| -=Beyond Hogwarts, cont.; Chapter Thirty-Five=- |
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| The next Order of the Phoenix meeting was called spontaneously; it took place on Sunday evening in Caradoc’sattic. There was another attack planned by the Ministry, which was only taking place because the former had gone well. Kingsley Shacklebolt had done some nosing around, and the Aurors were planning to surround a large house in Newquay, which was owned by a businessman that hadn’t lived there for years. The Aurors would be travelling to Newquay on Friday, and from there would fly directly to Plymouth to investigate a Death Eater sighting. The members of the Order would be joining them at each location, and Albus cautioned them not to say one word while posing as Aurors. Aside from the second and third planned attacks, the members of the Order were stationed at various points in the Ministry that were considered more penetrable and more secretive than others-Lily and Gideon Prewett spent six nocturnal and tiresome hours in a corridor that led to the room that contained every single file of the Department of Mysteries, huddled underneath James’ Invisibility Cloak, and James had left the house at three in the morning on Wednesday to meet with Sturgis Podmore; they had been assigned the second shift in front of old Millicent Bagnold’s house. A small paragraph appeared in the paper on the second page Wednesday morning, but it was not especially enlightening to the part of the wizarding community that did not know as much about the politics of the Ministry as its employees did. It was very short and to the point: Minister of Magic Retiring After fifteen years of loyal service to the Ministry, Richard Sikora is retiring from his post as Minister of Magic to the wizarding community because of ill health. His heart condition is not serious, but Mr. Sikora feels it necessary to retire on account of it. He will be replaced by Millicent Bagnold, a witch who has established lasting and well-known diplomatic relations between the magical Ministries of Britain and Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, and Romania. She has also served on the Wizengamot for thirty-five years. Ms. Bagnold is ninety-seven years old and enjoys supporting her favourite Quidditch team, the Falmouth Falcons, although she would appreciate seeing any British team win the World Cup. Lily had clipped the article and placed it inside a book in the library, with the labelling: “Largest Piece Of Trash That Assumes Readers Have The Intelligence Of A Leg Of Mutton”. Sikora was retiring because he was as edgy as a square about Lord Voldemort’s growing menace. Almost everyone knew that he was hoping to have his office returned to him when and if Lord Voldemort ever disappeared, but, judging from the disparaging attitudes of the Ministry employees concerning his retirement, that was not going to happen anytime within the next few millenniums. Originally, Lily was scheduled to go on the mission that Friday and Saturday, but Arabella Figg cornered her Thursday evening, just before Lily left work, and informed her that she needed a teacher for the first-year Auror trainees. The regular trainer was ill with a nasty bout of flu, and there was no time, not now, to be given to the trainees as their own. The training period had been extended to two years, and it would soon grow to three, but the Ministry could not spare anyone, and as soon as the Aurors-in-training could pass a more-than-rudimentary exam, they were allowed to become full-time Aurors. There were not that many people volunteering for that position, though; most were frightened horribly of coming into close contact with murderers. The few that did sign up and were taken on figured that, if they were going to die by the hands of a mad wizard anyhow, they might as well try to stop him in the process. “Arabella,” Lily sighed, “I’d love to, but I’ve got something planned. I really can’t-“ Arabella almost exploded. “You have something planned? Excuse me, but we’ve got a damned maniac trying to take over the bloody wizarding and Muggle worlds and YOU TELL ME YOU HAVE SOMETHING PLANNED?! WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU ARE; THE GODDESS OF LET-ME-WATCH-EVERYONE-ELSE-DO-ALL-THE-WORK? YOU’RE NOT A BLOODY GODDESS THAT’S ABOVE EVERYTHING ON THIS DAMNED EARTH; YOU ARE A MINISTRY EMPLOYEE AND I AM THE SUPERIOR OF THE AUROR-TRAINING DEPARTMENT AND YOU WILL COME IN ON FRIDAY, SATURDAY, AND SUNDAY IF I HAVE TO DRAG YOUR DEAD AND MANGLED BODY IN HERE!” “All right” Lily said, slightly annoyed and not the least bit fazed, “but do you have to yell like that?” Arabella instantly deflated, wheezing. “Sorry.” “Quite all right.” “I’m just…I’m under quite a lot of stress right now, and if I can’t get a teacher-“ Lily interrupted, putting both hands on Arabella’s shoulders. “It’s okay; I’ll come! No problem, really.” “Okay.” “You need to go home,” Lily said, eyeing her critically. “You’ll get the flu if you don’t stop working like this.” “Yeah,” Arabella said absently. “Yeah…hey, I didn’t really mean what I said…” “Which part?” Lily asked conversationally. “I’m sure quite a bit of it was true.” “The part where I said you don’t do anything…I know you do, really.” “Yes, I should hope so,” Lily nodded, smiling slightly. “Go on home; it’s six o’clock. I’ll cover for you till you leave-seven o’clock?” “Thanks,” Arabella said drowsily. “Be here tomorrow or plan on going bald.” Lily Apparated into her house that evening at seven-thirty, tore her scarf off irritably, and almost knocked over a table as she stormed into the library with her billowing robes and cloak. “I can’t come on Friday,” she hissed to James, who was sitting at the desk, peacefully writing a letter. “I’ve got to teach the Auror-in-Training classes.” James looked up, shocked. “But you-you can’t-didn’t you tell them you had stuff planned?” “I did,” Lily nodded with a rather dangerous smile, “and Arabella almost blew herself to pieces in my face. I’m surprised you didn’t hear her.” Sighing, James pulled open the top left drawer of the desk and selected a small sheet of parchment. “Do you want to write to Albus, or shall I?” “I’ll do it,” Lily conceded. “Here, let me sit down.” Fifteen minutes later, Alisande was flying in the direction of Hogwarts, a carefully written letter attached to her leg. It read, very simply: Albus, I will unfortunately not be able to speak to the fifth year Defense Against the Dark Arts classes on Friday, as I am detained at the Ministry. As soon as the next occasion arises, however, I will do my best to attend, as Aurors are in great demand at the Ministry at the moment. -Lily Potter “You think he’ll understand that?” James asked skeptically, handing Lily a glass of pumpkin juice. “I believe so,” Lily said, pushing a tendril of hair behind her ears and accepting the drink. “After all, he knows that I didn’t commit to any such thing, and as I especially mentioned Friday, I suppose it’ll be all right. He’ll owl me back, at any rate.” James sat down on the desk, pushing a stack of four or five books aside. “All right. Listen, will you be okay while I’m gone?” Lily leaned back and smiled at him. “Yes, I’ll be fine.” “You promise to take care of youself?” Raising an eyebrow, Lily stood up, walking around to the other side of the desk and tousling his hair. “I should be the one that’s saying that. You’re the one going out to fight!” “But I have common sense,” James grinned, settling his arms around her waist. “Unlike some people, I do not jump straight into a non-deserted hide-out of Death Eaters. Unaccompanied.” “But you do things like fight on top of a questionably stable clear covering to that non-deserted hide-out and consequently tumble inside it.” “Yeah, yeah.” James waved that off. “Okay. I’ll be careful if you will be.” “I will be a model wife and Auror trainer during those two days,” Lily assured him, standing on tiptoe to kiss him. “Tell me everything when you get back.” “I’ll owl you if I have time,” James promised solemnly. “Cross my heart and hope to return.” Lily smiled, brushing a piece of stray hair out of his eyes. “Yes, and you’d better.” James stood up, still keeping his hands clasped behind her back. “I’ll come back. I promise.” “I love you,” she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder. “Be careful.” They stood that way for quite some time, not saying anything; simply content that the other was there. Both of them were more worried than they would admit, even to each other, for now the Death Eaters would expect Ministry attacks, and they would be more prepared than they had been the past weekend. They would also, most probably, have no qualms about killing anyone, and even less so now that the Ministry had captured a few of their number. Friday morning dawned gloomily, quite in keeping with Lily’s disposition. Grey clouds adorned the sky, not letting a hint of sky peep through even the tiniest crack, and the air smelled like rain. Moodily, Lily looped back the bedroom curtains as James packed an extra pair of black robes into his bag. “I’ll Apparate home at about eight; they’ve got me working later than I expected. Will you be home?” “No,” Lily sighed. “I’ll be teaching Auror classes in Concealment and Disguise. The class runs till eleven.” Charming his bag to fasten by itself, James stood up, surveying it with satisfaction. “Okay, then. I’ll just put this in the hall. Ask Slenka to get my broomstick for me, will you?” “It’s standing next to the cloak rack downstairs,” Lily said morosely, fiddling with a loose thread on her dark blue robes. James looked up sharply. “Lily, I can’t help it that you’re not going.” “I know.” She sighed, drawing her legs up and resting her chin on her knees. “I don’t like staying behind like a tame cat, though.” “Not tame cat,” James grinned. “Imprisoned tigress.” He slung the strap on his bag over his shoulder and held a hand out to her. “Come on, let’s go.” They spent the day at the Ministry just as usual, though James because alternately more antsy and anticipating as the day wore on. He could not say goodbye to Lily; she was busy teaching first-year Aurors how to magically alter their voices. He almost did go into the classroom, but his hand fell to his side before he knocked on the door. Standing outside the door, peering in through the small window, and not daring to go inside, he looked, unconsciously, exactly like someone who was spying on his crush. However, after about five minutes, he swerved around and Disapparated, appeared briefly in the entrance hall of his home to pick up his bag and broom, and then re-Disapparated to join the rest of the Order of the Phoenix. It was easy to teach the Aurors-in-training, Lily found, for they were all eager to learn, very intelligent, and picked up things easily. Still, she was glad when she could Apparate back home and drop into bed, temporarily free from incessantly babbling voices that changed every few seconds. Teaching them was rather odd, though, seeing that Lily was no older than the oldest student in the class. Things went rather awkwardly, at first, on account of that, but as soon as they found out that she had been among the first of the Aurors and had been the second Auror that had gone on the successful and (now) very famous Durmstrang mission, they were eager to have her as their teacher. Lily spent Friday night bitterly envious of everyone that had gone on the misson to Newquay, and she fell asleep around one after sending off an owl and tossing and turning uncomfortably for an hour. However, the next day went better; the students were taking their rudimentary Concealment and Disguise exams, and they all performed exceptionally well, particularly on the voice-changing spells, which Lily was quite pleased at. At one o’clock, she returned home to the deserted house. Her frustrated mood was returning in full force when an unfamiliar owl tapped on the library window, soared inside, and dropped an envelope on the desk with James’ familiar and somewhat untidy writing on it. Slitting it open quickly, Lily pulled out two sheets of parchment, both closely covered with writing. Falling onto the sofa and curling up against three of the cushions, Lily began to read. Dear Lily, Last night went okay, sort of. None of us got killed, but Eva and Frank disappeared for about an hour, and they reappeared with scratches everywhere, and Eva was twitching. They had been snatched from our group and Voldemort had apparently used the Cruciatus Curse on Eva to make her spill Ministry secrets. Of course, she doesn’t know any, so that was really a waste of time, but she’s all right now. They say that they dashed away as soon as the Death Eaters around them were distracted by a tree blowing up, which is all due to Albus. He guessed what had happened and found the woods where Eva and Frank were, and he put up a huge fight, along with Mad-Eye and Kingsley. Minerva wasn’t with them; she was too busy cursing Sirius and me for Stunning one of the Death Eaters that she was fighting with. It appears that that person magically lifted her up into the air by her hair, and she really did want to curse him into oblivion. But Eva and Frank are okay now; they’ve insisted on staying. I regret to announce, dear Lily, that you have competition! Eliante Medius seems to consider me fair play since you weren’t here last night. After everything quieted down, we trooped into our tents, and Eliante and Anne were sharing a tent with us. She, unfortunately, had managed to snag the only top bunk that was left, so I bunged my things into the bunk below hers. I got out my Curse-Friendly Body Parts And Where To Find Them, which is really a hoot, and meant to fall asleep reading. (See what a bad influence you’ve got on me!) Anyway, at four-thirty in the morning, just as I was planning to drop off, Eliante leaned over the edge of her bunk. “Oh, is that a good book?” she asked. “Yeah,” I said. “Is it about sex?” she responded with a very cheeky grin. I do not, admittedly, mind flirting, but I am married, and to the most wonderful person I can ever hope to meet or know, and that was really a bit blatant on her part. I must admit, I glared at her. “No; it’s about four-thirty, Miss Medius.” She left off for the night, but I direly suspect that my bed will be occupied when we pitch camp again tonight, or so Lora informed me. Eliante seems to like talking quite a lot, and she seems to “really have this insatiable passion for me”. Still. I may be looked down upon by the race of husbands as to how exactly make a ridiculous prat of myself, but if she does try to occupy my bunk, she’s getting dumped onto the floor, unless I can think of something purely evil to do to her. Sirius will help, I’m sure. Anyway, I’d better go. I love you, and I’ll see you Sunday morning at about four or five, if these last two raids are going to be the standard. The gang says hullo, and I love you. Take care of yourself and I love you. I’ll see you Sunday and I love you. --James Lily re-folded the letter, smiling. Placing it into her pocket, she sat on the couch for a few minutes, dreamily playing with a tassel on one of the pillows. Suddenly, however, brought back into reality by the crack of lightning and the almost instant patter of rain and thunder, she started up. “Oh, bloody Merlin; I asked Severus over for lunch…Slenka!” A faint pattering echoed down the hall, and the house-elf presently stuck her head inside the library door. “Yes, miss?” “Scrounge together some lunch, please; I’ve got Severus coming in a few seconds, and I forgot all about it…” “Slenka will manage miss. Would miss like to eat in the dining room?” “No…no; bring whatever we’re having into here, will you?” Slenka bowed, revealing her thin little neck just above the collar of her green dress. “Yes, miss. Thank you, miss.” She scampered off, and Lily was left to try to straighten up the room as best she could. However, she only managed to hurriedly replace a few books into their usual positions before a very familiar voice drifted through the doorway. “I didn’t know I was worth cleaning up for.” Lily spun around. “Severus!” “I got your owl,” he said. “And, whatever it is, of course I promise to keep it secret.” “It’s not so ‘of course’, and you may not be able to,” Lily said grimly. “But you need to know.” She looked at him quickly and smiled. “I haven’t seen you in ages.” Flitting over to the doorway, she hugged him, quite informally. “I have missed you. Come on, sit down. Slenka’ll be in here any moment with lunch.” “All right,” Severus conceded amiably. Obeying, he sat down in one of the armchairs across from the happily crackling library fire. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” “This is going to sound very melodramatic,” Lily warned, the glimmer of a smile on her face. “Also ridiculous.” “Exactly like the name ‘Marauders’, though that may not be melodramatic; I believe it’s merely ridiculous.” “I’m serious,” Lily frowned. “You remember that letter I sent you last week, telling you not to attend that meeting in Dartmoor?” “Yes,” Severus conceded, setting an elbow on the arm of the chair and resting his chin on his knuckles. “I was wondering how you knew about it. And then you told me not to go anywhere this weekend, either, and I’m beginning to feel like someone that’s afraid of a speck of dust, which I am most emphatically am not.” Lily shook her hair away from her face impatiently. “I’m not trying to keep you out of every mess and scrape that Tom gets you into, but I do want you alive so that I can deliver this speech, all right?” “Well, deliver it, then,” Severus said amiably. “But I warn you, I can’t keep pretending that I’ve been in conference with the Ministry about a job, because someone will wise up sooner or later.” “What job?” Lily asked, interested. He scowled. “’Backup Healing Potions Concoctor’ is what I told them. Unfortunately, I’ve actually had to apply for that job.” “Well, at least it is a job. And you will get it, you know; you really were brilliant in Potions.” “You forget the word ‘backup’. Never, ever, do I intend to be a backup anything when it has to do with potions.” “Unless it’s ‘backup antidote testee’,” Lily quipped. “If the antidote tested doesn’t work, it would be really good not to be the Supreme Antidote Testee.” “Anyway,” Severus prodded, “what was it you had to talk to me about?” “Yes.” Businesslike, Lily removed her arms from their sprawling positions and sat upright, interlacing her fingers. “I wanted you to know that I don’t know about the Ministry attacks just because I work there. We-James, I, Sirius, the rest of us, and a lot of others-have formed a sort of anti-Lord Voldemort group. We-are you all right?” “Fine,” Severus almost hissed; he had flinched involuntarily when she mentioned the name “Voldemort”, and he was trying to forget about it. Lily eyed him rather oddly, but she continued. “We call ourselves the Order of the Phoenix, and so far we’ve attacked the Death Eaters at meetings in Dartmoor and Newquay. They’re going to be in Plymouth tonight; the other twenty-four of us, that is-I couldn’t come; I had to teach, and I’ve got another class later tonight at nine. But we’re doing odd jobs, too, like standing security shifts at the Ministry and watching over Millicent Bagnold’s house and office. Albus formed the group, and Alastor Moody’s in it, as well as our old Professor McGonagall, and several other professional Aurors.” Severus frowned. “I see.” He had suspected something like this, just on a smaller scale. But Albus Dumbledore-he had initiated it! The resistance, then, was a lot stronger than many people were convinced of. “I wanted you to know,” Lily said quietly, “in case you ever want to leave Tom. Not officially, of course, and this group is strictly unofficial. And-well, you’ve said that you hate working for him and not being able to do anything to help the people that are getting murdered, and I thought I might be able to offer you this.” Severus blinked, and suddenly found it somewhat hard to breathe. “Lily…I…you-you’d trust me with this?” Lily looked incredulous. “You don’t mean to say that you think I don’t trust you, do you?” “Yeah,” he said weakly, “-well, no-but this isn’t just anything.” “You are one of my closest friends,” Lily informed him, “and if you think I’m going to let an opportunity to help you go by without doing anything about it, I’d say you haven’t known me longer than about five minutes. Besides, you’re in this mess because of me.” “It was my idiocy,” Severus said flatly, “and don’t make it out to be your fault.” It was idiocy, he snapped at himself, and no one else is to blame but yourself. Damn it; who made her marry that ass, anyhow? All he’s good for is Quidditch and blowing things up and- “Well, whoever’s fault it was,” Lily interrupted, “I hope you’ll think this over, at any rate. The offer’s always open for you.” “Have you talked to Albus about this?” Severus asked, avoiding her penetrating and very beautiful stare and fixedly looking coldly at a spot of red fluff on the floor. “No,” Lily said, shrugging that off unconcernedly, “of course not. I’m not such an idiot as to disclose my friend to Albus Dumbledore as a Death Eater. But he won’t mind, not if you tell him. He’d be delighted to have you, I think.” Quickly, robes billowing around him, Severus rose to his feet, his features unreadable. “I can’t.” Lily stood up, too, one eyebrow raised. “Yes?” “God, Lily,” he broke out, “I’m not like you and your husband or his friends or the rest of you bumbling Gryffindor idiots. I’m a sneaking, conniving, evil Slytherin, and nowhere does any part of Slytherin qualities include the word ‘brave’-we’re not; we’re power-hungry and ambitious, but we’re not brave! I can’t do that. I can’t. That’s the difference between you and me-you’re adventurous and daring and-hell, you’re beautiful, even, and I’m-I’m me, too scared of standing up to someone with more power than any other wizard in the world even to save the entire Muggle world’s skin. Lily, I can’t do that.” Lily fell silent for a moment, and her eyes dropped to the carpet. When she looked back up at her friend, she was blinking rather quickly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. I didn’t-I didn’t realise, I suppose, that you couldn’t do it.” She sighed. “I don’t truly know how dangerous he is, really. I think of him-and he’s back in Albania, talking like an excited little boy about his domination plans. He wasn’t ever dangerous to me,” Lily said wistfully, “and I can’t shake that image. It’s stupid, yes, but there it is.” “It isn’t stupid,” Severus said kindly, “it’s just highly unrealistic.” “Yeah, that too,” Lily admitted. “Forgive me, will you? I shouldn’t have tried to push you into suicide.” “Apology accepted.” The door slid open, and Slenka pattered inside, bearing a tray. “Oh, excellent; lunch!” Lily extended an invitation to Severus for dinner, and he accepted quite gladly. The Auror-in-training classes that she was teaching did not begin until nine o’clock, so that dinner was a comfortable, early affair. They ate in the dining room, but gravitated towards the smaller living room with cups of cocoa as the wind started to batter the windows relentlessly and a cold draught found itself sneaking into the house through every imaginable small crack. Severus thoughtfully pointed his wand at the fireplace, where a comfortable blaze sprang up immediately. Cupping her hands around her mug, Lily knelt down next to the fire, blissfully toasting her face. “Oh, this feels good. Sit down here, too; this house is as cold as the Arctics.” “It’s going to snow, I think,” Severus told her, sitting down on the velvet rug in front of the fireplace. “That’s the only decently believable thing that the Daily Prophet was predicting today.” “What were they saying?” Lily grinned, sitting back on her heels. He shrugged. “Herman Vollshanks had his usual twitty piece on death-predicting clocks-“ “What was the verdict?” “That they are likely to be the most useful invention of the century.” “Ah,” Lily nodded. “I will steer as far away from then as possible, then. I remember the last thing that man predicted as a marvellous invention; a mind-reading egg cooker.” “And?” “The next week, a witch in Aberdeen reported that it had made her egg come to life and had presented it with a book, and that her friends in the Humanitarian Society For Magical Creatures had thrown her out of the club because she had committed murder by finally eating the egg.” Severus snorted. “A reading egg. Good God.” They were interrupted by a soft bang on the French windows, and Lily, without spilling a drop of cocoa, leaped to her feet and rushed to the windows, tearing the curtains aside. Once there, however, her expression changed, and her mouth opened to a soft “Oh!” “Lily?” Severus asked, curious. “What is it?” “Snow!” was her reply. “Come, see!” A small branch had been flung against the windows, and Lily had, momentarily, thought that someone was knocking-she had thought of James first. But the completely human-less view outside was slowly being covered in snow; great, inviting flakes swept down in drifts. Lily turned to Severus, her eyes aglow. “Do I have time for a snowball fight?” Stifling a groan, he shook his head. “Nope, you don’t. It’s eight o’clock.” “We most certainly do have time! Get your cloak on; we’re going outside.” “Lily…” he almost begged. “It’s cold.” “But fun,” Lily replied imperiously. “Put your things on and wait for me while I change.” “Fine,” Severus said, rather grumpily. “But do not charm those snowballs to the point of freezing.” “Of course not; that is a James or Sirius trick. I will be right back.” She reappeared a few minutes later, with a fuzzy grey sweater on over her blouse and a white scarf wrapped snugly around her throat. “All right, then, I’m ready!” she grinned mischievously. “Last one outside forfeits the last piece of toast?” “Toast?” Severus asked incredulously. “What?” “We’re having buttered toast and syrup when we come back,” she shouted, throwing the front door open and scooping up a handful of snow, packing it expertly in her mitten-less hands. “Oh, come on, run!” Severus immediately felt eleven years old again as Lily pelted him with snowball after snowball. He finally consented to losing his dignity as the onslaught continued, and the two of them trooped back into the house a half-hour later, tired, cold, sweaty, and very giggly. “I am in no shape to teach a class tonight,” Lily laughed, taking off her scarf and hanging it on a coat hook in the entrance hall. “Look, feel my hands; they’re cold as hail!” He started as she held her hand to his cheek. They were cold, colder almost than the snow outside. “Lily, are you feeling all right?” “Of course I am,” she grinned happily. “I’ll be back downstairs in a minute. Do you want some clothing?” “I’m fine,” Severus retorted, pulling out his wand. “I know how to do simple Drying Charms. You’re sure you’re not that cold, though?” “You’re turning into a worrywart,” Lily chided lightly as she flitted up the stairs. She returned a moment later, dressed in long black robes with fur around the collar. Pinning her First-year Auror Training Educator badge to the left side of her robes, she smiled absently at Severus. “If I were teaching anything to do with potions today, I’d ask you to join me, but I’m not,” Lily said apologetically, pulling a very long and brightly colored fuzzy scarf out of the right pocket of her robes. Wrapping it around her neck, she let one end fall down her back. “Lucius is having a late-night gathering at his house,” Severus told her. “I am expected to attend.” “Oh, have fun,” Lily nodded. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy the spectacle of Serena throwing herself over every halfway attractive male guest.” “She goes by Narcissa, remember?” Severus grinned. “A better-fitting name never existed.” “I still really don’t like her,” Lily mused audibly. “Stuck-up, prissy, rude little bat-“ She stopped herself abruptly. “I’m going to work.” Without waiting for an answer, she Disapparated, and Severus followed suit after clasping shut the buckle on his cloak. Lily’s class went moderately well; at least there were no pranksters in Auror classes. By the time that one was in first-year Auror training, the desire to disrupt lessons had been weeded out, which Lily was immensely grateful for; late-night classes were not the best times to try to deal with singing homework or exploding chairs. She returned home at one o’clock in the morning, feeling very relaxed and not at all tired as she sank into the armchair in her bedroom that had a direct view of the happily snowing sky and a cotton-white evergreen. Opening a book she had picked up at an out-of-the-way shop, Obscure And Lost 16th Century Spells And Potions, she began to read, intending to sit up for James. |