she would usually be found spending the day at Amanda's, who lived four blocks away. She had to walk for a bit, but she didn't mind so much.
It was about three days before her birthday when she found herself on another jog down to Amanda's. Petunia was going to a party at the neighborhood pool, and Lily didn't want to stay in the house all alone, with nothing much to do. So, when she rounded the corner that turned onto Amanda's street, she was terribly startled as someone ran right into her, knocking her off of her feet, making her fall backwards onto the hot asphalt.
"You've never missed a summer without making me fall onto the street, have you? Will you quit!"
James stretched a hand out to help her up. "Sorry about that. Didn't see you."
Lily swung herself up off of the ground. "Oh, sure."
"I am. What are you doing here?"
She stared. "I might ask you that same thing! I live here, all right?"
"You do?"
"No; in Fourdrica."
"Huh? Where's that?" He looked genuinely puzzled.
"It's my imaginary country, doofus. It didn't exist till about five seconds ago."
"Oh." He helped her dust herself off. "Where you going?"
"Amanda's. What about you?"
He grimaced. "My cousin's. He's a Muggle, but Mom adores him. I don't know why, and I don't want to know why."
"That bad, huh?"
"He pinches my cheek. I hate that."
"And of course, you're always delighted when he does."
"Oh, definitely. You're going to Amanda's now?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "No; the Tooth Fairy palace."
"Oh." He pulled a wallet out of his back pocket, and, evidently finding it empty, turned to Lily. "Mind if I come with you? I'm currently broke."
Shaking her head, Lily turned the corner. "I would say all right, but the problem is, when I'm around you, we end up fighting. Every single time we talk."
He scratched his head. "You have a point. Want to try to make it a first time?"
"No."
"Come on! Why not?"
Lily kicked at a small pebble that was in her way, sending it into a trash can. "No."
"Hey, I'd like to have some fun once in a while, too! I hate being stuck at my cousin's."
"Get used to disappointment."
He shook his head. "You're a rude little brat, you know that?"
"And you're some things I won't mention because there are small children that live in this neighborhood."
"You little thirteen-year-old brat!"
"Fourteen in three days. I told you we'd start fighting!"
James looked rather sheepish. "I guess we are, aren't we?"
"You and your powers of deduction, Mr. Holmes."
"They're great, aren't they?"
"No."
He came close to coming back with a smart retort, but changed the subject instead. "Your birthday's in three days?"
"It was three hundred sixty-two days ago. What's wrong with you?"
"In other words, yes."
"Um," Lily agreed, trying to swat a wasp that was humming loudly around her head.
He shrugged and put an arm around her shoulders. "What do you say, want to try to turn over a new leaf?"
Lily eyed his arm suspiciously. "Get your hand off of my shoulder."
"Fine." He removed it, wrinkling his nose a bit. "You're really touchy, you know that?"
Lily frowned. Then, sighing loudly, she gave up.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just not in the best of moods right now."
"Really?" James looked concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just feeling really edgy and mean."
"Huh." James frowned, too, but his didn't last long as he caught sight of a house and its inhabitant across the street. "Look; there's Amanda. Are you letting me come, too?"
Lily looked at him quizzically, but then grinned widely. "Sure. We're planning to go swimming. Want to come?"
James smiled, too. "Perfect. I was planning to escape to the neighborhood pool."
"That would be a bad idea. Petunia's practically taken it over. Amanda has her own."
"Oh, awesome!"
Lily sniffed good-naturedly. "But don't set your sights on a black marble basin. This is white tile and chlorinated water."
"It's water, isn't it? Come on!"
He pulled her forward to Amanda, who stared at James, a bit puzzled."Lily, I thought you said you didn't have guests?""I don't. I met this git on the street. He wants to come swimming.""Oh." Amanda propelled both of them inside. "Sure. Eva's over here, and so is Vanessa, and Miranda. You're gonna have to put up with us girls; you know that, don't you?"James smiled. "What could be better? Do I have any competition?"Lily rolled her eyes as she withdrew into the bathroom. "Is that all you ever think about?""Pretty much, yeah," he yelled as she slammed the door.When Lily emerged, in her newer black suit, James was already changed and leaning back on a lawn chair, talking animatedly with Miranda about the Quidditch World Cup. "Is that all they ever talk about," Amanda whispered in her ear.Lily sighed. "Yeah, just about. It's sad that I know that.""It is. Come on. I'll race you." She threw off the towel she had been wearing, and, immediately, she and Lily dove into the water.
Lily was already leaning on the edge of the pool, tsking to herself as Amanda's head broke the surface."You know, that's why two-piece suits with frilly stuff on them are really pretty stupid to wear.""Oh yeah, Miss Streamlined?""Yeah.""Fine! We'll try again! Eva," to the blonde watching the race. "Mind saying 'go' for us?"Eva slid into the water. "I'll even stand at the other end to see who comes in first." She suited the action to the word, she hit the water forcefully, as the "Ready, set, GO!" rang though the air.This time it was a bit closer, but not much. Lily only won by about two feet. "Amanda, I'd suggest switching that pink thing for something else."Amanda snorted. "How about yours?""No. NO. Black is nice. I will not wear pink. I refuse to wear pink. Don't even think that you can make me wear pink of my own free will.""Honestly." Amanda switched from her dead-man's float to a float on her back. "James Potter!"
The called immediately jumped up from the lawn chair. "Yeah?""Would you race this brat over here? She's insisting that she's the best one around here."Lily's "I did not!" came a bit too late, for James was already in the water when it was half out of her mouth."All right, Evans, let's see! Come on!" He had been working on his swimming and Lily knew that. However, this was a challenge, and she wasn't about to turn it down."Ten laps. Eva, say go!"They were both clinging to the wall of the pool within seconds, feet poised against it, ready to kick off. When Eva hit the water with a foam mat, they took off, streaking through the water. They were neck to neck for the first few seconds, but when Lily saw James trying to knock her out of his way, she did a quick dive downwards, near the bottom of the pool.It was impossible for her to come back up for air now, and, out of the way of any annoying currents, she completed the first and second lap without a problem. The third one was going well, and she was pleased to note that her opponent was a few inches behind her, though he was on the surface and she on the bottom. Around the seventh one, she started running out of air, and her strokes became a bit wilder. On the ninth, she was rising to the top, exhausted, and, three feet away from the finish line with James ten inches behind her, she desperately reached for the edge. Suddenly, however, something struck her on the head, and everything went a sort of glazed white behind her eyelids.James reached the wall triumphantly, leaping out. "All right! Who's the man?Evans, I beat you this time!" His grin was infectious, and Vanessa, Eva, Miranda,and Amanda started laughing, too. After a few seconds, when Lily didn't emerge,he slowly realized something was wrong.
"Hey–where's Lily? She didn't climb out, did she?"
Eva shook her head. "No–Lily? Lily!" She stood up and walked to the pool, thenclapped her hands to her mouth and let out a piercing shriek. "Lily!" Her friend was floating near the bottom of the pool, dark red hair spread out overher face and entangling the water in its web. James and everyone else rushed tothe edge. Then he let out a small laugh."Lil, you can come up now! We know you're shamming!" He turned to the girls.
"She really had me fooled for a while. Where did she learn how to play dead like
that?"A bit reassured, Miranda and Vanessa regained their armchairs, and James, aftera few seconds, went to join them, but another shriek from Eva stopped him deadin his tracks.
"Lily!"
Everyone sped back to the pool as fast as they could. As soon as they stareddown into the pool, it was obvious to everyone why Eva had screamed. The form was still floating limply near the bottom, but a red tint was staining thewater for several inches around her head and neck. The girls stood there, frozento the tiles, and James knew enough not to expect any help from them. Ignoringthe towel he had wrapped around his waist, he dived in, towards the bottom. It was pretty deep; about ten or twelve feet, and before he had reached Lily, his ears started to pound. He ignored the stain that was dyeing his surroundings,and, with a bit of a shudder, he grasped the limp girl around the waist. Ashudder, for he had caught sight of an injury on her head. It was on the back ofher skull, and at least a square inch of complete red was visible. More than thathe couldn't see; the water was too chlorinated. Nevertheless, he pulled herupwards, kicking the bottom of the pool for greater speed.
His head broke the surface within seconds. Panting and frightened, he pulled Lily up.
"Some one get me a towel! Now!"
Vanessa obeyed quickly. A white bit of cloth was wrapped around Lily's head, andJames tried unsuccessfully to push her onto dry land.
"She's too heavy. Someone at least grab her hand and pull!"
Eva and Miranda immediately took hold of Lily. Vanessa was clearing a lawnchair; Amanda had run for her mother. Together, it took them barely ten secondsto get their friend out of the water. Gasping for breath, they lifted her onto thechair just as Mrs. Milton rushed out, accompanied
Lily tried to sit up again but failed. "Where is Dad?" She winced. Amanda put a hand on her arm.
"Making coffee in the kitchen. He and Jameshaven't gone to sleep since you got hurt."
"Really?" Eyes wide, she turned to James. "You bothered?" A bit sheepish, but more concerned, he sort of half-nodded. "Of course. You don't expect me not to, do you?"
"Well–kind of. I haven't exactly been the nicest person to you, have I?"
"That's beside the point."
"I'm too tired to argue." Her head dropped limply back and she fell into ahalf-doze, half-blackout just as her father entered the room. She kept waking up for a few seconds over the next few days, and she alwayssaw the same people there, with the addition of her sister. The only thing she atewas a thin sort of potato soup; about a bowl every other day. It was all she couldmanage; every time she stayed awake for too long, her head would start to swimand she would get faintly nauseous. But, three weeks after her accident, she wasable to eat a full meal and sit up without feeling nauseous. It was a ratherby a yapping poodle.
overdone reaction; no one else that anyone knew of had ever reacted this badlyto only a slight head wound, so everyone was on pins and needles during thosethree weeks. When she started to recover, though, she did so rapidly, and withinfour weeks of her accident, she was walking, running even, and going abouteverything that she had done before. Still, every time she bent over suddenly or strained herself too much lifting boxes or anything of the sort, the same well of nausea would overcome her, and she'd have to sit down for a while.
One morning, seven weeks into summer vacation, Lily was setting the table for alate breakfast for her and her sister; her father had already eaten; he had leftfor the office two hours ago. Lily was carrying the stack of toast and pancakes to the table when the doorbell rang.
Carefully, Lily set the loaded plate down on the table. Petunia ran for the door;opened it, and shouted for her sister.
"Lily, it's for you. That Potter kid."
Lily went to the door, writhing a bit, knowing that James had heard Petunia call him 'that Potter kid'. He didn't think that she called him that behind his back, did he? But why would she care what he thought? Her musings were interrupted by Petunia, who dragged her into the doorway and then abruptly vanished. As soon
as she had shut the kitchen door, James burst out laughing.
"She doesn't really like me, does she?"
"Obviously not. I'm sorry about that."
"It's okay." He stepped inside. "I came to see how you were doing."
"Oh." Lily ushered him inside the kitchen, to Petunia's annoyance. "Fine, I think.
Have something to eat?"
"Sure!" He took the plate of bacon, toast, and pancakes that was offered, and
Lily wondered idly why she even bothered to ask. She walked over to the cabinet,
searching for maple syrup. Meanwhile, James was trying to start a conversation
with Petunia.
"So…how are you?"
Petunia started, then assumed the look of a hunted rabbit, peeled eyes and all.
"Er–"
"Having a good summer?"
"Erm."
"Er–where do you go to school?"
Petunia found her tongue. "Somewhere civilized"
"Oh." James was finding this rather difficult. "I–er–I hope you like it there."
This remark fell on deaf ears. Petunia was thinking to herself how much shewould love to use a large amount of something sticky on James' hair, somethingthat would make it lie flat. She had corn syrup in mind.
"Have you been to Diagon Alley at all?"
"Yes. I wish I hadn't."
Unfazed, James continued. "So, next time you go, drop by Fortescue's ice cream place. I can give you and Lil discounts and stuff; I'm working there now."
Lily came back with the glass syrup bottle. "Really? Part-or full-time?"
"Part-time. Dad wants me to get a job even though he knows I'll not have to
later on."
"Oh, right." He had told her once before that his family was terribly rich. "I'll drop by, then. When do you work there?"
"One to five, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday."
"Okay. Orange juice or chocolate milk or milk or chocolate chip bread or cinnamon sugar for the toast?"
Petunia wiped her lips with a napkin. "Milk."