Year 1: The Legend Begins

Chapter sixteen: Lily the Eavesdropper

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters that you recognize from the HP books. All of them reside in the mind of JK Rowling, and I am simply borrowing them to play with for a bit and return later with only a few scratches. So don't sue me!

A/N: Happy June 3rd! I don't really know what is so special about June 3rd… I guess I am just very excited that it's practically summer. Anyway… I'm really sorry that it took so long for me to update! But I've been very busy. Plus I've been sick… I've been suffering from a horrible case of Writer's-Block-itis! But I'm better now, so be happy!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! It really means a lot to me. I hope everyone likes this chapter. It is a bit longer than usual, and considering this entire chapter was written last night in bed on my laptop between the hours of 11:30 and 1 am, you better be thankful you are getting this! So yeah, anyway, read on, and don't forget to REVIEW at the end!

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It was the first day of February. The grounds were covered in thick white snow, and nearly everyone in Hogwarts was outside ice skating, or participating in a snowball fight. However, Lily Evans was not. Instead she was crouched behind a statue just outside the hospital wing, where she had followed James, Sirius and Peter. She was now waiting for them to come out, so she could continue following them around relentlessly. She had paid one of the cleverer 6th years to cast a disillusionment charm on her so they couldn't see her, and she had been following them around since just after breakfast. It was actually rather tiring.

So, why was Lily following around three fellow 1st years? Because her mind was set on finding out what they were up to, and following them around like a shadow was part of her carefully crafted plan. Something big had happened only a few days ago, and Lily was certain it was something they didn't anyone to know about.

Lily figured that since Remus had been gone, they would need to fill him in on what had happened. This is where following them came into play. Today was the day Remus was going to be coming back, so all Lily had to do was follow the boys until they met up with Remus, then wait for one of them to tell him whatever it was that had happened.

Lily heard a door open, and looked up to see James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter leaving the hospital wing. Wait, where had Remus come from? He hadn't gone in with them. Lily shrugged it off however, figuring that he had simply gotten sick on the way home and went there to get a potion.

Soon the boys had started moving, and Lily crept after them. She was close enough to them that she could hear what they were saying, but she was far enough away that she couldn't be heard. Even in the wizarding world, hearing something that wasn't really there was not normal.

"So, how are you feeling mate?" James asked Remus, confirming Lily's suspicions that he had simply gotten sick.

"Eh, fine," Remus said, in a voice that clearly told anyone who could hear that he was not fine.

"Well, you'll feel better soon," James assured him. Remus shrugged.

"Do you guys want to go out and play in the snow?" Peter asked as they continued to walk down a hallway with no real purpose.

"Nah… it'd be too cold, none of us have cloaks." Sirius said.

"Oh yeah…" Peter said. Lily rolled her eyes. She didn't really like Peter much.

"Besides… we have to go back up to the dorm and fill Remus in on some… things…" James said, looking at the rest of the boys pointedly.

"Oh yeah!" Sirius said.

"What happened?!" Remus asked, alarmed. Lily moved a little closer, as they all quieted their voices in the way that people do when they don't want to be overheard.

"Shh, not here," James said, looking around the hallway to make sure that no one was there. Little did he know, someone was. Lily was very thankful at that moment that she had read about the disillusionment charm and thought to have it cast.

"Yeah, we'll tell you when we get back up to the dorms," Sirius insisted. Remus nodded, as if he understood why they didn't want to talk about it in the hallways. Lily's heart began to beat faster. She was so close to getting what she was looking for.

After about 5 minutes of silent walking through the hallways, they finally reached Gryffindor tower. Peter said the password, and the four boys followed by Lily entered the common room. It was filled with the students who didn't want to brave the cold outdoors, and Lily had to be very careful not to bump into someone, lest her cover be blown.

She followed the boys over to the boys' staircase and walked up it behind them. They reached their dorm, and walked in. Lily quickly slipped in the door before Sirius, the last one in, had a chance to close it. She decided it would be best to hide somewhere, as one was not completely invisible with the disillusionment charm. Also, the charm was going to wear off at 3 pm, and it was 2 now. She didn't know how long this was going to take. She carefully crawled under one of the beds, careful not to make the bed skirt fly up too much.

"So what happened?" Remus demanded, "I assume it has something to do with Avery." Lily frowned at this. Avery meaning Professor Avery? What did he have to do with anything?

"Of course," she heard James's voice answer. She kind of wished that she had chosen a hiding place where she could have seen them, but it was too late.

"Did he try to steal it from you again?" Remus asked. Steal what?!

"Not exactly. It has more to do with Brighid. You know what the Imperius curse is, right?" Sirius said. Lily was shocked to hear this. She had done a lot of reading in the time she had been at Hogwarts, and she was perfectly familiar with the Imperius curse.

"Yeah, what about it?" Remus asked. Lily could tell from his tone of voice that he was almost afraid to know.

"Well, in class a couple of days ago, he said he was going to teach Brighid's class how to defend themselves against the Imperius curse. But he really only used this as an excuse to cast the Imperius on Brighid and demand her to tell him where the watch is," James said. Lily was shocked to hear the word 'watch' come out of James's mouth. She knew that James had a very valuable watch that his father had given him. Was Avery trying to steal it?

"She didn't tell him, did she? You still have it right?" Remus demanded.

"No, she didn't tell him," Peter said.

"Well that's good. But this is all very bad!" Remus said. He sounded like his head was spinning, and Lily was as well. Never in a million years would she have guessed that Avery was trying to steal James's watch, and yet here she was, listening to the conversation.

"I know. I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep the watch with me," James said. Lily heard a clinking sound, and she figured that James had just pulled the watch out from where he was hiding it.

"You have to mate," Peter said.

"But what if Avery decides to cast the Imperius on me? I'm not nearly as strong or experienced as Brighid is! I would give it to him in a second." James said.

"No you wouldn't mate. But you need to keep the watch. Brighid gave it back to you for a reason; you are the one who is supposed to have it. It is yours after all," Sirius insisted.

"I guess," James sighed, and Lily heard him put the watch away again.

"Hey, I think we need to take our minds off of all this," Remus said, after a few moments of silence, "I say we go outside and play in the snow. We need to show Hogwarts just what the four of us can do in a snowball fight." James laughed.

"I agree. Let's get out there!" he said, and Lily heard the boys each get their cloaks. She waited, and soon she also heard the opening and closing of the door. Lily waited for a bit to make sure that nobody was going to come back up, and she crawled out from under the bed.

Lily's head was spinning, and she didn't know what she should do about the knowledge she just got. After a bit of careful consideration, she figured she should go talk to Brighid. Obviously she already knew what was going on, after all, the watch had almost been stolen from her, but Lily figured there would be no harm in doing it.

She looked at a clock, and saw that it was after three, meaning the charm had already worn off. She headed out the door and walked down the stairs. Luckily, the common room was full enough that nobody noticed her coming down from the boys' dorms. The next order of business was to find Brighid. Lily headed out the portrait hole, still partially in shock at what she had just discovered.

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After searching for about ten minutes, Lily found Brighid sitting alone in the library at a table near the back. Lily smiled to herself, happy that she wouldn't have to pull Brighid away from friends or anything like that. As she approached the table, Brighid looked up from her books to see Lily standing there.

"Hey, Lily. How's it going?" Brighid asked as Lily took a seat in a chair next to her.

"Um… good…" Lily said distractedly, in a way that clearly told Brighid that she was not good.

"Lily, what is wrong?" Brighid asked, closing the book she had been studying and looking at her makeshift little sister with concern.

"I know about the watch! And Avery!" Lily blurted out quietly. Brighid's eyes widened with shock.

"What? How…?" Brighid started to say, but she trailed off.

"I overheard James and his friends talking about it," Lily responded.

"How much do you know about the watch then?" Brighid asked. She knew that Lily couldn't know much about the watch, as James didn't even know yet why it was so valuable.

"Well, I knew a little about the watch before coming here. James used to brag about it sometimes when we were in grade school together," Lily said, "All I learned today was about Avery trying to steal it."

"Lily, listen to me, you can't tell anyone about what you learned today," Brighid said, looking at her harshly.

"What? Why not? Shouldn't we tell Dumbledore? Or…" Lily said, but Brighid cut her off.

"No, we shouldn't. Just trust me on this one, okay? Please don't tell anyone, even your friends. It really isn't your business after all, Ms. Eavesdrop," Brighid said, looking at her pointedly.

"I guess you are right…" Lily sighed.

"I am. Trust me it will be taken care of," Brighid assured her. Lily shrugged.

"All right then. I'm going to go now, see you later," Lily said, getting up from the table.

"See you later, Lily," Brighid said, looking after the redhead as she walked away.

Lily left the library, but she didn't really know where she wanted to go next. Instead, she simply wandered the halls, thinking about all that she had learned today. She was a little worried, and she was definitely scared of Avery now, but Brighid said it was being taken care of, and Lily just had to trust her on that.

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So Lily knows about the watch now, and Avery's plans to steal it. Is this good news? Bad news? You tell me! Drop a review please! I shall be forever grateful, and I will also give you a cookie! So REVIEW! And I'll try to update a bit quicker next time, since school is out in 12 days for me. Yay!

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