A/N: I feel after the excitement of the last chapter this one is a little more dull, but I suppose filler chapters are a must. JK wrote a whole filler book! :P. And, as you can see, it shows that it's different from the HP books as each character will have their own thoughts and experiences, as opposed to in HP where if Harry's not there it doesn't happen. So I hope you enjoy that! I promise the older they get the more exciting the story will be. There's only so much eleven year olds can do!
Suspicions
The next morning at breakfast, McGonagall stood and began to speak, informing the school that an investigation was being carried out to find the perpetrators of the prank the night before. Her lips remained in a firm thin line as her words carried, and the guilty first years felt a little apprehension. Lily had no doubt that they would be found out, whilst her fellow Gryffindors were confident they wouldn't get caught. James, especially, was sure that there was no way the prank could be traced back to them, and bragged about it, albeit quietly, throughout breakfast. Lily, irritated no end by his constant prattling and his friends' laughter, left the table, taking her toast with her, and went to sit outside Potions although she still had another twenty minutes before class was due to start.
She sighed, leaning against the wall. Things had been going fairly well between her and the rest of the first years, which she told herself she was only glad for because Alice was friends with them. Whilst she still didn't truly fit in, she was no complete outsider either. She reluctantly admitted that the prank had been entertaining, and she justified that it was good practice of their magic. Nevertheless she was glad when Severus appeared and she happily struck up a conversation with her oldest friend, having missed him being that the two of them were in opposing houses.
When he questioned her about the prank, however, she grew cautious, knowing that even in their two shorts months together, he and the Gryffindor boys couldn't stand one another. She felt bad for lying, but couldn't help thinking that although Severus was her best friend she would be landing herself and twelve other people into trouble if he ever got wind that Potter and Black were behind the prank.
Severus, in turn, suspected that Lily was lying. Knowing her for as long as he did, and having a fondness for her which only grew, he knew all her little mannerisms and could tell she wasn't being straight with him. He also knew, though, that she would never lie to him without reason. She was too good. So, he accepted her lie without question, although he was still determined to find the culprit. Lily's lie only served to convince him that Potter and Black were involved somehow, and he would use that to his advantage. He was a Slytherin, after all.
The other Gryffindor and Slytherin first years arrived soon after, and Lily went to join Frank and Alice further down the hall, relieved, for once, that Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew were late for class. She would have to warn the others later that Severus was suspicious, and Potter's bragging would only make it more evident to those sneaky enough that they were behind yesterday's events.
Severus watched her closely, looking for a sign of anything to point him in the right direction, but she gave nothing away, instead diving into a conversation with Prewett and Longbottom about the upcoming class. Lily had a flair for Potions only Severus himself could rival, and he admired her work from afar. It didn't occur to him until much later, after he had already joined the ranks of the Death Eaters, that it was he and Lily, a half-blood raised as a muggle and a muggleborn, who beat out every Pureblood in their class the entirety of their school days. It only served to cement Severus' doubts that the Slytherin ideology he had learnt to accept since Hogwarts was wrong. Unfortunately, his epiphany came too late.
The class filed into the dungeon classroom chattering noisily. Slughorn beamed up at them, announcing that although he shouldn't be so proud of the students responsible for the Halloween prank, he was, and hoped that they could apply themselves likewise to Potions.
Secretly, Remus thought that Slughorn only wanted his students to show off their Potions skills as they had done so adeptly with both Charms and Transfiguration. It was no secret that Slughorn liked prestige and recognition, and for Potions to feature heavily in such an intricate prank as had been carried out the night before would be an honour for the man. Remus couldn't decide yet whether he wanted to humour the good-natured yet biased professor.
During Remus' thoughts, Slughorn explained to the class the task at hand, and the homework to be done at the end. James and Sirius both groaned but paired with each other, leaving Remus, once again, with Peter. Remus was hoping that, at some point, Peter would grow into his magic a little more and become a slightly more competent wizard. He had no problem helping Peter, but he was getting a little tired of his hard work never seeming to rub off on the other boy.
The class settled into their task relatively quickly, and Lily paired with Alice, leaving Frank and Chris at the desk in front of them. When Lily came back with the supplies needed for a forgetfulness potion, Alice glanced up at her.
"Snape is watching you," she said quietly.
Lily looked up to see her friend looking in her direction and smiled. "So?" she asked the other girl.
"I don't know. He just seems suspicious of something, and he's staring at you as if you have all the answers," Alice answered, puzzled.
Lily sighed. "He was questioning me about the prank last night. Seems to think I know something about it,"
"You didn't tell him anything, did you?" Alice stopped what she was doing to look at her friend.
"No,'" Lily replied, tipping Leathe River Water into the cauldron. "Why do you think he's so suspicious? He knows I was lying, but he can't outright accuse me because I'm his friend. Mind how much you put in!" She indicated the valerian sprigs in Alice's hand.
"Sorry," Alice winced. "Well, don't let him find anything out, will you? I know you aren't the best of friends with the guys," she indicated their fellow Gryffindors with a wave of her hand "but, you know we'll all be in trouble if McGonagall finds out. She was absolutely steaming this morning,"
"I know, I know," Lily slumped back on her stool after stirring the potion. "I wasn't going to tell him anything,"
Chris took this opportunity to lean back to join their conversation. "What do you think will happen if we do get caught?" he asked the two girls.
"Detention until Christmas?" Alice suggested, wrinkling her nose at the thought.
"It's a good thing we're not third year or above, otherwise we'd most likely have to give up Hogsmeade privileges," Frank finished stirring his and Chris' potion and turned round to face them.
"And Quidditch!" Chris added, causing both girls to scoff.
"Quidditch is nothing more than a brutal game designed to feed the male ego," Lily said primly.
"Have you ever actually seen a Quidditch game, Lil?" Frank asked her.
"No, and I don't plan on it. Quidditch is something I imagine Potter and Black are obsessed with, and I plan on having as little in common with them as possible. Barbaric,"
"Don't tell us how you really feel," Sirius butted in, a hand on his heart and a wounded expression on his face. Nobody had noticed him come over, he having been bored stiff just watching the cauldron bubble, but upon seeing him Lily's face settled in a stoic expression.
"Don't expect me to apologise," she snapped.
"An apology? From you, Lily-flower? I wouldn't dare to dream," Sirius grinned, earning himself a glare from Lily. "Why are you talking about Quidditch anyway?"
"Discussing possible punishments should we ever be caught by McGonagall," Alice explained, looking rather grim.
"Here's an idea; stop talking about it," Remus cut in, looking exasperated. His and Peter's potion was going quite well, and he had finally dared to hope that Peter had actually found something he was good at. He and Peter had left their potion, bubbling away like instructed, to investigate the current gathering about Alice and Lily.
"That's probably a good idea," Chris grinned.
"Sirius!" Came James' frustrated voice, and the seven Gryffindors looked up in James' direction. "You're supposed to help, not run off just to take all the credit!"
"Oops!" Sirius laughed, walking back to his friend and dumping far too many than the required four mistletoe berries into the cauldron, without even bothering to crush them, causing a billow of smoke to rise up and surround them.
"SIRIUS!" James yelled from the midst of the smoke, and the class heard the sound of a punch and Sirius' yelp.
"I'm suddenly glad I always get paired with Pete," Remus muttered, and some of his friends laughed softly, watching as Slughorn cleared the smoke and gave both boys detention.
James and Sirius got split up to pair with Remus and Peter and Frank and Chris respectively, since it was far too late in the class to start over. Remus left James to crush the mistletoe berries in the mortar and concentrated on the commotion behind him. Looking round, he saw Frank restraining Sirius from the potion whilst Chris quickly threw in two pinches of their crushed mistletoe berries and hastily stirred five times anticlockwise. He finished with a swish of his wand and bottled up some of the potion before running to Slughorn's desk with it to be safely deposited.
All the while, Frank was holding Sirius back, repeating phrases such as "Oh, no you don't! You're not getting your unthoughtful paws on our potion too!" Sirius was only let go when Chris had returned and vanished the remaining potion, and Sirius skulked off to the girls' table to sulk, which neither appreciated.
Turning back round, he saw Peter bottling their own potion and waited until Peter had safely given the vial to Slughorn before he vanished the rest of the contents of the cauldron. With Pete, you could never be too careful.
Sighing, he heaved his bag onto his shoulder and led the way out of the classroom towards Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sirius was still sulking so dragged Peter to the back and Remus rolled his eyes, before he spotted Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey on their way down the greenhouses. He waved them over and everyone crowded round to discuss McGonagall and her ire. As neither Hufflepuff had been at breakfast the Gryffindors quickly explained what had happened and neither looked impressed.
"Well, let's not get ourselves caught then," Mackenzey stated.
"Easier said than done," Peter muttered, as Alice said "Snape's already suspicious. He questioned Lily this morning,"
Lily glared at her friend, but as everybody looked at her she nodded her head. "I think if it had been anybody but them," she indicated James and Sirius, "he'd probably be harmless, but you know how he feels about them. With good reason," she spat, glaring at James as if everything was his fault.
"He's hardly innocent in our activities, Evans," Sirius said, shrinking back when Lily focused her glare on him.
"Whatever," she muttered. "Just be careful, or we're all done for,"
The two groups separated once again, running to have to get to class on time. They met back at lunch, and, whilst they tried not to converse about the prank, it was difficult, and it wasn't until Kerris confusedly pointed out that Snape was attempting to inconspicuously walk past the table every two minutes that everybody finally had the urge to discuss everything but the prank. Snape gave up not long after, but none of his fellow first years concerned themselves with that, thinking that he had given up on his mission.
The rest of the afternoon passed relatively quickly, Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane enjoying the time to catch up with Kerris alone in Potions and the Gryffindors, even if it was in History of Magic, whilst Troy and Hunter smirked throughout both their afternoon classes, being that they were Charms and Transfiguration, which, evidently, both were excelling at. That didn't mean to say magic was easy, but it proved that first year really was about learning the basics, and that even the slackers could deal with.
The aftermath of the prank was wearing off, especially with the threat of Snape, and at dinner it was a rare occurrence to find Kerris, Troy and Hunter sitting with Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey at the Hufflepuff table instead of at Gryffindor. Kerris fit in easily with the four older friends and they were soon giggling about music, whilst Hunter rolled his eyes at their inane comments about certain members of bands being attractive. It was an easy going conversation, and Mackenzey noted after a while, glimpsing their friends in Gryffindor, that it was nice to be able to converse without the threat of an argument or other disagreement. The others nodded and soon the five were headed off to the Hufflepuff common room, the friendliest of the three Houses.
The Gryffindors, meanwhile, were separated into three groups. Lily had pulled Alice away from the boys and the two were sat with Mary MacDonald, Lily looking much less sour than usual. Pete, Chris and Frank had distanced themselves from James and Sirius, and Remus, sat with his two most troublesome friends, had a look of longing on his face as he wished he could escape James' new absurd plan. After James' introduction he hadn't the will to continue to listen, and Sirius' excited nattering when James had finished only confirmed Remus' fears.
"You realise if you pull another one so soon, we're going to be in even more trouble if and when McGonagall finds out?" Remus asked them drily.
"Shhh, Remus!" Sirius hissed. "Someone might hear you!"
"And deduce what?" Remus rolled his eyes. "That you like to truant your classes? I hardly think that's a well-kept secret,"
Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but James kicked him in the shin and said "Yes, but speculating and having confirmation are two entirely different things,"
"I think doing it more than once in such a short space of time might as well be confirmation," Remus muttered.
"Let them speculate," Sirius shrugged, spotting Snape doing his weird stalkery thing again. "Can we get out of here before that greaseball covers us in his slime?" he continued, giving Snape a nasty glare which the other boy returned in force.
The three left the hall, followed not long after by the other three boys, and Snape cursed. He was no closer to getting proof the arrogant, swaggering Gryffindorks were behind the prank. He was about to approach Lily just to say hi when he heard Prewett saying how hard Transfiguration was going to be tomorrow, knowing how unimpressed McGonagall had been with the prank on Halloween. This immediately piqued his interest and he once again attempted to be inconspicuous. Lucky for him, the two girls were so involved in their conversation they weren't paying any attention to their surroundings.
"Don't worry, Al," Lily replied to her friend. "If anything, she's going to be keeping an eye on Potter and Black, not us,"
"But she has obviously noticed we all hang out. And she can't expect them to have pulled it off by themselves, surely?" Prewett bit her lip. "She's been a teacher forever, I have no doubt she knows a guilty party when she sees one,"
Lily shrugged. "I still think we're safe, compared to the boys anyway,"
"How can you be so calm about this, Lily?" Prewett asked, concern lacing her voice. "Imagine what McGonagall would do if she found out it was us?"
Snape stared at both girls curiously. THEY had been responsible for the prank? He felt a little hurt by Lily's participation but continued to listen.
"Well, she's not going to for a start. And, there's too many of us. Sharing the blame,"
"Yeah, but I just know she's going to be far more harsh on the Gryffindors,"
Now Lily paused. "If she finds out," she said hesitantly.
"Let's hope everyone else has kept their mouth shut,"
"Potter and Black keep their mouths shut?" Lily asked almost incredulously. "Did you not hear them earlier? They're so pleased with their idea and its execution they were planning another!"
This was all the proof Snape needed to drop Potter and Black in it, and he would drag their stupid friends Lupin and Pettigrew into it. They all deserved whatever punishment McGonagall handed out and he hoped she was harsh. He was so distracted by this revelation he had forgotten about the two girls.
"It wasn't just their idea…" Alice began, trailing off.
"I know," Lily replied, before her friend clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Snape…" she breathed out, having finally spotted Lily's friend behind her shoulder.
"Oh! Severus!" Lily whirled round, a beaming smile ready for her friend.
Snape returned her smile, but was too busy thinking about his plan to inform McGonagall that he simply waved at her and ran off.
"He heard," Alice closed her eyes and hit herself on the forehead. "After all that, it's bloody us who basically tell Snape who was responsible! Merlin, we're so in for it,"
Lily looked at her confused.
Alice gave her a pitying smile. "He's been hanging around all day, obviously hoping to hear something. And, I am pretty sure he just heard our entire conversation,"
Lily's faced dropped. "Maybe I could talk to him?"
"I doubt it. You said yourself how he feels about Sirius and James,"
"We'd better go tell them," Lily said morosely. She didn't like Potter and Black, but she didn't intend to drop them, or anyone, in it. She had really messed up.
Unsurprisingly their fellow Gryffindors were not in the least bit happy with the two girls revelation, especially because they weren't entirely sure what Snape had heard and who he was going to drop in it. James and Sirius were a given, but the rest of the group were on edge the rest of the night, wondering what the next morning would bring. Snape may not have necessarily picked up on each of the thirteen participants, but if he had, they had no way to warn their friends before breakfast. Unfortunately, because they were usually in Gryffindor they had no need for the other passwords.
The Gryffindors headed down to breakfast together the next morning. It only seemed fair that, should Snape have told McGonagall, they face her together. Lily was pale, chewing her lip as she walked. Although she was certain Snape would avoid putting any blame on her, it was still her fault that the others would be punished. Her and her stupid big mouth.
Even James and Sirius were quieter than normal, and nobody else could find the energy to suggest even pasting fake smiles on their faces, considering that the morose atmosphere certainly made it clear that something was amiss. It was somewhat fortunate they came across Mackenzey, Ruby, Troy and Hunter in the Entrance Hall, and, at the curious expressions on the faces of their friends, Frank informed them that there was a high chance that Snape had dropped some, if not all, of them in it with McGonagall.
It was Lily who suggested the other friends walk in after the Gryffindors and sit again at the Hufflepuff table, as maybe it would allay any suspicions McGonagall had as to whether they were also party to the prank. She didn't want any more of her friends to get into trouble because of her big mouth.
The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins walked in almost five minutes later, trying to act like nothing was amiss, and found Kerris sitting at Ravenclaw already. They took seats next to her and quietly told her what was going on as they buttered their toast and kept cheery grins on their faces.
McGonagall, however, hadn't spared any of the first years a second glance, and hope began to build that Snape had not been so cruel. Maybe instead he planned to blackmail them? That they could handle. Handle better than the Deputy Headmistress' ire.
McGonagall left breakfast without saying anything, but the first years were still hesitant to breathe a sigh of relief, the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors especially as they had first period Transfiguration with her.
Ruby and Mackenzey headed over to the Gryffindor table to find Chris, Remus, Peter, James and Sirius, whereas Hunter, Kerris and Troy waved goodbye to their friends and headed to History of Magic. The two Hufflepuffs hurried their friends up as breakfast was almost over. Considering the students were already on thin ice with McGonagall, particularly as the charmed lions made it obvious the prank was orchestrated by students in her own house, and with Snape's probable snitching, it wouldn't do to be late to her class.
The only thing that they had going for them, Lily mused, was that the magic used was basic first year work, hence any student in the entire school would know how to cast it. The downside was that she doubted many of the elder students would use such simple magic to orchestrate a prank, although the result had been impressive. Even if Snape directed suspicion to Potter and Black, he would have no proof. Sighing yet again, she let herself be pulled along behind the boys, Ruby, Mackenzey and Alice towards the Transfiguration room.
They filed in silently and took their usual seats. This time, however, they were mostly silent as McGonagall took her place at the front of the class. She didn't seem to notice any change in behaviour as she explained the day's task to the students and soon allowed them to get on with it themselves.
The friends relaxed as the class went on, becoming more doubtful that Snape had already approached their teacher. He may still tell her, but now they had time to work out a plan and hopefully get them out of a whole world of trouble.
Remus' logical mind was already working on a plan, but he couldn't find any ways to deny that at least some of them were behind it. Even if only a few of them took the rap, it probably wouldn't be feasible for any punishment dished out to be shared between all of them. He sighed, knowing that if anyone was going to be punished, it would be Sirius and James.
Lily, too, was trying to work out a way that they could escape punishment. If she had been more careful, they might not even have had to think about what to do when they got caught. It was obvious that the prank had been pulled off by Gryffindors, especially because of the stupid sticking charm the others had applied to the Slytherins. Even without that, she mused, it would hard to convince McGonagall that it was a prank orchestrated by the Slytherins to push suspicion onto the Gryffindors.
Remus and Peter approached Lily and Alice's table, in the pretence of working together. Once there, however, Remus struck up a conversation with Lily, which seemed innocent to any eavesdroppers but she knew exactly what he meant.
"What do you think? Has it happened?" Remus asked her casually, indicating Alice's wandwork, but the furrow between his brows gave him away.
"I'm not sure," Lily replied. "Sorry, Alice,"
"That's okay, it's not your fault," Alice caught on to the conversation as she continued to pretend she hadn't quite got the hang of the spell.
"Have you any ideas?" Remus asked more quietly.
"I don't know," Lily frowned. "I'll discuss it more with you later?" she suggested. "Maybe we could pool our thoughts and help Alice,"
'And everyone else,' Remus thought as he smiled and agreed.
Both Lily and Remus ate quickly under the pretence of working on an essay together, and escaped to the Gryffindor common room when most of the rest of the students were still eating. Neither had gotten much further in their plans to dispel McGonagall's suspicions and both were getting more frustrated, Remus at the situation and Lily at herself. If only Snape didn't hate her housemates so much… If only her housemates weren't such bullies.
"What are we going to do, Remus?" Lily asked desperately. She hated the idea that everyone would only dislike her more should they all be punished for one, albeit large, prank.
"Be smart?" Remus suggested. "Give them alibies? If we're always together it wouldn't be too suspicious, and I doubt McGonagall would suspect you of being involved if you were to provide yourself with an alibi…"
"But if I do that, Severus will hate me…" Eleven year old Lily had never looked so vulnerable and Remus couldn't help but feel for her.
"The prank wasn't solely played on Snape, was it? So his vendetta right now can be disregarded because he's just being blinded by his hatred,"
"He's still going to know I lied…"
"Didn't you already lie to his face, Lily?"
"Stop reminding me what a horrible friend I am!" Lily snapped.
"Put it this way, Snape hating you you will be able to fix much more easily than allowing even just James and Sirius to be punished for the prank and it won't matter that much because, despite your lying, I doubt very much that Snape would drop you in it,"
"I guess," Lily sighed.
Remus' response was cut off as Frank came running into the common room.
"Lily!" He said urgently. "McGonagall requires you in her office, now!"
All three looked at each other for a second, faces pale, before Lily pushed past Frank and ran out of the portrait, followed closely by both boys. Upon reaching McGonagall's office she found every one of the friends stood nearby, and quickly discovered that James, Sirius and Peter had been pulled inside. The others had followed far enough behind to not be seen and were currently awaiting their friends' release, whilst hopefully not being spotted by McGonagall.
Nervously, Lily gulped and went to knock on the door. She heard McGonagall's permission to enter and stepped through, careful not to give away that everyone else was stood outside.
"Miss Evans," McGonagall greeted her, a neutral expression on her face. Black, Pettigrew and Potter were seated in three chairs to the left of Lily and Severus was seated to the right, a gleeful expression on his face. "Mr Snape has informed me that you know the identity of the culprits of the prank two nights prior?"
"I… I…" Lily stuttered.
"I need no confirmation, Miss Evans, as Mr Snape here has kindly provided his memory of the confession,"
'Confession? Did McGonagall know she was involved too?' Lily looked round and two of the three Gryffindor boys had glares fixated on the Slytherin, whilst Peter looked nervous. When McGonagall averted her attention to them, however, all three sat up and perfected looks of confusion.
"We know not of this memory, Miss," Sirius started.
"Are you sure Miss Evans was not mistaken in her belief that we were behind the prank?" James continued.
"That IS the only proof you have, is it not?" Peter piped up. "We have never discussed with her, nor anyone else, that we initiated the prank, quite simply because we did not, so how could Miss Evans know that it was indeed us?"
"You're all liars," Snape snarled, and Lily recoiled at the look her threw her.
"Mr Snape, please!" McGonagall said curtly. "Miss Evans, do you have solid proof that these boys were behind the prank?"
"No…" Lily said hesitantly.
"I do!" Snape said proudly.
"Other than the memory you have already provided?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes, Miss," Snape smirked.
"Then please, put it forward. I would like to resolve this matter as soon as possible,"
Snape provided another thin strand using his wand and the four Gryffindors watched in horror as Snape's memory clearly showed the three boys discussing the prank at dinner that evening. It had been before Lily and Remus had left to try and work out a solution, and the other three had evidently been trying to work on an alibi with little success. It was, however, all the proof McGonagall needed, and Lily was suddenly glad she hadn't attempted to be their alibi.
"Thank you, Mr Snape," McGonagall said, her voice steely. "Miss Evans, Mr Snape, you may go,"
Lily exited first and attempted to ignore Severus as he ran to catch her arm.
"Don't, Sev, just don't," she said softly as she pulled her arm away. She went in the opposite direction to her friends in the hope he would follow and she sighed in relief when he walked past her after she had slipped into an alcove. The last thing she needed was to lead him into believing they had all been party to the prank.
However, she thought, as she meandered her way back, maybe they could all get a lesser punishment if they all handed themselves in… Being caught by Snape would mean they wouldn't have pleaded guilty, but to admit to McGonagall with little prompting (she, for one, didn't feel that guilty for letting Potter and Black go down) that they were all the culprits she was looking for could possibly help their case.
She ran the rest of the way, her genius idea flying round her head. When reaching the group she gasped out what had happened and explained her plan. Although the others looked apprehensive, they were all motivated to save their friends, even the Slytherins. It was then that Lily decided Blue and Crowley weren't that bad.
Nervously she led the group back around to McGonagall's office and tapped on the door. This time when asked to enter she stood up straight and practically strutted into the office, followed by her friends.
Once the door was closed and before McGonagall could speak, Lily, right hand tightly clasped with Alice's, lifted her head up, looked McGonagall straight in the eye and said; "We all did it. We're all responsible,"