Chapter 1
" Come on Lily get up!" Morgan groaned, shaking Lily. Lily only mumbled and rolled over in her sleep.
" It'll never work you know," Belle commented from the bathroom doorway, as she dried her hair with a towel,
" Nothing ever works except..." Belle trailed off as she grinned mischievously.
" Belle! We couldn't! You remember last time!" Morgan cringed at the memory. Her hair had been green for a week. Ugly vomit green.
" We'll just have to risk it then. What's the worst thing she'll do? Die our hairs again? We looked up the counter curse anyway." Belle said rolling her eyes at Morgan.
" Lily's the best charms student in school," remarked Carrie dryly, " I'm sure that she could do worse."
" Thanks for the support Carrie," Belle replied sarcastically. " Fine if you wont do it I will." Belle grabbed her wand and pointed it at Lily. A moment later a blast of ice-cold water hit Lily in the face.
Lily shrieked, and leaped out of bed, her hair sopping wet and dripping down her face. She glared at Belle.
" Don't you glare at me. Your the one who overslept." Belle said between laughs. Lily glanced at the muggle clock next to her bed and shrieked again.
" Why didn't you wake me up! There's no way I can be ready in 5 minutes!" Belle only laughed harder as Lily ripped the towel out of her hands and stomped into the bathroom. She jumped into the shower, and let out a yelp. Just her luck, it was cold.
This school is magic and they can't even keep the showers warm! Lily thought grumpily.
10 minutes later, Lily and Belle headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was still grumbling. When they got there, they looked for Morgan and Carrie. Lily groaned. They were sitting with the Marauders.
Figures, Lily thought.
The Marauders consisted of four boys in Lily's year, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Lilly's mortal enemy, James Potter. The Marauders were handsome
(Except Peter who was cute in a boyish way- he was rather plump), rich, popular, and the most wanted boys in school. They could have any girl, except for Lily and a few others. Sirius Black, the handsomest of the four,(James a close second) had never stuck with one girl longer than a week. He was well known for playing girls, but none of the girls seemed to care. They all thought that they could "change" Sirius. Yeah right. The Marauders had these stupid nicknames for each other, and were always pranking people. In fact the only Marauder that Lily could tolerate was Remus. He actually tried to stop Sirius, James, and Peter from going overboard with their pranks and was a prefect. He was also a werewolf but Lily didn't know it yet. She did notice, however, that once a month Remus looked especially tired and his sandy blond hair looked almost gray. This was always when his visited his sick mother so Lily just assumed that he was worried about her. Remus really was a good guy, and Lily liked him when he wasn't around his annoying friends. Especially James. James loved to torment Lily by asking her out and trying to flirt with her. He was constantly messing up his dark brown hair to look "cool", and playing with a snitch. And he wasn't even a seeker! He was also a bully, always picking on younger students and Severus Snape. In Lily's mind James was a jerk of the worst kind.
Unfortunately for Lily, Belle took the seat next to Morgan, leaving the only seat open between James and Sirius. As soon as Lily sat down, James's hand jumped strait to his hair.
" Evans," he said with a lopsided grin. Lily ignored him, and turned to Remus.
" We have patrolling tonight," she told him, " till midnight."
Remus nodded. " I know. Minnie told me." Another annoying thing about the Marauders, they called Professor McGonagall " Minnie". Lily would have corrected him but it was at that moment that she felt a hand on her thigh. Sirius's hand of course. Lily slapped his hand away and turned to glare at him. She would have loved to slap the sexy grin off his face as well, but couldn't with all of the teachers present. Lily never got detentions. Instead she simply glared at him, and turned to listen to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and beamed at all of his students.
" Good morning all, and what a good morning it is! Before we begin I have an announcement. Our Head Boy and Girl, Miss Patil and Mr. Diggory have spoken to me about having an auror club. All students who are in 5th year and above may join, and I strongly recommend that you do so. The auror club will teach spells that are not taught in class. They are not easy spells but could prove very helpful. All members will also be taught to duel, and to defend themselves. Sign ups will be posted in each common room with details about where and when it will be ahead. Now on that note, Dig in!"
Food appeared on each table and Lily filled her plate, as chatter filled up the Great Hall.
" Is it just me or are the Slytherins glaring at Diggory and Patil? They're livid!" Belle grinned and pointed at them. Everyone laughed. It was true! They were all glaring and mumbling angrily completely ignoring their food.
" They should be angry, or scared at least! About half of them are Death Eaters and the others are going to join as soon as they graduate! Now they've got Dumbledore training people to fight against them. And Dumbledore's the only wizard that You-know-who's afraid of!" Remus said grinning at Belle.
" I'm going to join I think." Sirius said a few minutes later. Everyone' s heads shot towards him.
" Your parents..." James trailed off and gave him an 'are you insane' look.
" They'll probably disown me," Sirius answered wryly,
" But it doesn't really matter. I practically live with you anyway. I'm just not like them," he shrugged, " Its about time I did what I want to do, without worrying about what they think."
" I agree with you Sirius," Belle said with a small smile, " Who cares what they think! It's your life and you should do what you want with it. Anyhow I'm joining too. My mum will want me to. What about you guys?"
" I will," Lily said, " With my being a muggle born I'm already a target. I could use the protection."
" Me too," Remus said (he was also a muggle born),
"I definitely would feel more safe."
" I'll probably know most of the spells, but a little extra couldn't hurt." James said a little cockily but truthfully. Both of his parents were aurors. Morgan, Carrie, and Peter simply nodded.
" So we're all in agreement then. Were joining the auror club." Lily said with a smile at everyone.
Little did they know, one of them was far from pleased about it.
Bellatrix Black, a seventh year Slytherin, was heading to her Potions class when she heard her name hissed from the shadows.
" Pettigrew," she said coldly, recognizing the boy's pudgy face. Normally she didn't speak with Gryffindors but this one was different. He was a traitor to his house, a spy for the Dark Lord himself, and perhaps a future Death Eater. The boy trembled slightly under her gaze. She had that effect on people.
" Sirius is joining the auror club," he said with a gulp,
" And Belle too." Bellatrix showed no emotions; that wasn't her style. Inside though she was fuming. She knew that now, their fates were inevitable.
That night, around midnight, Remus and Lily were finishing their rounds and heading back to the common room. They had been having a good time, joking around, and even talking seriously at times, proving to Lily once again that Remus was an okay guy. They were passing the Great Hall, when Lily felt something cold down her spine. She shivered. Remus glanced over at her.
" You okay?" he asked her.
" Yeah," she answered slowly, "I just felt funny for a second there. I don't know. I'm fine, really." Lily froze suddenly. " Did you hear that?" she whispered. Another sound. " Footsteps." Lily whispered.
"Probably just a teacher or something." Remus answered nonchalantly.
"Yeah probably. Or maybe Amos is doing extra rounds again." She didn't sound convinced though. Lily took a step into the great hall.
" Hello?" Lily said softly, " Is anybody in here?" She held her wand up to see better. " Amos?" No one answered. The Hall was completely silent.
" Come on Lils. Lets get out of here. This place gives me the creeps at night." Lily didn't move. " You were probably just hearing things."
" Yeah," Lily said with a sigh, " I guess."
"I'm sure I heard something", Lily murmured into the dark as she followed Remus, "I know I did."
Lily yawned and stretched as she hopped out of bed. After the incident the day before, she had decided that from now on she was going to be the first awake. A warm shower, and a chance to take a run was the perfect way to begin her day. After a quick shower, Lily pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a warm sweatshirt (she found muggle clothing much more comfortable than wizards). She was heading towards the door, when she saw Belle looking so inviting that she couldn't resist. Lily quickly charmed up a bucket of water, than grinning, changed her mind and turned it into paint. She then charmed it so that the bucket hovered above Belle's head, and would spill on her as soon as she opened her eyes. Lily grinned pleased, and grabbing her tennis shoes headed down the stairs into the common room. As Lily left the castle, she was hit with a blast of cool morning air. The sun was just rising over the lake, and the morning air was damp. The school seemed so peaceful in the morning. Lily knew that there was no place in the world that she'd rather be than Hogwarts. She jogged down around the lake her feet pumping against the ground. Lily wasn't particularly athletic, but running calmed her. She could gather her thoughts before the day began, and she enjoyed having time to herself. When Lily finally headed back into the castle, students were swarming the Great Hall. She could hear people screaming and crying. It was absolute mayhem. Lily grabbed the arm of a student who was running down the hall, but the girl shoved her out of the way.
" Lily!" someone from the crowd cried. Remus appeared in front of her dressed for school, his face pale. " McGonagall said to get everyone back to the common room."
" What's going on?" Lily asked loudly, but Remus was already trying to get students to head back and wasn't listening. Lily shoved her way through the crowd yelling, " Prefect, Get out of the way." Getting nowhere Lily leaped onto a table. She froze in shock. The color drained from her face, and her mouth dropped open.
Hanging in mid air above the head table was the body of a girl, her short black hair blocking her face. Her black robes were to big for her frail frame, and tied around her neck was a Gryffindor scarf. Her skin was white as snow, and blood trickled out of a cut on her wrist. Above her head floated a sign that read in her blood: TRAITOR.
The common room was silent, except for the weeping of several young students. Lily, Carrie, Morgan, and Belle sat curled on a couch. Across from them Remus lay sprawled across his own, with Sirius and James sitting on the floor in front of them. Peter was the only one missing. Morgan was the first to break the silence, lifting her brunette head.
" I can't believe it. How could this happen? Hogwarts seemed so safe." She spoke quietly as if only speaking to herself.
" I know. I don't even know who the girl was, but it's as if she was my best friend, it's so sad." Carrie's normally cheerful eyes were red and bloodshot.
" I know who she was," Sirius murmured. Everyone looked up at him, " Laurel Black, my cousin. 1st year Gryffindor."
" She was your cousin? I saw her in the common room yesterday. She was looked so sad. Sat in the corner alone, as if she was hiding from everyone. Her head was stuck in a book, shielding her face from view." Lily smiled sadly remembering.
" She was the only other non-Slytherin than me. With her gone, I've got no family left." Sirius said sadly.
" Sure you have family, Padfoot." James said squeezing Sirius on the shoulder. " You'll always have us. No matter what."