5

"Your move," Sirius said to Lily. Lily stared at the chessboard and considered her options. Belle sat nearby with Remus and Eva playing Exploding Snap. Remus was losing horribly. Being as good natured as he was, he laughed and put out a small fire that started on his sock. Belle was fine, Madame Pomfrey had found small damage to the bone, a tiny fracture, but had mended it with some spells. Belle had been given a more formal sling till tomorrow.

"You always beat me Sirius. I don't know why I even try anymore," Lily said.

"Oh, maybe someday," he replied. "Plus you know it makes me feel good when I continually beat you."

Lily laughed. "Yes, I'm sure it does." She moved her knight and took a bishop of his. James walked in through the entrance, wearing normal clothes, as was the custom on the weekends. But he was clothed in old jeans and a grey tee shirt that looked like it had seen much better days.

"Detention again James?" Sirius called out.

"Yep," said James.

"Trophy room or Greenhouse?" he asked, without turning around in his chair to have a good look.

"Greenhouse."

"Oh, too bad there."

"Thanks Sirius."

"Come over here for a moment James, I need a favor." James stopped, switched directions, and came over to the gathering in front of the fireplace. "I need to go find Professor McGonagall and ask her about my grade, but you see, I'm doing quite well at this chess game and I don't want to lose my place. I trust you James, take over, just for ten minutes."

"No."

"Ten minutes." James looked at Lily.

"No."

"It's ok James," Lily said. "I know how bad it would make you feel to lose to me." She started to get up. "You can go ahead Sirius, we can finish later -"

"I wouldn't lose," said James, crossing his arms.

Lily gave him a condescending smile. "No, no, of course not. Forget I even said it."

"No, really."

"Don't worry about it James."

"Ok fine, I'll play."

"Are you sure?" asked Sirius.

"Yes. C'mon Evans. Let's play."

* * * * * * *

It was about ten minutes into a new game they had started, and Sirius had disappeared completely. James had said if he was going to beat her, he was going to beat her fairly, not with Sirius's strategy already in place. Now, he was watching her think. Lily was wearing a green turtleneck sweater, one that made her eyes seem unreal. The fire was turning her dark hair all different shades of red, she rested her chin on her fist as she stared at the board. James was startled by a hand on his shoulder.

"Hi James!" Alice squeaked as she hugged him around the neck. James was a bit uncomfortable with this new display of affection she was showing him - she was cutting off his air.

"Hi Alice," he choked out.

"Oh hi Lily," Alice added. She flipped her blond hair and turned her attention back to James. "What're you doin?" she asked.

James stopped for a moment; he thought the answer to this question was obvious.

"Playing chess," he said. Lily had maneuvered a pawn, it was his move. He turned his attention to the board.

"That's neat," said Alice. "I like chess. Hey, you know, next weekend is a Hogesmede weekend," she continued.

"Oh, it is?" James was surprised. He had forgotten that was coming up. "Yeah I was thinking maybe we could go into town together," she suggested. James looked over the boards and moved his bishop out. He looked at Lily. She looked up at him. Then Alice. She suppressed a laugh and shook her head.

What right did she have to do that? She wasn't his relationship conscience. For all he knew, she could be in league with Malfoy. What would it hurt to have Alice come along with them all to Hogesmede?

"Yeah, sure Alice. Sirius, Remus and I are all going, if you want to come too," he said, never taking his eyes off Lily.

She glanced up at him and then moved her rook. She was looking at his face, something on his face. She scooted up in her chair, leaned over the board.

"So James," Alice continued, "Are you winning or losing?"

He never moved his eyes. "Oh, there's no way to really tell. But if I had to take a guess, I would say winning," James replied.

He too scooted to the end of his chair, leaned forward. He studied the board for about five minutes. He moved a piece. His eyes went back to Lily. They were sitting quite close. Her lips parted as she took a deep breath in.

"I would never lose to you, Potter," she said softly, so only he could hear. She looked up. Her eyes were vivid. "Never." She glanced back down to the board, he took an even deeper breath.

"Peter was teaching me how earlier this year," Alice went on with a giggle. "But I'm not very good, maybe you could help me."

Lily's hand moved over the board. Paused. She looked again at James's face. Her hand changed directions, landed on her queen. She moved this piece outward, boldly. How confident.

"Sure," James said. He almost had her. In three moves he would have her and then he would win. He could almost taste the victory, and it was sweet. Like, raspberries.

The smell of raspberries was invading his senses, her hair, it must be her hair or her perfume. He watched her hand move slowly from her side, out, towards his face. She touched the side of his cheek, slid her thumb along it. Some dirt fell from his cheek and crumbled on the board.

"You had something on your face, Potter," she said.

"Oh," he said, suddenly embarrassed.

"Don't worry James, it's cute," chimed in Alice. James looked down at the board. His vision was extremely sharp but his thought process had some kind of haze over it. Where was his plan again? Ah, yes, three more moves, and he would have her in check. The game was almost won. He moved.

Lily was studying the board. Rested her head on a hand half covered in the forest green sweater. She pulled it around her hand then let is go, wrapped it around her fingers and then unwrapped it, over and over as she thought. She put her hand on a piece. Looked at him. Moved it.

Two more, James thought. This one and the next. Just remember the plan.

"You know what my favorite chess piece is?" asked Alice. "The horse one. It's pretty, at least prettier than the other pieces. What is that one called James?"

James looked at the board. He knew his next move. Then up at Lily. Their eyes were locked. Deep, green. He thought of all the things she had said to him in Divination. He was angry, upset. She would lose now. Her lips parted again as she took in a breath, and she smelled unendingly of raspberries.

"A knight, Alice," he told her, and moved his queen. Her next move was unimportant. He could sense his success, couldn't wait for it. She held his eyes for one more moment, the anticipation was building. Her hand moved to the board. His eyes never left her.

"Checkmate," she said. James didn't believe it. He studied the board. He saw what she had done, her plan had been in place but he had been blind to it, not seen it, not blocked it. He stuttered out the beginnings of some words, but couldn't think of anything to say. Lily leaned in even closer to him, close enough to whisper in his ear.

"Never," was the only word she uttered before getting up and walking away. As she reached the stairs, she called back "I hope you two have fun in Hogesmede. Goodnight Alice; James."

* * * * * * *

Lily trudged up the stairs, reached her room, and closed the door behind her. Wiped a sheen of sweat off her forehead, opened a window. Damn that James Potter. He was making a date right in front of her and still she couldn't help but wipe that stupid dirt off his cheek. She threw herself down on a chair by the window and looked out at the fall landscape. The leaves were dropping everywhere, the sun colored the sky. She missed home, but she knew what she was about to do was long overdue. There was a collection of letters from her mother in her drawer. She got her owl, Persephone, out of her cage as she was visiting for food and wrote a letter to home. It explained how she wasn't coming home for Christmas this year, she was staying at Hogwarts. It also included an obligatory lie, citing studies and responsibilities as her main reasons for doing so.

Everything had gone smoothly so far, except the fact she ran into Potter. She hoped he wouldn't be anymore of a problem than he had already become, what with his questions, his attitude. He got right under her skin, made her so angry. She smiled remembering the look on James's face when he realized she had beaten him.

Lily could see him now, she bet he was still down there, studying the board, wondering how she got past him. Perhaps making dates with several other girls as he did so. She doubted Alice was the only one. She fell back on her bed and closed her eyes, reliving her moment once more. "Checkmate," she said to the empty room.

* * * * * * *

James was examining the chessboard, trying to trace back her movements as far as he could remember. When did she move past him? After Lily had left, he had turned to see again Belle and Sirius staring at him and the space Lily had occupied. Again they looked shocked.

"Well Sirius," said Belle, turning to the dark haired boy, "Was it as good for you as it was for me?"

"Yes, Arabella, I'm impressed."

Both of them fanned themselves with their hands. Remus put out another sock fire. Eva was shuffling and Peter, as usual, was nowhere to be found. James ignored them. Alice had sat down in the place where Lily once was, and began to move the pieces as if to start a new game.

"No! Stop!" James scolded her.

She looked confused.

"Just give me a minute," he explained, and began again to look over the board. Alice sighed and waited. Fifteen minutes later she was dozing in the chair, and James had it figured out. It was so simple, why didn't he see it? Because he had been watching her twist that sweater around her hand; he had been watching her eyes and her face. He touched the place on his check where her hand had grazed him.

She could be evil. She could be working with Lucius, no, even worse, be competing with Lucius. There was no telling why she had that black book. James was pretty sure that was the thing she had taken from him. If it belonged to her, she would know how to work it, what it did. He wanted answers.

* * * * * * *

"There are three areas of predictions and prophecies we are going to cover. Crystal Ball Divination, Astrological Charting, and Palm Reading," lectured Madame Trelawny.

Eva was trying to turn her quill back to normal. Remus had accidentally ruined it in Charms. He had been trying to set it so the ink would refill itself when it ran out. Not only did that fail, but the ink was now turning invisible a few minutes after she wrote with it. Sirius was trying to fix it now, saying spells quietly as Madame Trelawny pointed at a chart of planetary movements. Lily watched him point his wand at it and whisper something. The ink exploded out, spurting up and covering his face. Belle burst out laughing, luckily it disappeared right before Madame Trelawny looked over. Neither of them mentioned Lily was excellent in Charms, they opted to watch Sirius struggle.

"Today," she continued, "we are going to begin palm reading. Basic palm reading. As we continue, your methods will become more advanced. Consult the chart on page 126 of your text for a guide to the lines of the hands. Practice on your partner." Lily glanced at James. He was chatting with Angela the Hufflepuff. She would love nothing more than to lay her head down and take a nap, however, Madame Trelawny was pacing the room.

"Give me your hand," she told James. The Hufflepuff looked angry at having been interrupted.

"What?"

"Your hand? The palm reading. Here comes the Professor," Lily said.

"Oh, yeah. Here." He offered her his hand, palm up. She dragged it across the table and examined it closely. Lily felt strangely; hands were somewhat personal, she felt she was invading his privacy. Consulting the text, Lily found several different lines.

"This one, this one is your health. It doesn't fork or anything. The book said that's good. It looks like your all set there," she explained as Trelawny passed by. The Professor frowned, Lily changed her story.

"Oh wait, I see one there, yep. It looks like you may get a tumor sometime in the near future," she lied. Trelawny, seemingly appeased, continued walking. James actually laughed a little.

"Ok, and, here is your life line. Well, I think that's your lifeline. But it's pretty short Potter. Maybe that's something else - no, that's your lifeline. Madame Trelawny will be delighted," she continued.

"Great," said James. "You and her can throw a party and celebrate."

"Oh I wish Potter. Only if you buy into this stuff."

"What else does it say?"

"Let's see, your love line." Lily kept her comments to herself. "Hmmm - looks here like you have one crossroad. You will have one love, one marriage. Strange, doesn't seem to fit the Potter image."

"Be quiet and give me your hand," James ordered. Lily obliged.

"I'm going to be married six times," announced Sirius gleefully from the next table.

"I think so, wait, that may not be your loveline - " warned Belle.

"Tumors?" suggested Lily.

"Perhaps," answered Belle.

Sirius frowned. "Don't crush my dream you two," he complained.

Lily looked back at James who was studying her palm intently. "Well well Evans," he laughed, "I'm not the only one who goes early. Your lifeline is pretty short as well."

"Maybe we just end up killing each other," Lily wondered.

"That's not possible Evans."

"Why not?"

"You'd never even get the chance," he replied. "If one of us goes, it's not going to be me."

"What makes you so sure?" Lily asked. James didn't answer. He was too busy watching Sirius struggle with the quill again. He was squirted once more. Instead of reminding him she had another quill, Eva just laughed.

"I hate his enchanted ink!" he muttered, throwing the pen on the desk.

Lily and James both laughed. Sirius and the enchanted ink. Suddenly Lily froze. The enchanted ink. She stood suddenly, Eva looked at her. "Lily, what are you doing?"

"It's the ink, the ink is enchanted. Not the book. It's not the book." Lily spoke to herself as she moved across the room. She ran out the classroom door and into the corridor. Behind her, a shocked Madame Trelawny looked at the door, then back at Lily's friends.

"Tumor," Sirius said sadly, shaking his head.

* * * * * * *

Lily ran down the hallways, racing for the library. It was the ink. She had been concentrating her charms and spells on the book itself, as if the whole thing were enchanted. But it was only the ink.

This still did not solve her dilemma, the book would not be so easy to unlock; using some amateur spell she learned in class. The process would require some research and long hours in the library. As she entered, she smiled at the librarian, an old grizzly lady named Margie Stow. Margie grunted in return, picking back up her copy of a muggle romance novel.

Lily started to orient herself, thinking of sections the information would be in. For a moment she thought, then paused. What if it wasn't written in ink? What if it was something else? There's another reason my spells could be failing, she told herself.

As Lily thumbed through pages of a volume on various ancient writing methods, she realized that she would be better off actually holding the item in question. Gathering her things, Lily hurried out of the library and to her dormitory.

Throwing open the door and heading for her trunk , she tossed the lid open and started pawing through her belongings. She looked in the place she had last put the book, she always put it there, wrapped in an old sweater her grandmother had knitted. It was gone. The sweater was unfolded.

"Looking for something?" came a voice from behind her.

Lily stood frozen, and then spun around. He was standing next to the door. He was holding the book.