Previously: Much to Lily's embarrassment, Marlene forces an interrogation of her new boyfriend to make sure he's good for Lily. Terry passes. Lily is angry with James for interrupting her and Terry's first kiss. Remus mentions to James and Sirius that Lily hates it when they jinx Snape because he and Lily are much better friends than they realize. James is surprised that Lily is on speaking terms with Remus. He pushes, but Remus can't reveal things said in confidence.
Chapter 54: Turning Point
November would soon be coming to a close. The Forbidden Forest had taken on a new color, and many of the leaves had already formed a crunchy layer that covered the ground. It was getting colder. Many students had already decided whether they would go home or stay for Christmas break (per the usual, most students were going home). Christmas decorations were starting to be put up.
And Lily was falling asleep.
It wasn't her fault – not really. Transfiguration had always proved difficult for her, and while she could look back on her earlier years and confidently say that she had mastered those skills, as Professor McGonagall plowed on about Switching Spells, Lily could honestly say that she was totally lost – and she had been since the clock passed the ten-minute mark.
Wake up, honey – McGonagall's about to look your way.
Lily gave a little start when she noticed the black writing – it looked incredibly familiar – appear on the bottom of her parchment, one letter at a time. She glanced at Severus, who was her table partner – Severus had finally seen fit to apologize, reluctantly, to Charity Mueller and Beth Quagmire – but he was busy scribbling down everything that Professor McGonagall was saying – besides, his scrawl was much more cramped than what was appearing on her parchment. Lily glanced to her left where Marlene and Alice were sitting – the writing looked mighty similar to Marlene's neat cursive – but the girl in question did not look her way.
Well, you going to reply or what?
Marlene, is that you?
Yes, dear.
Lily glanced yet again at Marlene, who appeared busy doodling on a spare bit of parchment. Other than the faint ghost of smirk on Marlene's lips, her friend gave no outward sign that she had sent Lily the message.
Sorry – I wasn't sure if you were the one sending the note, Lily scribbled back.
Sweetheart, who else would it be? The wall?
I would.
Go away, Alice – I was talking to Lily, not you.
That's rude.
Do either of you have any idea where Mary is?
Didn't you hear, darling? She's in the Hospital Wing – Alice was just telling me that she had a bit of a fight with a Slytherin.
That she did – I'm so proud of her.
Here, Alice stopped writing and mimicked a dreamy sigh. Beside Lily, Severus had noticed the interruption, but other than the scowl he sent Alice's way, he stayed quiet and continued to dutifully take notes.
Do you know who the Slytherin was, Alice?
Guess.
Belvina Travers?
Ding, ding, ding – ten points to Gryffindor!
That bitch – I'm going to jinx her hair next time I see her.
Don't worry about revenge, sweetie. Madam Pomfrey is still trying to get the spoon out of her nose. Mary just wants an excuse to have another day to finish up the Transfiguration essay – I'm with Alice on this one. Who would have ever guessed that sweet, little Mary had such a feisty side?
She did? I thought she was in there because Pomfrey was still working on getting her skin back to a normal color – hey, any of you see a Slytherin I can pick a fight with? I don't want to go to History of Magic.
Who does? But I hate to remind you, Alice, dear – it's your turn to take notes, and my turn to sleep.
We shouldn't do that anymore. It's irresponsible.
You already take notes every class, Lily.
I'm just saying.
No, no, no – you lost the bet, sweetie, so you have to turn a blind eye for the rest of the year.
I never did anything about it to begin with.
Then what do you have to worry about, darling? By the way, Potter's staring at you again.
Lily glanced behind her. Marlene was right – Potter was staring at her. Lily suspected that he had been trying to catch her eye for some time, and when he finally did, he grinned at her and ruffled his hair. Lily frowned – she still had not forgotten what Potter did to Terry on Halloween. Beside her, Severus had once again noticed that Lily's attention was no longer on McGonagall. He turned around to see who Lily was looking at, and when Potter caught his eye, the grin instantly transformed into a scowl, which Severus returned.
Lily quickly turned back around, and a swift quick to Severus's shins made her friend follow suit.
Time for some fun, girls.
Whatever your planning, Lily, it's not going to work. You can't get anything past a Marauder.
Alice finished her advice with a heavily pointed warning look in Lily's direction. Lily, however, simply smirked at her friend before bending over to hastily write her answer.
Watch me.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1974 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
"Potter! Black! For once in your lives, pay attention!" snapped McGonagall.
"Don't worry, dear Minnie – I was just complaining to my best mate how you have yet to declare your undying love for me," said Sirius with a wink. He quickly transformed the miniature dragon back into a rabbit before it could light their desk on fire – they were only supposed to give their animals one characteristic, but James had insisted that they go above and beyond that.
"Unless you count a detention as an act of undying love, then you're misinforming Mr. Potter. Both of you – tonight, my office," she retorted, her lips dangerously thin – although James thought he could detect a hint of a smile there as well.
Sirius blew her a kiss.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, dear Minnie."
James, however, was not paying attention. He was staring at the back of Lily's head, imagining as many ways as he could to ask out the redhead. When she had first turned her head to glance at him, he shot her a hopeful grin, but she simply rolled her eyes and faced McGonagall with a huff. He had never been turned down before, and James refused to be rejected by anybody, let alone Lily Evans. Call it stubbornness, but –
Enjoying the view, Potter?
James started as he saw familiar handwriting appear on his blank notes page. He could almost hear Lily's sarcasm in his ear.
Why yes, Evans – it's quite attractive.
I'm surprised. You've managed to contain yourself for five minutes. Finally got some maturity, have we?
Will you go out with me?
Pause, and then – No thanks. Deflate that giant head of yours a LOT, and then I'll promise to pause for three seconds before I answer no.
Harsh.
You asked for it.
Actually – if you remember correctly, you started this conversation.
Only because you were –
"Ms. Evans, what do you think you're doing?" demanded McGonagall.
Lily jumped violently in her seat, accidentally knocking her ink bottle off the desk where it fell with a crash! She fumbled for her quill while McGonagall swept up her spare piece of parchment. James noticed that she quickly tucked another piece of parchment into her pocket that he suspected contained correspondences with other students – Marlene and Alice had both hidden away similar-looking scraps at McGonagall's exclamation – but James knew that McGonagall herself only had the scrap that contained his and Lily's conversation because nobody else earned her disapproving glare.
"While I can appreciate the fact that you and Mr. Potter enjoy your flirtations –" Lily had turned her head just far enough that James could see that her face was burning with humiliation, with her cheeks such a bright red that they almost matched her hair "– I expected better than charming notes in class, Ms. Evans – honestly. You shall join Mr. Potter and Mr. Black in detention."
"Wait – Professor McGonagall – please – you can't just –"
"Seven o'clock sharp – all of you."
Lily abruptly turned her head to glare at James, but he simply smirked and blew her a kiss identical to the one that Sirius had blown to McGonagall earlier.
"Make sure that you look pretty for our first date, Evans. Of course – I'm always down for a quick detour to Hogsm–"
"Shut it, you little –"
"Ms. Evans! Shall I give you a week of detentions?"
"No, Professor – sorry."
James's smirk only deepened at that, as did Lily's glare.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1974 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
Lily could not believe it: she had detention – worse, she had detention with James Potter.
Black had been told to report Slughorn's office, which meant that she and Potter, both of whom McGonagall had told to report directly to her, would have their own detention. But if Lily was being honest with herself, she was not sure which was more terrifying – having the Marauders outnumber her two-to-one or being stuck with Potter for several hours – alone.
She supposed that this time was her own fault – she was the one who had initiated the notes with Potter, not the other way around. Lily was not even sure what had prompted her to try to provoke Potter now. All that she knew was that she was still bitter over what had happened with Terry, and she wanted to get even with the infuriating boy. But she should have heeded Alice's warning because her friend had been one-hundred percent right, and Lily had been one-hundred percent wrong – you can't get anything past a Marauder.
At least, not yet.
Lily watched the clock tick closer and closer to 7:00, and it was only when the clock hit 6:50 that she sighed and rose from her bed.
"Good luck, Lils!" said Alice, cheerfully waving from her spot on the floor where she, Marlene, and Mary had been enjoying a game of Gobstones – Lily had been too nervous to join in the fun.
"Thanks."
When Lily reached the common room, it was still full of students relaxing after a long day of classes. The Marauders, Potter and Black included, were still huddled in the corner, discussing only Merlin knew what – she was glad that she at least would not have to walk with Potter the entire way, in addition to the fact that she would be earlier than him. Lily was careful to keep her head down to hide her blushing face from both Potter and other onlookers as she crossed the room. Thankfully, by the time she clambered out the portrait hole and into the corridor, she found that it was much emptier than the busy common room. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Lily took off towards McGonagall's classroom.
Much to her displeasure, she found that just as she turned the last corner towards her destination, Potter was already there.
"How did you get here so fast? You were still in the common room before I left," said Lily as she approached.
Potter simply winked at her and gave her one of his signature crooked grins.
"Marauders' secret, Evans – if I told you, I'd have to Obliviate you," he said as he raised his fist to knock loudly on Professor McGonagall's door three times.
"Come in," said McGonagall's voice from the other side of the door.
"Ladies first, Evans," said Potter as he stood aside to let Lily pass, which she did – but not before giving Potter one last suspicious glare, which he pointedly ignored.
The Transfiguration classroom was empty and looked exactly the same, save for several dozen cages that lined a back wall. They stunk, and Lily wrinkled her nose before walking towards the front of McGonagall's classroom, where the teacher in question was already scribbling away on what looked like a stack of homework. Lily's legs shook as she got closer and closer to McGonagall's desk, but the stern witch had not yet looked up – she could not shake the feeling that she was kissing her prefect chances good-bye.
"Relax, Evans – this is hardly your death sentence. Stop acting like you've been sentenced to Azkaban," whispered Potter as he flung an arm around her shoulders, which Lily expertly maneuvered around.
"Like it's any of your business, Potter," she whispered back.
"Well, seeing as you and I are going to be spending the next couple of hours together, it's completely my business for your bad mood to rub off on me."
"Oh, shut up, Potter."
"Good – you two are here," said McGonagall, finally looking up.
Lily swallowed nervously, but beside her, Potter was acting as if he did this everyday – which, Lily supposed, was probably pretty close to the truth.
"Stacked along the back wall are the cages that I use to keep the animals before we practice on them. They all need to be cleaned – no magic. Mr. Potter, you know the drill."
Potter gave her a mock salute and said, "Say no more, McGee – say no more."
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1974 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
James could not believe his luck. He and Lily would be together for several hours – alone.
Thankfully, McGonagall had left right after she had given the two of them their instructions, and immediately after the door swung closed behind their teacher, Lily took a deep breath and started towards the empty cages. McGonagall had been kind enough to leave them two pairs of dragon-skin gloves and cleaning supplies, but James could still see Lily wrinkle her nose in disgust as she picked up one of the pairs of gloves and took a seat on the floor. As she pulled the first cage towards her, James decided to join her on the floor, sitting as close to her as he dared.
"What do you think you're doing, Potter?" demanded Lily, narrowing her eyes at him. She had pulled her hair back into a high ponytail for this, and James could not help but admire her as she arched her neck back, even though she glared at him as she did so.
"Sitting next to you, of course – this is a joint detention. Remember?" said James.
"It will go a lot faster if we divide and conquer – you can start on that side," countered Lily, pointing at the opposite end of the room for emphasis.
"My dear Lily-Bean, it may have –"
"Did you just call me Lily-Bean?"
"That's beside the point –"
"It is not – don't ever call me Lily-Bean again."
"My dear Flower, it –"
"Don't call me Flower either, Potter – it's Evans."
"My dear Evans –"
"Just Evans, Potter – I swear to Merlin, if you say 'my dear' again, I'll take this rag and stuff it down your throat. Mind you – it's already got owl dung on it."
"Fine," huffed James in defeat, "We're in here for at least two hours, Evans. We might as well keep each other company."
"You can sit next to me – just don't talk to me, or you'll get more than owl dung down your throat, Potter," said Lily curtly, turning back to her cage and sweeping out as many owl feathers as she could before she deposited them in the trash bag that McGonagall had provided them.
James frowned, but Lily refused to look at him – this was that best chance that he had ever gotten, and he was blowing it. Finally, James sighed and, as he pulled on the other pair of gloves, made a big show of pulling out the enchanted mirror that he and Sirius shared. However, he did not call for Sirius quite yet – instead, he kept glancing at Lily out of the corner of his eye as he prepped his first cage. He could tell that she was curious about the mirror, but he was careful not to break the silence first – no, she was the one who had to initiate the conversation. Several minutes and three cages later, Lily finally broke.
"What is that for?"
"This?" asked James, faking surprise. "This is a two-way mirror that Sirius and I use when I have separate detentions. Here, I'll show you – Sirius Black."
Lily tried to hide it, but James could tell that her curiosity won out when he held up the mirror so that she could easily see it. She watched, utterly fascinated, as the fog swirled around and circled the plane of the mirror before solidifying into Sirius's face.
"Took you long enough, mate. What, did you and Evans sneak in an extra snog session? Slughorn's got me sorting through rotten flobberworms – it'll take me weeks to get this stink out."
"Excuse me?" demanded Lily, and James could see that her curiosity had vanished – in its place, there was revulsion. "For your information, Black, I have never – and will never – sneak in an extra snog session with Potter!"
"You showed her the mirror – what did you do that for?" demanded Sirius, all humor gone. He leaned closer to the mirror, eyebrows furrowed with distrust, and James could tell that he was trying to see where Lily was.
"Relax, Sirius, it's all a part of –"
"That's beside the point, Black – you have no right to go around insinuating that Potter and I … that we … we – sneak in extra snog sessions! Potter, how do you turn that thing off? It's bad enough that I have to spend my detention with you – I'm not spending it with Black as well."
"Oi! This isn't any of your business, Evans! If I want to talk to my best mate – I'm going to talk to my best mate any time I damn well please!"
"Guys, this isn't exactly what I was –"
"No, you can't talk to your best mate any time you damn well please, Black! Find a time when I'm not sharing detention with Potter!"
"Don't try to put this on me, Evans – it's your own fault that you're in detention."
"Sirius, I –"
"Gah! I'm not doing this for three hours – I can't! Fine, Potter – you win. I'll talk to you – but for Merlin's sake, Potter, just put that damn thing away already!"
That silenced both Sirius and James, and Sirius finally turned back to him with wide eyes, silently begging him to deny Lily's request. But James was quiet for a different reason – he was surprised. Originally, he had intended to use the mirror to find of topic of conversation with Lily. It had not been ideal, since Sirius would be involved in the conversation – especially since Sirius was not particularly fond of Lily – but James had figured that it was better than nothing. This, however, was better than he had hoped for.
"No – James, don't leave me all alone with Slughorn –" started Sirius, realized what James intended to do.
"Sorry, mate – but you understand," interrupted James quickly.
"James – so help me, Merlin, if you –"
But James stuffed the mirror into his pocket, completely ignoring Sirius and instead turning back to Lily who, though clearly annoyed with the whole conversation, had been satisfied enough with her demands that she had returned to her cage – James suspected from the tiny brown flecks of droppings that it had once housed a chipmunk or something of similar size.
"So …" started James, casting his mind wildly around for a conversation starter as he swept extra feathers from his cage. "Do you … um … your parents are Muggles, right?"
Lily gave a sharp nod and kept her eyes trained on her cage – clearly, even though she had agreed to talk to him, it would still be difficult to get any meaningful answers out of her. However, when James searched her face for a reaction more meaningful than irritation, he thought that he detected something else in her eyes when he mentioned her parents. It was not the annoyance that she had shown earlier – it was something else, something … almost nervous.
"So … er, what's that like? Don't they send somebody to hand-deliver your Hogwarts letter?"
"They sent two people, actually – Professor McGonagall was one, and there was a person from the Muggle Liaison Office as well – I think his name was Adolfo Manumali. I don't know – to tell you the truth, he kind of creeped me out. At first, my parents didn't believe either of them – when McGonagall finally pulled out her wand to show them some magic, I was worried my mother would faint of shock."
It was the first time that Lily had answered him without a hint of impatience or anger in her tone – in fact, James noticed the ghost of a smile grace her lips at the memory of her Hogwarts letter. She still refused to look James in the eye as she talked, but he was pleasantly surprised that he had managed to even get that much out of her – and James knew that he had to press his advantage while he still had it.
"What about you? Did you nearly faint of shock?" he asked with an easy grin.
Lily finally looked at him with her eyebrows raised in surprise as she said, "I learned about Hogwarts when I was nine, Potter – by that point, I had been looking forward to my letter for about two years."
Now it was James's turn to be surprised. He had always figured that Muggle-borns learned about magic and Hogwarts when they were eleven. While his father had told him that while there were probably times when some Muggle-borns suspected that there was something different about them, that was a far cry from having knowledge of the Wizarding community and Hogwarts itself – that was something one could only know if they had been explicitly told, which – to tell a random family of Muggles about specifics like the school – would have violated at least a hundred different laws.
"How?"
A brief hint of her old anger flashed across Lily's eyes before she looked away to pull the next cage towards her, and James realized that his tone was much more accusatory than he had originally intended.
"Sorry – that came out wrong. I meant – if you didn't find out from McGonagall when she gave you your letter, then how did you learn about … y'know, all this?" asked James, gesturing to the room at large.
Lily shrugged before answering.
"I've always known that I was … different, I guess. I don't know – most of the magic I did before then was the typical accidental stuff. Once, I blasted a classroom door from its hinges – obviously, the school couldn't prove anything, but that was one of the first times I knew that I wasn't normal. As time went on, I learned that I could consciously control stuff – most of it was little things: I could control how long I stayed up in the air whenever I jumped off swings; I could get my mother's flowers to bloom much earlier than they were supposed to – the neighbors were always jealous of her garden, but nobody but me knew how that could happen. I didn't tell anybody, of course – they would just think I was mental – but I liked it, so I just kept trying to figure out how far I could push myself. Eventually, I managed to unlock my front door without a key."
James was silent as he mulled over everything that Lily had just told him. Remus had mentioned once that she might have suspected the existence of magic before she came to school, but at the time, James had just shrugged it off at the time – the ability to control underage magic was an incredibly rare thing even for somebody raised in the Wizarding world, and the most James had managed (besides the "typical accidental stuff" that Lily had mentioned) was when he nicked one of his parents' wands and used that for mischief. He had always been proud that he could use a wand before he had even set foot in the castle, but now, listening to Lily … he could feel something tugging at his heart.
And that something was not jealousy – it was something else, something that James had never felt before.
"What about you, Potter?" asked Lily, and James heart did a tap-dance when he realized that she was smiling at him. "I've told you my story – it's only fair that you tell me yours."
"Well, I … I'm not sure, Evans …" said James, ruffling his hair nervously. Whatever he had been hoping to talk about with Lily, it certainly had not been this.
"I mean, I've always known about magic. Both my parents went to Hogwarts – Dad was in Gryffindor, and Mum was in Ravenclaw. Mum was a Greengrass before she met Dad. He sort of changed her view on a lot of things – see, she never used to call herself a blood traitor. It was only after she met Dad that she changed her tune – rest of the family didn't take too kindly to that, and I've never even met most of them, save for those stupid Ministry parties. Anyways, she works for the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures – she absolutely loves anything to do with Thunderbirds. She's been trying to find one for as long as I can remember."
Lily had tilted her face just enough so that James could not see her expression, and her voice was politely curious as she asked, "What about your dad's side?"
"Dad's side is different – there's a lot of history there, but I never really bothered to learn all the details. Surprisingly enough, I don't actually talk to anybody on my dad's side either – most of his family are dead, and his cousin Charlus married a Black. You might not know this, but Sirius is the odd one out in his family – most of them aren't too keen on associating with 'blood traitors' like Dad and –"
"I know," was the quiet reply.
That drew James up short, and he stared at her. Lily was focused on her cage, but James could tell from the way that she was wiping over the same spot that she had cleaned not even a minute ago that her mind was not really on the task at hand. Unlike before, it was clear that she was making a conscious effort not to meet his eyes this time, and James noticed that her ears were starting to turn red.
"You do?"
"I was there when his mum sent him the Howler at the beginning of our first year, and I – I've met his brother, Regulus."
"Oh," was all he managed to get out, and for a time, they both silently cleaned their cages.
James flashed back to the Howler that Sirius had received the morning after he had been Sorted into Gryffindor. It had been four years, but James remembered it like it was yesterday – Walburga Black, Sirius's mother, had sent his friend a Howler that had screamed at him for a good length of time about how Sirius had brought 'dishonor' to the Black family and how disappointed she was in him. At the time, Lily was the closest Muggle-born, and she had not been spared either – Walburga had screeched 'Mudblood' at her for all to hear. At the time, Lily's dormmates had pulled her from the Great Hall before James or Sirius could say anything else, and James had quickly put it out of his mind, confident that either Alice or Marlene could console Lily.
But he did not know that Lily had already met Sirius's younger brother. Unlike Sirius, Regulus emanated his parents' teachings perfectly, and James knew that he ran with the likes of Mulciber and Avery, both of whom were no fans of Muggles and Muggle-borns. Looking at Lily now, seeing the blush that crept its way up her neck, he could only imagine how that meeting had gone.
"You know, Evans …" started James, and Lily looked up, "Next time you run into Regulus, you should try mentioning either Marius or Eduardus – they're Squibs. People like the Blacks don't take to kindly to people who remind them that they still have Muggle blood somewhere in their family tree. Everybody does, even my family – doesn't matter how much they try to cover it up. It's not like one of your snappy one-liners, Evans, but it should shut Regulus and his friends up long enough for you to get a good punch or two in."
"Marius or Eduardus? Huh … I'll have to remember that next time I see him," said Lily, setting aside her now-clean cage and reaching for a new one.
"So – you never told me what your dad for a living," she said, finally looking up again – James was glad to see that the smile had returned to her face.
"Oh, I didn't, did I? Well, he invented Sleekeazy's Hair Potion –"
"No way – you're joking," interrupted Lily – he could tell that she was trying to suppress a smile.
James frowned at her as he blankly asked, "What's so funny?"
"'What's so funny?'Potter, have you seen your hair?" demanded Lily, and this time, she could no longer suppress her obvious amusement – she burst out laughing.
"Yes, he did!" said James, but he could not help but grin – Lily's laughter was infectious. "It just … doesn't work on our hair – trust me, my mum's tried dozens of times."
This only caused Lily to laugh more, and even James had to admit – it was kind of funny now that he thought about it. It took both of them several minutes to calm down, and by then, Lily had to remove one of her gloves before she could wipe away a tear – that was how hard she had been laughing.
"Anyways – what do your parents do?" asked James after some time had passed. He was surprised to see that they had already gotten through about three-fourths of the cages.
"They both work for the local university – Mum's an engineer and Dad's an entomologist."
"What's an entomologist?"
"Bugs – he's a bug guy," said Lily.
James froze, but this time, it had nothing to with Lily.
"Bugs … so does he have collections of moths?"
Lily looked at him curiously, and James quickly tried to recover by adding, "Or ants? Or – well, what kind of bugs does your dad study? I'm just curious – sounds like the beginnings of a great prank."
"He specializes in moths, actually – he's technically a lepidopterist …" said Lily slowly, and noticing that her eyes had narrowed in suspicion, James hastily averted his own, hoping that Lily would not question him further.
"I'm sorry – remind me: why are you so interested in moths, Potter?"
Damn.
"Uh …" started James, ruffling his hair as he tried to come up with a decent excuse. He shot her what he hoped was a convincing grin as he cheekily said, "Marauder's secret, Evans – sorry, but it's better that you don't know."
He could tell from the questioning looks that Lily kept throwing his way that she still did not believe him, but to his immense relief, she did not question him further. After that, they finished their task in silence – Lily did not try to get anything more out of him, and James was too worried that if he asked her anymore questions, she would eventually be suspicious enough that she would try to figure out what they were doing. The only time Lily spoke to him after that was when McGonagall came back in to inform them that they had done enough for that night, and Lily said goodbye to him.
James did not hear her – he was too lost in thought. Before he knew it, he was in front of the portrait hole, and after giving the Fat Lady the password, he still did not pay much attention to his surroundings as he made his way up to his dormitory, where he opened the door to find that the other three Marauders were already there.
"There you are, James!" said Sirius, hopping to his feet at the other boy's arrival. "Don't you ever – what's wrong? What happened?"
Sirius stopped just a few feet away from him when he noticed James's expression. At Sirius's words, both Remus and Peter looked up as well, equally curious.
"I think … I think I know how to get the chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth," said James in a hollow voice, finally looking up.
At the other three boys' blank stares, James clarified:
"I know how to get the final ingredient for our Animagus potion."
Note: I changed the circumstances of Lily and James's detention because A) they've already been able to duel each other in previous chapters B) I wanted them to have a moment like this because I felt like it was more important to character development and C) Unlike before, this actually serves to further the plot.
So now it's official: James's crush has started to deepen into something more.
Let me clarify: Sirius doesn't like Lily, but it's more annoyance with what he sees as a "goody two-shoes" routine than it is anything else, but he hates the Slytherins and Death Eater wannabes a hell of a lot more that he dislikes Lily.
Also, if you didn't catch this in earlier chapters, deep down, Lily's pretty insecure because she feels like she has to prove herself more since her parents are Muggles. On Pottermore, Rowling mentioned that willow wand owners usually have some type of insecurity and selects those who have the greatest potential. Since Lily's wand is willow, I figured that her greatest insecurity is coming from a Muggle family. Also, I try to have Lily cover up her insecurity with sarcasm, which I decided would help explain her action during the O.W.L.s incident.
