Lily slid into a seat next to Amanda and Eva, who were both scowling their muscles stiff. Eva was attacking her scrambled eggs with a ferocity that must have dented the golden plate and fork. Amanda, on her part, was mumbling something to Remus, who was glaring at a pair next to him that he had hoped was dissolved forever. Serena was pretty enough, but she had the worst temper and the meanest disposition when she wasn't getting what she wanted. And she had loosed her temper on him only moments before, when James wasn't looking or listening (for once).
Though Lily hadn't understood a word of the conversation last night, she knew her supposition had been right when she caught sight of James and Serena, talking quietly but apparently oblivious of anyone else. Boys. Lily shook her head. You'd think they'd learn. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by the arrival of the breakfast mail.
Alisande, who had been gone for about a week now, dropped a letter right next to Lily's plate. She was getting good at not letting letters fall into milk jugs. Peter's owl still hadn't learned. Ripping the letter open, Lily recognized her sister's handwriting.
Lily,
Yes, this letter is really from me. This is a warning. Dad has to go on a last-minute trip to Washington, D.C., and he wants me to tell you not to come home over Easter. He would take you, but the hotels are swamped, and he's leaving me at Vernon's. So there really would be not point in coming home.
Have you found out who wrote that letter yet? Some of your old friends have been asking about you. I told them, as usual, that you were off at boarding school, but I looked really stupid when I couldn't tell them where it was.
I'm sending you an Easter present from Dad. He said to share with your friends. But don't attack it till Easter, if it comes before then.
Bye and see you over the summer,
Petunia
Lily groaned. Another business trip. Why now? Why, why, why now? She'd have to put up with the reunited couple all through this class-free week. Mumbling under her breath, she got up and gathered her things together as the bell rang for first period.
All six of them-Remus, Sirius, James, Peter, Lily, and Serena-had first period Charms together today, and Lily wasn't looking forward to this at all. No one really was-no girl, that is. It wasn't to be denied that Remus was the only boy who was dissatisfied-even Peter was oddly excited.
Abigail and Lily applauded themselves silently as they left the classroom. They had made it through the whole period without throwing up, and that took some self-control. Herbology was next, and Lily had that period alone with James. She really wished he hadn't signed up for Anatomy; then she wouldn't have to spend four periods in a classroom with him and none of her other friends.
They were working in Greenhouse Three today, but after finishing the Flutterby bushes they were assigned, they were allowed to return to the castle, as it was still rather cold outside. The only good thing about the weather was that it had stopped hailing, and, at returning to the castle, Lily headed straight for Professor Dumbledore's office, shuddered at the still disturbingly ugly goblin guarding the entrance (Fizzing Whizzbee-that was the password Professor McGonagall gave it last time Lily had been to visit the headmaster), and handed Dumbledore her sister's note.
He nodded slowly after reading through it. "So you shall be staying here over the holidays?"
Lily nodded. "Yes, sir."
"All right." He stood up, folded the letter back up, and handed it to Lily. "I shall be sending a messenger to your father, however, making sure that this is not a hoax."
She nodded again. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
"All right. We shall inform you of the results. You have not found the writer of the other letter yet, have you?"
Lily stiffened. She didn't know what to say. Yes, on the one hand, she hated Serena terribly, but on the other hand, this would get her thrown out-and, yes, well-it would break at least one of her friends' hearts. Plus Serena was the daughter of the Minister of Magic, who probably wouldn't respond too favorably if his daughter would happen to be expelled. She made up her mind after an instant.
"No, sir."
Dumbledore glanced over her with that piercing glance that always made her fell as if he were peering into her mind, then nodded slowly.
"All right. You may go to lunch now-" He stopped as the lunch bell rang.
Lily smiled shortly. "Thank you, sir." She turned around and left the room, shutting the door softly.
Down in the Great Hall, Eva was waiting for her.
"James told me you had most of last period off. Where were you? I didn't have Care of Magical Creatures, because Kettleburn had a practical lesson in mind, so I looked for you, and couldn't find you."
Lily waved that away as she heaped her plate with fried chicken and a baked potato. She filled her cup with steaming cocoa before she answered.
"Dumbledore's office. I'm not going home over Easter."
Eva was puzzled. "Why not?"
"Dad's on a business trip to America. And he couldn't find a room for me and Petunia, so we're staying behind."
Wrinkling her nose, Eva reached for the cocoa pitcher. "And what about me? I signed up to go home. Should I write Mother and tell her I'm not leaving after all?"
"You can if you want to. But don't you want to go home?"
Eva shook her head violently. "Basil's home again. He was working over in Switzerland, with a bank, but he's home now over the holidays. I don't like his friends."
Lily broke some garlic bread in half and handed a piece to her friend. "Why not? What're they like?"
"Oh-" Eva shrugged and accepted the bread. "Mostly the kind like Peter." She dropped her voice. "I don't like people like that. They're too darned nervous and jumpy and stupid."
Peter turned around. "I just heard my name?"
"Yes." Lily nodded, ignoring Eva's vicious elbow, which was giving her several hard pokes in the side. "Eva's brother has several friends, and-" The elbow dug into her ribs even harder. "And one of them is named Peter. Stop poking me!" This last was directed at Eva.
Peter, obviously appeased, turned to his pumpkin juice and left Eva feeling rather in between stupid and angry.
By the time dessert came around, two people came in that Lily hadn't seen at lunch yet. She gave a loud snort as James tried to pull Serena into the seat next to her and succeeded, but kept her mouth shut, to Eva's surprise.
It was a bit sickening to sit beside Serena, who was meticulously picking out the desserts including the least amount of calories and listening to orders from her to go down to the kitchen and go get a measuring cup, so she wouldn't put too much cream on the blackberries. Needless to say, Serena might just as well have given an azalea bush those orders, but it got annoying after a while. Still, Lily made it through the meal without giving any blackmail threats, though she sorely wanted to.
Lily gratefully saw Serena leave the entrance hall Saturday morning, giving her boyfriend lots of hugs and tears, as she was leaving for the Easter holidays. She didn’t know if she could put up with those empty, annoying death threats and false letters and the punches in the hallways any more than she had to, and she was wishing that someone would endow Serena with a more inventive mind, because she was getting extremely tired of the “I’m going to kill you, Evans,” and then Lily got all excited, but the only thing Serena ended up doing was cursing her and tripping her in the hallway. It was getting very old.
Eva had communicated with her mother, and she was staying. Vanessa, however, almost had to be dragged along to the train station; she was not in the least excited about leaving. Her holidays would be filled with bangings from one end of the corridor, where Basil’s friends were staying, and intense boredom, since her mother was going to be doing several volunteer things, expecting Vanessa to participate. Vanessa was not on speaking terms with Eva when she said goodbye to Lily.
Abigail was leaving, as were Miranda and Nigel, but Amanda, Elspeth, and Diana were staying, along with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And, standing together in front of the entrance hall, Lily, Eva, and Amanda waved at the deportees till the carriages were out of sight.
Soon, however, it was time for them to go back inside; the strong wind mixed with bits of ice had started back up, and they were taking shelter in the common room. Contentedly, they watched the fire flicker, giving off a warm glow, and the ice hitting the windowpanes. It was Saturday; they had all of nine days to relax, complain about Professor McGonagall, and finish the large workload they had been given over the holidays. Professor McGonagall insisted that since their O.W.L.s came up next year, the fourth years ought to be prepared, but Lily was the only one who took her side, and that privately. Sirius, Remus, Peter, Elspeth, and Diana were grousing.
Lily had found out in the meanwhile that Elspeth and Diana were actually pretty nice when Serena wasn’t around.
Diana was rather talkative (she liked to make her earrings click), had was extremely good at cards but terrible at Gobstones, lived for the raspberry-flavored Honeydukes dark chocolate, and had three cats, a colony of tropical fish, and a small garter snake. She was trying to make her parents let her get an asp, since she liked the idea that Cleopatra had committed suicide using one of those friendly creatures, but they had said NO, firmly.
Elspeth was rather shy and quiet; her family bred horses, and she had one of her own; his name was Storm, and he was black all over, except on his forehead, where a tiny white lightning-bolt disrupted his dark coat. She liked everything that had to do with the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, just like Lily, and they had fun disputing one of Aristotle’s ideas with some of the boys, namely this: Aristotle thought the woman was a incomplete form of man.
The girls were hotly denying this, while the boys were pointing out that Aristotle was a famous role model, and one shouldn’t disbelieve him, also that his mother was a midwife, and he should know better than anyone. The girls retorted with ‘well, he should have spent more time around his mother, then, because he obviously didn’t know that females were more developed mentally than males, which was obviously the reason they were being so stupid right now.’ The boys found nothing to say to that, and they shut up.
Still, they weren’t exactly straining themselves; sitting on the carpet playing Gobstones and Exploding Snap while trying to persuade someone out of their group to go down to the kitchens and get some cocoa. So, when James walked in, with a load of parchment, an ink bottle, and a quill in his hands, spread his things on a table, and started writing something, they all stared at him, aghast.
Sirius was the first to speak. “Are you sick?”
“Hum?” James looked up and smiled airily. “Nope. I’m writing to Cissa.”
John was staring at him as if he had just escaped from St. Mungo’s. Walking over to him and putting a hand on his shoulder, he snatched up the roll of parchment James had been covering. John, with a disgusted and astonished look on his face, turned to the lazy friends sprawled in front of the fire.
“This idiot covered ten inches of parchment with this mess! Already! And he just said goodbye to her an hour ago!”
Remus rolled his eyes. “James, better be careful. You might end up-“he shuddered-“marrying her.”
James went scarlet and snatched his letter back. “Oh, shut up. I like her is all.”
Sirius nodded sarcastically. “Of course, you only like her. How on earth could we assume anything else? She acted as if you were her slave, she covered you with spit yelling at her that one night, you went right back out with her, you’ve been hanging on her every word since then, and the second she leaves, you start writing a length letter, that has, from what I can see through the parchment, at least seven ‘I love you’s’ on there. Of course, you only like her.”
James went scarlet again and covered his letter up. “Sirius, shut up!”
Sirius resignedly slid back down and closed his eyes. “As the groom wishes.” He had to jump up hurriedly and duck behind several other armchairs, however, to escape the hexes issuing from James’ wand. It was all quite amusing to the spectators, and especially when James accidentally hit Eva and Lily with one of his cat-tail jinxes, and they got fed up.
When Lily wiped her wand clean on her robes, blew a bit of dust off, and stuck it back into her pocket, James was sitting in an armchair, fastened to it with a large squelch of honey, with extra whiskers sprouting out of everywhere anyone would want to think of; his arms and legs were tied with velvet ribbon that had itching powder sprinkled on it, and he had several fins sticking out of the end of his spine and plastic combs with ribbons attached trying to tame the mess on top of his head that he claimed was hair.
James wasn’t extremely excited about that, and they heard him mumbling to himself that ‘that was the last time he’d ever teach that Lily kid how to hex people’. There was no denying, too, that Lily had done most of the jinxing. But she had good reason to; she didn’t only have a regular tail, she had seven, and they were all in the most unlikely places; on top of her head, her stomach, on her tongue, her eyelids (both of them), and serving as two extra fingers.
They un-jinxed James about fifteen minutes later, when the laughing fits had worn off, and after he finished getting rid of all of the itching powder, he agreed that yes, it was very good stuff. He ended up being the one that asked Minky for the hot cocoa, and they were all delighted when Minky brought it up. Well-all except Lily-she knew that gleam in James’ eyes. As did Sirius and Remus, but they didn’t catch it. And she was quite thankful, a moment later, that she hadn’t drunk any.
In the first place, it was nasty; in the second, it contained the same very good brand of itching powder. James was pleased to note that that had more effect than several dozen Tinrash Pfefferolus hexes, but he got rather edgy when he met Lily’s glare.
“Yes?” he asked innocently. Lily wasn’t fooled. Neither was anyone else.
“I’m sure we all enjoyed that.”
“Well, you didn’t. You didn’t even drink any.”
“Oh.” Lily stopped to consider. “You’re right. But I’m going to attack you on behalf of everyone else, all right?”
“NO.” James was firm.
The others didn’t bother. Sirius simply waved his hand in some odd direction. “Lily, don’t bother. We’ll get him. He has to sleep sometime.” Lily laughed at James’ surprised start. Then, as if something had just crossed her mind randomly, which it had, she stood up and went over to James, who cowered visibly.
“I need to speak to you. ALONE.” This last was directed at Peter, who was inching forward.
James looked puzzled and apprehensive as he pulled out his wand. Impatiently, Lily took her own wand out and threw it on the common room carpet, closer it him than to her, and a good five yards away from either of them.
“All right, fine; you’re armed, I’m not. That okay?”
James kept his wand out, ignoring the cat-calls from Sirius. “What about?”
“I just said it was private. If I didn’t, then I’m saying it now, and you should have understood. It has to do with something you told me in the other wing.”
James looked confused for a second, but only a second. “Oh, all right. Where?”
“Where what?”
“If you said you wanted to speak to me alone, which you did, this isn’t the best place to do it.” He was right, too. The whole common room was listening.
“All right.” She nodded and moved towards him, whispering. “Same place. I’m going to meet you there in five minutes. Now tell me something. Anything, I don’t care what.”
He didn’t catch on quickly, but he did whisper a few mumbles sounding suspiciously like ‘blah, blah, blah, are you getting tired of blah and is this good enough?’ That was what Lily had been waiting for, and she instantly backed away.
“Excuse you? How dare you-never mind. I’m going. Goodbye.” She turned on her heel and flounced off, heading for her dormitory. Once there, she took the key out of the lock, slammed the door as hard as she could, staying in the hallway, locked it, and put the key in her pocket. Slipping towards the house-elf door, she got to the room she had been in just two days ago. To her slight chagrin and annoyance, James was there before she was, sitting calmly in an armchair.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
“I did.” Lily sat down in front of the fire, facing him. “It’s about Severus.”
His eyebrows went up. “And what does that have to do with me?”
Lily stood up. “It’s about what I told you last time.”
“And?”
“Have you spilled what I told you to anyone?”
James frowned. “Why on earth would I do that?”
Lily gave him a Look.
“Never mind.”
“I thought so.” She sat back down. “Well?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t. You trusted me, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Well, I figured there’d be no point messing it up-after all, you’re pretty nice to have around.”
Her eyebrows were the ones that went up, skeptically. “How, nice to have around? When I’m helping you with your homework or when I’m asking your crush if she’d meet you somewhere?”
He made several emphatic ‘no’s. “Lil, no! I-no, it’s just that you’re nice to be around when you’re not jinxing people.”
She dropped back onto her heels. “That’s always nice to hear. Besides-“ she went a bit quieter than usual, and something about her changed, though James wasn’t sure quite what. “Besides, I haven’t thanked you for handing in your homework as mine that day last term, have I?”
He went brick red. “How did you know-I mean,--oh, god. Yeah, I did do that, but how you found out is beyond me.”
“Sirius.”
“Oh. Should have guessed.”
“Well-thanks for that.”
“No problem. You were working yourself to insanity, and then you didn’t have your own work, so-“ He shrugged. “Well,--is that all?”
Lily nodded. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t blurt out anything while you were mad at me. I guess now I know you wouldn’t have, but-“
“I know what you mean. I’d have done the same thing.”
“So…” Lily had waited for this chance. “Are you happy with Serena?”
He smiled. “Yeah, I guess.”
Lily nodded slowly. “I think I can tell that you really like her-only-“
“Only what?”
“I’m debating on whether to tell you this or not.”
“Fire when ready.”
“All right. But at your own risk.” She settled herself on the rug. “James, I really doubt whether she’s the kind of person you want to stay with. Remember when you broke up with her?”
“Yeah, so?” He was on the defensive now.
“She can get mean. And from what I’ve seen-“
“From what you’ve seen, what?”
Lily took a deep breath. She knew she risked being cursed, as he still had his wand.
“Well, from what I’ve seen, she doesn’t seem to like you as much as you do.”
“What do you mean?” His tone was icy stale.
She laid a light hand on his arm, ignoring the tensing of his muscles. “What did you get her for her birthday?”
“A necklace set and some earrings. Why?”
“What did she give you for yours?”
“She didn’t. I never told her when it was.”
“Don’t you think she should have bothered to find out from someone else?”
The made James think awhile, and he dropped his head into his hands. “Why are you telling me this?”
Lily couldn’t find an answer to that, so she passed it over. “As far as Eva, Amanda, Sirius, Peter, Remus, the Quidditch team and I can tell, she hasn’t spent over two Sickles on you in all these months.”
“So?”
“I think I’ve made my point clear. And then there is this-“ She pulled a bit of parchment out of her robes, handing it to him.
“What is that?”
“Sirius found it on the floor in the common room.”
He shook his head, so she read aloud.
Cissa, honey,
I don’t know how to thank you for sending me those things. Your father would have gone up into the roof if he had found out that I had spent that much for jewelry-and Mr. Brownes gave me ten Galleons for the gold earrings with the red stones. I don’t remember what he gave me for the other stuff, but I got that ring with it, and I’m wearing it to the next housewarming party Marsha’s giving. Did you say your boyfriend gave them to you? He really has bad taste in jewelry; none of those things would have gone with my dress. Still, don’t tell him that you value his gifts like that; he might start giving you really bad stuff, like one carat gold.
Dashing off to a party now, doll. Have a wonderful time!
Mother
James looked up, a bit stunned, just as she did.
“But-wait-“
Lily shook her head. “She gave your presents to her mother. And without thinking twice about it, either.”
“How do you know that?” he challenged.
“This is Serena. I know her better than you.”
“HOW?” He was fighting to stay in control.
“It’s an old trick. If you want to get to know someone, find out how he or she treats his or her inferiors, not his or her betters. And she considers me her inferior.”
James was silent for a few moments, but he finally stopped gripping his head between his palms. “Lily?”
“Um?”
“You’re sure you’re not doing this as a sort of revenge act?”
Lily shook her head. “I’m not. I don’t really know why I’m doing this, but I guess it’s better this way than from her-well, at least you’re a bit prepared now.”
He dropped his head again, slouched, and frowned. “Lil, I know you meant well-and well, I do thank you for this. Not because of the information-it’s not exactly what I wanted to hear-still, I guess this is what Sirius or Remus would have done.” He looked straight at her. “Thanks.”
She bowed her head, knitting her fingers in her lap. “I’m glad you said that.”
“Why?”
“Well, this was rather risky to do.”
“I know. That’s another reason why I’m saying ‘thanks’.”
Brushing off her robes, Lily stood up. “Do you need a bit of time alone?”
“Yeah.” He looked up again. “You’re a really good friend to have, you know that?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes. When you’re not mad.”
“Yeah,” he repeated. He didn’t move for several minutes, so Lily started for the door. “Wait!”
She whirled. “What?”
He looked pretty depressed as he said this, and she felt herself feeling sorry for him. “Can I have a hug?”
Her surprised astonishment changed to a half-smile. “Of course.”
He wrapped her in a very tight hug, and with a small start of astonishment, Lily could feel him crying. She pulled away quickly, far enough to see his face.
“What’s wrong?”
He blinked a bit. “Nothing. Never mind. Actually-well, it’s a bit of depression. Normal under the circumstances, right?” His gaze was almost pleading.
She nodded. “It’s all right; I’ve cried quite a bit. It’s not as if I’m going to forbid anyone else to do so.”
He nodded. “You’re a brick, Lil. Thanks so much.”
Lily handed him the letter, and he took it, stashing it in a deep pocket.
“See you sometime. And we have to make up really quickly, and we also have to invent a plausible story for that little act you pulled in the common room.”
Lily shrugged. “I can tell Eva the truth. She knows about Severus, and she’s good at thinking up stuff like that.”
“All right. See you. Thanks again.” He caught her off guard in another hug.
When Lily opened the door of her dormitory back up, replaced the key, and went back downstairs, Eva immediately besieged her with questions.
“What happened? What did you tell him? What did he say?”
Lily had quite a time telling Eva loudly that it was none of her business and telling her quietly that she’d tell her later, since Sirius and Remus walked up, too. All Lily would tell them was that she wasn’t mad anymore, and that they were being entirely too nosy.
