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A/N: I'm ALIVE! Who knew? I've had the first couple of sections written for months but then just couldn't find any inspiration. UNTIL NOW. Please excuse the excessive use of caps. I'm in a very good mood at having finally finished this chapter! (:

RECAP: James gives Rita an interview that he's going to regret. Walburga Black tells her sons to join Voldemort. Marlene is shallow and insecure. Logan Barber gets kidnapped by Death Eaters and Auror Octavian Conrad comes to Hogwarts to question students about the disappearance. Elvira, the Divination professor, predicts both love and tragedy for Alice. Jethro Bones, the Minister for Magic, faces an adultery scandal. Vanessa used to date Caradoc Dearborn, but he broke her heart. Lily and Severus find James, Sirius, and Peter in the forbidden forest, but instead of turning them in, Lily lies to McGonagall and Snape to protect them.

"Sometimes it seems safer to hold it all in, where the only person who can judge is yourself." —Sarah Dessen

Chapter Four: Insomnia
(Monday, September 8, 1975)

(Red & Black)

Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar.

The word beat over and over again in Lily's head until she wanted to scream in frustration. Instead, she rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, as if doing so would somehow drown out her own conscience.

Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. LIAR.

The young witch groaned quietly and sat up in bed, pushing her long hair out of her face. The watch on her nightstand claimed that it was nearing two in the morning, and Lily had not slept all night. After a moment's deliberation, she decided that attempting to sleep would only prove to be in vain, so she crawled out of bed and wrapped a dressing gown around herself before tiptoeing down to the common room. She was wondering if a trip to the kitchen would effectively distract her when a soft sigh caught her attention. Looking around the starlit room, Lily found a familiar silhouette outlined on the window seat.

"Alice?" she whispered, unsure of her friend's state of wakefulness.

The blonde jumped slightly and turned around. "What are you doing here, Lily?"

"Couldn't sleep. What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep," she repeated, gazing back out the window. "I can't stop thinking about what Elvira said."

You will have great tragedy in your life, dear one.

Lily bit her lip and took a seat next to her friend. "Do you think she was right? Divination can be pretty sketchy."

"She's always been right before."

"I know." The redhead paused, thinking back to a similar conversation she had had not too long before. "But maybe the whole idea of Divination is wrong. Maybe Elvira…maybe she can't be right about the big things because…because she's not supposed to be."

Alice turned from the window and looked up at her with big blue eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if we know what's going to happen… what's the point of living now?"

"So…are you saying that we shouldn't have taken Divination?" asked Alice, looking at Lily intently.

She shrugged. "Maybe I'm saying that Divination is just an obtuse brand of magic that is nothing more than shoddy guesswork. I know that you've always liked the class, but perhaps you're putting too much store in Elvira."

Alice bit her lip and ran a hand through her short spiky hair. Her thin shoulders straightened a bit, as if they had lost some of the weight upon them. "Maybe you're right, Lily. Maybe I've just…just built her up too much or something." She stopped and looked back out the window again. "So you really think I shouldn't be worried?"

"Definitely not," said Lily, perhaps with a bit too much surety. But all the same, she could not help but realize that—on the rare occasion in which he chose to be serious—James Potter could give decent advice.

The two girls sat together in silence for a moment before Alice turned back around quite suddenly, nearly tumbling out of the window seat as she did so. After righting herself, she gave Lily a penetrating look. "Why can't you sleep?"

Lily sighed. She did not want to talk about her own problems, but she also knew that another outright lie would trouble her mind still further. So she compromised by saying, "I think a lot has been going on these last few days. It's all just been too much, I guess."

"Typical," Alice said with a grin. "You're more worried about other people than you are about yourself."

Lily gave her a weak smile, a knot forming in her stomach. That certainly was not true. "Well…I wouldn't say that—"

"And modest, too," Alice laughed. "Don't stress so much. I'm sure Williamson and Conrad will find that missing boy. And Nessa just needs some time to get over Caradoc. She'll be back to herself soon, okay?"

"Right," Lily agreed, avoiding her friend's eyes. In truth, she had hardly given a thought to the aurors in the castle and she had entirely forgotten about Vanessa's boy troubles in the face of her own problems.

"Well, I think I'll go to bed," said the blonde, standing and stretching. "Are you coming?"

"I'll be along in a bit," Lily told her.

Alice nodded and disappeared up the staircase.

Silence.

The fact of the matter was, in truth, that Petunia was not the only selfish member of the Evans family, she was simply more obvious about it. Lily was selfish too, in her own way. She preferred to fold in on herself and rely solely on her own mind and ideas rather than share her thoughts and problems with others. She was too self-reliant, and though she knew that it caused her to have a narrow-minded view of things, Lily also found that it was nearly impossible to fully open up to anyone. Doing so was to allow someone else to have a part of herself, and when that happened, she could no longer protect it.

That was a (very, very) small part of why James Potter got under her skin so badly. He saw that selfishness more clearly than most people, and shed an ugly, unflattering light upon it. If given the choice, Lily would pretend that that part of her personality did not exist, but James always managed to reveal the harsh reality.

She groaned.

"So what's really bothering you, Red?"

Lily jumped as Sirius Black appeared from the shadows. Without invitation, he strolled over and sprawled out in Alice's recently vacated spot at the window.

"First of all, don't sneak up on me like that," she told him. "Second of all, don't call me Red."

"What's wrong with Red?"

"It's highly unoriginal."

"I didn't know you cared about my creativity."

"I don't. I'd just rather not share a nickname with every other redhead in existence."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. I'll come up with something better."

Sirius then reached into the pocket of his school trousers (why he was wearing them at two in the morning, Lily could not imagine), and drew out his wand and a cigarette. Using the former to light the latter, he began a new train of thought, "James'll be pleased to hear that you actually listened to something he said."

"What are you talking about? And you can't smoke in here, Black; it'll stink up the whole Common Room."

"First of all," Sirius said, taking a drag, "don't tell me what to do. Second of all, don't call me Black."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Highly unoriginal."

She sighed. "I'm serious though, you can't—"

"Are you really? All along I was under the impression that I was Sirius."

Lily pinched the bridge of her nose in aggravation. "Twenty-three."

"What?"

"That's how many times I've heard you use that joke—twenty-three."

"Then you don't hang around me very often."

"You're impossible."

"It's a gift."

"Anyway, I mean it. If you don't put out that cigarette I'm going to have to dock points." Lily crossed her arms and glared at him, hoping to show him that she was, in fact, serious.

"Lighten up, Flower," Sirius insisted, holding the object in question between his teeth as he rummaged in his pockets for something. "If you want one, I've got another here somewhere…"

"Flower isn't any good. That's what my dad calls my sister. And I don't want one, thank you." In truth, she dealt with quite enough smoke back in Lantern City.

Sirius shrugged. "Suit yourself. Now, back to the topic at hand—James."

"What?" asked Lily, looking bewildered. "We weren't talking about Potter, we were talking about—"

"How you used something he said to make Blondie feel better."

"Blondie? Really? Now you're just insulting your own imagination."

"Don't change the subject, Legs—"

"Absolutely not."

"—You told her that we shouldn't know what's supposed to happen because then there would be no point to the here and now."

Lily felt her heartbeat speed up just slightly. It didn't really matter if she had quoted James Potter, but the fact that Sirius Black possessed that information was not something she would have wished for.

"So you were eavesdropping twice?" she said, in the hope to redirect the subject of the conversation. "You really need to find a new hobby, Black."

"You're trying to distract me."

"Pretty much."

"It's not working."

"Yeah, it kind of is."

"Regardless, James will be happy to hear about this."

"Why?" asked Lily, pulling her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over them. "He hates me."

Sirius shook his head. "James doesn't really hate anyone—except maybe a few people in Slytherin. He doesn't particularly like you, but any guy likes to hear that a pretty girl listens to what they have to say."

"If you're trying to flatter me—"

"I don't need flattery to get what I want, love."

"No, Black."

"I'll think of a good one eventually. Though I'm rather put out that you're not working as hard at this as I am."

"Black is your name."

"And Red is your name."

"You're joking, right?"

"Oh, no, I'm Sirius."

"Twenty-four," Lily said wearily, before she realized something. She lifted her head from where she had buried it in her arms. "Sirius…you were in the forest yesterday."

"What? No I—"

"With Peter and James—yes you were!"

"Shhh!" he hissed finally, putting a hand over her mouth. Her accusation had been quite exuberant. "Good Godric, Freckles, do you want the whole castle to hear you?"

Lily drew away from him and narrowed her eyes. "Maybe I do. I guess it depends on what it is you were doing there."

"No objection to Freckles, hmm? Though I'm not sure I really—"

"Sirius!"

"Shh!"

"What were you doing in the forest?" she repeated in a harsh whisper. "And don't try to change the subject."

"Why does it matter so much?"

Lily paused, her mind racing. She couldn't tell him that she had lied to McGonagall to protect him and his friends. He would never take her seriously again, and he would surely tell James, which could lead to a whole other series of problems.

"Because I'm a Prefect," she said instead. "And I don't want to have to report you so I hope that you have a good reason for being there."

"Do you care about the House Cup at all, Evans?" Sirius retorted, looking angry. "I know you're a brownnoser and everything, but can't you show just a little House loyalty here?"

"I have plenty of House loyalty," the redhead shot back. "But when I've got you in my House, it makes it difficult."

"Remus hasn't had a problem."

"He turns a blind eye!"

"Well do that then!"

"Will you two shut up already? You're giving me a migraine."

Lily and Sirius spun around to see none other than James Potter emerging from the portrait hole. He had bags under his eyes but a grin on his face.

"What are you doing, Potter? It's two in the morning! You could get into serious trouble!"

"Shh!" The two boys whispered.

"Don't report me, Evans," said James, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's not like I'm hurting anyone."

"The curfew is for your own safety," Lily lowered her voice, but she could still feel her face heating up in anger. She was trying to do the right thing, and James and Sirius were making it much more stressful than it should have been.

"Then it's my own neck I'm risking by being out of bed. It has nothing to do with Gryffindor."

"Even so," she pressed on firmly, moving to stand between the boys and their staircase. "Voldemort and his followers are out there. You've heard what they do to people."

"Really, Evans, we're perfectly safe at Hogwarts."

"Not when you're in the Forbidden Forest!"

"You told her?" James hissed at Sirius, his hazel eyes blazing behind his glasses.

"No!" Sirius insisted. "How stupid do you think I am? She saw us."

"In the forest?" asked James, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. They then lowered into a look of suspicion as he rounded on Lily. "What were you doing in the forest?"

"Nothing," Lily insisted. "I heard voices and I—"

"Of course," James snapped. "The prefect had to go snooping. Hoping to get someone into trouble?"

Saving your sorry arse is more like it, she thought before saying sardonically, "Yes, Potter. That's exactly what my goal was when I decided to go into the forest. It had nothing to do with the fact that maybe some first year had gotten lost or that someone might be in trouble. I simply live to dock points from everyone who might make the slightest mistake."

"Just like the only possible reason for me to be in the forest or out of bed is to pull a prank or do something stupid."

"Well, based on your track record…"

They glared at each other for a moment. It was fairly dark in the Common Room and Lily could only see him in the moonlight shining through the window. It glinted off his glasses and made it difficult to read his expression, but she had a feeling that it was similar to her own.

Finally: "You're infuriating. Both of you," Lily told the boys. "Just—just get to bed before I change my mind about reporting you."

She moved out of the way and pointed up their staircase. James and Sirius shared a look, as if silently arguing. Soon though, they seemed to think it best to end the conversation there, and stalked past Lily.

"I want to believe you, you know," she said softly as they started up the stairs. They turned and gave her questioning looks. "About the forest—that you're not doing something stupid and dangerous. I want to believe that…so just…just don't give me a reason not to."

"Whatever you say, Red." Sirius winked and turned back toward the staircase with James.

"Black!"

"I know, I know," he replied with his signature bark-like laugh. "I'll think of something eventually."

(Perspective)

In another part of the castle, another student was dealing with his own insomnia.

"Go to sleep, Ed," Derek Greene implored his roommate. "You've been tossing and turning for hours."

"Sorry," whispered Edgar Bones as he shifted yet again.

"Go to the nurse and get a sleeping potion or something." Caradoc's voice came from Edgar's left. "You're driving us mad."

"All right, all right," Edgar sighed, pulling himself into a sitting position and then opening his curtains. The three boys that shared the room with him still had their own hangings shut, but he knew them well enough to know that they would not complain unless he was really being an annoyance.

Without bothering to search for his shoes, the fifteen-year old shoved his wand into the pocket of the shorts he slept in and trudged down the staircase that led from the boys' dormitory to the Ravenclaw Common Room. The large, arching windows let in a flood of moonlight that cast the room in a peaceful blue-white glow, but Edgar hardly spared it a look. Instead, he crossed to the large door, pushed it open, and made his way down the winding tower staircase and into the west wing of the castle.

Edgar knew that, as a prefect, he should not be breaking the rules and sneaking out of bed after hours, but putting things in perspective, he decided that the curfew was rather unimportant. His feet carried him toward the front of the school and up the spiral stone steps that led to the castle's highest point—the out-of-bounds astronomy tower.

Without pausing in the tower itself, Edgar strode out onto the ramparts and sat down against the low stone wall. From this vantage point, he could see the entire campus and most of Hogsmeade Village, but more importantly, he was completely alone.

Twelve days. He had twelve days to come up with the words to save his father's job as Minister for Magic, and he did not have the faintest idea of where to begin. Of course, Edgar was not naïve enough to believe that his speech alone could save his father. It was really going to be based upon how many members of the Wizengamot decided that personal affairs have nothing to do with Jethro Bones' decisions as Minister.

However, Edgar had said nothing the first time his father's integrity had been called into question, and he had regretted it ever since. He was determined to try to make a difference this time.

And to top it off, he was dreading the arrival of each Daily Prophet, wondering which one would contain his interview with Rita Skeeter.

Of course, his father had been Minister since Edgar was eight years old, and the Bones family had been in politics since before Edgar was born, so the young wizard was well-trained in dealing with the press. But Rita had been different. She had asked him questions that dealt with things no one outside of his family even knew about, yet somehow she continued to bring them up and catch him off-guard.

The most troubling question had been: "How do you forgive your father for something like this?"

Edgar had no idea.

He had been brought up being taught that his family was different. They couldn't do the same things as other families because they had his father's career to worry about. He had never really bonded with his father as a child, but he had always done everything he could to ensure that Minister Bones was able to maintain his position.

Jethro Bones was a good Minister; there was no doubt about that. He did what was best for the people as a whole, but his family always seemed to be left behind. Edgar had made his peace with that years before.

But infidelity was wrong.

It was wrong. And his own mother had been the victim of it. Looking at it that way made it much more difficult for Edgar to simply brush it off and say that it didn't matter because his father was a good Minister.

The young wizard groaned and leaned his head back against the cool stone of the rampart. The endless sky was clear, and out away from Muggle cities and towns he could see millions of stars stretching on forever.

That was the reason he chose this spot.

Perspective.

(Gryffindor)

"Pete, hey, Pete," James whispered, shaking his friend awake. The Gryffindor boys' dormitory was otherwise silent (it was two in the morning, after all).

Remus was sound asleep, and his quiet snores could be heard through his curtains. James and Sirius hoped to keep it that way.

"Wha-?" began Peter, sitting up and blinking sleepily. "What're you doing?"

The other two grinned triumphantly.

"We've been out in the forest," Sirius explained, indicating his fully-dressed state.

"Practicing," continued James.

"And we did it."

Peter stared at them for a moment before a smile spread across his pointed features. "Wicked."

"Get up," ordered James, rummaging through the clothing that was scattered across the floor until he found a pair of the smaller boy's trousers. He tossed them to Peter, who pulled them on hastily. "We have to show you."

"Is it difficult?" Peter asked as the three quietly made their way back into the Common Room.

James sighed in relief—Lily must have gone back to bed. He pulled his Invisibility Cloak from where he had quickly stuffed it inside his jacket when he had returned to the Common Room earlier that night, and proceeded to cover the three of them. Having grown so much over the summer, they had to stoop rather low to keep their feet from being seen, but they managed.

"Not as difficult as it's been," whispered Sirius.

"Who's there?" the Fat Lady called sleepily as they swung open the portrait hole and tiptoed through the corridor.

The three wizards made it outside without any trouble and were soon rushing through the forest to their familiar clearing.

"Right," said Peter, folding the Cloak and placing it inside the tree they had hollowed out for that very purpose. "Let's see this, then."

James looked at Sirius, who nodded, and the two boys took several steps backward. He closed his eyes tightly, blocking out the trees and the moon and everything around him. The books said that transforming would become as natural as breathing, but James had yet to reach that point and it still took full concentration.

It was a simple process, in truth. All one had to do was envision themselves as their animal (the process of determining one's animal was much more complex), and silently repeat a series of incantations.

Beat.

Deep breath.

It hurt. It felt as though the bones in his body were breaking and stretching and moving (which is exactly what they were doing), and the fur that was erupting everywhere prickled and itched. But it was worth it.

He opened his eyes to see a shaggy black dog grinning and trotting over to Peter, who looked as though Christmas had come early.

"This…this is…brilliant," whispered Peter, looking back and forth between his friends. "You just managed tonight, did you?"

James nodded, but the unfamiliar weight of his antlers made the task difficult. Unsteadily, he walked over to the others.

Peter's face was lit up with excitement. "You have to teach me how to do this."

So they did.

Once upon a time, there were four boys. These four boys had nothing in common save for the fact that on September 1, 1971, they all put on a hat and it shouted a single word: GRYFFINDOR!

Since that night, many similarities had been discovered, ranging from a certain loathing of cranberry sauce to a love of mischief and mayhem.

But there was one thing that they would never have in common.

The most reserved of the boys had a secret. A secret that—to most members of the wizarding community—would label that boy as a freak and an outcast, and if he could help it, he would ensure that none of the other boys ever had to deal with the same problem.

Because Remus Lupin was a werewolf. And a good friend.

But the other three boys were clever, and after knowing Remus for only a year, they had him figured out. Rather than going to the Headmaster and demanding that the monster be removed from the school, they did something that—to Remus, at least—was even more unthinkable. They became his friends.

Not that they hadn't already been friends, but Remus had always kept to himself. After their discovery, they would not allow him to do so.

One of the other boys—who had the (rarely used) ability to be wise beyond his years—had said something Remus would never forget.

You can't hide from everyone forever, mate. It'll just make you bitter and then you might end up resenting other wizards. You don't want that.

And he was right. Remus did not want to end up like the werewolf who had bitten him when he was little. He had been a man that attacked people for fun and for money. That was not how Remus wanted his life to turn out.

And the three boys with nothing to base a friendship upon but a single word from a hat—they had saved him.

"So how do we tell Remus?"

The three boys trudged wearily out of the forest as the sun began to peek out over the line of the mountains. They had done it. It had taken all night (and many years), but James, Sirius, and Peter were Animagi.

"He won't take it well," Sirius said in answer to Peter's question. "I vote that we just show up in the Shack at the next full moon."

"He'd hate us," replied James, draping the Cloak over them as they crossed the dewy grounds. "He'd never forgive us."

"But he'll never approve of this whether we tell him about it or not," argued Sirius. "We're going to have to prove to him that we'll be all right."

"I think Sirius is right," Peter supplied. "Remus will hate us for it, but we'll show him that we can handle it. Then he won't have a valid objection for the next time."

They reached the castle and slipped inside the now-open front doors. Few people were at breakfast this early, so it was not difficult to duck behind a statue in the Entrance Hall and take off the cloak. They then strolled into the Great Hall and took seats at their usual place at the Gryffindor table.

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair, removing a few stray leaves. "I don't like it, any of it. But for now it looks like the only workable plan."

"So…more practice?" Sirius confirmed.

"More practice," agreed James. "After I've had a nap."

(The Pact)

"You don't look so good," Alice commented as Vanessa joined her at the bathroom mirror.

The brunette shrugged and began dragging a brush through her hair half-heartedly. "I didn't sleep very well last night."

"Yeah, that seems to be going around."

After brushing her teeth, Vanessa smeared a thick layer of foundation under her eyes in an attempt to cover the insistent bags.

"Is it Doc?" Alice asked at length, avoiding her taller friend's glare.

Vanessa was getting rather tired of people being able to read her so easily. But what else could it have been? Of course it was Caradoc Dearborn who was troubling her. He'd been troubling her for months.

"I've got to get over him," Vanessa said, both in confirmation to Alice's question, and as an order to herself.

"You know what?" Alice began, putting down the mascara that she had been meticulously applying and turning to the other girl. "It's been a while since either of us has really just flirted and had fun. You were with Doc for so long, and I've been so hung up on Fabian Prewett—that was only ever going to be a fantasy—that we haven't gone on a real date in ages."

"What are you saying?" Vanessa asked, looking down at the blonde witch skeptically.

Alice grinned. "I'm making a deal with you."

"Which is…?"

"We're both going to have dates for the next Hogsmeade weekend."

"That's twelve days from now."

"Plenty of time."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Alice squared her shoulders and gave Vanessa a stern look. "Yes," she insisted. "It'll help you get over Caradoc once and for all. He doesn't deserve to have such an influence on you."

"I guess when you put it that way…" Vanessa trailed off, considering Alice's suggestion. Finally, she held out a hand for her friend to shake. "Deal."

"Deal."

"Should we wake Lily?"

"Godric! We should have done that fifteen minutes ago! She'll kill us!"

"What's your range on Aquamenti?"

"Reese, I like that way you think."

(Headlines)

Lily, fortunately, did not kill them, even though waking up by being drenched and hearing her friends laughing manically as they ran down the staircase had not been the best way to start the day.

The three girls sat down together at breakfast and it was not long before an owl arrived with The Daily Prophet.

"Oh no," Vanessa muttered as she unfolded the first page. She gave Lily and Alice a worried look and spread the paper out so they could see.

BONES CHILDREN SPEAK UP: FATHER SHOULD BE REPLACED

Rita Skeeter, 24, recently conducted interviews with the children of current Minister for Magic, Jethro Bones. Amelia, 19, was eager to defend her father, until the question of morality was addressed.

"It was…wrong of my dad to do what he did," she admitted, tears welling in her sparkling green eyes. "He…" she paused here, in a failed attempt to compose herself. "He cheated on my mum. It's not just some other family anymore. It happened to us. Twice now. I just… I can't…"

Skeeter then posed the question: If someone does something morally wrong—repeatedly—should someone else be able to trust their judgment?

"He's my dad. But…I can't."

Edgar, 15, who is currently a fifth-year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, provided similar answers.

Can you forgive your father for such treachery?

"I don't think so. Our family…can't…get through this again." His own eyes, so like his sister's, shared her grief.

Edgar spoke about how difficult it was to move on after his father's first act of infidelity—almost one year ago: "It's…just reopening the wound. How can you expect me…to forgive him?"

Whether a voting member of the Wizengamot, or a member of the magical community, one must wonder—If his own children no longer trust him, how can anyone else?

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Vanessa scanning the Ravenclaw table. The redhead turned as well, just in time to see Edgar Bones crush the paper in his hand and stalk out of the Great Hall. His friends exchanged glances before getting up to follow.

"That woman is a leech," Vanessa spat venomously. "A lying, conniving leech."

"Um, Vanessa? Lily?" Alice piped up, turning to another page of the paper. "It gets worse."

"How?" The other two asked together.

Alice scanned the article she was looking at quickly before sighing and closing her eyes. When she opened them again, her expression was torn between fear and sadness. "There's been another attack. Just like with Logan Barber."

Lily's hand shot to her mouth as it opened in horror, and Vanessa gasped, "What? Who?"

"Muggles," said Alice. "Two of them…in Devon. They were both killed and…oh…how awful."

"What?"

"A couple—a witch and wizard—were nearby and tried to help. The Death Eaters grabbed them and Disapparated. No one knows where they went, but they left behind the mark again."

"Are they…I mean…Did we know them?" Vanessa asked quietly.

Alice shook her head. "I don't think so. Simon and Tracy Galahad?"

"Still," said Lily sadly after she and Vanessa stated that they did not know the couple. "Someone knew them."

(Beginning)

There was an old rumor among Hogwarts students that the table between shelves K-M and N-P in the Runes section of the library was haunted by the ghost of Bayard Cornell (no one actually knew who he was anymore), and said table was accordingly avoided.

However, that was precisely where she found him.

He wasn't reading or sleeping or studying or doing any of the normal things one does in a library. He was just sitting, sort of half-staring-half-glaring at the shelf across from him. A crumpled newspaper sat on the table, the source of his self-inflicted isolation.

She cleared her throat softly, and when he made no indication of having heard, she took a few steps out from behind the shelf that had previously been concealing her.

"Erm…Edgar?"

It was a moment before he answered, as if he first had to compose himself enough to be capable of forming words. He didn't look at her as he said it (in fact, he had his back to her), but he muttered a "Yes?" nonetheless.

"Um…could I join you?"

"If you must."

"Right," she stated awkwardly, making her way around the table and taking a seat across from him. "Right," she repeated as she bit her lip and brushed her black hair from her face. "I'm Marlene. Marlene McKinnon. I've been following your dad's story in the papers and magazines and the wireless and everything."

Edgar's eyes moved from the bookcase to her, and Marlene felt her face go red. He was very good looking. When he said nothing, Marlene continued, "I just wanted to say that I think it was really brave of you—to say those things in the article from this morning. I know he's your dad, but it's encouraging to know that you can see the difference—"

"Excuse me?" asked Edgar, his tone was harsh. "You can't honestly think that I said those things, can you?"

"Yes," said Marlene, looking confused. "Why? D'you think that people will think that Rita Skeeter made all of that up? Don't worry, Edgar, I've read enough of your interviews to know that it was you."

Edgar stared at her for a moment, and Marlene looked away. He seemed to be torn in some way or another, and when he finally spoke, he sounded somewhat defiant.

"Why are you here?"

Marlene was stunned. He sounded so rude! She had always thought of him as kind and smart and funny and dreamy. That was the way he looked in all the magazines. Of course, this was the first time she had ever plucked up the courage to actually talk to him, but still, she had always felt that she had known him somehow. She had certainly read about him enough.

"I just wanted to tell you that I admire the fact that you are willing to tell the Wizarding world that your dad is unfit for the position of Minister for Magic," she told him defensively, feeling more awkward than she had when she had first spoken.

"He is not unfit," Edgar snapped. "He's one of the best Ministers that we've had in a long time, actually. But it's people like you that make it seem like he's a horrible Minister—people who believe everything they hear or read and then blow it out of proportion. You don't stop to think about all of the good that he's done while in office."

Madam Pince, the strict librarian with a wart on her chin, appeared then, looking livid. "You are in a library!" she whispered furiously. "Stop talking!"

But Edgar, who seemed rather caught up in finally sharing something of what he really thought, ignored her. "My father has brought about great prosperity in the last seven years. He practically eradicated the tax on foreign imports, he re-organized the structure of the upper level Ministry to put more power in the hands of the people, and those very same people are about to vote him out. It's unjust!"

"Mr. Bones!"

"I've met too many people like you, Marlene. You're shallow and self-righteous and blind. Anyone who believes everything they read is bound to eventually be corrupted by it. The media exists to dramatize situations like this. It makes people passionate, but in all the wrong ways!"

Marlene's eyes were welling up with tears at this point. How could anyone be so mean?

"Obviously the media lies," she hissed back. "Everything I've ever read has made you out to be a really good person!"

"Miss McKinnon! Mr. Bones! I have heard quite enough! Both of you—OUT!"

(...)

"And that was how I got kicked out of the library," concluded Marlene.

The story had taken much longer than one would have expected—Lily was going to be dreadfully late to Potions—due to the fact that Marlene cried and hiccupped all the way through.

"I just…I never expected him to be so mean! Witch Weekly always said he was a dream."

"You can't believe everything you read, Marlene," said Lily, in what she hoped was a consoling voice.

The two girls were sitting in the Common Room, the only other occupants of which were a few seventh-years with a free period. Lily was trying, as nicely as she could, to shake off Marlene (who had run to her sobbing about ten minutes prior) so that she could get to class.

"Yeah," sniffed Marlene. "Edgar made that perfectly clear."

"Look," Lily sighed, putting a hand on the other girl's arm, "you'd never talked to Edgar before today, right?"

Marlene nodded.

"He's not your friend, or your boyfriend, or you brother, right?"

Another nod.

"Then stop letting him get to you! He shouldn't have such an effect on you. You don't have to care about his opinion at all. You've survived without him thus far."

Marlene wiped her teary eyes and smiled slightly. "You're right, Lily. You're right. He shouldn't have any effect on me at all. He's nobody."

"That's the spirit."

Quite suddenly, Marlene threw her arms around Lily, who was caught off-guard. "Thanks, Lils! You always know just what to say."

"Anytime, Mar. You know that," replied the redhead, returning the hug briefly before Marlene jumped up.

"Look at the time! Godric, I've got to run. I don't know how Professor Black deals with tardy people—wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Lily called, but Marlene was already through the portrait hole.

She flopped back in the armchair and sighed, relishing the moment of peace. But Slughorn was waiting, so Lily picked up her bag from where she had dropped it earlier, pulled her messy hair into a bun (she had not had time to brush it yet), and followed Marlene out of the Common Room.

(Tuesday, September 9, 1975)

"I cannot believe that the three of you skipped all day yesterday to go to Hogsmeade! The whole school is going in two weeks!" Remus paced the dormitory angrily Tuesday morning after having to quite literally drag his friends from their beds due to exhaustion.

"True," said James, tiredly buttoning his shirt (not realizing he was a button off and would soon have to start over) and searching the room blindly for his glasses. "But it's no fun when the whole school is there, now is it?"

He hated lying to Remus, but they had decided not to tell him about becoming Animagi, so they definitely could not explain to him that they had missed their Monday classes in order to practice.

"You three are impossible," the werewolf sighed. "If you keep doing things like this, someone is going to find out, and then who knows how much trouble we'll all be in!"

Sirius grinned as he emerged from the bathroom, freshly showered with a towel slung over his shoulder. "Rule Number Eleven, mate."

"Never get caught," Remus stated. "But that's—"

"You know," said Peter, cutting him off, "shouldn't that be Rule Number One? It's pretty important."

"You're right," James agreed, finding his glasses at last under Peter's bedside table and examining his lopsided button-up in the mirror. "But the rules are in the order that Sirius thought of them, and he's not the sharpest person around."

Sirius looked as though he was about to argue, but Remus interjected. "You can't rely on the Cloak to keep you out of trouble! Nothing is infallible."

"That's why we started the map," said Peter reasonably. "It was your idea to add everyone so that we could tell if a teacher was on to us."

"I know," Remus replied irritably, "but we haven't been able to make that work yet, have we?"

"Well, no, but I've been researching a few things in the library," Peter told the others. He reached under his bed and pulled out a dusty book and a carefully folded piece if parchment. He spread the latter out on the floor, revealing a carefully sketched skeleton of Hogwarts castle. Looking at the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, one could see four small dots, feebly shaking as they attempted to follow their real-life counterparts around the room.

"I've tried a few different animation spells," continued Peter, flipping through the book, "but I can't make them work. I marked them here and thought that maybe one of you would have more luck."

Remus took the book from Peter and put it in his bag. "I'll look over it at break," he told the shorter boy, "right now we need to get to breakfast. Defense starts in half an hour."

Sirius, who had flopped back down onto his bed as soon as he had reached it, groaned tiredly. "Five more minutes…" he mumbled, burying his face in his pillow.

"Oh honestly," Remus huffed. "What could you possibly have been doing in Hogsmeade to make you all this exhausted?"

James sent Sirius a look and did his best to look awake. "Sirius probably used all his energy fantasizing about Rosmerta," he laughed, standing and stretching. He threw his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the back of Sirius' shirt. "Come on you great sloth, breakfast is waiting."

With that, the two boys stumbled out of the room, followed by Peter and an exasperated, but slightly appeased, Remus.

(Superior)

"There is a witch whom no one listed at the start of term as being evil," said Professor Black, pacing the front of the classroom, her wand tapping lightly on her chin. "Not that I expected you to do so, she is hardly well-known."

"Who, Professor?" asked Olivia Montague almost immediately, and Bellatrix Black smiled crookedly.

"She inspired the image of Circe. A lesser Greek goddess," the witch hinted, stopping in the center of the room and surveying the class. When no one supplied the answer, Professor Black pressed, "What was Circe known for?"

Without looking up, Edgar Bones answered in a weary sort of way. "She captured Odysseus's men and turned them to pigs."

"Correct, Mr. Bones. The witch I speak of was called Arya Vanet, but she was more commonly known as Venobrood. Ring any bells?"

Lily raised her hand unsurely. "Was she the witch who hated men? She used her power to wage war against them and made them her slaves, right?"

Bellatrix Black smiled. "Precisely, Miss Evans."

"Sounds like my kind of girl," joked Mary, and the females in the room snickered appreciatively. Derek Greene, Mary's boyfriend, shot her a look and she winked at him.

"With those around you," Professor Black instructed, "please discuss the good and bad sides of Venobrood's way of thinking."

Lily and James turned their seats around to face their usual group—Olivia Montague and Edgar Bones.

"A good side would be that she had the advantage of number," Olivia began immediately, already scratching furiously on her parchment. "It's a well-known fact that there were more women than men back in those times."

"Yeah?" asked James, while Lily shot the other girl a raised eyebrow. "How d'you figure?"

"The men were always dying in battle," stated Olivia, as though it was something anyone should be able to reason.

"So you think that all women were crazy enough to listen to her and follow her?"

"I don't think she was crazy at all. Women are the intellectually superior of the genders, right Lily?"

"Er…"

"Way to prove a point, Evans," James grinned.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't think that it's right to say one way or the other that a certain sex is superior. Obviously you need both to continue the population."

"Hmm," muttered Olivia, "I suppose we'll add that to the Con side."

"How different is she from Voldemort, really?" asked Edgar, seeming only half-interested in the conversation. "She—"

"It's unwise to speak his name, Mr. Bones," said Professor Black suddenly, appearing beside him. "Names are powerful things."

"Right," said Edgar, sounding unconvinced, but continued, "anyway, Venobrood wasn't that different from Vo—I mean, You-Know-Who," he corrected, using the moniker that had started cropping up in place of Lord Voldemort's name. "She was a powerful witch with a prejudice, the only difference is what they are prejudiced against."

"Men or Muggles," added Lily, "either way, it's brainless violence that does nothing to further the human race."

"Perhaps," Olivia said, tapping her quill thoughtfully on the parchment, "but just imagine a world ruled by women."

"Just imagine a world ruled by Purebloods," Edgar told her coldly.

"It's different."

"It's not," insisted Lily, silently wondering how anyone so smart could be so thick. "No matter which is considered the 'ruling class,' both situations call for a certain group of people proclaiming themselves as better, and causing a lot of pain to insure that they maintain power. Any ruler that does that to his people is not fit to lead."

"Are you implying something about my father?" hissed Edgar, and Lily was taken aback as his sudden defensiveness. Olivia and James stared at him for a moment before turning their gazes to her.

"Not intentionally," Lily assured him, knowing that he was still upset about the article from the day before. "The only way that I could be implying something is if there was something there to imply in the first place. Minister Bones hasn't hurt me in any way, but I'm not the only person in the Wizarding world. It doesn't matter who it is, me or you or anyone, if he's caused someone pain then maybe—"

"Maybe what? No Minister can make everyone happy. That's not possible."

Lily sighed. He was right, after all. "I know," she said, biting her lip. "I'm sorry. It's really not my business, is it?"

James was giving her a funny look, but before she could tell him to sod off, Professor Black called everyone's attention back to the front of the room and the discussion ended there.

(Cousins)

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, but before Sirius could leave with his friends, a hand held him back.

"A word, cousin," said Bellatrix, and Sirius waved James out the door.

Once they were alone, Sirius leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest nonchalantly. "What's this all about?"

"I suspect Walburga will be writing to you and your brother soon," she explained. "She'll tell you to stay away from me."

"You think I do everything she tells me to?"

"Of course not. But I don't want Regulus avoiding me. We're family. I want you both to meet me at noon on Saturday in the Three Broomsticks. I just want to make sure that there is no ill-will between us."

"A drink with my baby brother?" asked Sirius, making for the door. "Sounds like a brilliant time."

"Just be there," hissed Bellatrix, and there was something in her tone that made Sirius agree.

(Voices)

"All students should report to the Great Hall immediately," McGonagall's voice carried over the loud speaker as break began. "Professor Dumbledore has an important announcement to make."

Lily, who was already half-way back to the Gryffindor Common Room to retrieve her Divination textbook, and therefore miles away from the Great Hall, decided that she was going to miss the announcement one way or another, so she continued on her course for the dormitory instead.

It did not take long for the young witch to dash through the portrait hole, find the desired book, and return to the hallway, but she found the school to be eerily deserted once the fat lady swung shut behind her.

I'm being silly. She thought to herself after jumping when a suit of armor nearby reached up to scratch its nose. There's no reason to be paranoid.

Hushed voices from around the corner told her otherwise.

"But Hogsmeade—"

"I know, you idiot! Shut up and let me think."

"It's too late, we've already—"

"Silencio!"

Lily could hear the muffled sound of someone stomping their foot in frustration while someone else paced anxiously up and down the corridor. She inched closer, attempting to make out the quiet words that the pacer was muttering to himself, but as she did so, the armor behind her creaked into a different position.

The muttering stopped.

Lily froze.

"Relax," said the second voice, seeming to have been released from the Silencing spell. "It was probably just a suit of armor or something. Everyone's down in the Great Hall."

Lily almost breathed a sigh of relief, until she found herself face-to-face with Wyatt Avery.

(Missing)

"Do you see Lily anywhere?" Alice asked worriedly, craning her neck to look down the long Gryffindor house table. "It's not like her to miss something like this."

Vanessa, too, checked all the people with whom Lily might be sitting, but the redhead was nowhere to be found.

"May I have your attention, please?" Dumbledore spoke from his usual place at the front of the hall. "Due to the recent attack by the Death Eaters, the Aurors that were stationed within the walls of Hogwarts must now leave and move on to another case. Let us hope their work not to be in vein."

Alice and Vanessa exchanged looks. No one particularly liked Octavian Conrad or his men, but they had still given the school an extra sense of security that everyone had gladly accepted in the growing darkness.

"However," continued Dumbledore, "the Ministry has seen fit to send a group of Hit-Wizards and Aurors-In-Training to patrol the school, simply as an added precaution. I must ask you all to give these men your respect, and listen to them as you would myself or any of the staff."

"If Death Eaters can get into Hogwarts," Vanessa whispered as everyone began to gather their things, "I doubt a few trainees will be able to stop them."

Alice bit her lip and said nothing. It wasn't something that she wanted to think about.

(Hero)

"Well, well, well," said Avery, his voice an amused drawl. "What have we here? An eavesdropping little Mudblood?"

Hirum Wilkes, Avery's companion, snickered appreciatively.

Lily did her best to look defiant, but the dirty name had hurt. She had always tried to give Slytherins the benefit of the doubt—for Sev's sake—but Avery was cruel.

"What should we do with her, Wilkes?" asked Avery, a devilish grin forming on his face. "We haven't had must practice with the Unforgivable curses."

Lily pulled her wand out of her pocket, but Avery just gave her a mocking look. "What do you think you're going to do, Mudblood? Stun us? Petrify us? We've got you outnumbered," he raised his wand, pressing it against her throat. "You don't stand a chance."

"Physically you might outnumber me," said Lily, surprised at the steadiness in her voice, "but mentally, I've got you beat ten-to-one."

"How dare you? Cru—"

"Stupify!"

Avery was suddenly thrown to the ground, stunned, his eyes shut and his wand rolling uselessly down the hallway.

But Lily hadn't cast the spell.

She looked to the right and saw a tall wizard hardly older than herself marching toward them with his wand drawn, a concentrated expression on his face. Wilkes took one look at him and fled the scene, leaving Avery to his own devices.

When the man was closer, Lily noticed the A.I.T. badge gleaming on the front of his maroon-coloured robes.

"Thanks," she said, gratefully taking the books that he had picked up for her (though she couldn't quite remember dropping them).

"Of course," he said with a bright smile, and Lily could not help but smile back. He was good-looking. He seemed mature, even though she knew that he could not be older than eighteen.

"So…Auror-In-Training, huh?" she asked, nodding to his badge to avoid his brilliant blue eyes. "What's an A.I.T. doing in Hogwarts? Not that I'm not glad you're here!" she added hastily, blushing slightly. "You really saved me back there."

"I guess you weren't in the Great Hall a few minutes ago," he reasoned, walking with her back down the corridor. "Some of the A.I.T.s were sent here as protection because Conrad's team has to take the newest disappearance case. No one in the DMLE can afford to linger too long on one attack anymore, and there just aren't enough fully-trained Aurors to send to Hogwarts right now."

Lily nodded, and opened her mouth to thank him again, when another man, probably in his early twenties, ran up to the two of them.

"Oh! There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" he said to Lily's savior. "Come on, there's an A.I.T. meeting in the Staff Lounge!"

"All right, all right, calm down Huntley, Merlin." He flashed another smile at Lily. "I have to go, but it was nice meeting you."

"Same to you," Lily grinned. "And thanks again."

He winked, and the two men hurried back down the corridor.

Lily leaned against the wall let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Wow."

I really hope that it was worth the wait! There isn't enough LilyJames interaction, in my opinion, but this chapter was kind of a filler to get some stuff out of the way before the Hogsmeade trip/Minister Bones' trial in the next chapter. (:

Anyway, in case I don't update before the DH2 premier, I just want to say that I hope the journey ends well for everyone, and I'm grateful that fanfiction will still be here even once the movies are over.

See you on the other side.

PLEASE REVIEW!

Love Always,
Kayla

"I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead." —City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare