Author's Note: So I am back much earlier than anticipated. I got bored on my days off, so all you lovely people who have decided to follow/favorite my story (you guys are awesome, by the way) get an extra chapter this week! It's time for the start of Sixth Year!
ALSO: Thank you thank you thank you to those who have followed/favorited/reviewed so far! It literally makes me so happy to know people are enjoying this story with me! The more people review, the more inclined I am to keep going, because otherwise I will feel like you people aren't overly interested, so let me know what you think, even if it's constructive criticism!
Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. I'm just a huge fan.
Chapter 4
The last two weeks of summer passed mostly without incident. Lily was thoroughly looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, particularly to be away from her sister, and especially after seeing her friends in Diagon Alley. Living with Petunia made it difficult to ignore the fact that her sister hated Lily and everything she was, but when Lily was at school, she could mostly forget, for a time. Lily already had everything packed that she would need; she had been completely packed even a week before her Diagon Alley excursion, and had simply placed all of her purchases at the top of her trunk.
"Lily-flower, are you nearly ready?" Alfred Evans called up the stairs.
Lily scanned her bedroom one last time, patted her back jeans pocket to make sure her wand was still there, and then began heaving her trunk out of her room.
"Coming daddy!" she yelled between yanks on her trunk.
She couldn't wait until she was of age and could levitate the dang trunk through her house. Or charm it so that it was light as a feather. Anything would be better than this. She was breathing heavily by the time she made it to the base of the stairs.
An arm reached over her shoulder and assisted her in lifting the trunk. Lily turned and grinned at her dad, a grey-streaked brown-haired man in his late forties, with pale blue eyes and smile lines around his mouth. Lily couldn't remember a time her father was ever truly unhappy; he was always laughing at something or other, and he tried to pass down that happiness to his daughters. Lily liked to believe she was like her father in that respect, though Potter had done his damnedest over the years to prove her wrong. Lily's mother, Mary Evans, was standing at the door, keys in hand and purse on her shoulder, had given Lily her pretty, dark red hair and almond-shaped green eyes. While her mother now wore her hair short, cut just at her shoulders, Lily's wavy locks fell to the middle of her back, though she was wearing it in a loose braid for the day.
"You didn't forget anything, did you dear?" her mother asked as she pulled the door open.
"I don't think so, mum," Lily said, holding one end of her trunk up while her dad grabbed the other and they maneuvered it out the front door and over to the car. "And if I did, I'll just send Athena with a note and you can have her bring it to me." Lily went back to shut the front door and heard the television going in the next room, and knew Petunia must be in there pretending Lily didn't exist still. Lily sighed and called out, "Goodbye Petunia!" She faintly heard a grunt in reply, and shrugged, figuring that was all she would get.
Mary frowned and looked towards the house as though she was going to yell at Lily's older sister.
"Don't bother, mum," Lily said quietly as she climbed into the back seat of the car. "It's fine, honestly. You can't make her be nice to me, and even if you could, I don't want you to. She made her decision a long time ago to cut me out of her life, and I am a big enough person to let her do it, no matter how much it hurts."
Alfred and Mary shared a look, but decided not to push their youngest daughter on the issue. They never approved of the way Petunia reacted to Lily being a witch, but Lily was right, in a sense: they could not change either of their daughters, even if they wished they would both get along like they did when they were little.
"Alrighty then," Alfred said as he sat behind the steering wheel. "Here we come, King's Cross. Let the Sixth Year begin."
It was a tradition by this point for her father to say something silly or cheesy about Lily returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
First it was to make her less nervous.
Then it was to comfort himself while letting his daughter go for another whole school year.
And now it was for Lily, to make his daughter happy.
And she laughed.
"Come on, it's almost time!"
"Lily, we have nearly a half hour until the train leaves," Marlene said in a flat tone of voice.
"And if we wait, we won't get a good compartment, or we'll have to share one with people we either don't like, or don't know," Lily said determinedly as she pushed her way through King's Cross and made her way casually through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾.
Marlene rolled her eyes, but followed the rushing Lily through the hidden barrier, and then kept her eyes trained on the redhead as her friend continued to push through the crowd of families saying their goodbyes on the Platform. Lily and Marlene had met up at the entrance to King's Cross. Both of their families had errands and meetings to get to, so they couldn't go all the way to the Platform with them.
"Marlene! Hi!" she heard someone call from somewhere in the crowd. Marlene craned her neck, trying to find the source of the voice. "Over here!" it said again, and then Mary was flung out from between the masses, nearly falling over, and letting out an "Oof".
Marlene laughed, helping Mary steady herself.
"How have you been the last two weeks?" Marlene asked as they both continued on their quest to reach the train.
"Bored," Mary stated. "Couldn't wait to be back here. England is so boring after my France adventures."
Marlene nodded in agreement. By the end of the summer, there were no more local Quidditch matches, and so she was stuck at home, counting down the days, and then hours, until going back to Hogwarts. Marlene saw Lily climb onto the train finally, and hoped there was a close compartment. It royally sucked carrying their luggage everywhere.
"Oh! I see Emmy up ahead!" Marlene said, pointing out the tall brunette for Mary. She called out to their friend, and then was ran into by someone. "Ouch!" Marlene said angrily, rubbing the sore spot the person just created on her lower back. "What where you're going!" she whipped around and yelled, then narrowed her eyes. "Black. Of course it was you."
"Hey, it was not my fault this time!" Sirius claimed, palms up and facing Marlene in a supplicating gesture. "Tell her Prongs!" he said, nudging said person in the ribs.
James smiled guiltily, his hand immediately going to his hair to muss it up. "It was actually my fault," James said in apology to Marlene. "I sorta wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
"Yeah, you were too busy watching Evans get on the train, mate," Peter said from behind James. The little round-faced boy peered around his friends to wave hello to three of the four girls in their year and House. "How's it going everyone?"
"Oh, hi, Pete," Emmeline said as she joined the group. "I didn't see you over here. Hello James, Sirius."
Peter just shrugged good-naturedly.
"Way to throw me under the bus, Wormtail," James said with a frown.
Marlene raised her eyebrows at her longtime friend. "Seriously, James? You think as soon as you said you weren't paying attention I wouldn't know exactly what you were paying attention to?" This earned sniggers from the rest of the group.
"Hey, where's Remus guys?" Mary suddenly asked as she continued towards the train.
"He'll be along," James answered her, following suit and trudging towards the train. It was difficult walking in a group through the crowd with everyone having trunks and animal cages. "He had some stuff to take care of last minute at home." And by that, he meant that the full moon was just over the previous night and so it took Remus a little while to recuperate.
"Alright then, we'll just see you lot later, then," Marlene said as she started pulling her trunk on the train behind her. "Lily's on there somewhere waiting for us. I don't want to keep her waiting too long."
"I have an idea!" Sirius exclaimed.
"You always have an idea," James said.
"And sometimes they are good ones," Pete said.
"But usually they just mean trouble for us," James finished.
Sirius half-frowned, half-glared at his friends. "I was going to say, we should all just share a compartment! It'll be a tight fit with all of us, but we can make it work! Remus and Lily need to go to the Prefect meeting and do rounds for half the trip anyway."
"I-" James started, then paused. "That's...actually a good idea, Padfoot."
"I'm fine with it," Mary said, earning nods from Emmeline and Marlene. "So who wants to ask Lily?" Everyone looked away from each other and continued pulling all of their luggage onto the train.
"I'll do it," Marlene finally relented as they started walking down the aisle, looking in the different compartments for the redhead. "She already hung out with three of you for a few hours, how different can a train ride really be?"
About halfway down the train they found Lily already sitting cross-legged in a seat, her trunk in the rack above her head.
"Knock-knock," Sirius said as the girls were filing in. "Mind if we join you ladies, Lily?"
Lily looked up from the window in surprise. "Oh, I wasn't expecting you. Hey Sirius. Potter." She nodded to each, then motioned them inside. "Hi Peter. Where's Remus?"
"Running a little late, but he should be here any minute now," James answered her.
"I hope he doesn't miss the train. That would be such a pain," Lily said, wrinkling her nose at the thought. James looked stunned that Lily had actually responded to him, instead of ignoring him completely like she had at Diagon Alley.
Finally, some progress! he mentally cheered.
It took a while for everyone to get situated. They had to push everyone's trunks up into the racks one by one before they could all sit down. And then, once everyone was comfortable, Remus showed up, and they had to rearrange some things again in order to make room for his stuff.
"Ugh, great timing, Moony," Sirius complained with his friends trunk in his face. "Couldn't get here two minutes earlier, could you mate?"
"I almost walked right by you all," Remus said with a chuckle. "I thought there were too many people to be the right compartment." He gave one final push and the trunk settled in the rack. Then he collapsed on the ground next to Mary; the other six had claimed actual seats, and they might be able to squish eight people on them, but it wouldn't be comfortable. "Nice to see you all again."
There were only five minutes left until the train would be leaving, so they spent the time catching up, and filling Peter in on their Diagon Alley Adventure, as Sirius was calling it. He had a much more colorful version to share with a gullible Peter than Lily remembered, but it was amusing to her none-the-less. She found herself laughing a lot, which in all her previous years at school she had never thought would happen. It was a delightful surprise to her, to realize she could in fact get along with the Marauders. And she secretly found herself hoping it would stay this way: easy, happy, and silly. She wanted that happiness in her life.
"They were all ganging up on me, Wormtail," Sirius was saying, "It was awful! And James and Remus wouldn't even help! They're going to let the girls force me to go to the library and lock me in there!"
Lily laughed, again. "Sirius, I swear the library is not a torture chamber, no matter who led you to this misconception," Lily said, throwing a playful, accusing glare at James. James could swear he felt his heart stop in that moment. Lily Evans was teasing him. "And they said they would only lock you in there if they wanted to get me out."
"A threat is a threat, Lily!" Sirius claimed. "I don't want to go to the library!"
"Which is exactly why we shall use you to get Lily out of it," Emmeline stated. "You'll annoy her to death and she won't be able to focus, so she'll be forced to take a break! It's a pretty fool-proof plan, if I do say so myself."
"Except that you told her what you're plan is," James interjected. "The best of plans are secret ones."
"Really, it's like you guys are amateurs at planning mischief or something," Remus said.
At that moment the train's whistle blew, signifying it taking off. Lily stood and straightened out her shirt; the green of it almost perfectly matched her eyes. She held out a hand for Remus, helping him to his feet as well.
"We'll be back after lunch, most likely," Lily said to the group.
"Try not to die of boredom at the meeting," Sirius called to them. "I'd miss you too much! Don't leave me with these people!"
Lily and Remus chuckled as they left.
"I'd miss you too, Sirius," she called back, and found that she meant the words she said in jest, "I promise I won't die."
James continued to be surprised when Lily kept showing up to hang out with his group of friends. She returned with Remus on the train, of course, but her friends were all there, so that was a given. But then she sat with them at the Welcoming Feast. And they all walked up to Gryffindor Tower together, since neither Remus nor Lily had received the duty of leading the First Years up there.
James was sure that when he woke up in the morning things would go back to how they used to be, with Lily either ignoring him and his friends (except Remus on occasion) or yelling at them for something they did.
He was wrong.
Lily was the early riser of her friends. When she made it down to the Great Hall for breakfast, instead of steering clear of the Marauders, she made directly for them.
"Mates, I think I'm still dreaming," James whispered. "Or do you also see Lily walking over here?"
"Uhh, Prongs," Sirius said, sitting across from his best friend. "You were with us all day yesterday, right? When Lily decided we were actually alright and she could be friends with us?"
James didn't blink, in case this new reality disappeared. "I thought it was a fluke!" he said, still in a whisper.
"I told you she wouldn't hate you if you just stopped asking her out," Remus said through a yawn.
"Oh, is that what you said?" Lily said sedately as she sat next to the werewolf. Remus gave her a sleepy grin. "I guess I have you to thank then."
"Any time, Lils, any time." Remus continued eating sleepily.
"Huh," James said. "If I had known not asking you out would get you to talk to me, I would've stopped ages ago."
Sirius snorted and Peter straight out laughed.
"It's true!" James retorted.
"Sure mate, just keep telling yourself that," Sirius said through a mouthful of toast.
Lily wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Mind your manners, Sirius. Didn't anyone ever tell you it is neither polite nor attractive to talk with your mouth full?"
Sirius shrugged and said, "I might've been told once or twice, but my house training never stuck." This earned a round of chuckles from his friends, though Lily didn't understand exactly what was so funny about his statement.
"So how are you feeling, Remus?" Lily said quietly. "I never got a chance to ask yesterday. Too many people listening in."
Remus sent Lily a grateful smile, while the other three boys looked at her incredulously.
"I'm tired, but that's about it. Thank you for asking."
"Since when does she know?" Sirius demanded in an outraged whisper. He didn't want to say anything too loudly to draw attention to their conversation.
Lily raised her eyebrows at Sirius, giving him a look of disbelief. "Seriously, Sirius?" James chuckled despite the seriousness of the current topic. He couldn't help it, not with that word choice.
"Yes, I am Sirius," he said, feeling obligated to. "Now answer the question."
Lily rolled her green eyes. "Beginning of last year. I'm not stupid, you know. Spent a month or two with Remus on patrols, and I was bound to figure it out."
"I would've been surprised if you didn't," James said confidently. "Welcome to the club, Evans."
Lily grinned at him. "Thanks, Potter." The rest of the girls in their year from Gryffindor were finally making their way into the Great Hall. Lily threw a hand up in the air to wave them over, and then froze and looked away from the door rapidly.
James spun in his seat to see what would make her act like that and sneered when he saw Snape. His sneer quickly turned into a satisfied grin, though, when he noticed Snape taking in Lily's seating choice. James swivelled back around to pay attention to his friends, figuring that annoying Snape would just make Lily angry with him. He definitely did not want to make Lily angry with him, not now that she was willingly hanging out around him.
"Good morning everyone," Emmeline said in that airy way she developed after starting Divination, like she was half here and half in some otherworldly plane. She took a seat across from Lily and on Peter's left.
Mary and Marlene just grunted hellos before collapsing onto the benches, Marlene next to Sirius, and Mary on James' right. The newcomers piled breakfast onto their golden plates, not yet ready to be awake, but knowing they only had so much time until lesson plans would be distributed and classes would begin. Very quickly, it seemed, the Great Hall was flooded with people. All the students needed to be present at this morning's meal in order to receive their schedules. From then on out, all meals were basically come as you please. As soon as the teachers appeared, the Heads of House all began circulating their tables, handing out schedules and making adjustments as needed. For the Sixth Years, this meant removing or adding classes based on what scores the students achieved on their OWL exams.
Thanks to Lily, Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline passed Charms and Potions with flying colors, though Emmeline decided against continuing Potions. It was potentially her least favorite class. Emmeline was taking the minimum of five classes for her NEWT level: Divination, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy.
Mary had been taking Divination out of empathy for Emmeline but had decided to drop it going into NEWT level classes. This gave her a total of six courses: Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy. Mary was the only one of her friends to continue with Arithmancy after OWL level. She was considering getting involved with a Bank of some sort, and figured Arithmancy could only help with that pursuit.
Peter had not managed to pass his Potions OWL with a Exceeds Expectations, so SLughorn refused to let him continue with the subject. This put him down to five courses, since he had managed to get an 'E' in his other classes, mostly thanks to Remus tutoring him. He passed Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Astronomy. He and Emmeline were the only ones in the group of Gryffindors to be continuing with Astronomy.
Marlene was also taking six courses, but she had decided on sticking with Herbology, because she was hoping to apply to the Auror program when she was graduating and was told it was a highly favored subject for that field. She needed at least five NEWTs, and with the five core classes, as well as Care of Magical Creatures, and help from Lily when it came time for studying, she figured she might just make it into the Auror program.
Little did Marlene know she had the same exact schedule of classes as Sirius and James. Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures. And Lily and Remus were the least sane of the group, taking on seven NEWT subjects. They had all the same as Marlene, Sirius, and James, but on top of that course load, they also signed up for Ancient Runes.
"You're both insane," Sirius declared after looking over Lily and Remus' schedule.
"Maybe, but we are happy in our insanity," Lily said. "And look at that, I get to start my semester with Potions!" She almost jumped for joy out of her seat at that last bit.
It was Double Potions, for those of them taking the class, and Lily was the only one excited about it. Everyone else groaned. They had a whole two hours of hearing how wonderful Lovely Lily was at Potions to look forward to first class at Hogwarts.
"Well it's not my fault the rest of you don't like Professor Slughorn," Lily said indignantly. "Just because he appreciates my natural skill in his subject does not mean you should hate me for it."
Marlene and Mary smothered their laughter at Lily's proclamation.
"Sure, Lily, he's just praising your skill," Marlene finally said when she could speak without laughing.
"He's not just enamored with you and your flattery of him," Mary added.
Lily frowned at her friends. "Just because I know what he likes doesn't mean anything," Lily claimed. "I picked most of it up from older members of the Slug Club when he first asked me to come to one of his parties."
James gave her a sideways look. "You actually go to those things?" he asked her. "Wait, nevermind, that really doesn't surprise me, Lovely."
Lily mock-glared at him. And James was again surprised that she took his teasing her so well. "I don't see why any of you don't. Professor Slughorn actually has quite a few good contacts outside of Hogwarts. I've been meeting with Ministry Officials since Second Year. Some even know me by name now."
Mary, Emmeline, and Marlene had already heard this argument many times. They had been teasing Lily about it since she started going to Slughorn's parties. The Marauders, however...this was a new experience to them, and they were having a blast teasing Lily about it. The teasing continued as six of the eight of them made their way to the dungeon classroom. When they got there, they were surprised to find a note on the chalkboard telling them not to take any seats, but rather to wait at the front of the classroom for further instruction.
"Ah, welcome, welcome!" Horace Slughorn said excitedly as he walked into the classroom. "Welcome to NEWT level Potions, Sixth Years!"
Apparently it was a good year for Gryffindor, because six of them had made it, two Ravenclaws (Andrew Stebbins and Bertram Aubrey) and four Slytherins (Lily only knew Snape, Mulciber, Avery, and Rosier).
"You all might be confused as to why I did not want you taking seats straight away," Slughorn began, earning a few nods from around half the class, "and the answer to that question is that this year is the start of some very gruesomely difficult Potion-making. NEWT level magic is infinitely harder than OWL level, and I want all of you to have the best possible chance of making it through to the actual NEWT exams. SO! This being the case, I have decided to assign you all partners."
Lily nearly groaned. She hoped they weren't assigned partners at the same level as them, as that would only give her two options: Remus or Severus, and she wasn't hopeful enough that Slughorn would have noticed her change in friendships. She would rather have to work with almost anyone but Severus at this point. Maybe not any of his Death Eater friends, but still. In direct contrast, Snape was looking hopeful: maybe if they were forced to be partners, Lily would start to see why they had been friends for so long again…
"So I have paired you with someone who is opposite to your level in this class, based on your previous years under my tutelage," Slughorn finished. Lily let out a relieved sigh, while Severus visibly deflated. "Avery and Mulciber, you will be partners this year. Severus, you will be paired with Evan Rosier. Stebbins, you will be with Marlene McKinnon. Aubrey, you will be with Mary McDonald. Lovely, you will be working with Mr. Black, try and keep him in line, will you?" Lily shared a grin with Sirius, who she was starting to quite enjoy at this point. Besides, as she said, anyone was better than being paired with her ex-best friend. "And that leaves Mr. Lupin working with Mr. Potter. Do see if you can keep James focused, please, Remus. Now-" the professor waved his wand at the chalkboard "-get to work brewing the Potion on the board."
Where his previous instructions once were now resided the words "Elixir to Induce Euphoria". Apparently Slughorn wanted to start off with something cheerful. Lily and Sirius chose a table directly behind Remus and James, next to Marlene and Andrew Stebbins, and in front of Snape and Rosier, though honestly Snape chose the table after Lily and Sirius had already seated themselves.
"Alright, Sirius, can I trust you to gather the proper ingredients, or do I need to hold your hand for that as well?" Lily said.
"Ooooh, trying to hold my hand already, Evans?" Sirius retorted. "I knew my charms would work on you eventually."
Lily scoffed. "Please, Sirius, I have most taste than that. I would be holding your hand as a mother to her child and nothing more." Lily could see Remus and James bend over slightly in silent laughter, and smirked, pleased with herself.
Sirius pouted. "Fine. I thought you liked me better than that, Lilykins, but nevermind, I see how it is."
"Lilykins?" was all she said.
"Yup! I decided you needed a nickname that only I use, and Lilykins is going to be it!" Sirius declared.
"Alright Sirius, now go get the ingredients while I get the cauldron heated up," Lily said indulgently. She was secretly please with her new nickname. She had always thought Sirius mostly didn't like her because she was constantly rejecting his best mate, and getting a nickname from him that wasn't completely horrible was a step toward proving herself wrong. She was almost happy that Sirius would be her partner for the year. At the very least, he would be a great source of entertainment. And at best?
Well, they would see.