Chapter nine

Lily dreamed of the cup again the next night. And the night after that. And the night after that.

They continued to dominate her sleep and Lily was now only going by about two hours of slumber per day. Five times she had started sleepwalking again, but never getting as far as the forbidden forest though she seemed to be heading in that direction every time.

The cup was not the only presence in the dreams either. Amy, Bridget and James continued to weave in and out of them; never speaking to her, only starting at her with no emotion on their faces whatsoever.

Well, not never speaking to her.

There was one dream that Lily had in the ides of November that involved these three people.

First Amy showed up holding a green woolen cap in her hands and dancing around in the air just above Lily's reach. Lily wanted that cap more than anything in the world, but no matter how high she jumped, the cap proved impossible to catch.

Then James showed up, just after Lily had given up on the cap. He was on a broomstick and so flew up to were Amy was floating and snatched the hat back. He shouted, "It's mine!" and then flew off.

Lily then watched Amy burst in flames and fly after James, screeching his name.

It was then when Lily noticed the cold metal that was the cup, clutched in her right hand. She looked down at it and realized it was stuck.

"Let go!" she shouted, trying desperately to pull it off.

Then she heard a voice that made her freeze.

"No...you let go..."

Motionless, she stared at the cup and breathed, "What?"

"Let go...I'll kill you..."

"Lily!"

It was Bridget. Lily turned away from the cup and faced her friend.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

Bridget looked at her carefully for a moment before speaking. Lily could see a fire burning in her eyes and she opened her mouth.

"I have to tell you something."

Lily took a step closer towards her. "W - what?"

"I - "

"Lily!"

Lily's eyes snapped open. She was in her bed, warm and safe. Bridget and her mystery would be locked for another night. Breathing heavily, Lily lay there on her back for a few seconds trying to figure out where she was.

"Lily," Alice repeated, shaking her arm. "Lily wake up. We're late for class."

"What?" Lily reached up and felt her face which was drenched with sweat. Her hand trembled as she reached back to pull her hair out of her face.

Alice looked at her worriedly. "Are you ok?"

Lily took a moment before replying, closing her eyes; shielding herself from the bright glare of the sun streaming through the curtains. "No," she replied. "Not really. I'm going to stay in bed for a bit. I may see you later." And with those final words, Lily rolled over onto her side and hoped Alice wouldn't ask any other questions and simply leave for her first class.

Alice didn't ask anything else and left the dormitory with only the words, "I hope you feel better soon."

Lily brought her pillow over her head and groaned a bit. She was, in truth, feeling fine, just exhausted.

Lily finally managed to get out of bed at noon, giving up on anymore sleep. She noticed she felt rather chilly so put on a sweater to stop herself from shaking.

Before leaving the dormitory, Lily took one last look at the cup. It was the strangest feeling; as if something inside it were watching her...something that wished her nothing but harm.

Lily shook her head and left the room, trying to block the cup from her mind. If she remembered her timetable correctly, she had Transfiguration now and that was not a subject you could simply doze off during; unlike History of Magic.

Not feeling even remotely hungry, Lily walked right past the great hall and towards her next class, still feeling strangely cold.

The classroom was open when she reached it, but empty. After a quick glance at her watch, Lily saw there were still thirty minutes left until lunch was over and pulled out her textbook deciding the best thing for her to do for the next half hour would be to read ahead in the book.

She only managed to read about one paragraph though, before being interrupted.

"Oh, hi Remus."

"Hi," Remus walked towards the desk Lily was sitting in; Lily noticed a slip of parchment in his hands.

"Is that for me?" she asked, pointing at the note.

"Well the information on it is," Remus replied looking at her, a look of regret on his face.

"Is it from Amy?" Lily sighed, turning her attention back to the textbook.

Remus cleared his throat, "Ah, now that you mention it."

"Well whatever nasty thing she's instructed you to tell me, I'd rather not hear it right now," Lily said not looking up from her book.

"Yes I thought you wouldn't want to hear that," Remus said, sitting down in the desk directly in front of Lily.

Lily peered up at him. "Was there something else?"

"It's on the note I've been told not to read," Remus said, handing her the note.

Lily took the note, looking at Remus tiredly. "But you read it anyway right?"

"Uh...ya..." he grinned sheepishly. "Couldn't resist."

Lily rolled her eyes and unfurrowed the paper. There were only three words written on it.

Three small words, printed out in simple black ink. These three little words instantly made Lily's inside shrivel up and her mouth become dry as a bone. Three words that could have affected her friendship forever.

Lily stared at the paper in disbelief for a few seconds, face reddening. After a while she turned to Remus and whispered, "She told Bridget..."

"I wasn't exactly sure what that meant," Remus said. "So I really didn't see why Amy bothered to forbid me from reading it, but - "

"She told Bridget..." Lily mumbled again, more to herself than Remus. Neither of them moved.

Remus cleared his throat. "Is there - not that I'm trying to pry into your business or anything but - is there a feud going on between you and Amy or something?"

Lily looked back upon the note and then to Remus again. "Well there most certainly is now!" And before Remus had a chance to reply, Lily had jumped up out of her seat and knocked her chair over. "If I don't come back to class on time, tell Professor Mcgonagall I've had a murder to preform," she said calmly before taking off for the door.

But she never ended up getting outside the classroom. The split second after Remus had cleared his mind of all confusion, he had whipped out his wand and bound Lily with tight ropes before her hand even got on the doorknob.

"Remus!" Lily said angrily, struggling against the painful bonds around her. "Just what do you think you're doing!"

Remus swallowed. "I don't know... Just trying to stop you from doing whatever it is you're planning to do."

"And what am I planning to do exactly?"

"Nothing good?"

Lily let out a cry of exasperation. "Let me go!"

Remus simply stood there, looking very uncomfortable, but determined all the same, "I won't let you go until you calm down. I know you, you're going to do something you'll really regret."

Lily didn't pay attention to these words. She breathed heavily through her nostrils and repeated, "Let me go!"

"No."

Lily glared at him dangerously with her emerald green eyes before whispering. "Let me go, werewolf."

There was a silence except for the tiny clatter of a stick hitting the floor as Remus dropped his wand in shock. "W - what?"

"I said, let me go werewolf."

Remus gaped at her open mouthed for a second then dived towards his fallen wand. He then collapsed in a chair behind him and looked down at the floor. Lily stopped struggling, forgetting for a moment why she was tied up in the first place and starting to regret telling Remus that she knew his secret...that she had known his secret for almost four years already...

"How..." Remus looked up. "How long have you known?

"Almost four years," Lily said quietly. "Ever since that period in Defense Against the Dark Arts in our fourth year where we studied them. I had a suspicion before, but that clarified it for me."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

Lily shrugged as best she could with the ropes around her, "I didn't think you wanted people to know since you never told anyone. Now could you let me go? I'm sort of suffocating in here and - "

"And it didn't repel you in anyway? You didn't want to avoid me?" Remus's voice was suddenly very throaty. "You weren't scared of what I was?"

"No. Now could you please - "

"Why? Did - you didn't tell anyone did you?"

"No of course not, but - "

"Thanks Lily," Remus interrupted.

"Lupin - "

"Oh right, sorry," Remus stood up, wand raised. He faltered for a moment. "You're not going to run off the second I release you?"

"No," Lily said sincerely. "I promise."

He looked at her intently for a moment as though trying to read her mind, but eventually lifted the curse he had placed upon Lily and she fell crashing to the floor.

"Thanks," she said, rubbing her knees, the joints which had suffered the most on smashing back into the floor. "Though I think you should be apologizing right now."

"Right," Remus smiled, "Sorry."

"Won't let it happen again? Never?"

"Well I won't say never, but - okay, okay," he added hastily under Lily's icy glare.

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch and Lily sat down in the desk behind Remus, waiting for the other students to file into the classroom.

"Hey Remus!" Sirius Black demanded, entering the room and sitting down beside Lupin. "Where were you at lunch? We sent Peter on a search party. Poor guy ended up in the lake. Dunno how he got in there or why he thought you were in there...but it was the funniest thing, you should have seen it!"

"It wasn't funny!" a small voice beside Lily squeaked. She turned and saw Peter and James standing next to her: Peter soaked from head to toe, looking very unhappy indeed, James torn between amusement and pity.

Peter slumped into a seat behind Lily, water squelching out from his trainers and cloak, James took a seat beside Lily.

This made Lily very uncomfortable, one: because it brought back strong memories of her fight with Amy and two: it made her worry that James still hadn't completely gotten over his feelings of her.

Was she just overreacting? Paranoid because of the things Amy had accused her off?

It did seem that way for during the lesson James didn't do anything that made Lily think he still had that crush on her. He acted like he normally did around his friends only this time Lily was slammed into the midst of them. Although seeing is how they were in Professor Mcgonagall's class there wasn't much time for talking.

Lily forgot about her social life troubles after about fifteen minutes of the class and started to worry about her school troubles. The transfiguration they were being taught was becoming unbearably difficult and Lily didn't have time to concentrate on anything else. This was why, when James tossed a wad of paper in her lap, she wasn't pleased.

She dropped her quill and picked up the sheet of paper, trying to uncrinkle it without Mcgonagall hearing.

Sorry. I heard about Amy.

Lily looked away from the note at James, but his head was bent over his transfiguration notes. Lily flattened the note on her desk before writing:

Where did you hear about that?

She slipped it onto his desk and quickly turned away, back to the complicated symbols drawn over her notes. It was a few seconds before she felt the paper fall into her lap again. She opened it up quickly.

Amy told me. I told her she was being stupid and she poured her pumpkin juice over my head... I don't think I helped.

Lily looked up at Professor Mcgonagall and saw her back was turned away and was writing something else on the chalkboard. Lily dipped her quill into a bottle of ink.

She'll get over it. She's not one to hold a grudge.

Lily looked over at what she had written and frowned at the last sentence. It wasn't correct anymore...

Lily hastily scribbled it out and tossed the scrap piece of parchment back over to James.

A few minutes later the paper was back on her desk.

Tip: avoid the closet on the forth floor for awhile...but you didn't hear it from me.☺

A trick of Amy's? Lily thought...probably. She wrote back:

Thanks. Completely off topic, where did you get the food for the party last night?

It was something Lily had wondered for awhile, but felt now was a time she really wanted and needed to know. She was starting to regret not eating lunch. It was amazing how fast her body went from not hungry to absolutely starving. Maybe she could get a quick bite to eat after class...

When's your next break? James had written.

After Transfiguration.

She slipped him the paper, eyes still on Mcgonagall. He replied almost instantly.

I can show you after class then.

Lily looked over at him curiously, but his head was now back over his Transfiguration notes. She bent over the parchment and jotted down:

That sounds good.

Amy wasn't going to find out, Lily thought as she passed the note to James. And it didn't mean anything, she was just hungry right now. James would show her where the food came from and he would leave.

The rest of Transfiguration class passed without anymore excitement. Lily was finding it harder to concentrate though, one, because of the rumbling in her stomach, and two, the chattering of Peter Pettigrew's teeth.

The bell finally rang and Lily couldn't have been more relieved. She was very disappointed they hadn't had any chance to transfigure anything, only writing notes about it, but glad she could finally get some food in her.

She gathered up her books and walked over to the entrance of the classroom where James was waiting for her, having just said goodbye to his friends as they lumbered off to their next classes.

Lily approached him. "So can you tell me?"

"I can show you," James said stepping out of the room. "Sirius and I usually get the food from the kitchens. Its really easy and you'll see why in a minute."

"You couldn't just tell me?" Lily asked, eyes wandering around the crowded hallways, looking for any sign of Amy.

"I could use some food too." James saw Lily craning her neck around people and said, "Don't worry about Amy. She'll be fine."

"I'm not worrying about her," Lily said. "I'm going to kill her."

"What? Why?"

"She told Bridget what we were doing," Lily said simply as they turned a corner.

James gaped at Lily for a second in shock before crashing into a suit of armor.

"Alright?" Lily asked as she watched James pull himself out of the metal scraps.

"Ya - why do they insist on putting these things in the middle of the halls, that's the third time this week. Anyways, what did you say about Amy?"

"She told Bridget."

James just continued to stare. "Do you know exactly what she said?"

Lily shook her head, "No, Remus passed on the message."

"What on earth did you do to get her this upset at you?" James asked disbelievingly.

"I thought you knew," it was Lily's turnto be surprised.

"No, she only told me her new opinion on you."

"Ah... Well if you must know its because she thinks you and I have been snogging each other behind her back."

James crashed into another suit of armor. "What!" he spluttered, stumbling back onto his feet and rubbing his arm.

"I said - "

"No, I know what you said I just - where on earth did she get that idea?"

"Because we've been spending so much time together," Lily said rolling her eyes. "Seriously, that one lunch with Hagrid and she's jumping to such ridiculous conclusions."

"Also the night in the forest," James pointed out.

"I don't remember telling her about that actually..." Lily started walking again, James hurrying along after her. "Just please don't mention me at all when you're together."

"Here we are," James said pointing to a painting of a bowl of fruit. "And don't worry, I won't."

"So...is that real fruit or something?"

"No," James reached up and tickled a pear near the side of the bowl. "The kitchen's are behind this wall. All you do it tickle the pear and - "

Lily jumped back as the wall opened and gasped at the sight that now lay before her eyes.

House elves. What looked like hundreds of house elves where working away feverishly in the kitchens. Mounds of food were already lying on a few tables in the middle of the room, getting ready for dinner.

"Pernik," James called and a small elf rushed over to greet them.

"Pernik so pleased to see you," it squealed happily. "Is there anything we can get you two?" he asked, looking at Lily.

"Pernik, this is Lily," James said, gesturing to her. He looked at Lily. "Lily, anything you want, he and the rest of the house elves will make for you."

"Oh - I don't really want to - "

"Lily, they enjoy it," James said and the house elf nodded eagerly.

"No its not that, but - " she turned to James. "This is the big secret to getting food?"

James nodded. "I told you it was easy."

"What does miss want Pernik to make?" the elf asked.

"An early dinner?"

Half a cliffhanger... sort of...I think the next chapter is going to involve a picnic with Lily and James, but I'm not too sure...I have to check my notes...

Oh and I stumbled upon my stats a few days ago and noticed the chapter titled "A night out with James" had the most hits. I just found that amusing, though I thought that would be a chapter that got people attention. Sorry, but NO romantic happenings between the two in that chapter :).

And if I remember my notes correctly, you will find out about Bridget quite soon. Who she saw die...

Review please!