How's it going guys? Hope you're liking the story. I'm having a problem with the title. I can't think of anything better. If you have suggestions PLEASE don't hesitate to post it up in the reviews.
READ AND REVIEW PLEASE (: your reviews brighten my day.
Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, because if I were I wouldn't be freaking out over my History exam.
Previously:
"Aw, Sirius and Hestia Black," Lily smirked, looking at Hestia who paled.
"Shut up Lily," Hestia said quietly.
"You like Sirius?" Gwenog screamed.
"Who likes Sirius?" Sirius said, pushing open the door to the girls dorms.
"No-one" Lily said, looking at Sirius.
Sirius snorted, "As if," he said, and winked at Hestia, as the other Marauders filed into the dormitory.
"What's up with your hair?" Alice said, starting to laugh. Sirius's hair was exactly as it had been when Lily left the Heads dorm. They watched as Sirius's expression darkened as he turned to glare at Lily, who was trying her hardest to hold in a laugh.
"Fix it Evans," he growled. Alice, Hestia and Gwenog burst into laughter.
"You did this to him?" Alice said, between pants of laughter. Lily smiled at Sirius innocently and he growled again.
"Really Evans its not funny!" he whined, taking a step towards her. When Lily still refused, Sirius stomped his foot in anger, "This isn't fair!"
Hestia pulled out her wand and pointed it at Sirius's hair, and it fell down into its majestic waves. Sirius turned to Hestia with the biggest smile on his face, "Jones, I could kiss you."
Hestia rolled her eyes, trying to cover up her blush, and Lily had to hold in a laugh, as did Alice and Gwenog. James, who was watching Lily, raised his eyebrows and looked between Hestia and Sirius. Lily looked up and caught his eye, and gave him a pleading look. Jones likes Sirius? James thought, and felt a smile spread across his face.
Sirius turned to look at Lily, with an expression of mock anger, before storming out of the room. Lily flopped back down on the bed, as Remus and Peter filed out of the dorm.
"Lily, you coming?" James said, gesturing to the door, "It's 9." Lily sighed and nodded, getting off the bed.
"Bye guys," she said, blowing kisses to her friends, before following James out of the dorm.
Lily and James got back to their dorm to see Professor Dumbledore sitting on the armchair by the fire. Lily shook her head and rubbed her eyes, making sure she was seeing correctly. Dumbledore turned and smiled at them.
"Ah there you are, I was wondering when you'd be getting back," he said, gesturing towards the sofa. Lily and James sat down and looked at Dumbledore, waiting for him to continue.
"So, I take it you've had a pleasant first day back?" he asked politely, receiving nods from both Lily and James, "Now, I have a matter to discuss with you," he said more seriously, "Your new living arrangements." Lily looked around the Heads common room and then to Dumbledore, wandering what he was going to say. When Dumbledore didn't say anything, Lily spoke up.
"Is there a problem sir?" she asked
"No, no, not a problem," Dumbledore said with a smile to Lily, "Just something to tell you," Lily relaxed. She had only been in the Heads dorm for two days but she didn't want to leave, "It's very secluded, and there are only the two of you living here," he started, clearing his throat, "And I understand you're teenagers and you have your hormones…" he continued, looking at them, and Lily felt her face turn red, knowing where he was going with this.
"Professor Dumbledore, if I may stop you there," Lily said in a high pitched voice, "We do not think of each other that way," she said, and watched as Professor Dumbledore's eyes flashed to James, who was pale, but continued, knowing what Dumbledore was thinking, "And I promise you that's not going to happen in here."
Professor Dumbledore looked amusedly between James and Lily's expressions, "I'm sorry to make you uncomfortable then," he said, standing up. Lily and James stood up as well, and only sat back down when Dumbledore had left.
"Was he going to give us the talk?" James asked, mortified. Lily nodded, still in shock. She hadn't thought of their living arrangements in that way. The living arrangements were intimate; they were living together. She looked over at James, who was looking away from here, his neck red.
"I think I'm going to go sleep now," she said awkwardly, standing up. As she turned to walk away, James grabbed her hand, and she stopped, turning around.
"Can we talk for a little bit?" James asked, looking up at her. Lily sat down and smiled.
"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" James opened his mouth but at that moment there was a tapping noise at the window. James stood up and opened it, letting the owl fly in.
"Jackie!" James yelled happily, recognizing the owl. He ran to it, and tore the letter off of its leg. The owl sat there, waiting. James rolled his eyes, it was only natural for his parents to wait for him to reply, "Can I get this?" James said, turning to Lily, who smiled and nodded.
The owl, Jackie, turned to Lily and flew over to her, sitting on her head, "Uh hi?" Lily said to the owl, and James watched in fascination, as the owl started nipping at Lily's head, "Ouch!" Lily yelled, holding her head. James ran over and took Jackie off of Lily's head.
"I think she likes your hair," he said, trying to control a laugh as Lily turned to glare at the owl, "I don't think she's ever seen red hair before."
Lily turned to look at James, "It's auburn thank you very much, and that's no reason for your owl to try and rip my hair out," she said, and stuck her tongue out at the owl. James threw his head back and laughed, then carried Jackie to his desk.
"She'll be good, I promise," he said, and sat down at his desk to read the letter. Lily stood up stretched, before going up the stairs.
"I'm just going to go change," she said, when James looked up at her questioningly, and walked up the stairs. James tore open the envelope and began to read the letter.
James,
How's Hogwarts? We haven't heard from you in a while, which is very disappointing. Your mother is glaring at you at the moment, so be afraid.
How's Sirius? And Remus? What was your start of the year prank? How's Quidditch going? How's Lily Evans? Don't look at us (the parchment) like that. You've only been in love with her since first year.
Who's your Head Girl?
We have so many questions James! Also, are you staying at Hogwarts for Christmas? We would prefer it if you came home, and you can bring all your friends along.
Love, Mum and Dad
James laughed at his parents. He could tell by the handwriting that his father had written the letter. He pulled out a new piece of parchment and a quill and wrote his reply.
Mum and Dad,
Hogwarts is great! It's better than great actually. Being Head Boy rules. You get instant respect. And I got to change Sirius and Remus' curfew because we were hanging out and, well, why wouldn't I? More on the fantasticness of being Head Boy later. (Don't glare at me mum, why would you glare at your gorgeous son?)
Sirius is great. So is Remus. Oh the start of the year prank was amazing. I swear we out-did ourselves. We made the ceiling of the Great Hall turn pink, and made it rain leprechaun gold. Then we had the stars rearrange themselves to say 'Marauders final year! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs'. It was quite amazing, if I may say so myself. And then Dumbledore stood up and changed it to say 'Marauders final year! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and (our 'respected' Head Boy) Prongs'. So all in all our start of the year prank went off pretty successfully. I haven't really done much about Quidditch; it's only our first day back. But I think I'm going to start a new training schedule.
Head Girl? It's Lily Evans. Obviously. Did you know the Heads get their own dorm? So Lily and I are staying in a dorm together. It's got a common room and two bedrooms. That's right, BEDROOMS. Lily and I are actually talking now, without her yelling at me. I think we're actually friends.
Don't tease me about Lily. I will hex you through this letter.
Speaking of Lily, Jackie seems to really like her hair. She flew onto Lily's head and started to attack her hair. It was really quite funny.
I don't know about Christmas honestly. I want to come home. We'll see.
Love, James
He tied the letter onto Jackie's foot and Jackie flew out of the window. James walked over to the sofa and sat down, thinking of Lily. He did still like her as more than a friend, and obviously he still wanted to go out with her, but that wasn't what he was thinking about. He was thinking about Voldemort. What would he do if Voldemort did something to Lily? He was sure that Voldemort would send her a letter asking her to join him, and he was also sure that Lily would turn down the letter. Would Voldemort hurt her for turning it down? James knew the answer to that question, and it made him feel sick to his stomach. He couldn't imagine a world without Lily. She had been a major part of his life for so long.
He was snapped out of his reverie by Lily sitting down next to him, still in her Hogwarts robes, "I thought you were going to change?" he said, looking down at her robes.
"I was, but then I decided I wanted to take a shower so I came to talk to you," she said, shrugging.
"What took you so long to decide?" he said, smirking at her. It was a reasonable question; she had been up there for about 10 minutes.
Lily blushed, and looked away from James, "Thinking." James decided to let it drop. Lily hastily changed the subject, "How was Quidditch?" she asked.
"We didn't have practice," he said, running his hand through his hair, which was still damp, but somehow still managed to be messy.
"Then why were you in your Quidditch robes?" she asked curiously. James turned to look at her, and realized she actually wanted to know, which made him blush a little.
"I go out there to think usually. And the Quidditch robes are easier to fly in." Lily frowned. It sounded reasonable.
"I wish I had a place to go think," she said, and James turned to look at her, his face a question mark, "Well, Hestia goes to the Astronomy Tower to think, Alice likes to go to the Owlery, no I don't know why," she said in response to James' wrinkled nose; the Owlery smelt bad, "Gwenog goes out onto the Quidditch pitch, You go onto the Quidditch pitch," she shrugged, "I wish I had a place."
James watched her tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and felt a smile form on his face, "I know a place. Go change into some muggle clothing," he said, gesturing to her spiral staircase. Lily frowned, and looked at James expression. He didn't seem to be teasing so she shrugged, and went up to her room. She pulled on the first muggle clothes, which turned out to be fitting jeans and a black V-neck, and walked down the stairs. James turned to look at her, and smiled, liking what she was wearing. She stopped in front of him, and looked down at his sweats.
"Don't you want to change?" she asked, looking down at his sweats, and he shrugged.
"I can't be bothered. We're taking the cloak anyway," he said, grinning at her.
"What cloak?" she asked curiously as James pulled out a shimmery cloak from his bag, which was by his desk.
"This cloak my dad gave to me on my eleventh birthday," he said, running the cloak through his fingers, "It's an invisibility cloak." Lily walked over to him, looking at the cloak, fascinated.
"A real invisibility cloak? Those are really rare!" she said, picking up an end of the cloak, feeling the supple material it was made out of. She didn't realize how close she was standing to James until she looked up to find his face only a couple inches from hers. She looked into his hazel eyes, and saw her own emerald eyes reflected in them, and smiled. James, surprised, smiled back. He pulled the cloak out of Lily's hands gently, and draped it over the two of them. Lily looked down at herself and felt an odd sensation as she saw nothing there, "This is weird," she said, looking down at her feet to see nothing there. James laughed.
"You get used to it. Let's go," he said, and started walking to the door. When they walked out of the door, Lily automatically felt nervous.
"I've never wondered the corridors at night," she whispered, looking around nervously, "what if we get caught?" she asked, looking up at James.
"Nobody can see us," he pointed out, "Plus, we're Head Boy and Girl. We don't have a curfew," he winked, and started walking, Lily keeping pace with him.
"Where exactly are we going?" she asked after a while, looking around.
"It's on this floor," he said, "But on the other side of the castle. You'll see." They walked in silence, Lily too nervous to speak. She had never broken curfew, or been out of her dorm at night, and the castle was eerie at night. It was almost pitch black, so Lily pulled her wand out of her pocket.
"Will anyone notice if I light my wand?" she whispered to James, who shook his head, "Lumos," she said, and a little globe of light appeared on the end of her wand. She felt more relaxed now that she could see. James, sensing her tension, put his arm around her shoulder.
"Relax Lily. I'm here," he said, and led her to the other side of the castle. For some reason, Lily felt more relaxed.
"Where are we?" Lily asked, as James stopped in front of a wall.
"Shh," he whispered, walking back and forth in front of the wall, completely visible, having left Lily under the cloak. Lily gasped as a door appeared on the wall and James reached out a hand in her general direction. She took the cloak off and handed it to James, who then held her hand and pulled her inside.
Lily looked around and felt a smile on her face. There were bookshelves lining the walls and two armchairs in the middle of the room, along with a fireplace, and Gryffindor wall hangings. Lily looked at James, who was smiling at the expression on Lily's face.
"Where are we?" she asked, looking around.
"This is the Room of Requirment," James said, spreading his arms, "Also know as-"
"The come and go room," Lily finished for him, looking around in amazement, "I thought it was just a myth," she said to herself, walking around to look at the bookshelves, which had all her favorite books, muggle and magical, on them.
"What's Cinderella?" James asked, picking up a small book from one of the bookshelves."
"It's a muggle story for children," she said, walking over to him and taking the book from his hands, smiling down at the cover.
"It sounds like a disease," he said, scrunching his nose as he read the title. Lily laughed and put the book back on the shelf.
"Thank you," she said, smiling up at him. He smiled back and looked around the room.
"It's not much, but it's a quiet place, that only you and I will be able to access," he shrugged.
"How do you get in?" she asked, looking towards the door.
"It's quite simple actually," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, "All you do is get to the wall, walk back and forth three times thinking about the place you want to go, and then you open your eyes and ta-da!" Lily smiled and looked down at her feet.
"You alright Evans?" James asked, putting a finger under her chin, pulling her face up so that she was looking in his eyes. She nodded and took a step back.
"Let's go back alright?" she said, gesturing to the door, "I don't want to think anymore today." James smiled and pulled the cloak out of his pocket, but Lily shook her head, "Forget the cloak. If its my first time being out in the castle at night, I don't want to be hidden," she shrugged, "What's the point of being Head Girl if I cant get away with everything eh?" she said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"I think I'm having a bad influence on you," James said smiling down at her. Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed James' hand.
"Let's go," and they walked back to the Heads dorm, hand in hand.
James and Lily walked down to breakfast together the next morning, and sat down with their friends.
"Where's Wormy?" James said, sitting down next to Sirius, whose face was stuffed with food. Lily gave Sirius a disgusted look and sat down next to Hestia, who was looking at Sirius with big eyes. She rolled her eyes.
"No idea," Remus said, his nose scrunched as he watched Sirius eat, "He was gone when we woke up."
"Really Sirius can you control your face?" Gwenog said, sitting down next to Remus, "That's disgusting." Lily laughed.
"Jalas Greworg?" Sirius said, looking up at Gwenog and giving her a smile, causing her to scrunch her nose.
"That was 'Jealous Gwenog?' incase nobody got that," James said, as Alice sat down on the other side of Hestia. Alice looked at Sirius, and turned to Gwenog.
"Don't be a hypocrite G. That's what you look like a dinner." Lily turned to see a slightly irritated Alice and frowned.
"Alice?" she said quietly. Alice looked up at Lily and Lily saw there were tears in her eyes, "Alice what's wrong?"
The boys, Hestia and Gwenog all turned to look at Alice, who looked up at the ceiling, a tear leaking out of her left eye. Lily, realizing Alice wasn't going to say anything in front of the boys, stood up and walked over to Alice. She held out her hand and Alice sighed and took it. The two girls walked out of the Great Hall.
Frank, sitting down next to Hestia in Lily's recently vacated seat, looked over at Lily and Alice, "What's wrong with Alice?" James looked at Frank's genuinely worried expression, and recognized it as the expression on his face whenever he thought Lily was hurt.
"We don't know," Sirius said, looking after the two girls. Frank looked around helplessly and then drooped his shoulders. Gwenog, seeming to notice what James had, walked over to sit on the other side of Frank and rubbed his shoulder.
"I'm sure its nothing," she said, and Frank turned to give her a small smile.
"Alice what's wrong?" Lily asked quietly, sitting on the stairs in the Entrance Hall, which lead to Ravenclaw Tower. Alice sat down next to Lily and leaned on her shoulder, bursting into tears. Lily put her arms around Alice and muttered soothing words to her. Once Alice could, she pulled out a letter from her robes and handed it to Lily, continuing to cry into Lily's hair. Lily kept one arm around her friends' shoulders, and held the letter in the other.
Alice,
I am so sorry to inform you that your father has been killed in an attack by the Death Eaters. He was a great man, who fought valiantly, and I will deeply miss him.
Please come to my office after breakfast, and I will floo you home to attend his funeral. You may stay as long as you want to.
My deepest apologies, may he rest in peace,
Professor Dumbledore
Lily sat frozen, not wanting to believe what she was reading. She had met Alice's father on a number of occasions. She had even stayed with them, along with Hestia and Gwenog, during the Christmas of fourth year. She felt tears leak out of her eyes and hugged Alice tighter, the girls crying together.
"Go," Lily managed to choke out, "Go to Dumbledore's. I'll tell them what happened," she said quietly, and hugged Alice one more time, "Do you want me to come with you to Dumbledore?" Alice shook her head, wiping at her eyes. Lily held her friend for a few minutes, and then watched as Alice walked up the stairs.
Lily turned around and walked back into the Great Hall, tears still leaking down her face. James turned around as Lily entered the hall, and stood up when he realized she was crying. He walked over to her and looked down at her worriedly. She held the letter, which Alice had left with her, towards James and he took it.
Lily watched as his face paled and he turned up, his shocked hazel eyes meeting Lily's watery green ones. Lily burst into tears again, and James pulled her into a hug. The whole hall was now watching the Head Boy and Head Girl. Sirius, Remus, Gwenog, Hestia and Frank stood up and walked over to them.
"James, move Lily," Remus said gently, as the whole student body turned curious eyes towards them. James, realizing what Remus meant, led Lily a sobbing Lily from the Great Hall. Hestia and Gwenog's eyes had filled with tears as they watched Lily cry. She was the strong one, and they had rarely seen her cry; the only other time they had seen her cry was after Severus had called her a mudblood.
Lily sat in a crumpled, crying heap on the stairs she and Alice had been sitting on, and James pulled her into his lap. She cried into his shoulder, and he rubbed circles on her back. He handed the letter to Remus, Sirius reading over his shoulder, and watched as his friends' faces drained of blood as they finished reading the letter. Unable to say anything, Remus handed the letter to Gwenog. Gwenog let out a groan, and as her eyes started to water, Remus put his arm around her shoulders.
Hestia, however, flew into a rage after she finished reading the letter, "HOW DARE THEY!" she screamed, stomping her foot. Lily snapped her head up at the noise, her face wet with tears, "THEY CANT DO THIS!"
Lily tried to get up, and James, realizing what she wanted, stood up, helping her up. Frank was leaning against the wall, staring at the letter, not knowing what to do. Lily walked slowly over to Hestia.
"Hest," she said quietly, but Hestia ignored her.
"NO LILY! THIS IS UNFAIR!" she screamed, "HE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS!" she said, tears staring to stream down her face. Lily nodded, not realizing her tears had started again, "He was so sw-sweet, and he let us s-stay over, and came to say hi at Kings Cross, and-and," but Hestia couldn't go any further. To everyone's surprise, Sirius walked over to Hestia, pushing Lily out of the way, and hugged her. Sirius, who usually ran in a different direction when a girl started crying, Sirius, who didn't seem to have a sensitive side, Sirius, who everyone could count on to try and make people laugh, pulled Hestia into a hug and let her cry into his chest.
"Where's Alice?" Frank said in a choked voice. Lily turned around to look at him.
"She went to Dumbledore to go home," Lily said looking up the stairs which Alice had gone on. Frank started running up the stairs, "Frank where are you going?" she yelled after him. Frank didn't respond so Lily followed after him, and she heard James run after her.
Frank ran all the way to Dumbledores office, and Lily, panting, clutching at a stitch in her side, followed. James, who was breathing hard, jogged over to the statue in front of Dumbledores office and said the password. Frank looked over at him, and nodded, and the three of them went up the staircase. Frank pushed the door open to see Alice standing in the fireplace, holding a handful of Floo powder. Alice and Dumbledore's heads snapped around as the door flew open and Frank, James and Lily walked in.
"Alice," Frank said, and walked over to her, pulling her into a hug. Dumbledore looked at Frank and Alice, a small smile on his face, and then turned to Lily and James, who were looking at Frank and Alice. He turned back to Frank and Alice and cleared his throat.
"Alice, do you want Mr. Longbottom to accompany you?" Alice turned to look at Dumbledore with wide eyes.
"Is he allowed?" she asked, her voice sounding strangled from crying.
"Well if he wasn't allowed I wouldn't have just offered," Dumbledore said, smiling sweetly at Alice, who smiled, "Mr. Longbottom, do you want to accompany her?" Frank nodded at Dumbledore, "Very well, take some powder," he said, offering him a pot of Floo powder. Frank smiled at Dumbledore gratefully, and then turned to Lily and James.
"We'll tell everyone," James said, and smiled. Alice walked over to Lily and hugged her.
"I'll see you in a few days," Lily said, stroking Alice's hair, "Come back when you're ready." Alice squeezed Lily tighter, smiled at James, and walked into the fireplace.
There was a flash of green light and the two of them were gone. Dumbledore pulled off his glasses to wipe his eyes, and then turned to Lily and James.
"Love is the only way to win this war," he said, gesturing to the fireplace, referring to letting Frank go along. Lily smiled at Dumbledore who gave her a smile back, "Alice's father was a good friend of mine, and he worked in the Order so we were working together on a number of occasions. He was a great man and did not deserve this fate."
"Order?" Lily asked curiously, looking Dumbledore. Dumbledore sighed and sank down into his seat.
"It's about time I tell you about the Order of the Phoenix. James, I'm sure you know about it?" he said, turning to James, who nodded. Dumbledore nodded then turned to Lily, "The Order of the Phoenix is an organization set on defeating Voldemort," he said, "Alice's father was doing something for the Order when he was killed."
"Anyway, I have said too much. You may be excused from all your classes today, as well as your friends Ms. Jones, Ms. Jones, Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin," he said, and stood up, "I must go inform the teachers about the situation."
Lily and James turned, exiting the room, and walked back to the Entrance Hall, where their friends were still standing. They turned as they saw the two of them approach and Hestia ran over to Lily.
"What's going on?"
"Frank went with Alice to the funeral," Lily said, smiling at her, "And Dumbledore excused all of us from our classes today."
"Are you going to class?" Gwenog said, walking over to them.
"I am," Lily said, and Gwenog smirked.
"Of course you are." Lily rolled her eyes.
"It's the second day back!" she said, exasperated, much to the amusement of everyone, "I'm not going to miss my first NEWT day of any of my classes."
"Lily has a point," Remus said, walking over to them, "I'm going to go to class." Lily smiled up at him and, the two of them turned around to head to their first class of the day, followed by James, Sirius, Hestia and Gwenog; Herbology.
Hey guys. Sorry about the sudden Death Eater activity, but the story needed something to remind the characters of Voldemort. Hope you're liking the story. If you have any suggestions don't hesitate to post them in the reviews.
(: