SOMA
5.
Professor Dumbledore placed his fingertips together in a steeple and smiled at Lily over the top of them.
"How are you, Ms. Evans?" he asked her, "Engaged I see?"
"Yes," she said, automatically holding out her ring for the Headmaster to see. "I'm going to have to put it off if I take the position though…"
"Yes, well" Dumbledore nodded gravely. "That is something you must consider, Ms. Evans. Remember though, it
should only be until the Christmas Holidays. Professor Mollywood should be well enough to teach then."
"Professor," Lily said cautiously, "Why is it you wanted me to take this job? Wouldn't Remus Lupin or Sirius Black or… or James Potter be better suited?"
Dumbledore placed both wizened old hands on the desk in front of him. "Remus and Sirius both have a lot on their plates at the moment, as you can imagine, with the Order. As for James Potter, well, he is busy as well but I think I can tell you I will never be able to offer James a position here at Hogwarts."
"Why?" Lily blurted out, looking somewhat shocked.
"I do not trust him, Lily," the Headmaster said plainly. "He is possibly one of the most powerful and talented wizards of our time. He can be dangerous to not only himself but to others. He has proven this to us before. You remember what happened last year, don't you Lily?"
"But that wasn't his fault" she frowned. "That was Tom Riddle playing with him."
"No, Lily." Dumbledore shook his head. "Tom Riddle does not exist anymore, as much as James would like to believe he does. There is only Lord Voldemort. Tom Riddle was a figment of his imagination created by Bellatrix Black"
Lily pursed her lips. Her seventh year at Hogwarts had been… turbulent to say the least. There was her time with James, her parents had been killed, Voldemort had risen to full power. Towards the end of the year James had begun having dreams about a boy with dark hair and hazel eyes who was killing people. When the first started James thought they were of himself. Then one day he saw a portrait of Tom Riddle before he became Lord Voldemort and realized it wasn't himself he was seeing, but Riddle.
After that James became obsessed with Riddle, he thought the way to Voldemort would be through Riddle. He had an idea of what Voldemort was up to. Why he was killing who he was killing. Why he was so interested in the ancestors of the founders. He wouldn't tell anyone, not even Sirius what he was thinking. He just continued to dig into Riddle until one day in a Hogsmeade weekend the Dark Mark rose up above the Hogshead Tavern and he finally came face to face with the Dark Lord.
"I don't know what you mean, Professor" she said, her forehead creasing. "I thought… if Bellatrix Black caused those dreams... It wasn't his fault. Why isn't he trustworthy?"
"Lily, my dear" the headmaster said slowly. "Trust me when I say that James Potter is our brightest hope but also has a great tendency to lean towards the Darker side of Magic. We are very lucky that we have not lost James to the Death Eaters yet. Which is what brings me to you, Lily."
Lily felt her stomach drop. Oh. No. Oh no. no. no. no. no.
"Me?" she squeaked.
"Yes," the professor inclined his head slightly. "There are few things that ground James Potter to our side. He claims avenging his parents, his friends, and his peers are his reasons. He is lying. Those are all things that could cause him to become a Death Eater. As you know, Bellatrix Black has made it her responsibility to convert him."
"Yes, what does that have to do with me?" Lily asked in a rush.
"I take it," he said softly, "That no one ever told you how Bellatrix did it" Dumbledore cleared his throat and sat up a bit straighter in his chair. "She has in her position Tom Riddle's pensive. The idea was to put those thoughts into James's mind to hopefully drive him mad and effectively to the dark side. She was found out, but not before the damage was done. Lily, she has not stopped trying."
"I still don't see where I come in to all this." She said impatiently.
Dumbledore stared at her over the tops of his half-moon spectacles. "You can not guess at where you come into all this?" he asked with a small smile.
She set her jaw. "No."
"Well Lily, let me just say that to have you nearby, working at Hogwarts would be very beneficial to all of us." His eyes twinkled as he watched the tension drain from her face. "We've all missed you very much."
Lily sighed. "You are very cryptic, Professor Dumbledore. I'd be happy to stay and help teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Very good." Dumbledore smiled
There was a soft knocking at the door then, "Come in," Said Dumbledore and then door swung open to reveal Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and a small woman with auburn hair and elaborate make up. She was wearing flowing lavender robes and looked a bit ridiculous next to Sirius and Peter who were wearing muggle jeans and tee shirts. They all looked exceptionally rumpled and very tired.
"Ah, Dorcus, Sirius and Peter. How was Prague?"
"Professor Dumbledore, I must ask for different secret keepers." Dorcus exploded, stomping over to his desk. "Death Eaters raided our flat, clearly they are completely usless." She turned to glare at Sirius. "Especially him!"
"Oh, sod of Meadows, I saved your bloody life last night!" Sirius ranted, coming further into the room. He had soot smeared across his cheek and a large bandage wound around his left hand. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he could kill the small woman in front of him.
"You wouldn't have had to save my life if you hadn't managed to get us found out!" she shrieked.
"I didn't get us found out, you deranged cow! They must have cracked the spell, I'm not incompetent you know!"
"OH YOU BLOODY WELL ARE!"
"I'M NOT PUTTING UP WITH YOU ANYMORE!"
"SOD OFF, YOU'RE COMPLETELY USELESS! YOU DON'T DESERVE OUR PROTECTION!"
"YOU—" Dorcus was cut of by Dumbledore who simply stood and they both fell silent. Peter let out a slight squeak. Lily noticed he had band aids up his left arm and a black eye.
"Dorie, I'm sure Sirius was doing everything he could to keep you safe." The Headmaster said softly and then turned to Sirius. "You will not be reassigned. You are to remain her secret keeper with Peter."
Sirius made a low growling sound and then caught sight of Lily. His eyebrows shot up into his forehead and he looked as if he'd forgotten about Dorie. She noticed and looked at Lily too.
"Lily?" Peter asked from his corner. The small blonde boy had lost quite a bit of weight since Lily had seen him last. He still looked younger than 15 like he probably always would but he looked haggard and weathered now. Sad, too. Peter ambled over to her and after a few hesitant seconds Lily stood up and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.
She looked at Sirius next and pursed her lips. "Hello," she offered.
"Bloody hell, Lily!" Sirius laughed, turning into the joyful bantering kid that was so like the giant fluffy dog he transformed into as an anamagus. He stomped over to her and swung her up into a hug. Lily remained stiff in his arms, her jaw clenching. Sirius was so like James, it made her feel ill. She didn't know how she would see James if looking at him or thinking about him made her feel nauseous.
"How are you?" Sirius exclaimed, setting her down. "I haven't seen you for bloody ages, are you alright? You look kind of sick."
"I'm fine, everything is fine."
"Well, what are you doing here?" Sirius asked, leaving his hand on her shoulder. Lily shrugged out from underneath it and cleared her throat.
"I'm to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts Job for a bit." She said calmly, glancing at Dorie over his shoulder.
"Who are you?" Dorie said shortly, frowning.
"Um, oh, hello" Lily strode over to her, hand held out. "Lily Evans, I went to school with Peter and Sirius."
"Oh, I see," Dorie said, nodding and giving her a smile. "Dorcus Meadows—you can call me Dorie, though, I suppose."
They shook hands. "Nice to meet you, are you in the order?"
"Yeah, well, sort of" she shot Sirius a dirty look. "They're protecting me for the time being from you-know-who."
Lily frowned "What does he want from you?"
Dorie snorted. "Hell if I know, I'm one of Helga Hufflepuff's decedents—genius over there thinks that might be part of it" she sighed
"Oh fuck you, Meadows---" Sirius started to say but Dumbledore cut him off.
"That will be quite enough, Mr. Black"
Sirius sat down in the chair Lily had just vacated and shut his eyes.
"Wow! That's a massive rock!" Dorie exclaimed capturing Lily's hand in her own and holding the ring up to her face. "When's the wedding"
"Um… not sure yet," Lily admitted
"Oh, right, Thomas McCarthy, huh?" Dorie said something about dating Stephen and continued to examine Lily's ring when Lily noticed the door open and a person slipped inside the room.
The first thing that happened was that her stomach fell to the floor and her heart started to beat fast. After that she looked him over, noticing that he looked thinner and older and that his hair was a bit longer. Then she looked away from him and down at her hand, pretending she hadn't seen him at all.
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god, this is really boring me. okay, now for some lily james tension like it HASN'T been done before. or possibly it has, i don't know. i'm just trying to get a different feel to this story than a lot of the other ones have. IE: Peter isn't completely lame. James is meloncholly. etc... also, i wanted it to be like... all the rising action and climaxing have already happened in the last year. do you know what i mean? like, war started, all the bad started, there's the big fight/meltdown, everyone's going about their business as everything goes to hell and now there're here. hmm. it's just feels awkward for me to go into detail about the back story... i don't know. now i'm just rambling.
let me know, guys.