Chapter 4 - Deep Thoughts, Puzzling Potions and Bothersome Boggarts

Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk carefully examining an article in the Daily Prophet whilst sucking one of his favourite sweets, sherbet lemon, when there was a rapid tap at his study door. Glancing up through his half-moon spectacles, Dumbledore took in the site of Severus Snape as he entered. Despite it being only the first day back, the Potions Master's hair was greasier than ever before, and his coal black eyes seemed to have taken on a serious glint.

There was a momentary silence, before Dumbledore said softly, 'Is there something you wished to speak about, Severus?'

Severus Snape walked up the steps slowly, his eyes fixed on the headmaster's. 'Who is she?'

Dumbledore took to his feet and walked over to the little perch where Fawkes, his Pheonix, sat comfortably. Stroking the bird softly, he replied: 'I am sure I don't know who you mean, Severus.' However, there was a glint in the old man's eye, for he knew exactly who his old colleague was talking about. He was merely feigning ignorance.

Apparently, the Potions Master knew this, and narrowed his eyes. 'I think you know of whom I speak, Albus.' There was a tone of impatience in his voice now, and annoyance.

Dumbledore walked past Severus and down the steps, glancing up at the many portraits that hung on the walls around him. 'I am quite sure that I do not,' he replied simply.

The younger of the professors had his eyes boring into Dumbledore's back like daggers. Finally, at length, Severus Snape spoke once more, this time as if it was difficult for him to utter such words. 'The girl that is a perfect copy, name and all, of Lily Evans. Who is she?' he repeated his first question softly this time, eyes drawn to the stone cold floor beneath their feet.

Sighing, the headmaster turned his head minutely to face the other man. 'I thought you may have guessed, Severus. She is the only daughter of Lily Evans and James Potter.'

There was silence as the words were digested, interrupted only by the Potion Master's sharp response. 'They only had one child – the boy – there was no time for them to have a second before –' he trailed off, aware that the whole situation was making his aching pain inside worse.

Dumbledore looked up at Severus from where he stood with eyes full of sympathy. 'Indeed; Lily and James were only alive for a year after Harry was born – too short of a time to think of having another child. Why then, Severus, does the girl exist? Do you not know?'

As Severus thought his eyes widened, and he spun to face the old man. 'A twin?' he whispered. 'Is it possible? Why did you never speak of this?'

Once again a small smile came to Dumbledore's lips, and he shrugged his shoulders very softly. 'I allowed Lily Potter to grow up far from here unknown to the muggle and wizarding world alike. She was not famous as our Mr Potter was. Lily could grow up this way, and not have to face all the questions over the years as she grew up. I did not want that for her.'

Severus shook his head, his hand flying up to put a pause in Dumbledore's reply. 'Why did you not tell me? Surely –'

'No, Severus. It is not something I had thought you should know. After all, she amazingly is an exact copy of Lily Evans. After what you'd been through already, how could I ask you to meet her? It would not have been easy for you, and certainly not for Lily to understand. I was worried that you would believe her to be your Lily Evans, Severus, and believe me she is not.'

The Potions Master's eyes widened again, wider than before this time, and he replied rather angrily: 'You believed that I would mistake her for Lily – my Lily –?' It was nothing more than a whisper, but it was all that was needed to know how upset the man was. 'She is not Lily, despite her appearance. She is a Potter – the daughter of that…' he trailed off, anger sparking in his eyes. Suddenly he realised something that he should have before, and he shot up to face Dumbledore once more. 'Then why is her name Evans? Why is she not named after Potter?'

Dumbledore smiled. 'Again the same reasons, Severus. If her surname was Potter, would you think that she would ever be left alone? Everyone would know her secret. And think of Harry. All this time he has grown up alone, and to find out so suddenly that he has a sister? It would have been unfair on both of them. No, I plan for them to be told more subtly and perhaps have Lily and Harry work it out for themselves.'

Severus thought about arguing but decided against it, and then dropped his head defeated. 'What am I to do?'

Despite the question being quite unexplained, Dumbledore walked back up the steps and took a seat. 'Treat her as you would any other student. I am sure that one day she will come to know the complete truth about you, Severus. But not now.'

'I don't want her to know – neither of them to know –'

Dumbledore shook his head. 'Whether you want to tell her or not is irrelevant. She will discover your past regardless of your decision to hide it from her.'

Suddenly a loud bell sounded down the corridor which revealed that it was now lunch. Severus had decided to visit Dumbledore during third period, a time in which he had not been teaching any class. However, just after this short break he would have the third year Gryffindor and Slytherin for Potions, and that was why he had come for advice.

It had been difficult watching an exact copy of his best friend Lily Evans walking around the school… as if it were her… as if Lily were alive. And just that very morning when she'd run into him and Lupin having a heated discussion about his werewolf issues she'd met his gaze for no more than a few moments. Yet her green eyes – Lily's eyes – had burned into his, and he'd felt like he could burst into tears. What made it worse was that she had the same red fiery hair, and the same pale porcelain skin. And, of course, there had been the Malfoy boy who had swaggered around the corner, taunting her and had even mentioned that dreadful word – Severus couldn't even bring himself to think it – it all brought back so many painful memories. It had taken all his strength to just take a few points from Gryffindor after he'd heard the girl whisper under her breath, and it was something he hadn't wanted to do.

As he left Dumbledore's study he could only think about how he was to avoid such painful moments, and that would be to ignore the girl completely, or at least do has Dumbledore had advised. Treat her as you would any other student. And as Severus stormed down the corridor, several younger students jumping aside to let him past, he knew that that was what he had to do.

Lily was walking out of Transfiguration with Harry. They'd spent over fifty minutes of the previous lesson in an attempt to turn their owls into lamps effectively, and the most she'd managed to do was create a wooden lamp base and a shade of golden feathers. This was a bit more than Harry, who'd managed only to create the base of a lamp, which would have been the clearest white she had ever seen, if it had not also possessed an owl's eyes on the front. Professor McGonagall had walked past with a sigh of disappointment, but did stop to help them on their second attempts, which hadn't been any more successful than the first.

Neville was standing rather awkwardly outside and hurried up to them when he saw them exit the classroom. 'Lily! Hey – excuse me – Lily, wait!'

She stopped and turned, waving her hand as the boy approached. 'Neville,' she acknowledged. 'How are you?'

He smiled. 'Great, thanks. I was just wondering – that is to say that you aren't already going down with someone – if you would maybe like to walk down to the Great Hall with me?'

Lily stopped. It was quite a strange feeling having boys talk to her like this. She'd only ever met one boy in her life whilst she'd stayed at Remus' home – a young muggle farm boy from a few miles away in another field – and even then she'd only spoke a few words, and he hadn't seemed really interested. Neville seemed keen on her, she supposed. But obviously he was a very friendly boy, but shy too.

'Well, I'd love to.' Lily stopped and turned to Harry, who was chatting animatedly with Hermione and Ron about their failure in Transfiguration, and about something else which she couldn't really hear. She turned back to Neville. 'I thought that maybe Harry would like to walk down with us too, but he's got Hermione and Ron I suppose.'

Neville smiled. 'I'm sure he'll meet us down there. Come on, let's go!'

A little reluctantly Lily raced him through the corridors, her red hair billowing like a cape behind her. They rushed past a number of fourth years who laughed a bit at Neville's attempt at a run, which was really just him throwing his arms back and forth whilst his legs skidded across the ground dangerously. Lily attempted to keep her steps short and delicate, so that she didn't make much of a sound on the stone flooring as she swept past. As they ran she took her time to examine some of the classrooms and some of the people around her.

It wasn't long until they were nearing the Great Hall, and Lily almost slammed into Neville's back as he drew to a sudden halt. She caught herself just, not wanting a repeat of the Divination Stairwell, and turned to the giant wooden doors to her left. Inside she could see that the four house tables were slowly filling up, with some of the teachers in their seats due to it being lunch. With a quick glance at Neville they walked inside, and had soon taken their seats on the Gryffindor table, sitting next to eachother.

Neville took out a small pouch of what appeared to be tiny seeds, and began to examine them. Lily guessed that it was something to do with Herbology, and glanced down at her own satchel bag. She reached down and removed her potions book, which she had still not replaced regardless of Remus' warnings to her about Professor Snape. Opening it up slowly, she examined the damage inflicted and realised that only a few of the pages' writing had run. She let her fingers trail over the stiff dry pages.

'Snape won't be happy about that. Do you want to borrow my book and copy it up?' Neville suddenly said. Lily spun; she was shocked to see that he'd stopped looking at the seeds and was staring at her potions book, eyes wide.

Lily was amazed that he'd offered so willingly. After all, she hardly knew him really. 'Oh, yes please!' She watched Neville take his potions book, and he handed it to her quickly. 'Thank you so much. I thought that I'd be in so much trouble, but I think I should be able to copy it down on time.'

Neville smiled warmly. 'That's lucky. How much have you got to copy? I was wondering if you'd like to sit beside me in Potions too. There's a spare seat beside me – Hermione sits to my left, you could take the right. That's if you don't mind, of course.'

'Yes, that would be great.' Lily said honestly, though she felt a bit let down that she wouldn't be able to sit next to Harry. 'I only have about seven or so pages to copy down, by the way. You do think I'll have enough time, don't you? How long will this break be?'

Glancing down at the small watch on his wrist, Neville replied. 'We've got about one and a half hours of break and lunchtime. Will that be enough? Do you write fast enough?'

Lily nodded enthusiastically. 'Yes, that should be plenty of time.' With that she took her feathered quill from her bag and some ink, and began to copy down all the words that had run. As she read some of the instructions from Neville's potions book she remembered faintly that she'd changed some of the ingredients' numbers in her own. During her experiments she'd found that certain numbers of ingredients worked better than what the book said, and had decided to cross it out and write them in. She'd also made note of certain things to do with the potions up and down the sides where there was spare space. She hoped that Professor Snape didn't notice, and didn't take fault with her over it. She did enjoy making potions only due to her experimenting nature, and liked to think that her corrections just made the book she was using more useful.

Soon Lily had copied about three pages. Harry, Ron and Hermione had joined them, Harry not looking too impressed when he saw that she was still sitting beside Neville. The three friends sat across from the two, Hermione taking out her own potions book and examining it with her full attention. Harry and Ron started having a conversation about the Malfoy and Buckbeak incident. Across the way Draco was in fact sitting on the Slytherin table, his arm bandaged and strapped around his neck to keep it up. He seemed to be telling all the Slytherin around him about how much it hurt, and saying that he may have even lost his arm, which Lily very much doubted. He had made such a rapid recovery that Lily began to wonder if Harry was right – perhaps Draco was just trying to get Hagrid dismissed from his new post as a teacher.

When Lily was finally copying up her last page, Harry leaned across the table towards her, his voice lowering to a quiet whisper. 'Would you like to sit next to me in Potions? There's a spare seat beside Ron, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind moving up.'

Lily, who now felt incredibly awkward, replied. 'I'm sorry, Harry. I promised Neville I would sit next to him in Potions so I that could help him. But I honestly would if I hadn't already promised…'

Harry's face reddened, but not with embarrassment; his face was red with annoyance and more notably, disappointment. 'No, no. That's fine. What about Defence Against the Dark Arts?'

She smiled. 'Yes, of course.' Lily was now looking forward to that lesson very much. She would not only get to sit by Harry, but her teacher would be Remus as well. She knew she'd probably enjoy Defence Against the Dark Arts the most and that would be because she'd feel most comfortable there. Meeting new people and teachers was wonderful, but she couldn't help but feel like seeing Remus again after they'd spent basically her whole childhood together.

The bell for the end of lunch rung just after she'd finished copying her book up. Lily snatched up a biscuit or two and headed of for the dungeons with the rest of her classmates. Neville already looked nervous despite them not even entering the classroom yet, and this made Lily quite nervous too. From what she'd seen so far, Professor Snape certainly wasn't a nice person. He'd docked five points from Gryffindor already just for her making a comment which was true, and he shouldn't have heard.

It was apparent when they reached the dungeons – it was suddenly much colder than usual. Lily was surprised that the Slytherin had their common room down here, it was so horrible. Harry and Ron started joking about the place a bit, and more notably about Professor Snape for some unknown reason. Lily decided that she wasn't going to take an instant dislike to anyone, and was actually going to try her best to get along with both Draco and Snape.

Reaching the Potions Classroom, Lily was struck by the size of it. It was large, rectangular, and full of square wooden benches and chairs. The tables were lined with different jugs, bowls, cauldrons and mixing spoons, as well as small lit fires to use. In the corner of the room she saw hundreds of cupboards, full of ingredients she presumed, and spare equipment that anyone should need. Overall it was quite a spectacular sight to behold. This was certainly a place she could see herself experimenting with different potions, but she could definitely see it as a more comfortable room with a little more heat and light to go around.

Following Neville she was directed to a seat on his right, which was on the end of the row, almost directly in the middle of the classroom and at the front. If she'd wanted to avoid being seen by Professor Snape, she'd most certainly failed. There was absolutely no way that he would miss her bushes of red hair at the front.

'Quite cosy, isn't it?' Neville whispered sarcastically.

Lily grinned. 'Very homely indeed.'

For about five minutes there was only silence, and then the door of the room swung open with a loud crash, and everyone turned to face the person who entered. Lily, who had been scared by the suddenness of the noise, looked up through her curtains of hair shyly. Professor Snape stalked past, his black cape billowing behind him like a huge black bat. He didn't spare her a glance thankfully, and Lily let her gaze fall back down to her potions book which was now on the bench table in front of her.

'Today you shall be attempting to make a Shrinking Solution, recipes for which should be on page one-hundred and sixty-four. You may begin now, and I shall expect your finished potions to be presented to me in precisely fifty minutes.'

Lily remembered brewing this potion several times at home when she'd asking Remus to find her some of the ingredients so that she could experiment and try to make it. The last time she'd made it, it had taken only a total of only twenty minutes for her to prepare everything and mix it all together. Encouraged by this fact she walked over to the cupboards of ingredients where everyone else was headed, and found everything that she would need relatively easily. Returning to her desk, she picked up her minced daisy roots and delicately but swiftly began to slice them up into identical strips. Slowly she dropped several of these into her potion, which had started to bubble at the addition of the roots. Next she picked up her Shrivelfig and peeled it, discarding the skin onto the bench for the time being. She added this to her potion and watched it bubble slightly more vigorously, the colour changing to a very light green. Mixing with her spoon whilst she checked her instructions, she picked up a disgusting rat spleen and dropped it into the potion, watching the blood vanish instantly. The colour became greener. Lily quickly tipped just a few droplets of leech juice into her potion, followed by three sliced caterpillars, and watched her potion turn an acid green colour. With a smile on her face she realised she'd already finished, and looking at Neville's small watch, realised that it had only been ten minutes since they'd began. Though quite proud, Lily was now aware that she had nothing to do for the remaining forty minutes but make sure that Neville's potion didn't blow up. Knowing this would surely draw attention to her, she turned to her friend.

'Do you need help yet? I'm finished.' She whispered.

Neville looked at her with wide eyes and then back down at his potion, which had now turned a bright shade of orange. 'Definitely,' he hissed. 'How did you do that so fast?'

With a grin, Lily picked up some of his sliced caterpillars and added them to the mixture, gratified when the potion began to turn green. 'It's a secret.'

Her potion had been simmering for ten minutes when she heard Malfoy's voice call across the classroom. 'Sir,' Draco called, 'sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm –'

'Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him,' said Snape, without looking up.

Seeing Ron get very angry, Lily watched as his face turned a brick red. He turned to Malfoy and hissed at him, and Malfoy very loudly replied, 'Weasley, you heard what Professor Snape said, cut up these roots.'

Lily, who couldn't help but feel that she could help now that she was finished, which would allow Ron himself to complete the work, turned back to the front. In her bravest voice, which came out almost as a tiny whisper, she said, 'I can help him, Professor. I'm finished anyway.'

Professor Snape, who had not looked up until that moment, met her gaze evenly. 'Miss Evans, it has only been twenty minutes. No one in this room has even cut up all their daisy roots yet, perhaps you'd like to enlighten me on how you have supposedly completely finished?'

She looked down at her table, her long hair falling in front of her face. 'I just thought I could help Draco, sir.'

The Potions Master seemed to stare at her with a somewhat stunned expression on his face, mouthed a few undistinguishable words, and then said plainly: 'Very well. Weasley, carry on as you were. Malfoy, Miss Evans will help you cut up your daisy roots.'

Lily stood up and made her way over to Malfoy's desk. She picked up some of his roots and started to slice them carefully, making sure they were all cut to the same length just as hers had been. When she'd done about ten she stopped and pushed them over to Draco, who picked them up and dropped them into his potion.

'Not so bad, Evans,' he said with raised eyebrows.

Despite feeling quite annoyed about the idea that this boy may have been trying to get Hagrid fired, she felt herself turn crimson. 'Oh – you're welcome.'

She then helped him skin his Shrivelfig, overhearing Dean Thomas mention something about their being a sighting of Sirius Black near Hogwarts. 'He wasn't too far from here, I heard. 'Course the muggles don't understand – think he's just a normal criminal, don't they? So she picked up the phone to ring and by the time the Ministry had got there, he was gone.'

Lily didn't really know anything of Sirius Black, and was only remotely interested when Malfoy leaned forward and said, 'Of course, if it was me, I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy; I'd be out there looking for him.'

Ron turned his head sharply. 'What are you talking about, Malfoy?'

'Don't you know, Potter?' Malfoy breathed.

Harry tilted his head, eyes flitting from Lily back to Draco. 'Know what?'

Draco let out a sneer. 'You probably want to leave it to the Dementors, don't you? But if it were me I'd want revenge. I'd want to hunt him down myself.'

'What are you on about?' Harry said angrily, but Snape was already coming around the class to check people's potions calling, 'You should now have finished adding your ingredients to your potions. Clear away whilst they simmer, and we'll test out Longbottom's...'

Neville, who was sat at the front seeming to hiss at Hermione, who herself looked rather flustered, paled as Snape uttered the words. Lily bit her lip and quickly left Draco's side, speeding over to her friend's aid. Neville barely noticed when she reached his side. Staring into the light lilac substance, Lily quickly threw some spare roots and more leech juice into the potion and stirred it, breathing deeply when she saw that it was once again turning green.

'Thank you, thank you!' Neville breathed.

Lily leaned back, picking up her unused ingredients and packing away. Neville did the same. However, Hermione was still tossing things into her potion when Snape walked over and said, 'Granger, didn't I just tell you to pack away? Did you not hear me?' The bushy-haired girl went scarlet and quickly picked up her things. Lily was quite pleased when she saw that Hermione's potion was only light green, and not exactly the same colour as hers.

When everything was clean and packed away, they each went to stand by their potions. Professor Snape made his way around the classroom, stopping when he reached Neville's cauldron. Lily brushed a piece of her hair away with her hand, putting it behind her ear. The motion seemed to catch the Potion Master's attention, but he said nothing as he took Neville's toad, Trevor. A moment later he had dropped a few of Neville's now green potion into the toad's mouth. There was silence until suddenly, with a short pop, Trevor was nothing but a small tadpole jumping on Snape's palm. Snape looked mildly annoyed before he poured a second substance over Trevor, after which the large toad reappeared. Neville took the toad back, shaking like a lily. She watched her friend pat Trevor once on the head before he slid him into his pocket. There was a small croak as the toad completely disappeared.

'Incredibly, Miss Evans, it appears you have created a near perfect potion.' Snape's amused voice brought Lily back to reality and she spun to face the front.

She murmured, 'Thank you, sir.'

At first she thought that the Potions Master would merely walk away, but it seemed that he was staring into her eyes. Awkwardly and ignorantly, Lily stared into her potion and ignored him. There was a moment that passed and a lock of her red hair fell in front of her eyes. With a dash of red to her cheeks she brushed it back.

'Ten points to Gryffindor, Miss Evans. Class dismissed.'

There were murmurings as the class packed up their things and left. Lily quickly chucked her potions book into her satchel bag and sped from the room. Neville wasn't far behind her and by the time they were outside, he was staring at her.

'How did you manage that?' he asked, amazed.

She shook her head. 'What do you mean?'

Neville motioned to the potions room behind him with a jerk of the thumb. 'I don't think Snape has ever given Gryffindor points – not ever!'

Lily was quite shocked to hear this, but very quietly replied, 'Oh, I'm sure he has.'

When Harry came out of the classroom with Ron, they stopped next to her and Neville. Ron seemed calmer now, his face a normal colour. Harry looked rather annoyed clearly, whether that was due to Draco or Snape, she did not know.

Ron addressed her with an impressed tone. 'Hey, well done with the potion. I don't think Snape's ever given us points – not even to Hermione!'

At that precise moment, Hermione came out of the Potions classroom with a scowl on her face. When she heard Ron's comment her face scrunched up and she let out a sigh of frustration, speeding off out of the dungeon. Lily bit her lip, and then glanced back at Ron, who looked rather confused by it all.

Harry shrugged. 'She's mad because you're better at Potions than she is.'

With a small squeak, Lily shook her head. 'I didn't think I'd finish so quickly!' It was a lie, but she really wanted to keep Hermione's friendship. 'I do love Potions.'

The red-haired boy grinned. 'It's not your fault if she can't get a grip. She can't be the best at everything.'

Harry nodded. 'Yeah, and she'll calm down; don't worry,' he said, looking at Neville's wristwatch. 'Come on we really need to hurry. Defence Against the Dark Arts now!'

Lily agreed, and the four of them made their way to their next class. She was exceptionally pleased that the next class would be Remus teaching, so that she might at least relax a bit. Despite her finding Potions quite interesting, she wasn't really comfortable with Professor Snape as a teacher. She didn't know what it was – he was just acting a bit strange.

On the way Neville inquired if she'd like to sit next to him, but she said sadly that she was sitting beside Harry this lesson, due to her not being next to him in Potions. Neville took this news a bit sadly, but accepted it nonetheless. It wasn't long before they were stood in front of their destination, all of them slightly out of breath from running up the steps.

Inside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom she saw benches with wooden desks to match, but they were all stacked up against the walls. In confusion Lily walked further into the classroom, confused when she saw that everyone seemed to be standing up in the centre of the room. She saw Hermione near to the front, a scowl still placed on her features. Thinking it best not to talk to her just yet, Lily stayed with Harry.

'I wonder what's going on,' he murmured. 'Why are all the desks stacked up?'

Just then, Professor Remus Lupin – Lily smiled at his new title as she thought it – entered the classroom in his shaggy brown robes. He made his way to the front and then turned to face them. 'We'll be having a practical lesson today, so you won't need your books.'

Hermione looked as though she might faint, and reluctantly put her bulging bag down beside the rest underneath the tables. Lily felt her smile creeping further up her cheeks. Watching intently, she saw that Remus pointed his wand toward a rather large wardrobe, with sprang forward. When it stopped just in front of them it began to rattle inside, as though something we trying to get out.

'Does anyone have an idea what curious creature this wardrobe holds inside?'

There was a few moments silence. Seeming a little reluctant, a third year who Lily did not recognise raised his head fractionally and said, 'That's a Boggart, that is.'

Lupin clapped once. 'Very good, Mr Finnigan. Now, can anyone tell me what a Boggart looks like? Anyone?'

Lily remembered reading about the creatures vaguely, but she didn't want to give a wrong answer. Hermione's hand was up instantly. 'Nobody knows. Boggarts are shape shifters. They take the form of what the person fears the most, that's what makes them so terrifying.'

With a smile, Professor Lupin nodded. 'Correct, Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor.' There was a slight pause in which several of the other Gryffindors in the room cheered quietly. 'Now, a simple spell exists to repel a Boggart. Of course, it does not destroy one – what really defeats a Boggart is laughter. We must force it to assume something amusing. You should also know that it is best not to face a Boggart alone. Do you know why, Harry?'

Harry, who was still stood next to Lily, cleared his throat. 'Is it because with so many of us it will not know which shape to take?'

'Indeed,' Lupin smiled. 'It will make the creature confused, which will therefore make it more vulnerable. Now, I want you to all repeat after me. No wands will be required, thank you. Now, the spell is Riddikulus.'

Lily, a total of several times along with the rest of the class, chanted: 'Riddikulus.'

Finally, Professor Lupin waved his free arm that was not clutching his wand. 'You need to think of the thing you fear most, and decide how you are going to change it into something amusing for us. Once you've done so you must think of that, and only that, in your mind. If you're doing it right, once you shout Riddikulus the Boggart should change into what you've pictured. Now, form an orderly line and we shall begin.' Just as they did this, Lupin shouted over them, 'However I was wondering if you, Mr Longbottom, might help me with a quick demonstration.'

Neville staggered slightly and began to stutter uncontrollably, 'M-me?'

Nodding, Lupin walked slightly forward. Neville scurried forwards, taking his wand out of his pocket. When he was stood beside the professor, the man leaned down to Neville's height and began to talk with him quietly, apparently instructing him. Lily wasn't far behind – about the fourth back, with Harry just behind her. When Lupin had finished, he nodded towards Neville, who was apparently preparing himself. All went silent and as Remus pointed his wand toward the wardrobe, the door clicked open. Lily squinted to see what was appearing out of the wardrobe, and almost laughed when she saw that it was in fact Professor Snape. The Boggart Snape approached Neville, his coal eyes full of fury. Neville, who was now shaking like a leaf, pointed his wand at the creature and shouted, 'r-r-riddikulus!' And just then, the Boggart Snape's black clothing turned into the most peculiar outfit – what appeared to be some green dress robes and some sort of vulture-topped hat on his head. Lily started giggling at the sight, and as laughter fuelled the room, the Boggart stumbled back and hit the wardrobe with a bang.

After this, Ron ran forwards. With a crack the Boggart became a large spider, almost as big as the room. Lily shivered at the sight of its long, thin legs and watched Ron stare in complete fear as it walked toward him. Quickly he squeaked, 'Riddikulus!' The spider's legs disappeared. It rolled across the floor towards Parvati Patil, becoming a mummy as it stopped.

Parvati screamed shrilly, and then quickly pointed her wand at the mummy, which was now walking towards her in a zombie-like manner. 'Riddikulus!' The mummy's bandages began to unwrap much to the delight of the classroom, which all started laughing hysterically.

Lily was too busy laughing to realise that the Boggart was now heading her way. She was late – far too late – to react before the Boggart spun in mid-air and transformed into a seven feet tall werewolf. The creature towered over her, its sharp claws gleaming in the light of the classroom, teeth dripping with a familiar red substance. It dropped onto its four paws and started to stalk towards her. Lily, paralysed with fear, did nothing but watch. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. As the werewolf came closer, its grey matted fur visible to her now, she watched it lift one of its paws to strike her. As she closed her eyes, she heard it let out a horrible high-pitched howl. However, at that precise moment she felt hands push her back, and a familiar voice shout, 'Riddikulus!' Opening her eyes once more, Lily saw a balloon buzzing around the room. It zoomed in and out of random spaces before she saw Lupin direct it towards the wardrobe. The door opened and the Boggart shot inside. There was a sudden bang, and it was gone.

After a few moments of stillness and silence the classroom erupted into curious mutterings. Lupin turned to them, his voice wavering. 'That's it for today. Collect your bags. We'll carry on next lesson. If you would all kindly read page sixteen and summarise the chapter of Boggarts before then though, please. You can go.' Everyone started to leave. Even Lily, who was shaking uncontrollably, unable to explain to Harry or Neville as they asked her questions. Just as she picked her bag up, she heard Lupin's voice behind her. 'I'd like a word Lily, if you'll stay behind for a moment or two.'

Lily's heart raced. She knew that Remus wanted to question her about her Boggart being a werewolf. She didn't know if she was ready to tell him just yet. It had been two whole years since she'd started to fear werewolves as she did. Due to Remus being a werewolf himself, she didn't want him to feel upset that she was so afraid of them.

Harry, who had been standing beside her, asked: 'Would you like me to take your bag and wait outside? We can go to common room after.'

'Y-Yes please,' she said, voice wobbling. Lily turned and stared into Harry's eyes, trying to hold tears inside. He took her satchel from her shaking hand, glancing at her worriedly. She knew he wouldn't understand how grateful she was. 'T-Thank you.'

And with an encouraging smile, Harry left. Neville was the last to leave the classroom, gazing wearily from Lily to Remus and back again. Finally the boy trotted out, closing the small door behind him. As soon as they were alone, Remus rounded on her.

'Why didn't you tell me, Lily?'

Lily closed her eyes so that she didn't have to see his face as he walked toward her, and it was also to avoid him noticing how upset she was. Steadying her voice she replied, 'How could I? I didn't want you to know just how terrified I was.'

Remus was now in front of her. She'd heard the floorboards creak under his feet as he'd made his way over. 'Why not?'

'Because I was so terribly afraid! After what happened I thought that if you saw how scared I was you would send me away. I couldn't contemplate that. You're my only family, and I love you too much. So I kept my fear hidden away, and it didn't bother me. I was never with you at full moon, and I tended to try and forget what had happened, and what you were. I was able to for the most part.' She opened her eyes, not concerned that tears rolled down her cheeks. 'It never bothered me you being what you are I swear, it was just because…' pulling her sleeve up slowly, Lily revealed the three parallel scars that ran down her arm. They were still a dark shade of red, as though they had recently been inflicted. 'I didn't want to be hurt again, but I didn't want to lose you because of it. And most of all, I never wanted you to know how I felt about it.'

The Professor clutched her shoulders, staring deeply into her emerald eyes. 'Lily, you should have told me.'

Lily's tears were now a flood. 'I am so sorry! I know I should have –'

Remus pulled her into a warm embrace. 'It doesn't matter now. Let me tell you, Lily; I have never forgiven myself about how I hurt you, and I swear to you that nothing like that will ever happen again.' He picked up her arm, letting his fingers brush over the scars his claws had inflicted. 'I promise it'll never happen again.'

Tears still falling from her eyes, Lily returned his hug holding on tightly. 'Thank you, Moony. I'm glad you finally understand.'

At this point Remus pulled back, a single eyebrow raised. 'Moony? When did you re-adopt the old nickname?'

Though Lily's eyes were red rimmed now, she managed to smile softly. 'You know, I'm not quite sure. I prefer it, and I think it's more fitting.'

There was a moment of silence. Lily felt as though a great burden had been taken of her shoulders. She'd always been so worried about telling Remus about her fear of werewolves, and even more anxious about telling him why.

'I should let you go then,' said Remus suddenly, dragging her from her thoughts. 'I do believe you have someone waiting outside, don't you?'

Lily nodded. 'Harry,' she smiled. 'He'll be wondering where I've got to.'

Looking slightly uneasy, Remus turned and walked away and up the steps, but stopped before he entered his office. 'If you want to speak about anything else, Lily, I'll be here. And you don't have to be worried about coming to speak to me either.' He raised a delicate eyebrow, as though he was reading her thoughts.

Nodding, she walked towards the classroom door. As she reached it, Remus' office door shut behind her. Lily clutched the handle and pulled it open, surprised when Harry and Neville almost stumbled completely into the classroom and into her. With wide eyes, Lily took a step back. 'What are you doing?' she mumbled, and knowing that they'd been listening in from the apparent innocent look on their faces she hissed, 'You weren't supposed to listen. It was a private conversation!'

Neville, who seemed to shrink back a bit, told her defensively, 'I'm sorry, Lily. Really, I am! It was Harry who said he wanted to know what you and Professor Lupin were talking about, and he didn't listen when I said it was a bad idea!'

Harry rounded on the plump-faced boy. 'It wasn't my idea!'

She stared at them both, disbelieving. 'And what did you hear?'

The two boys glanced at eachother, apparently nervous to speak. It was Neville who finally answered, shaking from head to toe. 'I heard nothing, Lily, I swear.'

Harry nodded in agreement. 'We were too busy shoving each other up and down to hear anything, Lily. If you wanted it to be private, it still is.'

Lily watched them carefully, searching for any trace of a lie in their faces or voices. When she found none she walked past them, apparently walking down the stairs alone. She dearly hoped that they were telling the truth. She shuddered to think what they'd think if they did know the truth. These uneasy thoughts travelling around her mind, she stalked on down the steps, ignoring the cries and pleads for her to stop behind her.