Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but I do put a lot of effort into arguing about it.

So Far: Dorcas basically says that she can't be friends with Muggleborns anymore, but Marlene – who's a pure-blood – is the angriest. James and Lily are friends now. Voldemort threatens the whole Wizarding World; Hogwarts has its own Auror, Mrs. Hitchens.

Chapter 13

Or

Of Ties Undone

There were two new signs on the message board on Thursday morning.

The first read,

APPARITION LESSONS

If you are seventeen years of age, or will turn seventeen on or before the 31st August next, you are eligible for a twelve-week course of Apparition Lessons from a Ministry of Magic Apparition instructor. Please sign below if you would like to participate. Cost: 12 Galleons.

"Oh, goodie, I've been waiting for them to announce them – though I thought they usually announce them after Christmas and New Year's," said Dan Fletcher in response to the sign, and Cameron made sounds of approval.

But there was also another sign hanging on the board, this one slightly more disturbing, and to the older students, even shocking.

ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS

In response to new Ministry safety regulations, those unable to reach the Great Hall within fifteen minutes of an Emergency must instead head to one of a number new safe-rooms, the locations of which will be given to you by the head of your house. Until further notice, if anything suspicious happens in your vicinity, inform a prefect and then head for the nearest safe-room.

"Lily, did you know about this?" asked James, who happened to be standing near her. She shook her head and added nothing else. She meant to ask him why he thought she would, but he promptly disappeared, and when she turned around, James was huddled up with an upset-looking Marlene. Match made in heaven, she thought. Pure love – pure-bloods in love.

She kicked herself mentally for thinking that, and made her way through the crowd to the exit from the common-room.

Ever since Dorcas, Lily found herself thinking about the blood-status of everyone around her. It was a little hard not too, especially since it seemed their little group was falling apart. Marlene had James's relationship was progressing slowly, but surely; Mary was never really a part of their little group in the first place; and Lily – well, Lily didn't really know what to do with herself anymore. She tried talking to Mary, but it was hard. All she could see was a looming sign hanging over the both of them, saying these two are Muggleborn, and the only thing she wanted to do was get away from it. Mary looked hurt whenever this happened; she suspected that she knew what was happening, but Lily couldn't help it. Hanging out with Mary was not an option.

And of course, with Marlene drifting away and Dorcas not being anything anymore (she couldn't even remember properly when was the last time she heard Dorcas speak in class, let alone to another human being), Lily was left to watch and learn. She had taken to watch Sirius.

Sirius was a good choice, because he rarely did depressing things. Everything he did seemed either comical or classy; when he caught her staring, all he did was wink; and he never stopped being her friend. Sirius was loyal like that. Despite the fact that she was being standoffish and outright mean sometimes, he continued to try and make her laugh, and they would sit and have the longest conversations about the silliest things.

She was going to miss him when she stopped talking to James.

It was becoming clear that she and Potter being friends was impossible. They never talked about anything; all he did was hang out with Marlene and his three best friends anyway. When he was hanging out with his friends he was getting into trouble and when he was hanging out with Marlene he was getting her into trouble, and Lily just couldn't stand for that. True, Sirius was similar, but at least he wasn't getting Mary (who, she suspected, he was still seeing on and off) into trouble.

She knew that Sirius was loyal, and she wasn't going to make him choose between her and James – no, Potter, she had to start thinking of him as Potter. So when Potter and she stopped talking – which will happen soon, she was sure of it – she was going to choose for him.

Merlin, she was going to miss him.

She missed all of them.

But right now, she had classes to worry about.

It was their most boring History of Magic class yet. Lily could have sworn that there had never, ever, been a less interesting class taught by Mr. Binns, but of course, it could have been that she simply could concentrate even less than usual.

Everything okay, Evans?

It was a note signed by both Sirius and James, short and to the point. She didn't know whether she wanted to respond to it or not; she reckoned they would share whatever it was she wrote with each other, no matter who she addressed it to, and so she didn't want to say something personal (because then Potter might see it) nor something bland (which would leave Black wondering about what's going on). She was thinking over the options, considering the implications of each and every one.

I need to talk to Potter. When is he available?

The answer came almost immediately. It actually hit the side of her neck, instead of landing on the desk; she grimaced at both of them (she hadn't seen who'd thrown it), then glanced down at the paper. Twelve minutes after dinner starts in greenhouse two, it said in the same hand-writing as the first note. She should probably figure out to which boy it belonged – actually, no, she shouldn't. She wasn't talking to either of them ever again starting a few hours from now, so it didn't really matter who made those ridiculously twirling G's and surprisingly round A's. She wondered, instead, who came up with the idea of the whole thing happening exactly twelve minutes after dinner starts. It made sense in a way that Sirius would have, what with his off-beat sense of humor; however, it was James' schedule, after all.

She glanced to her left, nodded, and then looked back at the board.

It was a little upsetting that she only had twelve minutes to eat dinner, because after the long day she just had, she was absolutely starving. She sat down next to Marlene because she didn't particularly want to sit next to people she didn't know, but the two didn't speak. In fact, Cameron was there, and the two were speaking in hushed tones – but she could still hear quite a lot of it.

"I just don't want to – I mean, I live with her," Marlene murmured, glancing up and down the table as she spoke. Lily served herself some soup as loudly as she could.

"I know," Cam said, pausing for a second to take a sip of pumpkin juice. "But I still think that – "

"Yeah, I know what you think," Marlene muttered angrily. "I just want her to – "

"To what? She can't exactly leave Hogwarts. Her parents – "

"Her parents are the reason for this entire mess. I'm just afraid that this is a symptom – "

Lily slurped loudly, trying very hard to not hear anything. She debated silently moving up or down the table, and decided against it; she only had about four minutes left.

"She was just – she has some misguided ways, but - she's alone now, you know – " It seemed as though Cam was incapable of making one, single, coherent sentence. Lily started humming an old tune she couldn't really place, but was catchy nonetheless.

"Well, she was friends with me, so she really should have known better – "

Suddenly the two of them were very silent.

"Have you told – "

"No, I haven't. But she was my best friend – Lily's best friend, soon Mary's friend – and I just – "

"Marlene," Cameron sighed. "Forgiving her won't hurt you. She's the one who was left behind now, you know."

"You go and be friends with her, if you feel so sorry for her misguided ways. She's been nothing more than a bleeding racist, and after what happened – " Marlene reddened suddenly, and the conversation died out.

Which was really too bad, because Lily had to go to the greenhouses anyway now. She packed her things, stuffed some bread in her mouth, and ran out of the Hall, arriving at the greenhouse exactly a minute before her allotted time. She snuck into the greenhouse, and, looking around, saw that James Potter hadn't arrived yet. She, however, was never late, and so she simply sat down and chewed on her bread happily, dreaming of the piles of chicken still lying in the Great Hall, and maybe, when she's done here, if she still has any appetite, there will still be some left…

"Why are you sitting on the floor?" asked James, plopping down beside her. "I mean…"

"I didn't want to sit on anything that might eat me," she replied. "And I'm hungry. Might I ask why we're in greenhouse two, anyway? And why exactly – "

"Shhh," said James. "I think it should happen any second now."

"What should happen?" asked Lily curiously, following his gaze out the small window to their left. There was someone getting close… Was that –

"Mrs. Fiona Hitchens," said James. "The better half of the Hitchens duo, with the other being her husband and head of the Floo Network, Kalvin. I know, awful name, right? Anyway, my resources tell me that – yes, here he comes – Merlin, that eye is marvelous – "

"Is that – Mad-Eye-Moody?" Lily whispered in awe. "Marlene told me about him once – Dorcas thinks that he's ama– " she choked for a second, but quickly recovered. "Anyway. What is he doing here?"

James looked at her funny. "He's head of the Auror department. Hitchens' an Auror. What do you think?" Lily blushed, and they both quieted and began listening. Lily felt funny, having listened to two conversations she wasn't supposed to hear within fifteen minutes.

"What's your update?" Moody's voice was exactly what she expected it to be, gruff, tough, and low, as if he didn't much care for talking. Mad-Eye-Moody was a doer; everyone knew that. "Did you find anything out about Malfoy's connection?"

"Sadly, no, sir," said Hitchens. Oddly enough, Lily had never actually heard her speak before; her voice was far deeper than she had expected it to be. "There is definitely a ring of some Slytherin boys who are suspicious indeed, especially that boy, Nikolai Mulciber. He's vicious, and very often is heard making… remarks. And last year – "

"I know about the McDonald incident," said Moody. "Regrettable… Regrettable… And the wolf?" Lily saw James glancing in her directions, but chose not react.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," said Hitchens. "He hangs out with some trouble-makers, but except for harmless pranks, they're clean. One of them – "

"Again, I do believe I know who he hangs around, having this information delivered to me personally by Dumbledore," said Moody. "Why he wants you here, I only hope to find out – "

"But in the meantime, I'll stand my post and do the best I can, I know," Hitchens sighed.

"Stay vigilant," said Moody.

The two walked away, and James and Lily both looked at each other at the exact time. Lily noticed just how close they were, so close, and their noses almost touched – but there were important things to be said and discussed. That was a very interesting conversation they just heard. She pulled away, rubbing her temples. "My head hurts," she mumbled.

"I wonder why they met here," he muttered to himself. "I knew they would because I saw – I mean, in absolutely mysterious ways I figured it out. But I don't understand why…"

"Potter," Lily said. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Right," he said, absent-minded. "But don't you have any ideas?"

Lily thought for a moment. "Well, Hogwarts is impenetrable, isn't it? I mean, it's got a million defenses, you can't Apparate from or to here," she reasoned. "Not to mention he – Moody – seemed familiar with Professor Dumbledore. Wouldn't it be a reason to meet here? That he wanted to meet with the Professor?"

"I guess so," James sighed. "C'mon, let's walk back to the castle, I'm getting cold."

It was indeed getting cold. It had rained a few times this week already, and each time the downpour was stronger than the last time. Lily was sure that within the week it would snow – and Christmas was getting nearer, too. The wind smacked her face repeatedly, and she wondered what the hell she was doing.

Why am I walking up the hill with James Potter? Why haven't I told him yet? What am I going – how am I going to tell him? Shit, shit, shit –

"Penny for your thoughts?" James asked, attempting to kick a pebble up the muddy path. It didn't move. Lily snickered, and he tried again, with a different pebble. It seemed to be less stuck to the ground, because it hopped up and hit his knee. He yelped, but otherwise handled it well.

"Are you okay?" Lily laughed.

"Aw, you worry about me," he teased, and she immediately stopped laughing.

They were now wandering the halls. Lily was reminded of her patrol routine with Remus, only instead of trying to find occupied classrooms (and emptying them), they were searching for the opposite. Her friendship with Remus was nothing like her friendship with James; it occurred to her it would now be severely limited, too, maybe even more so than when they had just started talking to each other. They had never been friends until they started patrolling; perhaps that would be the state again. Perhaps they would have even less contact than that.

"Here's one," James said. It was an unused, unlocked classroom, that had a skeleton in it. Lily wondered what they had used it for, if it was ever in use.

She took a deep breath, and walked in.

It took a while, but sometime after James left, Sirius walked in to the classroom. She knew he was there. She didn't say anything. He stood behind her for fifteen minutes at least, just quietly standing, and not moving, or saying anything. She waited for him to speak; she knew he would, because that's just who he was. She was right. "Why are you doing this?" he said, and he didn't even sound hurt, which made it that much worse.

"Because I have to," she whispered. "And I know that he's your best friend, so I'm not going to – "

"To what? Make me choose?" He let out that laugh of his that was really more of a bark, and sat down next to her. For the first time, they made eye contact, and she noticed that he really was handsome. It was an odd thing to notice, as she had known he was handsome before – but somehow everything else had been more important before now. But his eyes were enchanting, and she began to understand what Mary saw in him.

"I can't make you choose," she said.

"You don't have to," he said. "James understands. We – uh – well, he's sort of the bigger person when it comes to you, you know. You can be quite selfish at times, and he's been – "

"What?" she said, looking at Sirius sharply. He raised his hands in a defeated manner.

"I was just saying, I mean, you're nice and all, but sometimes I reckon you could really – look around you, appreciate what you've got. I had to – " he gulped. "I had to do some drastic things – go through some major changes before I figured that one out. And it's almost Christmas too, and you know that shite about forgiveness just as much as I do. But I figured my stuff out now, so it's you that has to do the – whatever."

"What happened? Are you talking about the – " her eyes widened. "The incident with Sev- Snape?"

"I can't really tell you about that, you know," he mumbled. "Secrets that aren't my own."

"I know that Remus is a werewolf, Black," she sighed, waiting for the inevitable –

"WHAT?"

This was probably the biggest bomb she could have dropped on him, and she knew it. She hadn't considered it fully, really, but she should've delivered it better, or something like that. Instead she just – had to deal with the consequences. You're an idiot, Lily.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out, especially after all the – " she stopped talking abruptly, looking flushed. "Severus – Snape – he had some theories. And we have patrol together you know, so I sort of notice when he's replaced exactly every full moon, plus Moony, and then after the – Well, it wasn't hard to piece things together."

"Oh," said Sirius. "So you've been acting dumb for what – almost a year?" Lily nodded. "Oh."

She imagined it was quite a shock for him; it was a shock for her to find out too, though he merely found out that she knew that Remus was a werewolf while she actually found out that Remus was a werewolf. She wondered how long he'd known. All three of them, she supposed. She let it stay quiet until she couldn't take it anymore. She nudged him. "So you can tell me the stupid story? I mean – anything could make me feel better right now."

"Oh, yeah, alright," said Sirius, running a hand through his hair in a very James-like fashion. "Blimey, Evans, you never cease to surprise me." He grinned, pulled Lily close to him – she snuggled up to him, and he smelled vaguely of the dinner that she skipped. "Story time, love.

"It all started with my mum, of course."

A/N: I wrote a really long A/N and then the tab closed! Blerg.

Awkward ending, I know. Next chapter is vital to the story though. And I love Sirius' loyalty in this chapter. Have you been able to tell he's one of my favorite characters? (I think I told you guys my favorite is Remus. It's fine. His time will come as well.)

I've had a terrible couple of weeks, ending with me going to a funeral on Monday. So, sorry for not updating for so long. But I'm here now.

Calypso: I missed you! I wrote the entire chapter in one sitting with the exception of a paragraph or two, which would explain the solidity of it. Still holding my fingers for the TLAT update, of course.

MelodyPond77: You have a lovely name! Thank you for your kind words. I'm sorry you thought this would be updating September 1st - that wasn't what I meant, though of course I didn't mean to update quite this late. Thing is, we do know the end. It's a tragedy we've all read. I love giving little hints to what actually happens canonically, and it's just terrible. But I love it.

tinkerbelldetention101: I do love that you love my story, but I'm sorry to tell you that you read my passage wrong (which is in chapter 11, by the way, not 12 - the first chapter was a prologue, remember guys?). Go check it again - I never say that Dorea was actually Sirius' mother. I was simply showing that in my opinion, the timelines don't work with Dorea being James' mother. Dorea married a cousin of Sirius', and therefor James and Sirius are related :)

4LJ: I missed you (separately from calypso)! I don't get why everyone's annoyed by Lily, I think she's a perfectly relateable character (everyone being you and my friend who sometimes reads this). Your guesses are ridiculously accurate, though. Wait for chapter 15 for answers. You're very welcome, and thank YOU for reading.

That last one goes to all of you. I am forever grateful for having people visit my story and enjoying it. As always, please share, follow, favorite, review, and most of all - enjoy yourselves and your life. You are important.

Do any of you watch WheezyWaiter? I cried in that last video.

JustGail