A/N: Hey! Let's see if everything works properly this time. Unfortunately, there were several problems with the last update, but I hope has its issues solved by now. Anyway, this chapter had 22 pages in google docs, so it will be a pretty long chapter. I hope you enjoy it. :D

The Parselmouth

A week went by, and Lily continuously avoided the Potions Master's eyes. In his class, she would sit in the back row and avoid his gaze. Everyone in Hufflepuff seemed to have noticed it, since Lily was famous in her house for being the only student outside Slytherin to be on Snape's good side, and the questions that came with the general perception of the conflict between Lily and Snape made her start avoiding everyone in the school except for Hector.

One day, Susan and Megan cornered Lily after DADA.

"Are you going to tell us what happened?" said Megan.

"What?"

"You are acting weird, and you are clearly avoiding Snape."

"It was just a misunderstanding," Lily said.

"Stop lying. You are the only non-Slytherin who Snape actually likes," Megan said. "And by this point, you should know you can trust us."

"It's just a stupid fight."

"Look, I don't mean to be offensive, but this is really weird," said Megan. "He is your teacher, how come you actually fight?"

"Yeah, it's a bit unsettling… you know?" Said Susan.

"He is a friend… sort of."

"But he's a teacher!" Megan insisted.

"Unless- Is he your father?" Susan asked, her eyes widen with curiosity.

"What? No!"

"Then, why?"

"Snape was my mother's friend when they were young," Lily said. It wasn't entirely truthful, but was the best answer she could give without entirely lying or exposing too much of Snape's life. What was she supposed to say? That actually Snape projected an entirely different relationship with another Lily on her, but in a fatherly way?

"Right," said Megan. "Did he do something to you? You can tell us, you know. We will protect you if you need."

"No! It was a big fight, but that was it. It will be fine. I promise." It was good to have their support, and Lily felt a little weight come off her shoulders.

"Okay… well, let's get going then, I want to get some fresh air before the end of the day." Megan said, and the group went down.

When they arrived at the entrance hall, there was small group of people gathered around the notice board, and they went to see what they were reading. There was a parchment attached to it, announcing that the school would be starting a Dueling Club. Lily had almost forgotten about the plan Hector had formulated along with Dumbledore.

"Hey, this could be useful!" Susan said.

"First meeting is tonight," said Megan with a half smile. "We should go. Maybe we can learn a jinx to use on Snape. What do you think, Lily?"

Lily rolled her eyes, but agreed.

That night, at eight o'clock, the three girls left the common room towards the Great Hall. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited. Lily looked around searching for Hector. He was at the other side of the hall, chatting with Mandy Brocklehurst. Lily considered crossing the chattering crowd to talk to him, but decided to stay with Megan and Susan instead. A Gryffindor girl who could only be Megan's twin sister came to stand next to them.

"Is Hannah joining us?" said Lily. Hannah had been distant in the past week, preferring Ernie Macmillan's company instead.

"She said she'll come with Ernie," said Susan.

"We'll spend another night trying to convince her that Harry isn't the heir of Slytherin, won't we?" said Megan.

"I guess we are," said Lily.

"Ernie Macmillan is the one going around spreading that Harry is the heir of Slytherin, right?" said Holly in a voice almost identical to Megan's. Even though she and Megan were twins they barely spent time together in school, but apparently Ernie's ideas were getting around the school already.

"Yes," said Megan.

"This is so stupid, Harry is always really nice," said Holly. "Anyway, who do you think will be teaching us?"

"I guess McGonagall or Flitwick," said Megan. "They are the ones who teach us Charms and Transfiguration, after all."

"I heard Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young," said Susan. "It would make sense."

"Could be Dumbledore too, he defeated Grindelwald!" said Megan excitedly.

"I just hope it's not-" Lily had started, but didn't finish. Not only Lockhart was walking onto the stage, wearing robes of a deep plum hue, but he was also accompanied by no other than Snape. "I can't believe it!"

"Hey, Lily, you will have your chance to jinx Snape sooner than we thought," Megan whispered to her, but Lily didn't answer.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called ' "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works."

"He's lying! Hector was the one who went to Dumbledore!" said Lily. Across the Great Hall, she could see Hector's exasperation. Behind her, Megan grumbled in disdain as Lockhart went on with his speech.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"I'm not worried about the Potions master; I wonder how much of Lockhart will be left when Snape is through with him," said Holly. Megan and Lily giggled, but Susan didn't find it funny at all.

Lily saw Snape's upper lip curling in a smile that told her he was thinking the same thing. Few people knew that Snape had been a Death Eater, versed on the dark arts and more than capable of dueling.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Lily said, watching Snape's sarcastic grin.

"One - two - three -"

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.

Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Susan was trying to see beyond the heads of the other students to make sure Lockhart was alright. Lily knew it was just a disarming spell and that no harm had come to the DADA teacher. She could see Snape still grinning and realized how slow Lockhart had been. Not wishing to be confused with the cheering Slytherins, Lily remained silent.

Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.

"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . ."

Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -"

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lily was matched with Susan, and Megan was paired with Holly. She could see that Hector had been paired with Padma Patil, and that Mandy Brocklehurst had been paired with Dean Thomas. She also noticed that Snape had paired Harry with none other than Malfoy.

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart. "And bow!"

Lily and Susan bowed to each other.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm each other – only to disarm them – we don't want any accidents – one… two… three –"

"Expelliarmus!" Lily cried, and Susan's wand flew from her hand and toward Lily's before Susan had the chance to open her mouth. The girls didn't know what to do anymore. Most of the crowd was still trying their disarming charms, and some were trying to harm each other, but one pair was beyond just trying.

Malfoy had hit Harry with a spell before Lockhart had finished counting to three. Harry had responded with a Tickling charm, and Malfoy could barely move for laughing. "I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd. Lily was tiptoeing around to see exactly what was going on. In between laughs, Malfoy managed to point his wand at Harry and shout "Tarantallegra!", and Harry's legs began to jerk around out of his control in a kind of quickstep.

"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart. But it was Snape who took charge.

"Finite Incantatem!" he shouted.

Lily finally took her eyes off the duelling pair to look around. Hector had Padma's wand in his hand. Ron was apologizing to a fellow Gryffindor about anything that his broken wand had done. Megan and Holly were still dodging each other's spells. Poor Hermione was whimpering in pain while a Slytherin girl, Millicent Bulstrode, held her in a headlock. Lily pushed her way through the crowd to help Harry pull Millicent off.

"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duel. "Well done, Miss Boyd," he said to her, noticing that she still had Susan' wand.

"It's Prewett!" she answered angrily, but Lockhart didn't acknowledge her answer, and instead kept moving through the students.

"Up you go, Macmillan…. Careful there, Miss Fawcett ... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the middle of the hall. He glanced at Snape, who looked like he would cast a specially unfriendly spell if Lockhart asked him to demonstrate something, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair – Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you –

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile. What was it about? He wanted to make Harry and Malfoy duel like it was a cockfight? Would he ask people to make their bets?

"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Malfoy into the middle of the hall. Lily managed to squeeze between two older students and stay in the front row, next to Justin Finch-Fletchley to watch the demonstration. She looked around to see if she found Susan to return her wand, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Lockhart tried to give Harry instructions, but instead of performing a spell he dropped his wand. Snape moved closer to Malfoy and whispered something in his ear. Malfoy smirked. Harry looked nervous. Lily tried not to worry too much – Snape wouldn't teach Malfoy a way to actually harm Harry, would he? Harry asked if Lockhart could show the blocking movement again, but Lockhart replied that Harry should just do what he had done.

"What, drop my wand?" said Harry. Lockhart didn't seem to notice.

"Three – two – one – go!"

Malfoy raised his wand and cried "Serpensortia!"

Lily screamed and jumped back, along with the crowd, when a black snake slided out of Malfoy's wand. She tightened her hand around her wand, trying to remember if she had ever learned a snake repelling charm.

"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, but with a hint of amusement in his voice. Was that what it was all about? Playing a prank on Harry? "I'll get rid of it….

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart, and Lily closed her eyes. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. Lily was completely frozen, her eyes widened in terror, but her panic wasn't even close to Justin's reaction. He was pale and his robes became sweaty in less than a second, his entire body was shaking even though his feet seemed to be locked on the spot he was standing.

The next moment seemed to last forever. Lily couldn't take her eyes out of that snake, as if it would strike only when she wasn't looking. Then, a voice echoed through the room. It was a hiss rather than a voice, but it didn't come from the snake. The hiss still had the hint of a human voice- a voice that Lily knew. It was Harry Potter's voice. Lily dared to look up, and there was the boy who lived, hissing at a snake in the middle of the Great Hall. But the most interesting part was that the snake seemed to understand. The animal slumped on the floor, docile as a thick, black garden hose, its eyes now on Harry. For a moment Lily feared it would attack him, but the snake didn't raise from the floor nor gave any signs of being ready to charge. Then it came to Lily that Harry was able to speak to snakes.

Harry was grinning at Justin, and looked shocked and offended when Justin shouted "What do you think you're playing at?"

Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Lily watched the Potions Master look at Harry with a shrewd and calculating look. There was a murmur all around the hall, and everyone had stepped away from Harry, as if they were afraid, but she didn't quite know what they were afraid of. Of course she had never known anyone who could speak to snakes, but was it such a great transgression? Lily knew right away that she would have to stop ignoring Snape and go ask him what the hell was going on. Ron and Hermione pulled Harry out of the Great Hall. She looked at Justin to see if he was alright, and the boy was staring furiously at her.

"What, are you going to tell me he has nothing to do with the attacks after what he just did?" he shouted angrily. Lily didn't answer.

"Lils?" she heard Hector's voice calling from behind her as the crowd dissipated. She turned to him.

"What the hell was that about?" she asked.

Hector didn't answer straight away: first he pulled her by the hand until they were out of the Great Hall, and in the same corner they had waited for the sorting ceremony in the previous year.

"I thought you would know something about it… did you know he was a Parselmouth?" said Hector.

"A what?"

"A Parselmouth. People who can speak to snakes."

"I never heard about it."

"It's on Hogwarts, a History," he said. And then whispered to her ear "Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth."

Lily widened her eyes. So that was what it was all about. Now everyone thought Harry was the heir of Slytherin. "But, Hector…" she started "It's not Harry! It couldn't be! He…"

"I know! I'm not saying he is going around attacking muggleborns. But he will have a lot of explaining to do."

"Aren't there other Parselmouths in school?"

"Not that I know. It's very rare, I think it's a blood thing." said Hector

"But then his father would have to be a Parselmouth, right?"

"Right. Maybe Remus knows."

"I'll ask him," Lily said. Then Lily saw Susan approaching them, and gazed at Hector, asking him for silence.

"There you are! I've been looking for you. Where's my wand?"

"Oh, sorry!" said Lily, handing the wand back to Susan.

"It's late. We should go back to the common room," said Susan in a subdued voice.

"Okay," said Lily. "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Good night, Hector."

"Good night, Lils," Hector answered.

Lily went along with Susan.

Back at the Hufflepuff basement, Ernie Macmillan had gathered every gullible Hufflepuff around him – including Hannah – and was shouting loudly about how he knew Harry Potter was the heir of Slytherin all along. Justin Finch-Fletchley was sitting on a corner, looking like he could pass out at anu moment. Susan rolled her eyes and went to the dorm, but Lily couldn't just ignore it.

"Shut up, Ernie!" Lily shouted.

"What, are you going to say he's innocent? He was egging the snake on!"

"Are you stupid? The snake went quiet when Harry spoke to it."

"He spoke to the snake as it was preparing to charge!"

"And yet the snake didn't charge! Do you think it's just a coincidence? Harry saved Justin!" Lily shouted.

"I know what I saw, and everyone saw the same thing that I did."

"You saw what you wanted to see!"

"And you didn't?"

"I saw the snake fall limp on the floor when Harry talked to it. I was at Justin's side when it happened, I had a clearer view."

"Well, maybe the heir of Slytherin has a supporter in Hufflepuff! Is that why you changed your last name, to pretend your father wasn't a muggle?"

"Take that back!" Lily shouted, and practically jumped at Ernie, making him fall. They rolled on the floor, Lily kicking and punching Ernie, as he fought back. She heard as the other students gasped and took steps back to get out of the way. Some people tried to pull her off, but Lily was really strong for her size. Finally, Anthony Rickett managed to drag her away from Ernie.

"What the hell, Lily!" Anthony said. "Are you trying to get expelled or something?"

Of course Lily knew she had lost her reason, but it had been too much for her.

"He said I'm supporting those attacks!" Lily yelled, still enraged, as Anthony moved to block Ernie from her view.

"But are you?"

"Of course not!"

"Then ignore it. Go to bed!"

"But….

"Go to bed, Lily! Now!"

Lily took a deep breath and went to her dorm. She felt her wand in her pocket, and for a moment thought she could have jinxed Ernie instead of attacking him, but immediately felt bad about having the idea. When she closed the door behind her, she heard Anthony scolding Ernie, and felt happy for having her teammate's support. Then, she noticed Megan and Susan were sitting on their beds, clearly waiting for Lily.

"What was that about?" said Megan.

"And what happened to your hair? It looks like a mouse nest, it wasn't that untidy a moment ago."

"Ernie was saying all that stuff about Harry being the heir of Slytherin again. And he said I supported the attacker. And I kind of lost it."

"You fought with Ernie?" said Susan

"A bit…"

"Lily, you have to relax about it. I mean, most people know Harry Potter is not the one attacking muggleborns. His best friend is a muggleborn, everyone knows it," Megan said.

"Well, maybe not after tonight, Meg… he is a Parselmouth."

"Right. That will be hard to explain," said Megan, looking at Lily.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake! You don't really think he is the heir of Slytherin, do you Susan?"

"No! Why are you so obsessed with this, anyway? I mean, I know he's your cousin's best friend and all, but don't you think you're overreacting? You aren't even that close to Harry."

"Harry is my godbrother!" Lily whispered angrily, not wanting to be heard outside. Both Megan and Susan widened their eyes and remained speechless, facing Lily and waiting for an explanation. "He doesn't know, of course, he can't know," Lily said.

"We won't tell anyone," said Megan.

"We promise!" Susan agreed.

"Not even to Hannah," Lily said.

"Sure," said Megan. "But can you explain that too? Like… if you're his godsister, shouldn't you tell him?"

"No! Harry is not supposed to know, okay? This is important. I shouldn't even have told you this."

"We're not going to tell!" Megan assured.

"My parents were his parents' best friends, but my father isn't exactly a popular wizard nowadays."

"Why, did he become a Death Eater?"

"I- I don't know!"

Lily sat on her bed feeling mentally exhausted. Megan walked to her side and placed her arm around Lily's shoulder. "I know there is a lot going on in your life now, and you think you have to deal with it on your own. But, Lily, we are your friends, you can talk to us."

"We really like you, Lily," said Susan, sitting at Lily's other side. "Look, I'll tell you something about me. I'm afraid of the dark. Like, it actually frightens me so much that I light my wand every night behind my curtains. I think I'm afraid that You-Know-Who is going to come back and kill me in my sleep. After last year, when he actually came to Hogwarts, it got a lot worse."

"Last summer I almost killed Holly in an access of accidental magic after we had a stupid fight. I made her clothes catch on fire, I didn't even know how to stop it. So, whatever it is that your father did I won't judge you, because Holly doesn't judge me because of what I did to her."

Lily looked at Susan, and then at Megan. Her heart had warmed up because of their words.

"Right. I will tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone, ever."

"Of course," both the girls said at the same time.

"My father is Sirius Black. Have you ever heard of him?"

Megan shook her head, but Susan said "I know him! My aunt is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I heard her talk about him once- she said he was a Death Eater!"

"They say he betrayed the Potters," said Lily, and met the looks of horror in Susan's and Megan's eyes. "That's the thing- under the eyes of the society, my father is the wizard who betrayed the parents of the Boy who Lived. Can you imagine how everyone would react if they knew?"

"Dang it, Lily- it's a heavy burden to carry all by yourself," said Megan.

"But that's not all. My mother said that on the night after Harry's parents were murdered, he came to our house and said he was innocent, that the one who betrayed the Potters was actually someone else."

"But he exploded a street full of muggles!" said Susan.

"That's what people say, but there was never a trial! He can be innocent!"

"He was never judged?" asked Megan.

"That's true. Apparently there was no need to have trials for Death Eaters back then," said Susan. "Blimey! He can be in jail all this time for a crime he didn't commit!"

"My mom is trying to get him a trial now- since she wasn't here to testify eleven years ago."

"So, if they find he's innocent, you will be able to meet him," said Megan

"Yes. But if they find he's actually guilty, it would be- a nightmare, I guess. And it will mean that Harry's godfather betrayed his family. And if the truth comes out, my godbrother – who doesn't even know I'm his godsister – will hate me."

"You shouldn't worry about it right now," said Susan.

"Or ever. Even if Black is the one who betrayed Harry's parents, you are not. You don't have to pay for what he did," said Megan.

"I'm glad I told you. It has been a bit hard to keep it a secret, Hector was the only one I can talk to."

"You can talk to us about it whenever you need," said Susan. "We'll support you."

"This is part of being a Hufflepuff," said Megan.

Lily smiled and pulled her friends to a tight hug. She had neglected their company in the previous year, and it had been a mistake. Having Megan and Susan at her side comforted her in a way she hadn't even been comforted, not even by Hector. Because Hector was her brother, he would always stand on her side, as would her mother, as would Rachel, as would Remus. Susan and Megan weren't raised with Lily, nor had any family bond to her, so if they were saying they were on her side, it meant that Lily truly wasn't guilty of any crime.

Lily took a long time to sleep, and only did so when Hannah finally went to bed. Through the small window she could see snow starting to fall on the grass outside, and the vision of the snowflakes lulled her to sleep.

By the next morning the snow that had begun last night turned into a blizzard so thick that the last Herbology lesson of the term had been cancelled. Professor Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves on the Mandrakes, a tricky operation she would entrust to no one else, now that it was so important for the Mandrakes to grow quickly and revive Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey. Lily tried to picture socks and scarves on the tiny human-looking roots and it brought a little smile to her face.

Hannah announced she would go with Ernie and his friends to study in the library, and Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Ernie is actually really nice, you know? It was ridiculous what you did yesterday."

"Yeah, sure." Lily muttered angrily.

"I'll see you guys later!" Hannah said.

"See you," said Megan.

Since neither of them had unfinished homework, the three girls decided to spend their free period playing Exploding Snap in the common room. When they arrived there, Justin Finch-Fletchley was the only one still in there, sitting alone on one of the overstuffed chairs, writing an essay.

"Hey, Justin, would you like to play with us?" said Megan.

"Hm? No, thanks, I have to finish this potions essay."

"I can take a look at it if you want," said Lily, reaching her hand to take the parchment. If there was one thing Lily didn't expect, it was that Justin would pull away from her and look frightened. "Dang it, Justin! What did you think I was going to do, become the monster of Slytherin and attack you?"

Justin seemed to come to his senses and said "Sorry, Lily. There's a lot going on. That snake really freaked me out yesterday."

"I can imagine," said Megan. "But Lily never did anything against you."

"I know- it was stupid. Hm- I would actually like you to see my essay, if you don't mind."

"Sure," Lily said, and took the parchment. It was the essay about the sleeping draught Snape had assigned them in the previous class. "You are supposed to stir clockwise. But otherwise it's great, Justin."

"Thanks. Hm- I don't think Ernie is right, by the way. The snake freaked me out, and at the moment I thought Harry was egging it on me; but, looking back, the snake did stop when Harry spoke to it."

"I'm glad you said that," Lily said.

"Actually, I think I should go find Harry and apologize for what I said yesterday."

"Do you want us to go with you? Even though Harry is not the heir of Slytherin, there is still something attacking muggleborns, maybe you shouldn't walk on your own," said Lily.

"No," said Justin. "I would rather do it alone."

He crawled through the passage and left the girls alone in the common room. Lily had a relieved smile on her lips as she sat to play Exploding Snap with Susan and Megan. Being with them made her feel like it was summer again.

Lily was looking at the shuffling cards when something caught her eye. The black badger on her wrist had moved – she had never actually seen it move – its mouth opened and it sank its teeth in her skin.

"Ouch!" Lily let out, and then she felt the blood leave her face.

"What is it?" Susan asked.

"It bit me again!"

"Oh no! Justin just left all alone!" said Susan

"Let's go after him," said Megan.

The girls crawled out of the passageway as fast as they could and started running through the corridors, but they had no idea on which direction Justin had gone. Lily was also terribly concerned that it hadn't been Justin, to begin with. Maybe someone else had been attacked. Maybe it had been Hector.

They ran all across the basement and ground floor, and were climbing the stairs to the first floor when Hagrid came walking down the stairs, his moleskin overcoat covered in snow. Hagrid was holding a dead rooster in his massive, gloved hand.

"Hi, Hagrid," said Lily.

"All right, Lily? I came here to ask Dumbledore to put a charm around the hen coop, and I couldn't help but notice that Harry seemed upset. Is everything alright with him?" asked the giant man. Then he seemed to notice how pale Lily and the other girls looked. "Did something happen?"

"I think there has been another attack, we're looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley. He's muggleborn, and he just left our common room alone half an hour ago. Have you seen him?"

"Haven't seen any other Hufflepuffs today," Hagrid began, but he was interrupted by a huge commotion upstairs.

Peeves' voice suddenly echoed through the corridors, yelling "ATTACK, ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"

Lily exchanged looks with Susan and Megan, and the three passed running through Hagrid. When they arrived at the source of Peeves' voice, the corridor was crowded with students, all bending over something in the middle while teachers shouted for silence. Professor McGonagall arrived and used her wand to set off a loud bang, which restored silence. She told everyone to return to their classrooms, which emptied the corridor and allowed Lily to see what was behind everyone, and she saw three things.

First she saw Nearly Headless Nick, no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor. The second thing was Justin Finch-Fletchley, lying rigid on the floor, a look of shock on his frozen face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. The third thing was Harry Potter pinned against the wall next to both victims, looking like he hadn't the faintest idea what to do next.

Ernie Macmillan arrived on scene, panting, his face was white as chalk. He pointed a finger towards Harry and yelled "Caught in the act!"

Lily was about to say something, but Professor McGonagall spoke first.

"That will do, Macmillan!" she said sharply.

The only happy person in the corridor seemed to be Peeves – if a poltergeist could be called a person – who was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene; Peeves always loved chaos, even – and perhaps especially – when someone other than him was in danger. He broke into song:

"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done,

You're killing off' students, you think it's good fun -"

"That's enough Peeves!" barked Professor McGonagall, and Peeves zoomed away backward, with his tongue out at Harry.

Professors Flitwick and Sinistra carried Justin off to the hospital wing, but nobody seemed to know what to do about Nearly Headless Nick. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. This Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft. Professor McGonagall's eyes fell upon Lily, Susan and Megan.

"Why aren't you three in class?"

"Our Herbology class was cancelled. We were looking for Justin because my badger pendant bit me a little after he left our common room," said Lily, showing her arm to Professor McGonagall. It was more wounded than she had noticed, but not as much as in the previous times.

"Well, go find something else to do. Perhaps see Madam Pomfrey about those bitings."

"Right. Come on, Lils, we have to go grab our bags and go to Charms," said Susan, pulling Lily's arm.

"Just one more thing," Lily said, resisting Susan's hand.

"Yes," said McGonagall.

"I believe in you, Harry," she said, looking into the boy's deep green eyes. Then Susan managed to pull her away from the corridor.

When they were far enough away, Megan said "well, I still believe Harry isn't guilty, but you have to agree that it looks like someone is working pretty hard to make it look like it was him."

"What if the heir of Slytherin is trying to frame Harry as they attack muggleborns?" said Lily.

"What?"

"Look, I know it sounds like I'm a maniac trying to protect Harry, but think with me. Someone in Hogwarts is a dark wizard, right?"

"Right," said Susan.

"And who defeated the last great dark wizard who tried to take over the world?"

"Harry Potter," said Megan. "Bloody hell, Lily, it makes sense!"

"I still don't get it," said Susan.

"Look, Su, if you were a dark wizard, wouldn't you want to see the person who is known for defeating a dark wizard out of your way?" said Megan.

"So you are saying that someone is attacking muggleborns and framing Harry to try and get him out of Hogwarts. Right, I can see the point, but if I was a dark wizard, I would want the credit for my evil doings."

"Maybe they will claim the attacks later in life, but they think doing it now is too much exposure, and framing someone else makes everything easier," said Lily.

"Blimey," said Susan. "It makes sense. But… Do you think there is someone else in school who is a Parselmouth?"

"There must be. But there must be someone who isn't naive enough to speak to a snake in public," said Megan, looking at Lily. "You have to agree, Lils, Harry is exposing himself too much. If he's being framed, you should warn him not to go wandering around the castle all by himself."

"You're right," said Lily.

On the following days, the double attack turned what had been a collective nervousness into real panic. Curiously, it was Nearly Headless Nick's fate that seemed to worry people most. What could possibly do that to a ghost?

There was a real stampede of students booking seats in the Hogwarts Express so they could spend at least the holidays away from the evil lurking in the corners of Hogwarts. In a way, it meant the path to Malfoy would be clearer for the Gryffindor trio, but on the other hand it made Harry look even more suspicious. In a conversation, he had told Lily that he was actually glad everyone was leaving. He was tired of people skirting around him in the corridors.

Hannah Abbott seemed to have been completely convinced that Harry Potter was the heir of Slytherin, and since there was nothing Lily could say to change her mind the girls were simply not talking at all.

Hector was quieter than usual. He spent a lot of time with Mandy in the library reading about old legends and dangerous monsters. Lily would often sit with them, but she soon learned she needed to study History of Magic further, because she was quite lost in the tales of the dusty old tomes the Ravenclaws were reading.

At last, the term ended and most of the students carried their trunks and pets and cages through the main gate and climbed into those carriages pulled by winged beasts – which others were still unable to see, and Lily couldn't figure out why.

The journey back to Kings Cross was weird. It felt like everyone had been holding their breaths in Hogwarts and were slowly starting to let the air out as the train left the station. There wasn't the same merry chatter as in the way back from school in the end of previous year, the voices in the cabins were low as Lily walked through the wagons looking for a place to sit with Hector, Susan, Megan and Mandy. She could feel that quietness in herself and her friends as well. The atmosphere wasn't welcoming for conversation. Even when the witch with the troller passed by and they purchased sweets they didn't taste as good, and it wasn't because they had chosen the wrong colour of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. It felt like it took an eternity for them to finally arrive at Kings Cross, and when they did it was a great relief.

A/N: Well, I'm actually pretty happy with how this chapter turned out. But what do you think? Please, let me know in the comments.