Previously: Severus visits the Lestrange Manor, and the only thing he can think about is how much he misses Lily. Lily comes home from the World Cup and finds out that her dad has cancer. The Death Eaters attack Manchester. James worries for his elderly parents, who were called in to help.
Chapter 48: Fourth Years
This was the first time in recent memory that the Potter household was silent the morning of September 1st.
The day that Mr. and Mrs. Potter had left to lend their aid to the Aurors in Manchester, James had spent the entire morning pacing while Sirius mutely ate the breakfast that Dilly had prepared for them. When several hours had passed, James finally accepted that it would be awhile before his parents returned, so he and Sirius spent the rest of the day trying to distract themselves with whatever games they could think of. True to his word, Dilly had taken it upon himself to be their personal bodyguard and stuck to both like a shadow while the boys thought of ways to keep their minds off James's parents.
However, neither of their hearts were in any of the games that they played: they had not bothered to keep score during the one-on-one Quidditch game and Sirius did not even argue when James beat him at Exploding Snap. They were both too worried.
It was no secret that Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were getting on in their years. Mr. Potter had decided to take himself off Magic Shield missions a while ago, dedicating himself instead to working behind the scenes where he could still help organize and direct but was no longer involved in executing specific operations. His father had hated it, but both of his parents had agreed that due to their old age, they would be more of a hindrance than anything out in the field. Mrs. Potter was the same way – she certainly had plenty of experience with magical creatures, but just like his father, Mrs. Potter had spent more time at the Ministry recently than she had out in the wild.
It was because of this that James worried for his parents. Though he was sure his parents' skills had not dulled, their age would be the biggest threat for them out there. And if the situation was so bad that Dumbledore felt the need to call upon his parents, then it must have been worse than Mrs. Potter had let on.
His parents did not return home until early the next morning, and once James had released a sigh of relief that both of his parents had made it through the battle alive, he realized that though his parents survived with only some scratches and bruises, their demeanor told an entirely different story. As James silently assessed his parents, one of Stoughton's very first lessons floated through his mind.
… the most painful scars are the ones people can't see …
James had never really comprehended what Stoughton had meant when he first said that, but now, looking at the identical haunted looks in both of his parents' eyes, James could finally understand the full implications of Stoughton's words. Upon seeing them, Mrs. Potter had grabbed both boys and firmly pulled them into a hug, but as he felt his mother's arms tremble against him, James suspected that the hug was more for her than for them. Mr. Potter had quickly joined in.
"Oh, boys … I can't tell you how glad I am that both of you are safe," Mrs. Potter had whispered.
That was several days ago, and even as James and Sirius prepared for their fourth year at Hogwarts, James's parents had remained quiet, only speaking when needed and to let James and Sirius know how much they were loved. James had more conversations with Dilly than both of his parents combined.
Now, as they stood on the platform in front of the Hogwarts Express, the good-bye from his parents was graver and more serious than any of his previous departures. Both of his parents' hugs lasted longer than normal, but James let it slide – he was just glad that his parents were alive. When Mrs. Potter turned to give Sirius the same hug, she embraced him and kissed his cheek just as she had done for James. Mr. Potter had also forgone his usual good-bye in the form of a handshake for James's best friend, instead pulling him into a tight hug as well.
When Mrs. Potter stepped back, she cupped both James's and Sirius's cheeks, looking them squarely in the eye with a tearful smile as she whispered, "We love both of you so much – never forget that. Now get going before you miss the train, boys."
With that, she ushered them into the train, and once both James and Sirius had all their things together, Mr. Potter shut the door behind them. James glanced out the window where both his parents were waving good-bye before Sirius nudged him forward, whispering, "C'mon, Remus said he got here early and would be saving us a compartment."
So with that final wave, James sighed and turned to head down the train's corridor.
Though they were not the first ones on the train by any means, they had arrived before the final rush. James had no difficulty navigating the hallway. Rather than having to push through the usual crowd like usual, James was able to walk straight most of the time, needing only move to the side to allow other people to pass once in a while.
It did not take long to find Remus. He was sitting all alone in a compartment and, as usual, had several of the Animagus textbooks spread out on the seats, thoroughly combing each one. James was pleased to see the tops of several bottles poking out of a bag next to Remus, full of the potion that Remus had volunteered to make for their start-of-term prank. Not surprisingly, Remus made more than they had planned for.
Of course, James knew that more was always better when it came to pranks – and Merlin, did he need a good, old-fashioned prank right now.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1974 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
The Hogwarts Express whistled loudly as Lily quickly pulled her trunk into the storage car with some help from her mother (both had refused Mr. Evans's help when he offered, instead tasking him with loading a much smaller and lighter suitcase next to it). Only when her things were tucked securely in the car did Lily stand up to say good-bye to her parents – Petunia had refused to go with them this time, so Lily had already received her sister's half-hearted and uncaring wave good-bye before they left the house while Petunia busily prepared herself for a trip to London, where she would begin a typing course.
"Goodbye, Lily," said her mother, hugging her daughter as she whispered in her ear, "Good luck with your schoolwork. Show them that it doesn't take magical parents to excel."
Lily smiled into her mother's shoulder, responding in a whisper so that her father would not overhear: "I will, Mum – please let me know how Dad's doing." before releasing her mother.
Mrs. Evans's eyes crinkled as she held her daughter's face in her arms and said, "I promise, sweetheart. I love you so much."
"I love you too," said Lily quietly, and after her mother was finished, she turned to her father, and though she managed to hold in the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, it took conscious effort on Lily's part. Mr. Evans faced the same dilemma, but he did allow one tear to break through, and Lily watched as it traced its way all the way to the bottom of his chin before gravity took over and it fell to the floor.
"Dad…" started Lily, but she was at a loss for words.
Lily knew that she had to eventually board the train where her friends no doubt waited for her, but a part of Lily did not want to leave her father knowing that once she left, her father would once again jump back into the battle against his cancer. The doctors themselves had said that they still had to wait and see what the cancer did, and it was that fear of not knowing whether her father would survive this that held her back. She knew that her education was important, but at the same time, Lily knew that her father needed his whole family if he was going to fight this.
Her father must have read the hesitation in Lily's eyes because he quickly pulled his youngest in for a hug and held her tightly as he said, "Don't worry about me, Lilykins. I'll be fine. You belong at Hogwarts, not at my bedside waiting on me hand and foot. Now go – you have magic to learn."
This time, Lily could not hold in her tears as she smiled and said for the last time, "I love you, Daddy."
Her father's response was cut off when the Hogwarts Express gave one final whistle, and Mrs. Evans hurriedly shuffled Lily onto the train before she missed it. Once her mother was satisfied that her daughter had not forgotten anything, she closed the door just as the train started to pull away. Lily quickly pressed herself against the glass, waving at her parents who watched as the train chugged slowly past. They waved back at Lily, who mouthed, "I love you." However, she was not sure whether or not her parents saw because the train did not take long to pick up speed, and within ten seconds, the platform disappeared from view.
With one last wistful sigh, Lily picked up Crackerjack's basket, tucking it safely in her arms and throwing the strap of her bag over her shoulder before setting off to find out which compartment the other Gryffindor girls had chosen.
The corridors were packed full of students, and while there was a fair amount of the usual first-day-back greetings, there were also plenty of hushed conversations about the recent attacks in Manchester. Even though normal mail could arrive on any day during the week, the Daily Prophet ran on a very tight schedule, and she had been too busy worrying about her father and packing for school to sit down and read the Prophet. That meant that Lily still did not know much about the attacks aside from the viewpoints presented by the Muggle media, but considering that Marlene was just as meticulous in following actual news as she was at staying up-to-date on all the latest gossip in Witch Weekly, Lily did not doubt that Marlene would have today's newspaper with her, and with it, updates on the attack.
"Lily! Hey – Lily!"
Lily stopped and turned around to see Terry Abbott trying to break through the crowd to get to where she was. However, it proved a struggle for him since there were simply too many students trying to find a decent place to sit. Some people gave Terry dirty looks as he squeezed past them, and judging by their annoyed responses, his apologies were wasted on them. Finally, although he nearly sent of poor second year toppling, Terry managed to reach Lily.
"Hey," he said breathlessly.
"Hey, yourself," replied Lily with a confused smile.
Although Terry was still a little pink-faced, he appeared to have gotten over his nerves during the summer because he hastily withdrew a folded-up piece of parchment from his jacket pocket and quickly handed it to Lily, who opened it.
A million stars up in the sky
One shines brighter, I can't deny.
A love so precious, a love so true,
Love that comes from me to you.
Lily smiled to herself as she silently read the words before gently folding the parchment back up and slipping it into her pocket.
Terry, seeing that she had finished reading it, hesitantly added, "So are we still on? First Hogsmeade weekend? I was thinking that the Three Broomsticks would be a good place to start … unless, of course, you don't like Three Broomsticks. Although if you don't like Three Broomsticks, then we might have a problem – sorry, that came out wrong! I meant that as a joke – Merlin, I'm rambling now – so sorry –"
"We are still on for first Hogsmeade weekend – and yes, Three Broomsticks sounds fantastic," interrupted an amused Lily. "Thank you for the poem – it's really sweet. I have to go – my friends are saving me a seat. But I promise that I will see you later."
Lily stood on her tiptoes to give Terry a quick peck on the cheek and a coy, flirtatious smile. She gently squeezed his hand once before turning and flouncing away, resuming her search for her friends.
She finally reached the compartment where Alice, Marlene, and Mary were sitting and wasted no time in entering. While she had seen Alice and Marlene just a little while ago at the World Cup, she had not seen Mary since the end of last year. Thankfully, she had not changed that much. The girl had cut her hair into a bob, was a little plumper than when Lily had seen her last, and had taken to wearing make-up, but other than that she was still sweet, little Mary.
"There you are, Lily! We were worried that you missed the train," said Alice, immediately standing up to help when she noticed Lily struggling with the door handle as she tried to balance Crackerjack's basket.
"Almost, but not quite," said Lily as she placed Crackerjack's basket on the seat and closed the door before letting her cat out.
"Surprised that you could recognize Alice at all," said Mary, nodding up to Alice's locks.
Lily's friend had informed her that she had used one of the hair-straightening potions on her hair. Though Alice still had not relinquished control to her natural hair color – it was the same dark brown as last year – she had decided to straighten her voluminous curls until they hung stick-straight, falling around her shoulders in a perfect, unbroken line. Lily and Marlene, of course, had seen it at the Quidditch World Cup, but it was still new to Mary.
Alice beamed and flipped her hair back proudly as she said, "I was getting bored with the curls."
"Honey, you're always getting bored with something," said Marlene before turning to Lily and smiling warmly as she said, "Hey, Lily."
Lily nodded to the copy of the Daily Prophet sitting next to Marlene and asked, "If you're done with that, Marlene, could I see it – I haven't been able to read much news since the attack."
"Oh, the attack?" asked Alice as Marlene handed Lily the paper. "Yeah, my parents were talking about it for a while. It's absolutely horrible. Fabian and Gideon have been working overtime at the Auror's office and …"
Lily let Alice's words flow over her ears as she concentrated on the article splattered across the front page.
HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND HIS DEATH EATERS IGNITE WAR IN MANCHESTER
By Arnold Wiltz
The residents of Manchester are still reeling from the attack that occurred late Saturday night and continued on into early Monday morning. While authorities are still piecing together the events both leading up to and during the attack itself, details are continuing to emerge as the investigation continues.
Eyewitness accounts state that at approximately 2:00 am, a group of giants entered the city and proceeded to cause as much destruction as they could, abruptly waking many people from their sleep and forcing them to flee. Those same accounts also claim that Dementors accompanied the giants, though the Ministry has still declined to answer if the Dementors were among those stationed at Azkaban prison or if the Death Eaters had brought them in from outside the country. Whatever the case may be, the giants in the first wave are believed to be responsible for roughly sixty-five percent of the deaths so far, and at least three people, all of whom are Muggles, have been confirmed victims of the Dementor's Kiss.
Within an hour, the Auror's Office at the Ministry of Magic was alerted and arrived at the city as quickly as they could. In addition to the Aurors, several other ordinary wizards and witches, some who lived around Manchester and others who had been alerted through other means by friends and family, stepped in to help the Aurors in whatever way they could. Some were in charge of evacuating both Muggle and magical families while the large majority focused on driving the Dementors and giants back.
However, several hours after the initial attack, groups of Death Eaters arrived to reinforce their ranks and help the giants and Dementors get rid of the Aurors and their allies, leaving the Aurors to fight three different enemies at once: Death Eaters, giants, and Dementors. Much of Sunday comprised of the two sides battling it to a stalemate, and even though more and more people arrived to help both sides as the word spread throughout the day, neither side gained the upper hand for a long time.
"It was so scary," recalls Ms. Gabriella Hinks, 24, who lives in Manchester and was one of the witches who stayed behind to help the Aurors, "The Muggles didn't know what was going on, the Dementors were affecting my thoughts, it took fifteen wizards and witches to kill just one giant, and I'm still not sure how I managed to evade all those spells that the Death Eaters were throwing at me – I'm pretty sure it was just dumb luck that none of the Unforgivable Curses hit me."
It was only when Ms. Millicent Bagnold, 57 and Head of the Auror Office, who many are praising for her quick thinking, reached out to other countries for assistance that the Aurors started to gain the upper hand, and by early Monday morning, much of the forces backing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named decided to withdraw from Manchester, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief when they realized the worst was over.
So far, at least twenty-nine wizards and witches have been among those confirmed dead, though authorities are saying that they still have plenty of rubble that has yet to be combed through, and there is no doubt that the death toll will rise.
Lily stopped reading there. She reread the last paragraph, but when she realized that she had read all the words correctly, her anger swiftly mounted. The last she heard, eighty-seven people had died in the attack, but it was quite clear that the Daily Prophet did not even bother to count the number of Muggles killed in the attack. She should not have been surprised – since when did the Daily Prophet focus on Muggle deaths anyways?
"I'm glad that this Arnold Wiltz bloke wrote the article – Betty Braithwaite wouldn't criticize the Ministry if they murdered her pet Crup right in front of her," said Marlene when she noticed that Lily had finished with the paper and put it aside.
"I noticed that," agreed Alice as she rummaged through her bag to pull out some sweets. "Dad says that the Prophet has glossed over a lot of important things recently. At least they reported on the Manchester attack – Dad honestly didn't know if they would cover it or not since it makes the Ministry look weak when they ask for other countries to send in help."
Lily snorted, and the other girls stared at her.
Seeing the confusion in each of their faces, Lily said, "They still didn't cover all of the attack. At least eighty-seven Muggles have been confirmed dead – the Prophet left that little detail out of their report."
Neither Alice nor Marlene came up with anything to respond to her statement, both just staring at each other in awkward silence. Mary tried to hide behind Marlene's copy of Witch Weekly, though it was obvious that she was clearly not interested in whatever the latest gossip was, as her eyes darted back and forth between Lily and Marlene, waiting for the argument to start. Alice tried to open her mouth, no doubt to try to break the silence, but the words died on her lips before she could get them out.
The silence continued until it was time to change into their school robes, which gave them the opportunity to breach another, less serious topic (it happened to be Alice's crush, Frank Longbottom), but as Lily pulled her arm through one of her sleeves, it was obvious that they all were still preoccupied with the devastation the Manchester attack had created no matter how much they teased a pink-faced Alice about who should be the maid of honor at Alice and Frank's future wedding.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1974 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
It felt like a punch to Severus's gut when he watched from afar as Lily laughed at something Prewett said, her small teeth flashing in the light of the lanterns provided by the carriages. He used to be the only one who make her laugh that carefree, infectious laugh that could always lift his spirits no matter where they were, but that was back when it was only the two of them against the world. Now, at Hogwarts, things were different: Lily had become good friends with all her roommates, his own friends disapproved of his relationship with her, and she in turn disapproved of his relationship with them.
Severus gave a wistful sigh as he watched Lily help Macdonald into the carriage with the rest of her friends, disappearing from view.
"Looks like Hogwarts is still keeping its resident Greaseball around, Sirius," said a familiar voice from behind him, and its owner did not bother to quiet his tone.
Severus bristled at the voice.
Years of torment had honed his reflexes to beyond that of an ordinary fourth year, and his wand was out of his pocket before Severus had even finished turning all the way around. Without any hesitation, he pointed it directly into the face of one of his most hated enemies: James Potter and the rest of his gang.
However, Potter was just as quick with his own wand while Black, who was by no means slow, leaped to assist his friend.
"What 'cha doing, Snivellus?" sneered Potter as he extended his wand arm far enough that his wand was only an inch or so from Severus's face. Beside him, Black's arm was not nearly as stiff but just as steady.
"Nothing that concerns you, Potter," said Severus coldly.
None of the boys refused to bow down and lower their wands, creating a triangle between them. Behind them, Severus saw that Lupin had quietly stepped aside, and though his face clearly indicated his level of discomfort with the current situation, he did nothing to stop it. Pettigrew stood only two feet behind Black, eagerly watching the exchange as he chewed his nails. Out of the corner of his eye, Severus saw Lily, who had not noticed that he was facing off with Potter and Black, climb into her carriage before closing the door behind her.
Severus quickly turned back to the Gryffindor boys, glaring at them with a renewed anger.
Black did not notice that Severus's gaze had momentarily wandered over to Lily's carriage, but as Potter discreetly followed Severus's line of sight, he caught sight of Lily's red hair just before the carriage jerked forward, carrying Severus's friend away to the castle. Severus watched his enemy's eyes narrow as Potter turned back to Severus, and Severus's heart dropped a couple inches in his chest – there was something new in Potter's eyes, and Severus could practically see Potter's mind working to connect the dots.
"Missing somebody, Snivellus?" said Potter. There was something else in his voice that was not the typical hostility Severus normally witnessed, but Severus could not quite put his finger on it.
Severus's heart dropped even more at the question, but he managed to cover it up with a sarcastic, "Only a little something called karma – I'm pretty sure she missed her visit to you while she was on her rounds."
Black gave a harsh bark of laughter before saying, "I think karma is too busy wiping off that grease you covered her with when she visited you."
By now, the threesome had started to draw quite the crowd, but Severus did not care much about the stares and whispers. He was too focused on Potter and Black, his wand practically begging him to curse the both of them back to the Stone Ages. Judging from the hatred in his enemies' faces, they wanted to do the exact same thing to him. All that the three of them needed was a catalyst to start the fight.
Unfortunately, that catalyst was slower than one of the prefects who, as soon as he saw what was happening, swiftly appeared by their sides.
"James, Sirius, lower your wands," ordered the prefect in a deep, slow voice. The prefect was a Gryffindor judging from the gold and red on his badge, and he looked to be in his final years at Hogwarts. If Severus was not so preoccupied with Potter and Black, he would have recognized the boy as one of the beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"You need to lower your wand too," said the prefect as he focused his attention on Severus himself.
Severus allowed himself to momentarily break the stare down with Black and Potter, and he glanced up at the prefect, who was giving him a disapproving stare. Severus refused to listen to the prefect though, and he kept his wand firmly trained on Potter and Black. Neither of the two Marauders had lowered their wands either.
"Now."
The prefect's commanding voice left no room for an argument, and, though he was clearly reluctant to do so, Potter did as he was told and slowly lowered his wand. When Black noticed his friend obeying the prefect, he followed suit, and only after Severus was satisfied that neither Potter nor Black were in a position to curse him did Severus relax his grip on his wand.
Determined to get the last word in, Severus spat through gritted teeth, "Looks like karma won't be paying you a visit today after all, Potter – though she'll be here any day now."
With that, he turned and marched away, flinging open the door of the first empty carriage he saw and slamming it shut with much more force than necessary, and soon, the carriage was carrying him off the castle where the rest of Slytherin house waited.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1974 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
James watched Snape leave, hatred bubbling in his stomach like acid. When they had first met on the train, all those years ago, James had taken an instant disliking to Snape, and after he had been Sorted into Slytherin, the dislike had only intensified. However, the hatred he had felt then was only because of the little grease ball's fascination with the Dark Arts and the company he kept at the Slytherin table, namely Mulciber and Avery. Sirius had shared James's feelings, and together, the two of them had gotten back at Snape.
Now, James felt a new emotion join the hatred, and it was only when he and his friends had passed under the doors leading to the Entrance Hall that he realized what it was.
Jealousy.
He knew it was crazy – why would James be jealous of a slime ball like Snape? Ever since he had joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team, James had enjoyed an immense level of popularity that Snape could only dream of, and plenty of girls had taken notice of him. Snape could not claim that he was in the same situation.
But Snape did have something that James only wished he had: a friendship with Lily Evans.
James could think of just one time when Lily had not looked at him with anger or disapproval. Though he was not sure if Lily remembered it herself, James knew that he would remember that moment they had shared on the beach after Stoughton's death for as long as he lived. But that was the only time he had been able to share with her – Snape had years with her, and from the way Snape's eyes followed Lily wherever she went, James had a sneaking suspicion that Snape fully enjoyed each and every second he spent with her.
"… James, did you hear what I said?" said Sirius's voice.
James was suddenly jerked from his thoughts, finding himself sitting at the Gryffindor table across from Sirius, who was looking at him with his eyebrows raised as if expecting an answer to something he said.
"What?" asked James blankly.
"I said: take a gander at our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," repeated Sirius, jerking his head in the direction on the High Table with a grin that was half-incredulous and half-amused.
James followed Sirius's line of sight and soon found out why Sirius was smiling in such a way: the only new professor looked to be about the same age as Dumbledore with twenty percent of his energy. His wizened skin sagged into the numerous wrinkles present on his face, and even from a sitting position, James could tell that he stooped whenever he stood up. There was no doubt in James's mind who owned the cane that was leaning against the wall.
"That's our new DADA professor?" asked James dubiously.
He looked at Sirius, hoping that it was just a prank that his friend was playing. After all, the bloke looked like he should have retired years ago – or died. However, when Sirius just nodded grimly at the exclamation, James sat back in his seat, completely stumped.
When Rawlings had first started as their teacher, James and Sirius had both doubted her abilities. But looking up at the ancient relic of a wizard, James could not see how their first impressions could be wrong about him. When it came to Rawlings, it was easy to see that, despite her age, she was brimming with energy. The new guy, however, did not even look up at any of the students, instead staring blearily at his plate and mumbling a couple of one-word answers when Professor Flitwick, who was sitting next to him, kindly asked him a question.
"Well," snorted James, "Looks like you're going to have to teach yourself DADA this year, Mo – where're Moony and Peter?"
Sirius rolled his eyes before saying, "They're down in the kitchens, duh. Someone has to slip Burping Beverages into the pumpkin juice – thankfully, McGee won't have to worry as much if Moony and Peter were missing as opposed to us. Y'know, you would have heard them tell us to save them seats if you weren't on such a giant unicorn cloud right now."
James shrugged apologetically. However, he did not respond to Sirius's comment because just then he caught sight of Lily, and he suddenly felt the familiar swoop of butterflies in his stomach.
Her green eyes still sparkled with amusement as her friend Prewett leaned over to whisper something in her ear, and her dark red hair caught the last of the sun's rays as she threw her head back to laugh at something else that McKinnon told the rest of them, white teeth flashing. She leaned over the table to respond to McKinnon's words, and James could not help but admire the soft curve of her shoulders.
"Evans!"
It took a moment for James to realize that he himself had called her name, and Lily turned to the sound of her name. When she saw that James had said it, though, her smile fell and was soon replaced with an annoyed frown.
"There should be a Hogsmeade visit sometime in October – go with me?" asked James eagerly.
"Are you still going on about that, Potter?" asked Lily, giving him a skeptical look.
James tried to think of a witty comment to respond with. But since his mind was blanking on him, James just gave her a shrug that was both hopeful and awkward.
"Then the answer is the same, Potter – no."
With that flat dismissal, Lily firmly turned her back on him and resumed the conversation with her friends, all of whom looked torn between pity and amusement – well, except for Mary Macdonald, who was staring at her plate as if willing her food to appear. Next to James, Sirius was giving him a bored look that plainly stated, "I don't know what else you were expecting," as the newest batch of first years filed into the Great Hall to be Sorted.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1974 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
"You would've thought that Potter had learned what 'no' means over the summer," muttered Lily as she watched the newest first years make their way up to where the Sorting Hat sat on its stool, waiting to sort them.
"C'mon, Lily," said Marlene quietly so that she did not drone out the Sorting Hat as it started to sing. "You don't think James Potter might feel just the smallest bit of affection for you? He seems to actually like you."
"Oh, yeah?" challenged Lily. "Then explain that to me without insulting my intelligence."
She nodded to a girl sitting a little further down at the Ravenclaw table – Lily was fairly certain that the girl's name was Silvanah Vane – who had just caught Potter's attention and gave him a little wave and a flirtatious, coy smile. Potter winked back before continuing a conversation with Black, who was sitting next to him. Silvanah, though, paused to give Lily a hard glare that was almost accusatory before turning back to the front of the Great Hall, where they had just started the Sorting with "Alderson, Bethany" becoming a Hufflepuff.
"Oh, please," said Marlene, "Silvanah Vane's just jealous because she knows that Potter will never choose her as his first choice. She's always been a bit jealous of every girl who has a steady boyfriend – you should have seen her face when Charity's boyfriend turned her down. I heard that the other Ravenclaw girls avoided the dormitory whenever possible for several weeks after that. Though I don't really know what Silvanah was thinking considering that the whole school knows that it's only a matter of time before Charity Mueller becomes Charity Burbage."
Lily did not feel like pointing out that just because Marlene made it her mission to stay updated on all the latest gossip, that did not mean that the rest of them did. Actually, this was the first time that Lily had heard Charity got herself a boyfriend, but she decided to keep the conversation from straying off topic.
"Well, Silvanah can have Potter for all I care – if I could, I'd even put a little bow on Potter and hand-deliver him to the Ravenclaw dormitory myself. The sooner Potter stops asking me to Hogsmeade, the sooner I can continue with my life."
"But are you absolutely positive that you want Potter to stop asking you out?" asked Alice. "I mean, you have to admit that Potter and Black are some of the best-looking guys you're ever going to meet."
Lily let her glare answer for her.
Okay, I admit – I didn't write that poem either.
