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Lily-As the words go—I fell pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright. And I pity any girl who isn't me tonight (that would be you especially.)
Vernon and I have set a date for our wedding. It's in June. This overjoys me, and my only sadness comes from the fact that you will never be able to feel this kind of happiness.
Mom and Dad insist that you, being my sister and all, should be informed of this news. So that's why I'm writing this.
Petunia.
Lily gave a slight "hmph" as she read the letter and folded it back again. "Longest letter she's ever written to me."
"Your sister wrote you?" Anne was surprised.
"Mom and Dad made her do it," Lily said absentmindedly as she put her letter aside and looked towards where James was sitting two tables down.
The four of them weren't as loud today at breakfast. Their heads were leaned in together and each of them had a sly look on their face that made Lily suspect they were plotting something.
Remus was looking completely normal now, as Lily knew he would. She had figured about his monthly absences and his sick relatives and didn't know how she couldn't have realized it before. That night made her realize the truth about all four of them
She looked back down at her breakfast. They were all unregistered, illegal. She didn't know what to think about this and was just pondering the situation when Elain's voice pierced her thoughts.
"Hey, look at this," she held up about twenty strips of white paper. "My cousin sent this to me. Said she ordered it out of Witch Weekly and thought I might get a kick out of it. It's special paper. When you rub a strip on your nose it's suppose to tell you the guy who's truly in your heart."
There was a long moment of silence as the three friends stared at each other.
"That," Lily said finally, "has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever, ever heard."
"No, really. It might work."
"Then why don't you try it?"
"Okay," Elain replied, glancing briefly at Brian Key, the Hufflepuff chaser she was currently dating. Elain held the paper a little apprehensively and then rubbed it across her nose.
……………………….
The Marauders were also getting their share of mail a couple of tables down. James was just opening a package of cookies his mom sent when Sirius spoke.
"Hey look," Sirius was saying with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Letter from the folks."
"What'd they say?" Remus looked up from his own letter with curiosity as Sirius began to open the envelope.
"Oh, the usual," Sirius glanced through it while Peter leaned over to look. "Disgrace to the family……..can't believe we have a son like you………….why can't you be more like your brother, the same old trash." He crumpled the letter. "Where's the nearest fire I can toss this into?"
"You'll have to wait till we get back to the common room, mate," James was busy stuffing himself with cookies. They were all used to this by now. Ever since Sirius arrived at James' house over a year ago with a battered suitcase in his hands James had understood just how bad his family was.
James was now turning his wand over in his hands. "Isn't it funny? I'm actually going to duel with Evans tonight."
"I would think," Remus spoke, "that you would be working at getting along with her rather than fighting, Prongs."
"Fighting's the first step to getting along," James said chirpily.
Remus could only shake his head at his friend's philosophy.
………………………
"Who does it say?" Lily leaned in, trying to make out the words on Elain's scrap of paper, but she moved it out of her sight, looking at it like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Elain's face was crumpled in disgust. "This doesn't work," she said, as she reluctantly turned the paper to face her friends. On it was the name Severus Snape printed neatly in italics.
Lily and Anne burst out laughing. Elain crossed her arms. "Why don't you guys try it then?"
They shut up.
"Don't be ridiculous," Anne said, looking at Elain warily. "It doesn't even work, why would we try it?"
"You're just afraid," Elain challenged back. Lily was also looking at Anne with amusement. Anne was always the one who kept things like crushes to herself, trying hard not to reveal a single hint to even her best friends.
"Why would I…" But Anne's words were cut short when Elain put a piece of paper to her nose and quickly lifted it to see the name.
"Oh no you don't!" Anne shouted as she made a successful grab for the paper, spraying pumpkin juice all over her shirt. She then proceeded to rip the paper up to a million pieces. When she was done, her face was red from blushing and people nearby were looking at them curiously.
……………………………
"This is ridiculous," Lily muttered to herself as she headed towards her last lesson of the day, Charms. "Why am I so worked up over this?"
She thought of James. She had been thinking about him a lot over the summer and during the school year (for who knows what reason) and was thinking of him even more after the incident last night. Lily was bothered by this, bothered because James' smile popped up so many times in her head while she was trying to sleep at night that she was afraid she didn't want to have nothing to do with Potter.
"Evans!" Lily looked up to find James next to her and jumped up in surprise. The corridor she was walking in had been empty a few moments ago, she was sure.
"Wow, Evans," James smirked. "so oblivious to your surroundings."
Lily snapped out of her pensive mood. "Do you live to annoy the living daylights out of me, Potter?"
"Why yes," James said sarcastically. "That's my whole purpose in life. And where are you going anyways? Don't we have Charms next?"
Lily froze and realized she had been walking in the opposite direction, distracted as she was. Frustrated, she turned around and started stomping down the corridor the other way.
"What's wrong?" James said softly. "You seem a bit off today."
She turned to give a snappy reply but the words stopped when she looked into James' hazel eyes. And suddenly Lily wanted to speak what was on her mind for so long.
"When did it happen?"
"What?" James was confused.
"You."
"When did I happen?"
"No," Lily shook her head. "You. A stag."
James stopped moving. His eyes were slightly wide and his jaw clenched as he scanned the corridor for any signs of other people.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Evans," he said sharply.
Lily frowned. "I saw you," her voice was barely a whisper. "Don't deny it."
"I have no idea…
"Prongs," She said. "That's why they call you prongs."
"Huh?" James looked wildly about, afraid of eavesdroppers and what he was hearing from the red-headed girl in front of him. "Who calls me what?"
"And Remus with his monthly disappearances," Lily continued, determined to get everything out. "Every full moon. Anne's right. His uncle Barry did die twice. And Sirius is padfoot, a dog right? A huge black dog. And Peter, wormtail. A rat? A mouse?"
"Stop! Stop!" James waved his hands wildly about in front of Lily, trying to shush her.
There was silence in the corridor as the two looked at each other, James with a faint frown and Lily full of puzzlement and curiosity.
Finally, James spoke. "A rat," his voice was quiet. "Peter is a rat."
His acknowledgement that it was all true was everything Lily needed at the moment. She didn't press on but instead said, "C'mon, we're going to be late."
When they resumed walking again, James kept stealing glances at her.
"What?"
"You, er, aren't going to go to McGonagall or anyone, will you?"
Lily looked at him, surprised. The truth was, such a thought had never crossed her mind. And it seemed funny that James would think such a thing, so funny, in fact, that she smiled.
"Oh, no," she said as James' face flooded with relief. "Besides, even if I did tell, I think McGonagall would be more proud than angry. She's always talking about how brilliant you are."
"She is?"
Lily sighed. "If you weren't so busy plotting evil things to do in class you'd have noticed the little nods of approval she gives to you and Sirius and Remus that she doesn't give to anyone else. And you still haven't answered my question. When did it happen?"
"It was during fifth year," James was smiling now. "Actually we started researching second year and during the first couple of months of fifth year we had managed to master transforming pretty well."
"Why did you do it?"
"For Remus. It's better for him if we are there to accompany him, as animals, of course, not as people."
Lily looked at him curiously, not used to the considerate side of him. "When'd you find out about Remus?"
"End of first year. It was mighty suspicious. His mother got sick so often I thought she was going to break a world record. We keep telling Remus that the sick relative thing is getting old and pretty easy to see through, but none of us has come up with anything better."
"That is really incredible," Lily breathed. "Fifteen year-olds who could successfully turn into Animagi. Do you know people take at least ten years to learn how to do what you accomplished?"
They were now at the Charms classroom door, and before James had a chance to say anything Professor Flitwick's voice boomed and nearly shook them out of the room.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans!" The earth shook. "You're late to class! You missed out on my demonstration of the voice magnification charm!"
"Yes, we can see that," James muttered under his breath.
"Sorry Professor," Lily said as she quickly moved to her seat. "The stairs kept moving on us."
James, meanwhile, was sitting down next to Sirius. "She knows about the thing."
Sirius and Remus' eyes were wide. "Evans knows?"
"Don't worry," James said, "She won't tell."
"Lily knows what?" Peter piped.
"She knows about us," Sirius was exasperated.
"She knows us?" Peter was thoroughly confused.
"No, she knows about us being you know what!"
"Oh," Peter paused. "What are we being?"
"Nevermind!" the other three said simultaneously at this.
