Summary of last chapter:
- Lily confronts the marauders and Severus by luring them to the astronomy tower and using James' and Severus' feelings for her she manages to get them to make a ceasefire with eachother
- After the marauders leave she confronts Severus with the reality of his friends being most likely future death eaters and if he will become one too one day, would he even go after her?
- After Lily leaves, Remus comes back to tell Severus that even though they will probably be enemies in the war in two years, Remus still believes Severus deserves someone to love him even if that isn't Lily
- Arcturus votes against the Auror Leeway Act of 1976 making it fail with a margin of 164 to 193
Chapter 15:
5th July 1976, England, Black Manor:
Lily stood nervously in front of the door. During their ride back to Platform 9 ¾
4 days ago she had quite the revealing conversation with the Marauders.
Flashback start
Lily had just entered the compartment of the Marauders a few minutes ago and now sat with James and Remus on one side while Sirius and Peter were on the other with Peter sleeping deeply.
„Uhhhhh Lily?" she was asked by Sirius and raised an eyebrow as she wondered why he was fidgeting so much.
„Hmmmm? What is it Sirius? You're not going to ask me on a date aswell, are you?" she asked with a smirk. James who pulled her into his side had mock glared at his friend and said „Stuff it Padfoot, she's mine" but Sirius hadn't reacted with a grin instead he had become even more nervous.
„Sirius what's wrong? Has something happened that is related to Lily?" Remus, who was now worried, asked his friend. Sirius only looked at her with a pityful look and she started to sweat. What the hell could be wrong?
„I need you to tell you this before we reach the platform... Lily I got a letter from my grandfather yesterday. He has demanded you into his study room within the next seven days." Sirius said with a grimace which confused her while James and Remus could feel themselves pale as they immediately understood the seriousness of the situation.
„He demanded? That's not very nice is it? Tell him that he can come to my house sometime if he wants to see me and..." she replied feeling a little insulted but she was interrupted by her boyfriend.
„Padfoot what the hell? I thought neither your father or grandfather were like that!" James shouted confusing the hell out of Lily. What was she missing?
„I can assure you he isn't and from his tense posture I was able to see that whatever he wants to see Lily for must be serious. He didn't tell me though just that he wanted to see her within the week." Sirius rambled trying to placate James.
„Can somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?" Lily said feeling stressed which always made her resort to curse words.
„Lily when pureblood Lords 'invite' a young witch into their study they are likely to ask for... ugh for personal services" Remus said with a grimace telling her everything she needed to know and why Sirius was so nervous.
„Well there's a fat chance that's ever going to happen. I am only 16 for fucks sake. Tell him that he's going to get cursed if he ever comes near me, your grandfather or not." she said trying not to insult Sirius who was rather likeable but she had to make clear that she would not service anyone.
„NO! Lily you don't understand! Merlin I have to get my father involved immediately. I hope I can get him to place you under his protection. Shit, Sirius you should have said something as soon as you got the letter" James shouted and Lily could sense that her boyfriend was in distress. What was going on?
„I don't see the huge issue, I am just not going to come to Sirius" she said and James buried his face in his hands which lead to her becoming worried a little. Seeing Remus and Peter's pale faces her worry increased even more, 'Why are they so pale? And why aren't they saying anything?' she thought to herself.
„That isn't really an option Lily, not unless you are willing to face the consequences. Look.. I know what your opinion about this is going to be but as this has been a tradition for a long time I really need to tell you this. Should you decline the invitation without a good reason then you are going to have a massive problem in the future. Almost every prestigious position at the top of society is taken by purebloods, most of whom are members of pureblood families with a lot of political pull. And I have got to tell you, my grandfather is Lord Black has had more than 50 years to become influential... Should you decline the invitation of someone like Lord Black then you can say goodbye to whatever hopes you had of getting a good job. Getting a good job at the ministry? Impossible, studying under a master to become one yourself? Very unlikely, getting a job that's getting you anything more than a very basic salary? Also pretty much impossible. It's not even that this is a law, no it's like a mutual understanding between wizengamot Lords that if someone amongst them has been denied what many of them feel is their right then the person responsible will basically be expelled from magical society." Sirius said and Lily felt tears form in her eyes as she realised that she was in big troubly as James and Remus only nodded with pitiful looks. Lily was absolutely horrified. She couldn't possibly do this?
„Don't worry Lils I am going to take care of it okay? Shhh don't cry Lils everything will be okay" James said soothingly as Lily was beginning to have a mental breakdown.
Marlene McKinnon was searching for her best friend as she had found an article in the Daily Prophet that would Lily find quite interesting. Seeing Potter who she knew Lily was currently with she opened the door
„Hey Lily there's... What Happened? What the fuck have you stupid boys done to make her cry?" she shouted after she had entered the train compartment and closed the door behind her.
„Lord Black has invited her to his study room and Lily is to come within the week" Lily's boyfriend said and Marlene felt herself shudder. Well shit, Marlene may have been only a halfblood but she knew what such an invitation often meant for young witches especially if they were as gorgeous as Lily. Now Arcturus Black didn't have the reputation of doing things like that as far as she was aware and no wonder, he was married to a woman that was in her 60s and still looked like she was in her early 40s. Marlene felt herself joining James in consoling Lily who was still bawling her eyes out.
Other students that poked their head in during the 20 minutes Lily was like that naturally asked what had made Lily cry so badly but they only said that they didn't know yet. When Lily eventually calmed down a little it was agreed on that noone other than Fleamont Potter and Lily's friends would hear from this.
Flashback end
Unfortunately though, her boyfriend was not able to convince his father to place her under his protection saying that he couldn't afford angering Lord Black at the moment or he might go back to voting with the Traditionalist Block whatever that meant. He told them to leave at that point and both her and James didn't know what to say to eachother. But James didn't give up and threatened to refuse his title as heir Potter should his father not prevent her from being raped and Lily felt herself falling for him in that moment. Fleamont had looked at James with a displeased expression and only told them this
„You will do no such thing. I will forget this moment of foolishness from you but do not forget your place again James. Now off you go. Oh and one thing I forgot to say. I personally vouch for Lord Black and can assure you that he will not require personal services of you Ms. Evans". She didn't know what to say to that but James' expression after they left showed her that he didn't really believe his father's words.
James apologised like 10 times before she waved him off saying that it wasn't his fault and that she would survive the experience. His defeated posture after that made her wish that life wasn't so unfair. Lily then silently decided to see this through, she knew that she was a strong witch and that while she knew she likely stood no chance against a powerful wizard with decades of experience but she would defy him as best as she could. She had to do it to keep some sense of self respect.
And so the days came and went where James tried to do his best to teach her pureblood customs and Lily was astonished just how... victorian most of those customs were.
Then the day of the deadline came. The last day of the timeframe that Lord Black had allowed her to come. Sirius had been unable to come with her that day though as he had summer lessons whatever that meant, he told her that he couldn't say more.
And so she stood here in front of the door that lead to Lord Black's personal study room. She gulped and knocked. After hearing Lord Black inviting her in, she opened the door and stepped in seeing him sitting in his chair with his back to her. Stressed to no end and immersed in fear she saw her chance,drew her wand and started sending spells in Lord Black's direction. Her eyes widened as he jumped out of his seat with almost inhuman reactions and took her stunning spells like they were nothing. Barely a second later saw her flying through the room and crashing painfully against the door. She groaned in pain and saw him walking towards her with a raised eyebrow as she felt his magic enveloping her and making her feel like she was nothing compared to him. She raised her wand again but was disarmed with a wave of his hand.
„And whatever was this meant to accomplish Ms. Evans? You do realise that attacking a Lord in his own manor is a pretty stupid thing to do, don't you? Don't you realise that I could bring you in front of the wizengamot, charge you with attempted murder and have you thrown into Azkaban for life?" he asked her incredulously.
Trembling with fear and losing all of her bravery she broke down sobbing
„Please don't rape me" she pleaded repeatedly expecting him to laugh at her and begin the torture but nothing happened for a few seconds and then... instead of being forcibly disrobed she felt herself hugged by him and stiffened.
„Oh dear and I thought we didn't have such a reputation anymore. It's alright Ms. Evans I am not going to require personal services of you." he said soothingly, but she wasn't able to calm down for a while despite his assurances.
„Arcturus Eridanus Black why am I hearing someone cry? By Merlin what have you done to the poor girl?" someone shouted behind her and she turned around to see an elderly woman with red hair that was just beginning to grey looking quite furious. She felt herself being picked up by the woman who was a lot stronger than she looked.
„I will take Ms. Evans to our bedroom and try to calm her down and you will go to our other guest and explain the situation. Merlin help you if Ms. Evans tells me you did anything to her. You can forget to sleep in our bed for the rest of the year at that point, is that clear?"
Lily felt herself being lowered on a bed and heard a pop before a veil was pushed into her hand
„Drink this" the woman said „It is a calming draught and will make your head a little clearer" and Lily, trusting the woman not to poison her, downed the potion in one go. Within seconds she could feel herself calm down which the woman must have noticed as she hugged Lily and began to speak
„Hello Ms. Evans I wish we could have met under better circumstances but let me introduce myself. I am Melania Black nee MacMillan and the current Lady Black. Now why don't you tell me what my dumb husband has done to make you so upset?". Hearing Melania being so kind to her Lily didn't leave anything out of her experience since last week.
„Well he certainly let you believe that he was going to demand personal services but you didn't exactly behave well either young lady. My husband was right when he showed you how easily Lords of his calibre are able to defeat a Hogwarts student like you. A capable Hogwarts student from what I have heard but still a Hogwarts student. He was also right when he told you that you could and likely would go to Azkaban had you attacked a Lord of the Traditionalist faction regardless of your mental state during the attack. Ms. Evans you must understand the situation you are in as a muggleborn. Muggleborns like you are at best second rate citizens in Magical Britain and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. If anything you might have to leave Britain with your muggle family as Voldemort continues to grow his influence over Magical Britain. He only has 13 Lords and 58 votes in the Wizengamot firmly in his pocket right now but there is no way he will let it rest at that number since there are over 400 votes in total in the Wizengamot." Melania lectured and Lily's head was reeling under the massive intake of information „I must ask you something however, you said that Fleamont Potter vouched for my husband and that you and James didn't believe him right?" Melania asked and Lily nodded unsure where this was going.
„Didn't he tell you that he was going to be here today?" Melania asked and Lily was left speechless.
„Wait are you telling me that James' dad is here in Black Manor?" Lily asked incredulously at which Melania only nodded.
**Scene End**
Characters in this chapter and the amount of chapters they have appeared in so far:
- Lily Evans (3)
- Severus Snape (3)
- James Potter (6)
- Sirius Black (8)
- Remus Lupin (6)
- Peter Pettigrew (6)
- Marlene McKinnon (1)
- Fleamont Potter (1)
- Arcturus Black (9)
- Melania Black (1)