November progressed in a haze of hectic days, work mounting, teachers and tensions and studying to the point where Lily remembered chanting the words of her textbook in her sleep. Hogwarts seemed to have undergone a change-for one thing its inhabitants were all much gloomier, with the exception of Peeves the poltergeist, of course. The walls seemed greyer, their lives a little darker, perhaps.
"Darker," Lily mused out loud, over the Daily Prophet clutched in her right hand, as she struggled to tip sugar with her left hand.
Andie sipped thoughtfully on her pomegranate and pear concoction, her dark eyes clouding over. "He-who-must-not-be-named is supposed to be at the peak of his powers. You know, he's recruiting people to help him-?"
"Deatheaters-" Lily filled in helpfully, glancing back the article for reference. Gen shuddered. "It's simply horrible. I've heard of all kinds of things-" She dropped her voice and her head a bit lower, so her chin was almost touching the tip of her spoon. "Emmeline Vance's brother was murdered. He's an Auror, you know," She shuddered once again, lifting her head and daintily wiping her mouth with a napkin.
Andie's eyes flashed. "I reckon, I might consider becoming an Auror-" She gave a regal nod, causing a passing fourth-year to scuttle off in fright.
Lily nodded in agreement and was on the verge of saying something when Genevieve and her troupe of admiring boys arrived.
" 'Allo!" Genevieve announced, placing her hands on her hips. "Leely, Andee, Gen! I 'aven't seen you forvair!" Genevieve continued, her blonde head bobbing vigorously as she spoke.
"How are you, Genevieve?" Lily spoke, with a dry smile. She got accustomed to the French girl, finally. No flaws could be reported, to Lily's disappointment, however. Genevieve gave a moan of despair.
"Oh, absolutely 'orrible!" she proclaimed. "I 'ave 'ad no time for zhee eessential theengs. Eet eez most dreadful. We reely should 'ave another ball, Leely. You did zhee most magnificent job, last time!" With that Genevieve flounced off, the boys hurrying in her wake.
"Damn that Veela," Lily cursed at Genevieve's retreating back as Andie and Gen chuckled to themselves.
"Didn't see Sirius among her admirers…" began Gen slowly, turning to face Andie.
"Ditched him, has she?"
Andie glowered at Lily, her face similar to the sky before a thunderstorm. "No, I haven't seen Sirius all week." She said in a dangerously low voice.
"Ditched you, then has he?" chuckled Gen, paying dearly for her stupidity when Andie jinxed her with lips as fat as a flobberworm.
After a filling and thoroughly satisfying breakfast, Andie and Lily set off for Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Myrne and a scowling (though with considerably thinner lips) Gen scurried off to her favourite subject, Astronomy.
"Poor Gen," said Andie guiltily, a few minutes later, as she and Lily ascended up a long flight of stairs.
Lily balanced her books in one arm, as she tried to read the time off her watch. "Yeah, well, she's worried about Remus," Lily murmured distractedly.
Andie stopped suddenly, causing Lily, who was behind her to bang into her back. "Remus..he's strange…" she mused at loud. "He is deathly pale and ill all the time-"
"But Gen likes him and he is the kindest of the Marauders," Lily argued. They passed a gaggle of giggling third year girls in silence.
"Oh… I wish we could apparate within Hogwarts!" Andie grumbled as she and Lily reluctantly embarked upon their fourth flight of stairs.
"Speaking of the Marauders…how is your pal, Jamesy…?" Andie cracked a dry smile, as if restraining herself from calling James anything else. James would occasionally say hi to Lily in the halls and this seemed to irritate Andie thoroughly. She was certain that James possessed over-friendly feelings toward Lily. She claimed, 'that Potter…he's up to something."
Lily begged to differ, their conversations were perfectly normal and James had even begun doing his Head boy chores more frequently. And Lily was pretty sure, he shared no romantic interest for her because he had begun dating Hestia Jones, a clever and pretty Gryffindor girl. Lily, on the other hand, still didn't have a boyfriend.
Eager to derail a potentially embarrassing topic, Lily questioned, "What about you and Gilbert? Did Sirius see you?" Lily knew perfectly well what had happened to Forsythe after the ball. Andie had used him and dumped him faster than pus and Lily had an inkling why.
On cue, Andie turned her preferred shade of magenta. "Don't go hinting about Siri-" Andie paused mid-word for she had just spotted a band of unfriendly Slytherins with identical green and white scarves coiled around their necks. Two of the group eight, descended down the staircase, until they reached Andie and Lily. Andie's eyes narrowed to grey slits, her lower lip jutting forward. Lily felt the hairs on her neck stand up.
"Ah…my lovely, charming sisters. Come to give me my early Christmas present?" Andie spoke in a voice that was indifferent and cold. But Lily knew better. It was very easy to forget that Andie did not belong with the regular throng of Gryffindors. Like Sirius, she was a Black. A Black meant to be sorted into Slytherin. However, Sirius and Andromeda Black had broken the rules, when the Sorting Hat had placed both in house that was the serpent's enemy. It was hard to believe Andie even had sisters, even had a twin…
Bellatrix Black, looked like a darker version of Andromeda, with heavy lidded grey eyes and sleeker dark hair. The only thing the two shared was their birthday. Andie had disowned her parents and views as soon as she set foot in Hogwarts.
Narcissa was nothing like the twins, with waist-length blond hair and frosty blue eyes. She was pale to the point where she almost glowed ( a sickly sort of glow.)
The two approached Andromeda and Lily with identical sneers plastered on their faces.
"Well, well, the blood traitor and her mudblood friend. It is you, who have given us, the early Christmas gift, Andromeda!" Bellatrix spat in Andie's face. To Andie credit; she barely flinched.
"Where is your thuggish, brainless boyfriend, Bella? Doesn't care much that his girlfriend's head is about to blown off, hmm!" Andie hissed in response, pulling out her wand.
"All lies, Andromeda. You'd never point a wand in your twin's direction…" Bellatrix eyed Andie with contempt.
The hand clutching the wand trembled and faltered slightly. Andie clenched her teeth, patches of red appearing on her face. In support, Lily drew out her own wand, directing it toward Bellatrix and Narcissa.
"But I wouldn't mind, Bellatrix," said Lily with more conviction than she felt.
Narcissa threw her head back and laughed cruelly.
"Right, that's right, you'd curse Bella and I! You prissy little Headgirl! You're nothing but a filthy mudblood!" she shrieked, nearly hysterically. Bellatrix and the remaining Slytherins joined in.
Andie tensed. "You be-"
Something inside Lily snapped, she remained frozen gripping her wand tightly. Her vein in forehead threatened to pop.
I'm used to it…she heard her own voice echo in her head. Well, you shouldn't be…her mind shot back furiously.
"LEVICORPUS!" Lily screamed with a flick of her wand. A jet of blinding violet light issued from her wand, hitting Narcissa squarely on the chest.
In the next second, Narcissa found her suspended in the air from her ankle, her face a delicate shade of green. "Let me down!" she hissed, half-pleading.
Andie smirked, casting Lily an admiring glance. "Now, that's what I call a real witch."
And, then with a casual flick of her wand, Andie drew an imaginary circle around the Slytherin group and muttered the spell under her breath.
In a shot, all eight Slytherins were dangling from their ankles in air.
"Cissy!" Bella wailed.
"Well, how very entertaining," Andie announced smugly, pocketing her wand.
"Put us right!" screamed Narcissa, brandishing her arm violently at Lily.
Lily's upper lip curled. "No, I think I'd just let a pureblood like yourself, figure it out,"
With that she continued up the stairs, with Andie by her side.
They arrived in Professor Myrne's class nearly fifteen minutes late, out of breath and full of excuses.
"Take a seat," Professor Myrne commanded briskly. She was fairly young woman, compared to the other Professors', with alert green eyes behind square frames and curly locks of brown. Several of the boys secretly liked her, for she was amiable and fair most of the time-not to mention, pretty.
Genevieve wrinkled her nose at Professor Myrne; it was a commonly known fact that Genevieve couldn't stand any one prettier than she. She considered Valentina Myrne, a potential threat to her flawless reputation as .
Lily and Andie shame-facedly shuffled to the front of the class to the seats Professor Myrne had gestured.
Lily thought she felt a poke as she passed by James's desk. A second later, she realised James had slipped her note. In the disguise copying notes off the board, Lily read the note to herself.
'Are you ok?'
Lily tilted her head so James could see her; he looked concerned.
She nodded, smiling slightly, as a warm feeling invaded her body.
"By now, you should all be fairly experienced in non-verbal communication. So, you will divide into pairs and duel each other…"
That night, Lily was curled up in her favourite arm-chair, with singers from the Witches Wireless Network to accompany her. Gen had a night-time Astronomy class and Andie was reluctantly serving detention, cleaning out the greenhouses without magic, with Professor Bough, the herbology teacher. The reason: calling him an overgrown Bugwasp Bulkweed to his face. Sirius, who had suddenly made a rare appearance had found this highly amusing. And Amelia and Jules claimed to be 'studying' together.
So, that left Lily to privacy that evening, knitting as she hummed along to some of Twanel Dabb's 'A Hatful of Happiness.'
Lily's thoughts strayed upon the letter and Petunia's reaction when she received it. First off, the owl would scare the wits out her, swooping in through the Evans's kitchen window-
But before Lily had time to imagine what happened next, the portrait swung open and James Potter, closely followed by a pale Remus Lupin and a peeved Sirius, came striding in.
"He's a nice, nasty piece of work he is, that Regullus," hissed Sirius , his face contorted with fury. The three Marauders plopped down on nearby armchairs quite near Lily, although her armchair was turned the opposite way.
"I mean, cursing Peter like that,"
That explained why Peter Pettigrew, the fourth of the quartet wasn't present. Lily put her needles down, craning her neck ever so slightly to observe the scene. Perhaps, this would explain James's mysterious whereabouts the night of the ball.
"Wormtail was lucky. He had you two," spoke Remus, stifling a yawn, seeming more exhausted than ever.
James, who had been preoccupied with capturing a stolen snitch, tore his eyes away to face Remus,
"Aww, c'mon, Moony. You helped-it was just your furry little problem…" James chuckled to himself.
Lily's ears perked. Wait, that made no sense. Did Lupin have a pet?
Remus managed a feeble grin as Sirius nodded vigorously.
Then he cracked a sly smile. "I hear your girlfriend is up in the Astronomy Tower…why don't you join her, eh, Moony?" Sirius winked suggestively as James roared with laughter at a poor Remus, who was a now a shade of bright crimson.
"I've no intention of visiting the tower Nor will I ever." Remus said as calmly as possible, but there was no mistaking the flushed complexion and sudden awkwardness about him that gave away his true feelings.
"Well, you sure are missing something, mate," declared Sirius whole-heartedly.
"Oi! Even Lily Evans has been there!" added James, his voice thick with incredulity.
"Oh, not with you, I presume?" chuckled Sirius, as Lily gave a silent gasp in her secluded corner.
"Herself-honestly I reckon she was spying on me-" James smirked, in a smug fashion, raking his long fingers through his wild waves of black hair.
"Why would Lily Evans be stalking you, of all people, James?" voiced Remus cynically.
James attempted a nonchalant shrug. "Beats me. Maybe she's realised she si truly, madly and deeply in love with me-"
James paused for effect, while Lily tried desperately to find her voice.
Sirius chortled, highly amused. "The only person that is truly, madly and deeply in love with James Potter, is James Potter."
Remus grinned appreciatively as James drew himself to his full height.
"Lily is so in love with me. I'll show you. I'll show her," huffed James.
Lily then, cleared her throat, startling the three boys.
"Sorry to disappoint you, James, but Lily has a mind of her own."
At last! Her voice had returned!
Lily shifted her knitting material and rose from her winged armchair.
Sirius and Remus broke into raucous peals of laughter.
"Painted yourself into a might tiny corner here, Prongs," said Remus.
"Blimey, mate," exclaimed Sirius. Then grabbing Remus and dashing off to the portrait, he said, "we're off!"
The portrait slammed behind them leaving Lily and James standing before the burning fire, their eyes locked with one and others'.
Lily's arms were crossed and she was regarding James with a mixture of anger and amusement. Anger being the main ingredient.
James backed off decidedly nervous and probably ever mentioning Lily in the first place.
"Hi, Lily. Don't you look…um…charming today…"
Lily tossed her fiery mane backward, her eyes still fixed on James.
"Well, thank you, James. You look positively dreadful." She shouted, her hands on her hips.
James took another step back, nearly toppling over a
table.
"I mean...look at you…you must be awfully exhausted.
All that flirting must get tiring after awhile."
James bumped into a wall.
"I guess so, yeah," he answered casually.
"And me! I do think I'm truly mad, James. You know why?"
"I really don't-" began James, turning a sheepish red.
"Well, anyone would be truly mad to be in love with you!" screamed Lily in James's flustered face before she stalked off to her dormitory.
Boy, yelling at James was good for stress.
There was a light and a constant stream of urgent whispering in her ear.
What is that? Lily wondered lazily in bed. Some one stop it. It's getting annoying.
"Bof it-" Lily spluttered incoherently, still not opening her eyes.
""Damn it, Evans!" a loud voice shouted, jerking her completely awake. Lily bolted upright out of bed.
Snatching up her bed covers as protection, her eyes wide in panic, she immediately knew James Potter was standing over her bed. She glanced over to her alarm clock. At 1.00 o'clock in the morning. What she didn't know was…
"For do I owe this late, rude, abrupt, illegal, ruthless awakening?"
But James wasn't not in a mood for Lily's sarcasm. He grabbed by the wrist, pulling her out of bed, his face contorted in obvious worry. "I really don't care what you have to say, Lily. Andromeda and Sirius-they're in a big fight. We have to stop it-now!"
He gave Lily's arm an almighty tug propelling her forward and dragging her behind him.
"But-I-I-pyjamas!" Lily sputtered as James lead her down the spindly staircase. "Andie and Sirius are always fighting-why…?"
Why must I lose my sleep over it?
James threw her exasperated glance. "Not between them-with the Slytherins-Narcissa, Regullus and Bellatrix. Sirius went to collect Andie after detention and they encountered their 'family' by the dungeons. Bellatrix and the rest were apparent torturing Ted Tonks, the muggleborn and Andie intervened-"
Instantly, Lily was alert. "Oh no-!" She hurried along with James.
When they arrived, the scene was not pretty. Ted Tonks, a lively seventh year with curly brown hair was knocked out, his eyes wide and glassy and his body in a spread eagle position. Andie was close by, badly bruised and bloodied, battling a smirking Bellatrix.
"Protective, aren't we?" Bellatrix hissed, glancing over at the form of Ted Tonks back to Andie. Andie tensed.
"Stup-"
"Sect-"
Their spells ricocheted off each other landing on the wall. Narcissa and Regulls were a duelling a weakened Sirius, who was nursing severely bad burns. James immediately hurried off toward his friend.
Narcissa's sneer widened further when she was James and Lily hurrying.
"Thought you'd gone to get a teacher, Potter-"
Regullus, who looked so very unlike handsome Sirius, sneered, "well, this makes things quite simpler, doesn't it?"
"Lily!" Andie cried, her face going pale. Bellatrix took the opportunity was firing a freezing charm on her. Andie's body immediately went rigid. Then forcing her self to recover, she said her voice full of hatred- "Av-"
"No!" screamed Lily, shooting a jet of light from her wand to cut off the spell.
"-riane plutonium!" hissed Andie quietly, struck by her own words.
"Andie , don't. Stop it! Andie, you're going to get hurt!" Lily cried in vain as Andie dodged another one Bellatrix's spells.
Bellatrix turned her cold face upon Lily. "I know something that would hurt you the most, my twin-"
Even Regullus and Narcissa stopped to watch. Sirius was slumped in a corner, his head drooping over his lap. James, however, sprang up, his eyes alert.
"No-" Andie whimpered. She was on her knees, her skin partially blue. The freezing charm was working. " You're scum, you're filth…." She mumbled weakly, almost as if she were talking to herself.
Lily tensed. Get a teahcer! Get a teacher! But her legs refused to move.
Bellatrix's face hardened as she surveyed Lily with contempt.
"You tried to kill me tonight, despite your lack of hate and your weak attempt to conceal your true emotion. This is for besmirching the family name, Andromeda."
Before Lily could dodge, hide or protect, she aimed a spell, her face a mask of vicious fury.
"Cruci-"
"NOOOOO!" a wail echoed through Lily's ears. She felt James spring up before her, heard Andie's hysterical outcry, Bellatrix's cruel laughter and saw a faint red light before everything dissolved into blackness.
A/N: my own little attempt to adding some darkness to the story. Not my best area, but lot of L/J interaction. Writing the next chapter-! Please read and review!