A/N: Hey. Don't wanna hear any complaints. This is only about two months, and it was almost TWICE that last time. Anyway, yeah, Mifflebey's finally kicked the bucket…and in case you forgot who Mifflebey was in the first place, go back to chapters 48-52 for an explanation of his evil deeds and such. Ok? Ok.
By the way, for the past ten chapters, we've had kind of an outline, a written plan for what the heck we were doing on the Lily timeline. Well…we just finished with everything that was supposed to happen on the outline. *whimper* Sorry if this chapter is kind of lame. We're floundering.
Lily
Chapter 72
After a sleepless night, Lily and her friends went to the hospital wing to check on Sirius. Instead, they saw several beds occupied by other students.
"They claim that they got frostbite from the blizzard at the ball last night," Madam Pomfrey explained upon seeing their confused faces. "I couldn't very well tell the ninnies that they were perfectly fine. It's not as though they're missing classes for it."
"Where's Sirius?" James said.
Madam Pomfrey looked around cautiously and leaned in. "Listen, everyone here knows that he set off that bomb. And they aren't too happy about it, either, especially those of them that know what happened to poor Professor Montgomery."
Lily and James exchanged a look.
"So we had to move him to an empty classroom," she continued. "If you want to see him, knock three times on the door next to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. A face will appear in it and ask you for the password. It's 'hydrangea.' But don't say anything else, or the face will spit at you, laugh, and disappear. Okay?"
So they thanked Madam Pomfrey and went to the room she had told them about. When they entered, it looked like a miniature Infirmary. Sirius was sitting up in a bed with his head heavily bandaged. He was groaning artistically. "Aooowwwhhhhhhhmmmmm! Uuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhhhhh! GRRRRRRRRRRRRAAahhhhhhh!"
"Sirius, what are you doing?" James yelled, his hands over his ears.
He stopped and took notice of the five people who had just entered. "Hi, everyone! Good to see you. I was getting bored."
"You were getting bored?"
"Yes. I decided to see how many different ways I could groan. It's kind of a fun pastime. Like the Whiny groan – Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuuhhhh! Or the Angry groan – GAHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-uh. Or my personal favorite, the Everyone-thinks-I-killed-a-teacher-who-isn't-really-a-teacher-so-he-deserved-what-he-got-but-I-didn't-do-it groan-"
"We get the point," Lily interrupted.
"You're in it deep, Sirius," Remus said gravely. "I don't know what they're going to do."
Sirius grew haughty. "Do? My dear fellow, they aren't going to do anything! They happen to know that I am perfectly innocent!"
"You can tell us the truth," Juno snapped.
Lily sat down on a desk. "It is the truth. I saw Snape set off the bombs."
"Well, how do you plan on convincing Dumbledore and McGonagall? I'd bet a hundred Galleons Snape's got his slimy little friends on hand to say he was in the Common Room the whole time, studying like a good little prat."
"I've already convinced them," Sirius said, batting an end of bandage out of his eyes. "They were in here earlier, and I started to say I didn't do it, but Dumbledore stopped me and said they already knew I was innocent. He said they knew Bloister's Blizzard Bombs are wand-activated, and I was fighting with Elric, so my hands weren't anywhere near my wand. And even if I had just been a distraction for someone else setting them off, I would've known to stay away from the explosion. They said that since I got hurt, it's obvious that I didn't do it." He stretched and grinned. "Pretty good, eh? I've gotta remember that."
"You're not going to explode anything anytime soon, are you?" Lily said disapprovingly.
Sirius tugged at his bandage. "Nah…not too soon."
"Where is Remus?" Juno said suddenly at dinner a week later. It was the Friday after exams, and above them in the charmed ceiling of the Great Hall, the moon shone like a pale Sickle.
Sirius, James, and Peter played it perfectly cool. "I think he's visiting his mum," James said.
"His mum? Why? What's wrong with his mum?"
Peter shrugged. "Pregnant or something, I dunno."
"Oh, please," Juno scoffed. "Mrs. Lupin's too old for that."
"Hey, stranger things have happened."
"Sirius, she's an old hag and you know it. I know it. Remus knows it. So what's wrong with her?"
Suddenly, Snape appeared in the midst of the conversation. "Don't worry about Lupin's mum. She's fine. It's her pup you'd better be concerned about," he said, grinning nastily.
"Remus? Why?" Juno looked weakened and angry at the same time. "What did you do with him, Snape?"
"Oh, I haven't done anything. Worry about what he's doing."
"Would you shut it?" Lily hissed. "Ruddy murderer."
Snape froze and turned his black eyes on Lily. "I don't know what you're talking about, Evans. I was in my dormitory last week. I was sick."
"You're sick all right," James said.
"I'm not sure why you're so hostile anyway. After all, if your accusations were at all correct, then-"
"They're correct! I saw you set off the explosives!"
He hit the table sharply with his fist, then said very quietly, "If you're so sure, then why are you getting on my bad side? Once a murderer…" There was silence. Snape got up to leave, looking angry instead of sour. "Your boyfriend's in the Shrieking Shack. Changing," he said to Juno.
Juno looked around at the others. "What did he mean, 'changing'?" No answer. Lily bit her lip and felt the secret tossing around in her stomach. "Lil?" Juno's eyes were pleading. "Why's he in the Shrieking Shack?"
The next day on the train platform, Juno was keeping close to Lily and James. Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked a few paces behind, taking inventory of all the pranks they had played throughout the year as they pulled along their trunks. The train ride home was odd. Where before, Juno and Remus had been shamelessly snogging at a moment's notice, now Juno seemed to pull away slightly every time Remus reached for her hand. Lily could feel the awkwardness heavy in the air.
When they disembarked, Lily looked around for the Bobbinses. It didn't take long. "Lily! Lily, we're over here!" Aurelle was saying, waving enthusiastically. There was Aurelle, her mother, her father…and her nine brothers.
"Oh…my…goodness…" Lily said, grabbing James's hand and recounting just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.
Mrs. Bobbins, who Aurelle resembled closely, was smiling. "It's very nice to meet you, Lily. This is the family…a little extensive, I know, but we're really quite pleasant."
"Aurelle, I thought you said you only had two brothers!" Lily said weakly.
"No no no, I said I had two little brothers. Matt and Louis are nine and three," she said, pointing out two round-faced little boys. "But Chris is thirty-seven, Will is thirty-four, Alex is thirty-one, Donald's thirty, Ryan's twenty-eight, Aric's twenty-five, and Jake is twenty-five too. They're twins, even though they don't really look it."
Lily shook hands with each of them in turn. "Do…er…do all of you live at home?"
"We're teachers," Will explained. Will had light brown hair, hazel eyes, and a Beater's nose. "We've got the summers off, so we bring our families round to visit during July."
"All of you are teachers?" Lily said incredulously.
Chris nodded his curly head and scratched at his goatee. "I have an art gallery, too, but I do teach. Except Aurelle, Matt, and Louis, there's not a Bobbins who's not a teacher."
"And all of you have families?" James said.
A general ripple of laughter went up. "I've got six kids!" Alex said. Alex was tall and skinny, with dark brown eyes and hair.
"I'm single, but I do plan to take over the world," Donald said. There was a pause, then he laughed. "I'm kidding. The world-domination thing is just a retirement plan." He looked like a heavier version of Will.
Ryan's hair was much more auburn than any of his brothers', and he actually had freckles. "Here, let me get that trunk for you."
"I've never really had brothers before," Lily said to Aurelle.
"They're pretty great for the most part," Aurelle said. "Except Jake."
The Bobbins boys had begun to talk amongst themselves, leaving Lily, Aurelle, and James to converse on their own. "What's the matter with Jake?" James asked.
"He's just an idiot. Barely graduated Hogwarts. He's loveable, though. A loveable idiot."
As if to illustrate her point, Jake, tall, lanky, and round-faced as a lollipop, came over and waved absently at Lily. "H'lo…can I carry anything for you? Like, y'know…dress?"
"Er…no, my dresses are in my trunk." Lily grinned, but James and Aurelle were holding back laughter.
"Right." He ran a hand through his light brown hair. "I teach kindergarten, y'know. My class this year was a lot of fun…all they wanted to do was make hand turkeys. Really perfected my technique."
Aric called to his twin. "Oi, Jake, move it along, we're going to find a fireplace to Floo it out of here."
"Coming!" Jake yelled as he walked away. "C'mon, you two."
"All right, let's go, Lily," Aurelle said.
Lily started to follow, but James caught her hand and pulled her back. "Don't tell me you forgot I was here," he joked.
"Er…no?"
James laughed, then his smile faded. He hugged her close. "This is going to be the longest I've gone without seeing you since I don't know when."
"I know. But don't worry, it's-"
"Just ten minutes' walk away, I know, I know…it's not the same, though."
"Yeah."
He kissed her. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too. Write to me, okay?"
"Okay."
"Bye." As Lily followed Aurelle to the platform barrier, she caught sight of Juno out of the corner of her eye. Her first instinct was to wave, but then she saw that Remus was approaching Juno. He started talking, but her answers were short. She avoided his eyes. Then he moved to put his hands on her arms. She tensed. He started to kiss her, but she pulled away quickly and said a hasty good-bye. Remus watched her walking away, looking confused and upset. Guilt twisted around Lily's heart, and she walked through the barrier towards a summer where she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with that situation.