"Well I need to go to Gryffindor tower first, I've got to get my broom and stuff...how do I get out of here?" he asked suddenly, a look of horror on his face. Lily, Alice and Sirius all burst out laughing.

"Come on mate, you're talking to your partner in crime here," said Sirius, pulling James's invisibility cloak from his bag. Lily, who was still sitting on the bed halfway under the covers let out a yawn and stretched lazily.

"Well you boys can go and brave the Saturday morning breakfast rush, I think I'm going to stay right here for the rest of the day," and with that she flopped back on the bed and threw the covers over her head. Alice snorted and punched a lumpy spot she hoped was a part of her friend. Lily obliged with a yelp and Alice looked up at James and Sirius.

"You two go on, I think I can handle this. Oh, and James?" she said with an impish grin, "I'm not going to wish you luck seeing as I need to maintain some sort of house pride. Besides, it's a Puff day, I can feel it!"

"Alice," James replied as he and Sirius walked toward the door, "since I consider you a friend, I will not bust your bubble and say, under no circumstances will Hufflepuff win today's match!" and with a laugh he threw the invisibility cloak around him and Sirius. Alice laughed as she watched the door open and listened to Sirius and James chuckle appreciatively as they made their way down the stairs. When they were out of sight the door silently shut behind them.

As soon as she heard the door close Lily pulled the covers back from her face and looked sheepishly at her friend. Alice, whose giggles were still subsiding, surveyed her friend for a moment, and then said, "I am going to want a full account of whatever happened last night you know." She said it in the matter of fact way that best friends have with each other; a way which left no room for discussion on Lily's part. That was fine with Lily; this was something that she was desperate to talk to her girlfriend about. She took a deep breath to start her explanation, when Alice cut her off, "but not right now," she said. Lily seemed to choke on the breath she had just taken and looked at her fiend perplexed. At the expression on Lily's face, Alice cracked a grin, "I just mean," she continued, "that there are more important things that I think we should talk about first. I can wait to hear the other part."

"Oh," said Lily, sounding slightly dissapointed, "what's more important than what I didn't do with James last night?" Alice glanced at her friend and raised an eyebrow at the way Lily had phrased her comment, but didn't inquire.

"I mean, Lily, the issue of why Malfoy was here in the first place yesterday. I sent my parents an owl right after we ran into him the first time, and it came back to me this morning." She took a piece of parchment out of her pocket and handed it to Lily, "Here, read that." Lily took the parchment and read,

Dear Alice,

Thank you for sending us that letter yesterday evening. You are correct in thinking that Lucius Malfoy being at Hogwarts is not good news, especially if he was there to speak with the headmaster. Your father and I sent a letter to Dumbledore right after we received your owl. There are many rumors floating around lately; many of which you can find in the Daily Prophet. They do not have a very high opinion of the Ministry right now, for which we can all be thankful. It is good to know that they are feeling opposition from the media still.. I want you to keep being vigilant dear, but be careful as well. These could be tidings of dangerous times for our friends, and us, if Malfoy is truly getting as much power as the Prophet is rumoring. His visit with Dumbledore proves that the Ministry is after something; all we can do is wait and watch until we get word that it is time to act.

I know that this is your final year at Hogwarts, and you must soon either continue schooling or enter the work field, like we've talked about many times before. This is information that you should care about, and pay attention to closely; you are of age now, and any political and social matters in out world directly affect you, and can in turn be affected by you. I know you will pass all of this along to Lily, but all the same I'm going to tell you to do it. It is especially important that she understands and pays attention to what is going on. This new legislation will directly affect her and her family, and she is at a point in her life where she can, as I said before, have an influence on the outcome of things.

I hope your semester is going well, keep up with your studies, NEWTS are this year, bug Lily all you can to help you study! Remember what I said and keep your father and I updated on any new developments. We love you lots, and stay safe,

Your Mother

When she was done reading Lily kept looking at the parchment for a moment before raising her eyes to gaze out one of the windows. "I wonder what Dumbledore wrote back to them?" she asked after a while.

"Me too," agreed Alice, "but I doubt they'll tell us. That's probably top secret or something." She gave a small laugh, then lapsed back into silence. They sat there for a few minutes, neither of them talking, Lily occasionally glancing back at the letter in her hands. Finally Lily climbed out of the bed and found her clothes from last night. She contemplated them for a moment; seeing as it was her school uniform she really didn't feel like wearing it on a Saturday.

Glancing at the wardrobe she asked, "Do you mind?", Alice waved her hand dismissively.

"Go ahead, if you find something in there that fits." As Lily rummaged around in the clothes looking for something decent to put on Alice continued with the conversation. "So since we know that mum and dad aren't really going to help us out that much, I guess we've got some snooping to do."

"Snooping, Alice, is not a nice word," said Lily as she surfaced from the wardrobe with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, "I prefer investigative research. What we want to know is perfectly reasonable, and as your mum so aptly put it, it's actually our responsibility." She shrugged out of the PJ's she had been wearing and stepped into the jeans. "Wow, Alice, I really like these," she commented, looking in the mirror as she pulled the t-shirt over her head. "They're supper comfy."

"Yes well they look much better on you than they ever have on me," Alice replied ruefully. The jeans were loose on Lily, sat just on her hip bones, and managed to look increadibly provocative. "And I see you have capitalized on my favorite t-shirt as well," she commented with a laugh. The shirt was somthing muggle she had picked up on a shopping trip with Lily and her parents. It was red, and in white lettering on the front said 'hello love'.

"I know, I told you I'd never forgive you for seeing it first," Lily replied with a devilish grin, "how 'bout I just borrow it for awhile?"

"Oh whatever," Alice sighed resignedly, "as long as you're almost ready to sit down and talk!"

"I'm sorry Alice," Lily said, returning to the bed and plopping down beside her pouting friend, "I'm just not having the easiest time focusing right now. Maybe this would go better if you let me talk to you about last night first?"

"Fine!" Alice laguhed at her friend, "go ahead and get it off your chest. I know we'll talk about it for days anyway, but go ahead, give me the short version." Looking immensly releived, Lily adjusted herself so as to get better situated to relate her tale.

"Ok, so when you left, I was soooo confused," she began. "I mean, I was really confused anyway from Malfoy, and then you left me there with James, and I was asuming the worst...well, best I guess..."

Lily took the next half hour summing up her night, and Alice listened appreciatively, as only a best friend can do. She let Lily talk herself into silence, which she knew was what the girl needed. Most of it didn't come as a surprise; she knew that someday Lily would realize that she felt very strongly towards James. She had also known that Lily was going to have some very interesting reactions toward her encounter with Malfoy. Lily was a strong person, and increadibly independant, but she had confided in Alice countless times about her need to feel loved; her need to feel normal and just as lost and confused and clumsy as the rest of the world. The fact that Malfoy had in some way brought that out for her was not a surprise entirely, and Alice had an instinctive feeling that the encounter would lend itself to interesting implications for upcoming dealings with the man. Lily had been faced with him, and had come away from it relatively unscathed, emotionally as well as physically. More importantly, James had shown his strength and resolve against Malfoy, which was something he was not likely to forget.

Lily's recount of the nights' happenings lasted all the way down to the great hall, and got them most of the way through breakfast. The house tables were noisy and colorful this morning, as it was a quidditch day. The members of the Hufflepuff house cut a long yellow slash down the left side of the hall, and patches of the color could be seen at the other house tables as well. Nothing however could drown out the red that dominated the room. The Gryffindors were bearing their colors with pride, and a bit of arrogance, as always. Quidditch was thier turf, and although the cup had not resided in Gryffindor tower for a few years, it was undisputed that their team was superior to any in recent decades. This was due largely to James, who was seeker and captain of the team. He was an unusually skilled player; not only did he have an uncanny ability to spot the illusive snitch, execute daring and dangerous feets on a broom seemingly without effort, and look good doing it all, he also was a strong leader. He always seemed to know what his team needed to practice, and knew the needs of each individual player. He had the strategic mind of a chess player, and their team strength lay not only in talented players, but also in genious plays. All in all things were looking good for Gryffindor qudditch this year.

Alice had dragged Lily over to the Hufflepuff table when they entered the hall; she insisted that today at least she would act like she supported her house. Lily was well aware that her red shirt (which she just now realized was a very happy coincidence) stood out like a beacon amid the mass of yellow. She didn't really mind, there were others who intermingled at the breakfast tables, and splashes of other colors could be seen here and there. At the end of her story Lily and Alice had fallen into a sort of lul for a moment, both of them lost in thought, and Lily found her eyes straying over to the Gryffindor table where most of the noise was coming from.

James was sitting in the middle of the table with his team gathered around. He seemed to be making sure they all ate a descent amount of food that was not going to make them sick the moment they left the ground, as well as casually discussing strategy with Marcus Bellows, the team's keeper and a fellow seventh year. James's hair was wild as ever, falling into his eyes in a rougish way, and seeming to accent their extra gleam. Lily smiled to herself as she imagined that maybe that gleam possibly had something to do with her. To his left, Sirius was gesturing wildly about something, obviously holding everyone within a ten foot radius enthralled by whatever story he was telling. It never ceased to amaze Lily how good looking he was. He was tall and dark and handsome, and everything a good cover boy should be. The cover boy for Hogwarts School she thought to herself, not for the first time. She'd had her fair share of crushes on him, along with the rest of the female body of Hogwarts, but it had always been James that held her attention the longest. They made quite a pair, the two of them sitting there at the breakfast table, everyone within hearing range completely enraptured of them.

"Hi Lily," a smooth voice said to her left, "I hear you had something of an interesting evening last night." The owner of the voice scooted onto the bench beside her. It was Remus Lupin, Sirius and James's third stooge. He was a quiet boy, usually overshadowed by his companions flamboyance and popularity. Lily suspected he didn't mind much, there was a mystery about Remus that he seemed to enjoy. He was nearly as tall as James, but much slighter of frame, and tended to be rather pale, especially around the full moon. But there was something about his eyes that Lily had never seen in anyone before, and she new that some lucky girl oneday would be completely lost in them. They were light, greyish blue, and deeper than the ocean. Lily liked to say that looking Remus in the eye made her think in poetry (of course, she was careful to never say something like that in James's presence, it tended to make him touchy for the rest of the week).

"Oh you did, did you?" she said warmly. "And whoever would have given you that idea?"

"Well you know James, or Sirius rather," he laughed, while helping himself to some sausages, "can't keep their bloody mouths shut. Anyway, I'm sorry about your run in with Malfoy." Lily glanced at him, wondering as she always did at his forwardness. He seemed to have something against beating around the bush; Remus Lupin was always direct and to the point.

"Well, no harm done really..." she said.

"Actually," Alice cut in, glancing at her friend, "Lil and I were just discussing Malfoy."

"I thought you might have been," Remus replied mildly, "you know, Dumbledore has not really been himself all morning. He's been quite reserved and pensive in my opinion." Remus said this casually as he buttered a piece of toast, but he managed to make the comment cary tremendous weight all the same. Lily and Alice both snapped their heads up towards the staff table to survey their headmaster. Sure enough, he was sitting in his chair still as a statue. His fingers were steepled together under his long nose, and the girls could just make out the furrow of his brow and the slight frown to his lips.

"That is rather odd," Lily said, "and look, if you watch McGonagall, she keeps glancing over at him, and her and Professor Starkey keep talking." Professor Starkey was the Muggle Studdies teacher, and Lily had never known him and McGonagall to be close.

"Yes, well, she would be now wouldn't she?" Remus said, raising his eyebrow, "It is a matter of muggle studdies that is of concern isn't it?"

"Yes, it most definetly is," Alice said reaching into her pocket, "Here, read this. I sent a note to my mum and dad last night about Malfoy, and they sent this back to me this morning." She handed the note over to Remus who began to scan it quickly. Lily was still watching the staff table. Dumbledore seemed to be roaming the hall with his eyes, fixing his gaze on individual students for a moment as he went. Lily wasnt' positive but she thought that she saw a pattern to who he seemed to be looking at. They were all muggle born wizards, like herself. Daphne Dews, and Portia Westminster at the Ravenclaw table; William Barnes at the end of the Gryffindor table; then Abby Brogdon, Michael Lewis, and Cynthia Patterson at the Hufflepuffs. Then quite suddenly the headmaster met her gaze. His eyes seemed worried and dark as she looked back at him. They held eye contact a moment longer, then very abrubptly Dumbledore stood. He leaned over to say something to McGonagall, then swept quickly out of the hall. Lily started and looked over at Remus and Alice. They were both looking at the staff table as well.

"Well, something's definetly gotten to him alright," Remus commented, handing the note back to Alice. "And I must say, your parents are right, we are almost of age, and whatever our goverment is up to, it most definetly concerns us."