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Chapter Two – A Spot of Tea

Lily’s mind raced furiously as she watched her mother escort James into the sitting room.

“Gerold, dear, Gerold!” her mother’s voice called in the hallway. And then more sternly: “Gerold! I know that taxes are important, but they come once a year. We have a guest I’d like you to meet, he’s come from Lily’s school.”

Putting her head in her hands, she sank into her favorite armchair. Why is this happening to me? she thought. She glared at the source of her troubles and was surprised to find James still standing, looking around rather nervously at the bits of artwork her mother had hung around the room.

Good God, could he actually be nervous? she wondered. But before she had a chance to finish her train of thought, her mother burst into the room, practically dragging Petunia in with her.

“Darling, I just want to have a spot of tea with our visitor, I don’t know why you insist on being so stubborn—”

“Mother!” Petunia cried sharply. “I see no reason why I must be forced to have tea with this—this—” Thankfully, she was cut off by the entrance of Mr. Evans, whose broad face was set rather grumpily as he marched into the room. His mustache twitched a bit and his hair seemed all the redder set against his ruddy, well-freckled face.

“A, a guest, you say?” he muttered. “It better not be that man you brought last week to talk to me about toning down by soccer hobby—”

“Dear, didn’t you hear me? He’s from Lily’s school.”

She was becoming intensely embarrassed to hear her entire family talking as if both she and James weren’t present in the room. Her face only grew redder as her father began resuming the week-long argument that had been the least entertaining bit of dinner-table conversation.

“—saw how quickly he was a therapist,” Mr. Evans muttered. “There is nothing wrong with only using a toothpaste that has the Man U. colors—”

He suddenly seemed to realize the young man standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, staring at the ground and desperately pretending he wasn’t hearing the conversation around him.

“But,” her father finished, “Let’s let bygones be bygones, shall we?” He put an arm around his wife. I want to disappear, right now. I know so many spells, why don’t I know one that…could…just…

“So, who do we have here?” Mr. Evans inquired lightly. He glanced at Lily, then at James, and then glanced once more at Lily. And then, to complete the circuit, looked back at his wife and the smile dawning on her face.

No, it’s not what you’re thinking, dad, no, it’s not what you’re thinking. She tried to direct the message into his head, but that was beyond the reach of her magical abilities as well.

“My name is James Potter, I’m a student at Hogwarts, same year as your daughter,” James said. He extended his hand and shook with Mr. Evans. “Just was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by and say hello.”

“I can be off if you’re very busy,” he added hastily. Again, for a second, she thought he sounded slightly nervous.

“Oh, no, my boy. Nothing at all, just making sure that the old wigs up in London get their due. Nothing I couldn’t put aside for company,” her father blustered.

“I’ll go get us some tea and biscuits!” her mother announced. As she moved towards the kitchen, she shooed Petunia and her husband to the nearby sofa and insisted that James take a seat as well. He sat in a narrow wooden chair partway between Lily and the rest of her family.

“We’ve, erm, we’ve never actually had anyone from Lily’s school as company, before. Delightful, really. I assume you’re a, ah—” Her father wasn’t quite sure how to put it as he hemmed and hawed. Petunia’s face grew increasingly horse-like as she twisted uncomfortably in her seat.

“Yes, I am,” James interjected politely. He glanced askance at Petunia, whose odd behavior he had noticed. His eyes flicked back to Lily for a second, and then returned to her father.

“You must be very proud of Lily,” he said. “She’s the brightest witch in our class, you know.” At the mention of the word witch, Petunia hissed audibly. James turned with a puzzled expression on his face and Lily was about to interject to ward off the inevitable explosion when her mother returned.

“Oh, I didn’t know what kind of cakes you liked so I threw a little of everything on there,” she announced breezily as she swept into the room and put the tray down on the table. Lily couldn’t help noticing that her mother had decided to bring out the fine silverware, which had the old Evans crest on it.

“Oh, you didn’t have to go to the trouble,” James said. He reached for a small pastry. “Treacle tarts are my favorite.”

“Really?” Mrs. Evans asked eagerly. “Lily’s quite fond of them as well, I know.”

“I think I’ll actually have a butterscotch today,” she said, her eyes conveying a warning to her mother. But Mrs. Evans just gave her a quick wink, as if to say, Oh, I won’t embarrass you.

“So James, how long have you known Lily?”

He tried to chew and swallow his last bite of tart at the same time before answering, which only resulted in a hacking cough. Mr. Evans reached over and pounded him a few times on the back.

“Guess you magic folk still can eat too fast, eh?” he joked. “Relax, son, take your time.”

James nodded and then answered Mrs. Evans’s question by saying, “Well, I think I’ve known Lily for six years now. Since our first year at school, you know. I still remember it like it was yesterday, you know. I’m sure you don’t want to hear the story…”

“No, I’m sure we don’t need to,” Lily muttered hastily. Her mother, naturally, demanded that he continue.

“Ah, well. So we’re going up to the dormitory after our first dinner there, and we’re all looking around at the paintings, they have the most wonderful paintings at Hogwarts—”

“Really? Any artists we’d know?”

“I’m sure there are some, there’s a da Vinci with this airplane design he invented. Of course in the painting it shows the thing flying, flapping its wings and all that, although I heard he never managed to get it off the ground in real life…” He realized that they were staring at him and coughed politely.

“Anyways, as I was saying, we’re heading up to the Gryffindor dormitory. By then we’ve already raced ahead of the prefects, me and some other boys who I’d met on the train. And then we get there and realize we don’t know the password.

So we tried to wheedle our way in, because really the Fat Lady—”

“Fat Lady?” her father interjected.

“The, erm, the one we give the password to,” James explained, perhaps realizing it would be wise not to mention that she was in fact a sentient portrait.

“Let’s just say she’s not immune to flattery. We told her how pretty her dress looked and how we really were first-years, so there was no reason we would try to sneak in anywhere but our own house dorms, especially on the first night. And we even showed her the Gryffindor badges on our robes. But she wouldn’t believe us.

And then along comes this girl—” Here he glanced back at Lily. “Cool as ice, she walks up to the portrait and says, ‘I’m sorry you boys can’t get in, but move out of the way.’

So we asked who she thought she was, and she said, perfectly calmly, ‘Lily Evans. Now watch.’ Oh, this one’s good. She says, ‘Open Sesame!’ Of course the door doesn’t open. So she says it again, but louder this time. ‘Open Sesame!’ And when she couldn’t get in she looked furious and turned back to us and said, ‘That’s the way the cave opened in the story!’

By now we were laughing a little bit. So she turned to the door and screamed as loud as you could, ‘Open up, you stupid door!’ I think everyone in the school heard her. And finally the door swings open and the Fat Lady is trembling there and whispering, ‘My word.’ But she let us in. And didn’t ask anyone for the password again for a month.”

By this point Mr. Evans was laughing quite heartily, and Mrs. Evans was brushing tears out of her eyes. James leaned back and chuckled at the memory. “That was the first lesson I learned in Hogwarts, you know. I realized that there is always a way to get where you’re going, magical or not.”

“Oh my, yes, Lily was always a girl who knew what she wanted,” Mrs. Evans said. “That does sound like you, dear.”

Lily turned to James and whispered softly, “I’m surprised you remember when we first met.”

“Well, how could I forget?” he asked teasingly. At this, Petunia started so violently that she spilled tea all over the front of her white blouse.

And then Lily watched with dread as James pulled out his wand casually and made the worst mistake possible.

“No worries,” he reassured her, “It’s just a spot of tea, that’ll come out in a sec—”

All hell burst loose as Petunia shrieked, shooting out and slapping away James’s wand. On the backhand she caught his face, and with a surprised expression he fell back and tripped over his own chair. Lily was already shooting out of her seat, as were her parents, so James fell onto her calves and she toppled as well. One of their legs caught the tea cozy and it shot up in the air.

As it fell she heard James cry out, “Wingardium leviosa!” Abruptly the whole assembly stopped in midair and hung there as if frozen. Mr. Evans was gazing in astonishment, while Mrs. Evans began hastily plucking biscuits out of midair and replacing them on the tray. Petunia had already run out of the room and stormed upstairs.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” Mrs. Evans said.

“I’m—I’m sorry, Mrs. Evans, I’m really sorry—” Lily saw that James had a genuinely repentant expression as the two of them rose of the ground and dusted themselves off. In fact, it was harder to tell who looked sorrier at the moment: James, Lily, or Mrs. Evans.

“No, no, dear, we’re the ones who should be sorry. And call me Evelyn, remember. It’s just that—Lily’s sister hasn’t adjusted well to her…special abilities. She doesn’t like seeing them used, and—”

“No, I understand, that was really stupid of me. I should have realized that’s not how you normally do things and it would seem strange, I’m really—”

He lapsed into silence and all four of them looked nervously around the room.

“Anyways,” he finally announced. “I really have to get going—” Her parents quickly tried to reassure him that nothing was wrong and urged him to sit down again, but he waved them off.

“No, really, I just wanted to stop off and say hi. Oh, and also I have some news for Lily.” With this he turned to her and said, “The owls at Hogwarts have all taken ill for some reason, they’re refusing to fly so they couldn’t send you notice. I’m not sure if you’ve heard already otherwise, but Dumbledore thought I could come along and tell you in person. Unless you already know, of course, about, you know—”

Lily was genuinely puzzled. Owls sick? News from Hogwarts so important that Dumbledore would have wanted it delivered in person? That explained how he had the light-flicker. But why him, of all people? A hundred questions raced through her mind.

“No,” she answered, trying to remove all hints of apprehension from her voice. “I haven’t heard. What is it?”

“It’s not bad news,” he reassured her. Apparently he could see the worry written on her face. “Rather the opposite, actually. You see, you’ve been made—you’re the new—” He seemed to be having trouble saying it.

Finally he got it out. “You’re Head Girl! Anyways, I’m sure the news can’t be that big a surprise to you…” His voice tailed off awkwardly as he reached inside the light jacket he was wearing. He seemed to have some problem with the zipper and frowned at it.

This gave Lily a chance to compose herself. Truth be told, the announcement did surprise her quite a bit. She had never expected to be Head Girl. To her there always seemed to be people ahead of her, people who had known about magic for their entire lives who always nodded when they were being taught a new spell because they had seen their parents do it. Her first year at Hogwarts, it had sometimes felt as if people were speaking an entirely different language, one that she could never unravel. Head Girl, the voice in her mind whispered, full of wonder.

Unfortunately she didn’t have a great deal of time to contemplate it, as she suddenly found herself encompassed by her mother and father’s gigantic embrace.

“Oh, honey, we’re so proud of you!” they both said together. Her father looked quite fierce, with that light shining from his eyes and his complexion growing even brighter. Then Lily looked down and realized her mother was crying in her arms.

“Mum, it’s okay, there’s no need to—”

She looked quickly at James to see whether he was laughing at her family, but he appeared to be merely waiting. The smile on his face was not as mocking as the expression she was more accustomed to seeing on his lips. He looked like he was happy for them.

And for the first time that evening she realized that something very dramatic had changed James Potter since she had last seen him.

She stroked her mother’s hair while she sobbed and her father tried to explain, whispering in her ear. “It’s been hard for her, you know, sending you off knowing we won’t really have you back in the house until next summer. She loves you. So much. And I do too.” He pressed a soft kiss against her hair.

“We’re so proud of you, honey,” he said. They stood there, together, for quite some time.

Finally, her mother drew away and turned to James. “Oh, I’m sorry, James, this must be so terribly awkward for you to be seeing our family like this. You must think we are the strangest family in all of England. We’ve been such a display tonight, I’m afraid. I’m sure Lily must almost be dying of embarrassment by now—”

He laughed it off. “No, no, it’s fine. You don’t know strange until you live with wizards for a few years. Besides, it makes me feel like part of the family. Oh, and before I forget—” He drew his hand out of his pocket (finally having managed to unzip his coat) and pulled out a badge adorned with the letters HG, an elaborate red weave upon a golden background.

“Thanks,” she said softly as he pressed it into her palm. “I’m not sure I deserve this.”

He scoffed, “Like they could find someone better.” She noticed how her parents swelled with pride at this comment.

“Well, like I said, I’ll be going now—” Mr. and Mrs. Evans drowned out his last words by insisting that he stay the night, with her mother explaining how the guest bedroom was quite delightful and her father warning him of how dangerous road conditions could be in the area at nighttime.

“It’s the fog, you see, it creeps in—”

“—and we can find you towels and there’s extra soap and shampoo in the cupboard and—”

“Thank you very much, but I really do need to be going. And we, ahem, don’t exactly travel by car, so it’ll be somewhat easier for me to be on my way. Fog won’t stop me,” he declared with a little laugh.

Her parents continued to protest, redoubling their efforts. But finally they resigned themselves to the fact that he was set on his course of action and they relented—although not before her mother convinced him to take another tart “for the road.” Even if that wasn’t the way he was going to be traveling.

Lily walked him out to the front door. As he stepped down he nodded to her and said, “See you at Hogwarts, Evans.”

“Hey,” she called out as he left. “I forgot to ask. Who’s Head Boy, then?”

When the question left her lips, she watched as the old wicked grin appeared on his face and she knew the answer. To that question, at least, of the many that were floating in her mind.

“Does this mean you’ll have to behave yourself now?” she asked his fading outline, already knowing it was too much to hope for.

“Oh no,” he answered, his voice drifting oddly across the yard. With every click of his finger another light came back to life. “That would be too much to ask of me.” He lightly tapped two fingers against his head and gave her a little salute, and then vanished. The last thing she saw was the shadow of his smile.

Chapter Four – The Great Tom Riddle

Lily felt increasingly uneasy as the train pulled away from Platform 9 ¾. The bright Hogwarts crest on the seatback behind her made her feel slightly better, knowing she was going back to the school. But is it the same school I remembered?

So much seemed wrong. Not dramatically different, but just slightly off somehow. The fact that owls would no longer fly from Hogwarts was by itself something odd, but now it seemed like a premonition of some calamity. She had read enough books to understand that animals had a strange magic all to their own, an ability to recognize approaching danger.

And there is something in the woods, something bad enough that a wizard has been appointed to hunt it. That news was also unsettling to her. While the forest was normally forbidden to students, the rule was rarely followed and even more rarely enforced. As Head Girl, she would have to be extra-diligent.

Especially, she reflected glumly, since James isn’t likely to be much help with rule-breakers. Although she hated to admit it, he had the magical talent and commanded enough respect to deserve the position of Head Boy. The only question was whether he could ever do his job properly.

Of course, she didn’t want to think too much about James Potter. For he more than anything else was one of those things that can changed slightly. Not completely, just a little bit. She had sensed it when he had visited her over the summer, something different in his demeanor, although she couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was.

She shuddered. It almost felt pleasant to be around him. She tried to shut that train of thought down as quickly as it came. No doubt Alice would be beside herself to hear it. Not to mention what Magwyn Dunter or Jennifer Bones would say. “We knew it! Finally—”

And there was that word again, ‘finally.’ It had not exactly been a surprise when Alice had said it, but it still disturbed her. Do they really all expect me to end up with James? she wondered.

She never got a chance to finish her thoughts. No sooner had she and Alice picked a cabin then Magwyn and Jennifer found them. Gwyn and Jen were both Quidditch players, Chasers for their respective Houses. She was happy to see her friends and eager to hear about their summers.

But the first thing out of Gwyn’s mouth was, “Lily! Congrats on the Head-Girl-ship, but you know you have to sit in the front cabin now.”

“What?” She had completely forgotten that the Head Boy and Head Girl rode together in a separate cabin at the front of the train.

“Yeah, some good, ehm, alone time you can spend getting your agendas together. Choosing how to rule the school.” Gwyn grinned wickedly and Jennifer blushed slightly as they took their seats.

Lily scowled. “Very funny, Gwyn.”

“Oh, do tell James ‘Hello’ for us,” she called out as Lily left the car and began trooping up to the front passage.

All hopes that James had chosen to break the rules (hardly unexpected for him) and sit with his friends in their customary cabin were dashed when she pulled open the door and discovered him lounging across one of the benches.

“Evans, never thought you’d get here. I almost wondered whether you’d missed the train. Would have been the first time in Hogwarts history that Head Girl had to show up late—”

“Har har. Funny, Potter.” She sat down across from him and scanned the cover of the magazine he was reading.

“Witch Weekly! Are you serious?”

“I just found it on the seat,” he said. “And without the joy of your company I got a bit lonely and decided to read a bit.”

Lily thought about cracking a joke about how, with Sirius learning how to tell time and his learning how to read, the two of them had had quite a summer. But for some reason she suppressed that desire.

He put the magazine aside and gave her a curious once-over. “So, how was the rest of your summer?”

She shrugged noncommittally. “Worse than yours was, I’m sure.”

“Oh,” he said. “Hopefully your sister forgot about that little bit of unpleasantness? I meant to tell her I was sorry but she never—”

“Be glad you didn’t waste your breath. My parents weren’t lying when they said she hates magic, she hasn’t really talked to me since—” Lily suddenly stopped. Why had she just said that?

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t really realize that’s how it was.”

“Not your problem,” she said shortly.

“Do you—do you want to talk about it?” His voice was strained.

“Not really.”

“It’s just—I mean, I understand,” he said. How can you? her temper flared.

“I mean,” he went on. “I’ve seen how Sirius gets treated by his family, sometimes. His brother, Regulus, you know, in Slytherin. He doesn’t ever really let people see it bothers him, but I can tell it hurts. I mean, it’s his brother, how could it not?”

Lily was shocked when he reached over and touched her hand gently. “So I really am sorry. I’m not just saying it. If I had a Time-Turner I’d go back and give myself a good whack on the head, it was a really stupid thing to do—”

Her expression softened. “No, it’s really not your fault. Petunia—she’ll just never be used to that, but it’s a prejudice. You shouldn’t have to apologize for it.”

She stared out the window and watched the fog roll by. Soon enough they’d be out of the city, and then it would clear up and show the green valleys that she remembered so well. They sat in silence for some time.

“My grandparents live around here,” he said suddenly. Lily’s head jerked back from the rich meadows, glimmering with gold as the sunlight struck the dew.

“Really?”

He nodded. “I mean, my family lives in London. But the folks have a farm out here. They raise sheep, cattle, chicken, some turkeys. The Muggle way, it’s kind of seen as an oddity amongst the rest of the family.”

She laughed. “Muggle meat.”

He laughed as well. “Exactly. It actually gets really good prices. Restaurants like it, you know. They like saying, “No magical additives,” so it feels like something most wizards and witches feel like they couldn’t cook up at home. ‘Au naturel’ and all that.”

“So they don’t use magic?”

“Not for that part, at least,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like my Gramps is on his knees scrubbing dirt off the kitchen floor.” He chuckled. “That would be a sight.”

They fell silent again, and Lily took the time to inspect him. His jaw was set quite firmly, she noted. Again she had the impression that he was slightly nervous. His shoulders seemed somewhat stiff, although his lean frame appeared relaxed when he leaned back into his seat.

“There’s something different about you,” she mused.

“Is there?”

“A little something. I’m not sure what it is yet.”

“I hope it’s a good thing.”

“Not sure of that, either.” Because his expression seemed so crestfallen, she added, “I’m pretty sure it’s not bad, though.”

The quiet between them grew more and more oppressive by the minute. Finally he spoke.

“I’m trying to change, you know.”

“James Potter? Trying to change? That’s impossible!”

He looked vaguely offended, and asked, “Why?” There was a defiant air to his eyes.

“Because the James Potter I thought I knew could most definitely be described by one word.”

She grinned. “Incorrigible.”

Even he had to laugh at that. “Yes, well everything has to change sooner or later, no?”

“That’s good to hear,” she said. Although when she observed the way his eyes peered into hers, she knew that some things, at least, definitely had not changed one bit.

“I know you must be wondering.”

“Wondering what?”

“Why Dumbledore made me Head Boy.”

Truth be told, Lily had wondered about it a time or two. Most often when she was thinking how she would possibly maintain discipline in the school with him as her back-up.

“Like most things,” he said, “There’s a bit of a story behind it. If you want to hear it.”

She leaned forward, and he went on. “So at the end of last term, Dumbledore called me up to his rooms. Password is Limey Licorice, by the way, or at least it was when we left school. He sat me down and said he wanted to talk to me.

He started talking about the Head Boy and Head Girl for next year. I told him I thought Remus and you would make a good duo—”

She scoffed, “And not yourself?”

“No, seriously,” he said, wounded. “I mean, it made perfect sense for it to be you, you’re talented, you have the kind of magical ability, I don’t know if anyone in the school can say they have more. But you’re also kind, you help others, you’re not selfish—” He tailed off awkwardly. Lily looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling a prickling sensation all over her skin.

“And I mean, I won’t lie, I thought about myself for Head Boy. But when I thought about it, I couldn’t really say for sure why it should be. I mean, Sirius is just as talented as me, and maybe more. He can do some magic it would take me years to learn. Remus is at least as good, and he’s a better man than me. There are—certain reasons, certain difficulties I know about that you don’t, that he’s had to overcome—”

“His mother, you mean? I know she’s very sick, it must be hard on him.”

“I just, I couldn’t really see why it should be me. I knew there were better people, and particularly for that job—”

Lily scrutinized his expression. His face seemed perfectly sincere, and his voice was filled with an odd emotion that she hadn’t heard from him before.

“Remus deserved it more than I did, more than I ever could. You have to believe me, he’s my friend, practically like a brother to me. I love him too much to lie about these things.” There was something fierce in his voice when he said that, a surety that she had once attributed to his arrogance.

Finally she said, “I believe you.”

“Anyways, that’s what I told Dumbledore. And he kind of puts his hand to his chin and looks like he’s thinking about it, then he says, ‘I’d like to show you something.’ Have you ever seen a Pensieve?”

She shook her head, so he explained what it did.

“In any case, he wanted to show me a memory of his. It was of a past Head Boy, one who since has gone on to be a great wizard. A great wizard, but a terrible, evil one.” James shuddered, and Lily started when she knew who he was talking about.

“Him?”

“He was Head Boy at Hogwarts, did you know that?” She hadn’t, it came as a quite a shock.

“Dumbledore showed me some stuff he remembered from that time, and the more I saw the more I realized that he was like me. He was good, but he was so confident, so sure of himself. And the more I saw the more I realized that he was exactly like me.”

Half of her wanted to scream, Finally, you realized it, what I’ve been saying all these years. You’re arrogant, a bully, you think too much of yourself, that kind of stuff always leads you down the path to the Dark Arts. But another half of her saw the flecks of light trembling in his eyes, watched with a surreal fascination as he turned his head away, and wanted to enfold him in her arms and tell him everything was alright.

“Finally Dumbledore lets me out. And I sit there, completely stunned. I can’t say anything. And then he says, ‘Well, what do you think?’ And I don’t know, I can hardly think. I keep thinking, I don’t deserve it at all. Look at him, he was just like me, look what he became. All I can say is, ‘I never knew.’

He nods and then says at last, ‘I have a mind to make you Head Boy.’ By now I’m really confused, I can’t understand why he would do that. How could he do that, after he just showed me the reason why I didn’t deserve it at all?”

Lily stared at him. Never in all the time they had known each other had she ever actually had a real conversation with him. It was generally just antagonistic banter. Truthfully, she hadn’t even thought it would be possible to truly talk to James Potter.

“And he says, ‘I think you’ve finally realized that sometimes goodness matters as much as greatness in a man. And sometimes a good deal more.’ And it was…it was like, I realized that all these years at school I’ve wanted to be the best, I wanted to write my name in the history books as a great wizard, I wanted the kind of power that other wizards could only dream of attaining.” His expression twisted into an anguished snarl. “He probably had the same fantasies.”

She didn’t know what to say, and after a long pause he started up again.

“I told him I didn’t deserve it, that this was all the more reason Remus should be Head Boy. He only said he’d think it over. And a month later he was standing on my doorstep with that badge in his hand.”

James smiled bitterly. “So that’s the answer to the question, Evans. All of them. It’s why I became Head Boy, it’s probably why you feel like I’ve changed. Because Dumbledore wanted to teach me a lesson. Wanted to show me that you’ve been right all these years, and I’ve been wrong.” He gazed intently into her eyes, and then dropped down to look at the floor.

“You can start laughing at me now,” he finished, his head bowed.

A dozen conflicting desires arose inside her. A large part of her felt vindicated and triumphant. However, it felt as if an equally great part of her felt ashamed of those emotions, and another part of her felt an onrush of sympathy and understanding for the boy sitting across from her, who looked so defeated.

Her hand trembled as she reached across the space between them. She wasn’t sure what she meant to do until her fingers cupped his cheek gently. He head shot up, surprise written on his face.

“I’m not going to laugh at you, James. You’re—” The words were out of her before she realized she had said them. “You’re being too hard on yourself.”

He didn’t say anything for what seemed like ages. When he finally spoke she could hardly hear what he said, so soft was his whispered thanks.

Chapter Six – The Howler

“No doubt the first-years will be arriving soon—ah yes, here they are!” Dumbledore’s familiar rumble greeted them as they entered the Great Hall. The new students gasped in awe when they saw the ceiling, enchanted to appear like the sky above. By now Lily had grown accustomed to it, although it was no less beautiful.

“And let me take this opportunity to introduce our new Head Boy and Girl, who seem to have taken it upon themselves to escort our new students to the Feast.”

Dumbledore’s smile seemed almost coy when he said, “As Head Boy, I present you…James Potter!” Polite applause rippled throughout the room, although it ended quickly at the Slytherin table.

“A bit wetter than our previous Boy, but perhaps he’ll do.” Laughter rippled across the room as James turned red.

“And our new Head Girl, Lily Evans!” Alice and Gwyn enthusiastically led the Gryffindor table in a thunderous ovation at that announcement.

“Yes, yes, excellent, excellent,” Dumbledore said. “Now students, if you have any questions or issues, do not hesitate to approach any of our authority figures, whether they be your House Prefects, the Head Boy or Girl, or a member of the staff. Your being here is the reason we are all here, so do not hesitate to call upon our services.

And now, without further ado, let us begin the Sorting!”

Dumbledore sat down and Professor McGonagall took over. Lily looked to James, who inclined his head in the direction of the front of the Hall. Together, they herded the first-years up through the central aisle. Though they all gave off signs of being rather frightened, Lily couldn’t help noticing that they also had a certain eagerness shining in their eyes. She could remember the feeling herself.

One boy, with curly red hair and brown eyes, seemed to have latched onto James’s leg. “It’s alright,” he was saying, “the tests aren’t like they said, trust me. You just put on the hat, really.”

Professor McGonagall had already arranged the stool and hat, and as the first-years approached it burst into song.

Though diff’rence can easily make enemies—

For fear of those who are strange and stranger

It can just as certain hold the keys

To friendships beyond value in times of danger.

The wizards’ world has oft forgot

This cardinal rule that ought guide us all

Thinking instead that the reasons we fought

Were for only our own interest’s call.

Instead let me hold up as an ideal case

Four great and powerful mages who united

To create a powerfully magical place,

A school to which all sorts were invited.

Each founder held a common cause,

And yet a different strength each brought.

So here let me take this time and pause,

And explain the quality that each sought.

Hufflepuff, a witch like no other witch

Desired most those who loved not fame

Who loved the game but could leave the pitch

If work was to be done, and feel no shame.

Then Gryffindor, brave beyond the pale,

Called forth those with courage and no fear

Guardians of good, loyal without fail.

Far and wide he searched, to bring them here.

And Slytherin, true friend of the lion lord

Who unlike him prized the pure above all

Our blood was rare, and he thought to hoard

Those who families entire were magical.

Last but not least, Ravenclaw scoured th’earth

For those who valued the mind and wit

To whom an empty shelf was a dearth

For whom a tome of old secrets was simply it.

And did they separate their chosen few?

No, but grouped them under the same token.

And now contemplate this riddle true:

Four links of diff’rent metal can ne’er be broken.

With the conclusion of the Hat’s song, the first-years began to be called up to be sorted into their Houses. As the rest of the students turned eagerly towards the food and began packing in, occasional cries of “Hufflepuff!” or “Gryffindor!” rang out through the cavernous chamber.

Lily, Alice, and Gwyn enthusiastically clapped and cheered whenever a new Gryffindor was announced and took his or her set at the end of the table. Lily watched as they put their heads together and whispered happily to each other, smiling as she recalled how she had begun making her own friends on just such a night, six years ago.

“So,” Dorcas Meadows, a singularly beautiful sixth-year witch was saying between bites of roast turkey, “What do you lot reckon is going on with Lord Voldemort?”

“I heard he was caught.”

“Really?”

“Aurors, cornered him in Derbyshire.”

“No joke?”

“Can someone pass the gravy?” Lily pushed the bowl in his direction and turned back to hear the discussion.

“Is it true? I haven’t seen anything in the Prophet—”

“Ah, the Prophet’s behind the times, I had it from Joss Fenwick, who had it from Hobble and Hooper, whose parents are Unspeakables in the Ministry who’re friends with a few Aurors.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Lily said.

“I’m not so sure this is all over,” Gwyn said.

“How so? They’ve bagged him, this is over and done with. Another dark wizard neutralized—”

But Gwyn shook her head. “You know how powerful real, true dark wizards are? You know who the last major Dark Lord was…it took them almost a decade to defeat Grindelwald, he was more powerful than any single warlock besides Dumbledore.”

“Maybe Voldy’s just not as good,” Lily pointed out, grinning as she reached out to tear a bit of bread off the loaf. Steam rose as she cracked the crust, and she caught a hint of a rich smell that reminded her of bakeries and pastry shops.

Alice appeared doubtful. “He’s supposed to be the most powerful dark wizard, maybe ever—”

“Well,” Harvey Nutcombe said. “I’m just tellin’ you what I heard, you can believe it or not.” He pushed his light blond hair to one side of his head and then turned away to talk to another group of students. Harvey was a Chaser on the Gryffindor team, prickly and proud.

“Someone’s sensitive,” Gwyn said.

Lily suddenly realized that something was odd. When she scanned the table, she realized that James was nowhere to be seen. And equally worrisome was the fact that none of his friends were at the table either.

“Why are they not here?” she asked, pointing at their places across the table.

“Oh, I didn’t notice. You should keep better track of your boyfriend, honey.”

“He’s not my—”

“There’s Sirius, at any rate,” Alice said, gesturing over at the Hufflepuff table. And indeed, Sirius was sitting next to a seventh-year Hufflepuff girl that Lily recognized as Cali Capston.

“Oh, and of course Peter’s with him.”

Lily’s eyes narrowed. “Well, that explains—”

“And there’s Lupin, he’s with the Ravenclaws. Looks like he fits in better than he does here, actually,” Gwyn laughed.

Remus Lupin was indeed sitting in the center of the Ravenclaw table, talking quietly to three or four students from different years.

“What are they doing? They know we’re supposed to sit by House during the feast.”

“Ah, Lily, don’t be upset just because your boyfriend chose to sit at the Slytherin table.”

She was trying to come up with a quick retort when she finally processed that information.

“He’s sitting where?”

“Look,” Gwyn said by way of answer, waving a hand towards the green Slytherin banners.

James was scrunched in at the end of the bench, head bent over and whispering with one of the Slytherins. The name Hans Patterson sprung into her head. It didn’t take long for Lily to recall that he was a member of the House Quidditch team. As if to confirm what they were discussing, James began moving a fork in the air as if miming a flying maneuver.

She also couldn’t help noticing that Severus Snape, James’s arch-enemy and a Slytherin Prefect, was sitting as far away as he possibly could, at the opposite end of the table.

“Of course, Quidditch,” she breathed, exasperated. “Well, ordinarily I wouldn’t care about this, but I’m surprised the professors haven’t said anything. We’re supposed to sit together.”

Just then, his eyes caught hers. Despite quickly averting her gaze, she knew he had seen her. And sure enough, he began making his way towards the Gryffindor table.

“Wow, what a Summoning Charm. Wish you could show me how to do that one, Lily.”

“Gwyn—” she growled warningly.

But even Alice wanted to get in on the fun, making a whiplash motion with her wand. Unfortunately for her, sparks cascaded from the end of it as a dish of blood pudding exploded in front of her.

“Reparo,” she muttered hastily as other students began searching for the source of commotion. A few—including, Lily noted, Frank Longbottom—had been hit by the splash effect and were wiping their robes off.

“I’m sorry, let me clear that up for you…” And Alice was off hastily performing Scourgify spells on her victims.

“Treacle tart?” James asked conversationally as he approached the table.

Lily shook her head. “What were you doing over at the Slytherin table?”

Ignoring her question, James sat down in Alice’s vacated seat and said, “Come on, I know they’re your favorite, right?”

Lily blushed and felt Gwyn’s elbow not-so-subtly nudging her in the back. She gave her a sharp glare.

“Gwyn, excuse me, I believe you’re poking me.”

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Just reaching for some dessert, you know. Treacle tart’s are your favorite too, eh?”

Lily turned back to James, stone-faced, and took one from the napkin he was holding out.

“You want one too, Magwyn?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” her friend tittered, reaching around Lily’s squared shoulders to extract one.

“What were you doing—”

“At the Slytherin table? Well, if you noticed, the Gryffindor house-elves seem to have neglected our need for treacle tarts today—” He gestured at the dessert trays on the table, which were indeed quite bereft of that treat.

“So,” he finished, “I thought I’d raid the Slytherins. Like them the least, you know.”

“Really?” Somehow Lily wasn’t buying that explanation. “And Sirius, Peter, and Remus had to go raid different tables?”

“How else could we be sure we’d get what we wanted?”

“Don’t play with me, James—”

“I would never think of doing such a thing, Lily.” At this, Gwyn snorted from behind her and starting coughing. Lily pounded her on the back—perhaps a bit harder than was necessary.

“Are you alright, Gwyn? Feeling okay?”

“Mm…eh, yes, quite alright.”

By this time, James was rising from his seat.

“Don’t try to wheedle out of this, James. I know you’re up to something, and I can’t believe you would pull two pranks in one night after becoming Head—”

“I’m just getting up for Alice,” he said.

“Thanks, James,” Alice said, as he slid in behind him.

“No problem. And, for your information—” He directed this comment at Lily. “We’re just trying to spend some more time with people from other Houses. Inter-House unity has always been a problem here at school, and I was thinking a big way to change that would be to not be so strict with the seating rules.”

“Really.”

“Yes, really.”

“If anything explodes—”

“It won’t, I promise. It’s just an experiment. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about it, because I thought we might try to make this a more permanent thing. Really have it go year-round, see how people take to it.”

“Am I hearing correctly?”

“Er—what d’y—”

“Is James Potter actually trying to come up with ideas to improve the school?”

The uncertain expression on his face suddenly vanished, and he said, “Maybe, just maybe.”

“So does this newly accepting James plan on making his peace with Severus anytime soon?”

His face darkened at her words, and she regretted them for a moment. But then he said, with a hint of regret, “I’ve done some things to him over the year that need apologizing for, probably. I’m not so sure he’ll be willing to talk to me, however.”

After he had left, Gwyn spun around and said to Alice, “I’ve never seen two people more meant for each other.”

“Gwyn—”

“Isn’t it beautiful? We should send a submission in to Dani LaStelle, she could write out a romance novel about it.”

“I’m about three seconds away from pulling out the nastiest hex I can find and—”

“Hogwarts Sweethearts…no that’s too boring of a title. Gryffindors in Love…no, that sounds so generic…”

“Gwyn!”

“Oh, I have one. To Love a Lily…”

Before they could exhaust possible titles for the story of Lily’s love life, Professor McGonagall began tapping her glass to silence the muffled rumble of conversation in the hall. Gwyn looked rather off-put at being interrupted. Lily felt a definite sense of relief.

Dumbledore was rising to speak again.

“I have but a few words for you tonight, before you all go on enjoying the lovely spread set out for us by our resident helpers.” He harrumphed and adjusted his half-moon spectacles, and his beatific expression rearranged itself to appear deadly serious.

“I would have you understand that it is a great honor to be chosen to be a student of Hogwarts, just as the school itself will someday be honored to name you as one who walked through its halls. And I would also have you understand that while you are here, you are as safe as can be. This is a place of old magic.”

He paused before going on. “However, the safety and security we feel here should not deteriorate into complacency or wishful, willful ignorance of the outside world. The fact is that we are not living in easy times. There are forces of darkness around us, forces that would seek to undo what good there is in this world.”

Apparently the rumors of Voldemort’s demise were far from true, if Dumbledore would caution them like this.

“And though,” he said, “it may seem easy enough to forget that this is true while ensconced within these walls, we must never let ourselves fall into the trap. Some of you, our older students, have already begun thinking about what you will do after leaving. Undoubtedly, you have each found that every choice you make is influenced by the knowledge of how the world is. Many, I know, have begun preparing themselves to become Aurors.”

He nodded towards the Gryffindor table in particular. It was well-known that their House produced more Aurors than any other, and that most of the sixth and seventh-year students were pursuing that path.

“So while I never want students’ minds to become overburdened or miserable, or fraught with fear, I must ask you to do one thing. I must ask you to always remember that, though you are children of a long peace, you may also have to fight the battles someday soon to insure that your children—and your children’s children—can know peace as well.”

He concluded on a lighter note. “I thank you for listening to the words of an old man, who dares think himself wiser than others. Now, before the doom and gloom spreads too far, let us remember that here we have made many friends, and will always find friends, if we are only willing to ask.”

-000-

After the feast concluded the Prefects led the first-years up to their House dormitories. Since Lily was both a Prefect and the Head Girl, the task fell on her to direct the Gryffindors up to the familiar portrait of the Fat Lady.

Mercifully, this year’s crop of students seemed remarkably well-behaved. The only annoyance was a little girl with eager blue eyes and raven-black hair who asked her, “Is it true the Head Boy and Head Girl are married?” on the way up the stairs.

Gwyn and Alice had gotten quite the kick out of that.

As Lily led the girls up to their dormitory, she spared a quick glance across at the boys, who were following James up to their tower. He caught her eye and winked as they disappeared around the spiraling staircase, and she averted her gaze before either her friends or the first-years realized whom she had been looking at.

Truth be told, Lily wasn’t sure what to make of the idea of increasing House unity. She naturally supported the whole notion as a concept, but she wasn’t sure how they could truly make it work. After all, Hogwarts students lived together, took classes together. They were like one big family. And if some pieces just naturally didn’t get along, who could force them?

She couldn’t help thinking about Petunia when the subject came up. Some differences just can’t be reconciled, she thought sadly. And even the ones that could wouldn’t necessarily be erased just because students could choose to sit at different tables. After all, they would naturally have more friends in their own House. It seemed like few students would move around anyways.

But she couldn’t help noticing how relaxed James had seemed while talking to the Slytherins. It was even a shock of sorts, considering how deep the enmity between Gryffindor and Slytherin traditionally ran when it came to the pitch.

When they reached their room at last, with the familiar canopied beds done in rich shades of gold and crimson, she decided to ask her friends. While Gwyn and Alice were still packing their belongings into the trunk at the foot of the bed and rearranging their necessities, she started in on James’s idea.

“Do you think this whole House-unity thing will really work?”

“I don’t see why not,” Alice said. “It would be good to be able to move around a little bit.”

Gwyn shrugged. “It’s not like all the handsome boys get thrown in Gryffindor, after all. Not saying that James isn’t cute, Lily, we know you fancy—”

It was a credit to Lily’s concentration that she didn’t rise to the bait this time. “I’m serious, Gwyn. It would be a big change, but I think if we really tried we could make it happen. Do you think it would be worth the effort?”

“Can’t tell you. I’d like to see it, though.”

“As long as we still had a choice. I wouldn’t want to find myself randomly assigned to sit with the Slytherins one day, either.”

Lily thought about her friends’ advice. They seemed to consider it a sound enough idea, and if nothing else Lily had to admit that it really couldn’t hurt. It might not help, but she couldn’t see how it would be bad for Hogwarts.

Her line of inquiry was interrupted, however, by a ghostly, eerie sound echoing over the grounds.

“What was that?” Saria Champs asked. A stout, red-faced girl, Saria had stuck her head out the window and was trying to see if anything was happening.

Lily caught the eyes of Gwyn and Alice with some alarm. Mephistopheles, who had curled up and gone to sleep at the foot of Lily’s bed, was awake and hissing. All the fur on his back was standing up. Wompy appeared to have scurried under Alice’s table.

“I’ve never heard anything like that, did it come from the forest?” The sound came again, and with the window open it sounded even closer to them. It was like a wolf’s howl, but dramatically louder and more anguished.

“That’s got to be the biggest or angriest wolf I’ve ever heard,” Gwyn muttered.

“It must be one of the things in the forest,” Alice said. “One of the reasons we aren’t supposed to go in there.”

“Are there such things? Huge wolves, I mean.”

“Yeah, there are dire wolfs and gyrolfs, both are larger than normal wolves. Gyrolfs in particular have some magical properties about them, their fur is rich in—”

“Never mind that now,” Lily said. “Come on, if it’s in the forest there’s no need to worry about it, it can’t harm us.”

After a third howl, this time sounding like a lament laden with regret and pain, Saria shuttered the windows. Lily noticed the girl was shuddering.

“Oh, come on, Saria, just get to bed. It’s nothing to worry about, we have Hagrid out at the edge of the forest to keep anything dangerous away from the school.”

Saria crept under her sheets while Gwyn pointed her wand at the various lamps around the room. Gradually the room’s light gave way to darkness and the four girls nestled down for a good night’s sleep.

“Do you think it’ll really be alright?” Saria’s voice whispered into the night.

“Really, it’ll be fine. Just get some sleep,” Lily said.

Despite the confidence she injected into her own voice, however, she found it difficult to go to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw an immense wolf-like creature rearing up between two yew trees, snapping one in half with the swipe of an upraised paw and baring its hideous teeth. And she also heard the faint words, that sounded just a bit like Sirius Black. “The owls are afraid of something…something bad.”

With one last uneasy glance out the window, which revealed only dimly sparkling stars and a wisp of deep purple cloud, Lily rested her head on the pillow and tried to think of nothing at all.

Chapter Eight – Reckay Bringfer, Hunter Extraordinaire

As the first chill winds of autumn came and the leaves began to transform into a rich menagerie of color, they finally heard a bit of news about their Care of Magical Creatures class. It was announced formally on all the common room boards that they would meet for the first time. Lily couldn’t remember another class that had started so late in the year.

By now, most of the students had gotten used to having one less class than they had planned and were quite happy. She herself had been using the extra time to practice Apparition, and had at last passed the test over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a few people had already begun to take advantage of the newfound seating freedom in the Great Hall, which Dumbledore had announced days earlier would begin its “trial run.” Saria Champs had taken to sitting with her boyfriend from Ravenclaw, vacating at least one seat for Gwyn’s suitors. And there was no shortage—more than a few eligible bachelors had found themselves at the Gryffindor table. Gwyn had been more than happy to shamelessly flirt with all of them. .

When the day came for their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Lily noticed that Alice was beaming as they walked outside. She must have been the only one, however.

Gwyn was still muttering under her breath, “Well, I guess I can say goodbye to that free period.” She had been in a rather sour mood since Sam Sawbridge had begun going out with a Ravenclaw named Molly Ipsen, although she had cheered up briefly when she’d heard that Lily gave the Gryffindors the best practice time on the pitch.

The three of them left the castle together and headed down towards their open-air “classroom,” such as it was. Gwyn chose that moment to hound her about James Potter once again, one of the last topics she wanted to discuss at the moment. Her own feelings were beginning to grow quite confused, although she knew that even showing the slightest hint of a crack in her resolve would only encourage Gwyn to bother her endlessly.

“So, speaking of magical creatures…”

Even Alice appeared like she wanted to join in. “There’s been a little bird sitting on your dresser that’s been waking us up the past week,” she said.

“Has there been?”

“There has,” Gwyn said gravely. “A pretty little red one, that I just happened to see James Potter enchanting earlier. And the next thing I know, it’s in the possession of one Lily Evans…”

“Maybe I confiscated it,” Lily said. “Caught him trying to trick Filch with it.”

“Yes, maybe.” Clearly Gwyn was unconvinced.

“Or maybe it was a gift?” Alice suggested.

“Yes, it could be that as well, you know,” Gwyn jumped in eagerly.

“Alright, look—he gave it to me, okay? It was just something he was practicing on so he could develop that charm Flitwick wanted us to do—”

“Do you honestly think that, Lily?”

She flushed. “Yes, actually, I do.”

Alice shook her head. “I saw him figure out that charm he showed Flitwick right after class. I get the feeling he didn’t really want to bother with it.”

“Yeah, and he and Remus had their heads together coming up with a charm for Peter next week,” Gwyn added.

“So after that, he spent the rest of his time…” Alice’s voice trailed off with the implication.

“Making a little gift for the girl he fancies,” Gwyn said, not willing to leave anything to chance.

“Thanks, I didn’t pick up on where you were going with that,” Lily said caustically.

“Not at all,” Gwyn said.

“It’s just an enchanted little alarm, anyways, it’s nothing special.”

“Mm. Do you really believe that?”

“Of course,” Lily said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Gwyn sighed. “Come on, you know as well as I do the magic it would have taken to make that. Let’s see. First there’s getting the thing. It’s wood carved, you know, good work too, the feathers are real, and the eyes are fire opals…so I’m guessing he got it from a shop in Hogsmeade.”

“Then,” Alice picked up, “there are the charms themselves. There’s the one he came up with for the time, the one that makes it chirp…”

“The one to make it fly on command,” Gwyn added. “I wonder which one he did myself, although I’m guessing given how life-like it looks it must have been Animus Inanima. That’s not easy spellwork, not at all.”

“What’s your point?” Lily asked, being deliberately obtuse even though she knew where they were going.

“Someone put a lot of work into that.”

“Someone must have really wanted it to be special.”

“So someone,” Alice finished, “could give it as a gift to someone else.”

After a few seconds’ pause, Gwyn added, “That someone else must have been pretty special to him to go to all that trouble…”

Lily answered them with resounding silence.

“That bird also has some other little quirks, I can’t figure out how he did them,” Alice said. “I swear, it perks up whenever someone gets too close to your stuff. It’s like it’s guarding it.”

“It could be an Etern Fidelium, you know. A Loyalty Charm towards whoever owns it. Normally works best with living things, dogs and whatnot, but that thing is half-living now—”

“Can we stop talking about some little trinket? I swear, I’ve heard things more overanalyzed in Divination!”

“Perhaps,” Gwyn allowed. “If you’re willing to start talking about the boy who gave it to you…”

“You are intolerable!” Lily shouted.

“And you know you love me for it.”

At last, they reached the ringed-off area where Professor Anhotep held his lessons. A large circular pit of flat, gray dust, it was separated from the rest of the yard by cordons and also—according to him, anyways—spells of powerful defensive magic.

The first thing she noticed about the class that day was that there were no creatures in sight. The Professor stood on a tall stump, waiting for everyone else to arrive, but there were no cages or tanks nearby as far as she could see.

The second thing she noticed was the bulky man at Anhotep’s side. He seemed to exude a sense of deadly competence. When a breeze blew from behind him she caught the scents of forest soil and something metallic. His face was long and sharp, his grizzled hair covering him from temple to temple in a thick but closely-trimmed beard. His smile was wide but cold, and did not touch his eyes.

As they entered the ring and sat down on one of the log benches, he cracked his knuckles. His hands were covered with hair not unlike that on his face, and his knuckles were thick knobs. His body stretched tight against his jacket in the shoulders and chest, but seemed to narrow out dramatically around the waist.

He also happened to be carrying a nasty-looking crossbow, a heavy piece of work with ornate silver embossing. It had an odd set-up in the back, and Lily guessed that it could load three quarrels at once.

Lily noticed that Gwyn and Alice were also puzzled about why this stranger was observing their class, and she would have bet all her Galleons that they too had noticed his…unconventional appearance.

“Class, good afternoon. I’m afraid that we haven’t been meeting as frequently as I would have liked—”

A few chuckles came from the audience, and Professor Anhotep went on. “You see, we have had some difficulty this year…to be perfectly honest with you, it was seriously considered whether we should even have this class at all.”

He had certainly gotten everyone’s attention now. All heads were rapt upon him as he tried to explain.

“We are dealing with a—some type of creature,” he said. “There is something in the Dark Forest that has not been there before this year, something that is causing unrest with the various animals and such that live in the environs.”

Aubrey Prount raised his hand. “Sir, is it true, how the owls won’t fly because of this thing in the woods?”

The Professor paused. “Ah, well—it may be. We are ourselves not entirely sure of the cause, it is difficult to determine, but that is one of the things that tipped us off to start looking.”

Next to Lily, Alice raised her hand. “Professor, we heard there was someone from the Ministry hunting it—”

At this Anhotep smiled. “Yes, well, I can clearly see you’re up to date on the rumors. But this one is true, we do have a guest from the Ministry. I’ll allow Mr. Bringfer to introduce himself.” He gestured at the man standing next to him, who stepped forward and began to speak.

“The Ministry,” he said, “places the highest value on the safety of all of you. With that in mind, the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures has assigned me to discover whatever it is that shouldn’t be here, and put things back aright.”

“Put things back aright?” someone muttered from the back row.

“Yes,” he said, stroking his crossbow ominously. After this pronouncement, no one said anything for a minute or so. Eventually, Prount raised his hand again.

“Sir, begging your pardon, but who are you?”

“What?” he asked, astonished. “You’ve never heard of Reckay Bringfer, Head Hunter? Oh, sometimes they’ll also call me ‘Hunter Extraordinare.’”

Aubrey gulped as he shook his head. “The man who took on the four-horned snarglac of Siberia? The man tasked with finding the last remaining herd of aurochs and bringing them into submission? The man who slew the world’s last silver she-lion?”

Again, most of the class shook their heads, and the man adopted an offended posture. Lily couldn’t help noticing that it gave his eyes an almost murderous gleam.

“Well, you can’t have been very well-informed about the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures, then. I’ve been its premier hunter for over a decade now…” He hefted his crossbow as he said the last words, as if making sure it was still at hand.

Professor Anhotep stepped back to the fore. “In any case, class, Mr. Bringfer will be on campus over the course of the year taking any measures necessary to capture and, if need be, neutralize whatever is in the woods.”

“In the meantime,” he continued, “Professor Dumbledore has agreed that this class should continue. We have already lost a month, and N.E.W.T.’s are fast approaching. With this in mind—next week you will each find yourself with a baby hydra to Care of. Hydras are extremely sensitive creatures, and require devoted attention. They are one of the most dangerous and difficult magical creatures to domesticate, and your success will likely prepare you for anything you could see in the N.E.W.T. practicals.”

Reckay Bringfer, who was standing at Anhotep’s shoulder, looked like he had something else to say. But the Professor hastily dismissed the class, adding as they left, “It’d be best not only to read the entry in your standard textbooks, but to do some library research before next time so you’ll be prepared for everything!”

-000-

“So what’d you think of that Bringfer character?” Gwyn asked idly as they sat in the library. She was furiously scribbling the last few lines of an essay on a set of runes found in cave drawings in France.

“I thought he was kind of weird,” Alice said. “Not to mention a bit too sure of himself.”

“Yeah, ‘Hunter Extraordinaire,’ quite a title to give himself, wasn’t it?”

Lily was reviewing her Potions notes while examining an astrological chart. Her chosen design had to be made at exactly the right time…

“I wonder what that thing in the woods is,” she said in a distracted voice.

Alice clearly had the same question, because she was flipping through an immense volume whose name was Magical Creatures of Every Persuasion.

“I’ve found a few…here, for instance. The Great Shrike, an osprey-like bird with a wingspan of nearly twenty feet. Naturally preys upon other birds, including sparrows, finches, robins and will even eat ones as large as owls. Magical properties: feathers may be used in some wands and potions; its claws when ground into powder are a powerful surfactant; its presence can be sensed by other creatures, since it projects an aura of fear.”

Lily inspected the entry in the book.

“Wow, good find,” she said. Alice smiled, quite pleased with herself.

“D’you reckon we ought to tell them?” she asked.

“Ah, let the great big hunter figure it out for himself, if he’s so sure about his brilliance,” Gwyn said. “Besides, he’s a professional, he must know the things exist, right?”

“But—”

“Seriously, we shouldn’t get involved. You know they told us not to go looking into the Forest—”

“We’re not!” Alice protested hotly. “I just found it in a book!”

“But they’ll start asking questions about why we were so curious, whether we’d gone looking for it. Trust me, it’ll just give us trouble.”

Alice seemed uncertain, but said nothing.

Lily suddenly remembered the sound they had heard coming from the forest the night after the Opening Feast. She reminded them of it, which caused Gwyn to shiver.

“Eerie, wasn’t it?”

“That didn’t sound like a bird, you know. It sounded more like a pack of wolves or something.”

Alice shrugged. “Maybe there were always wolves in the forest. The Shrike’s driving them off as well…”

Lily hadn’t considered that possibility. It actually made more sense. Why would owls be afraid of wolves, after all? She envisioned a pack of wolves in her mind’s eye, fleeing from a bird whose wingspan was so immense it blotted out the stars.

“Look at this stuff about the hydra,” Alice said, interrupting Lily’s reverie. “It’s hard to take care of. Look at this, you have to feed each of his heads, not just one, because they all have their own stomach. And they’ll fight over scraps of food.”

Gwyn waved away the thought of multi-headed monsters. She was not one to think too far into the future, especially not when something else was on her mind.

“Hey, are you guys going to join the dueling club?” Her voice was filled with anticipation, but the sudden change of subject threw Lily off.

“What dueling club?” She hadn’t heard of any such thing.

“Pay more attention to the sign-up board,” Gwyn said. “The Ministry’s sending some Auror here tomorrow to teach us the basics of dueling. Says we need to get trained in how best to protect ourselves now that—well, what with how things are.”

Lily’s first reaction was to blurt, “That makes sense.” She had always wondered why no one took more time to show the students how to defend themselves in case they came under attack by some of Lord Voldemort’s followers. But she quickly became dubious. People becoming Aurors would surely need to know how to fight, but did everyone?

“I’m sure it’s not too late to sign up, they said they would take as many as wanted to learn, so you could even just show up.”

“Not a bad idea…”

Just then, Madam Pince appeared from behind the nearest shelf. Seeing that Lily was keeping her place in a book by leaving it lying face-down, she started screeching.

“Don’t you know what that does to the spine?”

“Sorry—”

“No, No! This is unacceptable!” She started shooing them away. “I won’t have your kind of people in my library, some of these books have been kept here in good condition for hundreds of years, you children have no respect for the history we’re trying to preserve—”

Lily, Gwyn, and Alice beat a panicked retreat as Pince hounded them from behind, screeching when one of them spilled ink as they were running out the doors.

“And good riddance!” she cried.

Chapter Ten – Puffed Up Hufflepuffs

Sirius did keep his word to Lily, at least as far as she could discover. If nothing else, she was quite sure he couldn’t possibly be setting up a secret club while more “important” matters were at hand. The first Quidditch match of the season, which pitted Gryffindor’s returning Cup champions against a strong Hufflepuff squad, had both Houses in an uproar. Word had gotten around that Bertram Archie, the Hufflepuff team captain, had recruited a hotshot fourth-year named Malthus Dodge who he claimed was “the best Seeker in the past one hundred years.”

The Gryffindors had initially dismissed the claims as typical bravado, but then they had learned that Dodge had been the youngest Seeker considered for the English national team that would represent the nation at the next Quidditch World Cup. After the news spread, doubts began to build, and Sirius had his hands full keeping morale up in the Gryffindor common room.

“We’re going to destroy them for sure!” he would say loudly, pretending to be talking to James but putting enough emphasis into it that everyone could hear. James would flash a cocky grin when Sirius got into one of those moods.

“Damn right we are.”

Unfortunately, others were not as convinced. They remembered that last year, Chuck Winstrom—the Gryffindor Seeker—had just barely managed to capture the Golden Snitch in their match against Hufflepuff. At that point in the match, the Gryffindors had been losing by a score of a hundred and twenty to ninety, and were clearly being outplayed. None of the other House’s Chasers was as individually talented as James, but all of them were slightly better flyers than Gwyn or Harvey Nutcombe.

Chuck himself seemed to have stopped talking in the days leading up to the match, although his skin’s unhealthy tinge seemed to tell a clear enough story to most everyone. “We should make him wear makeup until the Halloween Feast,” Sirius was frequently overheard telling anyone willing to listen.

Even Gwyn was feeling the effects, and her normally vivacious mood darkened considerably. She picked at her food at meals, and managed to alienate some of her hangers-on when she didn’t laugh at their jokes. Personally, Lily thought it was all a bit ridiculous to have so much riding on a game, and she knew she would be more than glad when it was all over.

Mercifully, James didn’t enter the fray. Hufflepuff supporters had begun shouting, “Dodge for Prime Minister!” in the halls, and several duels had already scorched the castle’s corridors. James assigned Harvey and Aubrey Prount, a Hufflepuff Chaser, to keep the peace and dispense the punishments.

Lily had instantly seen the wisdom in his choices. Since they were rival Quidditch team members and House Prefects, pairing the two of them together would prevent any biased judgments. Prount and Nutcombe also happened to be good friends and cousins, related through some convoluted set of marriages between their families that she had never bothered to figure out. In any case, she was glad that she and James didn’t have to deal with them personally. The fact that both of them were from Gryffindor would not have been good for appearances.

With all the commotion about Quidditch, unfortunately, nearly everyone forgot the egregiously precise and constant care their hydras required, and they were forced to admit to Professor Anhotep that their creatures had either died or run off to inhabit the school lake. He’d seemed rather more disconcerted about the latter outcome than the former, but had promised it wouldn’t be a problem. He did, however, warn them not to take Quidditch so seriously in the future, especially in this crucial year.

Truth be told, the seething tension frustrated her. “It’s just a game,” she said again and again, with Gwyn shooting her a dirty look every time. She found little support for the sentiment, however. Alice made sure to keep her mouth shut ever since she learned that Frank was a devoted Quidditch fan and was likely going to be one of the House Chasers next year. By the time the long-anticipated weekend arrived, Lily wanted to shut herself in and stay in bed until it was all over.

However, as a House Prefect and as Head Girl, she could hardly boycott the match. So despite her misgivings, she wrapped herself head-to-toe in red and gold just like everyone else and headed out to the pitch brooding while others—Sirius especially—led roaring chants.

Hufflepuff, badger badger badger,

When we send them crying back,

They’ll cry “We had yer, had yer, had yer!”

And on it went, without end. Lily’s head was pounding by the time they ascended to their seats on one side of the stadium. Gryffindor banners were flapping from the towers and the hoops, and even the merlons on their side of the wall had been colored in alternating red and gold. And the largest red and gold display might have been Hagrid himself, whose colossal frame was decked out fully in the colors. He used a normal scarf as a tie, and normal ties as bands to tie around his wrists.

Encouraging cries ran thick and fast as the team started their test run, flying lazy loops around the pitch.

“Let’s go, Gryffindor!”

“You got ‘em!”

Sirius took a seat next to her and Alice. Lily groaned inwardly; with Alice devoting almost all of her attention to Frank, who was sitting on her other side, it left Lily more or less alone with Sirius.

His face was flushed and his eyes were sparkling. “This is going to be a great match,” he enthused. Lily chose not to answer him, instead scanning the sky for the Hufflepuffs. As much as she hated to admit it, her heart was pounding as she watched the black-and-gold-robed flyers take off from their side, whirling in complex cross-hatching patterns at dangerous speeds.

“They’re good,” Lily said grudgingly.

“True, true. But they don’t have our heart,” Sirius said. “And look at that Seeker everyone’s talking about, he looks like half a baby.”

It was true. The boy—he was a fourth-year, if Lily recalled correctly—seemed even smaller than others in his age group. He was thin as a rail, although his cheeks still had the pudginess associated with baby fat. His dusty hair was cut long, and flapped behind him as he sailed around the pitch.

“Pretty boy wears it long,” Sirius said. Lily scoffed. He himself hadn’t cut his hair since coming to school, and it was fast approaching the level of his chin.

In the center box, Lily could see Professor McGonagall spectating eagerly. As much as Minerva McGonagall might loath to admit it, she did have a certain love for Quidditch in her heart. Lily knew that if it hadn’t been for that, James might have never seen the light of day away from detention in his third or fourth years. Professor Sprout was seated next to her, practically bouncing in her seat. She managed an almost regal bearing in a velvet robe with rich black and gold accents.

Madam Hooch was already descending to the level of the playing field, her voice amplified by a Sonorus Charm. “I’m sure we’ll have a good clean match,” she said curtly. Without any more preamble she released the Bludgers and the Snitch, and waited a few seconds for the tiny golden ball to soar off beyond anyone’s sight.

“Now, begin!” The Quaffle arced into the sky as she tossed it up, and one of Hufflepuff’s Chasers—Jennifer Bones, by the look of it—swept it in as soon as it reached its apex.

Aubrey Prount and Martin Yert, the teams two other Chasers, steamed after her. The three flew in a roughly triangular formation, with Prount slightly to the left and above her and Yert below and to the right. The formation was compact and restricted their maneuverability, but made it difficult for the Gryffindors to break in and steal the Quaffle.

Sirius winced as the Hufflepuffs scored their first goal, the three flyers breaking up rapidly after the shot. Dorcas Meadows, Gryffindor’s Keeper, was loudly cursing herself. Lily wasn’t sure what bothered Sirius more, the fact that Gryffindor had given up a goal, or the fact that Dorcas had been the one to let it in. Lily knew he had a bit of a soft spot for her.

The Gryffindors recovered quickly though, with James scoring a goal on an assist from Gwyn. Then the two teams fell into a familiar back-and-forth assault. Dorcas saved a few shots quite brilliantly, but also let in a few. She was having a hard time with the Hufflepuff’s coordinated flying, which concealed who had the ball and who was going to shoot.

Hufflepuff was up 30-20 when Dorcas was hit with an errant Bludger, a move that was sufficiently dirty to draw a foul on Rob Pladd, the third-year who was new to the Hufflepuff squad. Rob and Rob, Lily thought sardonically. Rob Barkley, a fith-year, was the team’s other Beater.

Unfortunately, James’s shot was blocked by Bertram Archie, whose chest swelled with pride. James, meanwhile, fury written all over his face, jerking forward on his broom as they glided back to the center to resume play.

Lily zoned in and out of the game, cheering loudest when Gwyn scored a goal with a clever broom-sweep maneuver from a difficult angle. Beside her, Sirius screamed like a fanatic whenever the Gryffindors even had the slightest chance to threaten to get the ball near the Hufflepuff hoops, and groaned whenever their Chasers made it past Dorcas.

The Bludger must have been affecting her significantly, and Lily could see why. A dark bruise was already covering a good portion of the right side of her face, and her eye was becoming swollen shut.

“Come on, Dorcas, you got this one!” But she didn’t, letting another one through to give Hufflepuff a 70-40 advantage.

As if things couldn’t go any worse for the Gryffindor squad, James was hit by a legal Bludger attack that left his nose bleeding and possibly broken. When Madam Hooch approached he waved her off and kept flying, but judging by the frequency with which he was wiping his face with his sleeve he had to be hurt pretty badly. The scarlet sleeve concealed most of it, however.

He played with renewed energy after Gryffindor regained possession, scoring three goals on his own while the whole Hufflepuff team only managed one. His last was reckless to the point of foolhardy. While controlling the Quaffle, he had drawn a Bludger to him and then led it so close to the goal that Archie had flinched. With the split-second of hesitation he had practically dumped the Quaffle into the hoop.

Just as the tide seemed to be turning for Gryffindor, a gasp rose from the audience. Lily squinted, searching the pitch for a flash of gold. Sure enough, the Snitch was hovering by the left hoop of the Gryffindor goal, buzzing angrily as Chuck Winstrom and Malthus Dodge started giving chase.

It didn’t take long to recognize that Dodge was the vastly superior flyer; he seemed to be able to manage two turns and three dips for every big sweeping loop that Chuck made. Although Dodge had started off much further off, he was significantly closer to the Snitch when a sudden thump caused him to jerk his head down towards the field.

Winstrom had smacked the end of his broom against the ground while his attention had been focused on Dodge in front of him and fallen off. He shook his head and stumbled a bit when he tried to get up. Gwyn and James had landed and were trying to see if he was alright, while Nutcombe stayed above with Gregory Morgan and Ada Farncourt. Ada was playing especially well today; it seemed that every Bludger she hit found a way to strike a Hufflepuff player, although most of them were glancing blows.

“That’s my girl!” Sirius shouted. Ada was the first girl to have filled the role of Beater on any House team in many years, although she certainly warranted the role. As tall as Sirius, and a bit taller than James, she had thick arms and shoulders and strength to match.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and set down to see about Chuck. Apparently he was more or less fine, because he jumped back on his broom and took to the air after Gwyn and James. In the confusion, Dodge had lost the Snitch and resumed his patrol around the arena.

James was pointing and yelling, and she tried to imagine what he was saying. “Don’t try anything fancy, just get the bloody Snitch!”

They needed it, she could see. Even while Chuck resumed his normal circuit, Jen managed to score another goal. She looked exultant as she flew by Lily, and a small part of her had to admit she was happy for her friend even if it was hurting Gryffindor. Jenn had always been overshadowed by her older sister Amelia, a star student at Hogwarts and a brilliant witch fast rising in the Ministry of Magic; the pitch was one area where she truly shone.

Something flashed in the corner of her eye as she followed James’s wild swerving in between pylons. Turning her head, she saw a huge flock of black birds bursting out of the tree cover in the Dark Forest. Crows, she thought. Or ravens.

A sense of foreboding touched her. Ravens were powerfully magical creatures, considered companions to the Dark Arts, and feared very little. Yet their cries as they rose over the forest sounded—to her ears, in any case—terrified.

A faint, almost inhuman scream floated across the way. Lily glanced around quickly, but no one else seemed to have noticed it. Was that a shrike call? she wondered, remembering Alice’s thoughts. She was struck by the fact that no one else seemed bothered. Maybe I’m imagining things. If I hear it again, I’ll know. Unfortunately, whatever it was decided not to make the same noise again.

Lily reluctantly turned back to the game. Gryffindor was taking a tough beating now, the score had gone to a hundred fifty to a hundred ten. It didn’t look like they were likely to catch up anytime, either. The Hufflepuff Chasers flew so close together when they had the ball that they forced the Gryffindors to fly right alongside them. When they were all jumbled up like that, none of the Beaters dared hit a Bludger their way for fear of friendly fire.

Dorcas saved another shot, and then another when Aubrey Prount intercepted her pass-in and tried for a quick, sneaky score.

“That girl sure flies gracefully,” Sirius said admiringly. Even as the words were coming out of his mouth, however, Martin Yert managed to score on a trick pass from Jen.

Sirius was still cursing when a roar went up from the crowd and a hundred fingers suddenly pointed up in the air. Again, the Snitch had been sighted, this time in the center of the field. It hovered for a second, as if mocking both teams’ Seekers, and then rocketed off.

Chuck was caught out of position, and struggled to readjust as Dodge elegantly ran his broom towards the Snitch. Lily hardly realized she had moved to the edge of her seat. Dodge really was a brilliant flyer, incredibly agile. As she watched him eat up the distance between him and the Snitch, she realized Gryffindor was going to lose, and lose badly.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the Chasers, their eyes riveted upon Dodge. Chuck had recovered enough that he was lagging behind the mop-headed boy by only a dozen meters or so, but he lost ground every time the Snitch changed direction dramatically and had to struggle to make it up.

Dodge’s hand reached out for the Snitch, the leer of triumph on his face bringing a resounding groan from Gryffindor’s supporters. Suddenly, however, a red flash cut across his path and he jerked backward, rearing up on the broom and nearly losing control. Chuck, who was so intent on the Snitch that he didn’t even notice what had happened to Dodge, zoomed in and, stretching as far as his body would allow in front of him, barely managed to pluck the golden ball out of the air.

Madam Hooch’s whistle ended it all. For a second the Gryffindors were too stunned to respond, or too confused. What happened? Lily wasn’t sure. Before they could ask too many questions, however, the Gryffindor side of the pitch exploded into cheering, applause, and whooping.

Sirius was leading a chant of, “Gryffindor! Gryffindor! Gryffindor!” His back to the arena, he couldn’t have noticed that Bertram Archie and Malthus Dodge were zooming straight at Madam Hooch, pointing furiously at James and shouting at the top of their lungs. It was impossible to hear what they were saying, but clearly they weren’t happy.

Rather than join in the elated celebrations, Lily began making her way down to the pitch as fast as possible. She got the feeling that the argument down there was about to get ugly. As she jumped onto the staircase and lost sight of the field, she could see James descending with a glower on his face, the rest of the Gryffindors flying fast to back him up.

“—ridiculous scare-tactic, that warranted a foul!”

“And it was a cheap way to win!” Archie and Dodge were assailing Madam Hooch with their claims, but she only shook her head.

“I can’t do anything about it, boys. It was a legal shot, you were between him and the goal…”

“Bollocks!”

By this time James had touched down, and Archie whirled on him. “Admit it, Potter! You meant to block Malthus, that was a cheap trick!”

James just shrugged, although Lily could see the smile he was trying hard to keep off his face. “I just wanted to shoot while everyone was distracted, it made sense to—”

“Bollocks, you waited until he got into your way!”

“I think that’s rather his own fault…”

“You knew you wouldn’t score from there, you were ten feet away from your own bloody goal!”

“You never know,” James insisted.

“Like hell you don’t!”

Lily was running towards the center of the pitch, behind her she could sense most of Gryffindor House milling onto the field. Apparently there was some shoving going on in the back, as Hufflepuff supporters began angrily tangling with their counterparts.

A booming voice suddenly filled the air. “Silence!” Everyone’s eyes turned up to Dumbledore in the center box.

“Enough! Everyone will return to their dormitories immediately! Madam Hooch’s ruling on the field, whatever it is, shall stand. There will be no disputing her decision.” His tone was so final that even Archie didn’t dare say a word.

Madam Hooch shook her head as she turned back to the two Captains. “I’m sorry, Bertram, but that’s the way it is. You know what a legal shot is, I can’t do anything about it.” Lily could tell she had thought it was a trick, though, because she looked unhappy when she said it.

Bertram whirled at James and spat at his feet. “You stole this match from us, Potter! Don’t think we’ll forget it!” And with that, he and the rest of the Hufflepuff squad stormed off the field.

Seeing that a fight probably wasn’t going to break out, the Gryffindors went back to their own changing room. James, however, stayed behind and, after whispering a few words to Madam Hooch, joined Lily.

“That was a pretty cheap trick,” Lily said finally.

He shrugged. “Yeah, I know.” His face appeared nowhere near as happy as it had when he had been taunting Archie, and once again she found herself reexamining him. Ever since their conversation on the train, there had been a few scattered moments when he had faltered or seemed uncertain of himself, so unlike the old James. Lily began to feel bad about laying it on him. He probably didn’t need another person complaining about how he won the match.

She sighed. “He was in your way, though. It was a perfectly legal shot, right?”

“Yes,” James said, grinning. “That it was, Lily. That it was.”

“Is your nose alright?” she asked, reaching up tentatively.

His hand suddenly shifted up to his face, and she withdrew hers before he noticed. “I guess. I think it might have been broken, but when we got the timeout to see if Chuck was okay Gwyn did a quick Episkey on me.”

“Never knew she had a talent for Healing Charms.”

“Why?” James asked, suddenly alarmed. “Is my nose crooked or anything?”

“Alas, no,” Lily said regretfully. “It seems Gwyn didn’t make any improvements. She’s not a cosmetic healer, after all.”

He adopted an expression of mock outrage. “Hey, I like my nose just the way it is, thank you very much.”

“Yes, well, you know what they say.”

“What?”

“There’s no accounting for taste, is there?”

Chapter Twelve – Moony’s Secret

“What did he mean?” Lily demanded. When James didn’t answer, she repeated the question.

“James, look at me. Look at me.” She grabbed his head in both hands and forced their eyes to meet. She saw something defiant flash from behind the frames of his glasses, but she didn’t let go. “There’s something you know. Tell me.”

Agony played across his face, his mouth opening once or twice and then snapping shut again. She slid one hand down to his cheek.

“Tell me,” she pleaded. “Please. I can help.” A reflection of the torches behind them bent in his glasses, lending him the air of being possessed. She could still smell the night on him, the air’s crisp scent and the earthiness of bark. After what seemed like hours, he nodded.

“Come with me,” he said then, his voice betraying no hint of emotion. His jaw set determinedly, he bounded up the steps two or even three at a time as Lily struggled to keep up.

“Where are we going?” she asked, bewildered. The stairs above them were shifting into place, and the portraits jabbered angrily at them as they passed, demanding answers, but he paid no attention.

“Come on!” he said.

“Watch for the invisible step!” He stumbled for a second, then leapt it and continued on without thanking her. She realized they were heading back to the Gryffindor common room.

“Why—?” Before she had a chance to insist on stopping, he had already swung open the portrait door.

“Remus,” he said. Inside, they found a huddle of frightened faces and heard the curious whispers that were threatening to become a flood of questions. “With me, now. Sirius, Peter, you too. Dorcas, can you and Frank make sure everyone stays here until we come back?” The girl nodded, her eyes wide with fright. Sirius gently touched Dorcas’s elbow as he walked by, the contact seemingly reassuring her. She drew herself up to her full height, the Prefect badge readily visible on her chest.

“Keep them calm,” James said, closing the door behind them.

“Alright, James, what’s going on, I want answers now—”

“You’ll get them, I promise. But not here. I don’t want to be overheard—” He inspected the portraits suspiciously.

“Are you serious?”

He shrugged. “They talk, Lily.” Then he started climbing another set of stairs, Sirius following close behind.

“James, what’s going—”

“You’ll have answers too, Sirius. I promise. Trust me. We need to get somewhere we can talk, without…ears.” A few of the paintings huffed as they heard James.

Behind them, the Fat Lady could be heard saying, “Well, if I’m not to be trusted, perhaps I shan’t open the door upon your return…”

Lily followed James as they ascended further up and up. She had a fairly good idea of where they were going now, and she could tell Sirius had figured it out too. Remus looked wary but exhausted, sickly. She wondered what had happened to him.

She could smell the owls before they reached the tower, an indescribable must that drifted down from the aviary and was incredibly strong inside the vaulted chamber where they all huddled and lived. Bird droppings coated the stone like thick gobs of white or grey paint, and feathers covered all surfaces, floating up gently as their feet brushed through them. The ones that weren’t asleep hooted irregularly, a constant backdrop of ambient noise.

“Alright, James, we’re here,” Sirius said, anger creeping into his voice. “Now what the hell is all this about?”

James took a deep breath and began to explain everything to them. Lily, who already knew what he was telling them, grew increasingly impatient. But she figured she was going to get her answers at the end of this, so she waited. Halfway through the telling, Remus seemed to stagger, and James grabbed him by the arm and sat him down on a wooden crate.

Sirius’s eyes were intent on him when he finished. “So it looked like a—”

James gulped and nodded. “Good God, but it couldn’t have been—I was—I was with him the whole time, I would have seen—” Peter’s voice sounded scared, frightened.

“No, I know, it can’t have been. But we need to figure this out quickly. Dumbledore can’t keep it from the governors if they hear about this, they’ll want answers…”

Lily was tired of being left in the dark. “What are you all talking about?” She turned to Peter. “What do you mean, you were with him? You knew him?”

James shook his head. “Not the victim, Lily. Peter was with Remus.”

“What does he have to do with—?”

“Lily, if we tell you something, can we trust you to keep it a secret?”

She recoiled. “How can I know until I hear it?”

“I’m serious,” he said. He grabbed her by the arm. “We need to know. If we tell you something, will you keep it secret? No matter what.”

“James, I can’t—”

His voice sounded like chalk on a blackboard. “Please. We need to know we can trust you on this. No matter what.”

Sirius was at James’s shoulder, arms folded over his chest. A good two inches taller than James, and wider in the shoulders, he seemed especially grim with shadows obscuring half his face.

“James, you shouldn’t make her promise you that,” Remus’s voice sounded from behind them. It started out thick, as if he were drunk or stupefied, but grew raspy at the end.

“Remus, we’re trying to—”

“I know what you’re trying to do, James, and I appreciate it. But I’ll tell her if you don’t.”

James sighed. “Alright. I don’t know quite how to put this, but…”

“Remus is a werewolf,” Sirius said bluntly. James raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, how else are you supposed to say it? I wasn’t going to keep talking about ‘his furry little problem’ until she got it.”

James acknowledged the fact reluctantly. “I guess you’re right. Was a bit sudden, though.”

Remus chuckled behind them. “Not something you can really soften much, though, is it?” The four boys exchanged furtive glances with each other and then burst out laughing, however briefly.

Lily was dumbstruck. Remus a…It made so much sense. The monthly visits home to see a sick mother. His drained physical appearance. Even Sirius’s little pet phrase that everyone had heard a million times. ‘His furry little problem.’

“We thought you had a sick owl at home or something!” was the first thing she managed to say, although she realized how irrelevant it was the instant it left her lips.

“No, my furry little problem is all me,” Remus said. He shivered a little. “James, Sirius, and Peter have protected my secret all these years. Every month I’ve been taken to a—a secret place, where I’m locked up—”

“That’s terrible!” she interjected. But he merely shook his head.

“It is necessary,” he said. “I’m a danger to others, even to myself. But my friends…” He paused to indicate James, Sirius, and Peter. “My friends have made sure that I couldn’t hurt anyone.” Peter had begun pacing at this point, and Sirius was standing so rigidly it was as if he had become another statue.

“And you didn’t,” Peter said frantically. “I was there, I know—”

“And I didn’t,” Remus said firmly, holding up a hand. “I’m glad you were there, Peter. You can tell others, if it comes to that.”

“It won’t,” James said, his voice more determined than Lily had ever heard it.

Sirius laughed bitterly. “We can’t know that,” he said. “If it is another werewolf attacking people—and it sounds like it, how are we going to convince them? ‘Oh no, Mister Minister, it’s not our friend the werewolf, who’s here at Hogwarts, it must be another one we don’t know about.’ James, it’s…”

“I know it’s going to be tough,” he snapped.

“Near impossible, was what I was thinking.”

Lily needed to sit down. She found a crate next to Remus, and then looked him in the eye. His eyes were grey, and in them she could see the same gentle boy she had known for so many years.

“So Peter was with you the whole time you—you were different?”

Remus nodded. “I swear it. There was no way for me to get out if they didn’t want me to, and Peter was with me the whole time. I’m sure I didn’t hurt anybody.”

“Which means,” Lily said, “that there has to be another werewolf out there. As ridiculous as that sounds, I know, Sirius.”

“We won’t be able to prove it just by our word,” he said. “A bunch of students isn’t nearly enough to convince a full Ministry inquiry, if it comes to that.” He put a hand on Remus’s shoulder. “And you know, if the parents get wind of this, they’ll probably throw you out before any investigation’s made anyways.”

“Yes,” Remus said. He sounded so old, weary. “Perhaps I should just leave…”

“No!” Lily said sharply, realizing a second later that her protest had been echoed by James, Sirius, and Peter at the same time.

“James, Sirius, Peter...and Lily, now, you too. You’re taking too much risk upon yourselves. I’m not worth it.” He waved off their protests. “If they find out, it’ll mean I’m done. But it could very well mean the end for you as well, and I won’t have that hanging over my head.”

“You’re our friend, Remus.” James’s voice brooked no argument, but Remus continued as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“You’ve already done as much for me as you can,” he said. “Too much. Maybe—maybe when they catch the real culprit, I can return…but if they find out you’ve been hiding my…my condition…before then—” He left the rest unsaid.

Lily knew he was right. It would likely mean expulsion from the school. Dumbledore would understand, she was sure, but Dumbledore didn’t control everything. If the governors overwhelmingly supported something or demanded it of him, he was honor-bound to obey.

But now that the whole picture was becoming clear to her, she couldn’t see a way to turn back. She understood how deep the bonds of friendship truly were between the four boys in the tower, in a way she had never understood before. They weren’t just pranksters who had happened to fall in together, an alliance of convenience to wreak more havoc on the school. For the first time it occurred to her how true James’s words had been on their way to Hogwarts, how much they were brothers.

She knew what she had to say. “Remus, if you so much as pack one trunk, or try to Apparate away in the middle of the night, or try to sneak away on a broom, I swear I will find you and drag you back to Hogwarts even if it has to be kicking and screaming.”

By the end, James was gaping at her in open astonishment, and even Sirius had a surprised expression on his face. It quickly turned into an approving grin, however.

“You’re not going to run away from this,” she said. “You’re not going to leave, you’re not going to ruin your life because of someone else’s crime. What you are doesn’t matter to me, it’s who you are—and I know you. I know you’re a good person.”

She stood up, anger making her blood run hot.

“The only proof we need,” James said quietly, “is the real killer.”

Peter quailed. “It’s hardly that simple! If he’s a real werewolf, and a—an active one, he won’t hesitate to—”

Sirius raked his hair back with a hand as he stood. “No, he won’t. But I personally won’t hesitate to blast him with any curse or jinx I can think of, either. So I say we’re even.” He cracked his knuckles. “It’ll just be a fair fight.”

“Peter’s right, though. It is easier said than done.” Lily pointed at Sirius. “And we don’t need any reckless heroics. You could get killed.” Even James had to relent to that, dipping his head a bit.

“We’ll need to plan this out right,” she said. “And we can’t expect much help. We won’t get many shots at this either.”

“Once a moon,” Sirius quipped.

“If we’re in this, we’re in this together,” James said, turning to each of them in turn. “And we’re in it all the way. If anyone’s not willing to give this his all…” He remembered Lily was there. “…or her all, say it right now and you’ll be out, no questions asked.”

No one said anything.

“Alright, so I’m in,” James said.

“I’m in,” Lily echoed.

“Well, of course I’m in,” Sirius added.

“I-I’m in,” Peter stuttered.

Everyone turned to Remus. He was still leaning heavily against the crate, and his eyes were hooded as he returned their stare. “It’s not—”

“Don’t you dare say it’s not worth it, Remus,” James said. “You heard Lily. If you try to leave the school, she’ll find you and drag you back.” He bared his teeth in a vicious smile. “She’ll get the left foot, and I’ll get the right.”

Sirius laughed. “And me and Peter can grab the arms.”

“So are you in?”

Lupin sighed. “I don’t know if I can be of much help…I mean, if we need to catch him during the full moon—”

“Let us handle that, but we need to know you’re not going to try to do something stupid and noble by yourself.”

Lupin got up and walked over to them. “Alright,” he said, “I’m in.” James reached over and clasped his arm firmly, his knuckles white against Remus’s dark robes.

“Good thing you’ve had some practice keeping me at bay, eh?” Remus joked.

James pulled him into a quick hug. “That’s the Moony I know,” he said happily.

“Hey, everyone.” Sirius turned and gestured at Lily. “Well, now that she knows Moony’s secret,” he said. “Well, you know what that means.”

Lily looked uncertain. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re one of us now,” he said. “A Marauder.”

“A what?”

“Our little group here,” Sirius explained. “Messrs. Moony—” He pointed at Remus. “Wormtail.” A finger wagged at Peter. “Prongs.” He indicated James. “And, of course, last and best, me. Padfoot. Presenting your humble mischief-making Marauders”

“Do I get to learn the secret behind your nicknames now?” she said, only half-kidding.

“Er, maybe we’ll save that for tomorrow,” James said sheepishly. “Only so many secrets you can learn in one night, eh?”

Lily clenched her jaw, but said, “Fair enough.”

“Now, as for your nickname, I’m thinking…Jade, maybe, for the eyes. Or Maybe Snippy, for—” He left the rest to imagination.

“If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to talk to Lily alone,” James said.

“Uh oh,” Sirius began, but before he could say anything more Remus started guiding him towards the door. Peter followed close behind them, and as they left Sirius turned back to give her a wink. James watched them leave, and gestured with his wand at the open door to swing it shut.

After it closed, he turned to face her. For a second Lily thought he was going to tell her something more, something he hadn’t told the other…Marauders, she said to herself. She’d already started thinking of them that way; it was certainly a fitting title.

“Well, what?”

She wasn’t sure what to expect. Maybe a revelation that he knew exactly who the other werewolf was. Maybe the story of how they had found out about Remus’s condition. Maybe the location where they stowed him away once a month. What she certainly hadn’t expected, but which happened anyways, was for him to wrap his arms around her and lift her off the ground.

“Hey!” she shouted, the surprise making her breathless. “Put me down!” When she started squirming, he let her back down but didn’t let go. She could feel his hair meshing into hers, and then his breath, warm as it played over her ear.

“Thanks,” he said softly. “You’re the best.” Before she could respond, though, he had already drawn away and rushed out. Alone in the tower, only the owls kept her company.

Who? they seemed to be saying, or asking. Who who who who who?

Chapter Fourteen – Devil’s Snare

As she suspected, James hadn’t liked her idea one bit. However, she had beaten him down by arguing that it was the only way they were going to convince the werewolf there was only one person in the Forest. Eventually he saw reason—or at least, was forced to open his eyes.

Before they put their plan in motion, there was one last thing to do in Hogsmeade. After the body had been found, the school had cancelled the next weekend visit, but eventually Dumbledore had insisted that the students should not be punished for something someone else had done. Besides, he’d reasoned, a bit of fresh air would do them good.

The teachers were beside themselves as the students lined up to go to the small village outside Hogwarts, the only entirely magical town in all of England. They gave off every appearance of preparing to march into battle, judging by the expressions on their frozen faces.

The group was rather smaller than usual—the teachers had argued and eventually convinced Dumbledore that only fifth-years and higher could go, since they had at least some rudimentary ability to defend themselves. And even those who were old enough were given the choice, so some were staying in the castle.

This was never an option for Lily. James and she had fought hard for allowing the visit, although they had not told Dumbledore their true reasons. They wanted to do some investigating at the Hog’s Head and the Three Broomsticks to see if the victim had been seen with anyone in particular before he vanished, or if anything suspicious had turned up.

They brought an “emergency survival kit” with them, as James termed it. It held their wands, a bit of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder (“Super-rare, had to import it”), the Marauder’s Map, and his Invisibility Cloak. Last but not least, he threw in some tarts wrapped in napkins—“Just in case we want snacks,” he explained.

As Head Boy and Head Girl, the two of them led the procession towards the village. Alice, Alyssa, and Gwyn trailed behind at the end of the line. Alice was accompanied by Frank, and Gwyn had her own trail of retainers. At the moment, however, they seemed most interested in Lily. Gwyn pointed up at the head of the line and whispered something to the girls, and their eyes widened.

She had told Gwyn yesterday that she would be spending the day with James in Hogsmeade. When Gwyn had asked why, she had said, “Well, isn’t it obvious?” She had to fight to keep her cheeks from turning too red, but clearly Gwyn picked up on where she was going.

Lily sighed inwardly. Necessary sacrifices, she thought. She was sure Gwyn had spread the news far and wide by now, but she couldn’t worry about that now. They needed to have a reason to be together; it would seem most peculiar if Lily suddenly started hanging out with the Marauders when she had been trying to curb their more destructive or dangerous tendencies for the past two years as a Prefect.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all had their parts to play as well. The three of them had to go off to Zonko’s Joke Shop and act as if they were buying gadgets for their next prank (no doubt a difficult job for them). For all appearances, it had to seem like a regular weekend. No one could know they had another purpose in the village.

Unfortunately, all their effort seemed to have been wasted. They spent their first few hours at the Three Broomsticks, striking up conversations with the patrons and asking about the man who’d been found outside Hogwarts. No one inside seemed to know anything, however—or else they weren’t talking. Lily threw up her hands after it hit lunchtime and they hadn’t learned anything new.

“Not even his name,” she growled, frustration filling her voice.

He shook his head. “Yeah, I’d hoped he might have spent some time in here. But if he did, no one’s telling.” Her stomach grumbling was the only response to his speculation.

“Come on, let’s go get some lunch,” he suggested. “Afterwards we can go to the Hog’s Head. We know he stayed there so it’s not like they can very well convince us that they never heard of him.”

Lily liked the idea well enough, and her stomach was thrilled. James grabbed her hand on the way out of the shop and gave her a sneaky grin, as if to say, For appearances’ sake, of course.

Naturally, they had to run into Gwyn in the street. She’s probably been hiding outside Honeydukes waiting for us to get out, Lily thought darkly.

“Well if it isn’t the two lovebirds!” she said cheerily.

“Hey, Gwyn, how’s it going?” James was enjoying this entirely too much.

“Great. Can’t complain a bit.”

James chuckled. “Not with that train of boys following you, right?”

“Oh, them,” Gwyn said, with a shooing motion of her hand. “I tell them to go away, but really you can’t force someone who doesn’t want to.”

James laughed. “Yes, I know the feeling.” Gwyn gave Lily a look fraught with significance, as if to say, But you gave in at last, didn’t you? At that moment Lily would have liked nothing more than to tell her the truth, but James was tugging her along.

“Anyways, thought we’d get some tea and sandwiches up at Madam Puddifoot’s. See you around, Gwyn.” So that’s where they were going. She ought to have guessed. It was a place with quite a reputation as the haunt for happy couples in Hogsmeade. Lily believed in keeping up appearances, but after this she’d never hear the end of it.

Still, as Gwyn walked away, she heard her stomach rumbling again. It was Madam Puddifoot’s or the fare at the Hog’s Head, she knew. And after having eaten at the Hog’s Head once in her fourth-year, she never wanted to have to go back to that place hungry ever again.

The door to Madam Puddifoot’s opened to the sound of lyrical chimes, a tinkling that made Lily wince as every person in the shop turned to look at them. James guided her to a table in the back. The candles, she noticed, were rather high above their heads, and it was quite dim.

When Lily observed the crowd, Alice was in the opposite corner sitting with Frank Longbottom, sipping from a large mug of tea that they were holding up together, hands overlapping.

James leaned in close and whispered, “Aw, aren’t they cute?”

“A bit close, Potter.”

“It’d look suspicious if we were talking like we’re sitting down to a formal dinner,” he said. “Besides, it’s expected of us—” He waved over a house-elf who had just come out of the kitchen.

“I’ll have a roast beef sandwich and a cup of tea,” he said. “And the lady…”

“What do you have in the way of soup?” she asked. It had been a bit brisk out there, truth be told.

“We’s having a delightful stew today,” the elf replied, eyes wide and eager. “Leeks and carrots and beans, and diced chickens in a cream broth, very tasty, very good.”

Her mouth was watering by that point. “A bowl of that, please. With some bread. And another cup of tea.”

The house-elf bowed, and James flicked a Galleon in his direction. The elf’s hand twitched and the coin froze in mid-air and then floated slowly down into his outstretched fingers.

“No dropsies!” he said, in a high-pitched voice. After he left, Lily realized he had paid for her as well. She thought about saying something, but then shrugged. Never say no to free food, she thought jokingly.

James leaned back in. “So what did you think about the people at the Three Broomsticks?”

“What was there to think, they didn’t know anything…”

“Mm. Did you really believe them when they said it?”

“Of course not. This isn’t a big town, I’m sure they must have known whoever it was. Unless he only drank at the Hog’s Head, and that’s sure as hell a depressing thought.”

She felt James shifting next to her, her hair tingling where it brushed against his shoulder. “Me too. I’m sure they met him, they’ve just all been told to shut up or something.”

“Or they don’t talk to kids but ongoing murder investigations,” Lily offered.

“Yes, there’s always that, too.”

When their food arrived they ate in silence. James had a pensive expression on his face as he wolfed down his sandwich. He was so distracted that he reached down at his plate even after he’d finished the last bit, and looked surprised when he came up with empty air. Then he sat around and waited for her to finish, strumming his fingers on the table.

Lily thought the whole experience had been pleasantly tolerable thus far, but James managed to change that. Without warning, he leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. Her first instinct was to recoil in surprise, but she squashed that and seethed when she realized how it would ruin their cover. Her second instinct, even more disturbing than the first, was to lean over and kiss him back. She knew her face must have been flushed scarlet by that point.

“You look pretty when you blush,” James said contemplatively.

“This is related to our job how?” she snapped. She’d managed to fight down that troubling second instinct, but the questions it raised still lingered, as did the warmth in her cheek.

“It doesn’t, I guess,” he said, getting out of the booth and offering her his hand. “Off to the Hog’s Head, then.”

She thought twice about taking his hand, then finally steeled herself. Come on, it’s like you don’t even dare to touch him, she scolded herself. She wasn’t sure if the blazing heat in their grip was coming from her hand or his, but thankfully he didn’t comment on it as they left the teashop. Alice waved to her on the way out, eyes shifting from Frank for an instant, but Lily wasn’t sure she was paying attention by the time Lily waved back.

Get a hold of yourself, she said inwardly, with as much sternness as she could manage. She could feel her heartbeat like a fluttering in her throat. Concentrate. We need to get answers.

Answers, however, were in short supply. The Hog’s Head’s patrons proved even more recalcitrant than the ones at the Three Broomsticks had been. After wandering around the tables—James was working the bar itself—she realized that it just wasn’t her day. Instead of checking questions off her list, she was only finding that the number was multiplying rapidly. And not all of them have to do with our little werewolf hunt, she thought with a hint of anxiety.

She caught James glancing at her from time to time, but tried not to make eye contact with him. After asking everyone she could think of—and badgering a few of the ones who’d seemed more likely to cave in—she gave up and walked outside. He joined her not long after, making sure the door closed behind them before speaking.

“Hey, didn’t you see me looking at you?” he asked.

“Not really,” she lied. “I was busy trying to talk to people.”

“I wanted you to come over. The barman gave me a few strange little cryptic hints, and some weird smiles too.”

“Did he tell you who the guy was?”

“No, just kept saying his guest list was confidential, kept it in a log in his room locked in his desk with a magic key that he kept safe behind the bar. I think he was making fun of me, telling me all that when it just meant he wouldn’t give me the name.”

“Strange,” she said.

“I don’t like him,” James said. “He looks shifty, doesn’t he? A bit out of place, there’s just something I can’t figure out about him.”

Lily shrugged. “That whole place sets me on edge, anyways.”

James shrugged his sleeve down and looked at his watch. “Hey, we have to be getting back pretty soon.”

He brushed his hand through his hair, a gesture Lily had hated only a few years ago. She hadn’t noticed, but apparently she’d gotten used to it in the intervening time.

“Guess this day’s been kind of a bust, hasn’t it?” He swore underneath his breath.

“Yeah, I guess,” Lily said, feeling more unsure than ever. Behind James’s head she could see a faint hint of the moon now, nearly three-quarters full. And growing larger every day, she thought. She was in it deep, she knew, and getting deeper by the minute, more and more entangled. Things were growing vastly more complicated than she’d ever imagined, and she wished the world would just fall back into place simply, wished everything could be normal again. She wanted a way out.

We have a way out, she reminded herself. They just had to make sure it wasn’t wasted.

-000-

Lily spent the next week wondering if the whole school was in on the conspiracy to get her and James together. She’d thought it was mainly just Gwyn, but had been shocked the next day when she’d come into Potions class. Slughorn was handing essays back and paused at her desk.

“Not your best work, Miss Evans, though it’s still as good as I got on this assignment,” he said with a sigh. “Must have been a tricky subject, I guess. And I know you’re a bit love-struck now, can’t hold that against a girl your age.”

She had gaped at him in astonishment. “Come now, Miss Evans! You can’t have thought it a secret, not when you’re Head Boy and Girl. News travels, you know!” She would have given him a lifetime’s supply of crystallized pineapple at that moment never to mention the subject again.

With the spectacular failure that Hogsmeade had proved to be, the Marauders had more or less decided that the full moon was going to be their best shot at catching “their furry friend.” The days ticked by quickly, and she spent most of her time trying to forget what she would have to do. If Alice and Gwyn sensed anything odd from her, they likely attributed it to her being “love-struck” like everyone else.

If nothing else, the fact that everyone assumed that James and her were finally together had made it dramatically easier for them to put their heads together planning the whole endeavor down to the last detail. After going over the plan several times, revising again and again—this took place in lieu of the meetings where they should have been discussing their work as Head Boy and Girl—they finally concluded that there were no glaring flaws in the plan.

Of course, they were still relying on the freshness of a certain bottle of perfume, Sirius’s instances that the plant would grow fast enough if fed the unusual diet he was putting it on, and Remus’s assurances that a werewolf could tear through an obstacle or clamber out of a deep pit, but not both at the same time.

The full moon couldn’t come soon enough for Lily. The school seemed to be falling apart around her ears. She could hardly find time enough for schoolwork, helping set everything up, and overseeing the Prefects. Aubrey Prount, who was already badly disposed to Lily and especially James after the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor Quidditch match, had apparently dueled with Bellatrix Black, a Slytherin fifth-year. It had caused quite an uproar in the student body, having Prefects fighting in the halls.

She was beginning to see their plan as the crux point, as if everything that was happening was somehow warped around their attempt to catch the killer, as if everything hinged on it. Success, and life would be back to normal. Failure, and the delicate balance that was barely holding the school together would fly apart. She didn’t want to think about what would happen in that case.

The day before the full moon, she went with Remus to the Room of Requirement on the pretense of discussing House procedure with him. It would have been too suspicious to drag James, Sirius, and Peter along as well, so they went alone up to the seventh floor.

When they reached the painting of Barnaby, Remus had paced three times back and forth and a heavy oaken door had appeared along the wall where only bare stone had been a second before.

Lily followed Remus in, and was deluged with the rich mossy smell of a forest, the ashy taste of peat and soil drifting in the air. “It’s a—” She took in the tall trees, the soft rill-sound of a stream, the rich lilac flowers. It was idyllic, like something from a pastoral.

“A place that I can be free in,” Remus said. “For all intents and purposes, although I’ll be safely locked away. A place to run.” He smiled sadly. “When I’m in that form, I do love to run.”

Lily nodded silently. As she turned to leave, Remus grabbed her arm. “Lily, I just wanted to say…thanks. You didn’t have to do all this for me, but I’m glad you have.”

She nodded again, tears forming in her eyes. She angrily blinked them back. She couldn’t afford any weakness, not now, not that night.

“I’ll never forget this,” he promised.

She managed to get a joke out, not knowing what else to say. “Thank me when we come back dragging a werewolf to Dumbledore’s office.”

He laughed. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Take care, Remus.”

And the door had closed into a stone wall once more, and she hurried down the stairs and back to Gryffindor Tower. James, Sirius, and Peter were in the common room, pretending to sit by the fire and examine a trinket that Peter had picked up at Zonko’s. For the first time, she was thankful for the somber mood of the castle; although it was only seven, the common room was entirely deserted save them.

“Is he in?” Sirius asked. His eyes had an especially haunted expression about them; he hadn’t been sleeping for the past few days, instead spending most of the time in his Padfoot guise digging up a large pit on the blind side of the Weeping Willow. Lily let him know he was.

“And now?”

“Now,” James said, “we wait for dark.”

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Peter took to nervously pacing back and forth in front of the fire, chewing his nails so rapidly that Lily wondered how he had anything left at all on his fingers. Sirius appeared more composed outwardly, with a book in his lap. Yet Lily soon realized that the book was upside down, and that he seemed to be flipping the pages idly to random sections.

They apparently seemed so foreboding that anyone who came into the room quickly went up to their rooms. Only Gwyn seemed glad to see her, but when she noticed that she was sitting with James she only gave her a wink and went upstairs.

“Game of chess?” James called out in a bemused tone. Lily played him half-heartedly, but finished him after he forgot his queen could move diagonally.

“Another?” he asked. She stretched and lay down on a couch, and apparently neither Peter nor Sirius wanted to take up the challenge.

Finally, the clock struck nine. Sirius, who by this time was standing out by the window, turned to them and said, “If that’s not a full moon, I don’t know what is.” His face grew solemn and then said, “Alright, let’s get going.”

Lily went up to the dorms, and after rifling in her trunk for a few seconds found the perfume her parents had sent her last Christmas. A nice enough gift, although Lily rarely used it. Alice and Gwyn raised their eyes at her, and she tried to give them a cheery smile. Let them draw their own conclusions.

When she brought it down to the common room, James and Sirius were standing as rigidly as if they were facing a charge of centaurs.

“It’s just perfume,” she said, exasperated. Sirius made a try at a cocky grin. However, he only managed to look somewhat ill.

“Alright, lay it on me,” James said. Lily complied, giving him a very generous full-body spray. By the end of it he was coughing violently and blinking, and had to rub his glasses against his robes.

“Oh Good Lord, this stuff is potent,” he said. “Did I really need this much?”

“I needed to cover your scent,” she said, spraying Sirius just as heavily.

“Are you saying I smell, Evans?”

After a pause, Sirius broke the silence with quick, barking laughter. Peter joined in next, then Lily, and finally James got in on it as well. For a second, at least, the tension was broken.

Lily lightly wafted a mist of the perfume into the air and stepped through it several times.

“What, we get hosed down like dogs and you get off with that?” Sirius asked.

It took quite a long time to get them all downstairs and outside. They had chosen to go down in pairs to make sure they weren’t heard or seen. “Three people breathing might get us caught. Better to be as safe as possible,” James had insisted. Sirius had volunteered to be the shuttle.

He and Peter left first while James and Lily waited nervously. Peter had perhaps the most crucial job to play that night, though he wouldn’t be following them into the forest.

Sirius came back up and whispered, “Wormtail’s in position. Come on, Evans.” He hadn’t managed to come up with a catchy nickname for her yet, at least not one he liked enough to stick her with. Only a few days ago, he’d asked her whether she would consider becoming an Animagus so they could at least narrow down the choices.

Together, they stalked down the stairs and past the guard—Professor Cassia this time, thankfully. She turned and looked searchingly at them when they reached the first landing, but went on with her patrol after they made no noise. When they got out of the castle Sirius pulled the cloak off of her and, without another word, disappeared back into the castle.

It all gave Lily a few moments to stand outside and try to center herself. It was a cool night, and the wind was up, making it positively chilly. She’d worn a thick sweater under her robes, however, so she felt decently warm. There was dew forming on the grass and she could taste the water in the air.

Finally, James and Sirius came down. James was once again carrying his “survival kit.” Lily had made sure he only took the bare essentials, since she was going to have to be the one lugging it around most of the night if everything went according to plan. “No tarts,” she’d warned him.

“Alright,” he said. “Everyone’s feeling okay? This is last chance to turn back.”

Lily snorted. “Last chance to turn back passed us a month back, Potter. No one’s backing out now.”

A fierce pride seized hold of his face. “And I wouldn’t expect you to. I just thought I’d say it, you know.”

“Because that’s the kind of thing heroes are supposed to say before going off to slay the monster?”

“Exactly,” he said. His lips twitched upwards, but then his face set determinedly.

“Alright, so just beyond the gates, right?”

“Yes, like everyone ought to know by now, you can’t Apparate inside—”

“Hogwarts. Yes, we’ve gone over this,” Sirius interrupted.

The three of them made for the gates, trying to be as fast as possible while still being somewhat furtive. A light was still shining through the haze up in Dumbledore’s office. For a second she imagined the shadow of his figure watching over the grounds, and pulled Sirius and James behind a row of bushes. But when she looked up again there was nothing there, and they went on.

They were all sweating by the time they were out past the grounds.

“Wow, Black, never realized you were so out of shape,” she joked.

“Humidity,” he said. “Nervousness. No, anticipation. I’m just looking forward to this so much.” He pointed at James. “That’s fear sweat though, I’d know the smell anywhere.”

“That’s the perfume, you dolt,” James retorted. He motioned as if sniffing his armpits. “Are guys really supposed to be attracted to women who smell like this?”

“If you use less of it, maybe.”

“Yeah,” Lily said. “Just because you like the taste of turkey doesn’t mean you want to eat ten pounds of it at every meal, do you?”

James’s lips twisted. “Good point.”

“Less talk, more Apparating,” Lily said, a second before stepping forward and…

When she felt her feet touch solid ground again, she was no longer standing on grass. Instead, beneath her feet was one of the rough dirt-beaten paths that circled Hogsmeade in irregular loops led into the woods. A second later, James and Sirius blinked into place beside her.

“Boys,” she said. “Always so slow.”

“Hardly fair, you got a head start.”

They were trying to act like they weren’t afraid, Lily knew. As for herself, she could feel the coldness worming through her stomach, the ice that crept through her arms and made her hands tingle. As they approached the forest James and Sirius took out the Invisibility Cloak and draped it over themselves. From beneath it, James’s hand reached out to give her the pack.

When she took it, he grabbed her wrist and squeezed gently. “Be careful,” she heard, a whisper suddenly coming from nowhere, and vanishing just as quickly. The hand slipped back under the cloak.

The trees that lined the Dark Forest had the black trunks that gave it its name, and branches that twisted like cruel fingers reaching towards them. They were ill-omened trees, and she pulled out her wand as she fell under their shadows. By this time of year they had lost almost all their leaves, and the dead husks rattled and rustled around her shoes as she got deeper in past the grass.

“Lumos,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. The light was glaringly bright at the tip of her wand, but the night swallowed it up and spit blackness back out. She could see only ten feet in front of her, and tried to calm the thumping in her chest.

This was the iffiest part of their plan. Well, besides the part after this, perhaps. Oh, and the part after that. She laughed inwardly, but felt a cool twinge of doubt in her mind. Now that she was actually in the forest, with the thick trunks pressing in against her at all sides, everything seemed a good deal less certain than when they had just been talking about it in the libraries, or between classes, or after dark in the common room.

This is no time to lose your nerve, she berated herself. The leaves crackling beneath her feet sounded like fireworks, and she wondered how the people in Hogsmeade could sleep with the noise. Be loud, she reminded herself.

“Act like you’re marching an army through the forest,” Sirius had suggested. “Well, a one-woman army. But a loud one.” They needed the werewolf to find her, since she sincerely doubted that she was going to find him.

A low keening suddenly sounded through the fog. She stopped, standing on the root of a massive redwood. Above its thick arms seemed as spindly as filigree on a crown.

“Sounds like we’ve made contact,” she muttered. He chanced a quick glance backwards, although she knew it was foolish. She just had to assume Sirius and James were behind her, since she couldn’t see them.

She took off in the direction the sound had come from, reflecting on how strange it was that she was pursuing it. If anyone else had heard that call, they would surely have made a speedy exit and tried to get to Hogsmeade as soon as possible.

“He must be just up ahead.” She turned around and put a finger to her lips. Is he stupid? she thought furiously. Wolves can hear as well as they can smell. Apparently he got the idea, because he didn’t try talking again.

Another cry echoed across the ghostly hills. With a sensation of horror, Lily realized that no werewolf could have produced that sound. It had almost sounded like...Help!

Seized with fear, she forced her feet to keep moving forward. Without quite realizing it, she broke into a half-jog and hoped Sirius and James would be able to keep up with her under the cloak. A flash of red sparks lit up the trees ahead of her, and she doubled her pace, forgetting James and Sirius entirely. Someone had gotten there before her, and she was guessing they hadn’t been trying to find the werewolf.

When she reached the rise, the first thing that came into view was the beast itself. She’d only ever seen them in book diagrams before, and a few pictures that had failed to do them justice. It was a huge thing, with powerfully muscled legs and long arms that ended in long-clawed paws. The fur that covered its body was black in places, gray in others, and lightest around the face, which was an ugly mixture of features. They were almost entirely lupine, but for the faintest trace of resemblance to something that had once been human.

As soon as she stumbled into the clearing, the thing swiveled its head. Its ears had perked up, and Lily hoped it didn’t notice the fact that there was a rustle of leaves coming from behind her even though she had stopped walking forward. Apparently it didn’t seem to think much of it, because it snarled and bounded towards her, jaws open and slavering, teeth glinting whitely in the moonlight. For some absurd reason she was reminded of icicles.

She stood her ground, trying to appear less afraid than she felt. It was making up ground so rapidly that she hardly had time to realize that no one else was in sight. Where was the werewolf’s other victim? Before she had much chance to ponder it, however, the thing was soaring up at her, jaws snapping once in mid-air…

She lunged forward, a move so sudden and unexpected that it failed to adjust as she slammed into its belly. She pushed up as hard as she could, flipping the thing over as she fell heavily to the ground, its jaws tearing off the swirling edge of her robe. It landed further up the rise than she was, tossing the scrap of fabric aside, a deadly promise in its eyes.

The thing’s going to kill me, the fear seizing her. Just then, a black blur flashed across the hill and slammed into the werewolf head-on. Its shape was indistinct and constantly shifting, as if a piece of the night had broken off and come careening across her field of vision. She pulled herself off the ground.

“Stupefy!” she screamed, a lance of hot scarlet shooting away from her wand. The thing was too quick, as they’d expected. Still, she had to make a good show of it, if they were going to convince it to follow her. “You need to make it angry,” Lupin had said. “When a werewolf feels true rage, it’s like a red cloud over their vision, like a blindness that allows them only to see the thing that makes them angry.” She just hoped it wasn’t angry enough to actually catch her.

As soon as it took its eyes off her, Sirius was back at it, tearing and snarling. He was much larger than Lily had expected. When she thought dog the image that came to mind was of something that could sit comfortably in its owner’s lap. This had more large bear to it than lovable companion.

Still, she realized with some trepidation, the thing it was fighting was half again as long from snout to tail, and broader besides. Sirius was thrown aside bodily when he tried to jump on its back and bite its throat, and he whimpered as he lay on the ground. Despite the dire circumstances, Lily couldn’t help thinking that she had never heard him make such a helpless, pitiable noise in his human form.

“Uh oh,” she murmured as the beast turned towards her, attention no longer focused on Sirius. “Timing is everything here,” she could hear James’s voice saying. “My timing. Don’t worry, I won’t miss you. You just have to jump as high as you can…”

She tried not to tremble, waiting, waiting, straining to hear. And just then a shift, in her peripheral vision…James throwing off the cloak and shoving it into her hands as his face twisted as if in pain or ecstasy. It happened so quickly she didn’t even have time to think, she just jumped as high as she could and saw his shadow passing underneath her, growing taller and wider by the second.

She landed lightly on his back, which by now was covered by coarse bristly fur and was broad enough that she could comfortably sit it. She started when she looked down and saw the body of an elk that seemed to have had a chunk taken out of it, but then realized with relief that it was the Invisibility Cloak she was clutching in her hands.

The werewolf attacked recklessly, and the elk—somehow she had a tough time thinking of it as James—slashed at it with its tines. Her dad would have been proud to shoot an elk like this, with its wide rack of antlers. An odd thought to have, but it was an odd moment, she supposed.

And then they were off, pounding through the woods, and Lily was glad James had thought to throw the cloak to her before transforming. She had set it across his back and shoved her feet into its folds; when it stretched tight, it allowed her to sit slightly off the elk’s back. If she hadn’t had her improvised saddle the ride would have been hell.

The werewolf was close behind though, and she could tell that the elk—James, she reminded herself—was tired. He was frothing at the mouth, and his eyes were wide with panic and strained with exhaustion.

How close were they to Hogwarts? She could not have said. “Another thing we have to deal with,” her own voice rang in her mind, “is the fact that we won’t have the luxury of knowing where or when the werewolf shows itself. You have to know you can run it all the way back, even if it’s from Hogsmeade…even if it’s farther.” James had closed his hands into fists and nodded, swearing he could make it.

Sometimes, when she turned to the side and thought she caught a glimpse of a black shadow hounding them. She dearly hoped it was there, and she wasn’t simply imagining it. If Sirius wasn’t following them as planned, it meant he’d been more badly hurt than she’d thought. As if he could sense her thoughts and wanted to reassure her, the shadow drew closer. It was running so fast it was hardly more than a blur, but she could see the tongue lolling out of its mouth and the shiny eyes.

“Follow us close,” James was saying to Sirius. “I don’t want you trying to bring him down yourself, understand? Follow us close, but make sure we don’t lose him either.” There turned out to be no worries there, Lily reflected, because the wolf was right on their tail. It was fast, faster than they had thought. “We’ve all ran with Lupin,” James had said. “Well, not Peter, but that’s obvious. Trust me, if I had to, I could dust him easily.” They’d assumed this one wouldn’t be much faster. They’d also expected he wouldn’t be much bigger, either. Lupin in human form was not a small person, so it had stood to reason this other werewolf might actually be even smaller.

We shouldn’t have been counting on that, Lily thought grimly. We’ve made a lot of mistakes already, we should just be glad we’re alive.

The werewolf was close enough that she could see its eyes when she pointed her wand back at it, a glaring hot redness. Its tongue trailed behind its open jaws like a chunk of pink meat. Seeing it in better light, she realized its teeth were filthy, yellowed or even brown with rot. They were still sharp, however, more than sharp enough to kill.

She fired off a few curses, but it seemed to have incredible reflexes, gracefully bounding out of the way as each one flashed by it, striking the ground or the foliage inches away from its body—where its body, in fact, had been only seconds before.

It was gaining on them. Too fast, she thought. “We need a good ten meters between us and the thing when we break the treeline,” Sirius had said. “At least,” Remus added. “You’d be better off with twenty.” Lily wasn’t even sure they had five at the moment, and there was no end in sight.

She tried to think of something she could do. We need more time, just a second, even, come on, come on. We need it to stop, or lose track for a second, or…Suddenly she knew.

“Lumos Maxima!” she cried, regretting the fact that she hadn’t warned either Sirius or James, hoping they could still understand her words even in their animal forms. The glow that blossomed from the end of her wand became searingly bright, a glare that forced her to turn away for a second. Squinting, she met the werewolf’s eyes, shining back at her like a full moon doubly reflected on a rippling lake.

It continued on, and for a second Lily thought she’d failed. It’s going to get us, the notion entering her thoughts with an eerie sense of calm. We tried, Remus.

But then a sharp sound turned her head, and she realized its front legs collapsing, its body rising violently in an uncontrolled arc and slamming sideways into the ground. It had run straight into the bush that James had just hurdled; it hadn’t been able to see in front of it.

She allowed herself a brief smile. For the first time since she’d seen the werewolf, she believed they were going to make it work. James was moving so fast by now that they were almost out of sight by the time it managed to struggle to its feet. She worried that they would lose it, but then remembered. Scent, she thought triumphantly. It can track us by scent.

Though they turned suddenly and lost sight of it behind the web of branches, she could hear its heaving breath and its feet pounding against the hard-packed earth. Making up distance.

Sirius was ahead of them now, to her relief she saw the treeline as well. Her heart was pounding, and it felt as if her head was about to split at each temple, but inside she felt exultant.

We made it, we made it. “When we break into the field,” Lily heard herself, “we ought to be right on top of the Willow. Peter, stand on that knob and stand on it until you see us. The second we’re under its cover, jump off. Even if we’re in range of the branches, jump off so it starts attacking. It might hit us, but we need to make sure the thing can’t get through.” Lily swung her head around wildly. Where was that damn tree?

Then she found it in the distance, despair gripping her. Why is it that far away, why? They must have gotten turned around slightly while in the woods, they’d come out across the grounds from where they’d meant to exit. And behind her she could see the werewolf again, even as she pointed forward and James resumed his pained gallop.

“Sirius, no matter what, run ahead. We need to make sure he doesn’t suspect anything,” James had said. “You can vault the pit?” Sirius looked stunned. “Of course I can, how could you doubt me?”

And Sirius was good to his word. Ahead of them, she spotted the midnight-black body arcing over the covered pit that he had spent the last week digging. Made sure he could get over it, I’m sure.

She turned around and tried the same trick again, but this time the werewolf shut its eyes as she shouted the incantation. It was intelligent, the damned thing, it knew what she was doing. “I have a certain cunning,” Remus had said. “When I’m in that form, I recognize speech, and can think, but my instincts are so strong they overwhelm thought. That’s the key weakness, that’s what we can exploit.”

They had been wrong assuming it would be exactly like Remus, though, wrong about its size and its strength and its speed. She just hoped, prayed, that they hadn’t been wrong about how it thought as well.

Lily shot off another Stupefy spell, knowing it would dodge. This time, however, instead of darting to the side it leapt forward, paws reaching out, a glint in the light…she barely had time to register it before its heavy mass slammed into James’s body and his legs collapsed.

No, James, no, she thought as she tumbled violently off his back and crashed to the ground. She cried out as pain arced up the entire right side of her body. She struggled up, gasping, unable to breathe. It felt as if her chest had caved in, and it was all she could do to stumble forward. Her vision was clouding…

Hot breath warmed her face, and a foul odor assailed her nose just before a pair of jaws closed around her arm. Oh God, it bit me, she thought. No, a voice in her head said. There was a tenderness in the way they held her, and they were dragging her away from the forest. To the Willow. Her face was hot, flushed, feverish. Sirius, something said. He’s under the tree, she answered, not understanding what was dragging her away.

And then she was there, and the air was cool and a rat’s nervous eyes were hovering over her face. It chattered at her and she remembered. “When I see you, I hold the tree until you’re under it,” Peter had said. “I wait for you to climb into the tunnel, unless the werewolf is too close.” The tunnel, get in.

She crawled. There was a fire in her lungs like she had never felt before, and she didn’t want to think about the pain in her shoulder. She heard a thump outside, and then the rat was scurrying at her side. No, Peter get back, you have to wait until James and Sirius are…But even as she poked her head out of the mouth of the tunnel, clutching the side of a twisted root with her badly scraped hands, Sirius came into view. He was stumbling and moving slowly, with James leaning on his shoulder. Something behind her illuminated the whole scene, and she gasped.

Sirius had scratches on his face, and was grimacing, but he was still standing and walking. James, she cried inwardly, Good God. His chest was bared to the cool night air where his shirt had been torn away, and his skin glistened half with sweat, half with blood. Long gashes crossed across his chest, open wounds that marked where the claws had struck him. But when she examined the scratches on his face, it occurred to her that he was still conscious. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or to pity him.

Behind them, the roiling mass of shadows and thick green vines was flailing madly. “Devil’s Snare,” Sirius had said, half-proud and half-sad. “I’ve been growing this for months hoping to get a way to trap Mrs. Norris or Filch in there. Or Snape, I’d have liked that best of all…” He’d finally potted his little plant in the pit he’d dug instead, where it would do no mischief—but perhaps, they had hoped, something far nobler.

Sirius tried to let James down gently into the hole, but when he let go James wasn’t able to support himself and collapsed on the rough-hewn steps.

“Flip him over!” she ordered, hearing the panic in her voice and not caring. “We need to heal some of the deep cuts first…” James’s eyes were lit from the inside as if from fire; his face was paler than she’d ever seen it.

“Relax, James, relax.” She cradled his head in her lap as he mumbled something, but she shushed him. Peter and Sirius were already running their wands over the cuts, healing as best they could, and Lily soon joined in to help them. After a few seconds she felt a surge of relief. He would be alright. He’s going to be okay, she said to herself, repeating it again and again like a mantra.

Deep as the cuts were, they were closing with ordinary healing spells. The scars were puckering and then fading away into normal—albeit abnormally pink—skin. “The book says we can’t take cuts,” Sirius had said. “They won’t heal. That’s bullocks, though. At least for us, when we’re transformed. Remus has cut me loads of times, they heal up just fine. It has something to do with us being animals, not human, I think. So, optimist’s outlook: we don’t really have to get worried about getting torn up.” Lily could have sobbed with joy. At the time, she’d only thought that Sirius was being rather morbid.

James’s hand was reaching up, his fingers waving weakly in the air. He was muttering something, but she couldn’t hear it. Still running her wand over the cuts, she grabbed him with her left hand and pulled it towards her chest. Somehow all the pain she felt seemed to have vanished.

“Don’t try to talk,” she whispered.

The werewolf’s anguished howl burst the bubble that seemed to have drawn over them. Sirius’s head jerked up, and he waved away Peter when he tried to finish healing the cuts on his face. Crawling up the steps, he surveyed the scene and cursed.

“It’s breaking through the vines,” he said, voice filled with fury and perhaps a bit of admiration. “The thing’s as strong as an ox.”

Lily shook her head. They had to rely on the Devil’s Snare now. They couldn’t hold the thing down together, they knew that. Even Stupefy spells wouldn’t work. If hit with too many, a werewolf could go berserk.

“No,” James muttered. She jerked her head down towards his. He was trying to rise.

“James, get down, there’s nothing we can do—”

“No,” he said again, stronger this time. He drew his wand out of the ruin of his cloak and began crawling up into the air. Sirius’s attention was so rapt on the scene in front of him that he didn’t realized James was clambering up until he was right alongside him.

“Woah,” he said. “Prongs, you’ve lost a fair bit of blood. You need to lie down.”

Lily winced as she tried to get up. It felt as if something had split her side in half—and whatever it was had jammed inside her. Cursing, she reached for James’s arm.

“This is our best chance. We need this.”

“James,” she pleaded. “Remember the plan. We know we can’t hold him down, you know how resistant werewolves are to our magic—”

He was already outside, and the tree was beginning to sway dangerously above them.

“Wormtail…” Sirius said out of the corner of his mouth, but by this time Peter was already scrambling forward, fully transformed. He perched on the stump, and the tree shivered once and stopped.

James stumbled forward, deathly pale in the halo drawn around him by his wand. He pointed it forward and, flicking it downward, he began firing jinxes at the pit. The werewolf’s head and most of its upper body were now entirely out of the thick vines, its arms swinging wildly at its sides hacking away more of the plant’s clinging arms.

“James, it won’t work,” Sirius said, voice exhausted. Lily could see it clear enough. Most of the jinxes that hit the thing only seemed to renew its vigor, as it redoubled its frantic energy in its attempt to escape. “James—”

“No!” he roared, his voice booming out into the vast darkness and returning no echo. “This is our only chance! Incarcerous! Incarcerous!” But it burst the enchanted ropes even more easily than the tangled vines.

Too strong, Lily thought. We made too many assumptions, we were stupid. It’s too strong…

One leg finally flashed out of the pit, heaving out and clawing against the ground. As it found purchase, the corded muscles heaved and bulged, rock-hard. It was going to uproot the entire plant.

She hated what she was about to do, wondered whether Sirius would attack her afterwards, wondered whether James could ever forgive her. She didn’t have time to think about it, though. They were simply out of time.

“I’m sorry, James,” she called out. He must have picked up on something in her voice, because he half-turned back to them. She shot the Stupefy spell just as he came all the way about face, and the light burst in his glasses an instant before it struck him full on in the chest.