Chapter 5: The Ravenclaw Girls Celebrate Guy Fawkes Day

I looked over the sea of Ravenclaw girls in absolute terror. How was I going to put up with all of these girls?

To be fair, I didn't have to put up with all of the Ravenclaw girls, but it was tradition. And at Hogwarts, the word "tradition" means "you will be tarred and feathered by the legions of young girls anticipating the event if you should decide to not do it this year."

Yes, it was the infamous Ravenclaw Guy Fawkes Day Party, held annually in Josie Berkhardt and Andromeda Black's dormitory. It started innocently enough, just Josie and I messing around with some firecrackers in first year, and it had turned into a monster.

"Calm down," I said, trying to be the picture of calmness myself.

Nothing.

"Calm down..." I was getting a little antsy.

Nothing still.

"ALRIGHT YOU GUYS NEED TO SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!" I yelled.

The room fell to silence. Why is it that adults are always telling you that you don't have to yell when the only way to get the results you want is to yell?

"Okay. As you might already know, I'm Andromeda Black." I gestured to Josie. "And this is Josephine Berkhardt."

"Or Josie Berkhardt," she said, glaring at me. Oops, had I "accidentally" let her real name slip?

"Right. Um, well," I started. Trusty old stage fright kicking in. Just what I wanted right now, especially with the strong beginning I'd had.

Luckily for me, Josie's the best friend on the planet, so she stepped in without blinking an eye. "This is Rom's and my last Guy Fawkes Day here at Hogwarts, so let's make this the best one! Alright?"

An appreciative cheer fell over the small army of girls. Josie started a small fire in the middle, and we all gathered around it. Groups of girls were forming, and they started to talk amongst themselves. I could see Scarlett and Hannah gossiping about boys, and Harmonia...doing whatever Harmonia does. After about fifteen minutes of this, Josie handed me a lit firecracker.

"Won't this be fun?" Josie grinned.

I grabbed it from Josie and tossed it as far as my arm could, which was very far indeed, if I do say so myself.

Josie turned around, aghast. "Bloody hell, Rom! Were you Cy Young in a past life or something? Sheesh!"

Despite its distance from us, it still did go off. And it was loud. Josie and I giggled madly so everyone knew that it was us behind it.

Soon after that we heard a knock on the commons door. Oh, no. We'd been found out. "Quick; douse the fire!" I told some second-year I faintly remembered from last year.

When Josie and I answered the door, we were the absolute picture of innocence. Matching blue dressing gowns, plaid flannel pyjama bottoms, and huge grins.

It was the Fireball.

"Um…Lady Lily. Well. How are you doing this lovely evening?" I said, trying to butter the snitch up. "It's Guy Fawkes Day, you know - "

"I'm not a complete prat; I know it's Guy Fawkes Day," Lady Lily snapped back.

"Anyway," Josie joined in. I would always thank Jesus or Merlin or Buddha or whoever that Josie sat by me on the train and not some complete beast, like Scarlett Monsworth or Hannah Lovegood. "What is a second-year like yourself doing strolling around the halls at night, which is clearly against the rules?"

"Well…er…" Lady Lily condescended to compromising with us mere mortals. "Listen: you don't tell anyone I was lurking about the halls, and I don't tell anyone you're lighting things on fire."

I looked thoughtfully to Josie. Were we really negotiating with a bipolar twelve-year-old? Was this my life? "Okay, come on in and join the festivities," I said, opening the door wider for her.

"Yes, if you must be up this late, you might as well have fun doing it," Josie ushered her in.

"Everybody," I announced, "this is -"

"Lily Evans," finished the crowd of Ravenclaw girls.

I smirked and looked sideways at Lady Lily. "You're quite popular here, Fireball."

Lady Lily's expression mirrored my own. "What can I say? Trouble follows me wherever I go."

"Which explains Potter."

Lady Lily could only smile back at me.

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Soon all the girls had gone back to their dormitories, which left only Lady ily, Josie, and me. The late night does amazing things to people. For me, it makes me long for glazed doughnuts. And not just in a casual "Hm, I'd sure like some glazed doughnuts" way, but in a life-or-death-Mission-Impossible way. But the light night air relaxed Lady Lily in a way that neither Josie nor I could have imagined.

She explained how carefully Sirius had staged his route to Magnolia Court, making sure to avoid his mum (who is almost as bad as my mum). Magnolia Court turned out to be the residence of two sweet Muggle girls, Lily Evans and Carina Kendall, and one peculiar boy they never really talked to, Remus Lupin.

Stories of Magnolia Court inevitably led to the hurt she felt when Sirius and Remus abandoned her for James Potter. Loneliness? I hadn't anticipated that part of the story. Oh, dear, the Fireball was pulling on my heartstrings a little too much.

"And then the girls in my house are awful. Especially these two, Vesta Casanova and Felicity Singleton. They're both these pureblood princesses who think they're so much better than me, a mere Muggle-born." Ah, that explained the Lady Lily demeanor. Who knew she had such depth?

"And…and Sirius has changed! The old Sirius would never have teased poor Severus -"

"Poor who?" I asked. Sirius had never mentioned a Severus.

"Severus. Severus Snape, he's this poor second-year Slytherin James and Sirius just love to harass."

Snape. My stomach fell straight to my feet while my mind traveled back to a time when I was five…

"Castor, come and look at this!" a very pregnant Capella Stentley beckoned her husband over toward the grand bay window at the front of Proxima Centauri. As if she had been called as well, Andromeda Black, age five, toddled towards her parents and tried to see what they were looking at.

"Look at Eileen Prince - Snape - whatever she is now. Her and that filthy," Capella struggled with the next word, "Muggle, showing off their equally filthy spawn, like it's something to be proud of. You know what, Castor? That…Snape child is nothing but a shit-eating waste of sperm, and that's all he'll ever be, mark my words…"

Shit-eating waste of sperm. The phrase was still imprinted upon my memory even twelve years later. And now Sirius was giving him a hard time. Glad to see he's carrying on the family tradition.

Snape The phrase was still imprinted upon my memory even twelve years later. And now Sirius was giving him a hard time. Glad to see he's carrying on the family tradition.

"He was with your sister's crowd, but since she graduated last May, he's been kind of vulnerable." Lady Lily stood up. "I really didn't mean to stay so long here, and I most certainly didn't mean to tell you my life story."

"Oh, anytime," Josie said.

Before she left, Lady Lily said, "You know, I like the way I feel around you two."

"Well, then," I responded, "you must visit often."

"Will do!" exclaimed Lily, excitedly.

And at that moment, Lady Lily died forever and Lily Evans was born.

A/N: Yes, I know it's short, but believe me, I have a novel of a chapter coming at you next time. Please, if you are reading this story, leave me a review! Thanks so much!