Chapter 3 – First Impressions, Hippogriffs and Leaves of Tea

Lily was awake early for breakfast the next day. She was one of the first into the Great Hall, seeing at least three of the teachers already at the table. Sitting down on the Gryffindor table in her new robes, she glanced about. She recognised a few faces, among them the girl she'd met last night – Parvati – and that awful bully from Slytherin. What made her cringe even more was the fact that the Slytherin boy got up and made his way over, stopping just behind her. She ignored him for the most part, staring dejectedly at the timetable in her hands. However, when he swooped down and snatched the piece of parchment from her hands, she snapped her head in his direction, seeing a perfectly horrid scowl on his features.

'Would you mind returning my timetable?' she asked, kindly at first.

He seemed to ignore her comment, staring intently at the piece of paper he was holding. 'Oh, you're in my class for almost every subject. How lucky I am.' He sneered, but then glanced down at her. 'You're the Evans girl, aren't you?'

She bit her tongue and stared up at him, eyes narrowed. 'That I am,' she said, again, curtly. 'And you're that Slytherin boy who makes snide comments about people and things that he is clearly too dim to understand.'

The boy grinned devilishly. 'Friendly, aren't you? My name's Draco by the way – Draco Malfoy that is.' He held out his hand for her to shake.

Tentavily Lily reached out to shake it, but then delicately swiped her timetable back. 'Oh, don't worry. I know who you are,' she stood up, realising for the first time that she was at least a foot smaller than him. 'Now what do you want?'

He shrugged. 'Just wanted to introduce myself is all,' he said. 'So, do you mind if I join you – at least until the other Gryffindor trash get here?'

Lily clenched her teeth, and spat out: 'Clearly, if you're so worried about Gryffindor trash, you won't want to talk to me, will you? So perhaps you should just leave me alone, and go back to your own sad group of malicious friends over there.' She pointed at the Slytherin table, where a black-haired girl was waving for Draco to come over.

Draco sighed, and leaned back a bit. 'Oh come on. You don't even know me, really. Why don't you give me a chance?' He adopted a mocking tone, before finishing, 'Has scarhead warned you to stay away from me?'

She made to ignore him, pouring a glass of her favoured pumpkin juice and sitting back down. Just as she made to sip a bit, Draco took the seat beside her on the bench. He smiled sweetly, her face twisting into a rather gruesome twisted grin.

'What is your problem?' she hissed, slamming her glass down hard on the table. This time, she stood up completely and stepped away from the table. 'I'm leaving. I suggest you don't follow me.' With that, she started to march away. She didn't know what it was, but something about that boy made her angry.

She rounded the corner that lead to the staircases and slammed into someone, almost losing her balance and falling over completely. Looking up, she realised that it was not one student, but two professors.

'Lily! Are you alright?' Lupin asked her, clearly worried.

She nodded. 'Oh, I'm fine…' Her reply came out as a wheeze almost, and she saw that it was the same man as before that accompanied her friend as yesterday – the Potions Master, Severus Snape.

'Where are you running off to so early?' Lupin asked, curious.

Lily swallowed a lump in her throat, glancing from one professor to the next and back. 'I just needed some fresh air, and it is a bit early for breakfast – there was hardly anyone I recognised in the hall.'

At that precise moment Draco came swanning around the corner, his chin high. He spotted Lily instantly, and made his way over. From where he was stood, she supposed he couldn't see the two professors yet. The Slytherin began to shout.

'There you are, Evans! Where are you running off to so fast? I wasn't finished talking with you.' He came closer, and Lily fought back a grin when she saw Lupin's eyes narrow faintly.

She spun around. 'Well, clearly I was finished talking with you.'

Draco laughed. 'You Gryffindors are all the same,' he folded his arms. '"You might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart, their daring, nerve and chivalry, set Gryffindors apart."' He made a sort of vomit sound, and approached her. 'And who are you to speak to me in such a manner? And what are you? A half-blood perhaps…? Or better yet, a mudblood?'

Lily recoiled a bit from the mention of the word, and back-peddled. 'Don't talk about what you don't understand,' she met his gaze. 'You know nothing.'

Draco made to say something else it seemed, but he walked right around to her and stopped when he saw Lupin and Snape. He went madly white, and started to stutter uncontrollably. Lily watched on with amusement.

'Twenty points shall be taken from Slytherin, Draco. I would have expected more from you.' Lupin said disapprovingly, his eyes drifting across the boy's stunned features.

She almost smiled, but whispered underneath her breath. 'I didn't.'

'Five points from Gryffindor, Ms. Evans, for making inappropriate comments underneath your breath.' Snape said, though he seemed half-respondent.

'But –' she started.

Snape folded his arms suddenly, coming back fully to reality. 'If you speak so much as another word Evans, it'll be fifty points and a month's worth of detention.'

Lily stopped and met the professor's gaze. His coal black eyes met her green for a moment, but then she snapped hers to the ground, defeated. She didn't want detention before she'd even had her first lesson! Careful not to speak, she spun on her heels and walked back into the Great Hall, followed by a furious Draco Malfoy. Fortunately Remus was close behind her, and he escorted her to her seat without comment before walking over to the staff table. Neville had soon appeared too, a small green plant in his hands.

'Good morning, Lily!'

She looked up, and managed to smile lightly. 'Oh hello, Neville.'

The boy took a seat, putting the plant onto the table gently. She watched the little plant curiously, seeing a few of its leaves shudder. Neville reached across the table and poured himself some pumpkin juice. Luckily, he was sitting opposite Lily today so as to avoid any imminent spillage. Just then, a plate of toast floated past the two. They each picked up a few slices each. At one point both of them reached for the same piece, but Neville muttered his apologies and picked up a different one. Satisfied with just some toast and her juice for breakfast, she decided to take the time to get and know Neville better.

'Where do you live, then?'

The blond boy looked up from his toast, confused. 'Where do I live? Oh! I live out in the country with my grandmother. You probably wouldn't know the place…' After he'd trailed away he glanced at his plant, which was now swaying strangely from side-to-side. With courage, he looked back up. 'How about yourself?'

Lily shrugged. 'You wouldn't know the place,' she thought about telling him about Remus raising her, but decided against it. 'So why do you live with your grandmother, then? Do your mother and father travel or live there too?'

Neville noticeably flinched. 'No, it's just me and my grandmother. My mum and dad were tortured by Death Eaters a long time ago. They're –' he seemed unable to say much more.

The red-haired girl reached across the table and gently laid her hand over his. 'Neville… I'm so sorry… I didn't know –'

He interrupted rather hastily, 'It doesn't matter. It happened a long time ago.' She removed her hand quickly, and looked away. They remained silent for quite some time, before Neville asked her a question. 'How about your parents?'

Lily bit her lip. 'I– I don't know. I never knew my real parents.'

Neville's eyes widened, but soon became soft and comforting. 'I'm sorry, too. But don't you know where they are, or what happened to them? Who do you live with then?'

She shrugged. 'I never really asked. It wasn't that I didn't want to know the truth – I was just afraid of knowing.' Briskly, she spared a glance at Remus, who was sitting at the staff table reading a newspaper. 'I live with my uncle, though I like to see him as the father I never had.' It wasn't really a lie, but it would suffice as an explanation for now.

Without realising, the two third years had been joined by quite a few more students, clearly coming down for breakfast. Lily glanced down at the small watch that she had strapped to her wrist. It read twenty past eight – forty minutes before first lesson. She saw Hermione enter the Great Hall, and was somewhat amused when Neville blushed as she sat down beside him.

'Good morning, you two.'

Lily smiled, and when Neville did not speak replied, 'Good morning, Hermione.'

Hermione engaged them in a conversation about their new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, which they were having the first lessons that morning. She then turned to Lily and asked her what subjects she quite liked already.

'I love making potions, and I'm quite talented with charms so I'm told. I also love animals of all kinds so I suppose Care of Magical Creatures will be interesting.'

Hermione seemed quite taken back, and Neville spilt some pumpkin juice down his chin. 'Potions? I'm terrible with them. Could you maybe help me in the lesson? Hermione usually tells me what to do, but I think she has got quite tired of me in the past two years.'

The bushy brown haired girl raised her eyebrows. 'I don't tire of instructing you, Neville!'

Lily smiled, and ignored Hermione's comment. 'I'd love to,' she murmured, and then gestured to the now thrashing plant. 'As long as you help me in Herbology. I fear I'll be absolutely terrible in that lesson.'

The boy grinned. 'Of course! But I'm sure you won't be. If you're good with potions, you'll no doubt be brilliant with plants.'

Lily wasn't convinced. They continued to discuss until two people came and sat beside her on either sides. She looked to her right and saw Ron, his ginger-red hair fluffed up and messy; and to her left Harry, who was reading his timetable but quickly glanced up and smiled at her. His hair was parted slightly so that she could now she the scar that was on his forehead – a prominent red bolt of lightning on the right side. Just looking at it made her shiver. She still couldn't understand exactly how Harry could have survived what had happened to him, and He Who Must Not Be Named killed, but that didn't bother her. As long as Harry was alive, should it matter? She didn't think so particularly.

The five of them ate their breakfast relatively quietly, except for Ron who suddenly asked why she hadn't come to Hogwarts first year, and how he was sure you couldn't just join in third year. Lily had done her best to explain, but even she didn't know the truth behind it all.

'Ron, just leave it. Lily clearly doesn't know the full story herself, and you bugging her isn't helping.' Hermione hissed, getting up. 'You two had best hurry and finish eating,' she said to Harry and Ron. 'First lesson starts in twenty minutes, and we have to get down to Hagrid's by then.'

Ron seemed to go into something of a sulk. Lily told him that he needn't be worried, and that he hadn't offended or hurt her in any way. Neville and Ron then got up and followed Hermione out of the Hall, presumably to start off down to Care of Magical Creatures. Lily on the other hand, stayed with Harry until he'd finished eating, and they gathered up their books and equipment and started off together.

It was quite silent for a while between the two. Lily was intent not to seem too shy, but more than anything she wanted to ask Harry so many questions. However, knowing that he had probably had enough questions asked these past couple of years to last him a lifetime, she remained quiet. She let Harry speak first, meeting his eyes as they began to walk through the courtyard.

'This may sound completely mad…' Harry commented, staring at her face. 'But you look a lot like my mother. The picture I have of my mother, at least. You have the same hair, and the same eyes. Your name also had me really confused.'

Lily frowned. 'I look like your mother? And what do you mean, "Your name also had me really confused"?' Harry had watched her intently as she had spoke, and Lily found that she blushed deeply.

'Well, as I've just told you, you look like my mother. But what has stumped me even more is that my mother's name was Lily Evans, and your name is…'

She felt her eyes widen. 'Lily Evans,' she finished his sentence, unable to comprehend what he was saying. She turned to face him directly, almost stopping walking completely. 'But how can that be? Where is your mother now? Perhaps we're distantly related somehow.'

Harry blinked behind his round glasses, and then said with a tone of acceptance, 'She's dead. My father too. It's just me.'

Lily sighed deeply, and for the second time that day found that she was comforting someone due to a grave loss. It seemed as though a lot of people here had lost a parent or two. It made her sad and even more so due to the fact that he couldn't be sure whether she should mourn for her own parents, because she didn't know if they were alive or dead.

Lily folded her arms behind her back as they walked across the grass towards a hut in the distance. 'I've always wanted to meet you,' she commented suddenly. 'My uncle told me a lot about you – said you were the Boy Who Lived, you know – it had me very interested. I thought that I'd have met you two years ago, but I wasn't allowed to come. It's sad, really. I've never had someone to talk to much, and you seem to be very easy to talk to.'

Harry smiled warmly. 'If you knew half the things that had happened to me already you'd be shocked. I was listening earlier, and I can't begin to wonder why you've never been allowed to come to Hogwarts until now. And I understand what you mean. I've never really talked so much to someone I hardly know like this before. It's like I already know you.'

She grinned, happy to find that he felt this strange connection they had. They continued to chat enthusiastically about their lives up until now, and Harry enlightened her about his past two years at Hogwarts, and his meetings with He Who Must Not Be Named.

'Let me get this right – you killed a Basilisk?' Lily asked with eyes wide. 'A real Basilisk? B-but how? It's impossible, isn't it? I read that they kill you by just looking at you.'

Harry shrugged, looking ever-so-slightly smug. 'It was Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. The Pheonix in Dumbledore's office, Fawkes, blinded it. After that, it couldn't kill me instantly. I killed it with the Sword of Godric Gryffindor that is also in Dumbledore's office.'

Lily seemed so stare at him in a completely new light. She would have asked more about this Tom Riddle he spoke of, but she soon realised that they'd arrived at Hagrid's Hut. She glanced about at the rest of the class that assembled, noticing Hermione, Ron and Neville situated nearer to the front. They'd got their Monster Book of Monsters in their hands. Gingerly she opened her small satchel bag and took her own book out.

Of course Remus had explained that you needed to stroke the spine of the book, and she'd been careful to follow these instructions. However, looking about the class she guessed that many other people were not privy to this information, as many of the books were strapped together with belts and rope. Harry copied her, his own book fastened with a thick brown belt. He stayed at her right side. They didn't make to approach their other friends.

'C'mon, now, get a move on! Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comon' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!'

Slowly the crowd followed Hagrid. Lily turned to Harry as they walked, and pointed towards the Monster Book of Monsters in his hands.

'If you stroke the spine, it won't try and bite your hand off you know.' She smiled, and gingerly reached forward to run her hand along the book. It made a purring sort of sound and she removed the brown belt carefully. Harry took it into his second hand, half-impressed as she opened the book and gestured for him to look inside. 'There we go.'

He looked at her through his round glasses, his emerald eyes searching her own. 'Thanks.'

Lily said nothing but her eyes remained looking directly into Harry's. It was only after her own book started to growl uncomfortably in her arms, and she heard someone calling to them in the distance, did she turn. She was greeted by the sight of a red-faced Neville running towards her, his arms flailing out as he jogged.

'Lily,' Neville whispered shyly when he was by her side, and then in more of an annoyed tone he turned to the boy beside her, 'Harry.' There was a pause as Harry turned and met his friend's gaze, and then Neville continued, 'We need to hurry. Everyone's waiting.'

With an uncomfortable smile, Lily nodded and all three of them made their way up to the crowd ahead. She saw people carefully examining their books, and noticed with annoyance that Draco Malfoy jeered over the crowd at Hagrid after he'd asked them to open said books, with the comment, 'How exactly do we do that?'

Hagrid turned on his heel. 'Hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books? Yeh've got to stroke 'em.' He gestured with his head to Lily who was subconsciously stroking the spine of her book so as to calm it down. 'Stroke the spine o' course. Look, see.'

Draco turned and looked at Lily, who kept her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her as she continued to stroke her book. Instead of the scoffing she expected, Malfoy raised an eyebrow and leaned backwards. 'Of course – silly me.'

At that moment Neville bumbled past with his own textbook which he'd apparently attempted to open without stroking the spine. The book snapped and growled, throwing itself at the poor boy. Shreds of paper flew everywhere from within the book as the snaps grew louder. A few of the Slytherin's let out hisses of laughter and most of the others, too. Lily, however, sped forwards to help. Gripping Neville's shoulder, she lunged forward and stroked the book's spine gently. Soon it was calm once more, and limp in Neville's shaking arms.

'You were supposed to stroke it.' Ron chuckled from the right, his face amused.

Lily took a breath, pushing a stray curl of red hair from her face. Neville was blushing again, and he brushed her off and stood up, clearly embarrassed. He almost spoke to her it seemed, but then shook his head and walked off into the crowd in a rush. She was sure that Malfoy was laughing the loudest at that point.

'Come on, Evans. You seriously can't want to mix with these people?'

She favoured him with a firm scowl, and then walked back over to Harry. Together they followed Hagrid for another minute until they approached a small opening in the trees. There was a pen full of creatures that had the bodies, hind legs and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-coloured beaks. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly-looking. Their brilliant, wide orange eyes stalked the class' every movement as they approached.

Ron stepped forward. 'Hagrid – what are they?'

The Professor turned around, and with a grin began to speak, 'Those, Ron, are hippogriffs.' With one step Hagrid was over the fence. 'Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do. Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk towards him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed to touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt.'

Lily peered over Harry's shoulder – he was now standing protectively in front of her – to stare at the twelve creatures approaching them. There was one grey one closer to the front which was clicking its beak furiously, seeming to stare directly into her eyes. She shivered slightly, but found that she ventured a bit further out from behind Harry.

'Who wants to have a go firs', then?' Hagrid asked the class calmly, reaching out to pet the grey hippogriff with his giant hand. 'This one's name is Buckbeak.'

Lily automatically took a step back, as did many others. It seemed that everyone was quite scared like her. She was rather shocked when Harry stepped forward from the crowd. 'I'll do it,' he said bravely, swallowing a sudden lump in his throat. Lily gulped, and watched as Harry climbed the fence with no problem and dropped onto the lush carpet of grass on the other side. She automatically clenched her teeth as she watched him walk forward closer to the first hippogriff that had been staring at her.

'Make yeh bow – that's it.' Hagrid commented as Harry bowed deeply to the creature.

Lily ventured forward a bit more so that she could get a closer look, and watched with a rapidly beating heart as for the briefest moment she thought that this hippogriff wouldn't return the courtesy. However, a few moments revealed that the creature had indeed bowed back. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the class applauding around her, and clapped herself. It wasn't long until Harry was slowly running his hand up and down the animal's sharp beak.

'Right, think I'll let yeh ride him now.' And suddenly Harry had been lifted onto the hippogriff's back. A clap on the back and it was off running. Lily's eyes widened as its magnificent giant wings suddenly spread apart and it soared into the air, slipping past the trees with relative ease. Trying desperately to follow Buckbeak's movements she was unsurprised to see that at a point both the creature with its rider disappeared completely. Worriedly she scanned the skies, and was relieved when she saw the hippogriff touch the ground again five minutes later. Harry slipped off its back and came to lean against the fence. Apart from looking slightly flushed, it looked as though it was an everyday occurrence for him. But Lily supposed riding a hippogriff was nothing compared to the horrors Harry had already endured.

Slowly the rest of the class climbed the fence and teamed up to take turns trying to appease the graceful creatures. Lily slipped over carefully and walked over to Harry.

'You were amazing,' she whispered. 'I wish I were brave enough to do that.'

Harry laughed. 'You're in Gryffindor aren't you? Come on, let me help you. Let's go on that one over there.' He pointed to a dark brown hippogriff which was twitching nervously.

Lily bit her lip and glanced back at Harry. 'I don't know…' she muttered.

The black-haired boy leaned forward and grasped her hand. 'Don't worry – I'll help you through it.' Lily looked up into his familiar emerald eyes, both amazed and captivated. 'C'mon, Lily. You can walk away if you're unsure, I promise.'

She hesitated but finally nodded, and the two of them took off towards the brown hippogriff, leaving Buckbeak in the incapable hands of Draco Malfoy and his fellow Slytherin.

'Like this?' she asked as she bowed as low as possible in front of the creature.

Harry was standing a metre or so to her right, and he nodded. 'Yes; now wait.'

Lily chanced a glance up, and saw that the twitching creature was finally calming down. It stared at her, seeming to carefully examine her and her actions. For a few moments it did nothing but make awkward squawks at them, but then it suddenly dropped its head. She grinned when it clicked its beak at her, informing her that she could come closer. Gingerly she stepped forward and made her way over, Harry whispering for her to approach slowly, which she did. Soon she was running her hands over the hippogriffs brown feathers and gazing into its deep orange eyes. It squawked again and nipped her blouse with its big yellow beak. Startled, she took a quick step back and eyed the creature with worry in her eyes.

'It looks like he likes you,' Harry commented warmly. 'Wonder what this one's called.'

As Lily gazed into the animal's majestic eyes, she knew the answer. 'Stormswift.'

Harry folded his arms. 'Yeah. It suits him.' He glanced behind his shoulder. 'You mind if I go and talk with Hagrid for a bit? He's a good friend of mine, and I wanted to see how his first day is going.'

The girl turned her head and nodded, answering softly. 'Of course. I'll be fine. You go on ahead.'

He seemed to be a little reluctant and hovered at first, but Lily had soon shooed him away. She continued to stroke Stormswift contentedly, and glanced from left to right to take in her surroundings. To her right she could see two Slytherins she did not know trying their luck with a darker grey hippogriff. The creature had allowed the first boy to come close enough to stroke it, but the second was having trouble earning the animal's approval. Glancing to her left Lily saw Neville bowing cautiously to a similar looking hippogriff to hers, but it didn't seem to want to bow back. Lily giggled as she watched the boy go up and down as he kept trying to repeatedly bow, and stepped backwards and forwards a few times. It didn't seem to be working, and this brought on even more amusement for Lily. However, at one point she saw that a few of the Slytherins were jeering at Neville, and she left Stormswift's side, the hippogriff itself whining behind, and rushed to her newly-found friend's aid.

'You leave him alone! He's done a lot more than any of you can do. You probably aren't even brave enough to try and bow to one, never mind keep trying like Neville!'

There were some muffled laughs, and then the crowd parted to let someone through. The boy that emerged had eyebrows that were raised and a face that was pulled into a sneer. 'Oh really, Evans?'

Lily narrowed her eyes at Draco, and nodded silently. 'Yes. I haven't seen a single of you Slytherin – beside the two down there – even walk near one of these hippogriffs! I say you're a bunch of cowards.'

No one uttered a word, and Lily took this as a chance to turn back to Neville. Walking back over to the boy she led him away by the arm, and once stationed by the fence and turned from the Slytherins, placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. 'Don't take any notice, Neville; you were brilliant. I was watching you, and I'm sure that you were just dealing with one of the stubborn hippogriffs. You should have a go with my Stormswift – I'm sure he'd bow to you in no time.'

Neville seemed to brighten up, and faint colour rose to his cheeks like usual when he spoke to her. 'You really think so? Thanks, Lily!'

She smiled, and opened her mouth to reply when a loud screech cut through the air. Lily span, quite shocked, so see one Draco Malfoy lying on the ground clutching his arm. There was a bit of blood oozing from the place where he clutched, and it turned her stomach over. There was one Slytherin girl – she recognised her as the black-haired girl who was at breakfast – that was crying out for someone to help him, and seemed very distressed indeed. Lily's reaction was to rush forwards to help, but she soon realised that it was still dangerous to go near. The hippogriff Buckbeak was on its hind legs, kicking out with its sharp talons still. Only when Hagrid rushed across and calmed it down did it stop and turn away. But the damage had already been done. Worriedly Lily sped across the clearly and dropped to her knees beside Draco, who was whining and on the edge of tears, it seemed.

'Draco! Draco, are you alright?' Lily asked quickly, her eyes scanning over his wounded arm. She tried to move his hand so that could take a closer look, but he was clutching it furiously, his face scrunched up in obvious pain. 'Can you move?'

The silver-blond haired boy moaned in reply, but opened one eye. 'Evans?' he asked, his tone half-amused suddenly at the reality that she had come to his aid. 'I don't think I can move my arm. It hurts…' he winced.

Hagrid was by their side now, and Harry, Hermione and Ron were looking on. The giant man stooped down, and stared at Draco's injured arm as though the world itself was at an end. 'We need ter get yeh back up t' the castle.' He whispered, his voice almost cracking as he spoke. Clearly he was very upset at the prospect of being fired on the first day of his new job.

Lily nodded, and looped her arm around Draco's uninjured arm, her other wrapping somewhat awkwardly around his chest so as to keep a firm grip as she helped him stand up. When she'd managed to get the boy onto his feet she glanced around and instantly blushed when she saw several sets of eyes curiously watching her, each portraying completely different emotions. Firstly, Neville; his blue eyes were widened enviously, but suddenly sharp and narrow such as the ones he'd revealed earlier after he'd come over to her and Harry. Then it was Harry. His emerald eyes had taken on a furious glint, his face flushed with pure rage. Beside him were Hermione and Ron. They were both expressing the same emotion: shock. Clearly they hadn't expected her to help Malfoy at all. She also saw a few of the Slytherins, namely the black-haired girl with eyes as wide as they came. Overall, Lily guessed that the prospect of a Gryffindor so much as offering a Slytherin help – especially Malfoy – was unheard off, or rarely practiced.

'Uh – can someone help?' Lily managed to ask, for she was struggling to hold Malfoy's full weight by herself. The boy was whining again, but this time he seemed to be making sure that he was as close as would allow; his face was now almost buried into her neck, and his good arm was tight around hers. She struggled slightly, and was relieved to see that Neville gripped the other side of Malfoy and pulled him off.

'Thank you!' Lily squeaked, almost breathless.

Together, she and Neville helped Malfoy back up to the castle. They guided him all the way to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey told them to lay him down on one of the beds. No sooner had they done this than the bell rung for second lesson. Lily was a little reluctant to leave Draco's side. She didn't like him, but she hated when people were hurt. Seeing him in as much pain as he seemed to be in made her sad, even if they didn't get along. It was her nature to worry for people, and to care for people. Remus always said she was too kind, but she just thought that was the only way to go. She couldn't be unnecessarily horrible, or uncaring. It just wasn't her.

Seeing the scratch running down Draco's arm caused her to cover her mouth for fear of vomiting – she dearly hated blood. The thought that the hippogriff had done this to him sent a shiver down her spine, and she felt that she wouldn't be able to confront even Stormswift for quite some time. Lily just hoped that Hagrid didn't make them deal with hippogriffs next lesson, after what had happened. She'd had no idea how dangerous they were!

'Lily, we need to get going! Professor Trelawney's classroom is in the North Tower. We're going to be late for Divination!' Neville bumbled, motioning towards the door.

Nodding, Lily walked over to him. With a last glance back at the near unconscious Draco, she clutched Neville's hand and sped through the hospital wing's doors and down the steps that led back into the courtyard. They didn't stop running until they neared the North Tower, and this was a great feat, especially for them. Neither was particularly athletic, and by the time they were walking again they were both breathing heavily, Neville particularly red in the face. Lily breathed a tired sigh when she looked up at the Divination Stairwell they would have to climb to get to the top of the tower. She looked at Neville. He was staring up the staircase with an exasperated expression on his face.

'You'll be carrying me back to the hospital wing unconscious with exhaustion before I make it up there!' Neville exclaimed.

Lily giggled softly, and gripped his hand again. 'Come on! We're late, Neville.'

Hand-in-hand they sped up the stairwell. At one point Lily almost flew forwards after her foot got caught on one of the steps. Neville, having a firm grip on her hand, steadied her quickly, but not before she turned and almost slammed completely into him. She pushed herself back with hands on his arms.

'Oh dear – I'm sorry! I'm so clumsy...'

Neville smiled, seeming much more at ease in her company than before. 'It's alright. I don't think you are – we're both just tired. But we're almost there now! Look, you can see the attic trapdoor from here!' He pointed up, and Lily's eyes followed where his finger was pointing to.

'It's about time, too!' Lily breathed, rubbing her forehead.

Finally the two were at the top. They both glanced wearily up at the closed trap door. For a moment there was silence, and then Neville seemed to voice exactly what she was thinking.

'How do we get up exactly?'

She bit her lip. 'I'm not sure.'

At that precise moment the attic trap door opened and a ladder of stairs stooped down to their level. Lily watched it until it was at a complete standstill and glanced up to see if anyone was there to push it down. However, there was nobody there, and Lily guessed that it must be a magical stepladder of some sorts. Precariously she put her first foot on the first of the wooden steps, and began to climb up with Neville following. Crawling into the Divination room almost completely on hands and knees, she glanced about. The room was circular and misty, and likewise circle tables littered it. Two people were seated to a table, and Lily could see stacks of teacups in the topmost corner. At the very front was a smaller desk, a patterned pink cup resting on top with a matching teapot to its direct left. Steam was rising slowly from its spout. Most of the small cushioned seats were taken now, but Lily spied Harry sitting near to the front alone. It seemed that he'd saved her a seat opposite him.

She turned to Neville, apologetic. 'It looks as though Harry's saved me a seat. Are you alright to find one yourself?' Lily almost blushed in guilt. Neville had thought to help and stay with her, but she would not abandon him. She felt ashamed.

Neville looked a bit downcast, but nodded regardless. 'Yes, that's fine. Dean's over there – I'll just…' he made to walk off, but then turned back after a second, brow creased. 'I'll see you outside?' Even as he said it she saw the familiar redness that crept onto his cheeks so regularly.

Lily smiled softly. 'Of course – I wouldn't have it any other way.' After a short wave she walked over to Harry's table, dumping her satchel bag on the ground.

'You alright? You look a bit worn out.' Harry whispered as she down opposite him.

She almost laughed aloud. 'You can say that again! How far up is this place? I thought Neville and I were never going to get here.' Looking directly into those dazzling emerald eyes she sighed, and knowing what Harry was leaning towards asking, spoke before he could. 'Draco's unconscious, it seems. You know he and I don't particularly see eye-to-eye, but I feel really quite sorry for him – not to mention scared! I hope we don't have to deal with those hippogriffs again next lesson. Who knew they could lash out like that?'

Harry scoffed. 'He's putting it on, believe me. Did you see how pleased he looked when he saw that you were helping him? I'd bet he only was trying his luck because he wanted to show off whilst you were around, and it backfired. And did you hear what he said to Buckbeak? "I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you? Are you, you great ugly brute?" Hagrid said the worst thing you can do is insult them. It serves Malfoy right, in my opinion. I'm just worried about Hagrid's job. What if they sack him?'

Lily rested her right elbow on the wooden table which had a white tablecloth covering it, and blew a strand of red hair from her eyes. 'I don't know…' she whispered. 'Draco looked like he was in a lot of pain, if you ask me. And I'm sure he didn't mean to say it, he was probably just a bit annoyed that he was struggling.'

The boy in front of her was staring at her, an impatient expression on his face. 'He wasn't struggling! He was stroking Buckbeak and was saying, "This is very easy. I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it…"'

Struggling for any excuse to put forward, Lily muttered, 'Well, suppose he was trying to show-off – does it really matter? A creature shouldn't just lash out like that after a little insult. They're too dangerous to be in a lesson, if you ask me.'

Harry seemed to stare at her with intensity, his eyes portraying showing no emotion, his face slightly scrunched up as if angry. 'Are you trying to say that you think it's Hagrid's fault that Buckbeak attacked Malfoy?'

She blew out her cheeks, and settled back into her chair a bit more comfortably. She didn't want to have an argument with Harry, and she most certainly wasn't trying to say anything against Hagrid… 'I never said that, I just was pointing out that –'

But before Lily could finish her sentence, a wise whimsical sounding voice rang out across the classroom, 'Welcome to Divination. My name is Professor Trelawney.' After this she appeared from the shadows it seemed and made her way towards her little desk. 'So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far on this field…' There a quiet little chuckle behind them. Lily turned and saw Ron looking at Hermione, who looked well and truly shocked. Turning back to face Harry, she was unsurprised to see that his face was like thunder, and that he was staring at her not seeming to comprehend any of what Professor Trelawney was saying.

Lily leaned forward, lowering her voice to a whisper. 'That's not what I meant. I'm sorry… I didn't mean to upset you, I was just concerned… I don't like people getting hurt… Please, Harry… I'm sorry.'

Harry turned his head away, but she could make out the faintest of smiles on his lips. He may have replied if it weren't for Professor Trelawney swooping down to their height. Lily jumped backwards into her seat, her eyes meeting the woman's wide ones.

'I fear that the balance is upset here. Fear not, dear.' She took one of Lily's hands and patted it sympathetically. 'He'll forgive you.'

Eyes widening, Lily pulled her hand back. She was unaware that she had gone quite red-faced, but let her hair drop in front of her face subconsciously. 'I hope that he will,' she managed to whisper, biting her lip.

Harry spoke up at this point. 'There's nothing to forgive.'

Professor Trelawney clapped her hands and before speeding away said, 'Ah, good indeed! Well, let's see… what else do I have to say now?'

Lily barely noticed that the woman went on the explain about the tea leave reading they'd be doing, and then gazing into crystal balls – she was too focused on Harry, a wide smile on her face. When he met her gaze once more she mouthed a simple: 'Thank you.'

Professor Trelawney then seemed to make a few more predictions, one of which saw that Neville's grandmother wasn't well. Neville seemed to pale at this, and seemed to lose himself for quite a while afterward, until he was brought back to reality by Dean hissing at him.

'Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink; drink until only the dregs remain. Swirl these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside-down on its saucer; wait for the last of the tea to drain away, and then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing.'

Gently Lily rose to her feet and took off to fetch two teacups. Passing one to Harry, they'd soon had it filled by Professor Trelawney and were sitting back down again. She drunk hers relatively quickly, feeling the scalding tea burn her throat and tongue. Unhappily she swirled the dregs as instructed and turned the cup over. Looking up she saw that Harry had been copying all that she was doing – he seemed to have forgotten to listen earlier on. When all the tea was drained they exchanged cups. Lily leaned down and picked her Unfogging the Future from within her satchel and opened it on the specified pages. Glancing into Harry's cup, she tried to decipher anything she could see.

'So, let's see…' she whispered, following a piece of text with her finger. '"The skull, one of the less pleasant of omens in this world, is one that foresees danger of some sort in one's path. Shapes can vary in size and length depending on the severity of this danger. For any extra detail see back of the book, page two-hundred and seventy-four."' Lily glanced up at Harry, who was watching her with a raised eyebrow. She glanced back into the cup. 'That one there looks like a thick line to be perfectly honest. Is there anything in here –?'

Harry nodded and reached across, pointing at a line. 'This one, I think.'

Lily read the sentence, looked back into the cup and nodded slowly. 'Yes, I think you're right – "The club is an omen that foresees the base of an attack that is soon to occur on the said person. This attack can be about any sort of thing and can happen in various ways. This omen is widely related with numerous other omens, many of which are stated on this page. For more information and pictures, see page two-hundred and sixty-seven."'

Aware that Harry was simply watching her read, Lily consciously looked up and raised an eyebrow. 'Aren't you going to try and read mine?'

Harry clutched her cup in his hand and stared into it. At length he flicked his book open. 'This bit just looks like a circle of some sorts, but it could be any of these…' He pointed at several circular diagrams, each of which had different descriptions. 'And this bit here looks like some sort of triangle attached to a blob, and I can't see anything that looks like that.'

Lily, who was watching him try and decipher her cup, burst into fits of giggles. Clearly, Harry really didn't possess what Professor Trelawney liked to call "the Sight". As if her mind had been read, the woman with thick glasses appeared beside them, and asked Lily to describe Harry's cup. She told her the best of what she'd already come up with, and for the most part the woman seemed mildly impressed.

'Very good, dear. Pass me the cup now.'

The younger girl passed her the porcelain cup quickly, and the Professor started to glance in, twisting it every so often to view at it from a different angle.

'The falcon… my dear, you have a deadly enemy. And indeed, the club, which as you rightly said girl, means an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup. The skull too – well done indeed! Danger in your path, my dear …' All the time she seemed to be pointed in Lily's direction, but was clearly half talking to Harry as she read out his omens. Then suddenly the woman dropped the cup, her scream cutting across the classroom. Harry quickly caught it, and managed to get a glimpse into himself before Professor Trelawney whispered, 'My dear… you have the Grim.'

Lily didn't quite understand, though skipping through a few pages in her new books she'd come across the term. A few people in the room seemed just as confused as her, and one or two people even expressed it. 'The Grim?' Dean asked suddenly, frowning.

Looking at the page of her book, she scanned the words. A passage stuck out: "The Grim – a giant spectral dog that haunts churchyards – is one of the darkest of omens in this world, the omen of death. A word of caution is advised for any who have glimpsed it, for many witches and wizards who have seen this dark omen have later been found dead." As she read she heard Professor Trelawney explain, much to the class' shock. Harry looked quite uncomfortable, as if he had half-expected something like this to happen. Lily herself did not know what to think. Surely not? It couldn't be true, could it? Gazing over into Harry's cup, she wasn't so sure.

Soon Professor Trelawney seemed to have calmed down, and the rest of class too. The woman turned and picked up the cup Harry had been holding previously – Lily's cup – and gazed into it. With a fast beating heart, Lily leaned forward to listen to what would be said. What would be predicted for her? She didn't know if she wanted to find out.

'Ah, interesting… very interesting indeed! A wilting flower, signifying depression or worry… you will not be having a very good time, my dear. Now, look here; the moon – loneliness. Perhaps that will be the cause of your depression! Hmm!' She turned the cup clockwise and then exclaimed aloud. 'Oh, indeed…? The wolf, my dear – a hunt. And lastly, it seems, the clawed hand… an agonising wound. These are not very happy cups at all, my dears! How unfortunate indeed.'

Lily hadn't really noticed anything Professor Trelawney had said. After the words 'moon', 'wolf' and 'clawed hand' had been mentioned, she'd switched off. Now she was in a state of pure panic, her hands shaking violently as she clutched onto the wooden arm rests of her chair.