"I still think you should have told him last night," Hermione said, sniffing sharply as she perused the morning's paper. "Eat your food."
"And I still think it's none of your business," Lily said, not even bothering to lift her fork from her bowl.
"You're supposed to be keeping him in the loop, not making me pretend you're asleep every night," Hermione said.
"It doesn't matter. I'll tell him later."
"But what does it matter, Lily?" Hermione asked. "I mean, honestly, you spent half of last year fantasizing about getting away from Hogwarts, and now you want to stay?"
"I guess so," Lily said, poking at her eggs.
"Oh, just eat, will you?" Hermione said. "You know Dobby is waiting to bring you seconds."
Lily glanced up from where she was sitting on her bed. Hermione was sitting at her desk (as in Lily's) working her way through her own meal (and a bit of light morning reading), dressed and ready to go to classes. Lily was still wearing her pyjamas and looking a complete mess. She felt like one, too.
"I'm not hungry," Lily said quietly, returning to poking her eggs around her bowl. There were potatoes and bits of sausage in the mix, too, something that she would have found completely amazing if she only had the appetite for it.
Hermione sighed and set her paper down. "I suppose you're skipping classes, then?"
Lily just nodded.
"I'll make you a deal, then," Hermione said, crossing her arms and legs to give herself some authority. "I won't stop you- I'll even tell the professors you've come down with a flu- but only if you eat that whole bowl."
"But-"
"You have to eat something, Lily," Hermione said, waiting patiently and glancing at their clock at the wall. "You've got ten minutes, then I've got to go. I'd hate for McGonagall to find out what you're doing."
"You don't have to threaten me," Lily said, sighing and taking a small bite of food.
"I'll send Dobby with lunch later," Hermione said, nodding satisfactorily once she was halfway through the bowl. "Try not to spend the whole day in bed, will you? You've got to at least try to come up with a plan before the weekend."
Lily shrugged noncommittally. First, she needed to get over the funk that was hanging over her mind.
"You can't avoid Snape forever, Lily," Hermione said, picking her bag up from her own desk. "You've got to tell Sirius this weekend, or you'll be right back to those horrible lessons."
They weren't really lessons, but Lily couldn't bring herself to argue against the description.
"I'll tell him," she said, taking another bite of food. "After Quidditch. I promise." Whether she was ready or not, she'd do it. She couldn't take any more private time with Snape. It only took him three days to push her over the edge this time around.
"There's an idea!" Hermione said, stopping at the door and giving herself a light smack on the forehead. "Honestly, why didn't I think of it before?"
"Think of what?" Lily said, nibbling on some toast.
"The game!" Hermione said, quickly walking over to Lily's bed and hopping up right next to her. Then, she rolled over to the end and leaned over it, Lily's cat watching her curiously from a top her wardrobe (and why he was up there, she had no idea).
"What about it?" Lily said, holding her bowl carefully so Hermione's quick rifling through her trunk wouldn't disturb the contents.
"We can use it!" Hermione said, making a satisfied sound and sitting up straight, Lily's communicative mirror held in one hand. "Here!"
"Hermione, I'm not going to-"
"I'm not saying tell him now," Hermione said. "Just invite him to the game. Flying always puts you in a better mood, right?"
"Right?" Lily said, taking the mirror carefully, one hand still balancing her bowl of food.
"So, just tell him after!" Hermione said. "Besides, having Sirius see you flying might help things."
"How is that?"
"You want to play Quidditch after school, don't you?"
"Err-" She had no idea what she wanted to do, really. Quidditch was just the most tempting of her current options.
"Well," Hermione said, "the professional teams don't keep a closer eye on any teams than they do Hogwarts, do they?"
"I suppose not," Lily said, running a thumb over the smooth glass and considering the option. There were other leagues for those not of-age, as well as other schools, but Hogwarts was known for producing the best players in the region.
"So," Hermione said, "if you want to go pro- which, after the game, you'll need to be adamant about- you'll need to stay here. Otherwise, the scouts won't take any notice of you."
"Alright," Lily said, nodding her agreement.
"Just invite him to the game," Hermione said, hopping back off her bed again. "Take one of those sick sweets Fred and George gave you to sell the flu, though, would you? And finish your food! I'll see you after classes!"
And without another word, Hermione was out of the room, leaving Lily with a task, a stone-cold bowl of breakfast, and a slightly-less depressive mood lingering in the chambers. It took Lily an hour to work up the courage to invite Sirius, since she expected him to want to linger in conversation and she just wasn't ready to answer many questions at the moment. To her great surprise, however, Sirius tried to end it as quickly as possible so she could get some rest.
"Honestly," he said, watching her have another coughing fit. "I don't know how you can even think of Quidditch right now. Got too much of your father in you, I suppose. Go see Pomfrey, will you? I'll be at the game, I promise."
Feeling a little better about herself after getting through the one conversation with Sirius, as well as after taking the curative side of the Weasley's little trick, Lily decided to bathe, dress, and attend the rest of the days classes after joining her friends for a brief lunch in the Great Hall. On her way out, drying her hair with a towel the old fashioned way just to feel something, she spotted the headline of the paper Hermione had been reading, and her mood considerably brightened.
SET THE DATE:
LUCIUS MALFOY TO WED NEW SWEETHEART IN JUNE
"Oh, he's been sulking all day," Ron said, smiling happily. "Hardly said a word at all during Transfiguration, even with you out sick and all."
"Brilliant," Lily said, smiling herself and glancing over to where Malfoy was sitting, surrounded by friends and still looking utterly miserable.
"Did you see the section halfway through?"
"Oh, you mean the part where they insinuate Malfoy's a bastard?" Lily said, unable to stop a little giggle from escaping.
"Guess we know why they split up now," Ron said, matching her energy. "Surprised any of his thugs are still sitting with him."
"Of course they are," Hermione said, sniffing. "Even if it is true- and I have a lot of doubts- his mum is still a Black. He still has more wealth and power than any of us will likely see in our lifetimes."
"Speak for yourself," Lily said. "I happen to currently be the heir to the mainline Black fortune."
"Wait, really?" Ron said, blinking slowly.
"Of course she is, Ronald," Hermione said, sighing. "Sirius doesn't have any children, does he?"
"Not yet, I suppose," Ron said, shrugging. "He's been getting awful chummy with that bird of his, though, hasn't he?"
"Don't remind me," Lily grumbled, her shoulders sagging a bit.
"Why do you think they're having the wedding on the same day as the Third Task?" Neville asked, brow furrowing as he perused the article.
"Probably to steal some of Lily's thunder," Ron said, shrugging again. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's in the middle of the year, not the end."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Lily and Hermione asked together.
"Not a thing," Ron said, very happily. "I wouldn't worry about any of it, Lily."
"Why would I be worried, anyway?" Lily asked, now thoroughly confused. "It's not like I'm getting an invitation to Malfoy's little Ball."
"Like I said, nothing to worry about," Ron said. "Say, I've been meaning to ask: what's with the hair?"
"What's wrong with my hair?" Lily asked, pulling at her short locks nervously.
"Just looks strange, is all. Since when do you wear it short?"
"You never said anything before now!" Lily said, digging around in her bag frantically for a hand mirror. Best she could do was the one she used to talk with Sirius, and she used it to check every angle of her head to make sure it was all sitting right.
"Because we thought it must have happened during the attack!" Ron said. "Like they shaved your head for Polyjuice or something. Right, Nev?"
"Leave me out of this," Neville said, quickly taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.
"See?" Ron said, pointing at him. "Only, then you kept it."
"I chose it myself, thanks," Lily said, still rubbing her head self-consciously. It all seemed to look nice. "And- err-"
"I happen to think it looks wonderful on you," Hermione said, taking a sip of her own juice and looking pointedly away down the table.
"Yes!" Lily said, pointing at her in support. "And Lavender liked it too, thank you very much!"
"Speaking of Lavender," Neville said, leaning in to cut Ron off, "she said she wants to talk to you but that you've been avoiding her."
"Blimey, mate," Ron said grumpily, "how come all the pretty birds keep coming to talk to you?"
"Probably because he's non-threatening and actually listens," Hermione suggested.
"I don't really want to talk to anybody, thanks," Lily said, eating more soup. "Just trying to get through the rest of term. No more dates, no more opportunities for being kidnapped and murdered, and that's just the way I like it."
"What if we wait right outside the room?" Neville said, gesturing to himself and Ron. "That way, there's no chance anything bad happens."
"But what if it's that Crouch bloke again," Ron said, mouth full of bread. "And what if he just grabs her-" he demonstrated by grabbing on to Lily's arm- "and then just disapparates? Then nobody'd ever find her."
"You can't disapparate out of Hogwarts," Hermione said, sighing deeply. "Just as you can't apparate into it. Otherwise he would have grabbed her ages ago, Ronald. Only elves can come and go as they please."
"Alright, fine, then, what if gets an elf? I mean, it's not like it's hard. Just takes a bit of coin, is all, and if Lucius Malfoy is working with him, then-"
"Can we stop talking about me being grabbed, thanks?" Lily said, pulling her arm free of Ron and ignoring the pit of anxiety in her stomach. "If it's alright with the rest of you, I'd really just like to get through Care. That'd be just the best."
"Right, so," Hagrid said, clapping his hands together half an hour later at the start of class, "I've taken the liberty of dividing the whole lot of yeh up into pairs. Not enough Skrewts, obviously- but our little babies are a bit busy, now, as a matter of fact- so we'll be working on somethin' else, instead."
Just my luck, Lily thought, standing right next to her partner of Lavender Brown. What was she even doing here? Lily thought she must have dropped the class ages ago. Her brain tried to convince her that Lavender must not actually be Lavender, and that it was all just another trick and Hagrid was Imperiused and fooled into pairing them up together. But that seemed completely ridiculous, and Hagrid's wink told her he just thought he was doing a huge favour putting her together with Lavender.
"Oh, wow!" Lavender said, putting a hand over her mouth when Hagrid brought out the Geminewts. "They're so cute!"
"They're a lot more than cute," Lily said before she could stop herself.
They were little white lizards that stood on their hind legs, two of their front legs connected as if they were holding hands, long tails that stretched across the ground and ended in a dark blue point. Of course, they weren't really holding hands; every Geminewt was a single creature (theoretically, anyway), connected physically by the digits. Some scholars argued they only shared one brain, and that the nerves just ran all the way down and through the connected limbs, but if you performed surgery to disconnect the two, they operated as normal newts would… up until they found each other and went right back to holding hands. They'd die if separated too long, but almost every record Lily could find on them seemed to believe that it was over loneliness more than anything. She happened to put a lot more faith into Newt Scamander, who liked to preserve wildlife, over Artemis 'Liverlicker' Jones, who preferred to rank creatures over how useful their body parts were for alchemy and potion making.
Hagrid set them about caring for the little lizard fellows. They hated to be separated from each other, but they also hated to be around others of their kind. As such, Lavender and Lily had to take theirs slightly into the border of the Forbidden Forest (always within eyeshot and earshot of Hagrid, at least) to prevent any scuffles from occurring.
"So, anyway," Lily continued her ramblings while offering the pair of newts a small, skinned pear, "All 'Liverlicker' ever even discovered was that their droppings are very useful in Pepperup Potion, but only if they've been fed peppers. See, it makes the duration of the potion last longer. One ounce of droppings for one hour of relief. They hardly needed to be dissected to find out that."
"I think they're cute," Lavender said, sounding fully uninterested in her companion's information.
Lily sighed. She should have known Lavender wouldn't get it. At least it was a better reaction than Ron would have given. He liked to poke fun of how much she knew about magical animal excrement.
"So, why are we feeding them pears instead of peppers?" Lavender asked to fill the sudden silence, brushing some hair from her face.
"Well," Lily said, glancing behind her just to make sure Hagrid was still visible and buy herself some time to figure out how deep into an explanation she wanted to go. "Err- so, all they really eat is fruits. It's all their digestive systems can really handle."
"Then why would anybody feed them peppers?" Lavender said, crinkling her cute face.
"Peppers are fruit," Lily said, pointing to a few peppers that they had in their little basket of food items. "They're just spicy, but the capsicum doesn't work on Geminewts. Just gives them a little tingle. They like it, actually. Try it." Lily held out a jalapeno for Lavender to take, but before the other girl could, one of the lizard pair jumped right up onto Lily's arm and snatched it from her palm with its little mouth.
"Aww!" Lavender cooed, watching the two lizards share a peppery feast. "Look at them! I love them!"
"Yeah," Lily said, thinking about how a certain girl 'loved' her hair, too, before telling her that she was disgusting and awful just a few hours later.
"Well, I suppose it's now or never," Lavender said as they neared the end of class time (Lily was in the process of packing up their fruit rinds and skins for composting).
"Listen," Lily said, trying to get ahead of it. "You don't have to say a thing. I know you were Imperiused. I don't want to-"
"I should still apologise," Lavender said, nodding in agreement to herself. "Honestly, I- the look on your face has been haunting my dreams. I didn't mean it, Lily. It's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"It's fine," Lily said. "You don't have to apologise. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up in the first place."
"Why did you get your hopes up?" Lavender said, her face crinkling in confusion.
"No reason," Lily said, trying to deflect. "You take the newts back to Hagrid, I should-"
"Oh, no!" Lavender said, raising a hand to cover her surprised mouth. "I- you thought I was going to ask you out, didn't you?"
"That's not-"
"I wasn't!" Lavender said, quickly grabbing on to her arm to keep her from leaving. "I just wanted to talk to you about something! I have no interest in girls."
"Well, that's just great," Lily said, pulling her arm free, heart sinking about twenty fathoms. "Thanks for this little chat, Lavender, really, but I need to-"
"I just wanted to tell you that- that I'm just like you!" Lavender said when she started lifting a leg to walk over a small bush.
"Come again?" Lily said, now thoroughly confused. "You just said you weren't."
"Not that way!" Lavender said, her face turning a bright red. "I just- err- do you mind coming back over here? It's just- I've never told anybody else, not even Parvati, and- well- I don't want anyone else knowing. Not yet."
"Probably shouldn't tell me then," Lily said, continuing to stand but at least moving a couple sets closer. "Why would you want to tell me anything?"
"It's not your fault!" Lavender said. "Anybody can see that much. And- and the papers haven't been talking about you as much lately! They've been all about that horrible Belby!"
"It's just a matter of time," Lily said, not bothering to point out it wasn't Belby, nor that they were currently focused on Lucius Malfoy's masquerade and wedding. "What did you want to tell me?"
"Well- err-" Lavender said, wringing her hands together nervously. "You know how you were born a boy?"
"I wasn't born a boy," Lily snapped.
"You weren't?" Lavender said, blinking slowly.
"Merlin, of course not!" Lily said.
"But- but the papers said-"
"The papers," Lily said, waving that off. "It was all rubbish."
"Really?" Lavender said. "I- I always thought that- well- that you were- err-"
"What, a freak, like everybody else always called me?" Lily said, laughing. "Did you forget they retracted the whole thing?"
"No, you're not a freak!" Lavender said quickly. "I- you were my hero, when I was little! I thought that you were just like- that you were- err-"
"That I was what?" Lily said impatiently, one foot drumming against the forest floor.
"I thought that- I thought that was just because you- err-"
"That I what?" Lily snapped, crossing her arms.
"Err- I- I think I should go," Lavender said, rising to her feet, her face completely red. "I- err- I'm sorry I bothered you."
"Yeah, me too," Lily said, stomping off with her bag of composting stuff.
She dumped it in Hagrid's bucket, where the rest of the fruit remains went, and then refused to answer anyone's questions on the way back to the castle. Even Hermione couldn't dig anything out of her later that night. Lily was too busy suffering silently through an essay for Arithmancy on the magical properties of the number '682,' something she'd already finished and was being forced to redo. Apparently, when the required length of an essay was meant to be six feet, turning in significantly less was inappropriate, even when it numbered 682 words exactly (which Lily really thought she'd get bonus points for, if anything).
It was hard to focus when she was clearly aware of the ticking clock on the wall right above her, as well as the fact that she was very late for her appointment with Snape.
"Well, he's bound to be angry, now," Hermione said when the clock approached ten.
"Yeah," Lily said, sighing. "Thank Merlin we've got Slughorn for Potions tomorrow."
"Maybe you better skip it anyway," Hermione said, quickly adding, "just in case!"
"Hold on- are you suggesting I should skip a class? Hermione Granger?"
"I just don't want Snape to catch you!" Hermione said, her face turning a bright pink. "I- I'm sure Slughorn won't mind!"
Lily shook her head, the tip of her quill tapping against her still empty parchment. "No sense in it. Why would he con Slughorn out of a class session when he could just march down here and knock on our door?"
"Maybe he's having mercy on you?" Hermione suggested.
Lily snorted. "Snape? Have mercy? You're more likely to let me copy your homework."
"If that's your way of trying to ask for my essay, you're going to have to be more subtle about it, Lily."
"It was worth a shot."
Lily skipped breakfast the next morning. She just wasn't willing to take the risk of Snape catching her and making her cry over her porridge. She didn't find him waiting for her during Slughorn's potions class, although she did find a pleasant surprise.
"No poison making today," Slughorn said, happily pulling on the very edge of his magnificent moustache. "As we approach the end of the year, I think we've earned a break. Today, you will be allowed to brew any potion you'd like. The one that impresses me the most wins a special prize."
"What's the prize, Professor?" Malfoy asked hungrily.
"All in good time, Draco, all in good time," Slughorn said, chuckling in a self-important manner. "There's only one restriction: you must choose a potion included in the fourth year textbooks or below. Some of you are too far ahead of your peers, and it wouldn't make a fair competition to allow you to roam free."
Lily crumpled up the ingredient list she was constructing herself and tossed it in the nearest bin, feeling like she was being unfairly targeted. She ignored their fourth year text entirely; she was sick of poisons, and the few in there that weren't one, she'd already done to death for her own amusement at the beginning of term. The main problem for her was that everything in previous years was just so boring now. By the time she finally settled on something, the rest of the class was well into their prep.
While gathering her ingredients from the public storeroom, she found they were out of silkworms. That was very bad. It was too delicate of an ingredient to reliably replace with anything else, but she'd just have to make do. Unfortunately, the only remaining worms were common earthworms, worthless for any potions above first year. She chewed at her lip worryingly while she looked for something suitable, shuffling through jars and bags, couldn't find anything, and then ducked as low as she could and pretended to search deep in the lowest shelf.
"Dobby," she whispered.
There was a pop as Dobby appeared in front of her, right next to a sack of Omniscient Onions, and Lily did her best to disguise it by banging her head on the shelf above her head and swearing (the latter of which wasn't even intentional).
"What can Dobby do for Hazel Potter on this-"
"Shh!" Lily hissed, clapping a hand over Dobby's mouth. "Dobby, I need you to get me some silkworms- dead, preferably- about a handful of them will do, and I need them in- err- about ten seconds?"
Dobby's eyes widened slightly, and then he disappeared with another pop, and Lily smacked the back of her head again, wishing she'd come up with literally anything else. Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to think before Dobby was back and she was forced to do it again.
"Are you alright, dear girl?" Slughorn called out from across the room.
"I'm fine!" Lily shouted back, rubbing the back of her head.
"Dobby has brought the-"
"Shh!" Lily hissed again, slapping another hand over Dobby's mouth. "I'm kind of cheating here, Dobby, please keep it down."
"Dobby has brought the silkworms for Hazel Potter, miss," Dobby said in what could hardly be qualified as a whisper.
"Send me the bill later," Lily said, eagerly taking the handful of tiny white worms. "And- err- I don't suppose you'd be willing to wait in here until after class ends? My head really hurts."
"Dobby will be needing a bonus, miss. It is awful dark in here, miss, and Dobby is not fond of tight spaces."
Lily didn't know whether to be proud that Dobby was coming around on Hermione's ideas of social justice and worker's rights or worried that he was figuring out how capitalism worked. At the very least, a looser purse was going to save her pain in the short run. Lily made sure to shut the storeroom door nice and tight before setting back to her desk, ingredients secured.
Lily hummed to herself throughout the potion making process. She was in her element. Ron, Hermione, and Neville knew better than to disturb her while she brewed, and in the fervor of the contest, nobody else was daring too, either. Even Malfoy looked more like his usual self, a greedy hunger set in his eyes as he stirred and worried at his cauldron. For once she had some peace and quiet, and she was going to make every second of it count.
"Time!" Slughorn called out near the end of class. "Back away from your cauldrons, please!"
Lily took one big step backwards, hands held behind her back, humming and smiling to herself. She really felt like she outdid herself this time, and she was positive Slughorn's prize would be hers. She watched while Slughorn made his circuit around the room, checking everybody's cauldrons, evaluating their brews, and offering advice and compliments.
"Well, Miss Potter," he said, rubbing his hands together as he approached. "What do you have for me today?"
"Sweet Sleep," Lily said happily. Chosen both because it was easy to make, and because she could really use some, at the moment.
"Interesting," Slughorn said, scooping out some of the golden liquid with a ladle and peering at it closely. "Your thickness is a bit abnormal. Too much African sea salt?" Slughorn took a big whiff. "No, you substituted it out, didn't you?"
Lily blinked slowly, her smile dipping.
"I didn't add any sea salt," she said, pointing to her list of ingredients. "I swapped it out for butterscotch and honey."
"Ah, yes," Slughorn said, giving the liquid a shorter sniff. "Interesting choice. Perhaps add a pinch of sea salt, next time, just to keep it on track. You've got too much sweet, and too little sleep, you see."
"I- I don't understand, sir," Lily said. "This is how I always make it. The extra sweetness helps you fall asleep faster and gives better dreams." Or, at least, it did for her.
"My dear," Slughorn said, smiling patiently, "for anyone with an abnormal sweet tooth, yes, I could see this working better. But, when brewing sleep aids and other medications, it is best to do so while accounting for the general populace. For instance-"
Slughorn lifted the ladle to his lips and drank deeply, emptying the deep vessel.
"For me," he said, smacking his lips together, "I just feel like I've had an excellent meal- or perhaps a dessert, for a more apt comparison. Fit enough for a nap, perhaps, but hardly a full night's sleep. I'm afraid this potion simply isn't up to your usual snuff. Miss Granger, let us see what you've got for me."
"What just happened?" Lily asked, turning to Ron as Slughorn moved on.
"Well, mate," Ron said, staring at Slughorn strangely. "I think you've just lost the contest."
The memory of the day's Potions class kept her awake that very night, as she stewed over not only what Slughorn said, but also what she could have done differently. It really shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, but she knew that she did a better job with her potion than Malfoy did with his. And, yet, he was the one that got to leave class with a set of deluxe chocolates straight from a Swiss chocolatier, and not her.
"Are you still upset?" Ron asked her the next morning. "Blimey, just give it a rest. You still scored higher than the rest of us did."
"She has every right to be upset, Ronald," Hermione said, glaring over at Malfoy when his group started up again.
"Oh, it's just so good," Pansy Parkinson said as loudly as she could, popping a big lump of chocolate into her mouth.
"Just focus on the match, Lily," Ron said. "You get to play Krum!"
"Wish I could be as excited about it as you are," Lily said, sighing and taking a bite of her eggs.
"Listen," Ron said, leaning in closer, "I shouldn't be telling you this- Angelina would kill me if she knew- but I figured out his weakness when we played last time."
"Really?" Hermione said, snorting. "You found the international Quidditch star's weakness, when nobody else could?"
"It's actually pretty obvious, when you're up there with him," Ron said proudly. "I just think nobody's been able to capitalise on it, is all."
"And you did?"
"Course not," Ron said. "But Lily? She might be able to."
"Oh, you're being ridiculous."
"Am not!"
"What is it?" Lily asked, scooping more egg into her mouth and shutting up her arguing friends.
"Right," Ron said, leaning in again. "Pay attention when he flies; he lists left."
"That's it?" Hermione said, scoffing.
"It's huge!" Ron said. "Tremendous, even!"
"How?"
"Because!" Ron said. "If you're in a headlong race for the Snitch, now you know that he always angles himself left!"
"So?" Hermione said.
"So! So? So- so, now Lily knows what to expect in Krum's flight patterns, and it gives her an edge!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Krum is a professional. I'm sure he's not going to lose over something as unremarkable as that."
"But it's-"
"Give it a rest, Ron," Lily said, taking her final bite of eggs.
"But-"
"It is good information," Lily lied. "But I don't plan on beating Krum in a head-to-head. I lose those, nine times out of ten, even with a better broom, and I don't trust my luck."
"What are you planning, then?" Ron asked incredulously.
"I suppose you'll just have to find out," Lily said, winking and clapping both him and Neville on the shoulders. "See you at the game, chaps. Sirius wanted a word before the game."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Hermione asked, already starting to rise.
"No, I think it's best if it's just me," Lily said, giving the three a little wave as she jogged out of the Great Hall.
She found Sirius at the gate to the grounds, coming down the long slope from Hogsmeade. After a brief exchange of greetings and a hug, Sirius joined her in walking towards the Quidditch Stadium, while Lily nervously laid out her reasons for why she needed to stay at Hogwarts.
"Alright, I get it," he said, laughing as they stopped near the entrance. "You want to play Quidditch. I suppose I'm just supposed to ignore all the training sessions you were skipping, then?"
"That's- that's different!" Lily said. "That's just because I've had to focus on the tournament!"
"You really want to play Quidditch?" Sirius asked after a long stretch of watching the crowd filter towards the stadium.
"Yes," Lily said, nodding enthusiastically to hide her real reluctance.
"You're sure?" Sirius said.
"Yes, Sirius. I'm sure."
"Alright," Sirius said reluctantly. "I'll think about it. What brought all this on, anyway?"
"Err- actually, there's-" Lily took a deep breath. "There's- there's something I need to tell you. After- after the game, preferably."
"Then, we'll talk later," Sirius said, giving her one last hug. "Good luck up there. Try not to let any bludgers crack your skull open, yeah?"
"I'm not a first year anymore, you know," Lily said with a dignified sniff. "My injuries come from dragons, these days."
There was a nervous tension in the dressing rooms, as well as a general loathing that Lily could physically feel coming from the girls she'd gotten benched. Lily changed into her uniform and tried to ignore them, storing her usual school robes in her cubby and hanging them up, boots stashed below shirt, skirt, and robe. Properly dressed in green and silver, she followed the rest of the team out onto the field after Alderton's short, rallying speech. She lined up across from the Durmstrang team, just as was expected of her, and Alderton and Krum walked forward at Hooch's command for the captains to shake hands.
And then Krum did something Lily never expected in a million years and walked straight past Alderton entirely to stand across from her.
"I have been looking forvard to this all year," he said, holding out his hand. "It is a shame this has been our first opportunity to play each other. You fly vell."
"Err- same here," Lily said, awkwardly shaking his hand and ignoring the look of loathing Alderton was giving her, let alone the laughs and jeers she was getting from the crowd. "You should probably shake her hand, though. I'm not the captain."
"Your captain is of no concern to me," Krum said, scowling slightly (and Lily couldn't help but notice how Alderton's face flushed upon hearing that). "But, of course, I must observe the proper protocols."
Krum turned, gave Alderton a stiff and brief handshake, and then returned to his team lineup.
"You better win, Potter," Alderton hissed under her breath as she took back up at her side. "Or you and I are going to need to have a little chat."
"Mia, I wasn't trying to-"
"Save it," Alderton said, kicking off hard when Madam Hooch blew her whistle.
"AND THEY'RE OFF!" Lee Jordan shouted into the wind. "Draganova takes possession of the Quaffle, passes it to Grigorov who- OH! Classic Potter, there. Try not to hurt yourself, Lily! We'd like to see more than one game out of you this year! Zabini takes possession of the Quaffle, and-"
Lily rose from her dive, having just used her body to physically block a pass from a Bulgarian player. She did a quick scan of the territory below her, in case the Snitch snuck down, then turned her gaze skywards to-
"OH!" Jordan cried out. "Good roll, Lily!"
Lily swore and righted herself properly, craning her neck backwards to keep an eye on Krum, just in case it was the Snitch he spotted, choosing to believe he wasn't trying to cause her bodily harm. She could have sworn she saw the bugger smirking as he turned to charge at her again.
Lily wasn't going to allow Krum to copy her own style, even if he was just having a laugh. She pretended not to notice him coming at her and then, at the last moment, rolled and kicked out at-
"OH! KRUM'S HURT!" Jordan shouted, just a second after the heel of Lily's boot collided with the tip of Krum's nose. Lily kept rolling, righting herself automatically, and intended on giving the stadium another quick scan when she heard a quick scuffle from the commentator's box.
"Oi! Knock it off!"
"FOUL! I CALL FOUL!"
"Mr. Karkaroff!" That one was McGonagall.
"She cannot do that!" Karkaroff continued, Jordan swearing while he tried to regain control of the mic. "I call foul!"
"Piss off, you muppet, I'm trying to-"
"MR. JORDAN!"
"Sorry, Professor, but he's- Oi! Knock it off!"
"Foul!" Karkaroff cried out once more, right before it sounded like the microphone was dropped onto the ground.
Hooch gave a sharp blow on her whistle, delivering a warning to Lily and a penalty to Durmstrang. Lily turned to argue but then decided against it and continued her patrol around the stadium, allowing the jeers from the Slytherin students to settle the matter for her. It was their culture to play dirty, and she was just following suit. One of the Durmstrang players flew forward to take their penalty shot, and Lily had a wicked idea.
She flew forward and knocked the Quaffle out of the air just as it left his hands by kicking it as hard as she could, sending a rude gesture in the general direction of the commentator's box when she heard Karkaroff start up again. That earned Durmstrang two more penalty shots, which she disturbed in exactly the same way, just daring Hooch to challenge the rules and try to remove her from the field. Only her Captain had that right; Seekers couldn't be removed for any other reason than bodily injury.
Hooch just glared at her and allowed play to continue, ignoring the jeers from the Durmstrang students and the magnified protests of Karkaroff. Krum stayed nearby while Lily flew off to look for the Snitch, and she felt like he was watching her more than he was the field of play. She couldn't help but feel like he was testing her, but she was more than happy to let him waste his time. A quick glance in his direction told Lily everything she needed to know: he was flying the newest Nimbus, not a Firebolt. Perhaps the Bulgarian national team didn't allow him to keep it, perhaps he just didn't want an unfair advantage. It didn't matter, really.
Lily decided to give the man a run for his money, to see how he could really fly. When Bulgaria gained possession of the Quaffle and neared the Slytherin goals, she dove straight towards them and stretched out her hand.
"OH!" Jordan shouted. "POTTER'S SEEN-"
Lily glanced behind her and spotted Krum following, but not nearly fast enough.
"-THE SNITCH! SHE'S GOING TO-"
The Bulgarian player tossed the Quaffle, and Lily rolled, pointing her broom in the opposite direction, back up towards the sky.
"What is she-"
Lily kicked the Quaffle before it could even reach Mia Alderton, and just as Krum was passing her. It sailed straight towards him, but he seemed to be expecting some sort of trick. He spun, too, using his broom to guide the Quaffle back into the hands of the same Durmstrang Chaser.
This time, when the Chaser threw the Quaffle, it sailed right past the very confused Alderton, netting Durmstrang their first goal of the game.
Lily swore to herself, as that wasn't quite how she wanted it to go, and soared back upwards to look for the Snitch. She supposed it was presumptuous of her to think she could fool someone with far more professional experience. She was trying to formulate another plan when she was interrupted by Hooch's sharp whistle signaling for a timeout.
"What gives?" Lily asked, landing next to the other Slytherin players.
"What is wrong with you?" Alderton immediately snapped, her face red with rage.
"Come again?" Lily asked, trying to keep calm instead of matching the other girl's mood. It wouldn't do to get into a screaming match in front of school and visitors.
"I'm the Captain here, Potter, not you," Alderton said, poking her in the chest with a sharp finger. "You need to get up there and worry about the Snitch and nothing else. The rest of the team doesn't need you to do their jobs for them."
"But-"
"And stop giving Durmstrang so many penalty shots," Alderton said, mounting her broom. "You're making us look like a bunch of trolls. Just do your job and catch the bloody Snitch."
Lily stood on the ground, jaw clenched, as the rest of the team followed after her, wondering why Alderton even bothered asking her to play if she wasn't going to be allowed to do as she normally did. She looked over at Krum and his team, and the other Seeker offered her a nod of solidarity. She took a deep breath, mounted her broom, and then kicked off the ground, her mind fully made up.
Slytherin scored six times during the next half hour, with Durmstrang only scoring once. They should have been losing by quite a lot (as Durmstrang really was very good), only, Lily wasn't very good at doing what she was told. She continued running interference during both normal gameplay and penalties, all the while Karkaroff continued admonishing her over the mic (Lee Jordan long since stormed off in frustration). Alderton wasted all but their final timeout calling Lily down to scold her, but Lily just smiled and ran down the clock. If she was going to play, she was going to do so while being a very public menace.
And the entire time, Krum continued observing her interfere with his team, right up until he suddenly rose into the air while Lily was trying to knock a Beater off his broom (the man may or may not have been using his bat as leverage to keep her away). Then she was forced to chase after him, swearing to herself over the din of rushing wind, Karkaroff shouting some sort of commentary below in a language she didn't understand.
She wasn't going to make it in time. She had the faster broom, but Krum fooled her into thinking he wasn't paying attention to the game, and he had too far of a head start. Lily could see him closing in on the golden speck, could see him reaching out to grab it, and the closest she was going to get was right at the tail end of his broom. It was at that moment where it felt like time was slowing down, and like her mind was thinking a million things all at once, that she noticed Ron was right; he did list slightly to the left, and there would be a slight moment, right before he could grab the Snitch, where he'd need to correct over to the right, which happened to be right where she'd positioned herself.
So, Lily reached out and grabbed the end of his broom, and then yanked him backwards as hard as she could.
Lily could tell he wasn't ready or expecting that, because he fell from his broom and began freefalling back to the ground below. He didn't even make the slightest noise of surprise, either; he just fell straight past her with a confused look on his face. Briefly, very briefly, Lily considered the fact that she could just ignore him and grab the Snitch herself. She stared at it hungrily for a full second, awfully tempted to do just that. Surely, with all the grown wizards below them, someone would be able to slow Krum's fall.
But then the crowd was screaming, and Lily felt crummy and turned her Firebolt downwards, still holding Krum's broom in her left hand.
She caught up to him halfway to the ground, but while trying to hand him his broom, his flailing limbs accidentally knocked it out of her grip and sent it tumbling below them. Then they were both swearing, although Lily couldn't understand Krum's. Lily reached out and grabbed Krum with one hand, while using her other to pull up sharply on her broom and slow their descent. Krum used both of his to grab on to her arm for dear life, and she could feel her shoulder socket straining and threatening to pop out.
"Fuck, you're heavy," Lily said, groaning from the effort of supporting Krum's weight. She could feel her Firebolt shaking under her, too, up until they came to a sudden halt, floating in the air and both breathing hard.
"Thank you," Krum said after, with great effort, Lily pulled him up on to her broom.
"You're welcome," Lily said, knowing full well his near-death experience was entirely her fault. Having an international Quidditch star put his arms around her back while they slowly descended towards the ground (since Alderton called their final time out) was an odd experience, to say the least.
"Interesting maneuver," Krum said when he was fully on the ground. "Vot do you call it?"
"Err-" Lily said, looking over at the Quidditch Captain who was currently stomping over to her. "Don't really have a name for it, to be honest. Could you excuse us?"
"I see vhy you vere once the team captain," Krum said as Alderton reached them. "You fly very vell. I am looking forvard to the rest of the match."
"What were you talking about?" Alderton said, watching Krum move to his own team with pure loathing on her face.
"About how I saved his life," Lily said, ignoring that she was the one who jeopardized it in the first place.
"Right," Alderton said skeptically. "Well, get off the field. I'm benching you."
"Come again?" Lily asked, turning her head fully around to look at her.
"You almost killed Krum," Alderton said, gesturing over to the opposing team. "Hooch just awarded Durmstrang five penalty shots. You're done. Get off my field."
"You can't!" Lily said. "We'll lose if I don't-"
"I'm the Captain, Potter," Alderton said, pointing at herself with her thumb. "Not you. Me."
"If you send me off, we lose," Lily said, her face growing hot.
"I don't care," Alderton said. "You've already made us look like a huge bunch of pricks. I'm not putting up with it anymore. You're off the team. Get off my field."
"I almost had it!"
"I've had it, Potter! You're done! Get off the field."
"You can't be-"
"Smith!" Alderton shouted towards the bench. "You're on! Get over here!"
"Fine," Lily said, turning on her heel. "Fine! Go ahead and lose, then, Captain. Just don't go blaming me for it."
Lily could hear students booing as she stormed off the field, but she wasn't sure if it was to mock her for being sent off or Slytherin showing their rage at her dismissal. Durmstrang was definitely the ones cheering, at least. Lily shot their section of the stands a rude gesture just as she entered the tunnel to the changing room, trying to calm herself down with a series of deep breaths.
She had no idea how she was going to sell Sirius on staying, now that she didn't have Quidditch, and she'd already gone and told him that she needed to talk. She wasn't going to be able to play that off, and now Sirius was going to take her out of school or worse- kill Snape and be sent back to Azkaban. Neither seemed like a particularly good outcome.
She stopped outside the changing room door and swore as she kicked at the wall, accomplishing nothing but injuring her toe, and then let out a little shout of frustration, happy that the roaring crowd above her was drowning it out. Then she kicked at the wall a few more times, ignoring the increasing pain in her appendage, before shoving the door open, determined to find something to break that wasn't her very expensive broom.
And there she found Clara standing in front of her cubby, shoving what appeared to be a large gorilla suit into the spot where her clothes formerly were, what looked like bras and panties stuffed into the ape mouth. One of her usual cronies tapped her on the shoulder and whispered in French upon hearing the door open, and then all three girls turned to look at her.
"Having fun?" Lily asked coldly, setting her broom down near the exit.
"Lose already, did you?" Clara asked, eyes glancing around the rest of the empty room, perhaps looking for a decent escape route.
"Kicked some arse, actually," Lily said, raising a hand to point at her cubby. "Did a little redecorating?"
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"The whole 'graceless ape' thing is a little played out, don't you think?" Lily asked, a tense silence filling the air afterwards. "I'm only going to say this once: put my stuff back."
"I said I don't know what-"
"Final warning," Lily said, drawing her wand. "A fight would be great right now, but you've got the one chance. I don't think you want to see what will happen."
"Let's go, Clara," one of her friends said, nervously tugging on the girl's sleeve.
"Potter's not going to do anything," Clara said dismissively.
"Ignoring that I've already done plenty, eh?" Lily said, stretching the fingers holding on to her wand. She could feel her magic resting right at the tips, eager to be used. "Count of three. Then I get to try out my fancy new spell."
"Come on," the other friend said, grabbing fully on to Clara's arm. "This isn't worth it."
"You go, then," Clara said, drawing her own wand. "I'm not scared of her."
"Clara, we can't-"
"One," Lily said patiently.
"Come on, we should-"
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Two." Lily breathed, feeling eerily calm.
One of Clara's friends bolted towards the door, while the other drew her own wand nervously, as if she was going to stand with her friend. Lily was pretty sure that wouldn't last very long.
"Three," Lily said.
Lily didn't even hear whatever spells the girls shouted at her. The one from her friend didn't even go off, but Clara managed to get out a stunner, at least. Lily batted it away with a lazy flick of her wand, and then raised her arm, before bringing it down in a sharp slashing angle.
Sectumsempra.
Lily wasn't quite sure what she was expecting. At first, there was a split second where she thought nothing happened at all. But, then, with her keen eyes, she noticed an invisible ripple passing through the air, as if a large sword was swinging right in front of her and cutting a sharp path through the air. A brief memory sparked in her mind of the summer, when Voldemort and Quirrell used the same spell on her, when she almost got herself killed over nothing at all.
And then the ripple touched Clara's chest, and both cloth and flesh tore open as she girl fell backwards, a horrifying amount of blood pouring through the open wound at an alarmingly fast rate.
Lily froze, wand held at her side, staring as the girl started to gasp and drown on her own lifeforce, as it pooled and spilled underneath her, just as she'd done. Part of her wondered if she should go run for help, or even try doing so herself. Part of her wondered if she'd just killed someone, and if she should be horrified about it. Part of her didn't care at all.
The part that sickened her the most, though, was the one that felt good.