A/N: Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me.

This chapter was a pain in the ass because it's been so long since I last updated that I forgot what the hell I was doing. Enjoy!

Lily had always been a light sleeper. When the wind shook the trees outside of her bedroom on a particularly cold morning, she would easily drift into consciousness to listen to the branches lightly tap against the glass and distant chirping fill her room. She would wait in bed until the sunlight overtook the shadows on the walls and spread over her covers, warming her feet. She welcomed that early morning peace before a busy day, a little piece of magic the earth offered her. And when the lingering memory of her dreams faded, Lily would finally lift herself out of bed with a toe-curling stretch and settle her feet against the wooden floorboards ready to begin the day — steady and awake.

The sky was still dark when she heard a light tap against the door.

This time there was no soft drift from the quiet nothingness of sleep, only the burning against her eyes as they flew open and a shock like electricity shot through her body as her senses came flooding back to her. There was no yellow glow flooding through windows, only stark white light from Professor McGonagall's wand illuminated in the darkness of her dorm. Her head was buzzing, overwhelmed with the volume in which her professor urged her to wake. Someone wrapped a robe around her and she was led out to the staircase. She barely gathered her robe around herself by the time she made it into the common room.

Mary was suddenly there, guiding her gently by the elbow to sit. She was handed an envelope already torn open.

Lily ran her hand across the familiar writing as the last of the fog over her vision cleared her mind from sleep. She only just pieces together what this meant as McGonagall began speaking in careful words at her. Her body finally settled into a state of comprehension as those words gave way to a new feeling, a heaviness, which fell over her limbs.

Lily wanted to look at her, a carousel of questions spinning around and around in her mind, but the weight on her was too heavy. It didn't let her move to open the letter in her hand. It didn't allow her to read the words that have been written by her mother. Someone said her name but it sounded like a distant echo, like a shout from a moving train. She anchored herself to the fire in front of her, watched the flames curl and dance around themselves, growing stronger and brighter. Lily let the words fade away as the fire in front of her casted long shadows over the rug and the flames swayed, flicking higher and higher. The longer she focused on them, the more they seemed to slow down for her, speak to her. Their shadows stretched at her feet, desperately searching for her, wanting to carry her into their warmth. If only she could go back to the blissful ignorance of sleep for just a moment longer, she thought — just for a night, a day, or a year perhaps.

She felt a hand against her shoulder, something like a whispered question trying to reach her through a wall, but it felt like the fire was giving her a warning to stay with them for as long as she could hold on. The echoes hummed louder and the heavy feeling fought alongside them as it sat on her chest.

And she knew.

She knew if she tore her eyes away from the flames, her only anchor to the life she knew, it would undo her completely. Because Lily knew what her professor was saying without needing to hear the words.

"Lily…" she heard a deeper voice say, a new one, but she was fighting so hard to hold on she didn't care to know who it belonged to.

Just a moment, she wanted to say. Please.

The fire was beginning to slip away into nothing but a burning orange light before her and she now felt panic in place of the steadiness from staring at the flames. Don't blink, she begged to herself. But the voices were starting to close in on her and there was an aching in her throat she hadn't noticed before.

Don't blink. Don't blink. Don't blink.

They called her name.

Don't blink. Don't blink. Don't blink.

The tears fell down her face and it felt like breaking glass inside her.

Don't blink. Don't blink. Don't blink.

"Evans."

Before she could protest, her body betrayed her and she blinked away the tears with a shuddering breath.

Lily hadn't felt steady since.

"Miss Evans?" Her professor's voice cut through her thoughts, catching her like a deer in headlights.

It was the only way to describe the look on her face when she whipped her head over from where she had been staring absently to meet her disciplinary.

She sensed the eyes of almost her entire class focused on her, various snickers erupting across the room. A scorching heat erupted from her chest, spreading over her face to match her hair as she realized Professor Slughorn must've called her name more than once the way he was looking at her so expectantly.

She stumbled over her words, trying to find an answer to a question she didn't know.

"I don't want to have to give one of my star students detention, Miss Evans. Keep your eyes on your paper." And with that, he returned to his reading, ignoring the whispers that breakout through the room from her classmates.

Lily muttered an apology as she sunk into her seat, staring blankly at the exam she had already finished.

That morning she had woken up with a mad headache, scrambling to get ready in fifteen minutes and make it to Defense Against the Dark Arts before the first bell rang, with little success. The reprimand she had gotten from Professor Bricks hadn't stopped pounding in her head until an hour after, which hadn't made it any easier to get through her first exam of the day. Honestly, whoever made it okay to give students more than one exam in one day should be expelled from the universe. She hadn't started feeling like a real human being until she made it to lunch and ate half her weight in Cornish pasties. Her free period was spent studying for her Potions exam (but really just staring at her notes and counting the hours until she was back in her bed).

And all the while, the events from the night before haunted her every thought.

"What's with you?" Dirk whispered without so much as a glance her way.

"Nothing, just a bit off today," she said as she rubbed her knuckle into her left eye and pretended she was only tired. She might've been hung-over, but she wasn't about to go and tell him that. She was a prefect, after all, with a reputation to uphold.

Well, Lily wasn't sure what her reputation was exactly.

"Oh? Just today?"

Probably not a good one, then, she concluded.

Slughorn cleared his throat from his desk across the room, he looked at them over his paper with an arched brow, and she saw Dirk bite back a snort.

"Shut it." And he does, returning to scribbling onto his parchment paper.

She appreciated that about him.

Lily had never really spoken to him until the beginning of the school year when she'd forced herself into the seat next to him on the first day of Advanced Potions instead of her usual table with Severus at the front.

Dirk was an easy person to talk with. He didn't take himself too seriously and wasn't a fan of people who did. Nor did he care about the gossip that circulated the halls at Hogwarts, even when Lily was the subject of those conversations. He was a great partner, almost as talented at Potions as Lily, she might say. She was only slightly bitter about it. The work was just as easy with him as it had been with Severus, but with much less of the tension and rigidness that had developed between them as the years went on. It was just... nice. He had unknowingly, and perhaps unwillingly, become one of her favorite people at Hogwarts.

She was trying to keep her eyes down to avoid another disapproving look from Slughorn when her eyes drifted involuntarily towards James.

He shifted in his seat, only a few students away from her.

Her new seat, she learned, allowed her a clear view of him any time Slughorn didn't lecture for the day.

She couldn't help but study him instead of the paper in front of her. He looked almost strategically disheveled. Everything was in its place, yet the tie around his neck was slightly askew under his vest. His robe was tied neatly around him, but one side fell off his right shoulder. Black curls spilling over the top of his head, reaching for the round glasses that hung so dangerously low on the bridge of his nose. It was something that on anyone else would look messy and careless. But on James Potter, she couldn't help but feel like it was part of his charm. A charm she would have been reluctant to admit to herself he had only a few months before.

Of course, she'd tried to get his attention when she'd seen him in the first period (that is if you count staring at the back of his head so intensely in the hope that he would turn around as "trying to catch someone's attention"). He hadn't shown up for lunch, which left Potions for the awkward encounter, but he'd arrived just as the bell rang. She didn't know what she would have said to him either way. And wasn't sure she would want Severus around to hear any of it. All she knew was the moment she looked in the mirror that morning; she had immediately regretted several things from the previous night. The way she had treated James — well, that was at the top of the list.

"Alright! Quills down, students. Let's turn our exams in! Now don't forget..." Slughorn's voice trailed away as stools screeched across the floor and students began their conversations.

Lily didn't move because suddenly a pair of hazel eyes replaced the space where black strands of hair used to be.

His shoulders tensed like he'd sucked in a breath, caught off guard from what should have been just been a glance in passing with no motive or thought behind it, but was now the two of them staring at each other from across the room while the rest of the world bustled and carried on without them. She opened her mouth to say something, anything. But her mouth felt as dry as a desert and she couldn't remember ever being so intently watched by anyone, much less James Potter. His gaze was unnerving, claustrophobic, and yet it was the only thing that made the world stop at that moment. Now only silence lingered in the air.

His eyes flickered to her lips, waiting for her and it seemed like forever, but then forever passes too soon and before she could form any semblance of coherent thought, he rose out of his chair, turned in his exam, and left.

She shut her eyes in disappointment.

"Wow, that wasn't awkward at all."

Lily realized Dirk had been waiting for her to get up and turn in her exam.

She gathered her belongings in her bag and walked past him to her professor's desk, trying to shake off whatever the hell just happened.

"Don't get me wrong," he said, skipping to catch up to her. "I like a good, longing stare as much as the next guy, but that was..." he let out a long whistle as he set his paper down with hers and shook his head. "That was just embarrassing, Lily."

"Thank you, Dirk." She hid her face in her textbooks, hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt.

"I mean, for me. Not for you. He seemed pretty into it."

She rolled her eyes and raised her chin. Refusing to play his game. "Goodbye now, Dirk."

"I'm sorry, but even I have to ask what that was all about!"

I don't know, she tried to convince herself, and settled for, "It's nothing." Her voice sounded nervous enough for Dirk to take notice, reminding her that it was not (in fact) nothing.

He stopped in front of her, giving her a half-hearted smile. "Alright, I'm sorry." A pause. "Look... if you—uh, need to like, talk or..." He scratched the top of his head and shifted his feet uncomfortably. The way he couldn't look Lily in the eyes as he tried to offer his support was almost comical but mostly, it was just pathetic.

She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and patted, "Thank you, Dirk, but if I wanted to talk about it... It definitely wouldn't be with you."

He feigned shock, but quickly fell into step with her out to the corridor, "Good because I don't want to give you the wrong idea about our friendship."

She laughed, grateful for the change in subject. "And what idea might that be?"

"That I'm here for more than just an Outstanding in Potions, of course."

She nudged him playfully and let herself laugh with him, "You look more like a Troll to me if any—" The laugh died in her throat as she spotted another black-haired boy, but one that was waiting for her this time.

Severus looked as though he hadn't slept at all. The warm firelight from the corridor the night before had better concealed his ghostly appearance, now more apparent in broad daylight. She hadn't noticed it before, probably because she had actively been steering clear of him in class. Now the dark circles under his eyes were hard to miss, as they seemed to cast a shadow on his pale skin, giving him a look of perpetual melancholy.

"Lily..." He said her name like a question as he approached them cautiously.

She searched for Mulciber or Avery standing off somewhere within earshot but he shook his head, reading her mind. "It's just me. Can we talk?"

Lily turned to Dirk, expecting him to tell Severus to keep moving, but he simply smiled at her and left her with a shrug and a, "See you later, Lily."

As she watched him go, it dawned on her that she hadn't asked if he had even been spoken to by a professor yet. With a pang of guilt and fear, she almost wanted to go after him instead of staying under the watchful gaze of her old best friend.

But Severus pressed further, "Please, Lily."

She hesitated for a moment before nodding cautiously.

He reached for her arm to guide them further from intruding ears, but she sidestepped the gesture. He said nothing and let her lead them to a more secluded part of the hallway.

They came to a stop facing each other, closer than before, and she saw his eyes weren't as dark as they had been when she'd confronted him yesterday. Instead, they were bright and looking right at her. "I'm... I'm so sorry. The things I've said— I didn't mean any of it. I know you haven't been yourself lately. I understand why you reacted the way you did last night and why you're angry. You have every right to be." He ran a hand through his hair like he wanted to pull at it strand by strand. "And last night my temper got the better of me. But it's been two months, Lily, and I just... I just want you back."

As she processed his words, trying to form a careful response, he continued with, "I tried to see you that day, but—" he bit the inside of his cheek. She looked away from him with a clenched jaw as sleeping memories of a grey peppered copper beard and the sweet scent of melting brown sugar threatened to resurface.

Instead of continuing, he skipped to his true meaning. "Lily, you know I didn't mean it when I called you... that word. I'm sorry."

That word, she repeated in her mind. That word had been the culmination of their seven-year friendship.

The day at the lake was more a flurry of noises and images now than it was a clear memory. They had been on a break from exams and Lily had just taken her last one for the year. She and Marlene were basking in the sun's warmth. After many grueling and sleepless nights spent studying textbooks until their eyes burned, summer had officially begun. It had all been so nice.

That was until she heard the shouting.

She remembered James and Sirius laughing as a struggling Severus tried to regain his footing and students standing idly by to watch the show. Some had even cheered James on. Lily remembered telling James to leave him alone, which had amused him and in turn had only aggravated her annoyance with him. From behind her Severus had found his wand and the smile on James' face disappeared as a bright red line of blood had begun to spread across his face. Lily remembered being horrified; not being able to identify what kind of spell would make someone bleed that way. And then they were dodging jinxes, shouting at each other until Severus couldn't shout any longer and James had him suspended in the air. Lily had tried to come to his defense, but then he had said it: filthy mudblood.

But the words, his voice, the way it had escaped his mouth so naturally; Lily remembered that part clearly.

She stormed off after swearing she was through with him for good, but it hadn't been enough.

Lily had been angry with herself for all the things she hadn't been able to say to him that day. Maybe last night wouldn't have happened the way it did if she had gotten the chance to. Their friendship had ended that day, which was a fact she understood would not have changed. Even so, she had replayed the moment in her head over and over again for weeks, hoping for a resolving feeling that would help her move past it.

She knew there were plenty of justifiable reasons to remain angry. She could be angry that Severus was trying to apologize for something she knew he truly believed. She could be angry that he dared to ask for her forgiveness. She could be angry that he had made her feel beneath him. Yet all the shouting and the ugliness from last night hadn't been enough to relieve the heaviness she felt in her chest.

Lily was so tired of living in her anger all the time.

Finally, she took a deep breath and said quietly, "I forgive you."

His eyes widened and she could see his shoulder relax ever so slightly like he had been holding his breath. Her words must've felt like familiar territory like he knew what to expect from her next. They put him at ease so much so that he tried to take her hand in his, the corner of his mouth lifting into a ghost of a smile.

But she moved her hand away.

She crossed her arms across her chest, holding herself. "I think we've both done some things we regret now. I didn't think it was possible to forgive you, but I know now that I don't want to live the rest of my life being angry with you." Her breath was shaky, but she tried her best to steady it. "You were my best friend, but I've made too many excuses for you and I won't do it anymore."

He was shaking his head as he heard her words. "No, please, let me explain! I wasn't thinking!"

"No, you weren't," she agrees bitterly, "For the first time I got to see the real Severus, not the version you always pretended to be around me."

"That's not true, Lily. I'm still me!" He was desperately trying to hold her gaze, but even in their proximity, he was still too tall. Her gaze remained shifted down towards his left forearm, the only spot on his body that she had often thought about and what it might bear in time.

"The world is changing, Sev—Severus." She reminded herself to say his full name because they would never be on those terms again. "We're not kids anymore. You can't pretend like it's you and me against the world."

"What does the world have to do with you and me, Lily? I would be able to protect you!"

"From who? Death Eaters?" she challenged.

"So, this is about Mulciber, then? Avery? They play meaningless pranks!" His brows drew together as the anger in his voice had begun to rise. "How is it any different than what Potter and his mates get up to?"

She did not want to justify his question with a response. It was like Severus was trying to get her to admit to something she wasn't guilty of. He was always trying to convince her that James Potter was worse than the things she claimed he did. Lily has never tried to downplay it. James Potter was a bully. It was a big reason Lily despised James over the years. He was arrogant and at times childish... but hadn't he been right? Calling Severus a wannabe Death Eater? Hadn't they all been right in warning her that he used dark magic?

He sighed, "I said I was sorry for calling you that word, but you know I don't honestly believe that about you."

"No. It just slipped out, right? You'd have me believe I'm your exception in a world filled with mudbloods? You'd have me believe you're not just like them when I'm not around?"

"They're my housemates, Lily! It's not like I'm actually friends with them!" It's so blatant a lie he couldn't even look at her when he said it.

Some heads turned as they pass by them, but most people minded their business and continued to hustle down the hall.

She huffed, offended he could think she was that naive. "You can't even deny they all want to be Death Eaters, Severus. And you and I both know there's more to it than that. You want it, too." She paused, her determination wavering for a moment because she had never said it out loud before.

He didn't respond.

"It's obvious now. The way they follow you around like you're their leader." Maybe it was a slight over-exaggeration and didn't try to hide the disdain when she said it, but she wanted to get the point across.

It became quite clear to Lily that many things had changed by the start of their sixth year. And no matter how much she hadn't wanted to notice, even she couldn't ignore it because Severus, who had once rested in the shadows of bigger and meaner devils, had somehow climbed up the ranks of the Slytherin hierarchy overnight. It wasn't as apparent as roaming the halls, flanking him on both sides, and cutting down anyone in their path.

No, it was the little things.

They were always in the same place as Severus, keeping their distance, but their presence was known nonetheless. It wasn't so much that they waited for orders, of course, but there was a kind of muted anticipation whenever he opened his mouth — as if they knew their words still mattered, but somehow Severus' word mattered more. Mulciber's belligerent manner could be subdued by the wave of Severus' hand. Avery's sadistic sense of humor was less publicly displayed in general. Even Rosier, the most erratic of them all, was in more control of his behavior now, at least in the presence of his friends. It was as if they had become smarter, less reactive, and more calculated.

Lily had an idea about the kind of things it would take to be able to command like that.

He pleaded for the last time with her. "I would never hurt you, Lily. If you could only understand."

She responded with a quiet question, whispering but no less clear, "And what about the dark magic, Severus?"

She almost expected him to make an excuse like he had so many times before. It was just a laugh, he would say, but Lily knew the truth about the spell James had used on Severus at the lake because she had seen it before. It was the same one Mulciber used on Mary a week before.

Lily giving Severus every chance in the world made her thick, sure, but she wasn't ignorant.

It all fell together like pieces of a puzzle — the endless scribbling in the margins of a textbook he didn't need to study, his trying to hide it away from her, the deep cut on James' face that day, the way Severus had seemed so desperate to play it off as a joke. Severus hadn't wanted her to discover that he was the source of the spell that had been used on her friend.

"So, it doesn't bother you that your precious Potter would use such a 'terrible' jinx?" This made some heat rise in her cheeks, not because of what he was insinuating, but from the flicker of possessiveness that lied in his eyes when he said it. Like Lily could only belong to Severus somehow.

"Potter's not my anything," she vehemently replied. "Both times that magic was used were cruel, but you were the only one willing to pass it off as a laugh when it was directed at someone other than you! Or rather, so you wouldn't have to admit that you'd given that spell to Mulciber to test out in the first place!"

Her hands curled in fits at her sides. "Maybe the jinx isn't the darkest magic there is, but it's who you allowed to have it and he abused it. And you just stood by and let him."

He let the words hang in the air between them. The crowd of students in the corridor had thinned, taking the noise with it, and she could hear the rapid beating of heart pulsing in her ears. His expression had hardened towards her now and the light of all his hopefulness when he had first approached her had become clouded.

"So, this is it. You've made up your mind about me," he said tightly, his black eyes stared into her green.

She exhaled slowly and looked him in the eyes, "You've chosen your way, and I've chosen mine."

He held her gaze for a moment, his face scrunched up like he was in pain.

Severus nodded and with nothing left to say, he leaves her standing in an empty corridor.

It wasn't until he turned the corner, disappearing, that she could finally unclench her fists.

She turned and walked in the opposite direction and as the blood rushed back to her hands, she felt her chest a little lighter than before.

Lily was thoroughly exhausted by the time she made it to detention.

She had gotten off easily with McGonagall, and she knew it had little to do with the way Slughorn had spoken on her behalf. After all, it was his top students that had been caught in the middle of a quickly escalating fight in the hall. But, being the fair man she knew him to be, he tried his best as he spoke with no care to conceal his blatant favoritism, especially given her "current state" as he had called it. It was because of Slughorn that Lily made it out of that office with polishing trophies as her punishment for the next week. No magic allowed, of course. But Lily knew the rules, dueling or no dueling. Her prefect status should have been revoked. The only reason she still wore a badge on her robes was due, in the end, to technicalities.

Lily hadn't been in the room when they had been spoken to, but Marlene gave her a slightly tipsy rundown about being lined up by Slughorn to get the story straight.

Marlene had a hand gripped around her wand, but technically, it hadn't been out. Remus had his wand only halfway out of his pocket when McGonagall walked up to the scene, so he got off as well. Neither of them received any punishment other than what had been described to her as severe criticism from McGonagall for having been present in the middle of a fight. Remus as a prefect and Marlene as an athlete were both expected to hold themselves to a higher standard — the same line McGonagall had used on Lily. Sirius hadn't actually hit anyone, but since he was found in an incriminating position (you know, fist wound back like it was ready to go through a boulder) he received lines.

Marlene couldn't quite remember how they went. "I think she said, 'I am a wizard... not a baboon?' Or maybe it was just... 'I'm a baboon?'"

James and Lily were the only ones in their house to have their wands out, but each only lost 10 points as previously threatened because the spells last used on them weren't meant for dueling. Lily lost Gryffindor an extra 10 on McGonagall's rightful suspicion (and strong intuition) that she had started the entire ordeal.

What it came down to was whether or not Lily had struck Severus in the face. They could see the red mark on his face clear as day. This was where she should have lost her position as prefect, but Severus surprisingly denied it. Now, she knew it was because he had been hoping, in a futile attempt as it turned out, to mend the bridge between them. No one else confirmed it either, not even Mulciber or Avery. They were a lot of things, but neither of them had mentioned Lily slapping Severus across the face because they were smart enough to know they would be asked why and the reason wouldn't have done Severus any favors.

All in all, Gryffindor lost 30 points.

Slytherin lost 40; 10 for Severus having his wand out and 30 for trying to hex Lily.

Her eyes burned as she tried to focus on the task at hand. She walked towards the edge of the room, reading off the names on the plaques that hung on the walls, cleaning, and dusting as she went. Every lift and swipe of her arm felt like a sack of rocks was weighing it down. She wished she had eaten more at dinnertime, despite the few slices of fruit from the plate Mary had made her.

She didn't mean to dwell on it, but it was hard to eat when she noticed that not only was James sitting as far away from her as possible (which was to be expected), but Remus had also gone with him. Remus didn't always sit with Lily at dinner, but when he did it would be next to Lily with either James or Sirius on his other side, like a buffer between her friends and his. She knew she was overreacting, that it was her exhaustion that had her thinking with her emotions. But you know that feeling you get when you think everyone is looking at you? And then it's followed up by the horrible realization that everyone is indeed looking at you?

She wasn't even halfway to her friends when she had come to that conclusion.

It would have been nice to have him there. It wasn't that Marlene and Mary weren't great friends to have in her corner, she loved them dearly; but she had grown comfortable with Remus's consistent presence. He had an ease about him, even when he didn't feel like talking, that she missed tonight. The thought that Remus was upset with her, too, well she wasn't sure she could handle that. She didn't need to keep adding to the list of the people that hated her right now. There was no doubt that James had given him the details about their fight outside the dorms. As silly as it sounded to take sides, she was sure he would probably have to side with James whether he wanted to or not.

She was standing behind a glass trophy case that was connected to one of the four pillars in the room when the squeaking of the iron gate swinging open brought her back to the real world.

Professor McGonagall had told her she could dismiss herself once she was done because the entrance to the trophy room remained open at all times, leaving no need for her to return to lock it. She trusted her enough, for as hard as she was on Lily the night before, not to dawdle over her punishment. So, Lily is genuinely confused when a student stumbles inside, a girl with a thick and long braid falling down her back, being backed into the room by another much broader looking one. A boy, she gathered from his build.

She wasn't entirely sure why she ducked behind the case she had been cleaning instead of making herself known, but she hid nonetheless. It was a moment before she heard anything, and then the whispering began. She couldn't make out much from what they were saying at first but reckoned from the tones of their voices that it was a heated conversation. It dawned on her that any moment the two students would probably start to snog each other. It was undeniable that this was a prime location: unlocked past curfew, rarely occupied, and torch-lit to really set the mood (Lily only knew these things because she was a prefect well-versed in busting horny teenagers all over the castle... not from, like, experience or anything).

Crouched and hidden like a creep, Lily kept hoping they would go away soon so she could continue to pity herself in peace.

Their whispers continued and Lily braved a look behind her, through the glass case she was leaning against. It wasn't the ideal position for someone trying to spy because at the level she was at because there were too many trophies and tournament cups blocking her view. Not to mention the fact that her eyes already felt so strained just from being awake too long. Unfortunately there wasn't much to go on anyway other than knowing the girl had dark hair because the furthest pillar ahead of Lily blocked most of the girl's face.

Lily tried hard to concentrate on their voices, trying to understand what they were doing in the trophy room if it wasn't to snog (because clearly Lily didn't know why else you would come here).

The boy said something as the girl standing in front of him let out an exasperated sigh. The other person replied and Lily had to fight the instinct to jump out from behind the trophy case to intervene because the boy advanced on the girl so quickly she didn't need to see his expression to know it was nothing short of aggressive.

"—did what you asked," the girl said, raising her voice seemingly unafraid of the boy. She didn't even flinch when he got in her face.

He grabbed her wrist and forced her hand open, placing a small vial of something vibrant in her palm. It could have been purple or red, though through the glass it was hard to tell. The girl seemed reluctant to take it but he said something inaudible to Lily and whatever it was, it was enough to make her angrily stuff it into her robes.

"—last time," she heard the girl say.

The boy laughed, husky and low, and she could only catch the last half of his response, "—when he says you're done."

Lily foolishly decided she needed to get closer if she was going to be able to make any sense of their conversation. She started to move towards the next closest display, but she had been crouched for long with most of her weight on her right leg that when she finally tried to move her leg it cramped and buckled beneath her. She hit the floor, landing on her left elbow painfully with a thump on the stone floor.

The boy was saying something when he cut off and shushed the girl in front of him. "Did you hear that?" And there was something so familiar about his voice, Lily was sure she'd heard it before, but she didn't have the time to think about it because she could hear footsteps hitting the floor rapidly.

She panicked because the first thing she did was reach for her wand before remembering that she didn't have it. It had been left in her dorm as per the rules of her punishment.

It was possible Lily could get out of here unscathed. She was fast on her feet, enough to dodge a spell if they attacked her, and there were plenty of obstacles a jinx would have to go through on her way out the door. But her elbow was hurting pretty bad despite the adrenaline settling in. It would be her against two students, one-armed and wandless.

If she got caught, and they decided not to attack her (although judging by the aggressive energy oozing off the boy, she guessed it was unlikely) she could not see how she would talk her way out of it. She would have to bet on the slim chance that they weren't here plotting something sinister. Her gut told her even though she didn't know how or why, whatever they were arguing about and whatever was in that vial, it had to be connected to the posts that had been popping up around the school about muggleborns.

As slowly as she could manage, Lily began to back up further towards the wall, kneeling beside a large portrait of a previous Hogwarts headmaster. There weren't very many places to hide in the room. Although it was large with several standing display cases decorating the floor, they were all made of glass, and not much taller than Lily herself, providing little coverage even for someone as small as Lily.

She knew she only had about 40 seconds before they found her. She could see the shadows against the wall from where she was now; watching them go down each row, getting closer to Lily and for the second night in a row, Lily prepared herself for a fight.

And then, as impossible as it seemed, a hand reached out from somewhere behind her and covered her mouth. She let out a muffled yelp as her heart jumped out of her body and began to struggle against the person, but they wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her feet off the ground. Her entire body went rigid as she was pulled backward and everything around Lily went dark.