Hide and Seek

"It is really nice to see all of you back in form, ready to work again," Professor Slughorn addressed the students who were standing in a row.

"Without any further delay, let us jump to the activity of the day. It is- Hide and Seek. The seeker will look for one person. Then that person, along with the seeker will look for the second person. Then the first person and the second person will look for the third person. In this way the chain will continue. The person whose chance is over will come back to the castle. This activity will help you to develop analytical skills. We have miniatures of all the students. Professor Mcgonagall will pull out one of them and that person will be the first seeker,"

Professor Mcgonagall came forward and put her hand inside a black bag. She pulled out Ted's miniature. He was blindfolded and his ears were plugged by professor Boltsman. After everyone had perfectly hidden themselves, his blindfold and plugs were removed. He looked confused and turned back to ask the professors for some help but got disappointed as they had already vanished. He had only his wits to rely on. He paced towards the castle and heard someone laughing. He followed the sound and reached the castle gate. There, he saw Pamela, holding her belly and laughing like mad women. He went to her and said, " I spy,"

"I don't believe it took you so long. Here's the sonogadget. We have to find Mary," she went on laughing.

"And how to use it?"

Pamela continued giggling.

"And for goodness' sake, why are you laughing?"

"I've been given something. And I …..ah ha ha…can't stop…ha ….laughing,"

"You're irritating me,"

She didn't care.

He snatched the sonogadget from her hand. It was a spherical hollow structure with two red buttons at its cardinal points. Ted pressed one of those and like a miracle, Pamela stopped laughing. He understood that pressing the other would also help. He pressed it and a blue vapour appeared inside. The voice of waves crashing to the shore came from the gadget.

"Water!" Pamela exclaimed.

They paced towards the lake and saw Mary floating on the water surface.

"We spy!" They shouted.

Mary came out of the water. Ted wished them good luck and went inside the castle while Mary showed breathing hollies to Pamela. Breathing hollies looked like twigs of olive with just one spherical fruit attached to it.

"What is this for?" Pamela looked surprised.

"We have to find Aulay and since these are breathing hollies, I assume he's in the lake,"

"Intelligent,"

Mary just smiled and attached that fruit to her nose. Automatically, the branch swiveled up and rotated around her nose and squeezed it. For a second she was not able to breathe. The next second, she didn't have to. Pamela did the same thing and then they entered the lake. After swimming between planktons and fries for fifteen minutes, Pamela spotted Aulay's leg. They followed his trail and soon caught him. They swam back to the shore and came out completely wet. Aulay put a drying charm on them and in a jiffy, the water evaporated. Pamela waved her goodbye and Aulay took out a shining triangular piece of glass from his robes.

"What is that?" Mary asked.

"It is a bird's view mirror,"

"And how will it help us?"

Aulay shrugged his shoulders and pricked one of the corners of the glass. The mirror twisted and became of the shape of a bird's eye. Lily's image appeared in the pupil of the bird's eye.

"Lily!" Mary exclaimed. " But how do we know where she is?"

"I don't know, let's see,"

They started moving towards the forest, away from the lake. Lily's image remained the same. Then they took a left and Lily's image turned towards to the right. Aulay scratched his head to understand what it meant. He tried turning back and then to his right. Lily's image became straight and then turned to its left.

"Maybe it moves with her position with respect to us," Mary suggested.

Aulay nodded and they started moving towards the forest, where her image remained straight. Walking, they reached the edge of the forest. Aulay heard Lily's footsteps. He saw Lily coming out of the forest.

"Don't enter the forest," Lily warned them.

"We spy!"

Then Mary kissed Aulay on his cheek and wished him best of luck. Next she went to Lily, kissed her on the cheek and went away.

Lily took out a broomstick from the heap of dry leaves kept near Hagrid's hut. Aulay was nothing short of rejoicing.

"Hi! I didn't expect to be with you, all alone, so soon," Aulay commented.

Lily felt a wave of discomfort sweep her feet. But she kept her calm. Lily just looked at him and said, "We have to look for Sirius,"

Aulay climbed the broomstick and questioned, " Still scared of flying?"

Lily smiled tiredly and placed herself behind him. This time she was holding the broomstick. Aulay noticed her discomfort and spoke, " You can hold me Lily,"

Lily replied, "No, it's okay. I was….er…jus…"

"I won't fly till you hold me,"

Lily was scared, though in doubt of what she was frightened of more. Feeling very awkward, she held his waist lightly. Aulay took off and very soon they were flying over the ground. Lily hadn't closed her eyes this time. She wanted to admire Hogwarts from where she was. She looked at its huge entrance, gradually becoming small; she looked at the bridge which was looking like a toy-bridge; she looked at the minarets and on one of them, she saw some activity.

"There, I think it is Sirius," Lily said to Aulay, pointing towards the minaret.

Aulay zoomed in towards the castle and spotted Sirius. "We spy, Black," he shouted.

And expression of disgust spread over Sirius' face on seeing Aulay. "Finally you were able to do something, wannabe," he snorted. Then he jumped on the broomstick in between Lily and Aulay and Lily thanked him for that, in his ears. She wasn't uncomfortable in holding Sirius. Not a word exchanged between anyone on the broom. Aulay took them the ground where all the professors and the students were waiting for them.

After the drill, dead on her feet, Lily scuffled back to her dorm. Oblivious to the world around her, she crouched on the sofa and slept.

"……………….put it there……………in the room………………………………………………………………………………..Sydney has the………………………………………………………………………..go Wormy………………………………………………………I went there…………………………………………..go and look………………………………………."

Lily heard some voices. She opened her eyes and couldn't believe what she saw. The whole dorm was decorated with white and red lilies and strings of crapes were hung from the ceiling. In one of the corners, lots of gifts, soft toys and bouquets were arranged. All her friends were surrounding her and she sat confused. In a minute, the clock struck midnight and a rain of rose-petals started showering on her. Sirius, Lou and Remus started singing 'Happy Birthday' while James took to a mouth organ, giving them background music. Peter and Sydney cast some spell and a three tiered, heart shaped chocolate cake appeared in front of Lily.

Then, all of them came and sat in a semi-circle around her, still singing her birthday song. Lily couldn't help it. Tears of joy welled in her eyes. Sydney got up and clinched her in her arms. Quickly, all of them got up and hugged her at the same time, almost suffocating her. James, though, kept sitting in a corner.

"Happy Birthday, Lily," he wished her when the crowd around her suspended.

"Thanks," she smiled at him and then turned towards the cake. Everyone gathered around it and Remus got a camera ready.

"Make a wish," Sirius chimed as Lily was about to blow the candles. Lily closed her eyes and said to herself, "May James always remain happy, may Sev find solace and peace. May we all remain united," Meanwhile James too closed his eyes and spoke to himself, " May the Almighty bless Lily with all the love and happiness in the world,"

They opened their eyes, simultaneously and looked into each other's. Lily blinked and snapped the connection she'd feared. She bent down and cut the cake. She cut seven huge pieces and distributed them among her friends who had lavished such a terrific gift on her. Sirius opened a bottle of butterbeer and poured it into seven goblets. He took one of them and then stood up on the couch.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?" He spoke. All of them focused themselves towards the speaker. He continued, " We have gathered here to celebrate the seventeenth birthday of the smartest and the most amazing girl in Hogwarts – Lily Evans," Lily smiled at the compliment and Sirius continued speaking, " As a part of the traditions of the celebrations of the birthday party of a new adult, we have collected messages for Lily from all those people whom she has known through the years. I would like to read them out for her,"

"Go on," Peter clapped.

He took out a parchment and spoke, "The first one is from myself – Many happy returns of the day, Lily. I take this opportunity to thank you. Thank you for being my friend, for understanding me, though after several rounds of non-stop fighting, for unburdening yourself on my shoulders. I will always be there for you. I wish I could make you a part of the Marauders, because you are as dear to me as any of them,"

After days, Lily felt happy. She smiled brightly at Sirius, who continued, "The next one is from Sydney and Remus – Happy seventeenth birthday to the best friend of ours. You have been our greatest friend and companion. You've been the link which joined us. And we sincerely thank you for that. We both love you a lot and wish that you achieve all that you ever aspire for,"

Sydney and Remus went to her and hugged her tightly. Then Sirius took out the third parchment and started reading it, "This one is from Peter – Happy Birthday. You have always been sweet to me, Lily. And I adored you for that. You truly are the smartest witch in the world,"

Peter went to Lily, shyly, and gave her a yellow rose. Lily smiled and accepted it. The parchment changed and Sirius announced again, "This one is from Lou and Alice – A very happy birthday and many happy returns of the day. We have known each other very less. But your friendly nature and charming personality befriended us. Wishing you all the best in your life," Lily went to Lou and hugged her. She deliberately avoided looking in James, who was standing next to Lou.

Sirius went on, "Another one, this one from Amos Diggory," Lily's eyes widened at the mentioned of his name. She glanced at Sydney, who was smiling pleadingly.

"Happy Birthday, Lily. I always wanted to tell you something and I think your birthday is the best opportunity to tell you this. I had a crush on you since the third year. But I dared not to compete with James. Though with time I got over you, you will always have a special mention in my life," Lily started blushing. She looked at Sydney. She was smiling, with Remus in tow. Lily let out a sigh of relief. Her eye went over to James, who had a lop-sided grin on his face.

Sirius carried on, "The final one is from James," James stared at Sirius in surprise while Lily hung her head, downwards. James hadn't given any message. He wanted to give her the gift he'd bought for her for the day he would propose to her. Since he'd given up his hopes for that day to come, he had decided to give it to her on her birthday. But, before he could say anything, Sirius started, "Happy Birthday to the girl I loved the most. Time flew such fast between us. I know I've pestered you and tried your patience at all possible events of time. It is a pity that I drifted apart and got somebody else. Still, you'll always be special to me. After all, not many people get a chance to fall in love with Lily Evans,"

Lily felt tears well up in her eyes. She looked at James and it crushed his heart to see Lily like this. She turned and went out of the room, running. James looked at Sirius, ready to punch him in his face.