He flung himself into a chair, sighing loudly and knocking over Lily’s book that was propped up against the jug of pumpkin juice. Knowing what made him so miffed, Lily merely retrieved her book from underneath the table.
“Having a bad day?”
“That would be tomorrow. Lil, I don’t have the guts.”
She looked down at his head, which was the only part of him that she could see; he was slouching so much. “Yes, you do. You won’t, though, if you do this the wrong way. They’re going to be stuck somewhere in a jar in the Anatomy room.”
He slouched even more. “Thanks a lot!”
“Anytime.”
Sirius leaned over the table, reaching for a slice of roast beef. “What’s up?”
James groaned, and Lily answered for him. “Serena.”
“Oh.” Sirius sat back down. He, Remus, and Peter had been informed about everything the morning after Lily had shown James the letter from Serena’s mother, so he was understanding, if not sympathizing. “Well, if you can’t tell her, it looks like you’re screwed, pal.”
Remus butted in. “What’s going on?”
Sirius and Lily answered together. “Serena.”
“Oh.” Remus helped himself to some beef stew. “That’s never good.”
“No. It isn’t.” James was a bit peeved. “I don’t know how exactly to handle this.”
Peter shoved his nose in. “Why not? Just tell her that you’re dumping her!”
“Yeah, and how would you know that? You’ve never spoken to her without stuttering, idiot!” Peter drew back, traffic-light red. “Well, in case you didn’t know, I don’t especially want the Minister of Magic on my back.”
“Minister of Magic?” Peter was confused.
“Her father, you double idiot!”
“Oh.” Peter slumped almost as low as James was, but not quite. He wasn’t as skilled.
The rest of dinner passed almost normally, except for the fact that Lily and Sirius almost had to force-feed James. And the next morning at breakfast, good humor seemed to be restored.
James flung himself into his seat, smiling widely.
“Morning, all?”
They all stared at him, then at each other. Lily nodded at Sirius.
“Definitely sick.”
He nodded. “I thought so. St. Mungo’s?”
“I think this might be too serious for them to handle.”
“You have a point.”
“Oh, shut up.” James good-humoredly slammed Lily’s book shut and helped himself to some toast.
“Well, someone’s definitely found a way out of their situation. Either that or they’ve gone insane, and I’m inclined to think the latter.”
“Lil, shut up. I’ve fixed everything.”
Lily’s eyebrows shot up. “Why do I doubt that?”
“I have no idea. You seem to me to be a very mistrustful person. No, really; I sent her a letter last night.”
“Another one?”
“Sirius!”
“What’s your record? Ten rolls of parchment was the record last night.”
“Sirius!” This came from Lily, James, Eva, Remus, and Peter.
“Sorry.” He wasn’t really; you could tell, and he was purposefully making it obvious, but James didn’t notice.
“I told her point-blank, in a roundabout way, that-“
“Wait!” Lily had held up her hand. “You told her point-blank, in a roundabout way?”
“Shut up. I told her that I didn’t like dealing with her possessiveness. Just more politely than that.”
“Because you’re scared of her dad.”
“Peter, for the last time, her dad is Rowland Sikora! Yeah, of course I’m scared of her dad!”
“Oh.” Peter obviously had a terrible memory, as he kept forgetting to hide that he did.
The breakfast owls soared in, and Lily pointed out to James that it was quite unnecessary to look for an owl from Serena, as he had only just sent his owl off last night. Which life James looking rather stupid, though, as Sirius added, it left him looking just as usual.
That night, the carriages stopped at the castle steps, and, crowding the Great Hall, the students filled the seats. Vanessa looked exhausted, Abigail seemed rather blasè, but Miranda and Nigel were excited; jumping up and down and sideways. They immediately rushed at James, Rebecca, and the rest of the Quidditch team.
“GUESS WHAT WE GOT!”
The team looked rather stunned. James was the first to answer.
“A foot fungus?”
Miranda immediately punched him in the arm, and Nigel pulled out several pieces of parchment.
“Tickets to the Quidditch World Cup! For all seven of us! Look! They’re holding them in Egypt this year!”
The Quidditch team was stunned for a moment, but then they rushed at the tickets eagerly.
“WHAT?”
“Where’d you get them?”
“I love you two forever and beyond!”
“I can’t believe it!”
“You’re awesome!”
“Oh, my gosh! We’re going to the Quidditch World Cup! Let me see those things!”
They were ripped out of Nigel’s hands.
“Easy on them, now. They’re only receipts; Dad has the tickets, but they’re for the Top Box!”
There was more squealing and yelling. “THE TOP BOX?!”
“Yep!” Nigel was basking in this glory. “It’s Kurobe against Japan. I think. France might just come through, but Italy’s not bad this year. But I’m pretty certain it’s gonna be Kurobe and Japan.”
James looked up. “Whaddaya wanna bet it’s gonna be Italy and Japan?”
“Five Galleons.”
“You’re on!” James, buried in the huddle around the Gryffindor Quidditch team, didn’t see what Eva and Lily saw: a narrow-eyed blonde, clenching a letter in her fist.
The team finally got to bed around two; they kept all of Gryffindor Tower awake with their excited chatter, and, in the morning, only Serena was well rested. She had purchased earplugs for herself some time back so that no noise could disturb her sleep and give her (oh, horror!) rings under her eyes. And when breakfast jumped up on Monday morning, the team and Serena were the only wide-awake ones. Which, in this case, was not all that good for one particular team member.
Before James went into the Great Hall, Serena, who had been waiting next to the doors, pulled him out of the doorway.
“I want to talk to you.”
James wouldn’t ever have admitted this to anyone, but the prospect of this interview scared him to pieces.
“Sure. What about?”
“You know what about. Why did you dump me?” Tears were glistening in her eyes.
“Well, for starters, I told you. If you don’t like me enough to keep what I gave you, then, well, this just isn’t working.”
“How do you know about that? That is-I mean-“
James gave Lily’s answer. He wasn’t about to get his friend in trouble with this spitting hyena, even if she didn’t care.
“Sirius.”
“So you’re going to believe him over me?”
“Well, sweetheart, you both have the same statements.”
“We do?” Serena looked disgusted and appalled.
“Yep. Let me quote-‘How do you know about that?’”
The tears were freely flowing now. “So you’re leaving me here, stranded, alone, helpless?”
“Nope.”
“You’re not?” Hope rose high in her face, but it was pulled back down at James’ last remark, and it was all she could do to control herself.
“Nope. Anyone who’s as good as lying as you are is never helpless.”
“So-so-so this is over?”
“This what?”
“Us. US.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much.”
That made her lose control. Her sweet, helpless look faded, and her brows rushed together, crinkling up her face.
“You’ll be sorry for that. You just wait. I’ll hate you forever, James Potter, and you’ll never get out of this mess! You and your little Evans buddy both! You’re as good as roadkill, and after my father gets through with you, you’ll be worse!”
“Since when does anyone get sent to Azkaban for dumping his girlfriend? You know, if that were the case, half the world would be in there, not to mention three-fourths of the rest of the universe.”
“RRgh!” Serena made a sort of hissy noise, coming from somewhere deep down inside her throat. It sounded ugly. She realized that just after it came out, and, turning around with a ‘humph’, she flounced straight for Gryffindor Tower, forgetting that she hadn’t had dinner last night and hadn’t had breakfast, either.
Lily stepped out from her post behind a statue. “Very well done indeed! And you didn’t get cursed!”
“I almost did. The only thing that saved me was that the Minister of Magic’s daughter has been brought up with the threat of soap if she ever used a bad word.”
“You know very well what I mean.”
“Yeah.” He grinned. “So, how did I do?”
“I told you. Very nicely.”
“Good. Thanks to my mentor here!” He gave her a playful hug, and just then, the bell for them to go to classes rang. Lily rolled her eyes as she picked up her bookbag.
“I’m going to class. See you later.”
“Whatcha got first?”
“Study of Ancient Runes. Same as I’ve had the whole year.”
“Oh, right.” He smacked himself in the forehead. “Well, see you later, then.” They separated and made for their respective classes just as the hordes started pouring out of the Great Hall.
Lily related the whole scene to Sirius in Study of Ancient Runes, and he came close to getting detention for howling so loudly when Lily told him about the hissy noise. He had to be poked severely before he got the ‘shut up’ message.
When lunch rolled around, the news of that morning was all over the school, courtesy of a sixth year, Bertha Jorkins, who had the best memory for gossip and the nosiest personality. Everyone except Serena was in a wonderful mood, which was expected. It would have been rather scary if Serena had been in a good mood. The only thing out of the ordinary that happened that night was a note Remus passed to Lily in Divination.
Full moon tonight.
Lily looked up at him and nodded shortly. She knew what that meant, and so did Sirius and James, who coolly snatched the note out of her hands as soon as she had finished reading it. However, they exchanged a glance they thought was private, saying as much as ‘Tonight’. Several other people caught it, but Lily was the only one that knew about the room they had furnished, and she knew exactly what they were planning to do.
Remus didn’t show up for dinner; he was already inside the Whomping Willow. The common room emptied itself around ten, but Lily had slipped into her black cloak and nightgown at nine. She had hidden herself behind the blankets covering the walls in the ‘Animagi room’, as she called it, at nine-thirty, when Sirius and James entered, at ten, she was completely concealed; not even a scrap of clothing peeked out.
Yawning a bit, the boys entered, throwing a stack of quills and rolls of parchment onto the floor. Sirius flipped the blanket covering the secret closet aside and opened it, pulling out several books.
“Say, what were you supposed to be working on tonight?”
“The meditation research. Only problem is, we’ve only got Volumes I and II. We need III.”
“I know. But Pince hoards it like a vulture. I set off the alarm the other night when I went in there.”
“I know you did. I could hear that annoying screech all the way up here. Pince needs to get a better alarm.”
“It’s a good thing you have that cloak.”
“I know. Very good thing. But it’s not going to be any use if you keep tripping the alarm.”
Sirius dumped the large amount of parchment into the closet and closed it. “Well, excuse me! You’re going for it next time!”
“I was about to suggest that. What was Peter supposed to be doing before he decided he was too tired?”
“Copying down the non-standard procedures. He’s already got the basic ones down, but he needs to get to work on the meditation notes.”
“He doesn’t copy fast, does he?”
“You’re asking?” Sirius’ jaw almost dropped.
“Oh, right. Still, have you found the pronunciation yet in that book?”
“It’s two thousand pages long. No.”
“But you did find out whether we get to pick our animals or not, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“So?”
Sirius shrugged. “We don’t. The animal looks like we do. Unless we can find this other book, we can’t choose. If we really don’t want to, though, we can go ahead and do it next month.”
“And risk coming out a goldfish? No thanks! We’ll wait.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive!”
They didn’t say much the rest of the night; they were mostly copying down things and doing calculations. Lily was starting to think that she would love to wash those musty blankets in a good, strong, sweet-smelling detergent, and she almost sneezed several times. When the boys packed up their work, Lily felt it was none too soon, being two in the morning. She had to stay in her place, however, for a few minutes after they left, and even then she came pretty close to being caught, as James had forgotten to close the closet door and had to come back and do it. Finally, however, she got back into bed.
April passed in a blur, May was starting, and the teachers were heaping more work than usual on them, seeing that O.W.L.s were next year and the exams were coming up. The common room at night was filled with whining and groaning, and most of the fourth years passed on the offered trip to Hogsmeade. Lily was getting fed up with explaining to people the right way to make Divination predictions and to dissect spiders, and she was ready for bed long before anyone else was.
But sleep made her a bit clumsy, so when she pulled her jewelry box out of her trunk, so as to put her earrings in it, it crashed to the floor. Her eyes widened. The elf-nymph necklace was in there, and if it hit the floor without her-She grabbed it quickly, but she knocked it against the corner of the trunk. Immediately, she was caught up in the familiar whirlwind, heading to the Alendoren Cove, frightened out of her wits.
She landed with a soft bump, right in front of Tom. As he jumped up in surprise, she was able to stifle a small gasp of fright and astonishment.
“Lily!”
“Tom! Goodness!”
He helped her up. “Hullo. Guess what.”
“What?”
“I’m progressing!”
“Huh?” Lily spit out a mouthful of sand.
“I’ve discovered several more methods for immortality.”
“More?”
“Yeah!” By this time they were inside the cave. “Just think of it! I might be running the world someday!”
“Happy, happy, joy, joy.” Lily was tired.
Litharelen, in more or less homo sapien form (she had legs instead of her tail), was lying on the floor, dozing softly, but she jumped up as soon as Lily and Tome entered, smoothing her dark green gown.
“Lily! Where’d you come from?”
“My bed. Which is where I wish I was.”
“Oh, really.” Tom pulled a pitcher of something liquid out of the shelf. “Come on, perk up. Have something to drink.”
Litharelen raised her head lazily. “It’s litaleter. Be careful.”
Lily smiled and took a glass filled with the liquid light from Tom. “Thanks.”
“So-“ Tom stretched, knocking into a bookshelf-“what’s new where you are?”
“Nothing, really. I suppose-well, did you get your book open?”
“I did.” He grinned proudly, but then his smile faded. “But it’s too late to bring either of out parents back.”
Lily pulled her face into a sad sort of pout. “I know. But I guess I should have known I can’t change death.”
“Yeah…” He looked over at her. “Guess what?”
“What?”
“The Ministry isn’t happy at all that I’m going for immortality. This may be war.”
Lily jumped, whirling around to look at him. Unfortunately, he was serious.
“Tom!”
“I can’t help it.”
“You can, too! Who says you have to be immortal?"
"Lily, it's my dream! Think of it! I could rule the world!"
"And what good would that do you, once you're the Supreme Hi-yu-mighty-muck-a-muck of all things? Just tell me that, Tom Riddle! Tell me! Don't stand there gaping like a scared fish; tell me!"
She was angry now, angrier than she had been in days, weeks, months even. Her hair was waving wildly about her face, unnerving even Tom, and she might have gone on yelling at him for ages if Litharelen hadn't interrupted.
"Lily?"
The redhead whirled. "What?"
"Lily, he won't learn. It's no good. I tried; believe me. Come down and help me brush Svordsja down?"
Lily was puzzled, but still a bit fiery. "Svordsja?"
Litharelen laughed at her surprise. "Come!" She took Lily's arm and they left the cave, running lightly over glittering white sands bordering frothing white waves of foam. They quickly came to a small hut, almost hidden by an overhanging cliff. Litharelen opened the door, moving forward to greet something or someone inside. Lily heard soft sounds of brushing, and a few quiet murmurings, and then Litharelen came to the door.
"Come on! But don't get too close-she doesn't like anyone except me and Tom."
Lily followed her inside, and what she saw there literally took her breath away and rendered her speechless.
True, she had seen a unicorn once, from a distance, when she was watching a Care of Magical Creatures class from a window, and she had used grated and powdered horn of a bicorn, but she had never seen anything like this animal. It was clear that it belonged to the same sort of family; the glossy coat was a pearly white, the adornment on the forehead a mixture of pearl and silver, and the mane and tail silver thread. Its eyes were calm and cool, black and liquid, sweet yet dangerous. Magnificent and awe-inspiring, its head towered four feet above her, and when it pawed the ground, the sparkling sand crusted the pearly hooves. Lily had never heard of anyone seeing one of these in the last century.
Unicorns weren't as rare; neither were bicorns. This one, however, had five. Five beautiful silver-and-white entwined points, each growing from a small point in the animal's forehead, billowing out and coming together at the tips where they were fastened to each other by their own vine-like points. The crown-like constellation reminded Lily of something-her fingers clasped around her own midnight-blue and gold necklace, and she fingered the five talons that held the stone in place. Of course! The space inside the graceful tangle of the pentacorn's horn was just the right size for a stone like her own, like Litharelen's, only much larger. Lily moved forward tentatively, but she retreated as the animal snorted loudly; pawed the ground.
Litharelen had vanished for a minute, but she reappeared then, carrying a pitcher full of something that frothed and bubbled. Lily recognized the scent of the iridescent liquid-it was the same dew that the waters of the Alendoren Cove were made of. Steaming and foaming, Litharelen poured it into a basin next to the pentacorn, who immediately started to drink deep drafts, snorting steam every once in a while.
Litharelen laughed lightly at Lily's amazement. "So, you've never seen anyone like Svordsja before?"
"No. It-she-she's beautiful. I've never seen anything like her."
"Of course not." Litharelen seated herself on the sands of the stable floor, patting Svordsja's flank. "She's one of the beauties of her kind, and they surpass all other creatures, both in power and in splendor."
"I can see why! But what about the unicorns and such?"
Litharelen sniffed. "They! They're mere imitations! Of course," she amended, looking a bit scornful, "maybe I shouldn't say that."
"Imitations?"
"Not really. They started out just like Svordsja, beautiful and tall, with the tiara-horns. But then Man-" here she gave another sniff-"tried to make them produce heirs with not only five, but six, seven, ten. It backfired, and unicorns came out, mostly. We have hardly any of Svordsja's kind left, now."
"Oh. I see. I do wish-I do wish we hadn't done that." Lily looked up at the solemn creature; she still had to do so even though Svordsja had knelt down on the sands and Litharelen was using her as an armchair. Without thinking about anything she did, Lily stood up, slowly, from the stone bench she had been sitting on. Svordsja looked up, frightened.
Lily moved about five centimeters per minute, and Litharelen, after putting a pale hand on Svordsja's heart, stared at Lily, puzzled. She didn't stop Lily from moving forward. Slowly, carefully, Lily inched forward over the floor. It seemed ages before the willful beast lifted her head and stared right into her eyes, ages before she was within a foot of the noble head, aeons before the pentacorn slowly inclined her head towards Lily's hand.
Litharelen let out a deep breath. "How'd you do that?"
"Do what?" Lily was hardly moving her mouth.
"Svordsja-she can't stand anyone besides Tom and me! She broke my mother's leg once-why's she trusting you?"
"I don't know. Cats like me."
"But those are cats. This-" she lightly jerked her armchair's head towards her-"this is a pentacorn. They're terribly shy."
Tom stuck his head in the doorway, stopped, and let out a low whistle.
"Lily! How on earth-" He started to smile craftily, with the adventurous sparkle in his eyes. Lily knew that smile.
"Tom?"
"Do you want to learn how to ride?"
Litharelen jumped up. "Tom! Svordsja could kill her! You don't know what you're doing!"
Tom ignored her. "Lily?"
Lily took one look at the pentacorn sniffing her palm, feeling the cool breath of the animal on her hand, and she made up her mind.
"If Svordsja will let me."
Every spare weekend from then on, every moment that Lily had to herself when she was sure that no one would bother her, she spent at the Alendoren Cove, with Tom and Svordsja. The pentacorn itself was one of the friendliest magical creatures she had ever known, and once she got used to riding bare-back on a mount nine feet high, counting its head, she lost herself in the speed of the animal as it galloped over sands, between clashing waves, usually under glowing moonbeams.
There was another thing about pentacorns Lily learned that May; they were the fastest creatures ever known to any living thing, including any extinct beings. When Tom finally let her gallop by herself, Svordsja took off towards the sea. Lily should have been holding on for dear life, but something seemed to weld her and Svordsja together as they plunged through the waves. She never fell off; not once, and Tom and Litharelen were almost dumbstruck at the ease with which Lily could make the pentacorn rear, beating its hooves against the sky, and come down lightly, without making Lily slip an inch towards the ground.
Soon riding became second nature to her, just as breathing did. Tom told her that if she tried to get on a regular horse's back, she'd find it about as challenging as flipping a light switch. But when June loomed up, she had to stop her frequent nightly rides, as the exams were getting more real every day. She only came twice; when the rest of the school went to Hogsmeade and when she told her friends she had to speak to Dumbledore, and then the visits were over much too soon. She never felt as at peace as when she was on Svordsja's back, thundering over the beach and threading through boulders, but it always ended far too soon.
Lily had noticed that Tom was always busy when she arrived; he was usually flipping through volumes or writing letters. He had acquired three regular barn owls for this purpose, and they were hardly ever at rest in their cages. Once she had even surprised him conferring with about three people-one was elderly, with a long white beard; Tom called him Macnair. The other two she knew to be the fathers of two of the Slytherins: one, Nott, had a brown mustache and a silver girdle, the other, whose name was Avery, had a weak sort of whitish goatee, though he couldn't be over forty.
They Apparated, however, as soon as she stepped inside the cave, and Tom had closed his book and flung a cloak on over his head, it being windy outside. Lily had asked him who those people were, and his answer was "Ministry officials." It was all he would say on the subject, however, and he was starting to get somewhat tense.
And something else started happening-to Lily, though. She usually had a glass of the litaleter or dove under the waves to see Litharelen, if she wasn't there when she arrived. Litharelen was always a good mentor for the riding lessons; she could control the pentacorn with a touch of her hand on Svordsja's neck, and she was the one who pointed out, when Tom was trying to demonstrate, that he would actually stay on if he would grip her flanks harder with his knees. And the result was, whenever she left the water or put a glass of the liquid silver light down, that she started to change again.
Her hearing started to sharpen and her ears would lengthen to a tiny point; her eyesight grew keener as he eyes grew more snake-like with silver threads crossed through them. The silver streaks would appear in her hair, her skin even started to acquire a bit of a pearly glow. But most of those things faded within a half-hour of returning to England; all except the heightened senses and the glow from her skin. And, every time she returned to the cove, the effects would last longer. Not that she minded; she really actually enjoyed the strangeness of her reflection whenever she glanced at the sea from Svordsja's back.
