Chapter Five – A Boy, A Girl, A Bar, and A Blizzard

Lily protested the entire way back to Gryffindor. I Summoned her cloak from the girls' dormitory and handed it to her before dashing up the stairs to grab mine—both my warmer cloak and my invisibility cloak, just in case. When I returned, she was still standing where I had left her, with her cloak draped over her arm and a skeptical look on her face. I hurried back through the portrait hole, pulling her with me.

"Potter!" she exclaimed, stumbling a bit. "Slow down! You're almost as mental as you were last year."

I turned and grinned at her. "Back to last names, then? Don't worry, I can change your mind again."

"James," she articulated, shaking her head as she followed me. "You don't need to change my mind. I just don't think we should do this. We're the Head Boy and Girl—"

"—which means we have more responsibility than anyone else in the castle," I interrupted.

"Exactly! We can't go sneaking off the grounds for Valentine's Day just because-–"

"—we deserve a break more than anyone else," I finished.

"That's not what I was going to say," she muttered.

"It's true," I pointed out. We did work hard, after all.

"Maybe," she reluctantly agreed. "But I still don't think we should sneak out. We have an obligation, after all."

"I've done it loads of times," I said.

"This year?" she challenged.

"Sure," I replied rather evasively. In truth, I had only snuck out once all year. Any other time in Hogsmeade had been spent as a stag, but I couldn't very well tell Lily I went running through the forest during the full moon every month.

"It will be crowded in Hogsmeade," she said. "We'll be recognized as students."

"Then we'll just have to make sure we're not recognized," I said. I led her up the staircase toward the fourth floor corridor.

"How are we going to do that?" she asked, sounding innocently naive. I couldn't help but burst out laughing, thinking of my Animagus form.

"Are you a witch or not, Evans?" I teased. She bristled, and I squeezed her hand to pacify her. I knew if I could get her to go with me, it would be worth it; I just had to overcome her natural reluctance. "I'm sorry, Lily. But if you think about it, the answer is obvious."

"Enlighten me," she said. She sounded quite frosty.

I stopped and moved into an empty window nook. "Transfiguration, of course," I replied, taking out my wand. I cast a few spells, and her features began to morph: her hair became shorter and turned a deep golden brown, her nose grew a little big longer, and her cheeks a bit rosier. I left her eyes, however, so I would still recognize her.

"Go ahead—try me," I said.

She narrowed her eyes, clearly undecided. Then with a nod, she whipped out her wand and hit me square in the face with one of the basic human transfiguration spells we had learned in sixth year. I felt my own features change, like my skin was being stretched and molded into something new. I had no idea what I looked like, but she giggled, so it was either hideous or hilarious. I could definitely feel the itch of a short beard and tried not to rub at it. I thanked her as I continued toward the fourth floor, and she reluctantly followed me.

"James Potter," she whispered, "you are a dreadful influence."

"I get that a lot," I replied casually, which prompted her to punch me on the arm. We finally reached the entrance to the secret passageway, a large mirror with an ornate golden frame. It had always seemed odd that there was a mirror there instead of a painting or tapestry, but the reason had became clear to us during sixth year.

Murmuring another spell, I watched the clear glass of the mirror ripple and was pleased to hear Lily gasp with surprise.

"Circe's crown," she said softly, poking her finger into the glass. It sent circles across the mirror like waves across water. "It's a mirror door. How in Hogwarts did you find it?"

I shrugged. "Lucky guess. Sirius wrote an essay on them for Charms last year and thought maybe there was one here at Hogwarts. We tried every mirror in the castle and this was the only one." I paused. "Well, there was the one hiding the Professor's bathroom on the third floor. We walked in on Slughorn reading the Daily Prophet. He wears purple pants."

Lily burst out laughing. "Oh, that is not something I wanted to know," she gasped. "But this is brilliant. I can't believe more students haven't found them."

"Remus thinks there's probably some sort of deflecting charm on them," I told her. "You know, like how Muggles don't take a second look at Hogwarts because they think it's just an old castle. We almost didn't try it ourselves. It felt like we were supposed to just overlook it."

Lily was running her hand along the frame and trailing her finger through the liquid glass. "He's probably right. So what's behind it?"

I took her hand and stepped through the mirror with my right foot. Her eyes widened to see it disappear into the mirror and I laughed. "This is the way to Hogsmeade. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. The mirror tickles a bit, that's all."

She took a deep breath and followed me through the mirror into a dark stone passageway. It sloped sharply downward, turning several times. We lit our wands and moved slowly thru the passage. I had done this several times with Sirius since we had first found it, but I could sense Lily's nervousness and tried to reassure her.

"It comes out in the quill shop," I told her softly. "There's a small mirror above the sink in the bathroom. Somehow the old witch who owns the place never noticed us leaving her shop even though we never entered."

Lily snorted lightly, holding tight to my hand as we continued along the earthen passageway. We were deep under the castle now and making our way toward the village. "Poor thing. How long do you think the passage has been here? And why?"

"Sirius reckons some old Scrivenshaft wizard was sneaking up to the castle for a shag. Peter thought maybe the professors liked to sneak out for a pint now and then."

"They could both be right," Lily said. "Is there a release spell on the other end?"

"Yes," I replied. "Took us weeks to figure it out." The passageway began to narrow and soon we had to move on our hands and knees. It wasn't long until we came to an extremely tall ladder.

"All right, this is it. I'll go first." I climbed the ladder and cast the spell to release the mirror door above the sink in Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. I crawled through and jumped down, then turned to help Lily through the awkward opening. As soon as we had dusted the dirt from our cloaks and hair, I waved my wand and closed the mirror, then turned toward the door to head into the shop and out to Hogsmeade.

"James, wait." Lily pulled me back and stared into my eyes. I felt my face flush and heard a sudden pounding in my ears that had to be my heart thumping out of my chest. I thought she was going to finish our moment from the corridor, or maybe the hospital wing, and I leaned toward her, trying to moisten my lips as unassumingly as possible.

She pulled out her wand instead, and I felt a prickly feeling across my eyes that I recognized as a Disillusionment Charm. "There, that's better," she said. "Your glasses are rather distinctive, and I'd bet you're rather well known around here."

"Er, thanks," I offered, slightly disappointed.

"Charms, of course," Lily murmured, throwing my words back at me as we headed out into the shop.

As expected, it was completely empty except for the old witch sitting behind the counter tempering her quills. She glanced up and frowned at us through thick glasses, but Lily gave her a winning smile. "Happy Valentine's Day, Madame Scrivencraft." The old witch nodded absently as she went back to her feathers, and we hurried out into the night.

It had started snowing at some point and was now coming down fairly heavy. Lily lifted her head to the sky and twirled around, squealing with delight. She may have protested even being there, but clearly she was relishing it now that she was. I felt my heart swell to see her so happy. Never mind that we were breaking about a hundred rules; it was already worth it.

"Where should we go?" she asked rather breathlessly.

As much as I wanted to suggest Zonko's or Spintwitches, I didn't think that would be something Lily was interested in. "How about Madame Puddifoot's?" I asked.

She stuck out her tongue. "Too saccharine," she said, shaking her head. "It'll be nothing but moon-eyed couples holding hands and snogging over chocolate and roses."

I burst out laughing. "I didn't realize you had anything against that, Evans," I teased. "Good thing I didn't send you those Chocoballs."

"Especially since I'm allergic to strawberries," she replied casually as we walked up the street. There were a surprising number of people out considering the weather; none of them gave us a second look.

"Burdock's beard, Lily, really?" I asked, slightly taken aback by yet another close call. I hadn't sent the fruit-filled chocolates because I'd been out cold in the Hospital Wing all afternoon.

"Really. Did you actually get me chocolates?" she asked. When I nodded and told her they were still in my dormitory, she laughed. "Good thing you got attacked by that Venonmous Tentacula, then, otherwise I'd be red and blotchy and covered in ointment."

"Good thing," I murmured.

"Come on," she said, taking my hand. In spite of the cold, it felt warm and perfect. "Let's just try the Three Broomsticks."

We trudged hand-in-hand through the deepening snow, enjoying our freedom. I knew I shouldn't have suggested it, let alone taken Lily with me, yet I couldn't help but think that after the day I'd had that I deserved a bit of fun in the village. I was feeling both entitled and somewhat reckless after everything that had gone wrong all day, and I thought the idea of Transfiguring our appearance would keep us safe until we returned to the castle.

Unfortunately, when we got to the Three Broomsticks, it was so crowded that we could hardly get in the door. I had expected crowds, but had at least hoped we could find a table tucked in the back. The Three Broomsticks was a complete loss, though, and I just stood there, staring through the window in disappointment.

"Well, what about the Hog's Head?" murmured Lily.

"Really?" I asked, giving her a skeptical look.

She shrugged. "It's better than standing out here. We might as well try it."

The Hog's Head was slightly more busy than usual, but we were able to get in and order two Butterbeers. The barman gave us funny look, seeing as most of the clientele were consuming far stronger drinks; several appeared to have been at it for quite a while. We found a small table in the corner, as far away from the questionable crowd as possible, and sat down to talk.

After an initially awkward silence, we quickly opened up and began talking about school, about classes, about our friends. We touched on life outside Hogwarts, but the thought of leaving school during such a time was not particularly uplifting. I wanted to ask her what she had been about to say in the corridor before Peeves interrupted us, but the Hog's Head just didn't seem the right place. It also grew more and more difficult to hear each other. We leaned closer, and I desperately wanted to kiss her, but I didn't want our first real kiss to be in a dirty old pub either.

"It's getting loud," I practically shouted. "Do you want to go?"

"How about one more?" she asked. I nodded and went to the bar to get us two more Butterbeers. As I waited for the barman to clean off the dusty bottles, I glanced back at our table. Some bloke several years older than us was hovering over Lily, leering down at her. He was tall, well built, and probably handsome; he was also completely pissed, and Lily was clearly repulsed by his attention. I watched to see how she would handle him; I knew she could, considering they way she'd handled me through the years, but I was ready to jump in if I needed to.

He helped himself to my empty chair and put him arm around her shoulders, his face close to hers. He must have said something exceptionally offensive then, because she smacked him, and he swore loudly. I rubbed my own cheek, remembering how hard she could crack a guy. The git grabbed her wrist, though, and leaned in even closer, whispering in her ear. I saw a flash of anger in Lily's eyes as she wrenched her arm away. He grabbed her again, and I ran over as fast as I could.

"Get off her," I snarled, pushing the drunken lout away. He fell awkwardly to the floor, and there was a rumble of laughter around us. I reached for Lily's hand. "Come on, let's go." She stood, rubbing her arm and glaring at the man on the floor as he picked himself up.

"Tosser," she muttered.

"Bitch," the guy replied, shoving Lily out of the way to get to me. He sent her crashing into some old wizard's lap. He then threw a punch at me, but considering he'd probably had about six Firewhiskys and I'd only had two Butterbeers, I was easily able to block him. I instinctively lashed out with my own right hand; sometimes having a wand didn't even occur to me, and this was one of those times.

My fist landed with a satisfying crack right across the guys' nose, which immediately started gushing blood. I stepped back, shaking my hand and ready for another go, when I suddenly felt my arms pinned behind my back. I glanced over my shoulder into the towering face of the ugliest man I'd even seen. Heavy eyebrows hid beady black eyes, a bulbous nose protruded from a pot-marked face, and he leered at me through thin lips and a gap-toothed smile.

"That's my mate," the big wizard murmured, his accent so thick I could barely make out the words.

"And that's my witch," I snapped before I could stop myself.

The man with the bloody nose stood and wiped it on his sleeve. He took out his wand and leveled it at my chest. Now the entire pub was watching, transfixed, as I was about to get my bollocks hexed off by a bloody maniac on Valentine's Day. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lily struggling to get away from the dirty old man who'd caught her when the bloody maniac had pushed her out of the way.

"I doubt she'll want anything to do with you when I'm done," the wizard with the broken nose wheezed, spitting blood onto the floor. I struggled uselessly against the iron grip of his dull friend behind me as the bloody maniac raised his wand to cast a spell. He was interrupted by a shout from the bar.

"No dueling in here!" snapped the grizzled barman. "Fists only or take it outside."

The bloody maniac grinned as he put away his wand and punched me in the stomach as hard as he could. I felt the air rush from my lungs as I doubled over in pain. The giant behind me pulled me up straight for another go, and I felt another hard fist in my gut. And then as suddenly as it had all started, it was over.

The bloody maniac fell to the floor, Stunned unconscious, and the dumb git pinning my arms simply dropped me, crying like a baby about a Stinging Hex. I looked up to see Lily with her wand brandished; the old wizard who had been holding her on his lap was nursing a face full of Bat Bogeys. In one go, Lily had ignored the barman's ban on wands and put down three wizards. The pub was dead silent.

I didn't know if I was in love or if I wanted to die of embarrassment.

I decided to go for the latter and put up a brave front. After Lily helped me stand, I grabbed her and kissed her soundly, then turned back to the crowd with my most stern face.

"I told you she was my witch," I announced, and with my head held high, we walked out.

I suspected Lily would be furious. One, for getting into a bar fight on our first date in a ratty old pub; two, for referring to her as my witch; and three, for kissing her like that in the middle of it all. I was right, and yet I had forgotten something else.

As soon as we stepped outside, she started hitting me on the arms. "Why do I have to keep rescuing you on Valentine's Day?" she shouted. When I raised my hands in defense, she stopped and glared at me; this was the Lily Evans I remembered from last year. "And how dare you refer to me as your witch and kiss me in there. I am not your witch and I never will be after that!" She turned sharply and started back up the street without me.

I shook off my shock and hurried to catch up. "Lily!" I called. "I'm sorry! I know it was stupid, but…" I trailed off. She was practically running, trying to get away from me as fast as possible. The snow was coming down harder than ever now and she stumbled slightly. Putting up the hood of her cloak, she turned toward me, her face already covered in snow.

"Tell me later," she snapped. "We have to get out of this storm first."

She was right. As we hurried down the street toward Scrivenshaft's, the wind picked up; this was no ordinary snowfall and was quickly threatening to turn into a blizzard. I added it to my mental list of things that had gone wrong that day as I caught up to her.

"Lily, I 'm sorry, I really am. I just didn't want him bothering you," I practically shouted over the wind.

"I can take care of myself, Potter," she yelled back, giving me a pointed look. "And apparently I still have to take care of you, as well."

I looked away, embarrassed and angry. I wasn't sure whether I was upset with myself, with the wizards at the pub, or with Lily for stepping in. I just knew we had to get back to Hogwarts and put it behind us. Hogsmeade had been a disaster, and I was ready to swear off Valentine's Day for good.

Lily stopped suddenly in front of Scrivenshaft's Quill shop. "It's closed," she said, somewhat stunned.

I peered through the window and tried the door. "It certainly is," I agreed, my heart sinking. Although I knew what she would say, I offered my first thought. "We could magic the lock and sneak into the back—"

"Absolutely not!" she replied before I could even finish. "We're already breaking the rules being here, and we just got into a fight at the Hog's Head. I'm not breaking and entering on top of it all."

I thought for a moment. "There's another passageway through Honeydukes, let's try that one."

We slogged through the calf-deep snow to the sweet shop only to find it, too, had closed early for the evening. Apparently celebrating Valentine's Day was more important than staying open for business. That or the storm had sent everyone home early.

"Now what?" asked Lily, rubbing her gloved hands together and shivering. It was a long way back to the castle.

"We could Apparate to the gates," I suggested, knowing it was a bad idea but feeling like I had to say something. Lily shook her head.

"No, too dangerous with the wind and snow. Plus we would still need a way through the wards at the gates."

Having never needed to sneak back in through the front entrance, I'd never thought about that. She was right: we couldn't get back in through the gates without alerting the castle to the fact we had left. That left one other option.

I took her hand, expecting her to shake it off, but given the increasing ferocity of the storm, she let me, clinging to my arm as if it were an anchor as the wind and snow swirled around us. "There's one more way," I said, leaning close to her ear. "But you have to trust me."

She gave me the most exasperated look I'd ever got from her. "Of course I don't, but I don't have any choice, do I?"

"Not really," I agreed.

"Then how are we going to get back?"

"Through the Shrieking Shack," I answered, and I led the way toward the most haunted house in Britain.

* * *

End Notes:

Thank you so much to Lea and Lori for consulting and helping me figure out the right direction to take this. And thank you to Carole for listening to my spoilers and pointing out what needed to be changed for the better, as well as enduring my constant Brit-picking questions. I love you, ladies!