Disclaimer: Professor Dumbledore and his students are the property of J. K. Rowling.
Choosing the Head Boy Chapter Three—September ThirdLily and her friends arrived at breakfast prepared. Each one carried, in addition to her bookbag, a pair of soundproof earmuffs. After several howlers arrived with yesterday's owls, Professor Artemisia had offered the young women the earmuffs usually used when tending mandrakes. They sat together at the end of the Gryffindor table farthest from the staff table; the other Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws all crowded together as far from her as they could. Their precautions were not in vain. No less than eight howlers were dropped in front of Lily. After looking around to ensure that everyone sitting near her was wearing earmuffs, Lily flicked her wand at the red envelopes, opening all of them simultaneously. She then smiled as she ate her breakfast unperturbed.
James and Sirius hurried into the Great Hall just a moment before the earsplitting racket began. They put their hands over their ears and ducked back outside the door. With all the howlers screaming at once, it was impossible to follow any one message, but certain words, like "Mudblood," "bitch," and "death" seemed to jump out. When the last howler concluded with the words "—won't live to see June," the two young men stared at each other grimly and reentered the Great Hall.
"Did you enjoy my fan mail?" Lily asked with a grin as James and Sirius sat down near her. "Now it's time for the rest." Howlers weren't the only mail she had received that morning. Lily and her friends began to carefully sort through the various items.
"This envelope is squishy," Maisie said.
"Don't open it," Lily said quickly. "There was a squishy one yesterday and it had bubotuber puss in it.
"This one is Muggle paper and has a return address from your parents. Is it their handwriting?"
Lily glanced at it. "Uh-huh. Just drop it in my bag, and I'll read it later."
"Eww! This one is sticky!" Eurydice said as she dropped a lavender envelope back on the table.
"Go wash your hands," Lily said as she burned the lavender envelope. "It might be poisonous." Eurydice hurried out, holding her hands out in front of her.
"This one looks like it might be O.K.," Isabel said. "Do you know someone named Cornelia Nemo?" Lily shook her head.
"Don't open it if you don't know the sender," Sirius warned.
"I did get a few supportive ones yesterday from strangers," Lily said. "Let me take a look; I'll be careful." As she unfolded the parchment, a small amount of greyish-brown powder fell onto part of her right hand. Almost immediately, a thick brown growth spread over the affected portion of her hand. Lily froze and stared at her hand.
"Let me see," Sirius said as he reached out and took her by the wrist. "Looks like wartcap powder. It's pretty harmless if you get it off quickly, but it becomes permanent if you don't get it off within half an hour."
"Oh God," Lily murmured as she simultaneously tried to stand and to pull her hand back from Sirius, but Sirius held tight.
"Hang on," he said. He pulled out his wand, tapped the brown scab with it, and her skin returned to normal. He then incinerated the blank parchment and the wartcap powder on the table. "Washing it wouldn't have had any effect."
"Thanks," Lily said as she rubbed her left hand over her right and then put both in her lap. "How'd you know what it was?"
Sirius smiled wryly. "I got some in letter after I got sorted into Gryffindor—from my Aunt Io."
"Your aunt?"
Sirius shrugged. "She's my aunt by marriage." He looked at James. "You met her once. Bellatrix's mum." James turned around and looked at the Slytherin table. Bellatrix appeared happier than she had since Lily's announcement on the train.
* * * * *
"I hope that all the new prefects have learned where the prefects' bathrooms are by now, and that all of you have learned the passwords. I told at least one prefect from each house," Lily said as she glanced at the list of items she wanted to cover during the meeting.
"I don't know it yet," said Marcus Greenleaf of Ravenclaw.
"Ask me after the meeting," James instructed.
"No, I meant the one for the girls' bathroom," Marcus said with a grin.
James grinned back. "Ask me after the meeting," he said again.
Severus scowled as Potter's newest "fan club" laughed at the adolescent joke. The meeting was going much as he had anticipated. Evans was as ruthlessly efficient as she had been on the train, which in Severus's eyes merely highlighted Potter's shortcomings. "His only contributions so far have been a few asinine jokes and a few items that Evans probably scripted for him," Severus thought as his scowl deepened. "Not that Potter would let a little thing like being completely unqualified prevent him from lording his new status over us all. He even has to sit higher than the rest of us."
Evans was sitting on a loveseat beside a Gryffindor fifth year. Potter was perched on the arm of the loveseat beside Evans, peeking occasionally at her notes.
Severus had already been present when the three Gryffindor seventh years had arrived en masse. He had observed with amusement as the fifth year girl, sitting alone on a loveseat, had watched Lupin expectantly, hoping that he would sit with her. When Lupin sat on an armchair instead, Evans had chosen to sit with the younger girl.
Severus was tempted to tell the stupid girl that she was the wrong gender to be Lupin's type—although he wasn't completely certain of that—or that she was the wrong species to be his type. Of that, he was certain, but he was forbidden to tell. The threat of expulsion hung over his head if he did. "I'll be expelled if I do my fellow students the service of warning them that there is a dangerous monster in their midst—but the precious Gryffindors actually tried to commit murder and not only were they not expelled, but one was made Head Boy. Such is the fairness of life. Such is the fairness of Albus Dumbledore."
Severus's options for striking back were severely limited, so who could blame him for taking an opportunity when it presented itself? He was fairly certain that one would soon present itself if he merely watched the werewolf patiently. The Gryffindors had arrived with sweets nicked from the kitchen. The sweets had been passed around, and the remainder now lay on a table in the center of the circle within easy reach of the werewolf and others. When Lupin took a chocolate chip cookie from the tray, Severus seized his opportunity.
"Don't wolf it down, Lupin."
As Severus and Lupin stared at each with mutual dislike, Severus was pleased to notice the sudden silence. His little dig at the werewolf had shut up Potter in mid-sentence. Potter only resumed speaking when Lupin glanced at him and shook his head slightly.
A minute later, as Evans tied up a few loose ends, and the meeting was obviously drawing to a close, Potter circled around behind Severus's chair.
"May I speak to you privately, Snape?" he said quietly. Evans faltered in what she was saying for a moment and glared at Potter. As he followed Potter out, Severus glanced at the werewolf. Lupin seemed as worried as Evans. Severus didn't know quite what he expected Potter to do or say when the door closed behind them, but what he heard was not it. "Why can't you leave him alone?"
Severus snorted. "Why should I? Did any of you ever leave me alone?"
"If you're angry with me, take it out on me. If you're angry with Sirius, take it out on Sirius," Potter hissed. "But leave Remus out of it; he's never done anything to you."
Severus arched an eyebrow in disbelief. "Except try to kill me—or have you forgotten already? Have you fed so many people to your pet monster that you've forgotten who they were?" Severus began to walk away, but Potter grabbed his arm. "That wasn't his fault! And you know it!"
Potter's grip was uncomfortably tight—probably from endless hours of flying—but Severus wouldn't give Potter the satisfaction of showing discomfort.
"No, I don't know that. Nor do I believe that." He wrenched his arm out of Potter's grasp just as the office door opened and prefects began to spill into the corridor.
"Fine," Potter said angrily as Severus resumed walking away, "but I will tell Dumbledore that you're dropping hints left and right."
Severus scowled again as he strode away. Dumbledore would take the Gryffindors' side, again. Severus knew that he was playing with fire when he dropped those hints. The Headmaster had made it clear that if anyone else learned that Lupin is a werewolf, Snape would be expelled. Whether or not they could trace the information back to him was irrelevant. He had been walking a fine line, hoping that the hints were obvious enough to terrify the werewolf, but not so obvious that the idiots around them would catch on. It had been a stupid risk to take, and it would have to stop.
He couldn't go straight back to the common room. If he were the first one to return from the prefects' meeting, people might ask him about it—or seek him out to commiserate about the injustice of the Head Boy and Girl honours going to the idiot Quidditch star and the uppity Mudblood bitch. And although Severus partially agreed, he preferred his misery in solitude. He had listened to his housemates complain for three days straight; he was ready for silence.
The worst had been Bellatrix Black. She seemed to consider Evans's elevation to Head Girl as a personal insult. She had convinced herself that her impressive pedigree would guarantee her the honour. Severus was tempted to tell her what he really thought; Sophia Sinistra deserved to be Head Girl. Her bloodlines were just as pure, almost as blue, and her grades were better. At least Potter's little "chat" with him had given him an excuse not to walk back with her and the other Slytherins. He'd had quite enough whining for one day.
Lily was in a fury when James reentered the office. She grabbed James's arm and pulled him as far from the door and the departing prefects as she could.
"Our first meeting and you had to pick a fight with Snape? Will you ever grow up?" Although she kept her voice low, her anger was clear in her tone.
"I did not get in a fight with him," James insisted quietly. He heard the door close, glanced back to see that only Remus remained in the office with them, and raised his voice to include him. "I didn't. I didn't hit him, hex him, or even threaten him—not that he wouldn't deserve all three."
"James," Lily said warningly.
James ignored her and looked directly at Remus. "I just asked him to leave you alone, and I told him that I plan to tell Dumbledore the stuff he's been saying."
"What stuff?" Lily asked.
"O.K., thanks," Remus said. "Are you two going back to the tower now, or do you want to work on the schedule here?"
"We might as well work here," James said as he looked back at Lily again, "so we can post it in here as soon as we're done. Don't you agree?" He hoped she would. He could think of worse fates than spending an hour or two alone with Lily.
"Fine," she muttered as she returned to the loveseat where her notes lay. "Don't tell me what's going one. See if I care if you and Snape are an inch away from killing each other and you won't tell me why." She grabbed two cookies and then looked up at Remus with a wry smile. "Do me a favor, Remus? Take the rest of these back to the common room with you. I don't want to be tempted all evening."
"Sure," he said as he took the tray and headed for the door.
"Hey, Re!" James called after him. "Don't wolf 'em all down on the way." Remus gave James a glare that made him laugh. "Remus can't resist chocolate," he explained to Lily.
"That makes two of us," she replied just before she took a bite of a chocolate chip cookie. She pulled the table closer to the loveseat and placed on it the notes from a few Prefects explaining their commitments that could conflict with patrol duty. "The schedule should be easy to make this time. Things like study groups and Quidditch practice haven't started yet, so we only have a few conflicts to work around. Expect massive trading-off of shifts this month and next as conflicts start. By the time we make the next schedule, we'll probably be deluged with conflicts to work around, but there'll be less trading-off necessary."
"Harder for us; easier for them. Got it." James sat beside her on the loveseat and glanced through the notes. "Piano lessons?"
"Um-hmm. Tansy and a couple of other students take piano lessons from a woman who lives in Hogsmeade. Tansy's the only one who's a prefect though."
"Do they go to Hogsmeade?"
"No, Professor Dumbledore arranged for the teacher to come here. There are a few music rooms on the second floor."
"Yeah, I've seen them. I just didn't know anyone used—oh, Tansy has to reschedule this lesson," he said as he circled a date in October. "It's a full moon; it wouldn't be safe for the teacher to walk home after moonrise."
Lily continued writing names on a rough draft of the schedule. "And you know the date of October's full moon why?"
James shrugged. "Because I'm naturally brilliant?"
"Brilliant—and modest?"
* * * * *
Just as Lily was writing the last few names on September's master schedule, and James was finishing October's, they heard a knock on the door. They looked at each other in confusion. Prefects knew the password and wouldn't need to knock, and they couldn't imagine who else would come to the office. James discretely drew his wand as he went to the door. He wouldn't quickly forget the death threat Lily had received that morning. To his relief, it was just Remus and Sirius on the other side of the door.
"We were just passing by and wondered if you two wanted to walk back with us to the tower," Remus explained as they stepped inside.
"You know, so we can help you defend your honour from bludgered-brains here," Sirius added. "Nice place; it's like our common room except purple and white."
"Ivory. They're house-neutral colours," Lily said as she finished September's schedule and pulled October's closer. "We'll go back with you; we'll be done in a minute."
As Remus hung September's schedule on the wall and chatted with Lily, Sirius beckoned James into the hallway. James grinned at him.
"You and Remus must be getting along better. What were you up to tonight that you're just going back to the tower now?"
Sirius shook his head. "We were in the tower. Remus said that when he came back after the meeting, there were a few Slytherins along the route, and they were keeping out of sight. He didn't want you two to walk back alone. We came here just to help you escort Lily back safely. They might try something against two of you, but probably not four of us."
"Damn snakes," James swore under his breath. "You certainly timed it well. We were just finishing up."
Sirius grinned. "Remus's idea. His copy of the duty schedule filled in as you two filled in the master one. He just kept one eye on it while he did his homework, and then he told me when it was time to go."
"Why'd you knock? Remus knows the password."
Sirius laughed. "He wouldn't say it in front of me. You'd almost think Moony doesn't trust me not to boobytrap this place or something. So what is the password?"
"It's 'I'm a daft git,' but you have to say it pretty loudly or it won't work."