The sun's morning rays streamed across the mirror that held Lily's reflection. She straightened her robes before taking a deep breath. Her eyes wandered out the window absently as she considered the day ahead of her.
The day was rather significant, actually. It was the first day of her last year at Hogwarts. She wasn't sure where the time had gone. It seemed like only yesterday she first received her letter. Now, her time here was almost up. The thought set off butterflies in her stomach, but how much of it was from excitement and nervousness, she wasn't sure. Of course her home in the muggle world with her parents would always be a special place to her. She had lived there since she was born. But Hogwarts had been the start of Lily's magical life. So the thought of leaving this place was saddening, especially when she considered what awaited her on the outside.
Lily shook the thought from her mind and walked to her bed. Grabbing her satchel, she paused to survey her new room. A small smile appeared on her face. She supposed this year wouldn't be so bad - she had her own bedroom and bathroom, after all. Being Head Girl would do that to you sometimes, you know. After six years of sharing a dorm room with four other girls, she was quite pleased to have the space all to herself. No more waiting in line for the bathroom! No more Katie Reynolds "accidentally" taking her green sweater! No more of Celia Grey's snoring!
Yes, it was an almost perfect living situation. There was another occupant in the Heads Tower that she was less than thrilled about, though. James Potter, her fellow Head partner.
By the week of the wedding, Lily had doubts about being chosen as Head Girl. However, much to her surprise and happiness, she did eventually receive a letter confirming it. What she certainly never expected was to also find James' name listed in the letter. He'd never even been a prefect! Lily almost expected the whole business to be a joke by James himself until she found him sitting in the Heads compartment on the Hogwarts Express yesterday.
Dumbledore must be off his rocker.
Regardless, the two students were indeed sharing the Heads tower. James seemed to be pleased enough about the situation for the both of them. His Head partner, on the other hand, was less than thrilled. Sure, they'd lived in Gryffindor tower together for six years. But never by themselves. In this sense, Lily would miss her former roommates, especially Agnes and Sylvia.
It couldn't be that bad though, right? She'd see them every day at meals and for classes. It probably wouldn't even be that different -
Crash!
Lily rolled her eyes as she heard James doing who knows what in his room. She shrugged and headed to her first breakfast at Hogwarts for the last time.
"And so the mooning commences. Really, it doesn't feel like the school year starts until Prongs begins his Evans mooning."
James sat up in his chair, looking slightly flushed. He hastily grabbed his quill and began doodling across his paper. "Did she walk in? I hadn't noticed."
She had, in fact. She'd taken a seat in between her friends Agnes and Sylvia a few rows up. They were busy chatting before the first class of the day.
Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned back on the legs of his chair. "Right, right, of course. Keep telling yourself that, mate."
James shot him a look. "Oh yeah? Who was it looking at McGonagall's rump this morning?"
As Remus and Peter howled with laughter and James grinned, Sirius only managed to sputter as though he had a bad taste in his mouth. "Take that back, James! Take it back!" he exclaimed, reaching over Remus to grab at a laughing James. "I swear on Merlin's pants you are dead after class! McGonagall."
"I never knew you were into older women, Sirius."
"Sod off, Peter!"
Remus snorted as he was practically pushed out of his chair by Sirius who was still trying to reach around to punch James in the shoulder. "It all makes sense now. All those detentions with her..."
"So funny, so funny. Right. At least I don't sit in the library for hours on end to watch Evans study."
It was James' turn to sputter. "I have never done that!"
"Please," Sirius said, a smirk on his face. "The only reason you ever go to the library is to stare at her behind a pile of musty old books."
"All right, go ahead. Make fun of me all you want. I've got a feeling things'll be changing between me and her this year though," James said, tossing a glance at Lily. She remained oblivious to their conversation, instead laughing at something Agnes said.
"You say that every year, Prongs." Sirius said in a bored tone, exchanging a look with Remus and Peter.
James took his friends teases simply because they didn't know. They didn't know what happened at the wedding. Remus didn't know how grateful James was that the dragon pox had gotten to him.
Lily was unaware of James' glance in her direction. She was finally catching up with Agnes and Sylvia. They had planned to meet up at breakfast, but Agnes overslept and Lily was caught up in a conversation with Professor Slughorn on the way to the Great Hall.
"I certainly hope the rest of the year isn't like this," said Agnes. She poked Lily. "We hardly saw you on the train here, and then you were gallivanting all over the castle the rest of the evening!"
"So is the life of a Head Girl," Lily responded, pulling out her notebook and quill. "Someone has to help the first years along, you know."
Agnes cackled. "I say let Peeves handle the ickle first years."
"Have you completely forgotten your first evening here, Ag?" asked Sylvia. She exchanged an amused look with Lily. "I distinctly remember hearing your screams as a staircase you were on started moving. McGonagall had to practically pry you away from the railing. Why do you want to traumatize the first years with Peeves when the moving staircases were enough to traumatize you?"
"The trauma was good for me," Agnes shrugged. A Ravenclaw classmate walked by and she caught his eye. She smiled and gave a little wave. He smiled goofily in return, but stumbled a bit in his ogling. Lily and Sylvia chuckled quietly while Agnes flipped her long, brunette curls. "Push them in and let them learn to swim on their own, no coddling."
"Thank Merlin you weren't Head Girl when we started here," Lily laughed. "Though I wouldn't have minded skiving on my duties last night - I was exhausted by the end of it."
"I'm sure your new living quarters gave you a good night's rest, though," Sylvia teased.
"Yes, Lily," Agnes added, "When do we get a tour of these posh quarters of yours?"
Lily waved them off. "The Heads Tower isn't that great, I promise." It actually kind of was that great, but she didn't want to sound bigheaded about it. "Anyway," she continued," tell me about your summers! I know we owled, but it just wasn't the same. I mean, talk about posh, Sylvia, you were off vacationing by the sea half the summer."
"Well, I -" Sylvia began, but stopped as a fellow 7th year boy with dark hair and Slytherin robes stopped at their table. His expression was neutral as he stood over them, glancing at Lily and Agnes briefly before turning his attention to Sylvia.
"Good morning, Sylvia." His voice was quiet and stolid as he gazed at her.
"Hello, Quentin," said Sylvia, the lightness of her voice suddenly turning formal. She briefly made eye contact before looking down at her notebook.
"I haven't had a chance to speak with you since I left Seaside at the end of July. Did you enjoy the rest of your time there? Are your parents well?"
"Yes, I did - and they are well. Thank you for asking." Silence. Sylvia cleared her throat before continuing, casting a polite smile in Quentin's direction. "And you? Did you enjoy the rest of your break?"
The boy shifted. "It was sufficient," he said vaguely. Two other Slytherins walked past and caught Quentin's eye. He nodded to them. With a short nod to Sylvia and Agnes, but no acknowledgement of Lily, he simply stated, "I'll see you later" and left to join his friends a couple rows over.
Sylvia watched the boy's retreating back, her body quickly relaxing at his departure. Lily was thumbing through her transfiguration textbook, but glanced at her friend. Agnes clucked her tongue.
"How you've managed to get through every summer of your life with that pumpkinhead, I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I don't think he knows what a smile is."
"He does, surprisingly," Sylvia replied absently. "I'm just not sure he enjoys them."
For as long as she could remember, her summers had always involved Quentin. Actually, she couldn't think of a time when their lives weren't intertwined in some way. It was their parents' doing, though, not their own. Both were born into a long line of affluent, proud pureblood families who happened to mingle often. Their parents had made it clear for many years that the two could make a socially acceptable, pureblood match someday. And so, the many playdates during their childhood turned into coordinated visits at Seaside, an elite magical resort, in the summers when they began their Hogwarts schooling. Both sets of parents eagerly watched for signs of interest between the pair, but alas, little development had occurred. Much to her parent's displeasure, Sylvia never showed anything more than polite interest in the boy. Quentin, eager to please his own parents, seemed to make attempts at friendliness, but as was the case this morning, he did not typically get far with the girl.
Sylvia turned to Lily, an apologetic smile on her face. "Sorry about his snub."
Lily simply shrugged. "Not a big deal. Like Agnes said, he's a pumpkinhead."
She had long grown used to the insults due to her blood status. Offhandedly she considered how sad it was that one could get so used to them. In her early years at Hogwarts, such insults would often bring Lily to tears or an overwhelming desire to hex someone. After a while, she realized it was a waste of her time to let them get to her. Or, it was a waste to show outwardly that they got to her. In this particular case, she and Quentin had never spoken more than two words to each other. He typically ignored her, and she had learned to do the same.
"And our friend here will someday be Mrs. Sylvia Pumpkinhead," Agnes teased, well aware of the pressure Sylvia and Quentin faced from their families. "And then they will have many scowling Pumpkinhead babies."
Sylvia scoffed while Lily chuckled and said, "They can play with your dragon babies, Agnes."
"I'm sure they would be delighted," Agnes responded brightly, putting a quill to her textbook. She began sketching such dragon babies. While Sylvia spent her summers ignoring Quentin, Agnes spent hers at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary taking care of dragons with her father. Unlike Sylvia, who found little to enjoy about her summers, Agnes always looked forward to this time. Her mother died when Agnes was only two, leaving her father heartbroken. He became increasingly distant, spending more and more time in Romania, helping take care of the dragons there. Over the years, Agnes had learned that if she wanted her father's attention, she needed to do the same. So, she did. And, along the way, she learned to love dragons much like her father did. Her father took her for her first flight on a dragon when she was five, and began flying by herself by the time she was ten. She enjoyed regaling such stories as much as possible, and even had a knack for gathering a number of admirers amongst their classmates with such stories.
Lily sighed wistfully. "You two always have much more interesting summers. Posh resorts, dragon sanctuaries... What did I do? Watched soap operas with my mum and helped Petunia marry her Vernie-Poo."
"Seaside isn't that great, Lily," said Sylvia.
"Yeah, it really isn't," Agnes agreed. As she was a pureblood as well, Sylvia's parents were always very insistent on Agnes staying with them at Seaside. She accepted the invitation a couple of times, mostly for Sylvia's sake than anything, but couldn't stay long as Romania was always calling. Lily had never been invited to Seaside, unsurprisingly. "Romania is great though," Agnes added.
"And besides, from your owls, it sounds like James Potter made your summer more interesting," Sylvia also added with a small laugh. "Did the magically bliss of the happy couple finally make the boy's charming attempts work on you?"
Lily inwardly groaned, hoping James' involvement with the wedding wouldn't come up too often. Ignoring the suggestive eyebrow wiggles Agnes sent her way, she casually glanced behind her to make sure the Head Boy in question hadn't heard his name mentioned. Thankfully, he seemed to be in a rather heated argument with Sirius about the origins of butterbeer, and heard nothing.
"No, nothing happened," she said, hoping her voice did not sound abnormally high, "He came, he saw, he pranked."
She hadn't told a soul about the mortifying snogging session with James, not even her two best friends. She felt a bit bad about this seeing as she told them everything, from her secret short-lived crush on Remus in third year to her first kiss in fifth year. But she couldn't tell them about this! They would never let her alone! They would think she fancied him or something, for Merlin's sake. Which she did not.
Lily had thought a lot about that snog. After being horrified at what she'd done for the first few days, she calmed down and rationalized what happened. Of course James had fancied her for ages, so it was no surprise he participated in the snog. But Lily had made it plain for just as many ages that she did not reciprocate those feelings. No, what she did was simply in a moment of weakness. Sylvia's words were not that far off. Petunia and Vernon's love was not particularly inspiring, but it was a wedding, after all. The dancing, the dresses, the cake, the stars… And then the talk about deatheaters and attacks came up. Between the wedding's happy atmosphere and the reminder of the magical world's depressing state, it was no wonder Lily momentarily went off her rocker. And besides, she grudgingly admitted to herself, James Potter was attractive and snoggable. He was rather gangly, but somehow pulled it off very well.
Yes, the two of them simply happened to be in the right place at the right time, Lily concluded as Professor Flitwick entered the classroom, signaling the beginning of class. It could happen to anyone. But it would not happen between the two of them again, she was certain.
There was a problem with this conclusion that Lily had so neatly and rationally thought out. Perhaps that would have been the end of it if her snogging partner hadn't been James Potter. But, alas, he was. And he was one of the most persistent people she knew. Sure, if they knew, Sylvia and Agnes would tease her about it for ages. But Lily was fairly certain James would never let her forget about their snog. They would run into each other on the street years from now and he would remind her of that hilarious incident on the roof of her father's gardening shed. Her certainty was only further secured that evening before the first official prefect's meeting. After dinner, Sylvia and herself split off from Agnes, who was not a prefect, and headed to the meeting. They were stopped just around the corner from the classroom where the meeting would be held.
"Evans!"
An unpleasant look crossed Lily's face as they turned to watch James himself jog down the corridor towards them. His tie hung loosely around his neck, flapping precariously. It flew off and he abruptly stopped to snatch it up and continued on his way to catch up with the girls. Remus, who was further down the corridor, accompanied him. He chose to walk at a normal speed toward them, shaking his head in amusement at his friend.
Lily raised an eyebrow while Sylvia stifled a laugh as James finally stopped by her side. His face was slightly flushed, his hair a completely disaster - typical. His Head Boy badge, Lily noticed with disapproval, was lopsided and looked dangerously to falling off.
"Evans," he repeated, giving her a grin, then nodded to Sylvia with a smile, "Hey, Sylvia. Have a good summer?"
Sylvia returned the smile. "Yeah, pretty well. Hey, Remus," she added as he stopped next to James.
He gave a small wave in greeting to the two girls, and Lily smiled warmly in return. A day after the wedding, she received an owl from Remus, who apologized profusely for missing the wedding. While Lily was not as close to Remus as James was, they still had been good friends since first bonding over their similar studious nature in first year. He was one of her closest guy friends. She held no hard feelings for his absence at the wedding, it really could not be helped. In fact, she felt a bit guilty later for not worrying more about him on the day of the wedding. She was aware of his painful monthly transformations, so to endure the dragon pox on top of that… Remus must have had an extra tough month. Nevertheless, he still seemed very sorry to have missed the wedding. He was well aware of the displeasure Lily must have had at James replacing him. When they met up on the train the day before, Lily presented her friend with a large box of chocolate frogs as a belated 'get well' gift and a hug to ease his mind.
"Hel-lo?" James asked, shaking Lily from her thoughts.
"What?" Lily snapped.
James raised an eyebrow, noticing Lily's tense reply. "Geez, what crawled up your arse and died?"
"Nothing crawled up my... oh, never mind. What do you need, Potter?" she asked, shifting her school bag uncomfortably. She cursed her anxiety. They held the first prefects meeting yesterday on the train, so it would make sense for this second meeting to be a little less nerve-wracking. That was not the case, however. Lily was fairly sure a prefects meeting couldn't have gone worse, between her reeling from the shock of James Potter's Head Boy status, forgetting to hand out the prefect's badges, and a multitude of snide comments directed at her from the Slytherins of the group. There was something else bothering her, though. She had never felt particularly nervous taking the lead of groups, but for some reason, this Head Girl position was turning out to be more daunting than she'd expected. Only Merlin knew why - she'd been pining for this position for years.
"Well, I was wondering if we could meet up later to work on the patrolling schedule for McGonagall. Have to turn it in tomorrow."
"You mean two days from now."
Tilting his head slightly, James pondered this. "Well, unless your two days from now means tomorrow, no."
Lily took a moment to process his words before groaning and holding her hands over her face. "Wonderful. I volunteered to give an orientation tour of the castle to first years after the prefect's meeting. And I wanted to get a start on next week's charms readings. Well, I suppose I don't need to sleep tonight -"
James cut off her rambling as he held up his hands. "Whoa, calm down. I'll do it, all right? I can handle this. Forget about it."
She looked up in surprise. "Really? You'd do that for me?"
James shrugged. "I don't have any homework yet and our first quidditch meet was cancel tonight since, apparently," he said this with a tinge of annoyance, "the Slytherin team reserved the pitch before our team did - like hell they did..."
"Um, well, thanks," Lily cut him off, knowing if she let him continue with his quidditch ramble, he'd never stop. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed Sylvia and Remus had wandered further ahead, gabbing about their first day. Sylvia caught her eye, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Lily mouthed go ahead and turned back to her Head partner. She anxiously continued. "Please make sure you spread out everyone's patrol times equally. And don't schedule Millicent Beauford with Callie George, they bicker the entire time. And Thomas Fledger and Stacy Rose together - not good, either. They will find the nearest broom closet and not resurface until the end of their shift. Oh! You should also be careful putting -"
"Relax," James cut in, rolling his eyes. "It's just a schedule, I think I can handle it."
At the look on Lily's face, he put a hand to his chest. "Your lack of faith cuts me deep, Lily. Very deep. I think I need a favor in return to sooth my wounds," James finished.
It was Lily's turn to roll her eyes. "For the bazillionth time, I will not sing that A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love song with you. Leave me out of your weird Celestina Warbeck obsession, James."
"Hey," he defended heatedly, raising a finger at Lily, "that woman has the voice of an angel."
"Which is a great reason to listen to her records, rather than force those around you to sing it!"
"But seeing you roll your eyes and scoff at me is ever so much more fun, Lily."
"Cut to the chase, will you. What's the favor?"
"Oh, well… I just wanted to see if you would snog with me for a sec? Maybe on the roof?"
A broad grin spread across James' face as the words sunk in. It was safe to say that Lily was not amused.
"Ergh – you - I - I have told you and told you not to say anything about - about that again." Lily sputtered, trying to keep her voice down, paranoid someone would overhear them.
Before James apparated home after the wedding, Lily told him to forget about what happened on the shed roof. She told him to never, under any circumstances, mention it. It would be as if nothing happened in the first place. But, of course, James wasn't one for listening. She was right, Lily realized, he would never let her forget about this.
James only continued to grin at her, his hand subtly moving to her waist. Lily glanced over her shoulder again, thankful to see Sylvia and Remus had entered the meeting room. She moved out of his touch, a faint redness rising on her scowling face. "Cut it out, James. And for Merlin's sake, don't bring that up again."
"You know I'm not going to let that go, Lily. Your sister still mad at you about the fireworks?"
"Yes," Lily replied distractedly, then narrowed her eyes. "You haven't said anything about it to your friends, have you? Sirius? Remus? Peter? Anyone?"
The look he gave her was sly, making Lily gasp.
"You told them?"
James chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. The look on your face was priceless though."
Lily made a noise of annoyance and turned away, following in the direction of Sylvia and Remus. The conversation kept her distracted as she walked into the meeting room and took a position at the front. She sat her bag down and glanced across the many prefects sitting in front of her. James soon joined her. They shared a brief look, Lily letting out a tsk at the amusement still evident on her head partner's face.
Boys.
No matter - Lily tried to shake their conversation away. It was time for the meeting to begin. She turned her gaze once more to the prefects, most of whom were gabbing noisily about their first day of classes. Few seemed to have even noticed their arrival. Her hands suddenly gripped the edges of the desk in front of her.
Oh my.
There it was again - that bothersome anxiety she felt at yesterday's meeting. What was wrong with her?
Get over it, Lily.
"Ahem," she started hesitantly, trying to grab their attention. A few people turned their eyes to her, including Sylvia and Remus. There was, however, no lull in the hum of chattering voices. "Hi again, everyone. If we could just -"
"And then Flitwick took him to the hospital wing -"
"- and I said, 'You're just going to pretend like this summer didn't happen?' "
"Please, guys, we need to get started -"
"- Oh my gosh, what did he say?"
"- heard there was another attack -"
"Come on, quiet down -"
"- already have a mountain of homework, how is that possible -"
"OY, SHUT IT!" James abruptly barked over the noise. "The meeting's started."
The room went silent. Lily cast her eyes downward, crossing her arms over her chest uncomfortably. Of course he would have no problem grabbing a large group of people's attention. James Potter loved attention; why should it be difficult for him to obtain it?
The boy next to her shifted, waiting for her to say something. Anything.
"Evans, you have the floor," he added pointedly, glancing at her.
Great, Lily thought, as she attempted to calm the pounding in her chest. Not only had she choked, not only were whispers starting to rise from the prefects, but James had a front row seat to the action! Well, this simply would not do. Lily squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. Looking to Sylvia for comfort, she began.
"Right! Sorry about that. Let's get started, " she said, her voice abnormally high, but calming down with each passing word. "You'll receive your permanent patrol schedule in the next couple of days. Once we've sent them out -"
Lily abruptly stopped, realizing something that she'd been too distracted to notice before. "Why are so many people missing tonight? Where is everyone?"
There had to be at least ten people missing compared to yesterday's meeting. Racking her brain, Lily tried to figure out who wasn't here. The group was no help as no one responded, only quietly whispering around them. Sylvia and Remus provided her with baffled shrugs. Others couldn't seem to meet her eye.
"Well?" James prompted, crossing his arms against his chest. "What's going on?"
A sixth-year Hufflepuff cleared his throat, shifting forward in his seat hesitantly. "I heard some of them say that … er, they …"
"They what?" Just as the words left her mouth, however, Lily suddenly realized a pattern among the missing prefects: they were all Slytherins. All thoughts of nervousness evaporated. She raised her chin and repeated the question.
"They said they wouldn't come because, um …" the boy trailed off again, before anxiously blurting out the rest of his words. "becauseyou'reheadgirlLily."
James laughed in disbelief. "What? Why the heck wouldn't someone want Lily to be head girl?"
"Because I'm a muggleborn."
An uncomfortable silence blanketed the room. Someone coughed. Lily avoided Sylvia's sympathetic eyes and, instead, chose to stare out the window.
"That's ridiculous," James spat. "Those scummy little twits. I'll -"
"Forget it, James."
Her Head partner cast her an incredulous look. "Forget it? Lily, they can't treat you like this -"
"I said forget it," she cut him off quietly, her voice collected in a way it hadn't been at the start of the meeting. "We're not going to waste anymore time on those who chose not to attend. Let's just continue the meeting so we can all get out of here at a decent time."
And so, the meeting continued. Lily had no more difficulty leading the meeting. In fact, Lily did the majority of the speaking while James fumed quietly beside her. Her voice was calm and clear, her facial expressions giving nothing away. She explained their responsibilities as prefects in more depth than yesterday, events coming up that they would be needed for, and how scheduling would work. The meeting passed without further incident. Before she knew it, the prefects were shuffling out, most still avoiding her eye while others passed by with an apologetic look or word. Lily pointedly ignored them, rifling through her bag.
"You okay?"
Deep in thought, Lily abruptly looked up to see Sylvia watching her with something between a comforting smile and a frown. Letting out a breath, she responded as Remus joined the group, "Yeah, sure. I'm fine." She paused, inwardly trying to make a decision. Abruptly, she turned to Remus and James. "Can I see your map?"
There was a silence as the two Marauders shared a look. Remus shifted while James cleared his throat. "What map?" he asked casually, running a head through his hair.
Lily rolled her eyes as Sylvia watched the boys curiously. "You know what I'm talking about. Your little group's map - the one that shows people in Hogwarts."
Remus' eyebrows furrowed slightly as he met her eyes innocently. "We don't have a map of Hogwarts, Lily."
He received a tsk. "You know, I'm not surprised James would lie -"
"Hey!" the head boy interrupted in protest.
Lily ignored him. "- but, you too, Remus?"
For a moment, she didn't think her words got to Remus, but then her friend's shoulders slackened in defeat. "James has it."
James scoffed and crossed his arms. "Way to play it cool, mate." Remus sent James a guilty shrug, who turned to Lily in suspicion. "How do you know about our map?"
"It doesn't matter how I know about the map," Lily answered breezily. "All that matters is I do know about the map, and I'd like to see it."
She was disappointed to see that James was not cracking as easily as Remus had. "Oh, but it does matter, Evans. You tell us how you know about the map, and then we'll talk -" He abruptly turned on Remus, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "You told her, didn't you?"
Remus held up his hands in offense. "I didn't say a word."
"Well, it took all of two seconds for you to tell her I had it!" James replied pointedly.
Lily's nostrils flared as she let out an irritated breath. "Fine, Peter told me in fifth year," she explained. At James and Remus' expressions, she hurried continued. "Relax, it was an accident. He didn't mean to tell me. Really. I was helping him with a potion after class one day and it just somehow came up. I haven't told anyone."
"Just somehow came up?" James asked incredulously.
"Well, potion class always has had a way of screwing with Peter," Remus nodded, a hand on his chin.
It was Sylvia's turn to chime in. "Look, it isn't that big of a deal -"
James turned to her in horror. "You know about the map too? How many people were at this little potions party?"
"No, no - Lily told me and Agnes later."
Now it was Lily's turn to shrug guiltily. "Oh, well, yes … I might have told Sylvia and Agnes. But that's it, I swear!"
"What's the big deal, anyway?" Sylvia asked them. "It's just a map, why the secrecy?"
"Yes, what is with the secrecy?" Lily posed quickly, turning defensive against the boys' scowls.
These questions seemed to make them crack. They shared another look before James began rifling through his bag. He slowly pulled out a worn piece of blank parchment, and reluctantly held it in front of the girls. They stared at it blankly.
"That's it?" Lily finally asked.
"What do you mean, 'that's it'?" James asked in offense. He pulled the parchment back slightly, as if to protect it from the mean girl's comment. "I'll have you know this is a brilliant piece of material!"
Remus rolled his eyes and grabbed the parchment from the apparently wounded James. He tapped it gently with his wand, glanced between the girls, and then muttered something quietly to the map.
"What are you… " Sylvia started as she and Lily leaned forward slightly. Whatever Remus had whispered, the parchment apparently liked his words because inky sketches lazily began appearing. The girls gasped. Remus chuckled slightly while a triumphant smile appeared on James' face.
Lily stepped a little closer. She read the front of the map. " 'Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map.' Marauder's? You four made the map?"
"Yes," James answered smugly.
Remus opened the map, revealing hundreds of tiny labeled shoe prints moving through the castle. The girls couldn't hide their amazement. "Brilliant," Sylvia murmured.
"Yes, creepy, but brilliant," Lily added, reaching for the parchment. James abruptly pulled it away.
"Ah, ah, ah, Evans. No touching," he explained slyly, holding the map out of her reach.
His head partner groaned. "Look, as I said before, I don't want to take your precious map, I just want to see it for a moment."
"Why?" Remus asked curiously.
"Actually," Sylvia also posed. "I'm curious as well. What do you want with it?"
Lily shrugged nonchalantly. "Just wanted to find someone." This did not seem like a sufficient answer as the map was not given to her. "Look, can I see it or not? I'm not going to tattle about it to Filch. I could have done that ages ago if I wanted to."
"You bloody well not," James replied quickly. Then, catching her eye, he slowly handed it off. Within a minute of searching, Lily folded the parchment up and handed it back to her head partner.
"Cool map, I can see why you two were being so weird about it. Anyway, thanks," she finished, and turned to Sylvia. "See you at breakfast tomorrow?"
Her friend nodded, but was still curious. "Where are you going?"
"I have a date with some Slytherins."