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Chapter 4: Surprises
James and Lily walked in silence all the way to Dumbledore's office. James could tell Lily was very shaken by what they had just found out but he could hardly blame her, he was pretty shook up himself. He had to admit, however, that he admired the way she held herself, barely letting on how afraid she was, looking like she would be ready to fight anything that might come her way. He wanted so badly to reassure her, to reach out and pull her into his arms, hold her close and tell her everything would be alright, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. But he couldn't, he wouldn't dare, she'd never let him get close. In fact, James thought with a smile, she'd probably smack me right now if she knew what I was thinking. Suddenly he felt a light touch on his arm and it was his turn to jump in surprise.
"James?" asked Lily sounding, James thought, almost concerned. "Are you alright? You nearly walked right past the door."
"Yeah, yeah, fine, sorry, just thinking" James stammered in return.
As they entered his office, Dumbledore was sitting at his desk humming a melancholy tune to himself and writing what appeared to be a very long letter. Without looking up from his parchment, Dumbledore motioned them to come forward.
"Come in, sit down, may I offer you a candy?" He asked, indicating the small dish sitting on the edge of his desk. James and Lily both shook their heads and took a seat in front of the Headmaster. He finished writing and the scroll quickly did itself up and seemed to vanish in mid- air. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you what a serious matter yesterday's events are" Dumbledore began solemnly "dark times are approaching, and I fear no one as yet has the power to stop them. But we must be concerned with those things that we can do. I am afraid that this year will be an especially difficult one for you two as head boy and girl. I must ask you, as well as the prefects, to take on some additional responsibilities this year. I would like you all to take on additional night patrols and be sure to report any... unusual activities to me immediately. Also, this is not a time in which we want petty bickering to break out among our students, I would ask you to try and encourage harmony between the houses as much as possible. Do either of you have any questions regarding your duties, or anything else of importance you would like to discuss?" Dumbledore looked at them through his half-moon glasses, his shrewd eyes looking very tired.
Lily cleared her throat, and asked, sounding a little nervous, "Professor, you don't think that Who Know Who will come here, do you? He wouldn't target students, would he?"
"Ah, Miss Evans, I am not one to say what another will or will not do, but know that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to enter Hogwarts without my knowledge and that there are many things protecting this school that even the most powerful wizards cannot dispel." This answer left James only somewhat reassured. There had never been a more powerful wizard than Voldemort, how would they know their defences would hold up? But he did trust that Dumbledore would do everything in his considerable power to protect his students. Just as James was about to ask if he would like a schedule of the patrol duties, he was interrupted by the flap of a beautiful golden phoenix entering the room. Fawkes flew across the room and dropped a small roll of parchment on Dumbledore's desk, then came to rest on a small golden perch on the far side of the room.
"My apologies Miss Evans, Mr Potter, I have matters to attend to, but I have every faith in your abilities as Head Boy and Girl." Dumbledore stuffed the parchment Fawkes had dropped quickly into his robes and hurriedly showed James and Lily to the door. He then began walking very fast in the opposite direction down the hall. James and Lily looked at each other for a moment.
"I wonder where he's running off to?" James wondered out loud as they began walking towards the Gryffindor common room. "And a phoenix, delivering a letter like a common owl! I wonder what that was all about."
"That's not all," Lily remarked, "that letter he was writing when we walked in, he was using coders ink, I'm sure of it. I couldn't see a word of writing on that parchment." James hadn't noticed that. Coders ink was very rare, and very expensive. It sometimes took a potionsmaster months of work to get the exact formula. Anything written in coders ink could be read only by the person whose blood had been used in making it, and only while that person was alive.
"That letter must have been very important if Dumbledore was using coders ink." Said James thoughtfully. "I wonder what's really going on. Obviously there is a lot that Dumbledore didn't tell us."
"I guess we'll just have to find out on our own, then won't we?" Lily winked mischievously, surprising James, who gave her a great big sloppy grin in return.
*********************************************************************
"And you're sure it was coders ink?" Emma asked incredulously as Lily finished recounting what had happened in Dumbledore's office to Emma, Alice, and Frank. Lily nodded.
"I'm positive." Lily confirmed confidently. "My guess is that Dumbledore has known for a while that things were going to get worse. He's probably been working against You Know Who in secret all along."
"It hardly seems real, does it?" Alice asked quietly, "I mean, so many people dead... and even Dumbledore said it was just the beginning... I just wish there was something we could DO."
"I know, I hate feeling so helpless!" Frank exclaimed, "I feel like I'm just waiting for You Know Who to come and get me."
"Well..." began Emma slowly, "maybe we can't go out and fight You Know Who, but that doesn't mean that we can't do anything. We can still be prepared ourselves. We can find out as much as we can about You Know Who and we can learn how to protect ourselves if we ever need to."
"Say there, Miss Andrews, that's sounds like a brilliant plan to me! When do we start?" said Sirius flopping down into a chair next to Alice and looking up at her with a crazy grin on his face. Lily rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile.
"You really shouldn't be eavesdropping on other peoples conversations, you know!" said Lily in the sternest voice she could muster while trying hard not to laugh at the mock expression of remorse on Sirius's face.
"I know, I know," said Sirius with mock sincerity, "but I just can't help being interested in such beautiful lad-oomph!" Sirius was cut off by a pillow thrown at him by Alice.
"Nice aim, Alice!" complemented James as he took a seat along with Peter and Remus.
"Hey!" exclaimed Sirius, "Aren't you supposed to back ME up? But seriously, Emma here has come up with a brilliant plan..."
Lily didn't know how thrilled she was about joining forces with James and his bunch, but after spending the rest of the morning and a considerable portion of the afternoon discussing different things they could do to help prepare themselves to face Voldemort, it seemed that joining forces was just what they were going to do. On the way back up to the common room from a late lunch, Lily decided she wanted to go see Hagrid. She let Alice know where she was off to and set off across the school grounds. She'd barely gotten ten feet from the front door of the school, however, before she heard her name being called behind her. She turned around. It was James, running to catch up to her.
"Hey Lily, I thought I'd tag along, if you don't mind, I haven't seen Hagrid for a while." James said catching his breath.
"No, not at all," Lily said pleasantly, and a sudden thought struck her: she really didn't mind. Here she was walking alone with James Potter, who only yesterday she would have claimed she hated more than anyone in the world, and for once she really was happy to be in his company. This whole thing must have affected me more than I realized, she thought to herself.
When they reached Hagrid's hut they knocked on the door, but they got no answer. They peered in the windows, but they couldn't see anyone, it looked like Hagrid hadn't been there for a while. They couldn't see Fang, Hagrid's bloodhound, anywhere around either.
"That's strange" said Lily. "Did you see him at breakfast?"
"I didn't really notice," James replied, "Come to think of it, I don't even know if I saw him last night at the feast."
After circling the hut a few more time, James and Lily decided they would try again after classes tomorrow. As they walked up to the castle, they talked about their summers, and their families, and about their upcoming NEWTs. Lily found herself actually enjoying talking to James. He was actually a pretty nice guy when he wasn't trying to be all cool and tough, she thought. She found herself staring at the side of his face as they walked, smiling at the way his hair seemed to fly in every direction, watching his mouth move.
They were just walking into the common room when Lily suddenly tripped over something lying on the ground; she began to fall but ended up smack in James's arms instead. He had caught her before she could hit the ground and now had his arms clasped tightly around her, and she was pressed right up against him, so close that she could feel his heart beating, or was that hers? She couldn't tell. She was having trouble catching her breath. The warmth of his body pressed against hers was making it hard for her to concentrate. She raised her head, meaning to tell him to let go of her, but ended up finding his eyes instead. She saw something there, a desire she wasn't prepared for and it captivated her. Time suddenly seemed to stand still, and Lily seemed to forgot where she was, all she could think about was how good it felt to be so close to the boy in front of her. She just wanted to melt into him, to get as close as possible, to –her thoughts were interrupted by Emma, who came running over.
"Oh my goodness! Lily are you alright?" Lily quickly came to her senses, and immediately took a step back from James, who had let go of her just as fast. "I am sooooo sorry I completely forgot a left my books there by the door! I saw you trip over them... it was lucky James was there to catch you!" Emma looked at one flushed face to the other, "Is everything OK?" she asked, apprehensively.
"Yes!" Lily said quickly.
"Just fine" Said James at the same time.
"Okay..." Emma answered not looking at all convinced, but she did scoop up the rest of her books and belongings from the floor and headed towards the girls dormitory, leaving Lily and James in a rather awkward silence.
James was looking at the ground, rubbing the back of his neck, and began nervously "Look, uh... Lily.... I'm ah... sor-"
"Don't worry about it" Lily said quickly, not letting him finish the apology. "I should be thanking you for catching me." James looked relieved that she wasn't going to yell at him. Lily couldn't really say she blamed him, given her past history. "C'mon, how about I make it up to you by letting you beat me in a game of chess?" Lily suggested.
"Sure, I'd love t- Oh wait! Sorry I can't!" he said smacking his forehead, "I completely forgot! I was supposed to meet Erin 10 minutes ago. She's going to kill me! Uh, maybe later for that chess game, k?" James yelled back to Lily as he was running out the portrait door. As she watched him go, Lily couldn't help feeling a strange, unpleasant feeling rising inside her. If she didn't know better, she would have thought she was jealous.
End of chapter 4!
Thanks sooooo much to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! You guys are awesome!
Chapter 4: Surprises
James and Lily walked in silence all the way to Dumbledore's office. James could tell Lily was very shaken by what they had just found out but he could hardly blame her, he was pretty shook up himself. He had to admit, however, that he admired the way she held herself, barely letting on how afraid she was, looking like she would be ready to fight anything that might come her way. He wanted so badly to reassure her, to reach out and pull her into his arms, hold her close and tell her everything would be alright, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. But he couldn't, he wouldn't dare, she'd never let him get close. In fact, James thought with a smile, she'd probably smack me right now if she knew what I was thinking. Suddenly he felt a light touch on his arm and it was his turn to jump in surprise.
"James?" asked Lily sounding, James thought, almost concerned. "Are you alright? You nearly walked right past the door."
"Yeah, yeah, fine, sorry, just thinking" James stammered in return.
As they entered his office, Dumbledore was sitting at his desk humming a melancholy tune to himself and writing what appeared to be a very long letter. Without looking up from his parchment, Dumbledore motioned them to come forward.
"Come in, sit down, may I offer you a candy?" He asked, indicating the small dish sitting on the edge of his desk. James and Lily both shook their heads and took a seat in front of the Headmaster. He finished writing and the scroll quickly did itself up and seemed to vanish in mid- air. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you what a serious matter yesterday's events are" Dumbledore began solemnly "dark times are approaching, and I fear no one as yet has the power to stop them. But we must be concerned with those things that we can do. I am afraid that this year will be an especially difficult one for you two as head boy and girl. I must ask you, as well as the prefects, to take on some additional responsibilities this year. I would like you all to take on additional night patrols and be sure to report any... unusual activities to me immediately. Also, this is not a time in which we want petty bickering to break out among our students, I would ask you to try and encourage harmony between the houses as much as possible. Do either of you have any questions regarding your duties, or anything else of importance you would like to discuss?" Dumbledore looked at them through his half-moon glasses, his shrewd eyes looking very tired.
Lily cleared her throat, and asked, sounding a little nervous, "Professor, you don't think that Who Know Who will come here, do you? He wouldn't target students, would he?"
"Ah, Miss Evans, I am not one to say what another will or will not do, but know that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to enter Hogwarts without my knowledge and that there are many things protecting this school that even the most powerful wizards cannot dispel." This answer left James only somewhat reassured. There had never been a more powerful wizard than Voldemort, how would they know their defences would hold up? But he did trust that Dumbledore would do everything in his considerable power to protect his students. Just as James was about to ask if he would like a schedule of the patrol duties, he was interrupted by the flap of a beautiful golden phoenix entering the room. Fawkes flew across the room and dropped a small roll of parchment on Dumbledore's desk, then came to rest on a small golden perch on the far side of the room.
"My apologies Miss Evans, Mr Potter, I have matters to attend to, but I have every faith in your abilities as Head Boy and Girl." Dumbledore stuffed the parchment Fawkes had dropped quickly into his robes and hurriedly showed James and Lily to the door. He then began walking very fast in the opposite direction down the hall. James and Lily looked at each other for a moment.
"I wonder where he's running off to?" James wondered out loud as they began walking towards the Gryffindor common room. "And a phoenix, delivering a letter like a common owl! I wonder what that was all about."
"That's not all," Lily remarked, "that letter he was writing when we walked in, he was using coders ink, I'm sure of it. I couldn't see a word of writing on that parchment." James hadn't noticed that. Coders ink was very rare, and very expensive. It sometimes took a potionsmaster months of work to get the exact formula. Anything written in coders ink could be read only by the person whose blood had been used in making it, and only while that person was alive.
"That letter must have been very important if Dumbledore was using coders ink." Said James thoughtfully. "I wonder what's really going on. Obviously there is a lot that Dumbledore didn't tell us."
"I guess we'll just have to find out on our own, then won't we?" Lily winked mischievously, surprising James, who gave her a great big sloppy grin in return.
*********************************************************************
"And you're sure it was coders ink?" Emma asked incredulously as Lily finished recounting what had happened in Dumbledore's office to Emma, Alice, and Frank. Lily nodded.
"I'm positive." Lily confirmed confidently. "My guess is that Dumbledore has known for a while that things were going to get worse. He's probably been working against You Know Who in secret all along."
"It hardly seems real, does it?" Alice asked quietly, "I mean, so many people dead... and even Dumbledore said it was just the beginning... I just wish there was something we could DO."
"I know, I hate feeling so helpless!" Frank exclaimed, "I feel like I'm just waiting for You Know Who to come and get me."
"Well..." began Emma slowly, "maybe we can't go out and fight You Know Who, but that doesn't mean that we can't do anything. We can still be prepared ourselves. We can find out as much as we can about You Know Who and we can learn how to protect ourselves if we ever need to."
"Say there, Miss Andrews, that's sounds like a brilliant plan to me! When do we start?" said Sirius flopping down into a chair next to Alice and looking up at her with a crazy grin on his face. Lily rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile.
"You really shouldn't be eavesdropping on other peoples conversations, you know!" said Lily in the sternest voice she could muster while trying hard not to laugh at the mock expression of remorse on Sirius's face.
"I know, I know," said Sirius with mock sincerity, "but I just can't help being interested in such beautiful lad-oomph!" Sirius was cut off by a pillow thrown at him by Alice.
"Nice aim, Alice!" complemented James as he took a seat along with Peter and Remus.
"Hey!" exclaimed Sirius, "Aren't you supposed to back ME up? But seriously, Emma here has come up with a brilliant plan..."
Lily didn't know how thrilled she was about joining forces with James and his bunch, but after spending the rest of the morning and a considerable portion of the afternoon discussing different things they could do to help prepare themselves to face Voldemort, it seemed that joining forces was just what they were going to do. On the way back up to the common room from a late lunch, Lily decided she wanted to go see Hagrid. She let Alice know where she was off to and set off across the school grounds. She'd barely gotten ten feet from the front door of the school, however, before she heard her name being called behind her. She turned around. It was James, running to catch up to her.
"Hey Lily, I thought I'd tag along, if you don't mind, I haven't seen Hagrid for a while." James said catching his breath.
"No, not at all," Lily said pleasantly, and a sudden thought struck her: she really didn't mind. Here she was walking alone with James Potter, who only yesterday she would have claimed she hated more than anyone in the world, and for once she really was happy to be in his company. This whole thing must have affected me more than I realized, she thought to herself.
When they reached Hagrid's hut they knocked on the door, but they got no answer. They peered in the windows, but they couldn't see anyone, it looked like Hagrid hadn't been there for a while. They couldn't see Fang, Hagrid's bloodhound, anywhere around either.
"That's strange" said Lily. "Did you see him at breakfast?"
"I didn't really notice," James replied, "Come to think of it, I don't even know if I saw him last night at the feast."
After circling the hut a few more time, James and Lily decided they would try again after classes tomorrow. As they walked up to the castle, they talked about their summers, and their families, and about their upcoming NEWTs. Lily found herself actually enjoying talking to James. He was actually a pretty nice guy when he wasn't trying to be all cool and tough, she thought. She found herself staring at the side of his face as they walked, smiling at the way his hair seemed to fly in every direction, watching his mouth move.
They were just walking into the common room when Lily suddenly tripped over something lying on the ground; she began to fall but ended up smack in James's arms instead. He had caught her before she could hit the ground and now had his arms clasped tightly around her, and she was pressed right up against him, so close that she could feel his heart beating, or was that hers? She couldn't tell. She was having trouble catching her breath. The warmth of his body pressed against hers was making it hard for her to concentrate. She raised her head, meaning to tell him to let go of her, but ended up finding his eyes instead. She saw something there, a desire she wasn't prepared for and it captivated her. Time suddenly seemed to stand still, and Lily seemed to forgot where she was, all she could think about was how good it felt to be so close to the boy in front of her. She just wanted to melt into him, to get as close as possible, to –her thoughts were interrupted by Emma, who came running over.
"Oh my goodness! Lily are you alright?" Lily quickly came to her senses, and immediately took a step back from James, who had let go of her just as fast. "I am sooooo sorry I completely forgot a left my books there by the door! I saw you trip over them... it was lucky James was there to catch you!" Emma looked at one flushed face to the other, "Is everything OK?" she asked, apprehensively.
"Yes!" Lily said quickly.
"Just fine" Said James at the same time.
"Okay..." Emma answered not looking at all convinced, but she did scoop up the rest of her books and belongings from the floor and headed towards the girls dormitory, leaving Lily and James in a rather awkward silence.
James was looking at the ground, rubbing the back of his neck, and began nervously "Look, uh... Lily.... I'm ah... sor-"
"Don't worry about it" Lily said quickly, not letting him finish the apology. "I should be thanking you for catching me." James looked relieved that she wasn't going to yell at him. Lily couldn't really say she blamed him, given her past history. "C'mon, how about I make it up to you by letting you beat me in a game of chess?" Lily suggested.
"Sure, I'd love t- Oh wait! Sorry I can't!" he said smacking his forehead, "I completely forgot! I was supposed to meet Erin 10 minutes ago. She's going to kill me! Uh, maybe later for that chess game, k?" James yelled back to Lily as he was running out the portrait door. As she watched him go, Lily couldn't help feeling a strange, unpleasant feeling rising inside her. If she didn't know better, she would have thought she was jealous.
End of chapter 4!
Thanks sooooo much to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! You guys are awesome!