Where Lily comes to Hogwarts.

LILY XIX

She first diverted the Killing Curse with a large shield she conjured, then hid behind a stack of boxes. She hoped it would offer her some semblance of protection, but she was wrong. The boxes exploded in a million shards, and she had to pull up a powerful protection spell to stop them from lacerating her whole body, while dodging two more Killing Curses. She dropped to the ground and rolled to get under a table. She then used the Aqua Eructo incantation to reduce the power of the growing fire that was devouring the house.

However, by throwing this spell, Lily made her location known. The table under which she took cover was shattered, and another green lightning brushed her. She directed the water jet directly at the man responsible for this, and she used his confusion while she sprayed him to take cover behind an armor. The flames now reached the ceiling, and Lily coughed as smoke filled her throat and nostrils.

"Anapneo!" she thought as she pointed her throat, and her respiration went back to normal.

Her opponent used the opportunity that she interrupted her water casting spell to throw new Killing Curses in her direction, causing the armor to lose an arm and its head. Lily retaliated with a few Stunning spells, before she drew a spell on another armor in the large room and tossed it towards the enemy. He had to focus on stopping the large armor flying in his direction, which allowed Lily to stun him with a last Stupefy. The man fell to the floor, immobile.

Lily raised her wand. "Aqua Eructo!"

The moment she said the incantation, and before the water started getting out of her wand, everything exploded and went black.

Lily sighed as the light slowly returned to reveal the training room in which Lily actually stood in. Around her, several instruments were buzzing. Some were attached to the ceiling, others to the walls, and a few to the floor, half of them pointed towards Lily. It was one of those special training rooms that were equipped with special instruments producing illusion spells. On the other side of the room, Miranda Savage stared at Lily as the other half of the instruments pointed her.

"You failed," the Auror stated straight away.

"I know," Lily recognized, containing her frustration.

This wasn't the first simulation she participated to that simulation she just failed, but each failure was no easier as her final exams approached. Savage put at her disposal a series of simulations the Auror developed herself. Miranda created these to prepare herself for the worst situations she could come across, and she allowed Lily to train in them. Lily also suspected that Savage wanted to see with her own eyes how Lily dealt with dire situations, such as in this very simulation where Lily was supposed to arrest a wizard who conducted illegal experiments with dangerous potions in his house. When she walked into the house, she was faced with three wizards who tried to kill her. As she tried to neutralize these men, one of them set the house on fire. The fire must have caused an explosion in their clandestine laboratory at the moment she stupefied the last standing man.

"You shouldn't have tried to extinguish the fire," Savage declared. "You lost time while the criminal tried to stop you. You should have first neutralized him, then focus on stopping the fire." She consulted a watch at her wrist. "Well, our time is over. I've got to go."

The Auror left without another word. Lily was now alone. Slowly, she walked to the nearest wall, and let her back sink against it. She exhaled loudly. It was the beginning of March. In less than four months, she would go through her final trials that would determine whether or not she would be accepted as an Auror. This would involve a series of theoretical and practice exams, along with a series of interviews and interrogations that could involve, while not being limited to, senior Aurors, the Head of the Auror Office, senior officials of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement including the Head of the Department, members of the Wizengamot, and even the Minister of Magic himself or his representatives questioning Lily at length about whether or not her place was in the Auror Office. She felt the stress accumulating on her shoulders. Ever since Harry was attacked before Christmas, she worked harder to find Wormtail, but so far Lily, Nymphadora, Kingsley and Miranda couldn't manage to realize any progress in locating the rogue wizard. Remus didn't see him on the Marauder's Map since school resumed. That and her training made her feel exhausted, overwhelmed. Sometimes, all she wanted was to throw away her training to focus on the search of Wormtail. But then she reminded herself that if she stopped her training, she wouldn't be allowed to participate to his search anymore. So right now, she worked full time on both her training and finding Wormtail, while also helping Savage on the other cases she was responsible for, when Lily was asked to.

She exhaled once again, blinked her eyes several times. She felt tired. Standing up, she walked out of the training room and proceeded to exit the Auror Headquarters. A few minutes later, after taking the elevators and Apparating, she was in her bed. She didn't take time to change for the night or to eat at the end of the day, and fell asleep on the spot. The only thing she didn't forget to do before falling asleep was to set her alarm clock to wake up early enough tomorrow to not miss Harry's Quidditch match.

When the alarm forced her to open her eyes, Lily had the impression she barely slept. She wasn't sure any longer of the hour at which she got to bed, but the alarm clock was very clear on the current hour, and she couldn't miss Harry's game, especially not after what happened in November.

Lily dressed up and made some toasts to take her breakfast. Her owl was waiting with today's edition of the Daily Prophet. She went quickly through it, but seeing that there was no article or useful news on Wormtail, she put it aside quickly and opened one of her books. She studied even when she ate now. At around ten o'clock though, she closed the book and made her preparations to leave. She Apparated in the entrance hall of the tower, and an instant later, she was right outside the village of Hogsmeade.

Lily was almost surprised when she took her first breath. The air was cool, but refreshing. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the sun illuminated the whole place. There was a light breeze, and she felt a few strands of hair swinging quietly on her right cheek. While she previously let her hair fall free on her back, Lily had taken the habit of arranging her hair into a ponytail as her Auror training intensified. It was more practical during physical exercises. Still, a few rebellious strands always managed to escape the ponytail, and the quiet wind was happy to make them swing.

She took a deep breath. It seemed like it had been weeks since she breathed fresh air. She didn't have much time to go outside, between her training and her work at the Auror Office. She closed her eyes and let the refreshing wind fill her lungs and caress her face. She kept taking deep breaths, inhaling the scent of the place. This scent was exactly the same she smelled when she was thirteen and she went to Hogsmeade for the first time. She had spent a wonderful day with her friends on that day, buying candies at Honeydukes for the first time, visiting the various shops. She even bought a surprise for James on the occasion. The surprise in question unexpectedly bit his fingers at dinner that same day, to everyone's entertainment. Lily had hoped back then that James would leave her alone after this, that it would show him she wasn't interested in the slightest by him, but he didn't, quite the contrary. He liked it, in fact. When Lily said this happened to everyone's entertainment, it included James and his friends, who laughed about the incident for hours. That was another reason why she fell in love with James over time. James knew how to take jokes like what they were, jokes. He didn't hold grudges for innocent pranks, and he even enjoyed when they were directed at him.

A smile crept on her face as she remembered the first time they went to Hogsmeade together, alone, on a date, during their seventh year.

"Hello, Lily?"

A voice she recognized, who came from the present and not from her memories, uncertainly called her from behind. Lily turned to face its origin while opening her eyes, to see the familiar figure of a small Asian man with glasses, with a woman of the same height and with the same Asian features at his side with short dark hair and a large bag hanging down at her side.

"Hi, Gen. How are you?" Lily asked him, smiling. The good memories she just revisited made her mood better.

"Very well. You haven't met my wife, Aera, I think," Gen said, turning to the woman at his side.

"No, I don't think so. Mrs Chang, it's a pleasure."

The two women of very dissimilar heights shook hands. "Mrs Evans. I've seen you before," the small woman replied. "I apologize for not introducing myself before, but in my line of work, it is better to remain as discreet as possible."

Lily nodded. Gen told her that his wife worked at the Department of Mysteries. As an Unspeakable, she could not talk about her work there.

"We are heading for the Quidditch match. Would you like to join us, Lily?" Gen asked.

"Of course," she replied, and she followed the couple. "Have you come often to see your daughter play?" Lily asked to both of them.

"Every time," Gen replied. "I wouldn't miss my daughter's games for anything in the world. Even Aera never missed a single one." Gen's wife nodded to confirm.

"Well, your daughter is lucky."

"I would say we are luckier to have her than she is to have us," Aera stated.

"My wife is very hard on herself," Gen said, almost as an excuse. "What about your boy, Lily? How is he doing?"

"Well enough, I think."

It seemed to be the case. The latest letters from Harry seemed to show that his mood had enhanced. Remus told her he managed to create a Patronus, and although it didn't take a true shape and remained vapor, this was already something. Lily had to admit she was impressed that Harry managed to master even partially this spell at his age.

"I'm sure that the Dementors will not show up again," Gen said, obviously to reassure her.

However, right when Scrimgeour's assistant said the words, they entered a zone where the air was colder, and Lily suddenly felt as if thoughts of joy were slowly leaving her. She saw the Dementors hovering over them, and she gripped the wand within her robes. If necessary, she would show these creatures what a real Patronus could do.

Their conversation was halted as they went through the zone the Dementors affected. Gen only found the way to resume it as they approached the gates and air recovered its cool nature of today.

"Cho wrote that she is very excited. Is it true that your son got a Firebolt?" he asked Lily.

"Yes, it's true," she replied.

As they walked through the portal that opened on the school grounds, and after Professor Flitwick welcomed them and told them to wait near the gates, Lily kept answering as many questions as she could from Gen. It seemed that if his daughter was a Quidditch fan, it was from his father that she got it. Cho Chang's mother only said a few words. She didn't seem to be very talkative. Not that it was needed, for Lily soon found herself surrounded by people asking about her son's Firebolt.

First, it was Arthur and Molly who spotted her, and one of the first questions Arthur asked was of course if Harry indeed had a Firebolt. The other parents who gathered for the occasion, and even members of the Board of Governors, heard about it and also came to hear Lily answer the best she could to all these questions on a broomstick. She even got questioned by Madhari Patil, one of the Governors who suspended Dumbledore last year.

Lily had the impression to be back at school. She knew that the Firebolt was indeed a fantastic broomstick, but she didn't remember Muggles asking so many questions and getting so excited about a hockey stick or a pair of football shoes. Lily cast a glance towards the Quidditch stadium. Even from this far, she could hear the crowd already cheering. She even thought she saw some players already flying over the pitch. She looked at her watch between two words. The game was about to begin. She understood that they increased the safety measures around the castle and this might take more time than usual to access the pitch, but she didn't want to miss Harry's game.

It was at this moment that she noticed the last person she wanted to see today. Severus Snape was standing apart from the small crowd of parents. Their eyes met for a short moment. Lily looked away immediately, and her gaze fell upon Remus who was discussing with Minerva McGonagall. Lily managed to get away from the other parents and headed in their direction. Remus noticed her first, since Minerva had her back turned on her, and he looked almost surprised to see her.

"Remus, Professor McGonagall, are you going to let us in the pitch soon? They're already playing!"

She pointed the stadium over which figures kept appearing on their broomsticks. McGonagall turned to face her, then looked at the pitch. She leaned towards Remus, seemingly whispering something at his ear, then walked quickly towards the stadium. Remus then looked at Lily. He was holding a worn out piece of parchment against his chest.

"Remus, what is going on?" she asked him.

He then placed a finger on his lips, then moved his fingers in a small gesture that had to mean he wanted her to approach. Intrigued, and also worried all of a sudden when she realized the expression Remus wore, Lily did as he asked. When she was close enough, Remus opened the worn parchment. Lily then recognized it as the Marauder's Map. Remus pointed a place on the map. It was showing the park, with a large mass of points, each with a name, around the Quidditch pitch. She noticed Harry's name floating around the pitch. But Remus was pointing towards a smaller mass of points, away from the pitch. Lily noticed that McGonagall was heading back towards the pitch, and that Remus and herself were also aside from the smaller mass of points. It was this mass of points that Remus was showing to Lily. She looked at it closely.

Her heart turned upside down. She opened her mouth, but Remus placed a finger on her lips. He looked at her with a warning gaze. Lily nodded to show that she understood. She looked at the map again. At this moment, three points separated themselves from the smaller mass. Lily looked at the small assembly of parents in front of her. Gen and Aera Chang had walked away from the small crowd. Lily looked back to the map, where it showed three points. The names of Gen Chang and Aera Chang were away from the small mass, like they should, but a third name also appeared on the map with them, the name of someone who she didn't see in the park, and who shouldn't be there. Lily gripped her wand in her pocket.

She looked at Gen and Aera, who were talking alone, without any sign of a third individual with them. Only, the map couldn't be wrong. And when Lily noticed that the third name was much closer to Aera than to Gen, her gaze wandered to the bag Gen's wife was carrying on her left shoulder. The third name appeared on the map exactly on Aera's left, where her bag was hanging.

It was the name of Peter Pettigrew.

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Next chapter: Cho (coming very soon)