Lily refused to do anything except read the Daily Prophet that morning. Marlene peered at her anxiously, but Lily didn't acknowledge her friend. She scanned the news, reading between the lines to see how things were going outside.
On the front page was a drab article about international cauldron standards, but Lily knew that the real information would be found in little articles towards the back, where journalists had managed to slip through news of You-Know-Who's takeover, though the main press wanted to insist that everything was perfectly fine.
She saw it in the announcement that the heads of three Ministry departments had decided to retire, though two of them looked quite young in their photos. Then, in a corner of the next page, wedged between something about railroads and a report on dragon scale prices increasing, were the words, "Charges dropped in Lestrange case."
In a London street, two hundred Muggles were killed. Mr. Rabastan Lestrange, present at the scene, was the subject of an inquiry, but was cleared of all charges yesterday. It was determined to be a Muggle accident, and authorities have dealt with the relatives of the victims.
Lily's eyes widened. Two hundred people had died? And the article hadn't mentioned how it had happened… Lily doubted that such destruction could have happened from Muggle carelessness.
That, with the fact that Ministry officials were quietly leaving their positions, no doubt to be replaced by Death Eaters, meant that things were not going well at all. Lily felt a knot of worry tie itself firmly in her stomach. She read through the rest of the newspaper, but found nothing else.
Marlene gently touched Lily's arm, and Lily looked up to see her friend's stricken face. "Did you know Felicia?" Marlene asked.
"No," Lily said, feeling hollow. Might she have seen her in the halls, or in a Quidditch match, a small second-year face in the crowd, and never have fully registered her? Lily doubted that she'd never laid eyes on her, with all the students she'd led into Common Rooms and seen in her rounds of the school.
"I did," Marlene said. "Professor Rabnott wanted me to start a DADA study group with first through third years."
"I'm sorry," Lily said. She knew it sounded empty, and Marlene looked down. "Things are getting worse outside," she continued. "The Ministry officials are retiring, along with mass killings of Muggles where no one seems to be punished. I think there's really a war going on."
"A war?" Hestia asked, now engaged in the conversation. "Well, then, what do we do?"
"We don't do anything, we're students, barely overage," Lily sighed.
Marlene had perked up. "No, Hestia's right. We need to do something! We're the next generation, we're the ones who will be fighting, too."
Mary, in her corner, shuffled her pile of notes. "We should ask Professor Rabnott. Maybe she can teach us some practical things."
Lily shook her head. There was something infectious about her friends' enthusiasm to fight, true, but what could a band of five school-age girls achieve in the grand scheme of things? The conversation died down as the first class of the day approached, and Lily stood up, gathering her books for Charms.
She waved at her friends, and it wasn't until she was nearing Professor Flitwick's room that she remembered that James would be there, too. She had no desire to see him after their fight, but skiving was not an option as Head Girl.
She pushed the door open and felt the heavy hush that the morning's news had left, like a heavy blanket, over the students. She took her seat near the back of the classroom, hoping to go unnoticed and get through this quickly. Professor Flitwick wasn't there yet and, Lily noted, neither was James.
Both observations were good news, and Lily began to straighten out her supplies, setting a fresh piece of parchment on her desk and dipping her quill into her inkwell, ready to write the date at the top.
"Did you hear the news, Head Girl?" a sly voice said from behind Lily. She bristled, recognizing Rookwood's voice.
Lily glanced behind her, and saw that next to him was Mulciber, grinning like an idiot in response to Rookwood's taunting. She sighed and started to write, in her loopy script, Lily Evans, Charms, when she heard them again.
"They're killing Muggles in London. And now in Hogwarts. Good, I say," Rookwood continued. "We need to clean up the wizarding population—can't be letting that filth run willy-nilly among us. What do you think, Evans?"
Lily squared her shoulders.
"Good thing we still have plenty more so that others can be cleansed… through natural causes," Rookwood said.
Lily turned around, unsure of whether she had heard right. Plenty more? She remembered, queasily, what James had said that morning. But they hadn't mentioned any potion… Neither of the two Slytherins were looking at her now, both having taken a sudden interest to their parchments.
"Hello, class," said Professor Flitwick's squeaky voice, and Lily turned around, unable to shake her uneasy feeling.
Her suspicions were confirmed that night when, still ostensibly angry with her, she did her rounds of the castle without James. The hallways seemed to stretch out to disproportionate lengths in the dark, and she wanted desperately to go back to bed, the homework she'd neglected the night before weighing on her mind.
She heard a noise that sounded like footsteps, but could've also been the castle's usual creaking. Lily drew out her wand, muttering, "Lumos."
Suddenly, she found herself face-to-face with Severus Snape.
"I wanted to talk to you," Snape panted. "I thought you'd be doing your rounds here."
"Stay away from me," Lily warned, her wand drawn in front of her. "I know you have that poison. I'm not letting you touch me."
"Lily, it wasn't me. You've got to believe me."
"Wasn't you?" she repeated. "I heard Rookwood bragging about it! It was murder, do you realize that? An innocent girl was murdered!"
"They must have taken it from me! I would never—"
"Oh, and I suppose you just happened to be making a poison for your own enjoyment, Snape? Twenty points from Slytherin!" Lily spat. "Now go to your dormitory, it's past curfew."
"Who's taking points from Slytherin?" a voice asked, before three more Slytherins appeared: Mulciber, Rookwood, and Malfoy.
"I am," Lily said, willing her voice to be steady. "And you're all out after curfew."
"Are we?" Malfoy said, with his posh, velvety voice. Lily noticed that his wand was drawn, and so were the other Slytherins', who were slowly making a semicircle around her.
"Was this your plan, Snape?" she hissed. She realized what was happening, and this time, this was a real threat. Taking all the points from Slytherin wouldn't help her now, and Lily realized that she could be the next body found in the morning.
"Let's just talk this out," Lily said, soothingly, lowering her wand a little. The others looked at each other, and Lily cried out, "Confringo! Protego!"
The carpet at their feet and a nearby suit of armor exploded, and Lily took advantage of the little cover that her Shield Charm offered her to run out of the hallway. She took two rights in a row, then a left, barely noticing where she was going. She could hear their footsteps hurrying after her, and Lily ran into a small hallway off of the main one, quickly casting a Disillusionment Charm on herself. She pressed against the wall, next to a suit of armor, and felt the cold sensation of the spell washing over her. She sent red sparks out into the large hallway ahead of her, and waited as the Slytherins reached where she was.
She held her breath, hoping they would only glance quickly into this hallway and follow the red sparks. Mulciber peeked in, and Lily shut her eyes, her wand ready in case she had to take him on.
Luckily, he turned away, and called to the others, "I think she went ahead." Lily barely had time to catch her breath before another face was looking into where she was hidden, magically camouflaged. It was Snape, and he looked for a long time, so long that Lily was sure he'd seen her. But after a few painful minutes, he left, saying nothing to the others.
As soon as their footsteps had faded, Lily ran out of her hiding spot, and didn't stop running until she was in front of her common room. "Ginger root," she breathed, and the door swung open, with James behind it.
"Hello," he said stiffly, but Lily took him by surprise when she burrowed into his arms and stood, shaking, in this strange sort of hug.
"You were right, it was Snape," she said.
"What happened?" James asked, closing the door behind them. Lily disentangled herself, and let herself take a few deep breaths before sitting in her usual chair next to the fire, with James next to her in his, and telling him everything.
James nodded, frowned, and even let out an outraged "What?" at all the right moments, until Lily felt she had let out all the anxiety and could really breathe normally again.
"We have fight back," James said, and somehow, when he said it, it seemed much more convincing that her friends' half-baked plans.
"We'll figure it out later," Lily said. "Right now… I've got homework to do."
"You can do it tomorrow," James said. "Go on to bed, I think fighting the Slytherins warrants a night off."
Lily flashed one of her puzzling half-smiles that always made James wonder, and started to climb up the stairs. "I'm glad you're all right," he added, when she was almost up to the top of the stairs.
"Thanks," Lily said softly, and the door closed, leaving James with a mess of emotions he wasn't sure how to sort out yet.
In her room, Lily felt the feeling of James' comfort fading, and her mind began to reel with all the possibilities. What if she hadn't managed to escape? What if Snape or Mulciber had seen? What if they'd chosen a different victim that night, instead of her?
As was now her habit, Lily conjured up her Patronus, closing her eyes as she muttered the incantation and did the familiar wand movement. She let out one long breath, and opened an eye. She was startled by the glowing mass in front of her, thinking that her bird had swelled to the size of a large dog, or a small horse. Looking better now, it was looking distinctly horselike, with four legs.
Her slight panic made the large form flicker and die. Had she done the spell wrong? "Expecto Patronum," she said again, and this time, there was no mistake. It was from her wand that the large creature came, all four, long, delicate legs, and big, thick-lashed eyes.
The silvery doe stared into the wide eyes of Lily Evans.