The Alleyway Again

Severus slides a note in front of me during Potions the next morning. I stare at it for a moment before looking at Sev in confusion. He doesn't look back, presumably because he's trying to hide the fact he's sending a note to me at all, scribbling it quickly behind his cauldron while the other Slytherins are up getting extra ingredients.

Lily, we need to talk.

Following his lead, I wait until Rosier is wrapped up in brewing to slide a note back as surreptitiously as I can.

Everything okay, Sev? You've been kind of quiet since yesterday. I missed being able to spend time with you at the Ministry thing.

Yes. I'm fine. But it's urgent. After dinner, meet me in the courtyard. Bring Potter.

I stare at Sev's spiky handwriting, sure I'm reading it wrong. Bring James? I don't think Sev has ever in his life requested James's presence anywhere. But when I glance at him and mouth "James?" to be sure, he nods then drops his eyes again.

I pass back one more note.

Okay. We will be there.

I can't concentrate on any of my classes the rest of the day. Thank goodness Professor McGonagall lectures the whole class period, because I definitely don't have enough spare brain cells to put towards complicated spellwork today.

James is on edge, too, partially in anticipation, but also with . . . not anxiety, exactly, but something similar to it. I'd caught up with him on the way to Transfiguration and while he'd made a deeply skeptical noise in his throat when I'd shown him the note, he'd agreed to come and see what Sev wanted. I wish we could have talked out what we expected, but after he agreed to come he disappeared into Transfiguration to sit with Sirius and Peter (Remus was out ill again), and I hadn't seen him at all during lunch. It seems that, despite his support against the Minister yesterday, he still doesn't want much to do with me, and the uncomfortable tension stalks us all the way outside after dinner.

When James and I reach the darkening courtyard, it's deserted except for Severus pacing back and forth across a patchy stretch of grass that's started to show through the snow, his cloak billowing around him. When he sees us coming, he meets us halfway across.

"You're finally here," he says. "And Potter actually came."

"What's this about, Snape?" James says, folding his arms and scowling at him.

"It's..." Severus trails off, and tries again. "The..." But again he can't finish. To my surprise, Sev's eyes snap to me. "Lily, I need to talk to Potter alone for a minute."

"What?" James and I say together.

"I can't..." Sev fights for the word. He closes his eyes in frustration then abruptly turns to James. "The Slytherins are in the Shrieking Shack."

James freezes.

I frown.

Sev continues, pronouncing each word distinctly, his eyes locked with James's now. "And they're planning on using it indefinitely."

James doesn't move. I look back and forth between them, thoroughly confused. "Why–" I start, but James interrupts me.

"Lily. Give us a minute?"

I gape at him. "Seriously?"

Neither Severus or James say anything, just look at me, their expressions mirror reflections of absolute seriousness.

"Fine," I huff, and I stomp away through the snow to stand under the overhang of the castle. As soon as I'm out of earshot, James and Severus start whispering furiously. I can't fathom what this is about; I've never seen them interact like this. They almost seem to be on the same side for once. It's unnerving to watch, and I keep waiting for one of them to snap.

James asks something and when Severus nods, I see the color drain from James's face from across the courtyard. I decide it's time to intervene when James reaches for the pocket he carries his wand in. I've given them way more than a minute. I run back across the snow, drawing my own wand. Just in case.

"Don't you dare start hexing each other," I warn as I reach them.

"We're fine, Lily," James says. "In fact, you can go back to dinner. We've got this."

"Excuse me?" I say. "We already ate dinner, remember?"

"Right," James says. He pushes a hand through his hair. "Well then you can just go do homework or something."

"Are you kidding me?" I say, outraged. "What are you guys going to do?"

"Just–something," he says.

"Just something?" I repeat. "And I'm supposed to buy that you and–" I shift my eyes to Severus "–you have something you need to do together, and it's not going to end in disaster without me there to keep you from going at each other's throats."

"I'll meet you out front," Severus says shortly to James, not meeting my eyes.

"I'll be there," James says. "Just let me..." But he trails off with a glance at me and clears his throat. "You know."

Severus at least has the decency to look uncomfortable as he leaves.

"I don't believe this," I mutter, watching him go and wondering if I'll be able to get him to spill once James isn't around to bully him into staying quiet. "And you're not going to tell me, are you? Because it's just another thing you can't tell me, isn't it?" I laugh. It's as warm as the ice cracking on the lake. "Of course it is. But Sev can know? First Carol, and now this. Clearly, I'm the only one around who doesn't deserve to know your secrets. Whatever, James."

James groans. "Do we really have to do this again? I don't have time for this." He whips around and heads out of the courtyard as well. I follow right on his heels.

"Yes, we do," I say as we push back into the empty corridors; everyone else is still at dinner. "I want to help. Dumbledore assigned both of us to do this, and now you're going to take this on with Severus of all people? You hate him. He hates you!"

"Just drop it, Lily," James snaps. "I can't tell you, you know that! Why can't you just trust me for once?"

"I do trust you!" I shout at his back; with his long legs, he's outpacing me and I have trouble keeping up.

"You've got a funny way of showing it," he says, still stomping away from me. He's always moving away from me these days, always on a different wavelength, and I hate it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, and the frustration and hurt makes me lash out.

"I thought you trusted me!" I yell. "I thought I was important to you!"

He stops.

"I thought you said you'd take what I could give," I say. I pace up behind him. He doesn't turn around.

"You have to give something for me to take it, Lily," James says quietly.

"I'm trying," I say. "But you're not making it easy."

He clenches his hands. "It's always my fault," he says. "But is it?" His voice gains volume and intensity as he talks. "All I do, all I try, all I've changed... everything. But it feels like it's nothing to you." He turns, and I shrink back at how angry he looks. "I've been so bloody in love with you for so long, but what for? What's the point? Because I can't keep doing this, Lily. I can't let you get to me anymore. I keep bending over backwards for you, but it doesn't matter, because you're still determined to hate me."

I should protest, should reassure him I definitely don't hate him (how could he think I hate him?) but I can't. I can't because the whole world has stopped and reality fractures and all I can do is keep my eyes locked like a lifeline on James.

Been so in love with you.

James.

In love.

With me.

He shakes his head. "I'm just done, Lily. And I have to go."

Wait, I want to say, but no words come. I still haven't processed what he said, and then it's too late and he's gone.

I end up in the prefect room doing homework. Lily Evans tip: when in emotional crises, distract yourself with schoolwork.

The sun dips behind the trees as I push through my Potions assignment until the room has fallen almost completely into shadow and I dig into my Transfiguration reading. Keep moving, keep the brain working, don't think. Don't wonder about the Slytherins in the Shrieking Shack, don't worry about James and Severus off on their own, don't think about what James said... in love with you...

No.

I take out my wand and aggressively highlight a passage on the side effects of becoming an Animagus.

"Lily, I've been looking all over for you! Where have you been?!"

I turn to the door in shock. "Emmeline?"

Her presence is a true distraction. We have not exchanged a single word since coming back to school, not a single thing since she'd yelled at me before holidays and I'd accused her of being too stupid to see what was going on. And now here she is, striding into the prefect room and looking more chaotic than I've ever seen her before. Her normally sleek blonde hair frizzes down her back, like she has indeed been running all over the castle, and her eyes stretch wide and wild.

I get up, my quill dropping to the floor. "Em, what's wrong?"

"I… I'm not sure," she says. She stops right in front of me and trails her fingers through the tangled ends of her hair. It's a hopeless gesture. "But it's Evan."

I stiffen at Rosier's first name. "What about him?"

"He's gone, and I'm worried it's something bad, and since you and I aren't talking I tried to find James but Marlene says she saw him leaving the castle with Snape during dinner and… Lily, this isn't good!" She sounds close to tears.

I set my hands on her shoulders. "Where is he, Em?" I ask. "Where's Rosier at?"

"Somewhere in Hogsmeade," she says, trembling.

Just like Severus had said he'd be. Where he and James had gone. But why was Emmeline so worried?

"So?" I ask. "Emmeline, we've known for months they sneak off to Hogsmeade to do whatever they're up to. What's got you so wound up now? I thought you said what they're doing is innocent." Accusation creeps into my tone.

"This is different," she says. "We were supposed to study together for Arithmancy tonight, but then Regulus came up and whispered something to him, and all I heard was Snape's name, and then Evan got all weird and excited and said he had to go, and then like I said, now James is gone with Snape and I know this isn't good!"

My mind whirs, processing the information, and then it all clicks together like a puzzle.

"It's a trap," I whisper.

"I think it might be," Emmeline says, her eyes still so wide and fearful.

I leap to my feet. My books go flying.

"I have to go," I say. I snatch my wand off the desk and start for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get James."

"What... what should I do?" She's still trembling.

I hesitate. Back up would be nice but... my heart breaks. I don't trust her. I can't bring her with me if she's going to side with Rosier when I get there, and I just don't know if she will.

"Calm down and stay in the castle," I snap. And then I throw myself out the door.

My footsteps pound against the hard floor, echoing off the stone walls. I only go down a couple floors. I don't know how Severus and James planned on getting into Hogsmeade, but I do know a way I can use.

When I reach the one-eyed witch statue, I tap her hump. "Dissendium," I whisper. The stone slide burrow into the floor, just the way I remember. "Thanks, James," I exhale. Who would have known I'd be returning the date favor by using this very same passage to come and potentially save his life? I hold my wand out in front of me and slip down into the dark.

The darkness is heavier than I remember. I light my wand, and the warm glow reassures me. A bit, anyway. I glance back and watch the passageway opening reseal itself. "Right," I mutter. "Let's go."

Alone, the tunnel seems to stretch for hours, though I'm fairly certain when James and I came through we'd only walked for twenty minutes or so. Finally, just when I start to worry if there's any possible way I'd gotten lost, the stone steps rise in front of me.

"Thank Merlin," I whisper, and I climb.

However, at the top, I pause. The wooden trapdoor wedges into the dirt overhead, but it's the faint blue mist hanging in front of it that makes me stop. That wasn't there before, was it? But it could have been. James was in front of me last time, he opened the trapdoor. It's very possible that I just hadn't seen it then.

I raise my hand higher to inspect. It twinkles in the glow from my wand. "Revelio," I whisper, but nothing happens.

It should be harmless, then. But seven years of living in the magical world make me wary of this unknown substance. I stretch my hand up a little higher and prod the mist with my wand. Immediately, it pulls back, whisping through the cracks around the edges of the trapdoor like it's been sucked up.

I still, my arm extended over my head, waiting for... what, I don't know. But the seconds stretch and after a minute or two I conclude the mist, whatever it was, must have been harmless, and if I want to get to the Shrieking Shack quick enough to help, I better get moving.

The trapdoor creaks as it opens, and I wait another moment to make sure no one's coming to investigate. But the cellar stays dark, as does the shop beyond, so I crawl out and creep across the room and up the stairs.

The brilliantly full moon lights the shop, moonbeams falling like silver shadows through the windows and illuminating every cobblestone on the street beyond. The street appears as deserted as the interior of the store and I breathe a sigh of relief. This part of my mission, at least, should be easy.

I ease my wand out of my robe pocket and charm the door open, putting an Anti-squeak Charm on the hinges for good measure, and before long I'm off down the empty street.

It's an odd sensation to be out in Hogsmeade with no one around, odder even than when James and I had come on my birthday and we were the only students. I keep imagining I hear footsteps clattering on the stones behind me or the rustle of robes, but no one's there. Paranoid, I stick to the side streets and alleyways where I can use the shadows to my advantage. Plus, then no one peeping out the upstairs windows will see me. I imagine that even though my motives for being here are noble, I'd get in a lot of trouble if I were caught.

Because I'm trying to skulk around the edges of town, it's taking forever to make my way to the Shack, and twice I get turned around. It doesn't help that my heart hammers in my chest and I keep imagining that every moment I'm not there, James and Severus are in greater and greater danger.

I peer down an alleyway, fairly certain that if I follow it, it'll get me to the Shack quicker.

"Of course it's Evans."

The voice is so unexpected I jump about a foot in the air and whirl around, instinctively firing off a Reductor Curse. It crashes against a sign advertising the daily special at Madame Puddifoot's, obliterating it to a pile of ash. Emerging from shadowy doorways, brandishing wands and wearing similar expressions of grim satisfaction, are Rosier and Lestrange.

I back up several steps and immediately realize my mistake: my move puts me further into the dark alley, trapping me in with just one way to run. The Slytherins crowd the mouth.

"Well, this feels familiar, doesn't it?" Rosier asks. His lit wand makes his bared teeth gleam a poisonous green.

"I don't understand why you keep insisting on being where you're not supposed to," Lestrange says. He stalks a single step forward. "Only you're well and truly alone today, aren't you, Evans?"

"I guess so," I say. My eyes flick all over my surroundings, calculating. "My mistake, I suppose, for wandering. Only I can't help wondering what you're doing here. It's not like you have any more right to be here than I do."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Rosier snarls. "Why are you here? How'd you know to find us?"

"How'd you find me?" I counter. I don't want to give away Severus and let them know he's who tipped James and me off. Where are they? It doesn't seem as though the Slytherins had run into them. Unless Regulus and Mulciber were dealing with them right now... "You were clearly expecting to find someone – how'd you know I was here?" I ask. I'm stalling, trying to think my way out, but my own question gives me genuine pause. "Unless…" I think back to the odd blue mist I'd disturbed in the Honeydukes tunnel. "You've got this place locked down," I say, realization dawning. "That's what you've been coming here to do, find all the routes in and out and alarm them."

"Not bad," Regulus says from behind me, and I whirl to see him and Mulciber in the alley behind me.

Trapped.

But if they're here, that means they aren't with James and Severus. I can only hope this means they're safe.

"But why?" I ask. I hope if I keep talking, I'll eventually figure out how I'm supposed to get out of here. My gaze settles on the obliterated remains of the sign I'd accidentally destroyed, laying in the gravel, and an idea slowly kindles.

Rosier scoffs. "Really, Evans, if you think we're going to tell you that, you're as stupid as the employees my dad works with at the Ministry."

"Maybe," I say. "But hopefully not." I thrust my wand at my feet. "Levare!" The rocks underfoot rise, a galaxy of debris swirling through the alleyway. I grit my teeth and pray this works. "Reducto!"

As one, the rocks explode outward, like fireworks.

"Impervious!" I shout, and just in time. The charm protects me and thrusts more debris at my assailants. They fall back, crying out as the tiny shards pierce their skin and assault their eyes. I hurtle towards Rosier and Lestrange, standing between me and the open street, and ram my shoulder right into Rosier as I go past. He knocks into Lestrange and, for good measure, I trigger one more round of my mini makeshift gravel bombs.

I don't stick around to see how effective the second round is. I run.

The pounding of my feet against the cobblestones masks the sounds of Rosier and the other Slytherins but doesn't completely obscure it, so I know that while my charmwork got me out of the alleyway and held them up for a moment, it didn't stop them.

They're coming for me.

Rosier had commented that tonight felt familiar, and I thought he was referencing that Hogsmeade trip back in October, but as I run, I'm instead reminded of the night of Petunia's wedding. Running alone through the dark, four Dark wizards on my tail, it's very much the same. But that night I'd needed James to rescue me.

Tonight, I'm saving him.

I don't know where he and Sev are, but I agonize that if the Slytherins are indeed here and have alarms set up all around Hogsmeade the two boys will be caught. Do I really think that if it came down to it, Severus would blow his cover to protect James?

No.

No, I do not.

So I will draw Rosier and the rest away from Hogsmeade, give James and Severus the chance to get out undetected.

I'm not stupid. I know I don't have a chance of defeating them single-handedly here in the streets.

But I do have an idea.

I sprint down the length of the road, scramble to the top of the stone wall that marks the edge of town, and throw myself off into the trees beyond.

I'm going to lose them in the Forbidden Forest.