PART IX

James was still acting funny around Lily and Remus. He wouldn't tell Sirius or Peter the reason, but Sirius could make a decent attempt at surmising what must have happened. It had been 3 days since the incident.

Now it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lily and Remus were sitting next to each other, and Sirius and Peter sat on either side of James.

"Today we're going to be going through some of the dark creatures that will be on the NEWTs. Some you will have learned about in class before and others may be entirely new to you," the professor began once the room went quiet.

"Let's begin with acromantulas. Would anyone like to tell me about them? Ah yes, Mr. Chang," Professor Prewett said calling on the Ravenclaw with his hand up in the front of the room.

"The acromantulas is a monstrous eight-eyed spider capable of human speech. It originated in Borneo. Its leg span may reach up to 15ft. Its pinchers are poisonous. The acromantulas is a carnivore and prefers large prey."

"Thank you Mr. Chang. Am I correct in saying that you just quoted Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?" The boy nodded. "Very well. 5 points to Ravenclaw. Now who can explain grindylows to me?"

"It's a water demon with long fingers and a powerful grip found in lakes in Britain and Ireland. It eats fish but has been known to act aggressively towards humans," Remus answered once he'd been called on. He was satisfied with 5 points for Gryffindor.

"Good, now kappas?" The professor asked.

"It's a water demon found in Mongolia. It feeds on human blood, but you can defend yourself by throwing it a cucumber with your name carved in it. Also you could trick it into bowing which will drain all the water from its head, leaving it without strength," Snape answered without being called on.

"Close but not quite. They're actually found in Japan, but I'll give Slytherin 4 points for your partially correct answer."

They quickly ran through a whole long list of creatures they should know ranging from doxies to kelpies, lethifolds to red caps, trolls to hinkypunks. Lily was pleased to note that she remembered every single answer.

"We're almost out of time," Professor Prewett said glancing at the clock. "But before we go, who would like to explain werewolves?"

Snape immediately raised his hand and was called on. Lily felt Remus stiffen next to her, and she looked at him curiously for a moment.

"A werewolf is a man who transforms every full moon. They are distinguishable from regular wolves by their snouts and enlarged size. If a person is bitten by one, than on the next full moon they will become one too. Animals are safe from being cursed with the transformation. Werewolves are nasty creatures that are cold-blooded killers. They should all be put down."

Sirius, James, and Peter glared at the greasy-haired Slytherin who had spoken.

"Well that was a mostly accurate, if not biased statement," the professor said uneasily. "Next class we'll be going over a few select jinxes. Class dismissed."

Everyone got up to leave. Snape blocked the path Lily and Remus were about to take.

"What do you want Snivellus?" Remus asked wearily.

"Interesting lesson wasn't it? Tell me Evans how do you deal with werewolves?"

She was confused. "What are you talking about? I've never dealt with one before."

Snape laughed harshly. "Oh! So your little girlfriend doesn't know?"

"You had better be quiet," Remus warned. "Or the headmaster will hear of this."

"Fine I'm going! Hey Evans looked at the moon lately? It'll be full soon," he stalked off.

"What was he talking about?" Lily asked. "Has he got some weird fixation with werewolves?"

"I guess you could say that," Remus agreed. "Let's go catch up with Sirius."

Lily did, but she couldn't get that conversation out of her mind. She knew she was missing something, something important. She filed it away and promised to research it out later.


Lily awoke the next morning from a restless slumber. Something seemed wrong all night, and Lily couldn't allow herself to relax. She sat up in her bed. It was unnaturally quiet. Usually giggling girls could be heard scampering off to the bathrooms. Sometimes boys would walk by talking excitedly about quidditch. Today there was nothing. A somber atmosphere seemed to have envelope Hogwarts.

Pushing back her covers Lily tentatively set foot on the cold stone floor of the castle. Without even taking time to so much as put a robe on, she tiptoed out of her room. Lily was surprised to note that Remus was sitting beside James talking with him amicably. Sirius and Peter were on the couch opposite theirs. They were pouring over a piece of paper.

"Hey guys," Lily announced her presence cautiously. Everyone turned towards her, and Lily saw how puffy and red-rimmed Remus' eyes looked. She gasped. "What happened?"

Sirius wordlessly handed her the paper he had been reading. It was an official looking document from the Ministry of Magic. She immediately began to investigate it.

Dear Remus Lupin,

We of the Ministry of Magic regret to inform you that there was an attack on Diagon Alley late last night. You-know-who and his deatheaters demolished a good portion of the shops and those inside.

Your parents were found outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies buried under a pile of debris. They were immediately rushed to Saint Mungos and received attention from the trained healers on sight. Your father was pronounced dead upon arrival due to a heavy blow to the head. Your mother died minutes later from internal bleeding.

After this tragedy we, the Ministry of Magic, have taken it upon ourselves to enforce new safety precautions at Diagon Alley including full time auror supervision, strict security checks upon arriving, the floo network will be closely watched by ministry officials, and apparition points have been severely limited.

We are very sorry for your loss. Please send an owl to the ministry if you have any further questions.

Our Condolences,

The Ministry of Magic

She immediately wrapped Remus in a tight embrace. "Merlin that's horrible! I'm so sorry Remus!" She pulled herself away. "Is there anything I can do?"

He opened his mouth to try to speak but seemed to think better of it. He shook his head numbly.

"If you ever need to talk, I'm here okay? Trust me keeping it all in won't help at all." She snuggled up next to him knowing how much he wanted physical comfort. She wished that she had had someone there for her. "When did he find out?" she asked James.

"About an hour ago," he replied. "I spotted a ton of owls flying towards the castle, so I can only assume that others received similar messages."

Lily began tearing up. "This is horrible! No one should have to deal with that."

Sirius eyed her. "Um Lily? Not to break up the moment or anything, but breakfast starts soon and you're in your pajamas."

Lily looked down at herself and blushed. Her attire was definitely more revealing than her usual clothes. Her terrycloth shorts and tank top were while comfy also very skimpy. "Pretend you didn't just see that," she told everyone. "Hold on. I'll be right back."

She dressed quickly and then headed down with the marauders to the Great Hall in silence. She passed many a tear-streaked face along the way. The sympathy she felt was mounting.

Once she reached the breakfast table she sat down not feeling very hungry at all. Hardly anyone else was eating save for the Slytherins.

Morning mail time came quickly. Hundreds of owls of all shapes and sizes swooped in to deliver the news. Lily unbound the newspaper from the owl before her and quickly paid it. She unrolled the Daily Prophet to read the front page.

A gigantic bold headline read ATTACK ON DIAGON ALLEY. A huge picture showed Lily a familiar cluster of shops burned and destroyed. Injured witches and wizards were moving sluggishly along the image in obvious pain. The Dark Mark could be seen overhead. She felt ill at the sickly green glow of Voldemort's destruction.

She skimmed through the article and gasped at the hypothetical numbers of injured and dead. "Roughly 300 were hurt in the surprise attack and 100 killed. 20 of the victims were young children who were out with their parents."

It was surreal. How could it have happened? Wasn't there anyone doing anything to stop the massacres? Right then and there Lily made a secret vow to do whatever she could possibly do to end Voldemort's regime.

'I don't want people to have to grow up knowing that sort of fear, certainly not my children, and certainly none of my generation's. Voldemort's lust for power and ideas of blood supremacy could very well be the end of the modern wizarding world. It has to end.'

Lily's eyes flashed as a group of Slytherins reading the paper broke out in a round of snickers. Without a second thought, she left her seat and stomped across the room to the rowdy bunch.

"Think it's funny do you?" she hissed. "You think they got what they deserved? Who's to say that Voldemort," here they all flinched and glared at her, "doesn't decide to off your family next. How would you feel then?"

One brave soul stood up and replied proudly, "The dark lord wouldn't harm our families. We're loyal and pure of blood. There's nothing for us to be ashamed of."

"That's the kind of life you want?" Lily asked disbelievingly. "Slytherins are ambitious and power hungry. Do you think he will give you any power? No! He'll make you grovel at his feet and then he'll torture you for no reason!"

"You forget something mudblood," the nameless boy hissed back. "Slytherins, unlike you filthy Gryffindors, also have a survival instinct. We do what we must to achieve the goal of wiping out filth like you. We've already gotten to your parents after all haven't we?"

Blinded by rage Lily drew her wand and cast an extremely powerful bat-bogey hex on the bigoted wizard in front of her. "Don't you dare talk about my parents!" she yelled.

James and Sirius came up on either side of her and stood firmly next to her. "Let's go Lily," James said quietly. "Everyone's staring."

She turned. The entire hall was indeed staring. She was surprised to find that the professors had witnessed the entire thing and hadn't given her detention or deducted points. "Fine," she muttered. Lily stalked out of the room in silence, her footsteps echoing on the dreary looking stone floor.

Later Lily learned that nearly a quarter of the school had lost someone in the attack, and that almost everyone fully supported her in the incident that occurred that morning. She was too angry to fully appreciate the support she was receiving.

Throughout the entire day she was distracted from her lessons. Lily was overwhelmed with a compelling urge to do something, to make a difference. She, herself, had been the target of an attack. Wasn't it her responsibility to do something to stop it from ruining another family? She resolved to talk to Dumbledore about it. He always had all the answers. He'd know what to do.


Bright and early the next morning Lily quietly left the head tower and headed over towards the headmaster's office. She walked right up to the gargoyle guarding the entrance and spoke the password clearly.

Before she even had a chance to knock on the door Dumbledore called out, "Come in Ms. Evans."

She entered his office and took a seat in a chair opposite his that he gestured to. "Professor, I really don't know how to say this, but you always know what to do so…" she drifted off. "I want to do something to stop Voldemort. And I don't mean something just with the ministry, because in my opinion, they do nothing."

He looked closely at her with piercing eyes, and she felt like he was looking through her. "I believe I can help you in your quest," he said finally. "You see I have founded a secret society known as the Order of the Phoenix who do just what you're talking about."

Lily couldn't believe her ears. She was pretty perceptive and almost always found little known information. How had she missed out on an entire group of fighters for the light? "Can I join?" she asked quickly.

"I'm afraid I can only in good conscious allow those of age and out of school to take part in it. I was planning on asking you and your friends upon graduation. Tell me would they agree to join?" he asked.

"Oh yes," Lily nodded fervently. "I'm almost 100 positive that they'd jump at the chance."

He smiled at her kindly. "I'm glad I could be of service Ms. Evans. I'm sorry, but I feel that at this time I cannot divulge anymore information on this organization safely."

She stood up. "That's okay. I understand. I can wait a few months to get started. Thank you very much headmaster!" She made to leave.

"Would you like a lemon drop before you go?" he called out.

She turned around amused. "I didn't take you for someone interested in muggle candies, sir." She reached out and popped a sweet in her mouth.

His eyes twinkled. "Oh yes. There are three things I can't get enough of- bowling, socks, and lemon drops."

She chuckled. "Good to know." she exited with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.