Chapter 4

James sat down in potions on Friday morning in January and next to him sat Cecil Welch. Cecil Welch was a charming Hufflepuff. Except, he was barely a Hufflepuff. Welch only showed up for half of the school year. The other half of the school year, he played professional Quidditch.

"How you doing, mate?" Welch asked him.

"Good. You?"
"Good."

"Is this anyone's seat?"

"Oh, Evans."

Welch's eyes lit up. "You finally got her, huh?"

"No! No! No!" James said. "Partners for this class. That's all."

"Well, here's hoping, right," Welch said.

Lily entered the classroom and Welch vacated her seat immediately.

"Hey, Evans," Cecil said.

"Hi, Cecil!" she said excitedly. "How's Quidditch?"

"Good. Going really well."

Slughorn entered the room and sighed, looking at Cecil.

"Ahh, good, Mr. Welch, so nice of you to join us. Please partner with Alice," Slughorn said.

Cecil headed to the back of the room where Alice sat all alone, as her usual partner had come down with the flu. Lily smiled, looking at them together.

Cecil was tall and handsome, and had a way with women that most of the sixth year boys envied. Welch had dated many of the girls at Hogwarts and during his six years there, Alice had had an enormous crush on him the entire time. But Alice didn't have boyfriends.

The class began and they all made attempts at making a heavy sleeping potion. Of course there was the usual arguing with Sirius and Snape and occasionally Lily and James. But this day different. On this day, Lily's everyday life began to change.

Just as James was about to drop a vial of unicorn blood into the potion, the whole class began hearing Cecil and Alice argue about proper proportions.

"What's going on over there?" James asked her. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"Huh?"

"With Welch and Alice," James said.

Lily looked across the classroom where she saw Alice and Cecil Welch arguing.

"The recipe says four drops!" Cecil said.

"And you put four and a half in!" Alice yelled.

"I did not!" he said.

"Do we have a problem?" Slughorn's voice boomed.

"I can't work like this!" Alice insisted. "May I have a new partner?"

"Miss McKinnon, we are halfway through a lesson, I—"
"Yes, but, I—"

"I'll switch with her," Sirius offered immediately.

"Quiet, Mr. Black," Slughorn hissed.

"I'll switch!" James said.

"What? We're almost done!" Lily said.

"I know, and if I don't get quiet, I'm going to screw this up!" James said angrily.

"Fine. Mr. Potter, please partner with Miss McKinnon. Mr. Welch and Miss Evans. Please. Now, before I lose my temper," Slughorn said.

Alice and Lily switched spots and moved to opposite sides of the room. Cecil began chopping ingredients and tossing them into the cauldron.

"Evans, what is with her?"
"I don't know," Lily shrugged. "What happened?"

"Well, I made a pass at her," Cecil said.

"Naturally."

Cecil smirked.

"And then she began yelling at me!"

Lily looked at him for a moment and said, "Do you even like her?"

"Yes!"

"Really?"
"Yes!"

"What about Emily Spears?"

Cecil Welch had notoriously been in love with Emily Spears for his entirety of schooling at Hogwarts. However, Spears was never interested.
He looked across the room and motioned to Potter. "She and Potter are apparently in love. Gonna get married, she tells me."
"What?"
"That's what she tells me. She's fifteen years old, what does she know?"
"True."

"So I figure, why am I wasting time on Emily when I could be with Alice…who apparently does not like me one bit."

"She used to," Lily said.

For the rest of the day, Lily watched Alice carefully. She was in a foul mood all day…that is until classes were over. Lily sat in her bed, reading a book while Alice began making herself up with makeup and different outfit combinations. While she did that, Lily attempted to bring up the subject of Cecil Welch.

"He likes you," Lily said. "Finally, right?"

"He likes Emily Spears," Alice said as she adjusted her bra to be more comfortable and yet show more cleavage at the same time.

"No, you. He told me in class today," Lily corrected her.

Alice then continued putting makeup on and tried to ignore Lily.

"How do I look?" Alice asked Mary as she passed through the room.

"Little heavy on mascara, don't you think?" Mary said.

Alice looked in the mirror and nodded in agreement while Lily watched her carefully.

"Why are you putting on so much makeup anyway?" Sarah asked.

"Frank and I are supposed to go to Muggle London to research Muggle life and I need to look Muggle-like."
"My family does not look like that," Lily said, looking at Alice's makeup.

"No one asked you," Alice snarled. With that, Alice grabbed her bag and left the dormitory.

"That was weird," Diane said.

"She's been acting weird all day," Lily said.

"Maybe Muggles secretly scare her," Sarah offered.

"I'm going to go say goodbye to Frank before they depart," Lily said, standing. She walked down the stairwell to the Common Room to find Alice and Frank sitting close together on a sofa going over notes. A little too close, Lily thought.

"Hey," she said loudly. Frank separated himself from Alice and looked up, smiling.

"Hi," Frank said. Lily leaned down to kiss him, causing Alice to look away.

"What are you plans for your research?" she asked.

"Just um…a sports game and pubs and stores," Alice answered.

"Football. And Frank, you should go back to that pub my dad took you to. And Harrods!"

"Yeah, if…if you know, if we have time," Frank said.

"Well, I'm glad you have things to do this weekend. I'm going home to spend time with my mum," Lily said. "So if you need help, just ring me and I'll—"

"We can't," Alice interjected.

"What?"

Frank shrugged, "We're not really allowed to accept outside help from anyone that has ties to the Muggle world and since you are a Muggle born, that uh…that's cheating."

"Cheating. Yeah, cheating," Lily muttered, bowing her head. "Well um…have a good time then. I've got to go, I have to do prefect rounds with Remus."

"We'll probably be gone when you get back," Frank said.

"OK, well, have a good weekend," Lily said. Frank stood up to kiss her.

"Tell your family hi," he whispered.

"I will," she said.

Lily exited the common room looking over her shoulder. She then noticed that Frank and Alice had begun laughing and sitting close to one another again.

She headed down to the Great Hall, where she and Remus regularly met to do their rounds of the castle. But there was no Remus, just Emily Spears sitting by herself at the Gryffindor table. She perked up upon seeing Lily.

"Lily!" she said.

"Oh, hi, Emily," Lily said.

"Remus asked me to switch with him," Spears said, standing.

"Oh."

"Don't sound so excited," Spears chastised.
"So looks like we're doing rounds tonight together."

"I didn't know you were a prefect," Lily said.

"That's because you don't pay attention to me," Spears said straightforwardly.

Lily laughed uncomfortably and Emily began walking out of the Great Hall with Lily following.

"Why'd Remus switch?" Lily wanted to know.

"He wanted to go out to a pub with James and Peter and Sirius," Spears said.

They walked throughout the castle and eventually ended up outside in the Astronomy tower after an uneventful evening.

Lily looked out onto the lawn while Emily inspected the tower to make sure no students were lurking. She then joined Lily to look out onto the grounds of Hogwarts and into Hogsmede.

"Smoke?" Spears asked.

"No, thank you."

Emily pulled out her pack of cigarettes and then lit one up immediately.

"We're prefects. You know, you really shouldn't," Lily said. "You know if you weren't a prefect I would take you to McGonnagal's."

Spears sighed. "I'm a stress smoker."

"Why are you stressed?"

"Um…not really important actually," Spears said as she puffed.

"Shouldn't you…not smoke? Because of Quidditch and all?" Lily asked. "Aren't you really good or something?"

"Good?" Spears said exasperated. "I'm the best."

"Cecil Welch—"

"Cecil Welch can go to hell," Spears said. "The only reason he's in the professional league is because his parents are Muggles and have no idea what Quidditch is. So when he told them it was a form of…golf? Is that right? Boring sport in the Muggle world?"
"Yes."

"When he told them it was a form of golf, they didn't care that he'd be out of school for half the year. My father on the other hand put a stop to my scouting before it even began," Spears said.

"Why would he do that?"

"He wants me to be an Auror," Spears replied, still puffing at her cigarette.

"So don't be an Auror?" Lily suggested.

"I wish I could think like you. So simple," Spears said, glancing at Lily.

"I'm not simple."

"You are. It's not a bad thing. I wish I were like you. I do," Spears said genuinely.

Spears continued smoking her cigarette and looking out onto the lawn. But something kept bothering Lily. She just had to ask.

"Why are you being nice to me?" Lily blurted out.

Emily continued on puffing away and then looked plainly at Lily.
"James said you're really nice and that you're cool. So I figured…hey, I need friends," Spears said.

Lily laughed. "You don't really have many girl friends do you?"

"No. None," she said grinning.

"Why not?"

"I've usually propositioned their boyfriends," Spears said. "And, the Quidditch. Most girls don't like it. Nor can they keep up."

Lily nodded. "You've propositioned boys with girlfriends?"

"Relax, not Frank. I would never," she said.

"Why not?"

"What? Are you offended I wouldn't go after your boyfriend? You're a strange one, Evans," Spears said.

"Kind of," Lily said.

"He bores me," Spears revealed. "And…I've known him since we were really little kids. He wants to be just like his father."
"Is that a bad thing?"

"Where's the adventure?" Spears asked. "You certainly don't want to be like your parents, do you? They're Muggles. Why would you?"

"They're very brilliant people, actually," Lily informed her.

"I didn't say they weren't."

A silence came over them as they walked along the grounds until Emily turned to her.

"Where are your friends tonight?"

"Oh uh…Mary's uh…at home helping her sister plan her wedding," Lily stammered. "Sarah's on a date. Diane's…I don't know what she's doing. And Alice is in London with Frank."

"Oh."

"What?"

"Nothing, I just…you're very calm about your boyfriend spending the weekend with another girl."
"Am I?" Lily asked, turning.

"Well maybe on the outside," Spears said, giggling.

"Say, you always have boyfriends," Lily said to her.

"Not always. James is the first one in a while. I mean I dated here and there, but…not really."

"Do you like having a boyfriend?"

"I suppose. He's been really great," Spears replied. "You don't like having a boyfriend, I assume?"

"I feel like I don't really have one anymore. He spends every waking hour worrying about Muggle Studies and Alice and his projects and—"

"Alice. He worries about Alice. I know."

"It's noticeable, isn't it?" Lily asked.

Spears remained quiet for a moment and shrugged, "To the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

"What do you mean?"

"Frank hasn't been to Quidditch in months. James has threatened to throw him off the team."

"He's Headboy though. He's busy."

"Elizabeth Newmark makes it to the Ravenclaw practices….I'm sorry. I…Your situation is none of my business. I just…I see it."

Lily nodded.

"Is that Potter?" Lily asked, looking out onto the lawn. The two of them looked down and saw three students crossing the lawn, laughing manically.

"I think so," Emily said. Lily turned to exit the Astronomy tower, but Spears grabbed her by the wrist. "Not that way. Accio Broom!"

Instantly, Emily's trusty broom arrived at her side and she pulled Lily onto the broom.

"I don't really like flying," Lily said.

"That's OK. I like it enough for the both of us," Spears said. She kicked off and they began flying down to the lawn. Except if Lily didn't know any better, she would have thought Spears was weaving in and out of the castle walls on purpose. They bounced down to the lawn in one swift move of the broom. Lily rolled off the broom while Spears stood, unscathed.

"You OK?" she asked Lily.

"Yeah," Lily lied. Spears pulled her up from the ground.

Lily turned to look behind her and found that James, Sirius and Peter were walking toward them.

"Nice dive, Spears," Sirius yelled from afar. "I'm sure Evans appreciated it."

Spears began walking toward the boys and met them halfway, while Lily kept her distance in fear that she may vomit from the motion sickness. She was crouched down with her hands on her knees and her head hanging low.

Sirius instantly walked past Spears and went to Lily's side.

"You OK?"

"I will be," she said, breathing.

"You never did like flying," Sirius laughed. He pulled a piece of chocolate out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Lily laughed and then ate the chocolate. After a few moments she finally looked up and gasped, "What happened to you?"

Sirius had acquired a large black eye and more than a few scratches since the last Lily had seen him.

"Oh, fight in the pub," he said.

"Scratching?" Lily said. Lily stood at full height and looked over Sirius's body. The majority of wounds were in fact scratches. All up and down his arms, his neck, his face, his chest.

"Yeah. Some weird spell," Sirius said.

"Not dark magic, I hope," Lily said.

Sirius shook his head.

James, Spears and Peter then joined them. James and Peter both had the same types of scratches and markings on their bodies.

"What type of spell did this?" Lily asked, looking them all up and down.

"Oh, we're fine," James said.

"Where's Remus?" Lily asked, worried.

"He met a girl," Peter said.

"At the pub?" Spears asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Sirius said. "Older lady."

"I don't believe you," Spears said to him.

"James, tell her," Sirius said.

Spears turned to James and looked at him doubtfully.

"It's true. He's back there right now snogging her in the Three Broomsticks," James said.

"Let's go inside. It's cold," Peter said.

They all nodded and Peter led them inside, limping. He insisted it was just a twisted ankle from falling.

"I'll mend it," Lily offered.

"No!" Sirius and James yelled.

"Why not? He's in pain," Lily said.

"He needs to learn to deal with it," Sirius said menacingly.

"That's awful!" Lily yelled.

"He's made it way too far to stop now," James said, gesturing to the fact that Peter had kept walking when Lily had offered to mend his leg.

Once inside, Lily went straight to her dormitory and Spears straight to hers while the Marauders headed to theirs.

Peter limped to his bed and once he hit the sheets, he screamed.

"I'm going to kill Remus!" he yelled.

James and Sirius rolled up their sleeves and took out medical supplies from their trunks, eventually making it to Wormtail's bed.

Peter took off his shoe and lifted the leg of his pant to reveal a large gash that was still oozing blood.

"You win for the worst of the school year, Wormtail," James said, smiling.

"I thought you were going to kill Evans back there when she offered to help him," Sirius laughed, as they stitched up Peter's leg. Peter winced in pain and occasionally let out little bursts of screams.

"Wormtail, quit moving so much," James ordered. Sirius began putting antiseptic on Peter's leg, causing him to scream more.

"And don't scream, you'll draw attention," Sirius said.

"You guys try this then!" Peter barked.

They finished stitching up the leg and put a large bandage over it, sealing it with a spell.

"Maybe one of the worst nights we've ever had with Remus," Sirius acknowledged. James and Peter nodded in agreement.

For the rest of the evening, they fired off spells at themselves, attempting to heal the wounds inflicted by their werewolf friend.