Previously: Lily is having a nightmare about Stoughton's death, and Petunia wakes her up. Lily opens up to Petunia about what happened, and Petunia ends up comforting her. For a moment, they're both sisters again. James reads in the Prophet about how, after Stoughton's death, people are starting to think that the DADA position is cursed.


Chapter 33: Third Years

The Hogwarts Express whistled loudly in the background as Mr. and Mrs. Evans worked to lift Lily's enormous trunk up into the storage car. Crackerjack was in her cage, nice and snug, while Lily stood next to Petunia, watching the other students hurry to and from all around them. The morning after Petunia had woken her from the nightmare, Lily had gone downstairs to find Petunia, who had not outright denied the events, eating her pancakes very neatly as usual but still glancing up occasionally when nobody else was looking, looking concerned.

Now, in the midst of all the other young wizards and witches running around them, Petunia did not dare talk outright, but before she could change her mind, Petunia gave Lily the briefest of hugs before stepping away very quickly. To Lily's surprise, there were tears in both their eyes; it was the most heartwarming good-bye she had ever received from her sister since their split years ago.

"Thanks, Tuney," said Lily quietly as she wiped the wetness away from her eyes.

Petunia gave her a tentative smile and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could get anything out, the train horn gave a long, blaring blast of noise, catching Petunia's words and tossing them away. Lily reflexively covered her ears from the noise, and whatever small chance there was at hearing her sister vanished.

"Lily! That's the signal – hurry!"

Her mother rushed over to where the two girls stood and urged Lily into the single open door left just as the train started to move. Her parents each kissed her quickly on the cheek, and Lily could do nothing as Petunia stood behind them, watching the train with a blank expression on her face. Lily tried to yell over the din of the other families saying good-bye, but Petunia did not notice, leaving Lily to wonder just what would it be like next –

Too late. The platform disappeared from sight as the Hogwarts Express rounded the corner.

Lily did not move for a moment, still trying to make sense of that closed expression on Petunia's face. She was so close to bridging the gap separating the two of them … if only …

The blackness covering the windows suddenly shattered as the train burst out into the rolling fields and bright blue sky, the sunlight slicing through any leftover darkness and spilling across Lily's skin. Slowly the muffled chatter from the compartments made their way through to her ears, and it only took a moment to remember that she needed to find a seat quickly. She did not feel the urgent need to hurry along, so Lily took her time as she secured her bag and Crackerjack's basket before turning around and searching the compartments for a friendly face.

Almost as soon as she did that, two tiny little first years – a boy and a girl who looked so much alike they could not be anything but twins – flew past her, giggling and jumping around joyously. The boy held what looked like a furiously struggling Fanged Frisbee above his head, laughing at the girl who tried her best to jump up and reach it, but the boy did a very good job keeping the Fanged Frisbee just out of reach. Soon enough, they had disappeared farther along, but Lily stared after them.

It felt so weird to think back to the time when Lily herself could act as carefree as those two children acted. Was it just a little while ago when she could have laughed like that? Did there actually used to be a time when Lily could forget the world in her fun? After Stoughton died in front of her, Lily's lips had firmly refused to let a giggle slip through, and quite honestly, every time an opportunity for laughter presented itself, the memory of Stoughton's wide, staring eyes filled her mind, smothering any wisp of cheerfulness Lily might have felt.

Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts and, after taking a deep breath, made her way through the train cars. Unfortunately, so far none of the compartments had anybody sitting inside whom Lily would feel inclined to join, but that did not mean that there were not familiar faces. In one of the first cars she passed, Kingsley Shacklebolt sat with a group of other friends from Gryffindor, a perfect badge pinned to his robes. In another compartment, Lily spotted a group of Slytherins, including Regulus Black and Lycoris Mulciber.

"Lily?" asked a quiet voice from behind her, and Lily jumped, reaching for her wand before realizing it was only Severus.

"Sev, it's you," said Lily with relief.

She quickly went in for a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend. As Severus gently returned the gesture, Lily whispered, "I've missed you, Sev."

She felt Severus sigh as he replied, "I've missed you too."

After several more seconds like that, Lily finally released her friend from the hug, though her hand still lingered on his arm as she said, "I'm sorry that we weren't able to get together more during the summer, Sev. I just …"

Lily was not sure how to finish that sentence. There was simply no way to explain how much Stoughton's face had haunted her throughout the entire summer, how she could not bring herself to plaster a fake smile on her face and lay with Severus in their shaded groove as if nothing had ever happened. She knew it was silly – Severus would understand why her attitude had taken such a drastic turn, but still: something held her back from spilling to her closest friend.

"It's okay," said Severus, squeezing her hand to reassure her. "The Mulcibers had invited me to stay with them for several weeks in July anyways."

"Oh," said Lily, eyebrows raised in surprise. "So … how much time have you been spending with them?"

She had not meant what she said to be combative, but she could not think of any other way to phrase it. And Severus was not stupid – he knew how she felt regarding his less-than-amicable Slytherin friends. They were tearing Severus into two different people: the boy from the house down the road and the boy who was slowly being drawn into a world where love and loyalty were replaced with anger and vengeance. However, no matter how hard Lily begged in the past for Severus to forget about the likes of Mulciber and Avery, her words had yet to be heard.

"It's not like that, Lily," said Severus earnestly. "They're actually pretty cool once you get to know them –"

"Know them?" said Lily sharply. "I don't want to – they don't want me to know them, Sev. They hate me – I'm Muggle-born, remember?"

Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he said, "I know, Lils, I know. But they're my friends too. I can't just walk away – please, Lily, please just try to understand from where I'm coming from.

Lily closed her eyes. In reality, she understood better than Severus did: Mulciber and the rest of his friends had welcomed him into their tight-knit little circle, and as a result, they had taken advantage of Severus's gratitude and twisted it until Severus was convinced that it was loyalty. He did not see just how carelessly Mulciber and Avery tossed him aside when in conversations at the banquet table – after all, anything was a step up from Severus's home life, and she knew that he would do anything to preserve his relationships.

But Lily could see.

And she did not like it one bit.

Severus, who must have interpreted Lily's silence for anger, defensively added, "Besides, what about Prewett and the rest of them."

"What about them?" asked Lily.

"They don't like me either, so what's the difference between Prewett and Lycoris?"

"The difference, Sev," explained Lily, and she had to calm her rising frustration with a deep breath before continuing, "Is that unlike Mulciber, Alice doesn't actively seek out Muggle-borns to hex when their back is turned, and Marlene doesn't walk around saying 'Mudblood' every time she sees me."

"Well," said Severus, and then he hesitated, as if trying to figure out what to say next. "Both you and Lycoris are forcing me to choose, Lily. Can't you see that? I mean, they really don't like it when I hang out with you."

"What are you saying, Sev?" asked Lily coolly. "You only want to be friends when nobody else is around to see us or something?"

"No!" said Severus quickly. "No, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I just … I don't know, Lily. I mean, I am a Slytherin – I sleep in the same dorm as Lycoris and Cadmus for Merlin's sake."

"So … you do just want to be friends only when nobody else is around to see us," repeated Lily.

"Don't say it like that, Lils," pleaded Severus. "It's just … I don't want to get on the other Slytherins' bad sides."

Lily exhaled loudly before saying, "Fine – just remember what friends are actually there for. I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts then, Sev."

With those final words, she turned around and left, leaving Severus standing alone just outside the Slytherin compartment. At first, Lily did not even notice the tear welling up in her eye, but as soon as she noticed it, she wiped it away before it could trace its way down her cheek – it was not worth the tears, she told herself.

As hard as Lily tried to convince herself that there was nothing Severus could do about his fellow housemates, she simply could not. Yes, Severus slept and ate with them, but it was not like students were forced to spend every waking hour with the other students in their house – she certainly did not want to spend every waking with all her housemates, Potter and Black being the main ones. At some point, she knew that Severus had chosen to spend time with the likes of Mulciber and Avery, and that was the part Lily had trouble comprehending. Thankfully, Lily's gloomy thoughts were cut short when she finally reached the one carriage that she knew she would be welcome.

Alice had been saving her a seat a few cars down, and as soon as Lily came into the view of her three friends lounging about in their compartment, Alice jumped up to greet her with a squeak soon followed with "Lily!" The next thing she knew, Alice had leaped forward to give Lily a tight hug.

"Hey, Alice," said Lily quietly, giving her best friend a pat on the back. "Glad you saved me a seat."

Alice finally released her and stepped back, grinning from ear to ear, and there was a bit of a shock as Lily realized that there was something drastically different about her friend now. She still had the same springy curls that had always jumped around her round, cheerful face, but Alice must have decided during the summer that it was yet again time for a change.

"I – you – you're a brunette," stuttered Lily, peering at Alice's newly dark brown locks.

"Do you like it?" asked Alice happily, flipping back a stray wisp of hair. "I decided that it was time for a change. My mum is amazing when it comes to whipping up hair potions. I wanted the permanent kind so that I wouldn't have to use it every day."

"It's different," admitted Lily, "But it looks nice."

Thankfully, Marlene and Mary, who had been sitting quietly on the bench opposite Alice, remained more or less the same. Mary seemed to have gained a bit of weight over the summer, and Marlene was now wearing make-up, but for the most part, they were just as Lily had left them – which also now meant that Lily was now the only Gryffindor girl who did not have brown hair.

"What's the matter, Lily? You're making that face again – did you run into Snape or something?" asked the ever-astute Marlene, eyeing her from above the most recent edition of Witch Weekly.

"Face? What face?" asked Lily.

"That face," said Marlene, nodding at her with emphasis. "The face you make whenever you just finished an argument with Snape."

"It wasn't a …"

Here, Lily trailed off. She wanted to say that it was not an argument, just as she did whenever her roommates (chiefly Marlene) brought up the subject of her unconventional friendship with Severus, but an argument was the only word Lily could think of to describe the recent conversation between her and Severus.

"I would not call it an argument per se –" started Lily, but she could not get the rest of her explanation out because Marlene had interrupted her.

"Why do you still hang out with him, Lily? Can't you see what he's becoming?" demanded Marlene. She closed her copy of Witch Weekly and set it off to the side, marking just how invested she was in getting her point across to Lily.

"It's not like that, Marlene –" said Lily, but once again, Marlene interrupted her.

"Yes, it is exactly like that!" said Marlene, and Crackerjack, who had been asleep in his basket, shot his head up at Marlene's argumentative tone and hissed at the interruption. "He practically worships the ground Mulciber and Avery walk on, and you should hear his tone when he talks about Muggles and Muggle-borns."

"I'm a Muggle-born!" protested Lily. "I think I would notice if he called me 'Mudblood' or something else like that."

"Yes, because you are his friend, Lily." stressed Marlene. "You are the one exception – you should see how he acts around other Muggle-borns."

"He's sneered at me several times," piped up Mary. She looked nervous about getting in between Marlene and Lily – Mary tended to shy away from fights – but the plump girl did not back down this time.

"Marlene's right, Lily," said Alice, though she was much less defensive than Marlene was. "You are the only exception when it comes to Snape – you've never seen that side of him."

"And you've never seen the side of him that I've seen," countered Lily. "He's my best friend, and I'm not just going to dump him aside because you guys think he's not a good person. Whatever is going on, it's between us. It's complicated and quite frankly none of your business. So let's change the subject, okay?"

When none of her friends said anything else about Severus, Lily silently sighed with relief and took a seat next to Alice. She placed Crackerjack's cage (after the argument had died down, the cat had once again nestled himself back into the blankets and curled up into a little ball to fall back asleep) on the seat next to her.

"So … how were all of your summers?" asked Alice in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

After giving Lily a stern look so as to let her know that the conversation was not finished, Marlene turned back to Alice and gave a casual wave of her hand as she said, "Same old, same old. After learning about Stoughton's death, Mum and Dad were hesitant to take my siblings and me anywhere since, y'know, if somebody can manage to kill Stoughton, even if it wasn't right under Dumbledore's eye, then nobody's safe."

Lily had really been hoping that they would stay off the topic of Stoughton. Her entire summer had been filled with the haunting memory of Stoughton's horrible screams and those terrifying blank eyes, but Lily had been hoping that a return to Hogwarts, where she would be in the company of friends, might provide a welcome distraction and keep her life too busy for Lily to dwell on Stoughton's murder. She did not want the conversation to take an immediate, direct turn to Stoughton – she would even prefer to talk to Potter about his Quidditch matches rather than discuss Stoughton's death.

"Yeah, Grandmamma wasn't too thrilled to learn I had been in the castle when Stoughton died," said Mary. "She was talking to my parents about –"

"Can we not talk about Stoughton?" interrupted Lily.

Her voice may have been quieter than usual, but all three of her friends heard it quite clearly. The sudden request seemed to surprise them, and while Marlene and Mary exchanged confused looks, Alice gazed at Lily with an abstruse expression that, for a moment, broke away from her normally flippant and cheerful attitude. However, when none of them got any more from Lily, they must have realized that she did not want to talk about Stoughton.

"So …" said Mary, obviously trying to think of a topic that was not so sensitive, "… who's excited to visit Hogsmeade?"

Thankfully for Lily, nobody mentioned Stoughton again for the rest of the train ride, and while the incident still lingered in the back of her mind, Lily was able to join the conversation which had turned to a much happier conversation concerning Honeydukes (which was what Mary was looking forward to most of all in Hogsmeade), Zonko's Joke Shop (where Alice wanted to go first when they finally got there), and the Three Broomsticks (Marlene's top place to visit). As Lily had never been to Hogsmeade, she just wanted to visit anything and everything she could.

"I hear that the Shrieking Shack has become quite the attraction," said Alice, munching on a Pumpkin Pasty she had bought when the trolley made its rounds. "The curiosity hasn't died down, and now even the national newspapers have noticed it. You wouldn't believe some of the rumors that've been circulating – we need to see that when we have our first Hogsmeade visit."

"We do?" asked Mary nervously.

She did not look too keen on going to see the supposedly haunted building.

Alice defended her assertion in the typical Alice way, and the rest of train ride was spent much like that, and Lily was content to sit back and watch as Alice and Mary debated what could be gained if they were to visit the Shrieking Shack. They only stopped when Marlene pointed out that they did not necessarily have to spend the entire time in Hogsmeade together, and by then, the train had pulled into the station just as the four girls had finished pulling on their robes.

Lily grabbed her things and followed Marlene onto the platform with Alice right behind her and Mary trailing as the last one. Hagrid was there on the platform as usual, calling forward the first years, but Marlene quickly led them to the path with the other students to where the horseless carriages waited to carry them up to the castle – and that was when Lily froze.

Because the horseless carriages were no longer horseless.

Although "horse" was not exactly the name that Lily would give the strange creature standing in front of her, it was the closest animal Lily could think of to describe its shape. It had four legs and the same general bone structure as a horse had, but that was where the similarities ended. Each bone was clearly distinguishable under the thin but glossy black coat, and the creature lowered its dragon-like head as if it had sensed that Lily could see it, peering at her with expressionless and pupil-less white eyes that sent shivers down her spine. Enormous, bat-like wings sprouted from the back, and the tail flicked impatiently as it waited for people to get into the carriage.

"Lily?" asked Alice as Marlene opened the door to the carriage. "Aren't you coming?"

Her eyes had passed over the creature as if it was not even there, much to Lily's confusion.

"What?" Lily asked blankly, still focused on the thing standing in front of her.

"I asked if you were coming?" repeated Alice.

She approached Lily cautiously.

"What's wrong?" she asked in an undertone so as not to draw the attention.

Lily looked between Alice and the creature for a moment before asking, "Can't you see it?"

"See what?"

"See that," emphasized Lily, pointing directly at the horse. Alice followed Lily's hand with her eyes, but instead of the same surprise that Lily felt, there was only blank confusion, which served only to deepen Lily's own confusion.

"Umm … I'll just wait in the carriage, shall I?" said Alice hesitantly, looking rather concerned, but at the same time she seemed unwilling to push an issue she could not even see. Without another word, she slowly and carefully made her way back to where Marlene and Mary waited, glancing back at Lily every couple of seconds as if concerned for her well-being.

Lily gazed at the creature, eyebrows now furrowed even deeper than before.

"What are you?" she wondered aloud in a soft voice, whether it was it was directed to the horse thing or merely saying her thoughts out loud, Lily was not quite sure.

A casual snort was her only response.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1973 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

"Remind me why the first years have to be Sorted before we can eat?" complained Sirius rather loudly as James and the other Marauders took their usual seats at the end of the Gryffindor table. "I mean, honestly, I'm absolutely starving."

"Well, it does no good to moan about it now, Sirius," said Remus. "It's only once a year, and I'm sure you'll survive."

James, however, was not paying attention Remus and Sirius's bickering in the slightest since his attention was currently drawn to somebody else in the Great Hall who had just taken a seat next to Prewett several spaces further up the table: Lily Evans.

He had not spoken with her since Stoughton's funeral at the end of last year, and he had only a last brief glimpse of her when his parents had picked him up from King's Cross earlier in the summer. Back when everybody was still reeling from the death of their teacher, Lily taken it the worst out of all their housemates as far as James could tell. She had been paler than any ghost in the castle following the tragedy, and while some of the color had returned to her cheeks, the shadows under her eyes told James that it had been a while since she had a decent night's sleep.

The beach had seemed like such a long time ago, and the place where Lily's arms had hugged him started to tingle at the memory as he watched the girl chatter away with her friends as if nothing had ever happened – but that was when James noticed that underneath the smile, there was still the grief she had let him witness. With a jolt, James realized that he had never even told his friends about the lake, but at the same time, he strangely did not want to tell anybody about that memory. He and Lily had shared that moment alone, and James had no wish to share it with anybody else.

As if sensing his eyes on her, Lily lifted her head, looking directly at James, and he felt something he had never felt before. A warmth trickled through his body as Lily held his gaze, and something akin to butterflies fluttered about his stomach when she gave him a small, almost unnoticeable smile that let him know she had not forgotten about the beach either before turning to say something to Marlene McKinnon.

Before any of his friends could notice that anything was off, however, the newest batch of first years entered the Great Hall, looking just as fascinated as the now-second years had.

"Did they shrink again?" asked Sirius, squinting at the tiny little first years. "I think Mama Poppy should invest in some Growth Draughts."

"I don't care how small they are," said Peter, staring at his empty plate with a sad pout. "I just want food."

The group reached the front, and it did not take long for the Sorting Hat to start singing:

You may curious why you're here,

Or you may already know.

To those who wonder, do not fret,

For I am not your foe.

You see, it began a thousand years ago

When Hogwarts had just started,

Four Founders took the challenge

That was not for the fainthearted.

But for all the magic and the joy,

One question still remained:

How to teach them and to sort them

So order could be maintained.

To answer this,

The four Founders parted

To pick their own among the children,

And thus the houses were created.

It was Gryffindor who took the noble

And only taught the brave

To enrich the thoughts, to dare to try,

And never once let their wills cave.

Fair Ravenclaw, she chose the clever

To challenge minds while young.

Never once has there been a Ravenclaw

Without an answer on their tongue.

Shrewd Slytherin, he picked the pure

And highly prized ambition.

Be careful of those Slytherins,

And never block a mission.

Sweet Hufflepuff, she valued loyalty

But did not ignore the rest.

For Badgers are and shall always be

That friend who stands by you with every test.

These students that the founders picked:

Magic filled them, from fingers all the way to bone.

So now you know and soon will join

A house to call your own.

James applauded with the other students in the Great Hall, but that did nothing to curb the growing hunger in his stomach. Except for the song, the start-of-term routine was the same as it had always been once Professor McGonagall started calling names for their owners to step forward, and to be honest, it did not hold much fascination for him anymore, save the hissing for the first boy to be Sorted into Slytherin ("Burke, Hamish,") but even that was not as fun as it could have been. As he watched Bartemius Crouch take a seat at the Ravenclaw table, James suddenly remembered what he was forgetting.

"Do you have the potion, Remus?" he whispered.

James could not believe that he had almost forgotten: they had finally agreed upon a good prank to start the term. However, unlike last year, this prank was very selective in who were the targets and as such, James could not just sneak into the kitchens and spike a couple of random goblets. They needed to wait for everybody to be seated before taking action.

"Wha – oh, yeah!"

Remus discretely pulled out a bottled potion that glowed a faint green, showing it to the other three. Even though Remus had the best luck with potions of the four of them, they had decided to stick with a simple potion that Remus was tasked with brewing over the summer. James glanced around to make sure everybody was still focused on the Sorting before he subtly pulled the Invisibility Cloak from his pocket, careful to keep it hidden under the table, and seeing that small motion, Remus dutifully slipped under the table as well. James felt the Cloak leave his hands, but Remus did not come back up – he had a different job to do, so James simply turned back to the Sorting, pretended to be interested in it while he was really ticking down until Remus had completed the task.

"Do you think that little girl up there is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" whispered Sirius as Professor McGonagall called forward "Mull, Georgina," leaning forward and nodding up at the teacher's table. At first, James thought that Sirius was joking and pointing at one of the first years, but then he spotted the face his best friend was pointing out, and it became abundantly clear that Sirius was quite … well, serious.

The two professors that had taught Defense Against the Dark Arts so far had both looked the part, Banks with her crew-cut and severe demeanor while Stoughton just had an all-around toughness going for him, but the woman sitting in what had once been Professor Stoughton's chair looked like anything except a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor – in fact, she barely looked like a professor at all. If James had not seen her sitting up at the teachers' table wearing robes that, rather than his own black ones, were royal blue and gold, he would have mistaken her for one of the students.

"If Dumbledore's been recruiting from a daycare, then I s'pose so," snorted James.

"Either way, at least we're getting a looker this time," shrugged Sirius as if that was the only thing that mattered in a teacher.

That part was true at least. Whatever her age was, the woman was still stunning. Her long mahogany curls framed a perfectly round cherub-like face with full lips and wide, innocent eyes, and she had covered everything in impeccably applied make-up. While bright red lipstick might have made most people look more like clowns than anything else, she somehow managed to get it to contrast flawlessly with her pale face.

"She looks like she's ten years old!" squeaked Peter.

"She looks hot," defended Sirius.

"She looks five," said James.

He glanced around at the other students, some of whom had also spotted their young professor, and they appeared to share James's impression, snickering and pointing at the woman who looked ridiculous sitting only two seats away from Dumbledore, and she would only look even more ludicrous when Professor McGonagall sat down next to her, which James's Transfiguration professor did after the last first year had been Sorted.

Dumbledore stood up, spreading his arms wide and beaming at all of them.

"There are announcements that I have for you all, but I do not believe that now is the time to announce them. Now, I'm sure all of you are very hungry, so bon-appetite."

"FINALLY!" yelled Sirius as he dove right into the chicken wings, dumping at least five on his plate, much to the amusement of several onlookers. With his mouth stuffed, he managed to say, "I'b 'en atin' 'or dith all 'ay."

Suddenly, James felt something press against his leg, and he swiped the Invisibility Cloak and stuffed it back into his pocket, eyeing others in the immediate vicinity to make sure nobody noticed that anything was amiss. Across from him, Remus crawled back out from under the table and mouthed, "Done."

That was when he noticed how much food Sirius had piled on his own plate, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"How about you swallow your food before you talk, Sirius. That way we can actually understand what you're saying, and you aren't spitting your food all over my food," he pointed out, wrinkling his nose as he pulled his plate a little farther away from Sirius so that his food that he had only just finished taking from the huge platters remained untainted.

"'orry," said Sirius. After swallowing, he added, "I said that I've been waiting for this all day."

When the time came for the food to disappear, James leaned back in his seat, much more satisfied now that he was stuffed with potatoes and roast beef. Beside him, Sirius had quit his whining and watched with his cheek resting on his fist as Professor Dumbledore rose to address everybody present. It was much easier to listen to the headmaster when his thoughts no longer dwelled on food.

"Welcome to another fun-filled year at Hogwarts!" said Dumbledore as he stood up, calling the Great Hall to attention to attention once again. It took only a few extra moments for the chatter to calm down as the students turned to face the headmaster. "I trust you all enjoyed another excellent feast, and now the time has come at last for those announcements, but don't worry, you'll be in your cozy beds before long, I assure you.

"Now, many of you remember that last year we lost one of our beloved teachers," continued Dumbledore, and his voice took on a more somber tone. "Professor Stoughton was arguably one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers you could have ever had, but while I am sure many of you still grieve for him, you will now have an opportunity to learn from another great teacher."

Here, he gestured to the doll-like woman sitting next to Professor McGonagall.

"Let us all give a warm welcome Professor Rawlings, who has kindly agreed to step up as our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

The students clapped as Professor Rawlings rose out of her seat to acknowledge Dumbledore with a nod and a small but visible smile playing across her lips. When she stood up straight, James was able to get a better view of their newest teacher. She was short, but her proportions were well-balanced and her movements graceful. Several boys, including Sirius, chuckled and wolf whistled at her. Professor Rawlings ignored them save for a flicker of annoyance James detected, though McGonagall openly made her disproval clear when she glared in the direction the wolf whistles had come from.

Dumbledore continued as if nothing had happened.

"I know you will all appreciate Professor Rawlings's lessons. I've come across few witches as proficient as her in the area of defensive magic, and I am sure she has plenty to teach you all during the year that she will be with us."

"And she'll have at least one very willing student," snickered Sirius, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"And on another note: considering that there are some here who have forgotten the rules –" Here, his eyes found the Marauders, who did their best to try and not look guilty. "– please remember that the Forbidden Forest is still just as forbidden as it has always been. Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that there is a list of objects that are banned within the castle. I do believe that our caretaker has added another twenty objects since the end of last year, including things such as Whizzing Worms and Belch Powder."

"That cat's still here?" demanded Sirius, glaring at Mrs. Norris, who was currently curled up in Filch's arms. "Damn, I knew we should have owled the Pest Advisory Bureau when we had the chance."

Several times the four of them had caught that annoying, little hairball following them around the castle, and James was certain that Filch had put her up to it. If forced to choose between Mrs. Norris and Crackerjack, James would have gone with Lily's cat every time – which was definitely saying something considering that Crackerjack felt as kindly towards him as he felt towards the cat.

"And I do believe that's all I have to say. Prefects, if you could kindly lead the first years up to your common rooms, that would be greatly appreciated."

"Good luck with that," chuckled Remus, holding up the now empty potion bottle that had once contained a Forgetfulness Potion. "They'll have to remember where the common room is first."


Note: Lily did not see the Thestrals at the end of her second year for the same reason Harry did not see them at the end of his fourth year.