Chapter Three: Of Mudbloods and N.E.W.T.s

A/N: So sorry for the long wait between chapters! The internet is finally working again in my dorm, so I can post more often. I'm really enjoying writing this story and I'm really excited about where it is going. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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Lily always hated the first day of classes. She woke up the first morning of classes feeling as if she hadn't slept at all. She'd barely been able to process the news of Professor Beata's death before getting into bed, and her dreams had reflected her concern and sadness. Her dreams had quickly fallen into nightmares with haunting voices crying out and flashes of green light. At one point, she could have sworn she screamed herself awake, but neither Anaral nor Shannon seemed to have noticed. At eight o'clock the next morning, therefore, a very tired Lily found herself sitting in the Great Hall, looking sleepily past a plate of scrambled eggs.

"Schedules," Anaral murmured as a stack of parchment came down the length of the table. Lily took hers with a yawn and looked it over vaguely. She noticed that there were no other houses listed next to many of the classes and pointed it out to Anaral. "It's probably got to do with the fact that there aren't a large number of people going for N.E.W.T.s in these classes this year. So they just take all of the people from all of the houses together."

"Makes sense. I've always heard that N.E.W.T. classes were smaller than regular classes." James and Sirius had entered the room, and Lily kept her eyes on her plate as her cheeks turned a deep shade of red. "I think the only N.E.W.T. classes that can only have two houses in at once are Charms and Potions; there aren't many occupations that don't require those two," James explained, downing his orange juice in one swig. "How does the schedule look for us Aurors-to-be?"

"It looks like Charms, Transfiguration and Basic Concealment on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions on Tuesdays and Thursdays," Anaral answered. "We only have the four classes, but they're twice as long as usual classes."

Shannon, sitting on the other side of Lily, was looking at her own schedule. "And it looks like we still have Potions with Slytherin. Ugh." She shook her head. "I'd hoped that we were through with double Potions with Slytherin, but apparently not."

"And today just happens to be. . .a Tuesday!" Sirius exclaimed as if it was the most exciting thing in the world. "Bloody hell. We have Defense Against the Dark Arts first. I wonder how Dumbledore is as a teacher."

Lily wasn't sure how to answer the question. She still felt a certain loyalty to Professor Beata, but how much better of a teacher could they have than Professor Dumbledore? "I think he'll be very good," she commented, sipping her own orange juice. "I mean, he's got all of those great titles, hasn't he? And I'm sure he didn't get them by being poor at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I agree with Evans," James spoke up and Lily felt her cheeks brighten again. Shannon kicked her under the table, giggling quietly. "No, honestly. You can't have all those titles and have just sat around doodling all day."

"Oh Liiiiiiiillllllllyyyyyyyy. . ." someone sang out across the Great Hall. Lily turned around to see the golden-haired, sparkling-smiled Gilderoy Lockhart walking towards her. She groaned inwardly.

"Help me," she whispered to Anaral and Shannon, but before they could do anything, Gilderoy was standing mere centimeters from Lily's face, smiling blindingly.

"Hello, Lily," Gilderoy said with a swagger. "I'm surprised you haven't come to say hello to me yet this year."

"Ah. . ."

"It's alright. I can understand how intimidating I am." Gilderoy was putting the old James to shame with his ego. Lily looked away from him and began picking at her eggs again, but Gilderoy didn't seem to take the hint. "Had a good summer, then? Glad to be back in my presence?"

"Hey, Lockhart." Now James was standing and smirking at him. "Why don't you and your ego go snog in a closet somewhere?"

Lily tried to keep from snickering as Gilderoy slunk away and Remus and Peter joined the breakfast table, both breathless. Peter looked like he'd fallen into the lake and Remus looked like he wanted to punch Peter. There was an awkward silence, until James finally asked, "What on earth happened?"

"Peeves, that blasted poltergeist, had Wormtail cornered," Remus answered, sounding as aggravated as he looked. "He was pelting him with water balloons-wouldn't let him get by."

Lily bit her lower lip to keep from giggling and took a sip of orange juice. Fortunately, Anaral and Shannon had squeezed closer to Lily, so Peter had no place to sit down. Still, he leaned across the table to give her a breathy, "Hi, Lily" greeting.

"Hullo, Peter," Lily replied with as little enthusiasm as was possible.

"Did you sleep well, Lily?" Peter was acting like it was his life's purpose to ask Lily questions. She sighed and pretended she hadn't heard him, reading the schedule intently. She felt very fortunate that Peter had only received a grand total of three O.W.L.s, so he was not in any of their N.E.W.T. classes. Peter would have to scrape by with just the basics in Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and so forth, and while it didn't feel right exactly, Lily didn't pity him by a long shot.

James didn't seem to approve of Peter's liking of Lily any more than she did, and was glaring at his friend silently. Sirius saw this and quickly redirected the conversation to the mysterious death of Professor Beata. "Last I knew, she didn't do anything particularly dangerous over the summer holidays," he commented.

"I'm pretty sure she always spent the summer visiting her sister in a convent. . .I don't remember where it was, though," Lily threw in. "I'm sure I have a postcard from her somewhere. It may be at home, but I don't know."

"Why don't you try and find it later, then?" James suggested. "And I wonder if Professor Dumbledore would tell us anything."

"I doubt it. There's no reason for us to know, is there?" Anaral had finished her meal and was getting up from the table.

"Beyond sating pure curiosity? I suppose not," Remus stated. He'd finished his breakfast in record time and stood quickly. "Come on, mates. Classes."

The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was much quieter than it had been in previous years, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, there were only sixteen students in the class, where in previous years there had been no fewer than twenty. Out of these sixteen students, only the four from Slytherin were talking loudly. The rest were whispering in wonder at what kind of teacher Professor Dumbledore would turn out to be. They were all clumped into groups based on their houses: Lily, Anaral, Sirius, James and Remus from Gryffindor; Severus Snape, Narcissa Black, Antonio Zabini and Rastaban LeStrange from Slytherin; Amelia Bones, Sarah Jones and Craig Abbott from Hufflepuff; and Ramesh Patil, Jia Chen, Naomi Smith and Mark Corner from Ravenclaw. Lily and Anaral had managed to find a desk together at the front of the classroom, with James, Sirius and Remus relatively close by.

"I wonder what we'll be studying first," Jia Chen was asking aloud in the Ravenclaw corner of the room. "I mean, we've more than covered basic counter-jinxes and shielding charms and. . ."

"I heard," Narcissa Black began superiorly, "that Professor Dumbledore would be bringing in all sorts of dark creatures, like vampires and werewolves." She cast a disdainful look at Remus who flushed crimson. Lily glared at Narcissa.

"It's not like it's the werewolves' fault that they are the way they are. But I'm sure you wouldn't understand a thing about that-seems you were born a selfish, stuck-up bitch, weren't you?" Sirius asked his cousin sweetly, as if asking her about the weather. Now it was Narcissa's turn to redden.

"Kind of like you were born a brainless git who can't even be grateful for what he has?" she snapped. "Or didn't you all know that my cousin here ran away from home this summer? Can't bother to be grateful and thankful for his family, can he?"

Anaral was on her feet. "It's no wonder if they're all like you, Narcissa!" Her voice came out more high-pitched than usual, a sure sign that she was furious.

"What would you know about it, blood traitor?" Now Antonio Zabini had joined in the fray. "It's a wonder you even know anything that's going on in our world, the way you're always hanging around Muggles and Mudbloods."

"Hey!" James rose and stalked across the room, a vein popping on his forehead. "I don't like your language, Zabini."

Lily heard most of the females in the classroom sigh, but ignored it.

"Oh, what's wrong with it, Potter? Hit a little too close to home with that Mudblood girl of yours?" Antonio made a rude gesture in Lily's direction, and she felt her face grow hot.

"That wasn't at all appropriate," she said in a low voice, rising from her chair and gripping her wand. "You might want to take that back."

"Why should I? It's what you are," Antonio crowed as Lily approached him. James moved as though to block her from him, but she walked around.

"As long as we're talking about what people are, why don't we talk about you? Nothing but a spineless jellyfish of a 'pureblood', too frightened of what might happen to him if he dares stand up for what is right. You're sickening at the very least and dreadful at the very most." Once Lily got going, it was nearly impossible to stop her train of insults. James stepped back to watching. "Or were those words too big for you to understand?"

Antonio now looked like he was bordering on fury, but Lily managed to keep her cool as Dumbledore breezed in, not a moment too soon. She returned to her seat without another word in Antonio's direction, and directed her focus to the headmaster; out of the corner of her eye, however, she could see Antonio still panting in fury.

"Welcome to your N.E.W.T.-level Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I trust you all know me, and I know all of you, so let's begin, shall we?" Professor Dumbledore wasted no time on introductions and simply clapped his hands. Lily found herself jumping up as her desk flew to the outside wall of the room and the room transformed itself into an emerald, bronze and green paradise. Lily wasn't the only one to gasp at this transformation. The walls soon were covered with posters of silvery-white creatures and frightening shrouded ones. Behind her, Lily heard Sirius and James whispering to each other, and James exclaimed under his breath, "We're going to learn about patronum!"

"Brilliant deduction, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore stated, and Lily chuckled at James' shock that the professor had heard him speaking. "The Patronus Charm is one of the more difficult charms any of you will ever learn; however, I have no doubt that all of you will be able to master it."

A ripple of nervous laughter crossed the room as everyone pulled his or her wand out to begin to learn. "The first part of the Patronus Charm is very simple-the words. Simply say, 'expecto patronum'."

"Expecto Patronum," the students chorused. Anaral, Lily noted, had pointed her wand as she did so, and a faint silvery mist had emerged. Professor Dumbledore had seen this and smiled.

"Several of you may have produced a bit of a silver mist already, and that is brilliant work. The second part of the charm is a bit more complicated- it has to do with what you are thinking. The key is to concentrate on your happiest memory; with strength, that in mind and this charm, you should be able to produce a corporeal Patronus." Professor Dumbledore pointed his wand, closed his eyes in concentration and boomed, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silvery roaring lion pounced forward from his wand and circled the room once before vanishing. Everyone applauded in awe.

"Let's try it then, shall we? Mr. Potter, would you like to go first?" James smiled in a bit of a cocky manner, and Lily joined the rest of the Gryffindors in stepping back from them. He pointed his wand, closed his eyes and cried, "Expecto Patronum!" just as Professor Dumbledore had.

Nothing happened.

James looked a bit discouraged as Professor Dumbledore smiled at him. "It's quite alright; it will come in time. How about you, Ms. Karadhras?"

Anaral grinned and performed the charm. A more solid mist erupted from the end of her wand, but it was still nothing compared to Professor Dumbledore's lion. Lily knew that she could do no better, and wasn't at all surprised when a mist barely forced itself from the tip of her wand. None of the other students did much better, and they spent the rest of the class practicing the charm. It was getting a bit tiring towards the end.

"To be quite honest," Anaral said as her mist faded away once again, "I wasn't sure that Dementors were dark creatures after all." Professor Dumbledore was approaching them.

"How could they not be?" Lily asked, glancing sideways at James, Sirius and Remus, who were waving their wands a bit dangerously. "Have you ever been around them?"

"Why, have you?"

"Once." Lily was suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable with the memory that had surfaced. "Fifth year. . .I got lost on the way to Diagon Alley and ended up in this horrible place. There were all sorts of dark wizards there. It was very frightening. I found a pub where I meant to ask directions back to Diagon Alley, but as soon as I walked in, everything got cold. I felt like I was reliving every horrible thing that had ever happened to me. . .like I'd never be happy again. It got better once I left- it turns out the Dementor was looking for some escaped convict in that pub. But it was horrible. They must be dark creatures, being like that."

"I am inclined to agree with you, Miss Evans." Professor Dumbledore put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "That is why we are studying this charm in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Why is it so difficult, though?" Lily watched everyone around the room trying to make the charm work and failing miserably. "I don't understand."

"Are you concentrating on your happiest memory? The one that brings you the most joy to remember?"

Lily thought for a moment. "I don't know. Maybe I should try again."

"Go ahead. I'll watch."

She closed her eyes and thought back, trying to find a memory that inflated her insides like a warm balloon. She had been thinking about the day she got her letter from Hogwart's and how proud her parents had been, but that wasn't working. Nothing was.

And then something struck her: the memory of hazel eyes behind glasses and charmingly messy hair. The honest, genuine interest in his eyes. Without stopping to change her mind, Lily lifted her wand and cried, "Expecto Patronum!" She opened her eyes again to see a silvery stallion galloping around the room-her own patronus, and quite corporeal. It stopped its gallop in front of her, neighed softly and let her touch its nose before vanishing into thin air.

Everyone was applauding and Anaral was hugging Lily. "You did it! Wow! That was the most beautiful patronus I've ever seen. How did you do it?"

"Do you want to know honestly?" Lily asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. Anaral nodded. "I thought about James, Annie. And then my patronus just. . .worked, I guess!"

"Ooooh Lily!" Anaral giggled, hugging Lily again, and Lily was quite sure that she caught James Potter looking at her with pure admiration from a little ways away.

*** To no one's surprise, her own least of all, the story of Lily's patronus had circled the school twice by lunchtime. She found it oddly satisfying to have First Years looking at her with an admiration that was generally only reserved for James Potter and his ilk. Even more was the admiration she received from James. She'd caught his eye more than once since the Defense Against the Dark Arts, feeling herself blush to the roots of her dark red hair each time.

"Lily, I heard about your patronus!" Now it was lunchtime, and Lily had heard that very phrase no fewer than a dozen times. This time, however, it made her smile. She was beaming as the speaker, Shannon, came to join the rest of their group of friends at the Gryffindor table. Shannon had spent the entire morning in Double N.E.W.T. Herbology, so it was the first time Lily had seen her since breakfast. Her curls bobbing and dancing, Shannon gave Lily a bone-crushing hug and sat down.

"Hi, Shannon," Lily laughed. "You and everyone else in the world!"

Shannon laughed loudly, then lowered her voice as she saw James approaching. "Is it true what Annie said? Did you conjure the patronus when you thought of James?" she whispered.

A giggle bubbled up in Lily's throat. "It's the truest one of the rumors I've heard all day!" she whispered, letting some of the giggle escape. Shannon squealed and hugged her, receiving strange looks from Remus especially as the rest of their friends sat down.

"Are patronum really that exciting?" he asked, sitting down next to Shannon. Sirius, Anaral and (most importantly) James sat across from them, giving Shannon the most perplexed of looks.

Lily felt herself begin to blush again, but Shannon just turned her squeal into a merry laugh. "Absolutely! Don't you find them that exciting, boys?"

Sirius had raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Whatever you say, Shannon," he commented, then turned confidentially to James and said in a stage whisper, "Girls are weird."

"Are not!" Anaral feigned resentment for the content and gave her boyfriend a playful whack on the arm. "It's you boys who are the weird ones."

"I'm tending to agree with Annie on this one," Shannon commented, looking pointedly at Remus. "She tends to understand these things."

"Back me up on this one, Moony," Sirius tried to look as desperate as possible, though failing miserably. Still, Remus nodded.

"I am. What do you say, Prongs?" Everyone's eyes were focused on James who smiled over his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"It seems to me," he began, leaning back to observe all of his friends, "that both boys and girls are weird, most especially when they are in love." Almost subconsciously, his hazel eyes flicked over to Lily. She saw the honesty in his eyes again and felt her breath catch in her throat. And before she could stop them, words forced themselves out of her mouth.

"I agree with James."

Now everyone had turned to look at her, Shannon and Anaral with wide grins on their faces, and the boys with looks of shock. James' shock was the first to fade into a genuine grin, but the others simply stared in disbelief.

"I mean," Lily hurried on, trying to cover her momentarily vulnerability, "people do act rather irrationally when they are in love or even in like. It's rather stupid, if you ask me." Her face flaming, Lily stood and hurried back to her bedroom to collect her supplies for Potions that afternoon. She wasn't surprised when Shannon followed her, laughing aloud. Lily didn't care. Shannon completely understood what had happened, and Anaral probably did as well. She could live with that, but she knew that she could not live with James knowing what only her closest girl friends knew-at least not yet.

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A/N: So sorry about the long wait! I forgot to e-mail this chapter to myself when I came back to school after Columbus Day. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave me a review or two! Thanks!