Beyond Hogwarts -Chapter Eighteen

-=Beyond Hogwarts; Chapter Eighteen=-

A few weeks passed without much event, unless you counted the false information the Ministry had gotten hold of and that it had sent James and a few others into and area where a supposed Death Eater meeting was to be, but that the group had sat there for a good ten and a quarter hours before giving up and reporting a failure to the Minstry.
   Things in southern England were unsettlingly quiet. Too quiet, Lily thought, though she didn’t mention her ideas to anyone else; they were happy enough that there weren’t any late Ministry nights and more deaths. This wouldn’t last long, not if she knew anything about Tom, and she was quite sure she did.
   On the other hand, the musical she was in was to be performed in a week, and she was doing all she could to help with the scenery, which was requiring the assistance of all involved. Rapunzel’s tower wasn’t half finished, and Cinderella’s gold-and-silver ball gown was wearing their fingers thin with the amount of pearl-like beads that had to be sewed onto it. It was heavier than any piece of clothing Lily had ever owned, and she was grateful she wouldn’t have to wear it.
   Lily came home about every other day splattered with gray, green, brown, and black paint from the tower, and she invariably had several needles and pins stuck into her overalls. And once she was at home, she invariably had to practice her musical numbers. She didn’t normally sing, and certainly not professionally, so she had to practice almost every spare moment she had.
   James kept sticking his fingers in his ears and backing out of the room whenever she gave the slightest hint that she was about to sing, but from the large smirk on his face, it was reasonably safe to assume he was only teasing mercilessly.
   He picked Lily up at the theatre the evening before opening night and found her in the middle of one of the beginning scenes, where she had a funny rap solo. She was in the ugly witch’s outfit, and was shrieking in time to the raps she was giving the floor, the baker, and his wife with her staff.
   “In the past, when your mother was with child and had developed an unusual appetite
   She took one look at my beautiful garden and told your father that what she wanted, more than anything in the world was greens, greens, and nothing but greens:
   Parsley, peppers, cabbages and celery,
   Asparagus and watercress and fiddleferns and lettuce-!
   He said, "All right," but it wasn't quite,
   Cause I caught his in the autumn in my garden one night!
   He was robbing me! Raping me!
   Rooting through my rutabaga,
   Raiding my aruguala
   And ripping up the rampion-
   My champion! My favorite!-
   I should have laid a spell on him right there.
   Could have turned him into stone or a dog…or a chair-
   But I let him have the rampion-
   I had lots to spare.
   In return, however, I said: “Fair is fair.
   You can let me have the baby that your wife will bear-
   And we'll call it square!”
   It was the Rapunzel prelude, James recognized, grinning; he had read the script while helping Lily with her lines, and this was the part where she got to half-screech her lines. He plunked himself down into a seat in the auditorium to watch the scene, spreading himself over the two seats on either side of him as well.
   Lily glimpsed him in the audience, and as soon as Mr. Nufflepeck announced that that was all for the evening, she slid off the stage, jogging towards him while lifting the long, dark grey mantle out of the range of her feet.
   “How was it?”
   James grinned. “Very nice. I especially like the bushy grey eyebrows. Are those patented, too?”
   Her hand flew up to her forehead and pulled the tufts of fuzz away from her skin. “Ow. Thank you for telling me, though.”
   “Going to go get changed?” James inquired.
   “Yes. I’ll be back in about a quarter-hour—have to get the makeup off!”
   “I’ll wait for you, then,” he said, removing her wand from inside the staff and tucking it inside his robes. “We’ve got Albus over for dinner tonight—as well as Frank, Eva, and Lora.”
   Lily wrinkled her nose. “I’ve no doubt that means that I’ve got to get all the makeup off. You might want to give me my wand.”
   She emerged from the dressing rooms twenty minutes later, in her assortment of a sweatshirt and dance pants. “I’m ready. Are you making me change when I get home?”
   “Let’s say I’d prefer it,” James told her. “You’d look stunning in Slenka’s old bath mat, but I respect Albus a bit more than that.”
   “But nothing dressy, like that engagement party dress,” Lily ordered. “Fair enough?”
   “All right. But come on; Slenka’s got hot chocolate waiting. With whipped cream.”
   “Whipped cream?” Her eyes sparkled. “Put chocolate pirouettes on top, and I’ll agree to dress robes!”
   “I hope Peter didn’t smash them,” James added off-handedly as they Apparated home. “But he killed everything else, so there’s a reasonable chance the pirouettes are safe.”
   Lily laughed. “Who else is showing up for dinner?”
   “Er…” James tugged at his hair. “Sirius maybe; it’s that time of the month for Remus, Peter might come, though he said something about meeting a friend; but I’m reasonably sure Snape might drop in to play the parasite.”
   “James!”
   “He is! Dropping in on us at all hours, trying to bum a meal offa our kitchen…”
   “As do Sirius, Remus, and Peter,” Lily responded shortly. “James, if Sirius lost his job, would you forbid him to eat here?”
   James scowled. “No, I wouldn’t.”
   “Would you grudge him whatever you could give him?”
   “You sound like an old lady. No, I wouldn’t.”
   Smiling, she tossed her head. “Then stop this nonsense about Severus.” Starting up the stairs, she threw a remark over her shoulder. “Help Slenka a bit, will you?”
   “Lily, she’s my house-elf! She’s here to do housework, not to have me help her!”
   “Fine. Pay her for her work and you won’t have to help.”
   As Lily vanished behind her bedroom door, Sirius Apparated next to James on the landing of the stairs.
   “Why so glum?”
   “I’ve got a wife that doesn’t understand the concept of ‘house-elf’,” James grumbled. “Blast.”
   When Albus arrived, Lily had just swept downstairs in a long, white, sweeping skirt and a forest-green blouse with the sleeves fastened loosely at her elbows and hanging to her knees. Greeting her old headmaster with a hug and a pot of cocoa, she closed the door behind him.
   “Albus! Come in; come in—how’re you; we haven’t seen you for ages! Here; take this, it’ll warm you up. How’s Hogwarts doing? Slenka, take his cloak for him. Come inside, Professor; we’ve got a fire in the living room…”
   “She fusses more over that man than she does me,” James said mock-jealously. “Do I have the right to feel insulted?”
   Sirius shook his head, grinning. “I’d think it better if you didn’t, actually. You’ve had her mad at you before.”
   “Many times,” James agreed. “I’m beginning to see just how true the saying is that states that all red-heads are impossible.”
   Just then, Lily swung the living room door open, handed James and Sirius each a mug of hot chocolate, and kissed her husband on the cheek.
   “Come on; it’s a while yet before dinner’s ready.”
   Sirius let out a shout of laughter. “James, you have the worst timing!”
   “I do not!” James defended himself. “I—“
   “About what?” Lily intervened, removing a trace of whipped cream from his nose.
   He gave in. “I do.”
   “So,” Lily asked Albus, once the company had seated themselves in the living room, “what brings you to our humble home?”
   The headmaster’s eyes twinkled at her over the half-moon glasses. “Both to congratulate you on your soon-to-be performance and to visit the Ministry.”
   “Oh.” Lily rubbed her arm, somewhat embarrassed. “The play won’t be that good; it’s nothing special…”
   “Honestly!” James reached over, clamping a hand over her mouth. “Can’t someone congratulate you without you putting yourself down?” He turned to Dumbledore. “On behalf of her, thanks; are you coming to see it?”
   “Possibly. I have something important to discuss with the Minister of Magic.”
   “Oh.” James nodded slowly. “Is it-anything about-“
   He stopped quickly at a glance Lily flashed towards him. “About what?”
   James shook his head. “Nothing-nothing much. We’ll talk later.”
   She narrowed her eyes, but decided against boring him with questions right then and there. Still, Lily contemplated, usually she wouldn’t even have to do that; he’d have told her.
   There was a large thump in the entrance hall, and James jumped up as if he had been stuck with a large spike. “That will be Peter. Want me to bring him in?”
   “You mean, before he does the same thing to the rest of our house that he did to the kitchen?” Lily asked wryly. “Do so. And with all possible speed, preferably.”
   “It wasn’t all Peter’s fault,” Sirius protested as soon as he caught Albus’ amused gaze. “It was partly ours, too. Peter’s not that clumsy.”
   Suddenly, startling the group in the living room out of their seats, something crashed in the hallway, followed by a loud shout.
   “Nothing broke! Nothing broke! It’s okay; it’s okay!”
   Peter and James, one clamping onto the other’s arm, the other constricting his grip around a white-and-green glass vase, were met by shouts of laughter from the sofa occupants.
   “What?” James scowled. “I told you, nothing broke.”
   “Yes,” Sirius agreed. “You did. We’re just highly amused by…er…”
   “Generalizations of another’s behavior,” Lily jumped in. “They’re usually highly misleading.”
   “I tripped,” Peter said, looking offended. “And I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t had that large table in the middle of the hallway.”
   “I think,” Lily said, laughing, “that if you try to look at the way in front of you for once, we’d be in much better shape. Excuse me. Slenka needs my help.”
   She whisked out of the room quickly, grasping the vase from James’ hands and shutting the door behind her. Albus had come here for a reason, something quite apparent, and he wasn’t anxious about saying anything in front of her.
   Lily whisked a strand of hair out of her eyes. No matter. James would tell her, or else she’d have found out herself. He was wonderful, but when it came to keeping secrets from her, he was a bit like wet clay in her hands.
   She couldn’t complain of before-dinner-talks spoiling anyone’s appetite, for after Frank, Eva, and Lora arrived, the group ate their way through three-fourths of a turkey, a goose, a bowl of stewed and sugared apples, a large load of buttered peas, and three loaves of French bread.
   Frank had visited Hogwarts just a week earlier, and he and Albus kept a long conversation going, mostly about Quidditch, for the benefit of the boys, Eva, and Lora.
   Suddenly, James stood up, tapping on the side of his glass with a fork. “I have an announcement to make!”
   The rest of them fell silent, all looking at him with interested expectation, and with an overexaggerated cough, James held up eight bits of paper, gaudily inked with a golden fluid.
   “Besides leaving you the hints that the Quidditch World Cup is being held on Naxos this time, that I’ve got connections with the Ministry and that I’ve got a steady flow of money, I’m leaving you to guess what these are,” he grinned, throwing them down onto the tablecloth. No one heard Lily’s sharp hiss; they had narrowly missed the gravy bowl.
   “YOU DIDN’T!”
   “James, are they? Pass them here, lemme see!”
   “Say, who’ll be playing?”
   “TOP BOX TICKETS??”
   “Where’d you GET these? I heard they weren’t selling them for another month!”
   “Ah-ah; that would be a Ministry privilege,” James grinned, shoving his hands in his pockets. “It’s being held during the end of July."
   “End of July?” Eva’s face was the only one to fall during the general mayhem. “That far away?”
   “Oh, come on, Ev, think of the poor schoolchildren that’ll never see it if they hold it in a month!”
   She wrinkled her nose. “So? They won’t perish.”
   Lily laughed. “You wouldn’t have said that several years ago!”
   “But they’re just kids! What do they know of Quidditch—“
   Banging on the table with his fork, James managed to get their attention together once again.
   “If no one minds, we’ll be discussing anything that needs to be discussed over custard and cake in the sunroom. Vamanos!” he grinned.
   “Custard!” Lora leaped to her feet. “I lead the way!”
   She promptly did so, sweeping out of the room with her arm hooked through Sirius’ and her robes very nearly missing the hinge on the door. Lily shook her head, trying to get rid of a grin while gathering the silverware onto her plate.
   A bit tense, Lily caught her husband’s sleeve as he went by.
   “James?”
   “Mm?” He sounded rather preoccupied, but his attention reverted almost immediately to her. “Anything I can do, or is Slenka clearing most of the table?”
   “I—I’m not feeling that well—I guess I ate too much,” she lied quickly. “Mind if I go upstairs and lie down for the evening?”
   James frowned, slipping an arm around her waist. “You weren’t sick before; you sure you’re all right?”
   “Fine.” She smiled brightly. “I’d just…well, tomorrow’s opening night, and…”
   He cut her off. “Something’s bothering you.”
   “It is not!”
   James tightened his hold on her. “Little liar. I’ve lived with you several years; I can tell.”
   “One and a half,” she said condescendingly. ”That hardly classifies as ‘several’. I’ll leave you and Albus to your talk, but I’m going to bed.”
   He stared after her as she rounded the edge of the banister on the stairs, taking the steps two at a time and quickly vanishing into the darkness of the second story, where, shortly, a pale light watered the hallway.
   Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he spun around.
   “Albus?”
   “Does she know—something?” their former headmaster queried forcibly. “Have you told her anything?”
   “No,” James said, a bit absently. “She doesn’t know. At least, she doesn’t know what it is she doesn’t know—she’s fully aware that there’s something she’s not informed of.” Apologetically, he shrugged. “There’s only so much I can keep from her.”
   “I am not blaming you,” the older man said quietly. “In fact, I am blaming no one except the perpetrator. But you will have to be careful.”
   “I know,” James sighed. “Of course I know.” He plucked absently at a thread on his robes. “But I don’t like this.”
   “No one does,” Albus said, eyebrows drawn together. “And I do not exclude myself from that number.”
   They left the landing to rejoin the group, and nothing more was said of the matter until the rest of the couple’s friends had left for the night.
   They were still shut and locked in the library at two in the morning, and Lily was growing drowsy and hungry, as she’d done hardly anything but sit on the bed, hands clasped around her knees and her chin resting on her legs. A bit fed up of waiting, she threw on the dark green dressing gown and slipped downstairs, intending to raid the kitchen for some hot chocolate.
   When she stepped onto the entrance hall’s floor, however, that wish was thwarted effectively. A hard grasp encircled her upper arm and pulled her into the shadows next to the staircase with a smooth whisk.
   “I wouldn’t mind a formal introduction, but your telling me your name will have to be enough,” she said frigidly, trying to detach the man’s fingers from her arm.
   Instantly, she felt a hand clamp over her mouth, drawing her backwards.
   “Ssh!”
   Lily’s back straightened, recognizing the voice, and she drew the hand away effortlessly. “What on earth?”
   “No. Don’t talk. Not right now. Hush.” His eyes roved around the dark, cold hall, especially along its tall windows. “Library?”
   “The library’s taken; Albus is in there, with James. What’s going on?”
   “All right then; your room’ll have to do.” Without delay, he swung her around the banister, almost herding her up the stairs. “Hurry!”
   The bedroom door burst open as they approached it, something that made Lily a trace wary.
   “Sit down,” she ordered, motioning him to a chair.
   “No.” Her friend clasped both her shoulders, pulling her close. “There’s no time for that.” He kicked the door shut roughly, overlooking the mark his shoes left on it. “You’re in trouble.”
   “Judging by your conduct, I would expect nothing less,” Lily said dryly. “Severus, when you’re this upset, it’s not anything small.”
   “Stop the sarcasm. We don’t have time. You’re about to be blackmailed.”
   Lily frowned. “Isn’t like you to be melodramatic. What’re you talking about?”
   Severus let go of her, and, languidly, she sank into an armchair, twisting a piece of hair around her forefinger.
   “Easy. You remember your Hogwarts years?”
   Lily just looked at him.
   “You met Lord Voldemort in—what, your third year?”
   “Something like that, yes.”
   “And you’re perfectly aware that each and every one of his followers is more than just unscrupulous?”
   Lily laughed. “Last time I checked, you were a faultless gentleman. The rest haven’t been anything but rather charming to me.”
   “Charming,” he snorted. “That’ll take you far. Lucius Malfoy’s coming here in minutes with a business proposition for your husband.”
   The only reaction she gave was a quick flit of the eyes to the window, but he had startled her.
   “I don’t believe it. Lucius wouldn’t.”
   “Oh, wouldn’t he. You don’t know Mr. Malfoy as well as you think you do.”
   Lily let go of her hair. “What’s the whatever he’s accusing us of?”
   “Treason against the Ministry. He’s got a wonderful story planned out, and you’re the main character.” A corner of his mouth lifted in a masterly sardonic grin. “It’s beautifully based on a true tale. I’m sure he could get a movie made out of it.”
   “He wouldn’t,” Lily insisted. “He’s my friend; you know that.”
   “Yes, and he’s harboring a large dislike of your husband. He was talking to a man named Karkaroff last night. Karkaroff saw no reason to hold his tongue. Besides, you don’t know something else.”
   “Something else?” Lily rearranged a fold on her dress. “This I’m almost sure James didn’t inform me of.”
   “That’s a good supposition,” Severus acceded. “I don’t have the time for the story, but your husband got hold of something enabling him to believe that the Malfoys deal in poisons, mostly illegal ones. He’s mentioned it to Crouch at the Ministry, and someone else—not Sikora, not yet.”
   “Oh.” Slowly, Lily’s hand went to her mouth. “And Lucius is trying to keep him quiet?”
   “Yeah, that’s the long and the short of it.”
   She stood up, pacing the length of the room between the bathroom door and the bed. “And how did you find out?”
   “I don’t know,” Severus admitted. “Not really, that is. I was talking to a group of men and it seems to be a popular topic, what little the men know of it.”
   “I see.” Lily’s fingernails flew at the knot of her dressing gown; she tightened it and retied the sash. “Do you advise me to get dressed?”
   “I’d prefer you didn’t, as a matter of fact. Your husband’s got an excuse for still being in his clothes; you don’t. And I wouldn’t mind if you kept it from him that I was here.”
   Lily nodded, smiling slightly. “Thank you for coming, though. I know James—he’d agree to anything, just to get me out of trouble.”
   Severus snorted. “I know. Which is one of the reasons I figured you might want to know. He wouldn’t have told you; I’d have been highly surprised if he had. Spineless little—“
   “I think you’d better leave,” Lily said loudly.
   He flashed a wry grin at her. “You defend him too much.”
   “Lucius’ll be here any minute, you said,” she replied quietly. “Go.”
   Lily tossed her arms around his neck quickly, and, ignoring a small start he gave, she hugged him fleetly.
   “I’ll see you—sometime soon, I guess,” Lily smiled. “Leave; I’m about to pretend to sleep.”
   Severus didn’t reply; he just Disapparated, but she remained standing there for a few seconds, gazing at the space where he’d been standing before she slipped into the bed and wrapped a blanket around herself. Her eyes remained open, however, roving around the candle-and torch-lit room, finally hovering on the midnight-tinted window, visible through a slit in the curtains.
   Lily only lay there for a few minutes before her ears caught a soft, almost undetectable whizzing sound. Catching her breath, she sat straight up in bed; she knew the echo of Apparition better than many. Lucius.
   She stayed sitting up until a loud knock sounded on the library door; she heard James mutter something before turning the knob.
   “Malfoy,” Lily heard him say coldly. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting you.”
   “All to the better,” Lucius stated smoothly. “Albus, I wasn’t anticipating your presence.”
   Upstairs, Lily frowned. Slinging herself out of bed, she retied the knot of the dressing gown, ran a brush through her hair, and advanced towards the stairwell.
   Inside the library, the men’s voices had dropped to a muted rumble, which stopped abruptly when Lily eased the door open commandingly.
   “Lucius; isn’t this nice. You haven’t been by in a long time.”
   James had started from his seat when she came into view, and, more quickly than Lily would have thought, moved over to her side and grasped her arm, trying to move her out of the room.
   “Lily, this isn’t a good time. Go back upstairs; I’ll be there in no time.”
   “You’re trying to get rid of me.” Her eyes lit on Lucius. “You’re one of my friends, but when someone shows up at—“ she glanced at the small silver watch on her wrist—“two-forty-five in the morning, something isn’t normal.”
   “Perceptive. Much more than your husband.” Lucius stood. “I’d hoped to exclude you from this; there’s no point in your knowing anything.”
   “Lily,” the older man said quietly, “I believe it would be best for you to talk to James in the morning.”
   “I can talk right now,” she said, unconsciously insolent. “I heard the word ‘blackmail’ earlier. Lucius, this wouldn’t by any chance have anything to do with you, would it?”
   “Whoever said anything about blackmail? I’d have expected you to know that it’s illegal,” Lucius said with the faintest quirk of a smile. “If no one in this room minds, I’ll enlighten you.”
   “You could do that.” Lily slapped James’ hand away from her arm. “Stop pinching me!”
   “Very well.” Lucius settled himself into a chair. “Your husband has been spreading the foulest lies about myself and my family among the lower members of the Ministry—reports that we deal in illegal poisons and potions. He’ll have the Minister’s attention soon, along with permission to search my house, something I intend to prevent.”
   “By threatening to turn me in to the Ministry?” Lily folded her arms.
   “Lily,” James said warily, “how’d you know about that?”
   “You men are too loud,” Lily smiled, tossing her head by way of an answer. James frowned slightly, but didn’t push it.
   “You also heard what my offer is?” Lucius queried lazily.
   “As a matter of fact, no,” Lily said. “That I’m still wondering about.”
   “It’s nothing terrible. Your husband gives up all claims to his ideas, along with five hundred Galleons, and I keep my information to myself.”
   Lily raised an eyebrow. “Seems to me that’s a bit one-sided. You could resurface with the same story any time.”
   Grinning, Lucius tapped the arm of the chair with his forefinger. “That’s the idea.”
   James interrupted at that. “I still say that we need time to think this over. I’ll get back to you in a week.”
   “And I’ve told you,” Lucius drawled, “that every day you hesitate, it’ll cost you an extra hundred Galleons.”
   He didn’t wait for an answer, just Disapparated, leaving the three behind in the library—Albus quiet, James openly worried, and Lily challenging.
   James let out a deep whoosh. “Lily, go back to bed, please.”
   She didn’t bother to answer. “Why on the face of this wretched earth are you thinking of paying him off? All that’ll happen to me is a Ministry confrontation; there’s nothing terrible about that!”
   “Lily,” Albus said quietly, “he has witnesses that will swear to seeing you murder some of the Ministry’s Aurors in Albania. The best you can hope for is a term in Azkaban.”
   Lily stayed quiet for a moment, then took James’ hand. “I see.”
   There was another short pause before Lily spoke again.
   “Well—I’m assuming we’re not just sitting around doing nothing. Has your six-hour chat brought anything productive?”
   James laughed. “Not much, actually.” His face sobered. “Albus was just trying to sluice out of me whether or not I’m positive about what I said about Malfoy.”
   Lily raised an eyebrow. “With the mess you’ve gotten me into, it had better be true!”
   “I only heard a rumor!” he protested. “And I didn’t formally report it to anyone; I just mentioned it casually while talking to Barty.”
   “Doesn’t help us much,” Lily mused. “Who’d you hear it from?”
   “I can’t remember,” James admitted sheepishly. “Albus’ been giving me a most difficult time about that.”
   “So let me get this straight.” Lily crossed her arms, twisting another piece of her hair. “He’s blackmailing you to make you stop spreading a rumor?”
   “Well, a rumor that would land him in Azkaban if it were inquired into further and found to be true, but yes, a rumor.”
   “Eh.” She tilted her head, staring inquiringly at the ceiling. “So that’s the case.”
   “What’re you planning to do?” James asked tentatively. “You’re not doing anything else he could hold against you, and there I put my foot down.”
   “Oh, honestly! Every time you put your foot down I stomp on it with pointed, painful heels. Just don’t bother with it, will you?”
   Albus’ eyes twinkled suggestively behind his glasses, and James was trying very hard not to look amused; offended was what he was going for, but it currently wasn’t working.
   “Besides,” Lily continued, “it’s late, and I’d much prefer to sleep.” Tossing the strand of hair she was fiddling with behind her back, she smiled. “I’ve got a performance tomorrow; don’t forget.” Her expression changed to a forced grin. “And James is coming to see it, whether he’s too tired to or not.” Standing up, she pulled James up by the arm. “Albus, we can get a guest room ready for you, if you’d like. There’s one just next to the stairs that you might like—“
   “Thank you, but no.” Albus bot to his feet, robes swaying. “I am already overdue. Goodbye, both of you.”
   Lily smiled. “See you tomorrow night?”
   “I will do my best,” he said, nodding at them both. “Good morning!”
   With that, he Disapparated, leaving James in the middle of a yawn, with Lily leaning on his shoulder, twisting her wedding ring with a rather absent gaze.
   Both of them woke up late the next morning—10:00, actually. The minute Lily reached over and tapped James on the shoulder, he shot up to a sitting position, wiping sleep out of his eyes.
   "What time is it?”
   “About ten. You’d better hurry. Have some breakfast?”
   He leaped out of bed. “No time!” Throwing off his pajamas, he practically leaped into a pair of dark blue robes, throwing his wand into his pocket and sliding into a pair of shoes. Lily watched from the bed, amused, as she leaned regally into a pile of pillows.
   “Try doing something about your hair?” she asked.
   “No use,” James mumbled, buttoning his robes hurriedly the wrong way around. “I am cursed with the Potter hair.”
   “You most certainly are,” Lily laughed, beckoning him to come over to the bed. “Your buttons are inside out; let me get that for you…”
   After the hurried dressing scenario, James Disapparated to the Ministry, leaving Lily to entertain herself with her lines and a request to ‘please stay in the house just because something might happen’. Sirius dropped by around lunch with an appetite and a letter from Bertram Nufflepeck: when Lily opened the envelope, five tickets fell out.
   Sirius caught three of them before they hit the floor. “Hey! These’re for the show tonight!”
   Lily grinned. “I asked Bertram for them, yes. One’s for you. The other three’re for Peter, Remus, and James.”
   “Give James his yourself, why don’t you?”
   Lily shrugged. “I’ve sort of been given unofficial house arrest. Strangely, I don’t mind.”
   Sirius nodded, playing with the gold sash tied around her waist. “James wouldn’t tell me anything, but I’ve got an idea it’s something to do with Malfoy.” He looked up at her tentatively. “Any chance you could tell me? I might be able to help…”
   “No.” She cut him off immediately. “No-no. James-well-“ Flicking her head towards the window, she sighed. “I guess both of us would prefer that no one knows anything about this.”
   “Oh.” He dropped her sash. “I-all right, I guess. Sorry.”
   A bit uncomfortable, Lily rose to her feet, moving towards the window, resting her hand on the ledge. Unlatching the hook, she pushed the window open, and a cool breeze fluttered through the opened curtains and into the room.
   “Sirius,” she murmured after a short pause, “Tell me what’s wrong.”
   “Wrong?” He followed her to the window, leaning his elbows on the sill. “How ‘wrong’?”
   Lily sighed, fingering a budding flower from a bush just underneath the window. “I don’t know-I’m just fidgety all the time-and I can’t do anything about it. This play-“ she started picking the petals off of the flower-“it’s fun while I’m there, but not really. It-it’s too organized, too planned, too set in stone-it’s not-“ She paused, stuck for a word.
   “Spontaneous,” Sirius said matter-of-factly.
   Lily gazed at him, something mixed with awe and respect in her eyes. “Yes-that. How’d you know?”
   “Easy enough,” he shrugged. “It’s written all over you. You’re more restless than a penned-up cat. In fact,” he said, eyeing her, “you remind me of a badly declawed cat.”
   “That sounds so flattering,” she said dryly. “I’ll be sure to put that down when it comes to descriptions on a resume.”
   He laughed. “I’ve got a better idea.”
   Faintly inquisitive, she jumped the two inches onto the windowsill, sitting with her back against the wall and her dress hanging in a very liable position to be stepped on. “I’m open to suggestions.”
   “Go for a ride.”
   “Huh?” She spun around. “Go for a ride?”
   “Horseback,” he explained. “I don’t think you’ve done that in a long time.”
   Lily eyed him curiously. “You remember that I loved to ride?”
   “Sure. It’s where you escaped to after you and James had a fight some time back.”
   She smiled. “You remember something little like that?”
   “I would hardly call that ‘little’,” he said, leaning to the side so he could face her. “If I remember correctly, that was the night you were flung off your horse, broke a rib, and were in bed for about two weeks. I’d find it a bit hard to forget that.”
   “Oh.” Her eyes lighting up, she vaulted off of the sill, running towards the stairs. “I’ll be back in about thirty seconds!”
   “Where’re you going?” Sirius yelled after her.
   “Changing into something medieval!” the response came, floating back down the stairs.
   Sirius shook his head, grinning, as he stepped into the kitchen, heading for a tray of cookies, hoping to evade Slenka, who was becoming more than a bit edgy with the three ever since they had managed to wreck the kitchen.
   He emerged victorious with a handful of cookies and a grin on his face, one that widened when he saw Lily coming down the staircase in a black bliaut with a silver belt and embroidery around the sleeves, hem, and neckline. She had seen it about a month before in a store in Fraeden Square and had snapped it up quickly; in fact, she’d given the girl who was originally going to buy it twenty Galleons so she’d give it up.
   “I like the dress,” he said. “Haven’t seen it before, though.”
   “I haven’t worn it yet,” Lily nodded. “Are you coming?”
   Sirius smiled at her, opening the front door with a swish. “If you won’t ridicule me for my bad riding skills, I’d love to.”
   With a soft glow in her eyes, Lily greeted the storm-black horse, holding an apple out to it on her palm. It sniffed her shoulder, swaying her tumbled hair with its breathing. Then, with a swift, velvety movement, it caught the apple in its mouth, only brushing her palm with its teeth, and started crunching it happily.
   Lily smiled. “He remembers me!”
   “’Course he does,” Sirius said, as if there couldn’t be any question about that. “Besides the apples, you’re just good around animals. I’ve never seen a cat so well-behaved as Vera is.”
   “That’s because I don’t let Peter around her much.”
   Sirius grinned, grasping her around the waist and lifting her onto the black horse, laughing as she yelped. “That’s an excellent idea. I remember the flour bag all too well.”
   “As do I. Peter gets under my skin sometimes,” she said turbulently.
   “Hey! Lily, he’s our friend.”
   “Okay, I’m sorry,” Lily muttered grudgingly, as her horse stepped out of the stable, whisking his tail. “But it’s what I think, and I can’t help it if I do.”