Study Break
Lily woke up the next morning in her dormitory, and found that she was clutching her blankets around herself tightly. The events of the night before came tumbling into her mind all at once, and tears streamed down her face. It was just too much for her to bear. She bit her lower lip in an attempt to stop herself from crying too much. She had classes that day, after all, and she didn't want to have to answer any awkward questions about why she was crying.
She took a shaky breath and sniffled her nose, then stood up and walked to the mirror in her bathroom. Her face was dirty; her hair was disheveled from having her head banged against the wall, not to mention tossing and turning in her fitful sleep. She turned on the sink on and splashed water on her face, looking at her red nose and puffy eyes in disgust.
"You've got to be stronger than that," Lily told her reflection, splashing the mirror with water. "Voldemort's after you. You can't show him that he's getting to you."
She washed her face, got dressed, and did her hair and makeup, then walked out of the dorm room and into the Great Hall, where she sat down next to James. She started talking animatedly to a girl in her Transfigurations class, who was sitting across from her.
"You're in the paper, mate," she heard Sirius say as he reached over to grab James's bacon off of his plate.
"I am?" James snatched the Daily Prophet that was propped up against the jug of pumpkin juice in front of Sirius's empty plate. "Why don't you eat your own food, Padfoot?" James asked grumpily as he watched the last of his bacon disappear into Sirius's mouth.
"Awed id," Sirius said as bits of bacon sprayed everywhere the second that Lily turned away from her friends to talk to James.
"Sirius, you know that's disgusting," she said conversationally.
"Yeah, you should probably swallow before you talk," James said, looking disgusted.
Sirius swallowed with what looked like extreme effort. "Already did," he said, gesturing towards his empty plate. It was gleaming.
"What did you do, lick it?" James asked as Lily looked on with a small smile etched on her face.
Sirius gave his friend a reproachful look but did not answer. He turned instead to Lily. "You're in the paper," he said simply, snatching the paper back from James's hands and handing it to Lily. He poked the headline excitedly. "You made front-page news!"
"Read it out loud," James said.
" 'Last night at 12:00 Lily Evans, 7th year Gryffindor, was found missing from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Miss Evans was, according to Albus Dumbledore, found in her parents' home in downtown London, captured by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his followers, known as…blah blah blah…at precisely 3:00 A.M. of that same day, top Ministry Aurors surrounded the building in which Miss Evans was located. However, it was not the Ministry that saved her, but Albus Dumbledore and a fellow 7th year named James Potter. It is not certain how he managed to get into the building, but what is known is that Voldemort had tried to kill him—and failed. The curse that was meant to kill him was dodged, and it left Mr. Potter unharmed. (For more on this story, turn to page A2).'" Lily read to the silence around them. Remus arrived in time to hear the newspaper being read, and stared at Lily and James sullenly. Sirius was eyeing him suspiciously. "So, we're famous. I wonder how the story leaked," Lily added as an afterthought.
"Lily, what did Voldemort do to you?" James asked, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. He immediately regretted asking the question as Lily's eyes turned glassy. He took her hand in his and helped her up. "Come on, we're taking a day off of classes."
Lily's eyes widened. "We can't do that!" she squeaked disapprovingly. "We'd get in trouble!"
"Lily," James said, calmly and rationally as he led her up to the staff table, "you just got kidnapped by Death Eaters last night. I'm sure the professors would let you have a day off. Oh, and make sure you mention that you need me with you, so that I could have a day off, too!"
Lily sighed, and pushed her hair tiredly out of her face. "If I must, I must," she said wearily, making her way up to Professor McGonagall.
"Yes, Ms. Evans?" Professor McGonagall said uncertainly, her eyebrows raised.
"Well, I was wondering if I could take the day off of classes," Lily said quietly, looking at McGonagall innocently, with her head cocked slightly to the left. "I mean, with the whole Voldemort thing, it's very stressful. I don't want to have to answer questions about it." She turned to look back at James, who was looking at her exasperatedly. Lily laughed inwardly. "James should come with me. He needs to…um…comfort me in this tragic time?"
Lily heard a snort of laughter from behind her as McGonagall turned to Dumbledore to debate the matter. "Oh, shut it," Lily said, smiling. "You know it worked." James tried—and failed—to stifle a chuckle.
"I told you!" Lily exclaimed, laughing, as she and James walked up to the Heads common room. "I told you it would work!"
James folded his arms across his chest and stopped walking. "HMPH!" he said angrily, stomping his foot.
"Hey, James, we have a day off," Lily said, walking to him and looking up at him. "Enjoy it." James's arms went back at his side—but only for a second. Lily felt herself being lifted off her feet as James picked her up.
"Shut it, Lily," he said, though she could hear the laughter in his voice as he carried her bridal-style into the common room.
He threw her down onto the couch, where she bounced slightly, laughing. He then sat down next to her, and she felt the cushions indent slightly to where he sat down. He turned to her, his face serious. She stopped giggling at once.
"James, what's wrong?" Lily asked, putting a slender hand on his shoulder. Her eyes bore into his; her eyebrows were raised gracefully as she stared at him questioningly.
"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks," he said suddenly, standing up abruptly. The cushions on the couch sprung up with the sudden loss of weight.
"James, are you okay?" Lily asked, standing up, too. "A minute ago you were laughing, and then you were zoning out, and now you're saying we should go to the Three Broomsticks?"
"Yeah," James said faintly, running a hand through his hair and rumpling it. "I've got a feeling about going to the Three Broomsticks."
"And I've got a feeling that you've gone completely mental!" Lily exclaimed, running after James, who was walking briskly out the portrait hole. "JAMES!" she screamed, sprinting after him down the hallway. "JAMES, LISTEN TO ME! STOP! JAMES, STOP!"
James's strides slowed down as he came to a stop in front of a statue of a one-eyed witch with a hump on her back. "Dissendium," he said, and the witch's hump opened. "Hurry up, Lily, before it closes," James said, climbing the statue and slipping down the tunnel of the witch's hump. Lily followed suit.
"Where does this lead?" Lily panted, out of breath from running halfway across the school to get to James.
"Hogsmeade," James said, turning a corner swiftly. Lily had to jog to keep up with him. After what seemed like forever, they found a staircase. "Come on," he said, gesturing to a huffing Lily that they would have to climb the stairs. Lily groaned in protest.
After a long climb that seemed to Lily to take hours, they emerged in the center of Honeydukes' cellar. "How did you find this place?" Lily whispered.
"A Marauder never reveals his secrets," James said, winking. "Now come on, we have to get to the Three Broomsticks!"
Lily sighed as she watched James run up the next flight of stairs that led to the shop. His enthusiasm made her smile, and she made her way quickly up the wooden stairs.
The shop was empty but for the old witch who was the shopkeeper, and was thankfully turned the other way. She did not notice Lily and James appear from the cellar.
"My dears, shouldn't you be up at school?" the witch asked, peering at them suspiciously from behind her thick, horn-rimmed glasses.
"We've got permission, because it's just reviewing in class and we already know all our stuff," James lied effortlessly.
The witch patted the graying bun sitting at the nape of her neck; it was almost as though she were checking to make sure it was still there. "Very well," she said in her reedy voice, though she still looked unconvinced. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"No, thanks," Lily said politely, edging towards the door. "We're just going to head down to the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer."
The old shopkeeper frowned slightly as she watched Lily tugging on the sleeve of James's robes to steer him out of the shop.
James pushed open the front doors and received a shocking blast of icy wind in his face. Lily laughed at the baffled look on his face, and the two left the shop arm in arm.
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Behind them, the old woman stood alone in Honeydukes. But she was changing. Her hair was becoming lighter, more blonde; her wrinkles were contracting into her skin; her eyes were changing from deep brown to steely gray. Her paisley dress fell to the floor, revealing a sinister-looking black cloak, embroidered with a silvery serpent.
Lucius Malfoy, a man that looked to be a little older than Lily and James, stepped away from the old woman's dress, which now lay in a heap on the floor, and spoke to the empty room. "My Lord," he said, his voice echoing around the deserted room, "The disguise has worked. They are in the Three Broomsticks."
A/N: okay, so, just to clarify something. Yes, Lucius Malfoy is talking to the empty room. Seems ridiculous, no? Well, Bellatrix did the same thing in the fifth book, and Voldemort heard her and came…so keep that in mind. Yes, I know, I'm being pretty mean to James and Lily. It's not ending soon. But I will be nicer eventually…say 4/5 chapters from now? Yeah, I think that's it. Um, anyway, I HAVE 150 REVIEWS! I love you guys so much. Yay. Okay, so you want me to love you? REVIEW! 3