Chapter 8
Back to Hogwarts
Lily woke the next morning to a bright sunny day, reflecting exactly he opposite of her disposition. But as she had already discovered, it was impossible to stay angry with James, especially on a sunny day. Her heart gave the familiar leap when James greeted her with the familiar 'Morning Moonshine' that she received every morning.
The Potters were not overly stressed out about getting to the platform on time. They had plenty of time, apparently. Lily, however, was a little more stressed out. When Sirius came downstairs two hours before they had to arrive at the platform, and the drive to London was an hour, saying that he still hadn't packed, Lily freaked out a little. She chased Sirius up to his room telling him that he had better be packed in 15 minutes flat.
With a little marshalling from Lily, they arrived at Kings Cross with ten minutes to spare. Lily wondered what her friends would say when they found out where she had spent her summer. She walked through the barrier between Sirius and James. She felt as if everyone was staring at her as they emerged onto the platform, although of course no one was actually looking at her.
She looked around quickly, scanning the crowd for a sign of Holly or Janette or Caroline, but didn't see them anywhere. She got onto the train and located an empty compartment. One of the benefits of arriving a little early, she thought to herself as James helped her with her trunk. She smiled at the memories that conjured, and, meeting his eyes, realized that he was thinking the same things as her.
Sirius glanced from one of them to the other and shook his head with disgust. They all sat down in the compartment and chatted casually about the new term. Just as the whistle was blowing Janette, Caroline, and Holly all showed up in the compartment door, looking rather hassled. Holly, seeing Sirius, narrowed her eyes and made a snorting sound of disgust.
They had had a really messy break up, as all of Sirius's breakups generally were, when she discovered him cheating on her. He had told her that he couldn't go to Hogsmede with her as he had a detention with professor Randell, so she had gone with Janette. She had discovered him in the three broomsticks, chatting up Rosmerta the barmaid. She wore a sour expression on her face every time she entered the three broomsticks after that.
"Hey Lily." They all said, looking a little confused to see her talking so cheerfully with James.
"Good summer?" Caroline asked, ignoring James and Sirius. She apparently still thought that they were mad at both of them.
"Yeah it was pretty good." Lily admitted, looking at James and smiling. The three girls, who were obviously on the outside of some joke, looked at each other puzzled. "How was yours?" She asked Caroline.
"It was amazing! We traveled all over Europe! I tried writing you, but my owl kept coming back with my letters." She said, again giving Lily a puzzled look. Lily couldn't conceal her glee over her friends mystified expressions.
"Well, now that your friends have arrived I'll be off to find Wormtail and Moony, coming Padfoot?" James said, looking from one girl to another.
"Definitely. Right behind you Prongs." Sirius said, leaping to his feet as if he had been burned, and throwing Holly a wary glance on his way out. She was shooting daggers at him with her eyes again.
"So, are you planning on explaining that?" Janette asked her as soon as the compartment door closed.
"I spent the summer with James." Lily said casually. "And Sirius." She added by way of an afterthought. There was a stunned silence following this proclamation.
"You did what?" Holly said, stunned.
"I spent the summer with James and Sirius at James's house." Lily said again. She didn't bother to explain why. She didn't trust herself to talk about her father, and she wasn't entirely sure that Dumbledore would like it. She couldn't trust her friends to keep it secret, Holly had notoriously loose lips in more ways than one, and she could count on Caroline telling Ben everything.
"What?" Holly asked again, acting as if she must have misheard.
"I spent the-" Lily started to say again.
"No, I heard you the first time." Holly informed her irritably. "I thought you were joking. Are you joking?" Holly asked.
"Do you really think I would joke about something like that?" Lily asked severely.
"I wouldn't have guessed it before now, but you must be. Because that's just impossible." Holly said, practically gasping for breath.
"Well start believing the unbelievable. Because it's true." Lily informed her calmly.
"Are you two an item again then?" Holly demanded.
"Of course not, he's just a really good friend. So anyway, what did you two do over the summer?" Asked Lily, trying to change the subject.
"Hold up, I'm not finished with you yet." Holly said. "Did you two...you know, do anything? Did he just invite you, randomly?" She asked.
"Well it wasn't entirely random at the time. But basically. No we didn't do anything." Lily said, although she could feel the blood rushing to her face at the memory of their broom ride. Holly spluttered, but apparently could not think of anything else to add. "So anyway, Caroline, how was Europe?" Asked Lily, turning from Holly so that she wouldn't notice the faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth at the memory she was reliving.
She did not really pay much attention to Caroline's rambling about Ben and Italy and France and Spain and Ben's parents. Every time she said how amazing Ben or his family were, Lily remembered Anne's smile, Mr. Potter's winking, and James just being James.
"I have to go report for prefect duties." She said after a while, cutting Caroline off mid sentence.
"Ok, well we'll talk tonight." Janette said, looking at her puzzled, she made it sound like almost a question.
"Of course." Lily reassured her, pulling open the door. Lily made her way to the front of the train. She did not really have to go report for anything, she just felt an insatiable desire to get up and walk around. 'What's wrong with me? These are my best friends and I haven't seen them in weeks, I should want to hear everything they have to say' Lily reprimanded herself.
She walked up and down the corridors for a while, but found nothing to occupy herself. Just as her mind began to wander back to James and Sirius and her summer and how she always loved talking to them, she heard shouts.
"Your dad is a monster! He kills innocent people and you should be ashamed of yourself!" Shouted an unfamiliar voice.
"Well your dad is weak, and poor, and has no gumption. He's a coward and you are too!" Replied another voice. She heard some banging and then a sob. She rushed in the direction of the screams, now hearing only muffled screams.
"What's going on here?" Lily demanded, slamming on the door to the compartment that she had hear the noises from. There were still banging sounds coming from inside it. The door was locked and she could not open it. "Open this door!" She yelled. There was no response from inside, so she brought out her wand. "Allhoamora!" She yelled, pointing at the lock. The door flew open and she stood in the doorway, watching the scene of chaos in front of her.
There was a blond boy with a bloody nose who appeared to be crying. Lily could not tell for sure, however, as his face was covered in dirt and scrapes. There were three older boys in the room. One boy with dark hair and hard eyes who she knew to be a fifth year Slytherin was holding the boy by the arms. Another boy who she recognized as Antonin Dolahov from Slytherin and a sixth year was still hitting the little blonde boy. There was also Severus Snape.
Lily almost fell over herself in surprise. How could he be participating in this? To be sure, he was not actually physically hitting the boy, but he was a prefect and he was standing watching this abuse.
"What is going on here?" Lily demanded of Dolahov.
"This little wretch was insulting my family and my father." He said cheekily and defiantly. She did notice, however, that his eyes wandered first to her wand, then to her badge.
"And why was he doing that, when he was out numbered three to one?" Lily questioned him.
"I don't know, because he's ruddy cheeky. Maybe now he'll know not to insult pure bloods. You'd do well to remember that yourself, missy." He said.
"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?" She demanded.
"Just that a mudblood such as yourself would do well to mind the wishes of your superiors." He told her, his eyes glittering with defiance.
"Detention, all three of you. I will be reporting this incident to the headmaster. Get out of here, all three of you!" She yelled, pointing furiously to the door. "You stay here, honey." She said to the younger boy. "You're okay now, no ones going to beat you up." She said.
"Oh yeah, order us around will you?" Said Dolahov, not moving from his position. "I thought I just warned you to watch yourself around your superiors, wench." He said, spitting on the ground at her feet.
"Well, if I see anyone superior to me I'll be sure to remember that." Lily said saucily. "And I thought I told you to get out, now." Lily said with an icy calm in her voice now.
"Try and make me." Dolahov said, removing his own wand from his waste band.
"I don't think you want to go there." Lily said coldly.
"Care to take a bet on it?" He asked.
"You two, leave. You can watch you little vermin, see what happens when mudbloods cross with powerful pure bloods." Dolahov said, spitting again. Lily immediately shot a freezing sell at him, followed by a full body bind and a stunning spell. He would not likely get out of that in a hurry. She then rounded on Severus and the other boy, who had not yet moved towards the door.
"You had best leave before I give you the same." She warned. Severus bolted straight away, but the other boy stood his ground, removing his wand from his waste band.
"That last duel was a sneaky, unfair, underhanded muggle trick. Fight me fair and we'll see who is victorious." The boy said snidely.
"Well, I'll see, by the time I'm done with you, you won't be seeing much of anything." Lily said, bowing. He bowed as well, not removing his eyes from hers. "Might I know the name of my opponent?" She asked as they circled each other.
"Barty Crouch." Said the boy hostilely.
"I see, and would you like to know my name?" She asked as politely as she could under the circumstances, eyeing him up and down, waiting for him to make a move.
"I know who you are." He said shortly. "Everyone knows who you are, you're the stuck up Lily Evans girl who thinks she's better than pure blood wizards. You're the one who always follows rules, doesn't know how to have a good time, and bosses people around all the time. Of course I know who you are." He laughed derisively.
Lily, although she concealed it well with a smirk, felt hurt. It wouldn't have bothered her if it was just a Slytherin boy being out of line, but some of it was probably true. In her anger she decided that the games were over. She straightened and shot a full body bind at this insolent Crouch boy, causing him to fall stiffly to the ground next to his mate.
"Come along." She said, motioning to the younger student. He stood, looking frightened. "What's your name?" She asked kindly as they stepped into the hall.
"Benjy Penwick. Thank you for rescuing me, I don't know what they would have done to me if you hadn't come." He said.
"I'm going to take you up to the front of the train. There's a doctor there who will take care of your scrapes. But now you'd best to tell me why you were fighting with three older students, what year are you in?" She asked.
"I'm in fourth year." He said, a hint of indignation in his voice. He did not look a day over second year, Lily told herself. Surely she had not looked that young in the fourth year. She sighed, shaking it off mentally. Perhaps he was just short. "And they were fighting with me, I wasn't fighting with them." He added.
"Surely they didn't come into your compartment and attack you for no reason? You must have said something, or fought back." Lily said. "It's all right, you're not in trouble. I just need to know what happened so I can report them."
"All right then." He said with a sigh. "They came into my compartment and told me to leave, as they wanted somewhere to sit. I told them no, I was here first. The older bloke, Dolahov, he didn't like that. He asked me my name. When I told him I was a Penwick he went all sneering and said my family was a muggle loving ignorant family, that we were poor and good for nothing. He told me that my mom was a whore, and that my dad was a fool. I hit him then, and hit friends laughed at me. I told him I knew about his family too, and that his dad killed innocent muggles just because they were muggles. Then his friend, the one you fought, Crouch, he said his father was high up in the ministry and that he would report me to him. He held me while Dolahov hit me." Penwick explained, sniffing loudly. He wiped his nose with his fist, grimacing and trying to ignore the tears that were about to come spilling onto his face.
"Don't you worry about it now, everything will be fine." Lily told him. She was surprised by the story. "What house are you in?" She asked the boy.
"Gryfindor." He sniffed. This made Lily even more surprised.
There was the usual tension between the two houses over winning the house cup and quiddich and such, but Gryfindors and Slytherins generally got along much better than the other houses. It was due in part to their similar personalities, everyone knew that. So why were Slytherins attacking Gryfindors? It didn't make any sense. Perhaps things had happened over the summer that Lily, wrapped up in her happiness at being at the Potters, had not known about. Could this be what Dumbledore had been referring to when he said things at Hogwarts were complicated? Surely not. She wished now that she had been reading the papers over the summer. the Potters did not get a paper delivered, as they did not care what was going on in other peoples lives. Perhaps that was a foolish way to think, but, as Anne said, what would happen would happen and reading about it wasn't going to change that.
Lily arrived with Benjy at the front of the train and inquired after the nurse. She had been correct in her assumption that there was one, and delivered Benjy to her care.
After delivering Benjy to the charge of the nurse, who promised that she would be able to make all traces of the scratches and bruises disappear, Lily returned to her compartment to ask Holly, Janette, and Caroline what had been happening in the world while she was out of touch.
"You'll never guess what just happened." Lily said, opening the door to the compartment. Caroline was not there, it was only Holly and Janette talking and sharing some chocolate frogs.
"What?" Asked Janette.
"I just broke up a fight. Well, I also got into a bit of one myself. Let me tell you." Lily them recounted to her audience what had just happened, telling them about the bit of conversation she had overheard all the way through Benjy's description of the fight.
"Well why were you surprised that it was between Gryfindor and Slytherin?" Asked Holly after Lily wondered allowed why the amiability between the houses had digressed into such outright hatred.
"What do you mean? Gryfindor and Slytherin have always got along great." Lily said, looking from Holly to Janette.
"Don't you read the papers Lily?" Janette asked her incredulously.
"No." Lily confessed.
"It's been all over the papers all summer. Muggles being attacked, mysterious deaths and disappearances, all sorts of things. People have a pretty good idea of who's behind it." Janette told her.
"Who?" Lily asked, intrigued.
"The pure blood wizarding families. there are a core few who run everything and who have made it clear in the past about how they feel about muggles and half bloods. Of course the papers won't say anything, as they're funded by these same families. And the ministry refuses to look into it, as they are infested with the pure blood families. And then there's the money of course. And there's not really any hard evidence that it's them. They go around wearing masks and cloaks and such, calling themselves Death Eaters." Janette explained. "It's awful really, there's so much hatred. Did you know that someone tried to pass a bill legalizing the hunting of muggles?" Janette exclaimed.
"They didn't!" Lily said, disbelief etched all over her face.
"And of course it's also well known which families are pure blood and against the persecuting of muggles and partial bloods. The Penwicks are one of those families. So are the Potters, Lily. I assume that's why the Slytherins attached this Penwick bloke." Janette continued darkly.
"And of course it's practically common knowledge that the conniving Slytherins are pretty much all old pure blood families. And the Gryfindors are always a mixture of pure bloods and partial bloods and more open minded families. The Ravenclaws don't really think about blood so much, and the Hufflepuffs think that thinking about blood is wrong, so they make a big deal appearing not to think about it, but end up spending so much time thinking about not thinking about it that they end up thinking about it as much as the Slytherins! Only in a good way of course." Holly said. Lily's head was spinning in circles. So the Death Eaters were out in the open. that must have bee what Dumbledore meant, mustn't it? He was probably doing some severe damage control.
"Well the knowledge can't be too common, because this is the first I've heard." Lily replied.
"Yes, well those of us on the inside know the real scoop." Holly said, smiling at Lily. "Only teasing Lily, you're as far on the inside as is possible to get. You probably don't know about any of it because you're from an entirely muggle family and know nothing of the family rivalries and innuendos. Caroline would really be a better source of information on this subject though, as she's the pureblood. Don't worry about not knowing though, Lily, it's part of your charm! You're so naive, so innocent, so pure." Holly said, Lily slapped her arm, not hard enough for it to hurt, but enough to let her know that Lily did not find her joke funny.
"Holly you have to keep me informed about everything like this, okay? Next time muggles are being killed and I don't hear about it, I hold you personally responsible." Lily told her severely.
"Hey, what about Janette?" Holly whined.
"Janette too then." Lily agreed.
"Fine, fine. Sorry, I didn't know it was so important to you." She said, rubbing her arm a little. "So anyway, who does everyone want to date this year?" Holly asked, her ears perking up.
"I was thinking of Fabian Prewett." Admitted Janette, blushing hotly.
"He's cute." Holly agreed. "Very exotic, don't you just love the way his name sounds? Fabian!" Holly said. Lily and Janette laughed.
"Keep your hands off, if you like the way he looks so much, go for Gideon, they are twins after all. But I don't like him because he has a fancy name, or because he's a pure blood, or because he's rich and handsome." Janette said, although her eyes did become slightly dreamy thinking about it. "No, I am not that shallow. I am interested in him because he's noble, kind, considerate of others, and really smart. By the way, speaking of smart, how did you all do on the OWLs?" She asked, coming sharply back to earth.
"Who agrees with me when I say that the OWL testing system is totally unfair?" Holly said.
"Why? How many did you get?" Lily asked curiously. She wanted to know because Holly was really bright, but she never applied her brains effectively. She always wasted time when she could have been studying flirting of talking.
"Er, four. How ridiculous is that?" Holly exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I got seven and my parents were like 'Well, honey, that's, er, really a good try…'" Lily and Holly laughed. Janette had the most supportive parents ever. They never liked to say anything mean, it must have been the worst they were willing to say by telling her it was a good try.
"How many did you get Lily?" Asked Holly, looking at her suspiciously. She was being awfully quiet throughout this discussion.
"Er, Igotalltwelve." Lily muttered quickly.
"How many?" Janette asked.
"Twelve, if you must know." Lily said, blushing and looking away.
"That's really good, Lily. You deserve it, you studied harder than anyone. I can't believe you pulled off one in defense against the dark arts. I didn't even get that and I took the class." Holly exclaimed.
"Well, I barely scraped it I'm sure. besides, think of all the time I spent studying for them." Lily said.
"Yes I know, with James." Holly said slyly.
"Yes, I noticed you two slipping off for some alone study time." Janette added.
"It's not like that." Lily assured them defensively.
"Oh? Well than what is it like?" Holly demanded.
"I don't know." Lily said. "We're just friends. He was doing me a favor helping me study."
"Well, anyway, back to our discussion, who do you think you'll date this year?" Holly asked her.
"I don't know. I'm tired of the drama of the dating scene. I just want a nice quiet year." Lily said evasively.
"Of course you do." Holly said sarcastically. "Come on Lily, are we your best friends or aren't we?"
"You are, you know you are." Lily told her, convincing not only them but also herself.
"So you can trust us with your secrets." Holly said. Now she had managed to trap Lily.
"There are no secrets, honestly. Why do you think I want to date anyone? Unlike you, I happen to know that my value and identity are not shaped by who I'm dating. My self worth is determined by myself, not anyone else. I don't need to be defined by the people around me." Lily said, knowing that it was good advice, but also knowing that it was total BS and that she herself didn't even follow it.
"Here she goes with the feminism again." Holly said, rolling her eyes at Janette.
"Feminism is a very important part of our society Holly! You should value it and take it more seriously than you do." And then Janette, a much bigger feminist than Lily would ever be, was off.
"Anyway, Holly. Who do you want to date this year?" Lily asked when Janette paused to draw breath.
"I don't know. Edgar Bones is cute. And you know who I realized is really cute?" Holly queried of her friends, who of course did not know who she found cute these days.
"Who?" They obediently chorused.
"Remus Lupin." Holly announced. "Lily, you and him had a thing last year didn't you?"
"I wouldn't really call it a thing so much as a-" Lily started to explain.
"You're still friends right? Do you think you could set me up?" She asked, interrupting Lily's defense of herself.
"I don't know, are you sure he's really your type Holly? Isn't he rather brainy for your taste?" Lily asked meekly.
"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Holly demanded.
"Of course not! I didn't say that!" Lily said immediately.
"Well than what's the problem? Can you or can't you set me up?" She asked.
"I'm not sure. I'll see." Lily promised that she would try. It had grown dark by now and they were all sitting in their seats quietly, not saying much of anything. "So just Remus, is Holly going to settle down at last?" Lily asked teasingly, trying to ease the tension that had perceptibly risen.
"Oh, I don't know." Holly said, waving her hand airily. "Are you sure you're not interested in James?" Holly asked, changing the subject rather abruptly in Lily's opinion.
"Perfectly sure." Lily said with confidence.
"But he's capable of having a healthy relationship with a girl, right?" Holly asked. Lily, not entirely sure what she was getting at, assured her that she was. "And you two, you're friends even though you broke up, right? He's still nice?" Holly asked.
"Yes, James is a total sweetie. He, unlike most guys, actually cares what you think and listens and stuff." Lily said. "He's not just interested in you for your body...Why do you ask, Holly?" Lily asked after a moment of pausing to think about James's many good qualities.
"Because, I want to date him too." Holly said matter of factly. "He's terribly cute, and as long as you're not interested, I might as well snap him up before someone else does, right? No sense in a looker like that going around dateless." Holly said cheerfully.
Lily nodded, but did not speak. She did not quite trust herself to. For some reason the idea of Holly and James troubled her unduly.
"I reckon we should change into our robes." Janette said after a while, looking out her window. "It looks like we're getting close to school." They all changed into their school robes and prepared to get off the train. All were excited for the new term to begin, and grew antsier as the loudspeaker came on, telling them to leave their baggage on the train as it did every year.
Lily noticed several changes in the castle, mainly in the faculty and students. The staff looked hassled and worn out, and school had not even started. The students, rather than calling out to friend and greeting each other after the long break, were walking to the carriages in a much more subdued fashion than Lily had ever remembered. She witnessed several small skirmishes on the way to the carriages alone.
She saw one kid intentionally tripped. She heard mutters and whispers from some students, saw people pointing at students who she knew to be from muggle families or muggle friendly families. Now that she was looking out for the problem, she noticed it as more pronounced than she would have guessed.
There was a lot of hostility and tension between the students. She noticed that there were groups of students traveling together, and tightly formed knots of students. It became clearer still when she arrived in the great hall. Whereas in the past students had always talked between tables, the Slytherins now hissed when Gryfindors passed, and likewise Gryfindors cat called and growled when Slytherin students passed. She also noticed a popping up of green pins and ribbons of the robes of Slytherin students. She wondered if this as a way of distinguishing themselves as above the rest of the school, and different from all the other houses.
It was also clear that the first year class this year was much smaller than it had been in past years. Perhaps students were growing cautious to send their students away to boarding school in these troubled times when they did not know how much longer there would even be a school. Or a family. The year that Lily had come to Hogwarts, so many kids had come to Hogwarts that they had needed to have two first year girl dorms and two first year boy dorms.
The sorting ceremony was much shorter than usual. Lily tucked into her food with a vengeance, eating as if she hadn't eaten in ages.
"Lily, was my mom's cooking not to your liking?" Asked James from the seat next to her as he eyed her loaded plate and the speed with which she was devouring the food.
"Of course not James! I loved your mom's cooking, I helped her with a lot of it!" Lily stopped when she realized that he was only teasing her. She smiled back at him an then turned back to her food.
"I have just a few start of term announcements to make." Dumbledore announced, standing at last after the plates had cleared and the students and faculty had finished eating.
"We have a change in staff this year. Our defense against the dark arts instructor, Professor Longbottom, has returned to the Ministry and has been replaced by Professor Tonks." Dumbledore announced. there was applause as Professor Tonks gave a smile and a wave. He looked to be in his thirties, with a cheerful face and a happy smile. He had brown hair and dark eyes. He looked nice.
Lily looked down the table to see Alice's reaction to this news, she appeared calm. Lily noticed tear marks on her cheeks, however, and her eyes were slightly red. She was sitting by herself, a little removed from the rest of the students. Lily was distracted from further observation by Sirius.
"This will be interesting." He said, although he did not sound too enthusiastic.
"Why? You know him?" Asked Lily, leaning around James to see Sirius.
"Know him? He's my cousin. He's great, one of my favorite cousins. he married my cousin Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa's older sister." Sirius explained, looking dubious. Lily understood now. Narcissa was in Slytherin, as was Bellatrix. Bellatrix loved to torture Sirius, not that it did much as he was a year older and already known as popular, smart, confident, and a real ladies' man.
Narcissa was less tyrannical and evil than her sister, but it was well known how she felt about those of muggle heritage. It was also well known how she felt about Sirius- he didn't exist, and about Lucious Malfoy- he would be her future husband whether he liked it or not. Most people were betting that she would get him, and he would not be liking it. Lucious and Narcissa were both in the sixth year as well.
"So when he says interesting he means the Slytherins will torture him." James said.
"Yes, he's as hated among my family as me." Sirius said. "You see, he's a half blood. They never wanted Andromeda to marry him, but she couldn't be stopped." Sirius sighed. "I wonder how Andromeda feels about him living here?" Sirius said. He question was answered a moment later when Dumbledore continued his announcements.
"Professor Tonks's wife and daughter will also be moving to Hogwarts, here we have Mrs. Tonks and her daughter Nymphadora." Professor Dumbledore said. Sirius, who had been so focused on his cousin that he had not noticed his other cousins, was shocked.
"Yay Andromeda!" Called Sirius. "Way to go!" He called, waving to her. She waved back, smiling.
Her tiny daughter, Nymphadora, Sirius swore he would never forgive his cousins for subjecting her with the torture being named Nymphadora would merit, was pouting. She appeared to be about three or four years old, and was very upset about something. Sirius waved to her. She waved back morosely, still frowning.
"I'll introduce you later, Lily. Come after the feast. You'll love her!" Sirius assured her. "All of them! You're so lucky you got back into defense against the dark arts now, Lily. Ted is great." Sirius said.
"Ted?" Lily asked.
"Professor Tonks." Sirius corrected himself. "Man, this is going to be weird." After the feast Lily followed Sirius to the staff table where he introduced her to his cousins.
"Sirius, I hear you've joined us in the ranks of the non-Blacks." Mrs. Tonks said, smiling as cheekily as Sirius always did.
"I suppose she blasted my name from the tree, did she?" Sirius asked.
"I suppose you should have expected it, young man. But count your blessings. I was never even on it. According to her I never married your cousin." Professor Tonks said.
"If I were you, I would be counting that as a blessing. But at least you lot don't have to carry around the last name that goes with being a Black. Well, I suppose I'm not technically a Black anymore, am I? So what's my last name then?" Sirius speculated, obviously confused. "So you're going to be my teacher than?" Sirius said, addressing Professor Tonks.
"Yes I am." He confirmed.
"This is my friend James Potter, and my other friend Lily Evans." Sirius said. Lily and James shook hands with Mrs. Tonks and Professor Tonks. "If you're going to be my teacher, will you not write any letters to James's mom saying ho bad we are? She hates that, and she'd absolutely flip out." Sirius said, failing to mention who exactly should would flip out at, but leaving it to sound as if she would be flipping out at the teacher who was unlucky enough to write the note.
"As long as you behave I suppose I won't have to write any notes, will I?" Asked Professor Tonks. "I won't write notes either way though, I promise. If I did Andromeda just might flay me for getting her favorite cousin into trouble."
"Who says I'd be the one in trouble?" Sirius asked, looking pointed. Professor Tonks looked somewhat troubled, much to Lily's amusement.
"Nice to meet you." Lily said politely. "And nice to meet you, Nymphadora." Lily said, bending to her knees to greet the little girl. To her surprise. the girl stuck out her tongue and blew a wet raspberry in Lily's face.
"My name's not Nymphadora. It's Tonks." She announced.
"I see." Lily said solemnly. "And how old are you, Tonks?" She asked.
"This many." Tonks said, holding up three fingers to show Lily how old she was.
"Well aren't you a big girl! Pretty soon you'll be going to Hogwarts as well, would you like that?" Lily asked.
"Not if daddy's teaching." Tonks said, looking at her father suspiciously. The others all laughed at this pronouncement.
"Well thank you for that, little missy." Said Professor Tonks, bending and lifting her to his shoulders. She smiled and clapped her hands. "Just for that, I'm going to have to tickle you until you turn blue!" He said and started to tickle her. She laughed uproariously, kicking her little feet. She was very cute, and had a precious smile and laugh. Lily loved children. She wanted to work with children when she became a healer.
"I'm afraid we have to go get settled. Little Tonks here" she winked at Lily, "is up far later than she should be and I'm afraid it's time for bed." Said Mrs. Tonks. The three left.
"So, what do you think?" Asked Sirius as they walked in a different direction, up the stairs to the Gryfindor tower.
"I like them!" Proclaimed Lily. "And Tonks is absolutely darling." She gushed.
"Well, I'm looking forward to defense against the dark arts. As long as he doesn't tickle me until I turn blue every time I get in trouble." James said. They all laughed.
"I don't think you'll have to worry about any more notes, James." Sirius said seriously. "If Ted passes it around the staff room that your mom doesn't like it, everything should be fine. I predict a lot of fun in Hogsmede this year." Sirius declared.
"Well yes, but it's not like she could have stopped me anyway." James said. Lily looked at him suspiciously, but he did not add anything else.