Well, here we go – chapter 9. A little shorter than usual, but I haven't had much time recently – this September I started at the Army's sixth form college, so I'm pretty much working at something or other without a break from 6.30 to 9.30 without a break six days a week.
I'm not really all that happy with how this chapter worked out, so if you have any suggestions for improvements I'd be glad to hear them!
Anyway, here goes…
Chapter 9 – Raising the White Flag
"No, we can't do that! It's immoral!"
"What else can we do? You heard! He's a werewolf!"
"I know…"
"And her! It's the only thing we can do, you know that, right?"
"I suppose it's for the best. It just seems so… wrong…"
***
The next day, Lily and Remus were in the middle of their History of Magic homework, deeply immersed in several large and tedious tomes in the library, when they were surprised by a tentative cough from behind them.
Lily turned, about to snap at whoever dared to interrupt her homework, but merely stared open-mouthed at an awkward looking Sirius, with James, even more embarrassed, standing behind him.
Still short-tempered from the interruption, as soon as Lily had regained the power of speech, she snarled out, "What do you want?"
Sirius stammered out, "Errr… Well, you see, Neffy," James elbowed him sharply, "I mean, Lily. Well, it's kinda like this. We, um, sorta…" Lily's eyes narrowed dangerously. Seeing her impatience, Sirius hurriedly got to the point. "Well, we want a truce."
This tore Remus's attention away from the no doubt gripping account of the Warlocks Convention of 1603. "You're surrendering to us?!" he asked incredulously.
"No!" Sirius shouted emphatically. After a warning from Madam Pince to keep the noise down, and another elbow to the stomach from James, Sirius had managed to school his features into a slightly painful looking smile. "That is to say, we'd prefer to refer to it as a voluntary withdrawal, leaving the war as a draw."
Lily snorted. "And why should we agree? We're clearly better, we've got you running scared. Why should we concede our advantage?"
"You… you… you…" Sirius couldn't seem to think of a vile enough epithet to throw at Lily.
James clapped a hand over Sirius's mouth and stepped around him. "We'd beg to differ. We're not 'running scared', as you put it."
"Oh?" Lily raised her eyebrows quizzically.
"Yeah," said Sirius, breaking free of James's restraining hands. "We're withdrawing for purely humanitarian reasons."
"Oh?" Lily asked again, as her smirk became slightly predatory. "And what reasons would those be?"
James and Sirius exchanged nervous glances, James mentally berating Sirius for his big mouth. "Uh… we'd prefer not to divulge them, if it's all the same."
"But how do we know you're telling the truth, that you're not just too scared, if we don't know why you're withdrawing?"
"Um… you could take it on trust?" James said, hopefully.
"I think not." His face fell. "Sorry, boys, but without a valid reason, I can't accept your withdrawal. Continue, at your peril, or surrender unconditionally."
"We have a valid reason! We just can't tell you…" James said desperately.
"Good day, boys," she said, turning back to her textbook.
James and Sirius exchanged glances. "But James!" Sirius pleaded. "Have you no pride?" James glared steely eyed at him. "Okay, okay. But I hope you realise I'm doing this under protest. We'll never live this down."
Lily turned back from her homework as the two boys shuffled reluctantly towards her, the light of triumph in her eyes, and an air of dejection surrounding the pair.
Searching Lily's eyes for a sign that she'd relent, but finding none, James turned to Sirius, who was stubbornly keeping his mouth shut, kicked him in the shin, then turned back. When the boys finally did speak, they spoke in unison.
"We surrender."
***
After the furore of the prank war, Lily and Remus were almost grateful to slip unnoticed into the background. After seeing just what the pair were capable of, most of the students trod carefully around them. As a result, Lily and Remus seemed to have become invisible. There was no open hostility anymore, but nothing else either.
They didn't really care. Both were intensely private people, and they had each other to rely on. What was more noticeable to the pair, and also more unexplainable, was the complete absence of James and Sirius in their lives. At first, Lily thought the pair were avoiding them from embarrassment at their defeat in the prank war, but as the weeks went by, this seemed less and less likely, especially as she noticed that their departure from a room she or Remus had just entered was always precluded by an exchange of knowing, if uncomfortable, looks.
Lily pondered this during a particularly dull History of Magic lesson. What did they know? It couldn't be that… She shook her head to try and get rid of the thought. Only Remus knew, just like she was the only student to know his secret. But all the same, her mind returned to the conversation several weeks ago… "humanitarian reasons…"
***
An excited buzz was evident in the festively decorated Gryffindor common room. Christmas was fast approaching, and the holiday spirit had affected everyone.
Well, nearly everyone.
Lily and Remus spent as little time as they could in the common room these days, preferring the musty darkness of the library or the quiet solitude of the Astronomy Tower. Both children, estranged from their families, particularly felt the pang of it as Christmas, and therefore preferred the festive season to be as short as possible.
Thus it was that Lily groaned as she entered Gryffindor Tower one Thursday in early December. There seemed to be an extra spring in the steps of the occupants, and a little extra Christmas magic in the air.
Lily almost turned and left immediately, but thought better of it. Instead she faced the nearest student, a meek-looking second year boy, and snapped, "What, precisely, has made everyone so particularly cheerful this fine, fine day?"
The boy, cowering back slightly from the younger girl, raised a trembling finger and pointed across the room to a noticeboard, which, now Lily came to notice, had an unusually large number of people clustered around it. She impatiently shoved her way to the front, dragging Remus with her.
The reason for the excited whispering soon became apparent, and Lily was rather disappointed. She'd expected something far more interesting, and preferably dangerous.
Pinned on the board was a new poster, informing the students of a non-magical talent contest due to take place just before the Christmas holiday.
Lily snorted in disgust, and turned to push her way back through the crowd, but Remus, his hand still in hers, held her back.
"Wow, Lily! That looks just up your street! Why don't you enter? You're an amazing singer!"
Lily stared at him in disbelief. "You are joking, aren't you, Rem? As if I don't get enough of the wrong sort of attention as it is! Anyway, I don't like to sing to people – it's private."
"But maybe people will realise how great you are! Anyway, you sang to me."
"That's different. You're my best friend, But in front of this lot," Lily shuddered dramatically, "No way am I singing. Just drop it, Rem."
Remus opened his mouth to continue the discussion, but thought better of it. It didn't stop him casting speculative glances at the poster for the rest of the evening, however.
***
As the prank war faded into the dim and distant past, several of the Slytherins grew bolder, and once again began to torment Lily. It was subtle at first, a snide word or two, or a foot stuck out to trip her, but things reached a head one Sunday, a fortnight before the end of term.
Lily was walking back from the library, having finally finished her Charms theory. She was lost in a daydream, when a sneering voice from behind her brought her back to reality with a jolt.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Neffy the freak."
Lily, trying to avoid another confrontation, ignored them and carried on walking. But the malicious voice came again.
"Oh, Neffy, don't go. We haven't even started yet."