It's MissChievous13 here again ^_^
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Chapter 4- The Past
Lily pushed the door open the rest of the way and gasped. The ceiling was arched high in a dome with a circular window at the middle where Lily imagined light poured through in the middle of the day when the sun was high in the sky. There were tables and shelves covered in different silver objects; some with spindly legs, some with pointy protuberances, and others that would look at home in a board game. There was a stone basin decorated in ancient runes. A phoenix was sitting on a perch close to a large oak desk. There was a fireplace and more books than Lily could count scattered around the room. But the most striking of all the objects in the room, were the pictures on the walls. Each picture had a name and a date at the bottom of it. Lily noticed that they were all pictures of past Headmasters and Headmistresses, who all started gossiping excitedly as Lily and James entered the room.
"Oh look, it's the Potter boy again." A particularly proper looking witch said as she looked down her nose through her spectacles.
"Yes, first day of school, and he's already in trouble," chuckled the witch's friend, who looked much friendlier.
"Quite so, but who is the girl?" asked a very old looking wizard.
"You can all be quiet now, or I shall have to move you next to Sir Codagan's picture," Dumbledore chuckled. All the pictures silenced themselves at once, except for the one right behind Dumbledore's desk.
"You wouldn't do that Headmaster," the picture sneered.
"Oh, really, Phineas?" Dumbledore challenged.
"Alright, fine," said the picture. The wizard in this picture looked slightly familiar. He had jet black hair and menacing stare. Lily read the words at the bottom of the picture, "Phineas Nigellus."
Professor Dumbledore first turned his crystalline blue eyes towards James. "I understand that you've had a rough summer." James nodded. "My condolences."
Lily watched the scene, not understanding what Professor Dumbledore was talking about.
"But, I trust that you are ready to take on your responsibilities here?"
"Yes, Professor Dumbledore, sir," James nodded.
"Good to hear it. Now, Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore interrupted Lily's questioning thoughts, as he motioned for them to take a seat in front of him. "I suppose you are wondering why I called you here." Dumbledore began. Both Lily and James nodded their heads yes. Dumbledore proceeded, "I have called you here to discuss your living quarters. As you know, Voldemort has been slowly rising for the past seven years, and I have reason to believe that he has recently recruited a significant amount of followers. His power is increasing at a dangerous rate." Neither Lily nor James spoke, "Even so, it is customary for the Head Boy and Head Girl to help the teachers and myself if any trouble breaks out."
"Are you saying there's trouble now, sir?" Lily asked.
"No Ms. Evans, not yet." Dumbledore said with a sad smile. "But because of this threat, the staff and I feel that the Head Boy and Head Girl need to be close enough to contact within seconds if there is ever any trouble. We wish we wouldn't have to do this, but with the attacks increasing and Voldemort rising, we feel it is necessary for the security of the students and the school. Therefore, in order to increase security, yet provide each of you with your privacy, we have decided that beginning this year and ending as soon as Voldemort is stopped, the Head Boy and Head Girl will have their own small dorm."
Blinking her eyes in an attempt to wake herself from what was obviously a horrific nightmare, Lily shook her head. "But…but…" she stuttered in disbelief. She looked to her fellow Head for some reinforcement, but James' face had more of a "This is too good to be true!" look than an outraged "How on earth could this be a good idea" look.
"I'm sorry Ms. Evans, but the decision is final. There will be a small common room for the two of you to share. You will each of course have your own bedroom and your own small bathroom. In the event of an attack, there will be a short passageway from your living quarters to my office. It can be used at anytime if there is ever an emergency."
"Professor, are you sure about this… I mean—"
"Ms. Evans, I trust that you and Mr. Potter are mature enough to handle this situation. I promise, it is nothing against either of you, and it is not intended as a punishment, but it is a precaution for the school as a whole." Dumbledore continued as he rose from his seat. "The entrance to your dorm is just in fact one story above my office beneath the picture of Sir and Lady Zanath of Edinburgh. I'm sure you will have no trouble finding it." Dumbledore said with a look at James.
"Professor? What is the password?" James asked.
"Oh! Right, I almost forgot. The password is Sweet Tarts." Dumbledore smiled seeing the amused face of Lily turn to him. "Yes, I know. They are a muggle candy which I have grown quite fond of." Dumbledore then motioned them to stand up, "Well, I trust you both are tired and need your rest. First day of classes tomorrow! I wouldn't want you to fall asleep! Off you go then."
"Good night, Professor Dumbledore," Lily and James said at the same time, one in a state of overall horror, and the other instilled with a new hope for the start of the new year.
"Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, good night." The door swung shut behind the school's newest roommates.
After a couple minutes of walking in quiet with her new roommate leading the way, Lily broke the silence, "What on earth were they thinking? Have they completely lost their minds?"
"No offense meant, Lils, but I think Dumbledore knows what he is doing. I mean, he is one of the smartest people alive and one of the most amazing wizards ever to have lived," James reasoned. "I think we should trust his judgment, don't you?
Lily was shocked by James' reasoning. She stuttered a little and finally said, "I think that's the most intelligent thing I've ever heard you say. I suppose we should trust him, but it doesn't make me happy with his decision. He probably laughed when he knew we would be Head Girl and Boy. I mean it's not exactly a secret that we can't stand each other." Lily smirked.
James sighed, "Wrong again, Lily. It's you that can't stand me, but I get along with you just fine." James paused, took a deep breath as if he were steeling himself, ruffled his hair and said, "In fact, I think you are intelligent, beautiful, and great company. I can't think of anyone else that I would rather have as Head with me." James grinned sheepishly.
Cursing her fair skin and her mother's genes, Lily felt a blush spread across her cheeks. "Potter, you really need to stop with all of the lies. It's not healthy for a person to constantly be in such a deep state of untruthfulness." Lily said with a sarcastic air, hoping she was able to cover up that she was just a little bit flattered by him. "Really, I wouldn't be surprised if your heart was completely shattered from all of the lies you tell."
"Oh Lily, when will you learn. The only stroke of untruthfulness I have in me is whenever I pull a prank," James explained. "Other than that, I tell people what I honestly think of them." He finished with a smile
"Unless of course, the prank is that you pretend to tell someone what you think of them to only make them feel like a fool in the end, right?" Lily retorted. "Do you see what I mean? You can never tell if you're telling the truth of just pulling another prank."
Now it was James' turn to stutter. "I guess I hadn't thought about that. But, even though you won't believe me, what I say about you is how I truly feel. Sweet Tarts!" James spoke the password in front of the picture of Sir and Lady Zanath.
Lily rolled her eyes and said, "Okay Potter, you rationalize however you want, but I'm sorry, I'm not falling for it." She turned to see that their entrance was not exactly like their Gryffindor Common Room, where the picture swung like a door. Instead, the picture pushed backwards a couple feet to reveal a hidden staircase leading under and behind the wall. What was more striking, was the couple in the picture itself. Lily had heard of Sir and Lady Zanath in History of Magic. They were famous for starting aid organizations for poor and sick muggles. But she had not seen a picture of them until this moment. The man was tall and thin with black hair. His posture demanded attention. But Lily thought that if you put glasses on him, he might very well look like the boy next to her. And the woman, had dark red hair that reached to her waist. Though Lady Zanath's hair was very curly, and her eyes were round instead of almond shaped like Lily's, the two resembled each other too much for Lily's comfort.
James was unaffected by the picture and trounced down the stairs two by two reprising the Hogwarts School Song.
"By the way, what was the Headmaster talking about? You had a rough summer?" Lily followed James down the steps. "You got caught pulling a prank?"
As she waited for James's answer, she took stock of her new shared living quarters. There were two small two-seater sofas which were perpendicular to each other. One of the dark red velvety sofas was in front of the fire and its twin was on the left. There were also two squashy red and gold patterned armchairs on the other side of the fireplace. There was a table with two chairs behind the couch on which a piece of parchment was placed. James snatched it before Lily had a chance.
"Dumbledore says that the passage to his office is just over there behind that bookcase. All you have to do is say…" James stopped.
"Say what?" Lily asked, wanting him to tell her quickly so she could take a shower before they had to patrol. "Come on, spit it out already!"
"Asphodelus Albus?"
"Okay, and what's so strange about Asphodelus Albus?"
"Ass," James howled with uncontrollable laughter, "and Albus in the same sentence! Ass-phodelus Albus! What in the world is that anyways?"
"Wow, how old are you? It's the name of a plant. We've used it before in potions. Don't you remember anything from class?"
"Ass!" James gasped through his fit. "Albus! Why would he choose something like that?"
"Maybe so you would actually remember it!" Lily shouted over James' out of control laughter. She rolled her eyes and proceeded up to her bedroom, dreading the point in the future when James might actually have to use the password.
As she climbed the stairs she let herself laugh a little when she heard James yell, "You said 'ass'!" through his fits of laughter.
Her door was to the right at the top of the staircase. It was a beautiful mahogany door with a silver plaque which resembled the one Dumbledore had on his door, except that Lily's said "Head Girl: Lily Evans" in the same loopy cursive. Lily opened the door and was genuinely surprised by the room. Unlike the usual dorm rooms, this room looked like it had been personalized just for her, Lily Evans. The walls were her favorite soft apple green, and the bed was covered in beautiful forest green sheets with white embroidered flowers along the edges. It was still a four-poster canopy bed with matching hangings around it, but it was a full-sized bed, instead of the regular twin size.
Just like every year before this one, Lily's things been brought up to her room, with her owl Scarlett in her cage on Lily's new nightstand. She removed her shoes and walked across the soft delightfully plushy carpet to let her owl out of her cage. Then she squished over to the window to let Scarlett out to go to the Owlery. There was a knock at the door, and Lily turned to see James in her doorway, tiptoeing the line between the dark red landing carpet and her's.
"Hey Lily, when are we—Wow! Cool bed!" Lily stood frozen at the window with her mouth hanging open, as James ran and jumped onto her bed with all the reckless abandon of a child. Careful not to hit his head on the canopy, James began jumping. "Wow! I'm going to invite Sirius in here just so we can jump on your bed! This is loads of fun! You should try it!" James called to Lily.
"Potter! Get off my bed!" Lily screamed. "And what do you think you're doing in my room? Get out!"
Looking like the Quidditch World Cup had been canceled, James hopped off the bed, and made his way to his own room. Then he turned, stuck his tongue out at Lily and bolted into his room to avoid the pillow she launched at his head.
About twenty minutes later, Lily came down the stairs, finally showered, and sat on the couch with a book, intending to wait for James, but finding that he was already there. "Ready to go, love?" James asked.
"Who are you talking to?" Lily asked innocently.
"You of course!"
"Who? It can't be me because I'm not your love. And there's no one else in this room, so your love is yourself?"
"Ouch, Evans. I do not have conversations with myself." James announced. "Yes, you do! No, I don't! Yes, you do! No, I don't!" James fought with himself.
Lily couldn't help but giggle at James's utter stupidity and began walking out of the room. "Are you both coming?" Lily shouted back at James who was still arguing with himself.
James flashed her his million-Galleon smile and chased her up entrance stairs into the deserted corridor. But once they got into the public scene of the hallway, Lily's laughter felt awkward, so she stopped and went into Head Girl mode.
Together they walked in silence, keeping eyes out for unusual things and enjoying the feeling of being back inside the walls of Hogwarts.
"Evans, can I ask you a question and you'll answer honestly?"
"Sure. There you go, you asked a question, and I answered honestly," Lily grinned. They were now roaming the corridors on the second floor, making sure no students were out of bed and all was well within the school.
"Ha, ha, very funny," James cracked. "Seriously, will you answer the question I have after this one?" James asked her again, this time carefully choosing the wording of his question.
"I guess," Lily replied. She believed in always telling the truth, but then she remembered that this was James Potter, and she added, "Well, depending upon the nature of the question."
"Okay," James braced himself, "Why have you never given me a chance? I mean ever since first year, it's as if you never liked me. As if you hated me right away. I just wanted to know what it was that I did that's caused you to hate me so much."
Lily was not expecting this question or anything like it for that matter. She was expecting him to simply ask her out again. So, she couldn't think of a good excuse not to answer the question. "You really want to know the truth, Potter?" Lily asked, and James nodded his head yes. "Do you remember our first year? I mean all of it? It was right after the Welcome Feast, and Malfoy started fighting with me in the Entrance Hall. You and Sirius not only jinxed my best friend, but you acted like I was a baby. Like I couldn't take care of myself. Like I was some weak newborn kitten in need of your protection."
"Lily, they were going to hex you from behind."
"I don't know what you think you saw, but Severus would never do that to me. He was my only link to the magical world before coming to Hogwarts, and he was my best friend."
"Well he wasn't exactly nice to me either."
"You mean, he wasn't nice to you after you insulted and embarrassed him in front of the whole school? Jee, I wonder why that was." Lily could feel her temper rising to a dangerous point, the way it did every time they discussed Severus. So she tried to take a breath and calm herself. "The point is, I think that Severus and I would still be best friends, if you hadn't treated him so terribly," and now her eyes started to tear like they did every time she thought about her lost friendship.
"Lily," James began in an annoyingly comforting tone, "he worships the dark arts and is on his way to becoming a Death Eater. Somewhere inside you know that."
"How dare you!" Her temper reached its boiling point in an instant. "Severus is a decent guy! He's just lost now, and he needs a friend! But I can't be his friend anymore thanks to you and your stupid bullying! Thanks to you, he thinks I am his enemy!"
"But if he's on Voldemort's side, he is your enemy," James persisted.
Lily whipped her hair out of her face and fixed James with a stare, her eyes slit with danger, "Just because he is a Slytherin, doesn't mean he is on Voldemort's side."
"Lily, you're so smart, but you can't see what is right in front of you," James frowned.
"What's in front of me is a selfish lying pranking jerk, who has everything he wants handed to him, and is threatened by everything he can't understand." Lily paused to recite the password to the picture at the entrance of their dorm. "You asked me why I never gave you a chance, but I did give you a chance. I gave you a chance and you threw it in a cauldron and torched it, again and again and again. You asked me why I hate you, and now you have your answer." She expected to turn and see a hurt James Potter staring back at her with remorse etched into every pore of his skin, instead, she turned to see a James Potter with pity and sympathy in his eyes.
"I'm trying to help you see the truth about Snape before it's too late and you get hurt. I never want to see you get hurt," James pleaded.
"I. Don't. Need. Your. Help." she said through gritted teeth. Then she walked down the stairs and didn't stop or breathe until she reached the safety of her new bedroom.
Throwing herself onto her bed, Lily's thoughts spiraled out of control. They twisted and turned touching on every corner of her mind. They were so tangled she couldn't sit still, so she began pacing her bedroom. She went from hating James, to being thankful that he saved her, to feeling sorry that she never heard him out, to being so angry that she had lost Severus because of him. Severus. He needed her. He needed her help. He was going down a dangerous path, and she could pull him out, but he wouldn't take her hand. He believed that she was on James' side.
Lily remembered the time in their fifth year when James had mercilessly tortured Severus. She had not come to his aid that time because he had called her a "Mudblood," and told her that he didn't need her help. Lily felt so hurt by him. She was so angry that she backed off, leaving James to taunt Severus in the cruelest way yet. Since that day, their relationship had been rocky at best. She tried to talk to Severus. She tried to explain that she wasn't siding with James, but that he had hurt her. She apologized again and again, but he never said sorry, and she didn't understand why. Often, she would still catch Severus looking at her with an expression the very opposite of his hateful words. And every time they did talk, all he would say was she should just go be with Potter, since she had already chosen him. Potter.
Lily plopped herself back on the bed. What was she going to do about Potter. She was up and down, and right and left, and backwards and sideways and up-side-down-ways. Sometimes he could be as sweet and innocent as a little puppy, but most times he was as dumb as Malfoy. Although she outwardly maintained that she liked James no better than acromantulas, she was extremely conflicted inside. She didn't like him, but she didn't hate him. But now, she was starting to understand his point of view. He had just been trying to help her. Even if Severus hadn't been ready to hex her, Malfoy probably would have. She should be thankful to him for that but-
Lily heard a knock on her door. She went and opened it to see James on the other side of the door. He was holding a toothbrush and wearing red, flannel, pajama pants and no shirt. Forcibly, Lily dragged her eyes away from his flat stomach, up to his face.
"Uhm, Lily?" James asked looking at her as if she were about to fall over.
"Huh? Sorry, I'm just a little- what do you want?"
"I was wondering if you had some toothpaste I could borrow. I sort of forgot to pack mine," James said squinting his face. "Sorry, to bother you—"
"I have some in the bathroom, hold on." Lily went to retrieve the toothpaste, and she heard James.
"Wow! Your room is way different than mine. I've got red walls that actually sort of match the color of your hair." he ended slowly.
Lily handed James the toothpaste. "Only, you can have the stuff you use. I don't want it back."
"What?" James stopped mid-application.
"You said you wanted to borrow some toothpaste, which means you would have to give it back to me. But I don't want the stuff that was in your mouth back," Lily smirked.
James laughed, "Right, grammar point of the day. Anyways, thanks Lils! You're a lifesaver!" handing the tube back. He was about to walk back to his room, but stopped. "Are those your parents?" James asked, pointing at the picture on her nightstand.
"Yeah, that's mum and dad," Lily responded.
"Wow, you and your mum look so much alike! I've never seen your parents before." James walked across the room to get a better look. "But Lily, I think your picture is broken."
"What? Oh no, did the glass get broken in my trunk?" Lily worried as she grabbed the picture and inspected it. "I don't see anything wrong with it." Lily concluded.
"Well, can't you see? Your parents… they aren't moving. It's like they're just stuck there!" James exclaimed as if it were unheard of.
Lily couldn't help but laugh. "My parents are muggles! Wow, I know we learned that in Muggles Studies. You really don't remember much from classes. Remind me how you became Head Boy?"
"Umm…no… uh. Maybe I fell asleep that day or something. No matter," James shrugged, his clear eyes no longer on the picture but on Lily's face. She smiled, embarrassed by the look in his eyes for the second time today.
"Anyways," Lily shook her head breaking their eye contact. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen your parents either."
"Well, I think I have a picture of them in my room if you want to see."
"Sure, why not?" Lily agreed. She followed James into his bedroom and had to do a double take when she saw the color of his walls. When James was bent over his bag, looking for his picture, Lily put a bit of her hair on the wall, and found that the walls were in fact the exact shade of dark red as her hair. She straightened up when James turned around and handed her a small photo album.
"Here you go. You can look at that, I'm just going to go brush my teeth before my toothpaste melts off."
Lily took the album and sat on James' bed, turning from one page to the next. James looked just like his dad, and Lily chuckled to herself seeing that the crazy hair must be hereditary. His mother was beautiful. She had long wavy black hair and James' hazel eyes. But Lily was surprised by the fact that both of James' parents looked to be as old as her grandparents. Just then James sat next to Lily on his bed looking over her shoulder at the pictures.
"That one was taken when my parents went to the Ministry of Magic in America. I was in fifth year at the time. Instead of taking me along, they left me with the crazy neighbor," James recalled shaking his head.
"Why was your neighbor crazy?" Lily asked.
"She loved pigs. She collected them. All the towels, pictures, dishes, wallpaper, even the toilet paper holder, was covered in pigs. Then she bought a real pig."
"That is crazy," Lily agreed.
"That's not even the craziest part." James laughed, "She dressed it in toddler clothes and called it 'Baby'. Pushed it in a baby stroller everywhere she went." Lily laughed along with him. "And then, she would have me ask 'Baby' questions, and she would use spells to make it look like 'Baby' was answering," James let out a deep warm chuckle that made Lily's face feel warm.
Lily continued flipping through the pictures and noticed that Sirius was in a lot of them. "You and Sirius must be real good friends. He's in almost all of the pictures." Lily giggled. But then she realized that James was staring at her instead of at the pictures. "Potter?"
"Huh? Sorry, I was listening," James shook his head.
"I said that Sirius is in almost as many pictures as you are."
"Oh yeah. He basically lives with us because he hates his family." James explained. "His family is really into dark magic, and Sirius…well Sirius obviously isn't. And when his parents found out he was put in Gryffindor, it pretty much finalized their disownment of him."
"That's awful! I never knew that," Lily said. James did not elaborate on the subject, so Lily continued paging through the pictures. She got to a particularly funny picture of James' dad holding him upside down and was laughing again. "How come your parents look so old? Do you have a thirty year old brother or sister that I've never heard about?"
James hesitated. Lily watched his face as she waited for his answer, and she noticed it had lost its usual assured arrogance, "They are a lot older than most parents. They had me late in their lives, I guess you could say." Lily opened her mouth to ask just how late, but James cut her off. "Umm…Lily?" James rubbed the back of his head. Lily closed her mouth. "It's almost 2:30am. Maybe we should get some sleep." James informed her, though he looked as if the suggestion of sleep was causing him pain.
"Wow, where did all the time go? See you tomorrow," Lily said as she handed James the album. James followed her to the door. And when Lily reached her own door, she turned and said, "Good night, Potter," feeling a genuine smile on her face.
"Good night, Lily," James responded. "Sweet dreams," James added, and as she closed her door, she thought she heard him whisper, "Love," but after a second, she couldn't be sure it was real.
Thank you so much for reading this chapter :)
I'd really like to know what you think about it.
I'm not asking to boost numbers or confidence or anything like that.
Your thoughts and opinions really matter to me, and they help shape me as a writer as well as my writing.
So, thank you so much, in advance, for writing me a few of your thoughts.
THANK YOU!
~MissChievous13