Chapter 4: Trip to The Broom Closet

2nd November, 1976

"Lily? Lily, wake up!" Ugh, no, I will not deign to react.

"Lily? Lily? Lily, Lily, Lily!" I'm a pro. I will not get up.

"Seriously Lily, I'm going to tickle you now." Ugh, stop lunatic, STOP. God, why is it so hard to get some sleep in this place? Never mind, no one can break this fortress. I am not getting up.

"Get up, Lily!"

"I'm up!"

"Wow, James, how did you do that?" says Alice.

"He didn't do anything. I got tired of you harassing me. Now, what is it you two?"

"We were just checking if you were alive. So, how are you feeling?"

"I was fine until you lot came and wrecked my sleep," I say.

"Oh Lilykins, you will take that back after the news James has for you," says Alice.

"Hmm...I'm not sure I want to know." Then Alice looks offended which she really shouldn't because she knows I'm not a morning person. Hold on…

What the hell is James freaking Potter doing in the girls' dormitory on a Saturday morning, staring at me in my faded Doctor Who night shirt which barely covers my thighs mid-way?! The stupid git! I frantically pull the quilt up to my neck and ask my roommates, "How did Potter into the Girls' Dormitory?! Also, it's my Potter-free month, so leave."

"Oh, I have my ways. Now, Evans, change quickly so that we can get down to business, because even you can't deny the awesomeness of the news I have," Potter says with a smirk.

He can't wait to see me in my night shirt, can he? What a desperate bloke! I stick my tongue out at him while Marlene, Alice and Mary are trying to suppress their laughter. Ugh! I tell Potter to wait in the Common Room and he leaves with a pouty face.

In exactly ten minutes, I am down by the fireplace waiting for Potter to start talking. He says, "So, Lily, I happen to know something about the tournament…"

I just blankly stare at him and give him a look while my insides are battling to know what he knows. What? You can't blame a girl for curiosity!

Then he finally says, "I know when the first task is."

I gasp and my heart leaps. Where did Potter find that out from, also before I did?! Wait, what? But, that means… "Potter, you didn't convince Dumbledore, did you? Did you?"

The entire Common Room becomes silent as I yell. Sirius grimaces and he and the Marauders quietly walk away which warns the others around about not being here while we fight.

Meanwhile, Potter is lost for words and an angry expression replaces his goofy smile as he says, "You're fucking unbelievable, Evans! Here I am trying so hard to help you and all you care about is my conversation with Dumbledore!"

"Well, I wasn't the one who went and put somebody else's name in the bloody Goblet of Fire!"

"Was I the one who chose anchovies over the Goblet of fire, huh, Evans? Don't try to pin this on me, it's your fault and you know it!"

"Potter, you promised me one thing, one thing, before I went back to the dormitory last night and you couldn't even get that right! You prat! Leave me the fuck alone, it is my Potter-free month!

With that Potter's mouth hangs open and I storm back to my dormitory, open the door and yell, "BLOODY FUCKING HELL!" as my frustration gets the better of me.

What was I thinking, trusting Potter? I can't believe I actually believed him last night. What good has ever come of trusting Potter? I've tried, haven't I? Thank God I didn't choose him over S—Nope, I'm not going to think about him.

You know what? I'm not going to think about him or my imminent death or anything depressing for that matter. I've got homework pending. I'll do that. I like the smell of the parchment and the way the ink looks on the paper. I guess I just like writing. Hmm.

It is technically my fault though isn't it? I never should have agreed to the stupid bet. I can't blame Potter for being… well, Potter. Ugh. Happy thoughts Lily, happy thoughts. Now, what was I going to do? Oh, yeah homework.

Charms… 'Cave Inimicum' is a protective spell, it can be assumed to keep enemies away—

"Lily!"

"Mary, I'm really not in the mood—"

"Lily, listen to me! Sophie Berger is here at Hogwarts and she wants to interview all the selected champions!"

"Sophie who?"

"Sophie Berger, the famous lady who writes for the Daily Prophet!"

"What? You mean the Sophie Berger wants to interview me? You're kidding, right?"

"No, I am absolutely not kidding. She's in the Great Hall, waiting for the champions. You'd better hurry, Lily. I don't think she likes waiting."

"But I can't go down there. I don't want to take part in the Tournament so I don't know what to say!"

"Everything will be okay, Lil. Just go down there and be yourself. Now go or I'll have to throw you out the window."

"Okay, okay. I'm going." Everything will be fine, I think as I start walking. I can do this. I can do this, right? Oh, who am I kidding? I'm going to fail miserably. I can't give an interview if my life depended on it. So many people are going to see this...

Oh, I'm here already, great! Time for the interview! Ooh Aleksander is here. (Did I mention he's hot?) and there's Jennifer (are you allowed to look that pretty?) and that's Eduard, (seriously why are all the candidates so attractive?), so that lady must be Sophie Berger. Whoa, she looks intimidating.

Er, why is she taking Aleksander into the broom closet? Is that allowed? What if she's molesting him or something? Hey, that's not legal. What the… does nobody see this?

Oh, they just reappeared. They look normal, although he looks a little flushed. Doesn't look like they did anything wrong… Now she's taking Edouard in the closet? Seriously, what is going on?

"Hi, I'm Aleksander and you must be Miss Lily Evans?" What? Is he talking to me?

"Er... Yes that's me - Miss Lily Evans - Er, I mean Lily. You can call me Lily."

"Oh wonderful, you can call me Alek. So, are you excited for the first task?"

Me? Not so much.

"Hell yeah! I am so excited. Ha-ha very excited." Awkward… Say something Lily, say something.

"Can I ask you something? Why did Sophie Berger take you into a broom closet?" Great question Lily, you just saved yourself from some embarrassment.

"Oh, for the interview. She er - she said it felt more private (?), if that makes sense."

"It really doesn't." Oh, he's opening his mouth to - what is that? What is he doing? Is he coughing or something? Oh, ooh, he's laughing! That's great! That is a weird laugh though. He looks like he's choking on something. But it's a minor setback. Who cares?

"Well I'm not exactly sure why she took me in the closet anyway, we would have been perfectly fine out here—" He's stopped because Sophie has just come out of the broom closet with Edouard. And she's looking for someone.

"Lily Evans?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Well, step right in." Into the closet? Okay?

Wow, this broom closet is really small. Honestly, it's even smaller than I expected. Wait, the fact that I'm here and she's here in front of me means that it really is time for the interview. My knees start shaking as realization sets in. We take a seat on a few stools and as she's asking me questions, her Quick Quill jots down my answers on a notepad.

"So, Lily, my name is Sophie Berger and I write for the Daily Prophet. But, of course, you know that. It's you who we don't know. So, are you ready to share?"

Yeah, alright.

It is ten minutes later and I'm right back outside with the other champions. Sophie's leaving and we're all getting ready to go back to our dorms and friends.

I'm sure Mary wants to know everything. I think it went alright. She asked me simple questions like how I was feeling after being selected and I lied through my teeth saying that I was excited. That's pretty much how our conversation went, her asking me questions and me lying blatantly.

Anyway, I'm only worried about the last question that she asked me, "So, who are you planning on taking to the Yule ball?" So, on the inside, I was like 'holy crap, I have to go the Yule Ball with a boy' but on the outside I was like "I haven't really decided yet. I'm more focused on the first task." I gave her a little smile and she bought the pathetic excuse.

I can't believe that this is actually going to be in the paper tomorrow and that people are really going to read it. What if they don't like me or they think I'm stupid or crazy or—let's not think about it.

All that matters right now is that it's over with and now I can go and write my Will, my last wish, and an apology letter to my all my friends for being such a careless person and dying because I didn't get a few anchovies.

2nd November, 1976

"Is she crazy?!" He exclaims.

"Who are you talking about, Snape?"

"No one," Snape lies to Lestrange.

"Fine, don't tell me. I don't give a shit anyway."

"It's Lily, she's taking part in the Tournament!"

"And we should care because…?"

"Because, we're going to mess it up and she might die!"

"Listen, Severus, nobody cares about that girl. She's a Mudblood—don't look at me like that, she is. And even if you care about her, do you want to be the one to go up to the Dark Lord and ask him to show mercy on a Mudblood?"

Snape shook his head.

"No? I thought not. Now, do both of us a favour and never bring this girl up in front of any one that we know. I don't want to die because you fell in love with a Mudblood."

"I'm going back to Hogwarts."

"Yes, we all are, but in time Severus."

"No. I don't care about the time; I'm going there to warn her."

"No, Severus. If The Dark Lord finds out, we'll all die."

"I won't let anyone else find out. I trust her. She won't tell anyone else. She chose me remember?"

"We'll see how trustworthy she really is."

"So you're coming with me?"

"Of course, if I let you mess up, we're all dying. Now come on, pack your trunk, Severus. We've got a train to catch."