Hi guys. I'm really it's been so long since my last update (again), I've just been super busy with school shenanigans. Things should be calming down, now, and as long as the Muse cooperates, I'll be writing much more often. For those of you still here, thanks for sticking around, and I hope you enjoy this latest installment of The Man Behind The Mask!
Love,
Lorraine
CHAPTER 5
Six hours later the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade station. The Prefect meeting had long since let out, the patrols having been scheduled smoothly. The pairings had not been too difficult, especially since Remus had volunteered to go with Snape, who grudgingly obliged—Potter's offer to switch and become Snape's partner himself had probably influenced the Slytherin's decision.
Though Potter had suggested that Lily and himself stay in the Prefect's compartment and plan for the upcoming year, Lily had declined. She and Potter were getting on surprisingly well, but she didn't think it could last. Plus, she hadn't seen her best friend, Lucy Perkins, for the better part of three weeks, and she needed someone to moan with her about Dumbledore's appointment of Potter as Head Boy.
Around noon, the two Head Students had gone their separate ways to meet up with their respective partners in crime, only emerging at 4.45 to walk the length of the train and remind students that they would be arriving soon.
As she disembarked from the train with Lucy, Lily's eye found the Marauders several metres ahead of them on the platform. As if he could feel her eyes on him, Potter turned around and winked at her (some habits die hard), simultaneously bringing a blush and a scowl to Lily's face, and a smirk to Lucy's.
"Well, I guess some things never change, huh Lils?"
Lily frowned at her best friend. "If you mean the fact that James Potter remains an incorrigible arse, then you are quite correct."
"Actually, I meant the fact that you never fail to blush when he winks at you."
"Shut up, Luce! I am not blushing. It's just…brisk out here, that's all."
"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say." After a thoughtful pause, Lucy continued. "You know, the reason he won't stop harassing you is because he can tell you're at least a smidge interested. If you weren't, then you wouldn't blush. Simple."
"I am not a smidge interested! Not a smidge, or a mote, or even an atom," she ignored her pureblood friend's puzzlement at the Muggle science term, "thank you very much. Plus, Potter can't tell from ten metres away that I'm blushing. It's not like he's superhuman or something."
"Mmm, I dunno hun, his abs are pretty out of this world. And the eyes are rather divine." She paused, appreciating the mental image. "You lucky strumpet, you get to live in the same room with that abs-plus-eyes combo! For a whole year!"
Lily rolled her eyes and laughed darkly, saying: "Hey, Luce, he's all yours if you'd care to take him off my hands."
"You ungrateful trollop!" Lucy was known for using creative and often archaic insults. The girl was far too well educated for anyone else's good. "Why would you give that up?"
"Other than the fact that I've been trying to give it up for about four years now?"
"Right. I always manage to forget how bloody stubborn and blind you are over summer hols." Lucy continued in a radio-announcer voice: "Well, folks, another year at Hogwarts has finally begun, as the headstrong Head Girl Lily Evans rejects the advances of the hedonist Head Boy James Potter…"
Lily snorted, "Good alliteration, Luce."
Lucy smiled charmingly. "You know I try."
The two girls linked arms and strolled towards the carriages, chattering all through the ride to the castle.
Soon enough they reached the Great Hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor House table. Seeing the familiar levitating white tapers and golden cutlery, Lily smiled widely to herself. It was good to be back. Much as she might complain about Potter, she knew that he had gotten past the stage of trying to ruin her life just for the fun of it. She was confident that they could accomplish being civil—maybe even being friends, as long as she didn't have to put up with Black as part of the bargain—and she admitted to herself that having a pleasant relationship with Potter would be a nice change.
Lucy interrupted her musings with an elbow to the ribs, indicating that the Sorting was about to begin. Lily watched happily as the forty new first years sat down at the House tables one by one. She frowned when she noticed that she was one of very few Gryffindors who cheered for the new Slytherins, but she was too caught up in memories to really care.
SIX YEARS EARLIER
Standing in a crowd of other anxious eleven-year-olds, she was sure that none of them was as nervous as she was. As far as the pre-pubescent Lily Evans knew, she was the only muggle-born at Hogwarts. She had never met another wizard except for Severus Snape, and he came from a magical family, so she assumed that everyone else was as well.
Lily stood there dreading her turn at the Sorting Hat when she felt a hand at her elbow. She turned, a panicked look in her eyes, sure that someone was going to tell her, "I'm sorry, Miss Evans, but there's been some mistake. You don't belong here after all…" Instead, her anguished green eyes met with a pair of warm, engaging hazel ones. The black-haired boy to whom the eyes belonged smiled at her encouragingly, and she was comforted by the way his eyes crinkled behind his slightly lopsided glasses.
"Don't worry," he said. "You're going to be great."
Though she didn't know whether he was talking about the Sorting or about school or about life in general, Lily greatly appreciated this boy's kindness. She rewarded him with a grateful smile just as she heard her name called. Her face blanched and she whipped around to face McGonagall, half ready to run all the way back to the Hogwarts Express and hide until it returned to London. However, her new friend, the bespectacled boy, gently pushed at the small of her back, and somehow this was enough to make her go on.
Lily slowly made her way through the crowd of students and up to the small stool next to the Transfiguration Professor—who was somewhat less intimidating up close—and sat down. Self-conscious, she crossed her ankles and tucked her flaming hair behind her ears, and the Sorting Hat was placed on her head.
Though she knew this hat could talk—after all, it had been placing her fellow students in Houses for the past fifteen minutes—Lily was surprised when it began speaking to her.
"Ah, a muggleborn. Always the most challenging, and I can see that you will be even more so. You could certainly prove yourself in Ravenclaw, my dear, I can tell that you will exceed in your studies if you put your mind to it. Yes, you are very determined. That would serve you well in Slytherin, too. And indeed, you are quite brave and outgoing, traits that are inherent to Gryffindors. Yes, Miss Evans, you are quite talented. But where to put you?" It was as if Lily could feel the hat prodding around in her head, searching for something to tip the scale. After several seconds of silence, the voice piped up again. "Aha! I believe I have found your greatest strength," the hat said, smugly. Lily hoped that it would tell her she had superior magical powers, like flight or invisibility—after all, she had very little idea how the Wizarding World worked—so that she might fit in a little better, but what the hat told her next was not a physical ability. "Love, Lily Evans, will be your crowning glory. And that squarely places you in GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily felt the hat being lifted from her head, and she looked up to see Professor McGonagall giving her a smile—Lily would remember it especially fondly when she found out how rare an occurrence this was. She stood up and scanned the crowd in front of her, beaming. The boy with the mop of jet-black hair was grinning and giving her two thumbs up. She winked at him, and skipped over to the Gryffindor table.
She watched the rest of the Sorting attentively, waiting to find out the name of the boy who had helped her face her fear. Finally, she heard McGonagall call "Potter, James" and he walked casually up to the dreaded stool, looking as if he hadn't a care in the world. Lily marveled at his nonchalance, and was surprised when the hat took only seconds before it roared out GRYFFINDOR!
James was all smiles as he came over and sat diagonally across from her at the table. He looked at her as if to say "See? I told you." As he looked at her, suddenly Lily Evans had the overwhelming feeling that, with the help of James Potter, she could feel safe and at home in being a witch. And that meant the world to her.
END FLASHBACK
As Lily reminisced about the rest of her Hogwarts career—including the time when her savior James became her tormentor Potter, and when her friend Sev became her enemy Snape—that first night particularly stood out to her, and one thought plagued her above all others: the old James couldn't really be gone for good, could he?
Thoughts? I really do want to hear them. As redundant as it might be to say so, reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Thanks for reading!
