Disclaimer: Refer to previous chapters
Did You Find What You Were Looking For?
Chapter 7: The Power of Deduction
By: Taiyourshoes
Lily went down to breakfast the next morning, eyeing the other students warily as if one would suddenly jump out and tackle her. She was in a particularly foul mood after running into an even fouler Snape the night before, who had all but told her he didn't think the head girl should have been running about the dungeons in search of a non-existent being—which Lily thought was a pretty silly thing for him to even consider saying, since it was so obvious it had been existent, wooden, and four legged.
"Perhaps the headmaster would have been better to choose a head girl who doesn't entertain hallucinations of such a nature? And if you're head is really bothering you that much, might I suggest a trip to the hospital wing?"
Lily was glad she had been gifted with a decent amount of patience, or she might have broken the hooked nosed right off the Slytherin Prefect's smirking face.
And then, of course, she had been questioned ceaselessly when she returned to her dorms. Apparently, her roommates seemed to think it funny she was so winded up over a figment of her imagination. They seemed to think it funnier, however, that she was so upset over a comment made by a "dirty snake."
Rather unfortunately, they also decided to attack her on the subject of James Potter. "I heard you were positively SCREAMING over a stunt he pulled back on the train. What did he do, Lily, tempt you with the forbidden fruit of fun?"
So began her insomnia, which she'd tried to remedy with a hopefully boring passage from her Care of Magical Creatures text on the Demiguise. Much to her chagrin, however, the Demiguise served to be an extremely interesting read, and she didn't get more then four hours sleep.
Taking a seat across from a weary-looking Peter Pettigrew, Lily reached across the table to butter herself a bit of toast before her first day of lessons.
"Morning, Miss Evans..." Pettigrew greeted with a yawn. Then, suddenly alert, "Remus said you were up at our dorm last night, and I just wanted to mention I was in the hospital wing, and was in no way conducting any sort of mischief!"
Lily gave him a weak smile before offering the tired boy her toast. "I hadn't suspected you of anything deviant, but thanks for the explanation."
He took it gratefully with a little simper and mumble of thanks.
"So why were you in the hospital wing? Should I credit a detention to any well-deserving students?"
"Err, no actually. I might have... tripped down a few flights of stairs that decided to move mid-step." He cricked his neck. "I might have killed myself."
"Oh." Lily had been certain it might have been an attack from, let's say, a Slytherin, but a misstep made just as much sense to her.
Peter was often prone to inflicting injury upon himself and anyone in his immediate vicinity.
"And why might you look so drained, Lily? I would have assumed you'd be scary with your... enthusiasm for the first day of your last year at Hogwarts. Not to mention the fact that you carry half the major authority amongst the students, being head girl and all."
"Yes... That fine image was rather diminished when a little phantom decided to pay me a visit. Or, as Severus Snape puts it, my hallucinations."
"Hey, Evans," James said, taking a seat beside her and swinging an arm around her shoulders. "You look particularly fetching today." He was quickly followed by his best friend of six years, Sirius Black, who took a seat on James's other side.
"Morning," Lily grumbled, removing his hand from her shoulders grumpily.
For some reason she felt extreme animosity towards the Head Boy, perhaps because he should have been patrolling and she could only guess why he wasn't in his dormitory.
But perhaps it was that, for another unknown reason, she had felt a little nervous twitch in her stomach when he touched her. She couldn't have that happen, now could she?
"Why, do mind ears deceive me? Do I sense hostility?" Sirius Black asked sarcastically as he tugged on a lock of her hair to see how red in the face he could get her—after all, that gesture always bothered her in first year, whilst he and James teased her about being a carrot top.
Well, that all but set her off. She could deal with Sirius about 95% of the time, but after a midnight run-in with an invisible wooden... thingy, and harsh criticism from a stupid boy with a hooked nose and derisive attitude, there was little else she could take.
"If you TOUCH me one more time—any of you—it's detention for a week! I swear! Between spiders and harassment, I'm about two meters short of the loony bin!"
She stood up with amazing agility and marched out of the Great Hall in a huff.
Sirius and James exchanged confused glances. "D'you think she'll be terribly cross when she finds the snakes in her room?"
The first class of the new term was Charms, which was all fine by Lily since her wand seemed to do be best adept to charms work than any other field of magic.
Professor Flitwick, a short man with a squeaky voice and almost disturbingly extreme fervor, could be seen standing behind his desk at the front of the classroom. His words seemed to drift through one of her ears and out the other, which was upsetting her immensely because, as head girl, she felt she should be setting an example for everyone else in the school. And the fact that NEWTs were coming up was more than stressing her out.
With a deep sigh, Lily leaned back in her seat and stared out the window, which revealed a beautiful view of the grounds below. Farther out, Lily could see a small, shabby cabin, which belonged to Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, guarding the Forbidden Forest.
The sun cast a reflection across the lake of bright and dazzling brilliance. It hurt to stare at, and yet, Lily felt she couldn't turn away.
Which, astonishingly, reminded Lily of James Potter. She shivered a bit, despite the warmth of the air floating in through the window only a few feet from her. Was he the reason she couldn't concentrate? Those spiders really had set her mind off. Not to mention the unexplained from the previous night...
And then it happened. The gadgets in her head were speeding up and reeling. Everything in Lily's mind seemed to fall into place.
Click, click, click!
She furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at the messy haired boy across the room. He was innocently taking notes on a piece of parchment—or at least that's what it looked like he was doing. No doubt, he was drawing up a plan to unravel the very foundation of Hogwarts for his sheer amusement.
Lily had wondered for years how James managed to get about without the teachers catching wind. And then, about three years ago, she heard James and his friends talking about his "magical cape," which, at the time, seemed to be some lewd term she didn't care to think about. But there was also the matter of what she'd read in her Care of Magical Creatures text during her insomnia. It had said the hair of a Demiguise could be woven into an Invisiblity Cloak, which—while it was rare—she did not doubt rich little snot Potter could get his hands on.
Knowing how very wrong it was for her to jump to a conclusion with so many holes in it, but still not doubting her assumption entirely since her powers of deduction had never failed her in the past, Lily made a note to badger James on the subject later. If she found nothing, she'd drop the subject and silently chide herself for weeks.
Though, she was quite sure she wouldn't have to do that. After all, she had felt James's presence in the entrance hall.
Sometimes, that's just how you get with certain people.
"Oh, come on Lily! It's still summer and everything and the lake is just so enchanting!'
"Me mum used to tell me a little bit of sunshine is all the magic you'll ever need!"
Lily grimaced slightly at the two young second years begging to ditch class in favor of a day of hookie on the school grounds. Why did they have to make it so hard on her?
"Listen, ladies. If everyone got a day off just because they wanted one—on the first day back, no less—this school wouldn't be anywhere and you'd all be considerably more idiotic. So, in short, no, you may not take off. I'm sorry Miss Edwards, Miss Cavendish."
Charlotte Edwards, the snottier, pointy nosed of the two pointed her chin indignantly.
"James said we could go if we asked you."
That was not what Lily cared to hear. "Yeah? Well you've asked and I've said no. Now scoot off before you miss your break."
Amelia Cavendish stuck her tongue out and took her friend by the hand, running off childishly.
"Are they twelve or eight? Jeez..." Lily folded her arms and walked back towards the marble staircase, where she was hoping James Potter would be walking down any second.
But of course, he wasn't.
"Miss Evans, are you waiting for your phantom to appear? Because I assure you he won't."
Lily winced.
"Don't you have somewhere to be, Snape? I am really not in the mood."
She couldn't see him, but she could feel him smiling from where he was standing only feet from her.
"Cross, are you? I just wanted to tell you we found a second year of your house in the possession of a snake, which, might I remind you, is absolute foul play if he was attempting to put it where I think he intended to."
Lily was tempted to suggest where he should have put it—which would have been quite disgusting and inappropriate—but refrained. "If you mean your commons, I doubt that. Who's the culprit?"
"Timothy Bones."
"Fine. I'll take care of it."
As always, what Lily wanted had to wait. No accusatory chats with Potter today. Darn.
But... who was Timothy Bones?
Taiyourshoes: Yeah, I know. But the kid is going to lead to something which leads to something else and, well, this chapter sort of connects major plot twists and whatever.
Here's the general idea of next chapter:
Lily finds out who Timothy Bones is... AND she finds out something very peculiar about how he got the snakes in the first place...
And then Lily talks to James...
Well, you'll find out the rest later.
Just review and stop my agony.
Love to those who read, review, and e-mail. It's so sweet!
