Lily Chapter 29: The Accident, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: HELP! I NEED LOTS AND LOTS OF HELP GETTING A NEW NAME FOR THIS SERIES! ANY AND ALL SUGGESTIONS ARE ACCEPTED WITH OPEN ARMS! HEEEEEEELP!! Oh, yes, and, whoever it was who complained about me skipping Christmas in both her first and second years, I apologize. There will be Christmas this year (jeez, it feels rather weird to be controlling whether or not there's Christmas), so don't you worry!

Lily

Chapter 29

The three Marauders and Lily fell onto the couch laughing at Gilderoy, who didn't seem to notice at all. Sirius was clutching his ribs with the laughing, which came as a relief to Lily. It wasn't normal to see him so intense and...well, serious!

Suddenly, Lily stopped laughing. The portrait hole had opened, and in had walked… "Professor McGonagall!" She tapped James on the shoulder frantically. "James, look! Professor McGonagall's here!"

He, too stopped laughing, and Sirius had obviously heard Lily. They suddenly exchanged glances, and Peter said, "We'd better hide!"

"Peter, don't be a prat! We can't hide in the Gryffindor common room, not from someone who's worked here her whole life!" Sirius's tone was somewhere between exasperated and terrified. His eyes shot to the size of saucers when Professor McGonagall spoke.

"Mr. Black? Mr. Potter? Come with me." Lily watched as they followed McGonagall out like prisoners condemned to the death penalty. Just before they left, however, James turned around and threw Lily something. The Invisibility Cloak!

As positively thrilled as she was to be left alone in the common room with Peter (meant sarcastically, of course), Lily's mind was flooded with worry at what Severus must have told McGonagall. She swept the Invisibility Cloak and followed them out. Severus Snape was indeed trailing in McGonagall's wake, with a very smug look on his face.

McGonagall led them down several long corridors and up many disappearing staircases before arriving at a stone gargoyle. "Chocolate Frog!" She yelled irritably. The gargoyle leapt aside and opened a door to Dumbledore's office, through which the grim party walked.

Professor Dumbledore was seated behind his desk, drumming his fingers pensively on the table. The usual glimmer in his sapphire eyes was gone, and he rose as they entered. "Mr. Black. Mr. Snape has related to me a very serious tale. He claims that you told him that, if you prodded a certain knot on the Whomping Willow, it would freeze. Until now, only one student knew this fact, to my knowledge. Mr. Snape's story gives me reason to believe that not one, but six students now know how to immobilize the Willow. This is extremely dangerous, as...well, we all know what lies on the other side, don't we?"

All the color had drained from Sirius and James' faces. They nodded numbly. Severus was smirking while still trying to maintain a traumatized, martyr-esque look. "And when I attempted to prove that fact false, that...that Potter attacked me! Owch!" His nose had suddenly been pulled to one side by some invisible specter. Lily chuckled at the pandemonium she was causing, but backed off quickly as to not call any more attention to herself.

"What was that last part, Severus?"

"Someone pulled on my nose!" He massaged the said feature painedly.

"I don't see anyone here," Professor Dumbledore didn't look too concerned. "No matter, I suppose." He stood up and looked into Sirius's and James's eyes. "I know that I can trust you two...well, I can trust you, James, anyways. You are both exemplary students, and I know you wouldn't want to disgrace your House by lying, in addition to a transgression. Please, tell me if Mr. Snape is telling the truth."

James swallowed and looked at Sirius, who nodded miserably. James spoke to Dumbledore in an ashamed voice. "He is, Professor."

"I see. You realize the intensity of this, don't you? Mr. Snape could have been killed. If Mr. Potter had not 'attacked' him, he would have met up with Remus- oh, no!" Dumbledore clapped a hand over his mouth. It was so rare for Dumbledore to make a mistake in speech, and such a critical one.

Severus's ears seemed to perk up at the sound of Remus's name. "What about Remus? Is he inside the Willow?"

McGonagall looked at Dumbledore with a look of anger extinguished by respect. "What do we do?" she hissed.

"We tell the truth, Minerva." He sighed. "Always the truth. Severus...Remus is a werewolf."

Severus's smug look melted at this, replaced by unbridled shock. "What? No, you're joking, aren't you?"

"Would I joke about something so serious?"

"Yes?" Sirius couldn't resist the opportunity for a joke, but a withering glance from Dumbledore silenced him.

Lily tiptoed over behind Severus and hit him upside the head. "Yowch! Who's doing that?" Lily doubled up in silent laughter as Severus rubbed the back of his head, continuing with the conversation. "So that's why he's sick every month!"

"Mr. Snape, I can't stress enough the gravity of this confidence. You can't tell another soul of this, do you understand?"

"Yes, Headmaster." a nasty smile crossed his features. "I understand."

"Good. Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, I'm sorry to tell you that this will not go unpunished. You, Mr. Black, have detentions for next week, and you, Mr. Potter, are restricted from Quidditch for that same week. The reserve Seeker will be used. And...forty points from Gryffindor."

Oddly enough, no protest met the Headmaster's ears. They both seemed to feel that the sentence was well-laid, so the rest of the visit consisted of all of them being shown out of the office and to their respective common rooms.

Professor McGonagall walked into the Gryffindor common room with Sirius and James (and Lily, though McGonagall didn't know this). To both the boys' confusion, the stern professor didn't go back to her office, but stood and looked around, as though trying to find someone.

Sirius looked at James quizzically. "What's going on, Professor?"

"Have you seen Miss Evans? Did she, perhaps, go up to bed already?"

James, who knew where Lily had been this whole time, felt the rush of air as she ran past him and, most likely, to the dormitory. "I don't know. She's not here, so I guess you're right."

"Well, I suppose I'll wait until tomorrow..." She was about to turn to leave when Lily came down the dormitory stairs and walked over to a table, where laid her Transfiguration book. "Ah, Miss Evans. May I speak with you for a moment?"

Lily blanched. For all she knew, McGonagall could see through Invisibility Cloaks or something! Hands trembling, she followed.

"Well, I already told you that you'll be moving up a year, but I don't know if I told you when. Did I?"

A relief-numbed Lily shook her head. "No, I don't think you did, Professor."

"Well, your things will be moved to the Fourth Year girls' dormitories after the Christmas holidays. I just wanted to inform you of that. Good night, Miss Evans."

"Good night, Professor."

The rest of autumn flew by like the rapidly falling leaves. Sirius and James served their detentions, Severus Snape smirked a little wider than usual, Remus dreaded full moons more, and Peter stayed the same in everyone's eyes.

James, Lily, and Peter were the only ones staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas holiday. Remus just wanted to go home, and Sirius would have stayed, if not for a certain...summons from the home front. The last Thursday before the holidays had begun, Sirius received a small red envelope at breakfast...

"What did I do? How did mum find out about the Whomping Willow thing?" He had said, asking questions of the Howler with a puzzled look on his face.

"Best to just open it right away," Peter had advised with the tiniest smile on his face.

Sirius gulped and ripped it open. Instead of the resounding shouts, deepened by anger, that they had expected, they heard shrill, lisping shrieks. Sirius groaned. "Amelia..."

"THIRIUTH WILLIAM BLACK, IF YOU THTAY AT HOGWARTTH FOR CHRITHMATH, I THWEAR, I'LL RIP YOUR HAIR OUT OF YOUR HEAD! ONE! BY! ONE! YOU HEAR ME, THIRIUTH? IT'TH NOT NITHE AT ALL TO LEAVE YOUR POOR, INNOTHENT LITTLE THITHTER LIKE THAT! AND REMEMBER: I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!" (A/N: Due to the lisping nature of Amelia's speech, I'll provide a translation (aren't I sweet?): "Sirius William Black, if you stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, I swear, I'll rip your hair out of your head! One! By! One! You hear me, Sirius? It's not nice at all to leave your poor, innocent little sister like that! And remember: I know where you live!")

Sirius, mortified, had sunk down in his chair with a hand over his eyes. James absolutely roared with laughter, as had Lily. The mere image of little, roly-poly Amelia ripping Sirius's hair out of his head was enough to leave the most stoic person gasping for breath.

In a nutshell, that's why Sirius wasn't staying over the Christmas holidays.

Then, one day, the students woke up to a soft, feathery blanket of snow covering everything. It was a Sunday, so everyone pulled on their warmest clothing and rushed onto the grounds for a day of snowball fights and sledding.

Lily ran out with her ice skates thrown over one shoulder. The lake was frozen, and she had always loved to visit the Muggle skating rink before she had come to Hogwarts. It was a real relief to actually be back on the ice, because James didn't live near enough a skating rink. She went to the lake's edge and put on the skates, gliding gracefully out after they were all laced up.

James ducked a large slush ball from Peter. As he did, he saw a lone figure twirling on the ice. "Who's that?"

"Me. I'm the only one who ever throws snowballs at you, remember?" Peter was oblivious to the direction of James's gaze.

"No," he said, getting to his feet and pointing out onto the lake. "Her."

The trail of fire-red hair relayed an instant message to Peter, who shrugged and went about his business in making a veritable arsenal of snowballs. "Just Lily. Why?"

James rolled his eyes at himself and started towards the lake edge. "Hey, Lily! What are you doing?"

Lily sped back to where James was standing, spraying him with a curtain of ice chips as she stopped. "Oh, sorry. I was just skating. Haven't you ever skated?"

He said, "No, not really..."

The next thing James knew, he was flat on his butt on the ice. Lily had used the Duplication Charm to make another pair of skates for him, and then pulled him out onto the ice faster than he could protest. Lily giggled and reached out a hand to help him up. "You're rather clumsy on ice, aren't you? How would you like it if I just went back into the castle and shut the door when you fell down?"

James, who hadn't as good a memory as Lily, was confused. "Huh?"

She withdrew the hand, exasperated. "Remember last summer when I couldn't get down from that broomstick? You just waltzed on back into the house and shut the door after you."

He struggled to his feet and rubbed his behind injuredly. "Point taken. Now, please help me get my balance!"

"All right." She thought for a moment, then prodded a spot just below his sternum. "Imagine that there's a laser beam coming right out of there on both sides. Don't lean forward or back, because then, the beam will cut the ice. Basically, keep it horizontal to the lake's surface."

James took a deep breath and tried to stand the right way.

"No, no, no. Laser beam is HERE." She stood to one side of him, and indicated the spot on both his back and front. Due to the puffy coats both of them were wearing, it so closely resembled a hug that Lily broke away quickly.

"Never happened, right, Lily?"

She pulled on the back collar of his coat angrily, sending him careening to the ground once again, and skated off with her nose in the air. James dug the spiked toe of the blade into the ice and tried to stand up, but to no avail. He got on his hands and knees, trying to crawl back to the shore, but a couple of fifth year girls got so giggly watching this undignified procedure that he stopped.

Lily, finally feeling sorry for him, skated over and helped him up. "All right, Potter. Just try it again."

He grinned apologetically and found his balance. "Ok...I think I've got the laser beam thing."

"Yes! That's it! Now, just take baby steps."

Making sure that the fifth year girls weren't looking, he shuffled forward slowly. "Like that?"

"Yes! You're a natural!" she giggled behind a mittened hand. "Watch me." Lily skated off, taking longer strides as an example, and James tried to imitate her. However, he failed and wound up flat on his behind again.

Lily didn't notice that James was struggling to get up, so she just kept skating around the outer edges of the lake. The cold air sent pins flying at every bit of skin it met, making her shiver uncontrollably. She looked to the side in order to avoid the biting wind, and her eyes caught an instantaneous glimpse of something. A round face, eyes gleaming with malice. The next thing she knew, a pair of hands had reached out and shoved her further onto the lake, and a curse was murmured.

The previously solid ice cracked open under her feet and closed over her head. She opened her mouth to scream, but the frigid water filled her mouth. There was no air! She couldn't breathe! Faintly, she heard unrecognizable voices shouting incomprehensible things as the cold and lack of air dulled her senses...darker...fainter...darker...