Lily Evans looked around, a little anxiously, for a sign of anything familiar. She drew a blank. There was nothing, absolutely nothing familiar about the huge, intimidating castle looming in the distance. There was nothing familiar about the scarlet train she was riding, the many faces swarming around her, the black lake shimmering dangerously, or the small, skinny tree standing next to it. Suddenly homesickness and fear washed over Lily in terrifying amounts, blacking out any previous excitement she had felt.

The train slowed to a stop and the narrow train corridors were suddenly full of people. Her stomach twisting into thousands of knots, Lily grabbed her trunk, her eleven-year-old hand sweaty, took a deep breath to calm her dizzying nerves, and stepped bravely out of her compartment.

Almost immediately she was shoved back in. Lily swallowed, willing herself not to cry in a new, frightening atmosphere surrounded by strangers. Why in the world had she decided to come to this magic school? She could be at home right now with her best friends, perfectly happy, instead of here…

“Hey, do you need some help?�

Lily’s spirits rose slightly. She looked up. A freckled face was staring bemusedly at her from outside her compartment. The girl was tall and lanky with bouncy brown curls that cascaded down her shoulders. Her eyes were a deep blue and they sparkled with mischief.

“I’m Alex,� said the girl warmly, pushing into Lily’s compartment.

“Lily,� Lily replied.

Alex nodded. “Well, come on. We’d better get going or we’ll get left when they start rowing across the lake.�

“Rowing-what?� Lily jumped up and followed Alex into the jostling crowd. “Across the lake? That lake?�

Alex laughed. “Well, what other lakes do you see?�

“But-but-� Lily sputtered, disheveled by the unpleasant surprise, “can’t we just walk like everybody else?�

“No. It’s a Hogwarts tradition that first-years row across the lake. Be glad it’s not raining. My older sister had to cross the lake during a terrible thunderstorm. One boy got shocked by lightning.�

“Shocked!� Lily was at a complete loss for words.

Alex grinned. “Lighten up, Lily!� she said. “Everything will be fine. I promise.�

Lily couldn’t calm down, but she forced a smile. “Right. Okay. I’m cool.�

Lily followed Alex off the train and into an even larger crowd. But luckily, Alex knew where to go. She strode confidently over to a small group of scared-looking kids. Obviously the first-years.

“First-years, this way!� called a strong, commanding voice. Lily looked to its source: a short, stout woman with an air of power. “Grubbly-Plank,� whispered Alex. Lily felt lucky she had befriended somebody who knew so many things.

Finally it seemed all the first-years had arrived. Grubbly-Plank directed them into tiny, rickety wooden rowboats. Lily, Alex, and a black-haired boy stumbled into a boat. Grubbly-Plank handed them paddles and they set off, all feeling a bit awkward and confused.

Alex broke the tension. “What’s your name?� she asked the boy, forcefully steering the boat in the right direction.

“Sirius Black,� he replied. His black hair was long, almost covering his deep gray eyes. He had a slim, pointed face and seemed lofty and graceful.

“I’m Alex Parker. And this is Lily Evans.�

Lily was a little annoyed that Alex had introduced her, as if she couldn’t speak, but she decided to overlook that. “Hi,� she said.

Sirius nodded at her politely and silence descended once more into the boat. Again, Alex chased it out. “Any idea what House you’ll be in?� she asked Sirius.

“House?� asked Lily. “What do you mean?�

“There are four Houses,� said Sirius. He had a soft, sensitive voice. “Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. You have your classes with people in your House. Mostly. You’re put in a House based on values and you sleep with them, eat with them, that sort of thing. I’ll probably be in Slytherin,� he added dully. “My whole family is. Or was.�

“Well, my whole family’s been in Gryffindor,� said Alex boldly. “Of course, that doesn’t mean anything. Families don’t always end up together.�

“In Slytherin they do. Almost always.� Sirius did not sound very excited about the prospect of being a “Slytherin.�

“What’s the difference?� asked Lily.

“Well, some people think some Houses are better than others,� said Alex. “They’re not, really. It’s just different traits you possess, you know. Which you can’t really help. Anyway, Gryffindors are supposedly the bravest, you know. Brave, loyal, courageous, true to their heart, valiant, you know. General hero types. Ravenclaws are the brainiest. Hufflepuffs are like, hard-working, loyal, fair, kind. That sort of thing. And Slytherins, well, they’re ambitious, cunning, sly…�

“Oh, just face it,� spat Sirius. “Slytherins are nasty slimy gits who think that only purebloods are worth anything.�

“Purebloods?� asked Lily, feeling very naïve and wholeheartedly wishing she knew more about this.

“People with only wizarding backgrounds,� explained Alex. “No Muggle blood. A Muggle is a non-magic person,� she added.

“Like me,� said Lily.

“No,� said Sirius. “You are magic. Just from Muggle parents. So you’re a Muggle-born. Rude people might call you a ‘Mudblood,’ but don’t pay attention to it.�

“What are you?� asked Lily curiously.

“Pureblood,� said Sirius.

“Half-blood,� announced Alex. “Which means I’ve got a Muggle parent and a magical parent. Better than my little brother, though. He’s a Squib.�

“A what?� asked Lily wearily. Was there no end to this endless rain of information?

“A Squib is a person who biologically should have magic powers, but doesn’t,� said Alex. “Like somebody with pureblood parents would be a pureblood wizard, but if they can’t do magic, then they’re a Squib.�

“Right. Okay,� said Lily slowly. Boy, there sure was a lot to know about this magic stuff.

Alex must have noticed that Lily looked a little worried, because she smiled warmly and said, “Don’t worry, Lily,� she said encouragingly. “You’ll do great. Tons of people are Muggle-born. Besides, I’ll help you.�

Lily smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Alex.�

Sirius cleared his throat. “Ahem,� he said. “I hate to interrupt this touchy-feely moment, but we seem to be, uh, lost.�

“What do you mean, lost?� asked Alex scornfully. “Just follow the other-uh-oh.�

“Exactly,� said Sirius. “What do we do? All the boats are gone.� He shivered. “It’s freezing cold out here and pitch-dark.�

“Um…we…� Alex swallowed, for once at a loss for words. “We should…keep paddling, I guess. Towards the castle.�

Lily nodded. This seemed logical. “But if everyone’s already gone inside…�

“They’ll let us in. don’t worry,� said Alex, regaining her confidence. She picked up her oar and promptly dropped it into the water with a splash.

“Oh, no,� wailed Lily.

“It’s fine,� said Sirius.�There are still two paddles.� He started rowing, but just then a strong wind started up, slowly but steadily pushing them off course towards a thick grove of black, spiky trees.

“PADDLE!� yelled Lily, grabbing her own oar and jabbing it into the water. But two eleven-year-olds were no match for the strong, blustery wind. They were still heading for the trees.

There was nothing they could do except yell.

Which they did.

“HELP!� screamed Lily, Alex, and Sirius simultaneously. They screamed and shouted and yelled until they thought their lungs would burst, but nobody came to their aid.

Just as their tiny little rowboat drifted into the land with the uninviting trees, they felt their boat being moved forward, through the wind. What was moving them? Alex’s bright eyes were wide with shock and fear and Sirius looked around in utter disbelief. Lily’s heart started pounding insanely. Was this some of the creepy magic around this crazy school or something else?

The mysterious force didn’t stop. It pushed Lily, Alex, and Sirius all the way to the other side of the lake. They didn’t hesitate in jumping out of the boat.

They turned around to see if they could catch a glimpse of whatever had helped them. There was a splash about ten yards out and the threesome could just make out the tip of three orange tentacles. “The giant squid!� breathed Alex excitedly.

“What squid?� asked Lily, confused once more.

“The giant squid lives in the lake. It’s legendary,� explained Alex. “And hardly ever seen. But apparently it’s not evil!�

Sirius had run ahead and was peering into a tall, rectangular window. “The Sorting’s over,� he called. “We’d better get inside. Like, NOW.�

Lily and Alex followed Sirius over to the dauntingly tall, heavy doors. They were locked and, as Alex said, “Probably sealed by magic.�

“Great,� said Lily. “Now what?�

As if answering her question, the doors suddenly creaked open, revealing a drafty entrance hall lined with suits of armor that looked ancient. Before them stood a severe-looking witch with black hair piled into a bun. She wore square spectacles and a no-nonsense look on her face.

“Um,� said Alex. “Hi.�

The witch did not smile. She merely said, “I am Professor McGonagall. Follow me to be Sorted, since you missed the original ceremony.� She turned abruptly and strode down the hall. Exchanging glances, Lily, Alex, and Sirius walked in, to.

McGonagall was walking fast, and her strides were almost double the kids’. They practically had to run to keep up, but soon they arrived at another set of large double doors. “The Great Hall,� said McGonagall, then pushed open the door.

Lily, Alex, and Sirius were greeted by an explosion of light and noise. There were four long tables, each a different color-red, blue, yellow, and green-and they were all filled with people eating and talking eagerly. The teachers were sitting at the other end of the hall, also eating. The smell of the food wafting over to the starving threesome made their mouths water.

McGonagall told Lily, Alex, and Sirius to follow her again, so they walked past the red and yellow tables, subject to many curious glances and few pointing fingers. Lily ignored it as best as she could and Alex and Sirius seemed to do the same.

McGonagall brought them to a silvery-haired man with half-moon spectacles resting on his long, crooked nose. His beard was long, and his hair was even longer. His ice-blue eyes twinkled intelligently, and he smiled at the three first-years.

“Who’s that?� asked Lily.

“Dumbledore,� whispered Alex. “The headmaster, and the greatest wizard ever to live.�

Lily nodded and gazed at the man. He certainly did seem powerful. And intelligent. But there was something very kind and understanding about him. Lily liked him instantly.

Dumbledore stood up and clapped his hands twice. Almost instantly, the deafening roar quieted as every pair of eyes focused on Dumbledore.

“It seems there are still three first-years to be Sorted,� he announced. “So if I can have your attention…� this was unnecessary. He already had it.

McGonagall waved her wand and a three-legged stool appeared out nowhere. Lily’s eyes widened in amazement. She withdrew a shabby, raggedy black top hat and set it on the stool. “When your name is called,� she said, addressing solely Lily, Alex, and Sirius, “sit on the stool and place the hat on your head.� The procedure seemed odd to Lily, but she didn’t question it.

“Black, Sirius!� Sirius stepped over to the stool and jammed the hat on his head, looking rather forlorn. For a long time, nothing happened. Then at the brim of the hat, a mouth opened from nowhere and shouted out, “GRYFFINDOR!� making Lily jump.

Sirius’s jaw literally dropped. Looking confused, he placed the hat back on the stool and slowly walked over to the red table. The Hall was deadly quiet. You could have heard an ant sneeze.

Sirius sat down on the edge of the bench. The other Gryffindors stared at him, and he stared right back.

Suddenly a heavyset, thick-haired girl from the green table stood and yelled, “That can’t be right!�

“Sit down, Bellatrix,� intoned Dumbledore, from where he was sitting. “The Sorting Hat is never wrong. But it certainly is…interesting.�

The girl, blushing, apparently had no intentions of sitting down, but two boys sitting on either side of her pushed her down. Lily watched her. She was still glowering.

McGonagall cleared her throat and went on. “Evans, Lily!�

Lily, her legs feeling exactly like jelly, stumbled over to the stool and picked up the Hat. Her sweaty hands promptly dropped it. She bent over and picked it up, her face red, and placed it on her head. Suddenly she could hear a tiny voice in her head.

“Hmm…quite a lot of possibilities here,� it said. “Very bright, I see. Loyal and trustworthy. Very courageous…quite passionate. These things will bring you far.�

Yeah, yeah, Lily found herself thinking.

“Bold,� the voice continued. “With quite a temper. A normal redhead thing.�

Then it shouted, so loudly Lily seized it and threw it on the stool, “GRYFFINDOR!�

This was a lot different than last time. The people at the red table, minus Sirius, burst into applause and cheers. Lily could feel her face heating up again and could hear Alex cheering behind her. She sat down next to Sirius at the red table and looked back up at Alex.

“Parker, Alex!�

The Hat didn’t take long deciding on Alex. Only about five seconds later, it declared Alex a Gryffindor. Lily cheered loudly. Alex grinned and sat down next to her. “Let’s eat,� she said. “I am starved.�

Agreeing whole-heartedly, Lily piled food onto her plate and dug in. It was all delicious. Lily and Alex joined in the conversation of the other new first-years, but Sirius was quiet and only picked at his food.

After dinner and dessert, Lily and Alex followed the other Gryffindors up to the dormitory and snagged beds together. They were both quite tired and went to bed immediately. Lily, though drowsy and stuffed with food, couldn’t help thinking that there would be more trouble to come with Sirius and his Slytherin family.

The next morning, Lily woke up early. It was only five o’ clock and the sun had not fully risen yet, only about halfway, sending pinkish and gold rays over the Hogwarts grounds. Lily showered and dressed, then gathered her bag, stuffed with brand-new books, supplies, and her long, thin wand, and went into the common room.



It wasn’t empty, as Lily had expected. There was a boy sitting by himself on one of the couches, reading. He was too tall and mature-looking to be a first-year. He had longish, slightly shaggy brown curls and gray eyes. Lily sat down on an armchair and pulled out one of her books, leafing through it to pass the time.



About ten minutes later, the boy spoke. He had a friendly, lilting, slightly cocky voice. “You were one of the late first-years, weren’t you?� he asked, sounding amused. “What happened out there?�



“Well, uh…we…fell behind all the other boats, then it started getting really windy, and we couldn’t paddle. Then the wind was pushing us towards these black, spiky, really scary-looking trees, but then the giant squid pushed us to shore,� said Lily.



“The giant squid? Wicked,� exclaimed the boy. He stuck out his hand. “Chris Periwinkle. I’m a fourth-year.�



Lily shook his hand. It was firm and warm. “Lily Evans.�



“Hey, what was up with that James guy last night?� Chris asked, grinning.



“James who?�



“James Potter. A first-year, like you.�



“Um…� Lily wasn’t very good with names. “James Potter� sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite connect it to a face. “Describe him.�



“Messy black hair, hazel eyes, glasses, and an ego bigger than this castle,� was Chris’s reply.



“Oh, right. Yeah, I know who you’re talking about. What about him?�



Chris snorted. “Kind of a jerk, don’t you think? Acting like he already rules this place, and he’s only a first-year. No offense,� he added quickly.



“None taken,� replied Lily. “I don’t know. He didn’t bother me.�



Chris shrugged. “I’m kind of temperamental. And, er, judgmental. So I notice stuff about people. Maybe I’m wrong. But usually, I’m a pretty good judge of character.�



Lily shrugged. “Okay. Whatever.�



Just then, Lily and Chris heard footsteps. Lily turned around. It was Alex, looking bright and happy. “Hi, Lily!� she squealed.



“Hi!� Lily replied brightly.



Alex sat down next to Lily and introduced herself to Chris. “I’m Alex Parker,� she said. Alex, obviously, wasn’t the least bit shy.



“Chris Periwinkle.� He grinned.



“What year?� Alex demanded.



“Fourth.� He squinted at her. “Hey, are you Allie’s little sister?�



Alex nodded. “All the kids in my family are A’s. Abby, Addison, Allie, Alex, and Adam.�



“Wow,� said Chris, “I’m an only child.�



“My sister and I were both named for flowers,� said Lily. “My sister’s name is Petunia.�



Before long more people started filing into the common room. Alex and Lily soon left for breakfast, eager to start the day. They left the common room with a group of other first-years: Sirius, James, a pale, dark-haired boy named Remus, and a short, fat boy named Peter. Lily could easily see what Chris meant about James’s ego, as he bragged about his Quidditch skills all the way down to breakfast. (On the way down, Alex had to clue Lily in as to what Quidditch was.)



"It's a shame first-years can't play," James sighed, as they rounded a corner and entered a hallway lined with rusty suits of armor. "I'm an awesome Chaser."



“I bet you are!� squeaked Peter, gazing at James in awe.



James grinned. “Yes. I am.� He gave Sirius a cocky look that Lily instantly disliked. “So, Sirius, you gonna introduce us to your giant squid pals?�



“I’m Alex,� Alex offered, jumping into the boys’ conversation.



“I’m Lily,� said Lily, more shyly. James turned around and grinned at Lily. She smiled back. James held her eye contact for quite awhile before breaking away. she grinned at Alex, whose eyes were sparkling mischievously already.



The six of them found seats together at the Gryffindor table, Peter practically begging to be seated next to James. Lily found herself sitting between Alex and James.



James turned away from Peter to face Lily. “So, Lily…do you like Quidditch?�



“I’ve never seen it,� she replied. “I’m Muggle-born, you see.�



“Ah. Right.�



“Sirius? Making friends with Mudbloods?� asked a contemptuous voice. Lily, James, Sirius, and Alex looked up.



Three Slytherins were standing above them. They looked to be about fourteen or fifteen, the oldest maybe sixteen. One of them was the heavyset Bellatrix. There was another girl, with a pinched face and a scrunched-up nose, with wispy blond hair. And the last was a male, clearly the oldest and most authoritative of the bunch. He was tall and elegant with long, white-blond hair pulled into a ponytail and cold, merciless gray eyes.



“Go away,� Sirius mumbled. Clearly these people had power over him.



The white-blond boy stared at Lily icily. “Lucius Malfoy,� he said, sticking out his hand.



“Lily Evans,� said Lily, trying to sound fearless. She grabbed his hand and when he tried to crush her fingers, she didn’t wince but stared boldly back at him. He dropped her hand a few seconds later, obviously miffed. Lily felt rather proud of herself. Alex grinned at her.



“We were all, well, shocked when Sirius was put into Gryffindor,� Lucius continued. “But maybe it’s for the better. There are no Mudbloods for you to hang out with in Slytherin. So maybe you’d be unhappy.� He smirked.



Sirius stood up. He only reached up to Lucius’s chest. “That isn’t what would make me unhappy,� he said bravely. “Being stuck with you and a bunch of other jerks, that would be the real drag.�



Lucius whipped out his wand, but Bellatrix struck his arm down. “Not now, Lucius,� she hissed. “Are you insane?�



Reluctantly, Lucius stowed his wand in his robes. Casting Sirius one last nasty look, they trooped back to the Slytherin table.



“Man!� said James, when they’d gone. “Who are they? You know them?�



“The girls are my cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa,� mumbled Sirius. “Lucius is Narcissa’s slimy boyfriend.� It was clear Sirius wanted to change the subject, so Lily tactfully asked, “What’s our first class today?�



“Defense Against the Dark Arts,� Sirius replied, giving her a grateful smile.



“That will be so cool,� remarked Alex, buttering a slice of toast. “I’m looking forward to Transfiguration, though. Everyone says it’s hard-�



“You bet it’s hard!� somebody interrupted. It was Chris, sitting down across from Lily and her friends. “The toughest class there is. Near impossible sometimes. Potions is pretty hard, too.�



“We’ve got Potions second,� said Peter, sounding scared. He was a rather mousy boy and struck Lily as pretty cowardly. She wasn’t one to judge people before she got to know them, but she already didn’t really like him. “With the Slytherins!�



“Oh, don’t let the Slytherins scare you,� advised Chris wisely, tipping bacon onto his plate. “They’re all talk, with the occasional hex. But really. You can’t let them get to you.�



“So, you play Quidditch?� asked James, always eager to talk about the most popular wizarding sport.



“I play Seeker for Gryffindor,� replied Chris. “Are you into it?�



“Totally,� said James enthusiastically. “I play Chaser. I love the Kenmare Kestrels. They’re amazing. They’re a shoe-in to win next year, they got completely robbed at the Cup this summer.�



“No way,� argued Chris. “The Cannons beat them fair and square. Well, I’d better be going. You guys had better take off, too, if you don’t want to be late.� He jumped up, grabbed his bag, and left.



“Yeah, Chris is right, Lily,� said Alex. “We probably should go.� Lily nodded and she and her friend got up to leave. James and Sirius came, too.



“Any idea where this class is?� James asked loftily as the foursome walked up a wide, marble staircase.



“None at all,� answered Sirius cheerfully.



Lily and Alex exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. “It’s somewhere on the second floor, I think,� Alex said. “That’s where we’re headed if we stay on this staircase. So we should be…whoa!�



Out of the blue, the staircase had started moving. Lily, Alex, James, and Sirius looked around in amazement as the stairs rotated around. “My sister told me about this,� Alex commented, as it came to a stop, “but I never believed her.�



“Well, what are we supposed to do?� asked Sirius. “Our class is that way. If we get off here, we’ll be totally lost.�



“We have to get off here, though,� said Lily, skipping up the steps. “Come on. Let’s go.�



The staircase now led straight into a heavy door with a rusty doorknob. Cautiously, Lily opened it. It creaked open, revealing nothing but darkness. Lily was hesitant, but James pushed her roughly in. “Let’s go!� he said, striding confidently into the room.



Suddenly three candles flickered on in the center of the room. Lily instinctively grabbed Alex’s arm. “Who’s there?� James called, a little shakily.



More candles lit themselves, and suddenly the foursome could see a pale, transparent face. “I,� the face said gravely, “am Sir Nicholas Mimsy-�



Alex laughed out loud, shattering the tension. “Nearly Headless Nick!� she exclaimed. “Of course!�



The ghost looked insulted. “I prefer to be called by my proper name-�



“How can you be nearly headless?� asked Lily interestedly.



The ghost sighed exasperatedly, as if this was a routine he underwent everyday. “Like this,� he said, and seized his ear, and pulled his head off-but it didn’t fall off. It hung onto his neck by about an inch of skin.



Lily restrained herself from squealing, but it was hard. “Oh,� she managed to say, she hoped politely. “I…see.�



“Yes. Well.� Nick now seemed very uncomfortable.



“Well Nick, we’re lost,� said Alex. She grinned at Lily, who was still reeling that there were ghosts here at all.



“Lost?� Nick squinted at their robes. “Where are you trying to go?�



“Defense Against the Dark Arts,� Sirius replied. “And we were on our way but the staircase changed, and we ended up here.�



“I see. Well, you can simply leave through this door behind me, take a left, then right, then right, and you’ll be able to see the classroom.



“Left, right, right,� murmured Lily. “Okay, guys, let’s go.�



The foursome left and followed Nick’s directions. Sure enough, they ended outside a half-full classroom. Thankful they weren’t late, they hurried in.



The class went by relatively quickly. Lily had been looking forward to using her wand, but they didn’t get around to it. When the bell rang, Lily and Alex filed out of the room with everybody else and then split away from the big crowd of first-years.



“That was kind of boring,� Lily commented, as the two friends descended down a thickly carpeted staircase.



“Yeah, but it’ll get better when we actually do some magic. What class do we have now?�



Lily consulted her schedule. “Potions, with the Slytherins. Where’s that?�



“Down in the dungeons,� Alex replied. “Yuck. Let’s go.�



The two girls went down another flight of steps (this time, it didn’t move) and found themselves on the castle’s ground level. The hallways were swarming with kids, most of them older than Lily and Alex. Alex dove boldly into the mob of students. Lily grabbed the strap of her bag and got pulled into the mess.



Alex and Lily made their way through the crowd and finally, towards the ancient wall, it thinned out. Lily let go of Alex’s bag and they proceeded down to the dungeons.



The only open dungeon’s door was propped open and Lily could hear different potions bubbling inside. Lily peered inside. A fat, jolly-looking man was sitting behind a desk, stroking his mustache. He looked up abruptly as Lily and Alex stood awkwardly in the doorway.



He got to his feet and bounced over to the two girls. “Welcome!� he cried jovially, “to Potions class! My name is Professor Slughorn. Who might you be?�



“My name’s Alex Parker,� said Alex, bold as always.



“Yet another Parker?� asked Slughorn. “My! How many of you are there? Let’s see, I already have Abby, Addison, and Allie. Are there more?�



“Just Adam,� said Alex cheerfully. “He’s a Squib, so he might not come, though.�



“Ah. I see. And who is your charming friend?� he asked benignly.



Alex opened her mouth, but Lily cut her off. “I’m Lily Evans.�



“Very pleased to meet you both,� beamed Slughorn. “Have a seat, won’t you? I’m sure your classmates will be along soon.�



The next person to arrive was short and skinny with stringy, greasy black hair and a pallid face with a sullen expression. The green and silver emblem on his obsidian robes indicated that he was a Slytherin.



“Well hello Severus!� Slughorn boomed upon the boy’s arrival. “Alex, Lily, meet Severus Snape. He’s in my house, Slytherin, as you can see. He’s got a brilliant mind for Potions!�



“Oh, really?� asked Lily politely. “Is that a Potions book you’re reading?�



Severus threw her a nasty look and shifted his book so the girls couldn’t see it. But Lily caught a glimpse of the title: Rise of the Dark Arts. Not exactly Potions.



The room grew silent for a little while, but then more people arrived: James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. James took a seat across from Lily, and Peter scrambled to get a chair next to him. Remus and Sirius took two other seats in the vicinity.



“Well! Well! More boys!� declared Slughorn. Lily was starting to get a bit annoyed with him and his loud, booming voice. “Who might you young Gryffindors be?�



“I’m James Potter,� said James loftily, in a way that communicated he thought very highly of himself. Lily wrinkled her nose in distaste. Maybe Chris had been right about James. She reserved judgment until she got to know him a little better.



“Sirius Black,� Sirius introduced himself. Slughorn chuckled. “Ah, yes, the youngest Black,� he said. “I’ve got your cousins and your brother (Regulus, what a fine fellow!), but couldn’t get you.�



Sirius shifted uncomfortably, his face turning red, and Slughorn tactfully changed the subject. He smiled in a grandfatherly way on Remus and asked, “And what’s your name?�



“Remus Lupin.�



Slughorn smiled. “Oh yes, I knew that. The one with the little, ah, condition.� He winked and Remus stared determinedly at the floor.



“And the last of you bunch,� said Slughorn grandly, turning to face Peter, “what’s yourname?�



“Peter Pettigrew.�



“Grand, just grand.� Lily was glad when Slughorn paraded over to the door to greet some Slytherins.



When he’d gone, James immediately pounced. “So Remus,� he said, “what’s this ‘condition’ Slughorn mentioned?�



“Nothing,� Remus muttered. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.�



James opened his mouth again, but Sirius nudged him ever so slightly, obviously wanting him to drop it. Wisely, James backed off, but Lily could

tell that he wasn’t ready to forget about it completely.



Gradually the rest of the class filed in, and class begun. Slughorn stood at the front of the room, his hands clasped tightly around his rotund belly, and said, “Welcome, all of you, to your first Potions class!� here he paused, as if waiting for them to burst into cheers or applause. Nobody did anything. He continued.



“Today I will just have you whipping up a very simple potion, just to see which of you have more of an aptitude for this. Instructions are on the board, ingredients in the cupboard. You have one hour. You may begin!�



Lily found potion-making surprisingly easy and rather enjoyable. When she had finished her potion towards the end of class, it was exactly the shimmery silver that Slughorn had said it should be. Slughorn, wandering around the classroom, stopped by Lily’s cauldron and exclaimed to the class, “Miss Evans, this is perfect!�



The whole class turned to look at her, and Lily grew red. Slughorn went on, “Absolutely amazing! Well done, Miss Evans, very well done! Twenty points to Gryffindor!�



Alex smiled at her friend as Slughorn walked away. “Awesome, Lily!� she said. “Twenty points!� Alex’s potion was bubbling menacingly and was a bright, acid green. Lily grinned and started cleaning up.



The rest of the day passed by relatively quickly. When their classes ended, Lily and Alex staggered back to the common room, exhausted. Some of the older kids were already doing homework, leafing through thick, moldy old books and grumbling about it. Lily and Alex, as first-years, hadn’t received any homework, so they went up to their dormitory to discuss the day’s events.

The rest of the week flew by, and suddenly the weekend was upon them. Lily slept in, enjoying the much-needed sleep, and woke up around nine-thirty.

She sat up in bed and smiled. Today, Lily felt inexplainably happy. Nothing could dampen her spirits. Not even the prospect of a nasty Transfiguration essay weighed her down.

She jumped out of bed, noticing that everybody else was gone. She took a long, hot shower, got dressed, and bounced downstairs into the common room.

It was filled with older kids, poring over thick, musty old books. Lily paid them no mind and breezed out of the room into the dim hallway. She headed to the Great Hall in search of some breakfast.

Hardly anybody was in the Hall. Lily made her way to the Gryffindor table, where only three or four people were sitting. She noticed Chris sitting by himself, so she flounced over to where he was sitting and plopped down across from him.

“Hi!� she said brightly.

He looked up in surprise. “Oh, hi, Lily,� he said. “What’s up?�

Lily shrugged and grabbed some toast. “Just looking for Alex. Seen her?�

“No, but she’s probably outside, like everybody else.�

“Oh. Okay. See you later.� Lily quickly spread strawberry jam over her toast, folded it up, and left the Hall.

It was a beautiful, sunny, not-too-hot day. Many students were working, brows furrowed in concentration, interrupted every now and then by the younger kids’ shouts. Lily spotted Alex almost immediately, sitting under the shade of a giant oak tree, talking to another girl.

The girl had long, silky dark hair that was slightly wavy and a slim figure with graceful long legs. As Lily neared the two girls, she could see the girls’ eyes were a deep, stormy gray.

Alex looked up and caught sight of Lily. “Hi, Lily!� she called, waving. “Come here!�

Lily jogged the rest of the way over and sat down on the grass by Alex.

“Lily, this is Cadrian. You know her, right?� Lily did indeed recognize the girl. Cadrian was also a first-year in Gryffindor.

“Hi,� said Lily.

“Hello,� said Cadrian, smiling.

“We were just talking about James and his friends,� intoned Alex. “Look at him and Sirius.� She pointed to a thick-trunked tree near the lake. James and Sirius were standing a little ways away, laughing. Peter was standing behind them. The two black-haired boys turned around, and James beckoned Peter over. Hesitantly, he obeyed.

Sirius told him to do something, but the three girls couldn’t hear; they were too far away. Peter shook his head, eyes wide with fear, looking at James,w who nodded.

Peter shoook his head vigorously, but James and Sirius did not relent. Reluctantly, Peter turned around and took a tiny step towards the tree. When he didn’t take another, James reached out and pushed him roughly.

Peter stumbled forward and took another look behind him. James and Sirius made gestures conveying the message “go on, go on!� Peter closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then ran forward.

All at once there came a deep creaking sound. Lily whipped around in alarm. “What was that?�

“The tree, Lily! Whomping Willow!� exclaimed Alex. “James and Sirius have been taunting it all day. Watch!�

Sure enough, the tree’s branches were rapidly gaining speed, ready to come down on poor Peter. He stood there, petrified, watching the prickly mass of branches grow closer, eyes wide with fear.

“MOVE, you prat!� yelled James, watching. “God, why doesn’t he move?�

Lily scrambled to her feet, the blood pounding in her ears. Those branches would kill Peter, and nobody was going to do anything. So she had to do. She wasn’t aware of anything as she ran furiously to Peter; not the birds chirping, the sunlight glinting off the glassy lake, not James’s wide eyes. She grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled him out range just as the branches crashed onto the ground.

Alex, Cadrian, James, and Sirius ran over to where Peter was lying on the ground. Lily bent over him, pushing her red hair out of her face. “Peter, are you okay?� she asked anxiously.

Peter sat up. “Yeah,� he said shakily, getting to his feet. “I’m…I’m okay.� With that he set off towards the castle.

Lily got to her feet. “James Potter!� she exploded, loudly enough so that a large group of sixth-years turned to look. “What in the world were you thinking, sending Peter out there? You knew he’d go just because he absolutely idolizes you, for some reason, and you took complete advantage of it. He could have died! I can’t believe you would do that!� she turned and stomped off.

“Hey, Evans!� She didn’t turn around to hear what James wanted to say, but she heard it anyway. “That was really brave.�

Lily didn’t acknowledge that she’d heard James’s comment, but it did make her happy.

But even if it did, she wasn’t about to let James or anybody else know. Fuming at the boys’ stupidity, she went up to the castle and into the common room. It had emptied out a bit, but still, most of the seats were taken. One couch was only occupied by one person. She sat down, slouching, not aware or caring about who was next to her.

Somebody tapped her shoulder. She looked up. She was sitting next to Chris. “Hey, what happened?�

“James Potter happened,� she replied furiously, pushing her long bangs out of her eyes. “You were right about him, Chris. He’s a huge, horrible idiot, and I hate him.�

“What did he do?�

“He-he-well, you know that big tree out by the lake, that I guess, like, hits you or something?�

“The Whomping Willow?� asked Chris wisely. “Yeah, I’ve seen it. It wasn’t there last year. Wonder why it is now. Kind of dangerous, really. Anyway, go on.�

“Right, the Whomping Willow. So, James and Sirius I guess have been playing with it, dodging in and out, you know, trying not to get hit.�

“Not very smart,� remarked Chris.

“No, but what do you expect? Anyway, you know Peter Pettigrew? He absolutely idolizes James for some reason, and so told him to try. And they made him do it. Made him. They knew he would because he’s so in awe of James and of course he did. But the stupid prat, when the branches come around to hit him, he just stands there like a lump, waiting to get killed!�

“Peter came in a little earlier. Looked pretty shell-shocked,� said Chris. “Guess I know why, now. So how did Peter get out of that?�

“I had to run over and drag him out! I barely made it, too! We both could have gotten hurt, all because of James.�

“Right. Well, very dumb on all three of their parts,� said Chris. “I knew James was somewhat of an idiot. Didn’t I tell you I was a good judge of character?�

“Yeah. And you were definitely right.�

Just then, Alex and Cadrian burst through the door to the common room, red-faced and breathless. Lily got up to meet them. “Hi guys,� she said.

“Lily, that was really brave. You could have died!� squealed Alex. “If you hadn’t intervened, Peter definitely would have. That was awesome!� she drew Lily into a quick hug.

“That was really cool, Lily,� Cadrian smiled. “Way to go.�

“Thanks,� said Lily, shrugging, “but it’s no big deal, really. Somebody had to.�

Alex laughed. “Whatever you say.�

“You really burned James,� said Cadrian. “You should have seen the look on his face. Like he was going to vomit. You really upset him.�

“Well, good.� Lily tossed her flame-red hair angrily. “He’s a prat and an idiot and I hate him.�

“Kind of cute,� commented Cadrian, “but way egotistic.�

Alex nodded. “Bighead, definitely.�

“I don’t want to talk about him anymore. It’s making me sick.�

“Wow, Lily. Aren’t you exaggerating a little?� asked Alex, looking a little concerned. “If you keep going on like this, well, I’m certainly going to be scared for James.�

“I’m hardly exaggerating.� It was a lie, but Lily was too angry to care.

Just then James and Sirius burst into the common room. “Lily,� said James earnestly, “look, I know it was really dumb of me, but I couldn’t help it!�

“Why not?� asked Lily fiercely. “Because you wanted a good laugh? You wanted to see Peter get hurt? Oh yeah, I see the temptation!�

“Lily, I’m sorry, okay? I just wasn’t thinking.�

“I know you weren’t.� with that, Lily turned on her heel and stalked up to the dormitory.

She could hear James coming after her, but didn’t care. She slammed the dormitory door and suddenly there came a loud, wailing noise.

Startled, she wrenched the door open to see what had happened. James was lying at the bottom of the stairs, looking very surprised and confused. Most people in the common room were laughing.

“What happened?� asked Lily.

“James tried to come up to the dormitory,� said Alex, “and suddenly the stairs turned into a slide and he ended up down here!�

Still looking bewildered, James scrambled to his feet. “What the heck was that,� he muttered.

Chris wandered over, amused. “Guys can’t get into the girls’ dormitories. It’s always been that way. Godric Gryffindor considered girls more trustworthy than guys, so he bewitched the stairs.�

James, blushing a deep red, disappeared into his own dormitory.

Lily went back into the girls’ room and flopped backwards on her bed, staring at the ceiling. James had looked awfully humiliated down there. She allowed herself to feel the tiniest bit bad for him. But not for long.

He certainly was persistent. How long had he been willing to pursue her? Lily smiled a little, thinking of how funny he’d looked down there, disheveled and confused. Like Cadrian had said, he was kind of cute. But too idiotic to ever be the subject of a crush, for Lily at least.

Alex and Cadrian soon came into the dormitory and perched themselves on Alex’s bed. “James likes you,� Cadrian said vaguely, fingering a tiny hole in Alex’s bedspread.

Alex giggled. “Totally,� she agreed. “It’s so obvious. Did you see how upset he was when you yelled at him? What other guys would care what a girl thought…unless they liked that girl?�

“Oh, stuff it, both of you,� replied Lily.

“I won’t say anymore,� promised Alex, “but it’s true, Lily.�

Lily sat up straight. “Shut up!� she said fiercely, although her friends’ words pleased her. Why was this pleasing? It shouldn’t be…an idiot like Potter, liking her? It should be a cause of disgust. Ridicule, maybe. But certainly not pleasure.

Casting these confusing thoughts aside, Lily was about to suggest a game of cards (she knew she was horribly Muggle-oriented, but she couldn’t help it) when Professor McGonagall burst into the room.

The three girls looked up in surprise. “Hello,� said Alex cheerfully.

McGonagall ignored Alex and said to Lily, “Miss Evans, I heard that you saved the life of Peter Pettigrew. Is this true?�

“Um…yes, Professor,� said Lily, reddening.

“What exactly happened? I heard something about James Potter, Sirius Black, and the Whomping Willow.�

“Well…see…James and Sirius were playing this dumb game. Running under the Whomping Willow and then running back out, trying not to get hit,� Lily began. “Well, they told Peter to try. So he did, but when the branches came around to hit him, he didn’t run. He just stood there, watching it. So I just…I didn’t do anything special. I just pulled him out of the way.�

“Well, it was quite brave. Very well done, Miss Evans,� sniffed McGonagall. “One hundred points to Gryffindor for your outstanding courage.� The three girls’ faces broke into wide grins. “Now, I’d better find those two troublemakers…� she swept out of the room.

When she was gone, Alex burst into cheers. “Yeah, Lily!� she crowed. “A hundred points! Awesome! If you keep this stuff up, there’s no way we’ll lose the House Cup!�

Lily smiled. “I don’t know if I’ll save many people’s lives this year, Alex. Maybe next year, though!�

Cadrian laughed. “Right. One per year.�

“Come on,� said Alex, jumping up, “let’s go see what McGonagall does to James and Sirius.�

Cadrian agreed instantly. Lily was reluctant, but her friends persuaded her. They crept down the staircase and knelt down, perfectly able to see their three targets.

“What were you thinking?� McGonagall exploded, as James and Sirius stared determinedly at the floor, very obviously blushing. “You could have very seriously hurt yourselves or Peter! Now I’m not going to take away any points.� The two brightened considerably. “But I’m giving you each a week of detentions! Do not give me that look, Potter, you deserve it!� She turned and stalked angrily out of the common room.

Lily sighed as James and Sirius muttered to each other, presumably insulting McGonagall. She hadn’t meant to cause all this trouble. She just couldn’t watch and stand by as Peter got hurt…

At dinner that night, Lily was sitting between Cadrian and Alex, engaged in conversation, when somebody tapped her on the back. It was Sirius, glowering. “Thanks for ratting us out,� he snarled, then stalked off.
“Don’t worry about him,� advised Cadrian. “He’ll get over it. Besides, it’s not your fault. You did the right thing.�

Deep down, Lily knew that. But she couldn’t help wondering if it was worth it to do the right thing if it resulted in getting her friends mad at her.

Over the next week, the homework load increased for the first-years. Lily, however, enjoyed looking up tidbits of magical information from the musty old books, while the others groaned. Luckily, it seemed that Sirius had forgiven her about the tree incident, as the detentions had ended. James had never seemed mad at all.

Lily fell into a routine. She was a little homesick, but she liked the atmosphere of a boarding school. Besides, she liked hanging out with Alex and Cadrian. James hung around them a lot, too, with his cocky, smug demeanor, usually dragging along Sirius or Remus, and always with Peter tagging along.

One day after Potions class, Professor Slughorn asked Lily to stay behind. She obeyed, a little anxiously, but she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong. She strolled up to his desk.

“Miss Evans, you have quite an aptitude for Potions,� he began, somewhat loftily. “A very admirable quality. Maybe you should have been placed into Slytherin, eh?� he laughed. Lily didn’t see what was so funny.

“No, I don’t think so,� replied Lily politely. “I’m happy where I am.�

“Yes. I see that. Well. I just wanted to invite you to a little, ah, gathering, I suppose.�

“Gathering? Like what?�

“Just a little dinner with a few special students,� explained Slughorn breezily. “It will be nice. Food, friends, fun! It’s tonight in my office at seven o’ clock. Can you come?�

“Well, yeah, I guess so,� said Lily.

“Great! Just great! Now go on, get to your next class.�

Lily hurried out so she wouldn’t be late to her next class and met Alex and Cadrian a little ways up the hallway. “What did Slughorn want?� Cadrian asked eagerly.

“He invited me to some…dinner or something. I don’t know.�

“What are you talking about, Lils?�

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know! He said he was inviting some students. ‘Special students,’ he said. Like a dinner thingy. Tonight at seven.�

“Yikes, Lily,� said Alex. “Sounds like he wants you for the Slug Club.�

“The Slug Club?� asked Lily skeptically. “And what’s that?�

“My sister told me about it. It’s just a bunch of dinner things that he invites his favorite students to. Really talented ones or rich or well-connected. You know.�

“But I don’t want to be in that club thingy!� exclaimed Lily. “Sounds dumb. And boring. And besides, weren’t we going to go to the Quidditch try-outs tonight to cheer Chris on?�

“Oh yeah, I forgot,� said Cadrian.

“Skip the Slug Club meeting,� Alex advised. “You don’t really want to be in that club. It’s a lot of Slytherins and a lot of snobs and people will hold it against you if they aren’t in it.�

“But I told Slughorn I’d come…�

“Tell him you can’t. Too much homework or something,� suggested Cadrian. “Seriously, Lils. The try-outs will be a lot better.�

“You’re right,� Lily decided. “After classes, I’ll just go tell Slughorn I can’t come. Too much homework.�

The rest of the day passed quickly, and Lily and her friends really did have a fair amount of homework. Not enough to keep them inside, but definitely the most they had had in their time at Hogwarts. After Herbology, as Alex and Cadrian headed up to the common room, Lily made her way to Slughorn’s dungeon. The classroom was empty, so she left a note on his desk:

Dear Professor Slughorn, I am sorry, but I cannot attend your dinner tonight. I just have too much homework that I need to keep on top off. However, I’ll be sure to come to the next one. Your student, Lily Evans

“There,� she said, satisfied, leaving it in the center where he’d be sure to find it. Then she went back to the common room where Alex and Cadrian were sitting with James and his three friends, working already.

Lily perched herself next to Alex and pulled a long, dull History of Magic essay, a quill, and her book and laid them on the table. “How long is this essay again?� she asked.

“A foot and a half,� James said promptly. “I’ve already got seven inches. You can use some if you like.�

“Um, I don’t cheat,� replied Lily. “It’s not that much. I’m fine.�

James’s ears turned red and he went back to his essay.

The seven first-years were quiet, the only audible sound being the scratching of their quills or the pages of a book, until Peter said anxiously, “James, what are the properties of unicorn hair in potions again? I forgot.�

“Look it up,� was the disparaging reply.

“I lost my book,� Peter whined. Lily rolled her eyes, pulled her own book out, and thrust it at him. “Here,� she said.

Peter didn’t utter a word of thanks. Lily turned back to her own essay. She was very intelligent and a quick worker and only about a half hour later she had finished. She skimmed it over quickly and, satisfied, rolled it up and placed it neatly in her bag. “You’re done?� asked Cadrian in disbelief, her hands ink-stained. “I still have a half a foot to go!�

Lily just smiled and said, “So, all we have to do now is the diagram for Herbology, and that summary for Defense Against the Dark Arts?�

“Right,� affirmed Sirius.

“I think I’ll go upstairs and finish,� Lily said, standing up and swinging her bag over her shoulder. “What time are the Quidditch try-outs?�

“Seven,� said James. “After dinner.�

“Okay.� With that Lily went up to the dormitory, where it was quieter. About fifty minutes later she had completed everything. It was five o’ clock. She bounced down the stairs into the common room, where her friends were still working. “Alex, Cadrian, you guys almost done?�

“One sec…I just need two more words.� Alex scribbled out a little more on her essay and set her quill down cheerfully. “Done!� she announced, stuffing her things in her bag.

“I can do the diagram later,� said Cadrian. “It won’t take long.� She, too, began packing up her things. Then the three girls went down to the Great Hall where dinner was already on the table. Lily was starving and piled enormous amounts of food onto her plate. The girls stayed in the Hall for an hour and fifteen minutes, chatting and eating.

When she was so full she thought she might burst, Lily checked her watch. “It’s six-thirty,� she said. “Let’s head down to the field or whatever.�

“Pitch,� said Cadrian. “It stinks first-years can’t play. I love Quidditch. I’m definitely trying out next year.�

“What position do you play?� asked Alex interestedly.

“I’m a Chaser.�

“Cool,� said Alex. “I don’t play, really, just with my siblings and cousins and stuff. I’m not very good.�

Soon the grass started to slope downhill onto the Quidditch pitch. Lily, Alex, and Cadrian took seats in the stands. About twenty people were congregated in the center of the pitch. “Hey, look, there’s Chris,� Lily noted. He was standing towards the middle of the group, looking rather bored.

“Where are James and Sirius?� asked Cadrian, looking around. “I thought they were coming.�

Alex shrugged. “Haven’t seen them.�

Then the group parted. A tall girl with long, very straight dark hair blew a whistle and called for all Chasers to come out onto the field. Four players stepped out. Three of them looked nervous. One looked confident; he was clearly the player from the year before.

The girl, obviously the team captain, called out the Keeper and sent him up to the goalposts. Then she had each Chaser shoot 15 goals. A short, skinny boy who looked to be in about his 3rd year made the most, 12. The player from last year had only made 10, and was obviously upset by this. “Come on!� he yelled, his face beet-red. “I was on the team last year, you’ve seen what I can do!�

The captain didn’t flinch or back down. She just said very calmly, “Sorry, Joshua, but he beat you, fair and square. And besides,� she added coolly, as he turned to walk away, “I wasn’t all that impressed with you last year, anyway.�

So the skinny boy was made the new Chaser (they only needed one, the other two hadn’t graduated yet). The rest of the try-outs went smoothly. Chris made it back onto the team as Seeker.

Lily, Alex, and Cadrian got up to leave. “James never showed up,� remarked Alex, as she reached for the handle of the heavy tall door. Suddenly a voice called, “Help! Please, somebody help!�

Oh no, Lily thought, but she couldn’t just turn away. “Who’s there?� she called.

“Lily?� asked the voice. It sounded familiar. She knew who it was.

“James?� she called back, running over to where the sound was coming from. “Where are you?�

“I’m right here. Behind the tree.�

Lily turned and walked around a peeling birch tree. There was James, lying flat as a board on the ground. “What happened?� she asked, kneeling down, her hatred suddenly forgotten.

“Sirius’s cousins,� replied James grimly. “We were walking down to the pitch for the try-outs when they ambushed us. They used the Full-Body Bind on me, but it’s starting to wear off.�

“Where’s Sirius, then?� asked Lily anxiously.

“They took him down to the Forbidden Forest!� he exclaimed. “I don’t know what they did with him, but we’ve got to help him.�

“The Forest?� Lily glanced up. The trees formed one black solid mass in the gathering dusk and they did not look the least bit inviting. “Well, I guess we don’t have a choice.�

Alex and Cadrian had wandered over by now. “Do either of you know the countercurse for the Full-Body Bind?� Lily asked quickly.

Cadrian didn’t, but Alex did. “It’s kind of a necessity with older sisters like mine,� she explained, then quickly set James free. He sprang to his feet. “Okay, then, let’s go,� he said.

“Go where?� asked Alex.

“Into the Forbidden Forest,� said Lily. “Sirius’s Slytherin cousins took him down there and we have to help him.�

“It’s out-of-bounds,� protested Cadrian. “We’ll get in horrible trouble.�

“Sirius is going to be in a lot worse trouble if we don’t get out there!� James practically screamed. “The Forest is so dangerous at night! There’s werewolves and centaurs and lots of other things that you do not want to come across. Would you rather have Sirius dead, or get a couple detentions?�

Perhaps James had wanted this to motivate Cadrian and Alex, but on the contrary, it made things worse. Lily rolled her eyes, grabbed their wrists, and said, “Come on, guys, we’ll be fine.� Alex and Cadrian still looked uncertain, but at least followed Lily and James down to the forest.

The forest was so dark that the four first-years could hardly see the trees right in front of them. �Lumos,� James muttered, and the tip of his wand sparked with light. The three girls imitated him and they proceeded on.

It seemed pointless, really. How could four first-years, with barely a week’s worth of magic under their belts, find Sirius in the immense, never-ending forest, when they had no idea what his cousins had done with him? But they trekked on, not talking, knowing that they had to help their friend.

After about half an hour of walking around, Lily saw the first sign of life in the forest: a flash of white that appeared and left so quickly, she wondered if she saw it at all. “Guys, did you see that?� she whispered. “That flash of white?�

“Don’t worry,� James said under his breath. “It was most likely a unicorn.�

“A unicorn? There are unicorns in here?� Lily liked the idea of a unicorn, so pure and harmless, in the midst of all this dark danger. It comforted her as they moved on.

Suddenly, however, there came a great thundering noise from somewhere in the distance. Lily, Alex, and Cadrian all screamed. “What is that?� Cadrian asked. They looked around wildly, but couldn’t see anything. The noise was getting louder and louder, as if it was drawing closer. James suddenly understood. “It’s a stampede!� he yelled. “Get off the path!�

Alex streaked past Lily, brushing her hand lightly, and she dropped her wand. Suddenly she couldn’t see anything. Her friends were seeking shelter behind huge trees, so she couldn’t see their light. She dropped to her knees frantically, searching for her wand, as all the while the stampede (of what?) grew closer. “LILY!� somebody yelled. James. “WHERE ARE YOU?�

“I’m here! I can’t find my wand!� she yelled back.

“GET OVER HERE! YOU’LL BE KILLED!�

“But my-�

A strong hand grabbed her own hand and pulled her off to the side. Not five seconds later the frenzied mob of centaurs, as it turned out, stormed through the path where Lily had just been kneeling. She would have died.

She turned to James. “You saved my life,� she said slowly. She was very confused. It would be hard to hate a person who had saved her life. (She’d find a way, though.)

James shrugged. “Are you okay?�

“I…think so.� Her legs felt shaky and she thought she might vomit, but she would be okay. “But my wand’s got to be crushed by now…�

Alex stepped over to the beaten down path and winced. “Well, yeah, it is…�

“Doesn’t matter. You can get a new one. Now, let’s keep going.� James was acting like nothing at all had happened. Lily appreciated this and adopted it for herself.

“Right,� she said. “Maybe we should call for him…?�

“No,� advised James. “That would bring attention to us, and that’s definitely not what we want.�

“Okay, then maybe we should split up,� suggested Alex. Lily didn’t at all like the mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “I’ll go with Cadrian, and James, you and Lily head that way.� She winked at Lily and turned away.

Lily felt a twinge of annoyance at her friend. She did NOT like James, even if he had saved her life. But just because he had saved her, didn’t mean she would suddenly fall madly in love with him. Of course not! Alex was crazy. Nothing had changed. Not really. Not much, anyway.

But Alex and Cadrian left, so Lily and James went the opposite way. They walked in silence for a while, seeing only what was illuminated by the tiny spark on James’s wand tip. Lily was jumpy and uneasy and every little sound frightened her.

Suddenly Lily tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground. She jumped up and brushed herself off. “Lily?� a voice asked in amazement and utter relief.

“Sirius?� she asked, equally surprised. “Is that you?� apparently, it had been Sirius’s foot, not a tree root, she had tripped on.

“Yes!� he breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Thank God, I was so scared a werewolf was going to find me…�

“Sirius?� James had walked over now and from the light on his wand Lily could now see Sirius. He was tied tightly to a large tree. “Here, I’ll untie you.� He went around to the back of the tree and the ropes fell to the ground a few moments later. Sirius stepped away from the tree. “Thanks,� he said gratefully. “I thought I was toast. Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Lucius tied me to this tree and hoped a werewolf or something would get me…�

“That’s horrible!� gasped Lily.

Sirius nodded, clearly shaken. “Some cousins,� he muttered. “We better get back to the school soon or we’ll be caught.�

“We can’t leave without Alex and Cadrian,� Lily protested, as the boys started walking towards the silhouette of the darkened castle.

But in a stroke of good luck (excellent, really), they quickly found Lily’s friends and escaped the forest without any further incident. The Hogwarts grounds were deserted and quite eerie as the moonlight cast a pale glow on the grass. As they neared the castle, Lily spotted a short figure approaching the Whomping Willow.

“Guys, look,� she whispered. “Somebody’s going over to the Whomping Willow.� They all stopped to look, but they were too far away to tell who it was. The figure dodged the flailing branches and then touched the trunk. Instantly the limbs froze, and the figure disappeared under the tree.

“What was that all about?� James asked. “Let’s go after him!�

But the others refused to go, so James reluctantly followed them up to the castle. They tiptoed silently down the dark corridors and slipped into the Gryffindor common room unnoticed.

Apart from Lily getting a new wand, the following weeks passed relatively uneventfully. Still, Lily was rarely bored; she just didn’t have the time, with all of the homework she and her friends were starting to get. Halloween was drawing nearer, and the whole school was buzzing about the legendary feast there would be.

“My sister told me there’s jack-o-lanterns big enough for five people to stand in!� Alex said excitedly one day as the three friends walked down to Potions together.

Lily laughed and Alex gushed on. “And also, Allie said last year they had dancing skeletons, and the food’s going to be amazing of course!�

Lily and her friends turned a corner and walked into Slughorn’s damp dungeon. They were among the last people to arrive. The threesome slipped into empty seats and waited.

When the last stragglers had finally turned up, Slughorn stood up, a chunk of crystalized pineapple stuck to his bushy beard, and closed the heavy dungeon door with a hollow thunk. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly and scratchy, and there were huge black bags under his eyes. “I’m feeling a bit under the weather,� he announced. He flicked his wand and instructions appeared on the blackboard. “Follow the instructions and brew the potion. Supplies are in the store-cupboard. When you finish bottle some and bring it up to my desk.� Then he sat down and leaned back in his chair, groaning.

Potions was Lily’s favorite subject. She had a certain talent for mixing concoctions and always enjoyed these lessons the best: free reign to mix her potion. As other people socialized about the Halloween feast and other assorted happenings, she was quiet and focused, concentrating on her potion. She was among the first people to finish and she knew her efforts would achieve an E at least.

As the end of class drew nearer, the slackers grew more frantic. James Potter was feverishly rifling through a textbook and Severus Snape was running back and forth from the store-cupboard to his cauldron, haphazardly throwing ingredients into his potion. Suddenly James’s foot nudged his cauldron out a little further and Severus, rushing blindly back and forth, didn’t notice. Lily saw what was about to happen a split second before it actually did.

Severus hadn’t noticed that James’s cauldron had been moved out a little further, right in the path he’d been pacing back and forth. As he raced past, his foot caught on the bottom of the cauldron. It tipped over and James’s potion spilled everywhere.

Obviously James had made a mistake with his potion. They were supposed to be brewing a Cheering potion, but as James’s acidly green potion spread across the ground, it burnt smoking holes into the floor tiles. Girls shrieked and jumped onto chairs or flattened themselves against the walls. Slughorn woke from his doze with a jump and muttered, “Evanesco.� Instantly the potion vanished.

“Hey, what was that for?� yelled James, standing his cauldron up. “Watch where you’re walking!�

“Sorry,� muttered Severus and scurried off to the store cupboard to gather more supplies.

“Professor Slughorn,� said James, “do I have to start my whole potion over?�

“No, James,� replied Slughorn wearily, “just forget about it…� he looked like he wanted nothing better than a very long nap.

“But what about my grade?� insisted James. “I mean, I don’t want my grade to suffer just because somebody can’t watch where they’re walking…�

He threw Severus a nasty glance. Lily wished wholeheartedly that James would shut up. It had been an accident, after all, and since when did he care about his grades, anyway?

“Don’t worry, James,� was the reply, implying heavily that Slughorn shared Lily’s desire for James to just leave it be.

But James didn’t get the hint. “I mean, really,� he drawled, “is it so hard to walk without tripping over other people’s things?�

Lily was really starting to get annoyed. Why did James have to be such an idiot about the whole thing? She knew why, really. Severus was a Slytherin and James hated Slytherins.

“James!� barked Slughorn. “Be quiet! Your grade will not suffer!�

James didn’t go any further, but Lily knew that it wasn’t the end of trouble between him and Severus, by any stretch of the imagination.

The bell rang a few minutes later. Severus had barely finished his potion when it did. He quickly bottled a sample and placed it on Slughorn’s desk. “Of course,� said James loudly as he walked out of the dungeon, “you don’t see me tipping over his cauldron…�

This was just too much for Lily. “Will you just shut up?� she cried exasperatedly. “You’re making me sick! He didn’t mean to tip over your cauldron, you big, fat idiot! It was an accident, so you will you stop harping about it already?�

“Bet you’d like that, huh, Evans?� said James sarcastically. “Well sorry, but I won’t stop. I’m going to teach that dirty Slytherin a lesson.�

“You are, without a doubt, the biggest jerk I have ever met in my life,� said Lily disgustedly.

Even Sirius looked a little taken aback. “Really, James…it was just an accident…chill out, why don’t you?�

James just stalked off.

“He is the most arrogant, egotistical, cruel loser I have ever met,� said Lily to a concerned-looking Sirius.

“He’s not all that bad…� said Sirius, feebly trying to defend his friend, but failing.

“Yes, he is.� Lily swung her bag over her shoulder and then took off in the direction of her next class.

She was fuming. How could James be such an idiot? It wasn’t that big of a deal. It was an accident, for heaven’s sake. Why couldn’t he just get over it and move on?

“Lily!� it was Alex, hurrying up behind her, Cadrian right on her heels. “Calm down, okay?�

“James is the one who needs to calm down, not me!� exploded Lily. “He is by far the most arrogant, bullying toerag I will ever meet. I’m positive of that.�

“Lily, look. James is stupid, but chill out, alright?�

“Expelliarmus!�

It was James’s voice.

Lily and her friends whipped around. James was standing behind them, glaring. A few paces away was Snape, with equal loathing on his face. They both had their wands raised and were both looking angry enough to knock out a giant.

“Are they going to duel?� whispered Cadrian, as they scurried safely out of the way.

“They don’t know much magic yet. What could they possibly do?� replied Alex softly.

Just then a commanding voice called out, “Boys, what is going on here?�

James and Severus turned simultaneously. McGonagall was striding towards them and the small crowd watching. “Um-uh,� James sputtered. “We…�

McGonagall, though, already knew what was going on. Her nostrils flaring, a regular trademark of her anger, she took ten points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin and gave both James and Severus detention. As soon as she’d gone, Severus ran away, followed by a crowd of Slytherins. James was enveloped into a mob of Gryffindors and soon the hallway was nearly empty again.

“James is such a hothead,� Lily said frustratedly, and then dropped the subject.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

That weekend was the first Quidditch match of the year: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny with a cool breeze, like any October day. Lily and her friends crowded out onto the pitch with the rest of the school and sat on the cold, hard bleachers waiting for the match to begin.

A Gryffindor fifth-year named Brendan Cook was commentating the match. “And its Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff today for the first match of the season!� he announced. The Gryffindor crowd, decked out in red and gold, and the Hufflepuff fans, dressed in canary yellow, cheered, hooted, and whistled. “Gryffindor captain this year is Jennifer Wood, a very talented Beater!� Brendan declared. “And Hufflepuff captain is Abraham Diggory, the Keeper. Gryffindor’s got a strong team lined up this year. They’re favorites to win the Cup!� This brought many boo’s and groans from Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins, and Brendan instantly backtracked. “But of course anybody could win.�

The Quaffle was thrown into the air and the match began. “And they’re off!� yelled Brendan. “Gryffindor Chaser Reynolds in posession, passes to Chaser Brown, who shoots-oh! Blocked by Diggory! And Hufflepuff’s in posession, bringing it up the pitch…Prewitt, Bean, Prewitt, Killian, GOAL! Hufflepuff score, making that 10-0 to Hufflepuff!�

The canary yellow crowd burst into cheers and the Gryffindors groaned. But about a minute later, the Gryffindor Chaser Reynolds scored, bringing the game to a tie.

Lily was entranced. Quidditch was very fast-paced and exciting, but also pretty rough; she didn’t fancy a go with those nasty Bludgers. The players were so agile and quick, sometimes they just looked like red or yellow blurs rather than actual people. And the energy was amazing; the whole school was completely into the game. Obviously, Quidditch was very popular.

A few minutes later, Gryffindor scored again, taking the lead. Then nothing happened for about twenty minutes, other than a Hufflepuff Chaser taking a Bludger to the head. Suddenly Brendan screamed into the microphone, “LOOK! Periwinkle’s seen the Snitch!�

Lily immediately spotted Chris, by now just a fast-moving red blur, diving towards the ground. The Hufflepuff Chaser was in hot pursuit, but Chris was moving faster, his arm outstretched, reaching, reaching…finally when it seemed the tiny golden ball would fly away, Chris caught it and tumbled off his broom.

Lily and her friends jumped to their feet with the rest of the Gryffindors, screaming, yelling, cheering. Then they hopped off the bleachers and back to the common room.

They were greeted by an explosion of noise. The whole House was celebrating the victory. Lily made her way over to Chris, who was drinking a bottle of something foaming and sweet-smelling, and congratulated him. “Here,� he yelled, striving to be heard over all the noise and thrusting a bottle into her hands. “Have a butterbeer!�

“What’s this?� she yelled back, opening the bottle.

“Just taste it!� he replied.

She shrugged and took a sip. It was as if warmth was spreading all over her entire body; it was the most delicious thing she’d ever tasted. She grabbed two bottles for Alex and Cadrian and fought through the crowd to get back to her friends. “Here,� she said, handing them the bottles. “Try it! It’s great!�

Just then somebody tapped Lily on the shoulder. She turned. It was Alex’s older sister Allie. “Here,� she said, handing Lily a small scroll tied with a lavender ribbon. Then she left.

Bemused, Lily untied the ribbon and unrolled the scroll. It read:

TO: Miss Lily Evans

You are cordially invited to Professor Slughorn’s Halloween party!
October 31st, 8:00-???
Professor Slughorn’s dungeon
Bring a friend or date!
Hope to see you there!

Lily shrugged and stuffed the invitation into her pocket. She’d think about that later. For now, she was going to celebrate the victory.

Lily, Alex, and Cadrian headed up to their dormitory about an hour later, but as the majority of the Gryffindors were still partying, it was very late before any of them got any sleep. Consequentially, Lily slept in much earlier than usual the next day, and when she went down to breakfast, the Great Hall’s platters were piled with lunch.





“So, you finally decided to get up!� grinned Alex, stabbing a chicken breast and dropping it on her plate. “We almost thought you were going to sleep all day.�





Lily smiled. “I wish I could.�





“If you did, you’d be in detention all week,� remarked Cadrian. “Do you know how much homework we’ve got to do today?�





Lily groaned. “Don’t remind me.� Before, she’d sort of liked looking up all the magical facts-it was so much more interesting than Muggle school-but now it was beginning to be somewhat of a drag.





The three friends ate a quick lunch and then headed over to the library. For once, it wasn’t very crowded at all. “Where is everybody?� Lily asked out loud, to nobody in particular.





A second-year girl sitting alone at a table said, “Third-years and up are in Hogsmeade.�





“What’s Hogsmeade?� asked Lily.





“It’s this village,� Alex explained, “right outside of Hogwarts, that’s completely magical. Nothing Muggle at all. Allie says it’s really cool. There’s Honeydukes, this amazing sweetshop, and Zonko’s, this huge joke shop. And at the Three Broomsticks you can get butterbeer, I’ve had it before of course but it’s amazing, and everyone says Madam Rosmerta’s is the best.�





“Wow!� said Lily enthusiastically. “I wish we could go.�





“You can, Evans. If you want to.�





Lily turned around. James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were standing in a group behind the three friends. James was grinning in a jaunty, winning way.





“What do you mean?� asked Cadrian, tossing her long hair over her shoulder.





“I mean just what I said,� replied James calmly. “We can go, if you want to.�





“How?� breathed Alex excitedly, her eyes gleaming.





“That fourth-year friend of yours, Chris,� said James, nodding to Lily, “showed us an easy way to get into Honeydukes’ cellar. So, you want to go?�





“Well, won’t we get in a lot of trouble?� asked Lily slowly.





James shrugged. “What’s the worst thing they can do to us? Give us detention?�





“Yeah, let’s go!� exclaimed Alex. “It’ll be so cool!�





Cadrian and Lily exchanged worried glances. “Well…� said Lily, trying to stall.





“Look,� cut in Peter. “If you want to come, meet us at the statue of the one-eyed witch near the portrait hole. You can’t miss it. We’re leaving at one-thirty.� With that James cocked his eyebrows arrogantly before the four boys left.





“Oh, guys, we’ve got to go!� said Alex. “It’s going to be so much fun. Please come with me?�





“But, Alex…we’re going to get in trouble…� Cadrian said.





Alex rolled her eyes. “Not really. So we might get a detention, but apart from that…I mean, it’s not like they’re going to kill us or anything.�





“I guess so…� said Lily, but she was still unsure. She hated breaking rules.





It looked like Cadrian was cracking. “Yeah!� she agreed with Alex. “We should go!�





“But what about all of our homework?� protested Lily.





“Oh, we still have tonight,� said Alex.





“One night?� asked Lily. She knew she was a boring goody two-shoes, but she couldn’t help it.





“Come on, Lils. We’re going and we want you to come, too,� declared Alex. She checked her watch. “It’s one-fifteen. The boys aren’t leaving for fifteen minutes. We could run up to the common room, put on some jeans, grab some money, and go…�





“All right, all right,� sighed Lily, agreeing against her better judgment, and knowing she’d regret it.





“Yay!� Alex squealed. “Now let’s go!�





The three girls slung their bags over their shoulders and scurried back to the common room. Again, it was mostly empty. They quickly changed into jeans and sweaters, grabbed some money (Lily’s parents had exchanged Muggle money for Galleons and given her some) and raced outside.





They spotted James and his friends standing next to a statue. He waved them over. “Come on, come on!� he said. Then, looking both ways down the corridor to make sure nobody was coming, he tapped the statue with his wand and muttered, “Dissendium.�





The witch opened up, revealing a dark passageway. The seven first-years simultaneously whispered, “Lumos,� and the tiny pinpricks of light guided them down the damp tunnel.





After what felt like ten long years, Lily glimpsed a light at the end of the tunnel. James apparently had noticed it as well, for he started sprinting forward. “Come on!� he yelled excitedly. “It’s the Honeydukes cellar! This is amazing!�





The remaining six broke into a run and entered the stuffy, dark room that was the cellar. Huge crates were stacked everywhere, labeled things like “Fizzing Whizbees,� “Sugar Quills,� and other things Lily had never heard of. James pried open a crate full of little pieces of what looked like some kind of fudge and greedily dug in.





“James!� said Lily reproachfully. “You can’t just steal all this stuff!�





James grabbed another slice of the fudge and closed up the crate. “Nobody’ll ever know,� he replied.





“That’s not the point,� Lily said.





“Then what is?�





“It’s wrong! You have to pay for that!�





Peter snatched the fudge out of James’s hands and said, “Look, he didn’t take much. Now let’s go and see the rest of Hogsmeade, all right?�





Lily shot James a nasty look as he grabbed back the fudge from Peter and stuffed the entire thing into his mouth.





They ascended up the stairs, pushed through a small trapdoor, and found themselves in a warm, sweet-smelling shop-Honeydukes, of course-crowded with Hogwarts students. Nobody had noticed a bunch of first-years crawl out from the cellar, so they dispersed, agreeing to meet back at the trapdoor at four o’ clock. It was about two. Lily, Alex, and Cadrian set out for the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer.





Hogsmeade reminded Lily of Diagon Alley, the streets lined with wizarding shops, bustling with crowds of fussy witches and tall, balding wizards. Today, of course, there were students everywhere, as well.





It didn’t take the girls long to find the Three Broomsticks. Inside it was so crowded, they could hardly move. They managed to find an empty table, miraculously, and Alex and Cadrian sat down while Lily ordered three butterbeers.





She took them back to the table. They were piping hot, and a warm amber color, with ivory foam on top spilling over the sides of the mugs. Lily took a sip. It was like the thing that Chris had given her after the Quidditch match, but much, much warmer and richer. “That’s awesome,� she announced.





The Three Broomsticks was filling up more every second, so Lily, Alex, and Cadrian quickly drank their butterbeers and went back outside. It was slightly chilly, but bearable, and the sun beating down on them warmed them up.





They wandered around awhile, not really sure where to go, when they overheard a group of Slytherins saying something about a “Shrieking Shack.� “Ooh, that sounds cool!� exclaimed Alex, always the daring one of the group. “Let’s find this Shrieking Shack.�





“Um…I think it’s right there,� commented Cadrian, pointing.





On top of a tallish hill stood an old house. It was boarded up. Shutters were hanging off windows, the steps were bashed in, and it looked about to cave in if anybody stepped inside. Behind a fence well away from the house was a large crowd of people. The three friends ran over to it.





“What’s so special about this old shack?� asked Alex, clearly disappointed.





An old lady turned around. She had stringy white hair hanging down to her shoulders and one blue eye, and one green. “For years this house has been abandoned,� she croaked. “Decades. Nobody ever thought anything of it and we left it alone. But just a couple weeks ago, we all heard shrieks and terrible moans, groans, and numerous large crashes coming from inside. We were all terrified…nobody dared to even approach it. It hasn’t happened since, but…we all think it’s inhabited by evil spirits. Even Dumbledore says that…so it must be true.�





“Wow,� breathed Alex. She pushed to the front of the crowd and returned a few minutes later. “Nothing to see,� she declared. “It may have shrieked, but it isn’t now. Let’s go.�





As they made their way back to the main road, Cadrian warned them, “It’s three-thirty! We should probably get back to Honeydukes.�





Lily and Alex agreed, so they pushed through the crowd of people and soon returned to the sweetshop. Once again they were enveloped by warmth and sweet aromas. Lily tasted all of the different free samples around the shop, but didn’t buy anything.





“ALEX?�





Lily whipped around. Alex’s older sister Allie was striding angrily over. “What do you think you’re doing?� she asked angrily.





“Allie, I…�





“How did you even get here?� Allie yelled.





“Shh! Allie, please-�





“I should send an owl to Mom and Dad!�





“No! Come on, Allie, I’ll never come back again…�





Lily spotted James and his friends gathering by the trapdoor. She grabbed Alex’s arm and pulled her away from Allie’s ranting and raving. “Come on,� she muttered, “we’re leaving now…will Allie tell McGonagall?�





“She better not,� said Alex furiously. They had reached the trapdoor. Alex wrenched it up violently and the first-years quickly slipped into it. James pulled the door closed and they hurried back down the corridor, not saying much.





When they reached the statue of the witch, they stepped out. Alex immediately bumped into somebody.





Snape.





Snape gazed at the seven of them in amazement. He wasn’t dumb. He figured it out. Lily knew he had figured it out, by the malicious look that came over his face. He sprinted away, presumably to tell McGonagall or another teacher.





“Back up to the common room!� Sirius hissed, so the seven sprinted the opposite way. They climbed back through the portrait hole breathlessly and sped back to their own dormitories.





Not five minutes later, the portrait hole creaked open and McGonagall’s voice roared, “JAMES POTTER! SIRIUS BLACK! REMUS LUPIN! PETER PETTIGREW! LILY EVANS! ALEX PARKER! CADRIAN MICHAELS! MAY I SEE YOU ALL DOWN HERE, NOW!�





Lily cast a fearful look back at her friends and then they descended down to the common room. The boys shuffled down shamefully as well. They stood in a group before McGonagall, everybody trying to get to the back, out of sight.





“Severus Snape tells me you’ve been in Hogsmeade,� she said, her nostrils flaring.





They nodded, all staring at the ground. What was the point of lying? It would only make things worse.





“Well,� said McGonagall angrily. “Well. For one thing, I have no idea how you even got in, but I assure you that if you go again, you will be expelled for sure. For now, I will only give you each a detention. All of your parents will be contacted. We shall arrange your detentions later.� She turned to leave, but just before she slipped through the portrait hole, she turned and said, “I expected better of you, Miss Evans.�





And those words were the worst punishment she received.

After the Hogsmeade incident, Lily refused to have anything to do with James. If she and her friends were doing homework in the common room and he sat down with them, she’d stomp off to the dormitory and continue her work there. If he sat near her at meals or in classes, she would resolutely get up and find a new seat. She wanted no affiliations with him whatsoever.

But life went on. The seven first-years all served their detentions, feeling that they deserved it. Halloween grew nearer and Lily was forced to make a decision of whom she was going to invite to Slughorn’s Halloween party. She was dreading choosing between Alex and Cadrian, not wanting to hurt anybody’s feelings. But one day, her problem resolved itself.

“Lily, guess what!� Lily was dozing off near the fireplace in the common room, enjoying the crackling flames’ heat, when Alex burst through the portrait hole excitedly. “You know Slughorn’s party?�

Lily sat up tiredly and rubbed her eyes. “No, tell me about it.�

Alex waved Lily’s sarcastic remark aside and perched on the arm of Lily’s chair. “Well, Allie just invited me!�

“Who?�

“Allie. My sister,� Alex clarified. “She got invited to the party and was going to bring a friend, but all of her friends were either invited by Slughorn or somebody else, so she invited me because she knew you were going.�

“Wait, what…?� Lily was always a bit disoriented after just waking up.

Alex grabbed Lily’s shoulders. “I’m going to the party. Invite Cadrian.� Then she grinned and raced upstairs to the dormitory, presumably to inform Cadrian of her news.

Lily sat up and rummaged through her bag, pulling out a silver hairbrush. She pulled it through her hair a few times and dropped it into her bag as a wide smile spread across her face. Alex was invited! She could bring Cadrian and nobody would get mad!

“What’s got you so happy, Evans?� It was James climbing in through the portrait hole.

“Oh, nothing, James,� said Lily sweetly, forgetting about how mad she was as she skipped up to the dormitory.

* * * * * * * * * *

Halloween was on a Sunday. While most of the school buzzed excitedly about the feast, Lily and her friends spent the day speculating about the party. After a light breakfast, they went back to the common room. Lily struggled through a Charms essay, writing a few words here and there, while watching Alex and Cadrian’s game of Exploding Snap.

Chris entered the common room and slumped down on the couch next to Lily dejectedly. “What’s up, Chris?� asked Lily. “Where are all your friends?� Chris was usually enveloped by his Quidditch-player friends and didn’t talk to Lily much. (After the Hogsmeade incident, however, he’d found plenty of time to tease her.)

“They’re all going to Slughorn’s party,� he said. “I’m, like, the only one not. Just me and Aidan, really.�

“Well, at least you’ve got Aidan,� said Cadrian reasonably, carefully placing a card on top of Alex’s.

“That’s not the point,� growled Chris. Obviously he was not in a reasonable mood.

“Then what is?� asked Alex absently, concentrating hard on her next card as she carefully placed it on the castle.

Chris just grunted and then got up and left. “Jeez,� said Lily. “He’s ticked.�

“Oh, don’t worry about it,� said Alex breezily. “Teenagers are crazy.�

Lily laughed and finished up her essay. “Done!� she said brightly, rolling it up neatly and placing it in her bag. Cadrian looked away from the game. “Lily, how do you always finish homework so fast?�

Lily grinned. “Dunno. I just do it.�

Cadrian sighed. “Lily, do you want to take my place? I really need to do that essay.�

“Okay,� agreed Lily, so she took Cadrian’s place. “Alex, did you do the essay yet?�

“Nah,� said Alex. “I’ll do it later. No sweat.� She placed her next card on the castle and it promptly exploded. Lily shrieked, laughing, and grabbed a pillow to shield herself. Alex’s robes were slightly singed, but the two of them were fine and they lapsed into giggles as the smell of smoke wafted through the air.

* * * * * * * * * *

At seven o’ clock Lily and her friends went up to the dormitory to get ready for the party. Danielle and Jeniece, two other first-year girls, watched them enviously. “Tell us everything about it,� they kept saying as Lily brushed all the tangles out of her silky hair.

At seven forty-five, Lily, Alex, and Cadrian went downstairs to the common room. Danielle and Jeniece followed them all the way down to Slughorn’s dungeon, badgering them with random facts. “I heard the Minister of Magic’s going to be there.� “Well, I heard that that singer, Aurora Beam, is going to be there.� “Slughorn knows the manager of the Kenmare Kestrels, they’re friends, and the whole team’s gonna be there!�

Lily and her friends were very relieved when they finally reached the dungeon. Then Danielle and Jeniece had to leave, because they hadn’t been invited. As the three friends entered the room, Alex remarked, “They really are very annoying.� Lily laughed and looked around.

The room had been dimmed, but lights bounced off every surface. It seemed Slughorn had somehow bewitched the room to give off tiny lights of all different colors: silver, gold, blue, red, green, purple…the lights were tiny, but they filled the room sufficiently, setting everything off in a nice glow.

It also seemed that Slughorn had magically enlarged the dungeon. Usually, it was cramped with the students and their cauldrons, as everybody ran back and forth from the store cupboards to their seats. But now multitudes of people, long tables covered in platters of food, and even a smallish stage fit in quite comfortably.

“Food!� exclaimed Alex, worming between little clumps of people to get over to the food. Lily and Cadrian exchanged amused glances and followed. Alex grabbed a plate and started heaping everything she could onto it. Cadrian did the same, but Lily just took a cup of iced pumpkin juice and sipped it conservatively, looking around the room.

She spotted James and Peter standing with a group of fifth-years. Lily’s insides boiled with anger. How had they gotten invited, and why were they hanging out with fifth-years?

Just then the stage Slughorn had set up creaked as the professor stepped onto it. He waddled over to the microphone and said, “Welcome to my Halloween party!�

This was met by cheers and claps. Lily set down her cup to clap politely. “Now I’ll get out of the way for the amazing and talented…Aurora Beam!�

This aroused even more cheering, especially from the boys. Some of the older ones whistled as Aurora Beam stepped onto the stage, her silvery blond hair shiny and glowing in the tiny little lights, dressed in a short, shimmery silver dress. She winked as she grabbed the microphone and began to sing.

Aurora Beam had a good voice, but Lily wasn’t very interested. She emptied her cup of juice and then another as Alex sang along, slightly off-key, and by the time Aurora Beam stepped off the stage, she really needed to use the restroom. She slipped out of the room, away from the noise and growing heat and immediately bumped into somebody.

“Sorry-� she muttered, ready to scurry away. Then she noticed it was Chris. “Chris, what are you doing?�

“Shh!� Chris grabbed Lily’s shoulders and turned her back towards the dungeon roughly. Then he pushed her forward. “Go back inside. I’m not here,� he hissed, so she stumbled back into the party, confused.

“Lils, where’d you go?� asked Alex, thrusting a bottle of butterbeer into Lily’s hands. “Danielle was right, the Kenmare Kestrels are here! Cadrian’s over there begging for autographs, Quidditch drone that she is, but I have no idea who any of them are. This butterbeer’s great, though-straight from the Three Broomsticks.�

Lily twisted the cap off the bottle and took a swig. It did indeed taste like Madam Rosmerta’s. Seven tall people in navy blue robes were surrounded by practically everybody at the party; presumably they were the Quidditch team. In a corner Aurora Beam was eating delicately off a tiny plate. Up close, she didn’t look as beautiful as she had on stage. She had tiny little wrinkles pulling at the corners of her eyes, and her face sagged slightly, looking lonely.

Lily felt a rash impulse coming over her that she couldn’t resist. She piled food onto a plate, grabbed two bottles of butterbeer, and marched boldly over to Aurora Beam. She plunked herself down in the empty chair next to her. “Hello,� she said.

Aurora glanced over at Lily. “Hello,� she said, sounding amused.

“Do you want a butterbeer?� Lily asked. She knew the situation was a little comical, but she didn’t really care.

“Um, sure.� Aurora accepted the bottle Lily handed her and popped the cap off easily. Lily did the same and took a sip of the rich substance.

After taking a long drink of her butterbeer, Aurora set the bottle on the floor, tossed her silky hair over her shoulder, and asked, her eyebrows arched, “So, no begging for autographs?�

Lily shook her head. “Nah,� she said. “No offense, but I’ve never heard of you. I’m Muggle-born.�

Aurora smiled. “So am I.� She took a strawberry off of Lily’s plate and popped it into her mouth.

By now Alex had wandered over, never liking to be kept away from any sort of excitement. “Hi,� she said brightly. “I’m Alex Parker.�

“Aurora Beam,� said Aurora warmly, offering Alex her hand. Alex shook it and sat down on Lily’s other side.

“My name’s Lily Evans,� Lily said shyly, kicking herself for forgetting something as simple as introducing herself.

Aurora smiled and took another strawberry. “Nice to meet you.�

Just then there was a commotion at the door to the dungeon. Lily, Alex, and Aurora all looked over. Chris was struggling against three of the Quidditch players, who were trying to force him back outside, with his wand pointed straight at Aurora.

Lily jumped to her feet, causing the plate she’d been balancing on her lap to tip over. Food spilled everywhere, but she didn’t care. Behind her, Alex gasped loudly. Near the door, Cadrian was looking on, wide-eyed and bewildered.

Lily hadn’t learned much magic yet in the few months she’d been at Hogwarts, but she knew enough to help out. “Expelliarmus!!� she yelled, pointing her wand at Chris. His wand flew out of his hand and clattered to the floor noisily. One of the Quidditch players raised his wand and muttered, “Stupefy!� Chris fell limply to the floor.

Lily and Alex ran over to the crowd forming around Chris’s body. “Come on,� said one of the Kestrels to his teammates, “we should take him up to Dumbledore…�

A man with curly black hair nodded and flicked his wand; Chris’s body rose into the air, floating, (he was still unconscious) and when they started walking away it followed.

Lily pocketed Chris’s wand and started picking up the food she’d dropped. Alex bent down to help her. “What in the world just happened?� she asked.

Lily shook her head. “I have no idea.�

* * * * * * * * * *

The next morning, Lily almost overslept. She barely had time to get dressed and run to the Great Hall for a quick breakfast as it was. She looked for Chris in the common room and at breakfast, but didn’t see him anywhere.

“Lily! Sit down!� it was Alex, furiously beckoning her over to where she and Cadrian were seated. Lily edged between the tables and sat. “What?�

“Chris. He tried to kill Aurora Beam!� exclaimed Cadrian.

Lily stared at her friends blankly. “Um…I know. I was there, remember?�

Alex waved this aside. “It wasn’t really Chris,� she said, as if explaining something to a five-year-old. “There was a Dark Wizard controlling him!�

“What?� Lily dropped the piece of toast she’d been buttering. “How?�

Cadrian started to speak but Alex cut her off in her excitement. “Okay. So. There’s this wizard and he hates Aurora Beam for some reason, who knows? He’s just crazy, I guess. He heard she was going to be here for Slughorn’s party, and snuck in somehow, I have no idea how because security’s so tight, but anyway, he used the Imperio curse on Chris-�

“The what?� interrupted Lily, once again showing off her lack of magical knowledge.

“The Imperius Curse,� Cadrian took over. “It’s illegal, and if you use it on a person, you’ll go to Azkaban for life.� (Lily didn’t know what Azkaban was, but thought she’d wait to ask until she knew what this curse was.) “The Imperius Curse, if you use it on somebody, you have total control of them, and you can make them do whatever you want.�

Lily’s eyes widened. “Whoa. And…what’s Azkaban?�

“The wizard prison. Horrible. Run by dementors,� Alex said.

Lily decided she would just look up “dementors� later.

“So, where’s Chris?� she asked.

“In the hospital wing. We can go visit him later,� suggested Alex.

“Okay,� Lily agreed. Then the three friends went to class.

* * * * * * * * * *

They were halfway through some complicated Transfiguration notes when a seventh-year boy entered the classroom. He walked right up to McGonagall and told her something in a low voice that Lily couldn’t quite make out. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good, because McGonagall’s face looked extremely grave. She called for everybody’s attention and said,

“As you all know, the fourth-year boy Chris Periwinkle was Imperiused by a Dark wizard on Halloween night.�

There were nods and a general murmur of assent.

“Well,� said McGonagall heavily, “it appears that we have learned that this wizard is still in the castle.�

Lily, Alex, and Cadrian exchanged glances. The atmosphere in the room changed rapidly. Now Lily could feel the fear that had entered, crawling on her skin, making it prickle unpleasantly.

“Everybody please go back to your common rooms. Do not panic. Go straight to your common rooms,,� McGonagall added sternly, with a pointed glance towards James. He grinned at Sirius.

There was a loud scraping noise as everybody pushed back their chairs and scrambled for the door. Lily grabbed her bag and then curled her hand tightly around the strap of Alex’s so they wouldn’t get separated outside in the sheer madness. She could feel Cadrian holding her bag as well.

Outside the classroom was complete pandemonium. Students were running every which way. Girls were shrieking and boys were hexing them trying to get them to shut up. Lily saw a suit of armor get knocked to the ground and crash; the head rolled away and a second-year-boy tripped on it. Teachers were being ignored entirely, and it was utter chaos.

Lily, Alex, and Cadrian were trying desperately to get back to the common room. They weren’t that far away from it, but the hallway was so crowded that they were making very little progress. Lily was starting to think that the Dark wizard could come and murder them all, one by one, and nobody would even notice.

But then she saw a very reassuring sight.

Dumbledore, making his way down the steps calmly and serenely. He stopped at a landing and peered over the edge of the banister, looking almost amused. “QUIET!� he roared, and silence fell instantly.

“Everybody, to their common rooms, immediately!� he shouted, and suddenly everybody dispersed, quickly, all heading for the common rooms. Lily, much relieved, followed suit.

But there was a big crowd of people waiting at the Gryffindor portrait hole. Alex, of course, pushed through the people to the front. Lily and Cadrian waited on the outskirts of the crowd, occasionally standing on their toes to get a glimpse of what was going on.

Finally Alex reappeared. “The Fat Lady’s gone!� she said. “If she’s not here, there’s no way we can get into the common room.�

“What do you mean, she’s gone?� asked Lily, confused. “How can she be gone?�

“Just visiting a friend or something,� said Cadrian vaguely, which didn’t really help Lily, but she decided to just act like she knew what was going on.

“Well, is she coming back?� Lily asked. “We need to get back in.�

“Apparently Pringle’s looking, but he’s so old it’ll take him years. Besides, I doubt he cares at all if we get in or not. We have to go find her ourselves,� Alex declared boldly.

“Alex,� said Lily exasperatedly. “Hogwarts is huge. We could wander around ages and never find her, and anyway, what about the Dark wizard? He’s loose in the castle!�

Alex shrugged. “So what? Like you said, Hogwarts is huge. What are the chances we’ll run into him? Come on, we’ll be out here all night if we don’t do something.�

Lily didn’t want to go. She didn’t fancy the idea of running into a crazy Dark wizard and knew it could take hours to find the Fat Lady. “If McGonagall finds out, which she certainly will, we’ll be in big trouble! Like, huge!�

“We could be in even bigger trouble if we have to stay out here,� said Alex seriously. “Come on, Lily.�

Lily looked towards Cadrian. “Cadrian, come on. You know it’s possibly the stupidest thing we could possibly do, right?�

But Cadrian was already siding with Alex, deserting Lily again, and Lily couldn’t very well send her two best friends off alone to possibly confront an evil Dark wizard, and definitely confront an angry McGonagall. So she sighed, rolled her eyes, and followed her friends up the stairs.

“Where should we look, do you think?� asked Cadrian as they came to a landing.

Lily shrugged. “How should I know where some fat old lady’s going to go?�

Alex thought. “Hmm,� she said. “Let me think. Okay, my sister Abby said the Fat Lady’s got some friend Violet and that they get together a lot and they like to drink.�

“So where’d they go?� asked Cadrian. “Did Abby say that?�

Alex’s brow furrowed. “Well, logically it’d be by the kitchen. Anybody know where the kitchen is?�

Lily shook her head. How in the world would she know?

“Well, we should look, anyway,� said Alex decisively. Alex liked deciding things. She liked taking control.

“Alex…� protested Cadrian. “Where the heck is it?�

Alex shrugged, a grin spreading across her face. “Let’s just go, okay? I think I have an idea of where it might be, anyway.�

Lily and Cadrian groaned, but Alex was in one of her impulsive moods, and didn’t even notice. “Come on!� she called over her shoulder, racing away. They followed, though somewhat reluctantly.

Alex ran up and down staircases, dashed into every door they passed, pushed aside curtains, and even took down a few paintings to see if anything was hiding behind them. She scrutinized every single painting they passed carefully, searching for a trace of a pink dress, a wisp of the Fat Lady’s curly brown locks. After two hours, they hadn’t found anything, but Alex was undeterred and still running around like crazy.

Lily and Cadrian, on the other hand, weren’t. “Come on, Alex,� Cadrian called wearily. “The Fat Lady’s probably back by now!�

“You don’t know that!� Lily and Cadrian followed Alex around a corner and watched her curls bounce up and down as she descended down more stairs. “Alex, you’re heading for the dungeons!� Lily shouted. It echoed back up to her. “Dungeons…dungeons…�

“So what? We haven’t looked there yet!�

Lily and Cadrian followed more slowly. They could hear distant voices. “What’s Alex saying?� Lily asked. “I can’t make it out.�

“Maybe she’s talking to the Fat Lady!� exclaimed Cadrian. The thought heartened the two friends, and they jumped down the last two stairs and then ran down the dank dungeon corridor.

They skidded to a stop, however, when they saw Alex flattened against the slimy wall, looking terrified. She turned when she heard Lily and Cadrian’s footsteps and put a finger to her mouth, signaling the two to be quiet. They stopped dead in their tracks. “What’s going on?� Lily mouthed.

Alex just shook her brown curls, her dark blue eyes wild with fear. Usually Alex was so bold and fearless; what was causing this fear in Lily’s friend? Lily tiptoed over to where Alex was standing. She could hear Cadrian following her tentatively. “What’s up?� Lily asked as quietly as she possibly could.

Alex pointed. Lily wasn’t exactly sure what she was pointing to. She followed the direction of Alex’s finger but didn’t see anything. She looked back at her friend, a questioning look on her face. Alex jerked her thumb behind her shoulder, motioning for Lily to look around the corner.

Lily stepped in front of Alex and peered around the corner. At the end of the stretching corridor, she could make out two figures. One she instantly recognized as Aurora Beam by her glowing hair. She was cowering on the ground and her mouth was opening and closing frantically, but no sound was coming out.

Standing over Aurora, his wand pointed directly at her, could only be the Dark wizard that had escaped.

Aurora looked up. Lily immediately stepped back around to where Alex and Cadrian were waiting, but she knew Aurora had seen her by the way her eyes had lit up.

“What are we going to do?� whispered Lily. “He’s going to kill her!�

“I know,� Alex said, her voice trembling with fear.

Cadrian peeked around. “What’s he doing?� she whispered softly.

“He’s torturing her,� replied Alex quietly.

“Why can’t she talk?� Lily asked.

“He hexed her, probably, so that nobody would hear her. That’s beside the point. What are we going to do?�

“What can we do? We have to get McGonagall.�

“But then she’ll know we left! Besides, what if he kills her before we get back?�

Lily swallowed and snuck another glance around. Things weren’t getting any better for Aurora.

“But we know hardly any magic yet,� she said.

“Look,� whispered Alex. “We know Expelliarmus, right? If we just take his wand, maybe snap it in half or something, what can he do?�

“Uh…he’s a full-grown man. What couldn’t he do?�

“Come on, Lils. We can’t just stand by while Aurora gets killed.�

Lily knew that Alex was right.

That didn’t mean she liked it.

But she sighed and took her wand out of her pocket. Alex grinned and did the same. Cadrian already had hers out.

The three friends crept as quietly as they could around the corner. But apparently it wasn’t quiet enough.

The wizard turned around and immediately noticed the three girls. With just one flick of his wand, all three of their wands flew out of their hands. He caught them and broke them over his knee.

Lily, Alex, and Cadrian exchanged glances.

Uh-oh.

Aurora looked up and immediately saw the three girls, who were standing, wandless and very scared, at the end of the hallway. She smiled slightly at Lily, but Lily was too petrified to return the gesture.

Slowly the wizard advanced on them, obviously enjoying the looks of sheer terror on their faces. Lily looked around desperately for something to defend themselves with-a rock, a stick, anything…Oh, why did I let them talk me into this? she thought angrily, as she felt behind her, hoping for a loose brick in the wall.

She didn’t find a loose brick. The wizard was halfway across the hallway now, still walking slowly and cat-like. With each step he took it got harder and harder for Lily to breath.

“Run!� she mouthed to Aurora, but Aurora didn’t do anything. The wizard was practically on top of them now, his wand outstretched menacingly. Lily could smell his rank odor; she gagged on it and looked away, down the hallway they way they’d come.

She had never been happier to see James Potter in her life.

And what was that flying behind him? Some kind of bird, Lily thought, squinting to make it out better. The bird was magnificent, with vibrant red feathers edged with shining gold, a majestic, curving beak, and beady, intelligent dark eyes. James pulled out his wand and the bird flew ahead.

“Ahh!� the wizard stepped back as the bird clawed into his face, flapping its wings frantically. Lily, Alex, and Cadrian took the opportunity to run over to Aurora. She was lying stiffly on the ground. The sight stirred something in Lily’s memory: James, lying board-like under the tree on the night of Quidditch try-outs. Alex, apparently, had the same thought and performed the countercurse like before.

Aurora staggered to her feet, leaning on the wall. “Are you okay?� Lily asked, watching the brilliant-colored bird as it snatched the wizard’s wand away.

Aurora just nodded. Lily remembered that the wizard had bewitched her to not be able to speak. But nobody knew the countercurse for that one, so they overlooked it.

“James, what’s that bird?� Lily asked, as they edged around the corner. The bird’s wings were still flapping frantically so that the Dark wizard couldn’t see a thing.

“It’s Fawkes. He’s Dumbledore’s. He’s a phoenix,� James explained. “Pretty powerful, when he wants to be.�

“Yeah,� breathed Lily. “So how did you know we were down here?�

“I saw you guys leave and I figured you’d get yourselves into trouble. Don’t know how Fawkes knew, though.�

“It’s a good thing he did!� said Alex, in awe of the phoenix. “He’s absolutely amazing!�

“He’s down here! I can hear him!� they heard somebody yell. Lily immediately pegged it as being Professor Looper’s. Her stomach tightened. “We’re going to be in so much trouble,� she moaned.

Sure enough, Professor Looper, with Professor Jangledon close on his heels, turned around the corner a few seconds later. He stopped short when he caught sight of the four first-years and Aurora, but quickly recovered when he noticed Fawkes and the wizard.

Looper and Jangledon ran past Lily, her friends, and Aurora and quickly called Fawkes off the man. Lily saw that he was unharmed except for a few small scratches and was glad. She couldn’t stand the sight of blood, even an evil man’s. Fawkes flew gracefully over to the fivesome and rested on James’s shoulder. James patted him appreciatively.

“You were great, Fawkes,� he praised.

Looper and Jangledon had tied the man up and enchanted his body to float behind them as they walked. They came to a stop in front of Lily and her friends. “What are you four doing down here?� Looper asked icily. Lily felt her blood run cold.

“We were…um…�

“You could have been killed!� Looper screeched loudly. It echoed off the low ceiling unpleasantly.

“Yes, we know, sir,� said Alex quietly. “We probably would have been if it weren’t for James. He saved our lives, him and Fawkes. Don’t punish him, he was only trying to help us.�

Looper sniffed. “You still do not have a valid excuse for being down here, girls,� he said. “You will each receive a detention, except James, and I am taking twenty points from Gryffindor.� Lily shot Alex a dirty look. I told you we’d get into trouble! she mouthed. For once Alex didn’t have a snappy retort ready. She just averted her eyes from Lily’s angry green ones.

“Now, come on. The Fat Lady returned an hour ago, so you can get back into your common room.� Aurora moaned-the spell seemed to be wearing off- since she couldn’t speak, and followed them slowly. The look on her face conveyed extreme pain with every step. She didn’t look that great, either: she was grimy and dirty from being on the dungeon floor, a purply bruise was spreading up her leg, and her arms were scratched with a bit of dried blood spilling out.

Aurora opened her mouth and her words were very soft. The spell was still affecting her a bit. “How can I ever thank you?� she croaked.

“It’s thanks to James, really,� piped up Cadrian. Lily winced. She hated that that was true.

“I suppose,� said Aurora, her voice growing stronger, “but you three had the guts to come down here, too. How can I thank you?� she thought, and then a smile grew on her weary face. “What if I give you all tickets to my Christmastime concert?�

A huge grin spread over Alex’s face. “Oh, wow!� she enthused. “That’d be great!�

Cadrian and Lily exchanged grins, and James said, “Er, do you mind if you give me an extra ticket? So I can bring another, well, boy?�

Aurora laughed. “Of course. I’ll mail them to you. Well, thanks again, but I really need to go home now. See you later!� she hurried away.

“See, Lily!� said Alex as she left. “It didn’t turn out completely horrible. We got free tickets to Aurora’s Christmas concert! I’ve heard those are practically impossible to get, and really expensive.�

“I told you we’d get in trouble,� said Lily sourly.

“But we saved Aurora’s life. That’s a little more important.�

“Technically,� broke in James, “I saved her life.� He smirked. “Speaking of saving lives, Evans, doesn’t this make twice that I’ve saved your neck?�

Lily winced, but James was right. “Yes,� she muttered, staring at the ground. She didn’t want to see the look on James’s face.

James laughed. “Wow. Pretty lucky I’m here, isn’t it?�

The sound of his cocky, arrogant voice was making Lily sick with anger and disgust. She hated him…hated him. He was a horrible, idiotic jerk, and she wasn’t the least bit grateful to him for saving her life twice…okay, maybe a little.

She maintained her huffy silence all the way up to the common room and when they entered, she stomped up to the dormitory, steaming.

Why had she let Alex and Cadrian talk her into that, anyway? They were always getting her into trouble, especially Alex. She could have been killed today, if it wasn’t for…James. What a jerk. So he’d saved her life twice. Big deal. He’d never let her forget about those two times, she was sure.

Lily lay on her bed for an hour, too angry to go back downstairs. Alex and Cadrian never came up to see where she’d gone, and that only incensed her anger. She lay on her bed fuming until she fell asleep.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lily woke up abruptly in the middle of the night. Groggily, she reached for her clock. It was one o’ clock in the morning.

Lily sat up and looked around. Alex and Cadrian were sleeping peacefully. Her earlier anger ebbed away as she watched her friends. They had saved Aurora’s life. And at least life was never really boring with them around. No, she couldn’t be mad at them.

With a jolt, Lily remembered a long History of Magic essay that was due tomorrow. Her eyes burned exhaustedly, but her essay was only half-done. Sighing, she swung out of bed and tiptoed downstairs as quietly as she could.

The common room was dark and empty, the last dying embers of the fire burning out slowly, providing little to no light. Lily stuffed more wood into the fire and the sparks hopped onto it, igniting the wood. The fire wasn’t terribly bright, but it was good enough for Lily to hurriedly finish up her essay.

A snore sounded loudly and suddenly, making Lily jump. She looked around for the source and spotted it almost immediately. A few tables over, she could see Chris, his head slumped onto an open book. She walked over to him and touched his arm gingerly. “Chris?�

His head sprang up, his hair sticking out in odd places. “What’s going on?� he croaked.

“Chris? I think you fell asleep.�

He blinked a few times. “Oh, hi Lily. Yeah, I was trying to finish up this essay and I just…� he let out a huge yawn. “Fell asleep.� Then he grinned. “I heard about your adventure today.�

Lily sighed and sat down next to him. “Don’t even bring that up.�

Chris frowned. “Why?�

“I…what?� Lily narrowed her eyes. “What did you hear?�

“That you saved Aurora Beam’s life,� said Chris. “And that James kid, too.�

Lily’s jaw dropped. “What?�

“James said you three saved his life, and if it hadn’t been for you he would have been toast.�

“He said that?� asked Lily, shocked. “But…why? It was exactly the opposite. He saved our butts, Chris.�

Chris looked genuinely confused. “That’s not what James said at all.�

“Well…I don’t know why he said that. I thought he was going to rub that in forever,� said Lily.

Chris shrugged. “I don’t know. Guess he just has another side that you don’t see much.�

Lily liked this idea. “Yeah. Well, I should go finish my essay, Chris. See you.�

“Yeah. See ya.� Chris staggered up the stairs and Lily heard him close the door. She finished her essay quickly and then went back up to bed.

Just before she fell asleep, a disturbing thought entered her mind:

Maybe James isn’t so bad after all.

But she quickly chased it out, startled. James was so bad. I’m just tired, she reasoned with herself. That’s all.

So Lily got her third wand of the school year, and the three friends served their detentions dutifully. For about a week, they were quite popular within the Gryffindor common room. Everybody thought they’d saved James’s life.

Lily never asked James why he hadn’t told everybody what had really happened in the dungeons. It was so…nice of him. Lily was grateful to him, but also confused. Why would he give up this perfect opportunity to gloat in Lily’s face?

Whatever the reason for James’s kindness, it had been short-lived. After a week of taunts from other boys about having his butt saved by three girls, he was being his old, arrogant self again. In a strange way this comforted Lily. At least now she didn’t have any annoying thoughts about a different side of James.

The following weeks were relatively uneventful for Lily. November came and went, bringing with it cold winds, frequent rainstorms, and a few more Quidditch matches. Lily, Alex, and Cadrian attended all of them, even though one or two occurred in horrible weather. Still, Lily liked Quidditch: it was exciting and fast-paced, and when Gryffindor was playing she could hardly stay on her seat.

December rolled around faster than Lily expected. One morning at breakfast, as the owls came through, Lily received a thick envelope.

“Weird,� she commented. “I never get mail.�

Alex tugged the creamy envelope out of Lily’s hands. “It’s Aurora’s tickets, I bet. See, it’s addressed to all of us: you, me, Cadrian, and James.�

“Oh, right.� Lily tore open the envelope and five bright blue tickets fell out onto the table. She picked one up. “December 27. This will be fun!�

“Yeah!� Cadrian grinned. “Hey, James! The tickets are here!�

James looked up from his breakfast. He was sitting towards the end of the table, but got up and jogged over to where the girls were sitting. “Sweet,� he said, picking two of them up.

“Who are you bringing?� asked Alex.

“Sirius. I asked Remus first, because he’s been looking a bit pale lately…but he said that he couldn’t come, that he’d be busy around then. And Peter’s going on vacation with his family.�

“What’s Remus doing?�

James shrugged. “I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me. He’s a bit secretive at times, really.� He pocketed his tickets and walked back to his seat.

Alex didn’t drop the subject, however. “Remus does act oddly sometimes. Why is that, do you think?�

“Hmm,� mused Cadrian. “I don’t know. It’s weird that he wouldn’t even tell James.�

“It’s obviously none of our business,� cut in Lily. “If he wanted us to know, he’d tell us. He probably doesn’t enjoy nosiness,,� she added, with a pointed glance towards Alex.

Alex shrugged. “I guess you’re right. It’s just strange.�

They dropped the subject, finished their breakfasts, and then walked to their first class, Transfiguration. They snagged seats together and then waited for class to start.

It wasn’t the most exciting class they had ever had. It was mostly a lot of complicated notes, and nobody was sorry when the bell rang.

Lily, Alex, and Cadrian meandered out into the courtyard, where dozens of students were already milling about aimlessly. Lily noticed James and his friends huddled close together on a nearby bench. They looked very conspiratory. Lily heaved a sigh.

“What’s up, Lils?� asked Alex.

“James. Look at him! He’s definitely up to something.�

Alex and Cadrian glanced over at the four boys. “Aren’t they always up to something?� Cadrian asked absently.

Alex giggled. “Lily, he saved our lives and then denied it, making a complete fool out of himself. Can’t you lay off him?�

“No,� said Lily stubbornly. “He’s still a prat.�
Alex and Cadrian rolled her eyes. “Seriously, though!� Lily pressed on. “He’s plotting trouble!�

“If he is, he’ll get detention. End of story,� Alex said. Clearly she was uninterested. Lily decided her friends were right, and dropped the subject.

* * * * * * * * * *

The rest of the day passed uneventfully and Lily forgot all about her earlier suspicions as she and her friends clamored into armchairs clustered near a roaring fire to do their homework. They didn’t have too much work: just a short Herbology essay and a few questions for Potions.

Suddenly Remus and Peter plopped down directly in front of the three girls’, blocking the warm light from the fire. “What do you want?� asked Cadrian.

Remus shrugged. “Just looking for someone to talk to.�

Lily narrowed her eyes. “Where are James and Sirius, then?�

Remus and Peter exchanged glances. I knew they were up to something, Lily thought grimly. “They’re, er…in the library,� said Peter.

Now Lily knew they were lying. She doubted that James and Sirius had been in the library once since the start of term.

“Oh. I see,� said Lily. “Why didn’t you go with them?�

Her question caught the two boys off guard. “Well-er,� said Peter, “see, we already, um, finished our homework.� Remus nodded earnestly.

Alex raised her eyebrow skeptically. “If it was only Remus, I’d believe that,� she said. “But you know, Peter, we see you finishing homework every day at breakfast.�

Peter blushed scarlet and neither of the boys spoke for awhile.

Remus and Peter’s idle chatter was not pointless. They had been delegated to this task-distracting the three girls-as James and Sirius were carrying on something a bit more exciting.

Behind the girls, James and Sirius were slowly but steadily inching their way up the banister of the staircase that led to Lily, Alex, and Cadrian’s dormitory, careful not to let any part of their body touch the stairs. They knew all too well what would happen if they did.

James reached the top, where the banister straightened out, and swung one leg over the side so that he was straddled on top of it. “Come on, Sirius!� he whispered as loudly as he dared. He scooted up a bit to give Sirius room to come up behind him. Sirius did so.

“Okay,� said James, bringing his other leg over. “Now we have to get inside without touching the stairs.�

Sirius grinned. “Easy. Let’s go.�

James reached for the doorknob and eased it open, praying that nobody was inside. To the two boys’ immense relief, it was empty. “Great,� whispered Sirius. “Let’s go!�

James hoisted himself off the banister and landed safely inside the dormitory. He waited to see if the loud alarm would sound, but nothing happened. He flashed Sirius a thumbs-up and then stepped inside.

Sirius landed with a slight “oomph� a few seconds later, and still the alarm didn’t sound. They closed the door and then looked around.

“Which do you think is Lily’s bed?� asked Sirus.

“Well, this trunk has the initials A.P.�

“That doesn’t make Lily Evans.�

“No, stupid, it makes Alex Parker, and she got a ticket too!�

“Oh, right…well, this one says C.M. Cadrian Michaels.�

James nodded. “So Lily’s must be either this one or this one.�

“What if they kept their tickets in their bags?� asked Sirius. The thought had stricken him quite suddenly.

“We’ll look anyway.� James fumbled with the lock on Alex’s trunk. “She’s locked this. What’s the spell again? Amoholora or something?�

“Alohomora!� Sirius said and the lock clicked open. They knelt down by it.

“Mostly robes and books,� said James, rummaging through Alex’s posessions. “Girl stuff.�

“Well, maybe it’s in her nightstand,� Sirius suggested, and got up and went over to the small table next to Alex’s bed. “Yep, it’s right here!� he announced, waving it triumphantly in the air.

“Oh, good!� James took a slip of paper out of his pocket and placed it on the nightstand.

It looked exactly like the Aurora Beam ticket.

The two boys exchanged devilish grins as James pocketed Alex’s real ticket. “Now just two more,� he said.

Just then they heard girly giggles right outside the door. “It was so funny!� a high-pitched voice said. James recognized the voice as Danielle, one of the other Gryffindor first-years. “Quick, hide!� he whispered to Sirius, and they dove under Alex’s bed.

It was dusty and quite cramped under Alex’s bed, but they didn’t dare leave its safety. Danielle and Jeniece were twittering away. “Can you believe that Lily and them got Aurora Beam tickets?� James could hear the envy in Jeniece’s voice. He and Sirius exchanged grins.

“Well, I’m tired.� That was Danielle. “I’m going to bed. Night.�

“Night,� said Jeniece. The door opened and then closed; presumably Jeniece was leaving.

“Now what?� James mouthed to Sirius.

“Let’s see where she is,� Sirius whispered. He crawled out from under the bed cautiously. Danielle was lying in a bed at the other end of the room. Sirius couldn’t tell if she was asleep or not, but he started looking through the drawers in Cadrian’s nightstand.

There was a rustle of bedcovers, and then Danielle called out a bit shakily, “Is somebody there?�

Sirius’s hand dropped to the floor and he ducked. About five minutes later, he dared to crouch again and resume his search. He found Cadrian’s ticket and put a fake there.

James, on the other hand, had crawled out to help Sirius. “We just need Lily’s now,� Sirius whispered. He could tell by the snores from Danielle’s bed that Danielle was asleep.

“Do you think she’d just leave it out?� James whispered back.

Sirius shrugged. “Let’s look anyway.�

They crawled as quietly as they could to the bed on the end that was surely Lily’s. Her nightstand was much neater than Alex’s. Alex’s was littered with bits of parchment, quills, candy, and other trinkets, while Lily’s merely held a small lamp.

Seeing that Lily’s ticket was not on top, James opened the first drawer. There was a notebook inside titled Lily’s Journal.

Identical evil grins spread across the boys’ faces, but James didn’t pick it up. “Some other time,� he whispered. “We need to get the ticket and get out of here.�

Back in the common room, the three girls were getting quite fed up with Remus and Peter’s antics. “We are trying to work!� Lily yelled after a half hour of their pointless chatter. “Could you please be quiet!�

Remus saw James and Sirius climbing stealthily down the banister. Sirius flashed Remus a thumbs-up, so Remus said, “Fine, if you hate us that much we’ll leave. Come on, Peter.�

Remus and Peter got up to leave.

And James and Sirius stashed the girls’ tickets in their own dormitory.

The last couple of weeks before Christmas flew by in a flurry of homework and suddenly Lily found herself packing up a suitcase to go home over break.

She tucked her Aurora Beam ticket safely into her suitcase. The three girls were planning to meet at Alex’s house the day before the concert and then leave together.

“Lily, hurry up!� that was Alex, always impatient. “The train’s about to leave! Come on!�

“Coming!� Lily called. She zipped up her suitcase and lugged it down the stairs. Alex and Cadrian were waiting downstairs.

The three girls exited the common room and joined the throng of people heading for the doors. “Got your ticket, Lily?� Alex said, yelling to be heard over the tremendous noise.

Lily nodded, concentrating on not getting separated from her friends in the crowd. She gripped her suitcase tightly with one hand and curled her other fingers around the handle of Alex’s. Alex either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Finally they got through the doors and the crowd thinned out. It was a bitingly cold day, but the sun burned brightly overhead. Reflecting off the glistening snowbanks, it was blindingly bright. Lily squinted from the glare.

The Hogwarts Express was waiting, gleaming and crimson. The lightly falling snow melted upon touching it; droplets of water were streaking down the sides. Nobody was doing anything about the gang of sixth-year Slytherins who were trying to turn the train green (they had always thought that the crimson color favored Gryffindor too much.)

Lily, Alex, and Cadrian grabbed a compartment quickly before they all filled up. A few minutes later the door opened and James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter spilled in.

Ignoring Lily’s loud groans, the four boys made themselves comfortable. “So, guys,� said James casually, swinging his feet up beside Alex (she pushed them forcefully off). “Any plans for break?�

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yes, James,� she said irritably. “We’re going to the concert, remember?�

“Oh yes.� For some reason all four boys found this very funny. So immature, Lily found herself thinking. “Of course. Maybe we’ll see you there.�

“Maybe so,� Lily replied coldly.

Lily hoped the boys would leave, but as the train ride wore on it became clear that they were there for good. Lily crossed her arms moodily across her chest and stared out the window, not caring to join in the conversation. When they finally pulled into Platform 9 ¾, she bid her friends a huffy good-bye and then went off to find her parents.

“Oi, Evans! Wait up!�

She groaned. “What do you want, James?� she asked.

He slowed to a walk next to her. “Well, you forgot to say good-bye to me. I figured you’d want another chance.� He grinned. “So here I am.�

Lily rolled her eyes. “Good-bye, James. And good riddance.�

James smirked. “See you at the concert.�

“I suppose,� said Lily icily.

James just laughed. “Yep. See you around, Evans.� He ran off.

Lily crossed through the barrier without another look behind her. Her parents were waiting for her and they broke into wide grins when they saw her.

“Hi, Mum,Dad!� said Lily brightly. Her father scooped her into a rib-cracking hug.

“We missed you so much!� Mrs. Evans exclaimed as they started to the car. “So how was it? Your letters got shorter and shorter lately!�

Lily laughed. “I’ve been so busy!� she said. “You wouldn’t believe everything my friends and I have done…�

“Tell us about these friends,� said her father jovially as he dragged Lily’s suitcase along the road. “Alex and something, right? Katie?�

“Cadrian,� Lily corrected him. “Yes, Alex is very wild and Cadrian’s really nice. We have lots of adventures.�

“Like what?� prompted her mother as they entered the parking lot.

“Well, one time there was this Dark wizard loose in the castle,� began Lily. She had neglected telling her parents this story just yet; she didn’t want them to worry.

“Dark? What do you mean?�

Lily laughed. Her Muggle parents were awfully ignorant.

“Like…evil,� she said. Her mother gasped.

“Evil magic? Like black magic? You aren’t learning black magic, are you?�

“No, Mom. This Dark wizard snuck in somehow. He was after this famous singer, Aurora Beam. Aurora had come for Slughorn’s Halloween party.�

“Slughorn…the name rings a bell,� said Mr. Evans.

“He’s a professor. Very round and bouncy. Anyway, this Dark wizard cast a spell on my friend Chris so that he could control him and he almost got Chris to kill her!�

“Oh my,� said Mrs. Evans. “That certainly does sound exciting. Did your friend murder the poor girl?�

“No, Mom! She’s fine. But then the Dark wizard was still in the castle the next day. Which is dangerous, of course. But we couldn’t get in our common room because the Fat Lady had left.�

Mr. And Mrs. Evans exchanged confused glances. What does a fat lady have to do with anything? was what they were both thinking, but they didn’t interrupt Lily’s story.

“Alex said we should go find the Fat Lady and Cadrian agreed. I didn’t want to go because we would get in terrible trouble. Or run into the Dark wizard. Well, we did run into the Dark wizard. He was torturing Aurora and he was going to kill her. We tried to help but he took our wands and broke them.� She paused. “We would have probably died, but this boy James saved our lives.� It was excruciatingly hard to squeeze those words out of her mouth.

“Oh…my,� said Mrs. Evans. “James sounds very nice.�

Lily snorted. “No. He’s the most arrogant git I’ve ever met.�

“Oh.�

Lily and her parents chatted as they drove home and in about half an hour they pulled up in the driveway. The sight of her house filled Lily with happiness.

“Oh, Mom! I forgot,� said Lily as they entered the house. “You know that singer, Aurora Beam?� Mrs. Evans nodded. “Well, she gave us free tickets to her Christmas concert. Because we saved her life. It’s on the twenty-seventh. Can I go?�

“Well, of course,� replied Mrs. Evans. “Er, but…where is it?�

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know, but Alex does. We’re meeting at her house the twenty-sixth. All right?�

“Where does Alex live?� asked Mr. Evans.

“I’m not sure,� Lily admitted. “She gave me a little packet of powder. It’s called Floo powder. I’m supposed to throw it into the fire, step in, and yell ‘Parker residence’ and supposedly I’ll get to her house.�

Mrs. Evans raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Will it work?� she asked. “It sounds a bit far-fetched.�

Lily shrugged again. “Everything at Hogwarts is a bit far-fetched, Mum. You get used to it.�

“Well…� Mrs. Evans wasn’t convinced about this “Floo powder,� but she decided to drop the subject. “Petunia!� she called upstairs to her other daughter. “Come downstairs, Lily’s home!�

Sour-faced, long-necked Petunia appeared at the top of the stairs. “So?� she asked sulkily.

“Don’t be like that,� Mrs. Evans reprimanded her. “We haven’t seen Lily in a long time. Come say hello.�

Petunia started down the stairs. “When’s she leaving again?�

“Her school starts back up on January the first. Now quit being so mean to your sister.�

Petunia rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything. She eyed her sister with contempt. “Hello, Lily.�

“Hi.� Lily and Petunia were not the best of friends.

Petunia turned. “Can I go back upstairs now?�

Mrs. Evans sighed. “I suppose so.� As a child, Mrs. Evans had been best friends with her sister, and it saddened her that Lily and Petunia’s relationship was less than perfect.

Mr. Evans was in the kitchen. “What do you want for dinner, Lils?� he asked affectionately. “Whatever you want tonight. As an early Christmas present.� He winked.

Lily smiled. “Mmm…how about steak and mashed potatoes and your famous green beans?�

“Sounds good!� Mr. Evans loved to cook, which was lucky because Mrs. Evans was a terrible cook who burned everything. He began happily peeling potatoes, and Lily went upstairs to put a few of her things away.

Lily stepped into her room and collapsed on her bed, breathing in the familiar smell. She sighed happily. “It’s good to be home,� she whispered to herself.

She looked around her room, neat and tidy as always. It hadn’t changed. It was almost like she’d never left and for a moment a wave of terrible homesickness swept over her, even though she was already home. It’ll be hard to go back after coming home.

Lily got up and opened her suitcase. She placed her Aurora Beam ticket carefully on the dresser. It was a pearly, glistening white with streaks of bright yellow and blue. Very professional printing, she thought, of course.

About an hour later, her stomach rumbling, Lily wandered back downstairs. “Is dinner ready?� she asked.

Mr. Evans was finishing setting the table. “You’re just in time. Get your sister and we’ll eat.� Lily raced back upstairs and knocked on Petunia’s door. “Petunia, dinner’s ready!�

When they were all seated around the dinner table, Lily looked around, and a warm happiness spread through her body. Even with Petunia sulking, it was nice to be home.

Christmas Day flew by in a whirl of good food, presents, and rambunctious cousins. It was cold, but there was no snow on the ground, so the thirteen children of the Evans family stayed indoors, running up and down the stairs and breaking vases and arguing. It was chaotic, but Lily loved it. Three of Lily’s cousins were quite older than her and four were much younger, but there were four within two years of her age, and they got on quite well.

It was a bit awkward when they asked her about her new school, and Lily’s lies were not the most convincing. But even though she acted oddly whenever this topic came up, it was Christmas and her cousins did not really care.

The next day was the twenty-sixth. Lily was leaving for Alex’s house at three-thirty. She was uncertain about the little packet of powder Alex had given her, but as she had no other means of transportation she figured she should try it.

At three o’ clock, Lily packed her bag and slipped her ticket safely inside. Then she bounded down the stairs into the family room where the fireplace was located.

“Dad, can you make a fire now?� she asked.

Mr. Evans was reading the paper. He set it aside. “Do you really think this will work, Lily?� he asked dubiously. “It sounds potentially dangerous to step into a fire.�

“Don’t worry, Dad. It’s magic,� Lily said breezily. “Now please! Alex and Cadrian are expecting me at three-thirty.�

“All right,� he grumbled, easing himself up from his chair. “But…how can you possibly travel through the fireplace? It’s so bizarre. How will I know you’re safe?�

“I’ll be okay, Dad, I promise! I’ll write you as soon as I arrive.�

“Well…� Mr. Evans tended to be a bit overprotective of his daughter. “All right. Where does Alex live, anyway? Are you sure you don’t know? She could live anywhere.�

Lily shrugged. “No clue. Now can you please start a fire?�

“Wait one minute. How will you get home?�

“Same way, I expect. I’ll be home by tomorrow night.�

“Well….alright then,� said Mr. Evans grudgingly. He lumbered over to the fireplace, struck a match, and dropped it on the waiting logs. The fire spread rapidly and Lily stepped uncertainly in front of it.

“Okay, then…� she said. She was beginning to get a bit apprehensive about stepping into the fire; she could feel the heat emanating from the flames.

She ripped open the packet and tossed the fine, shimmery powder into the flames. They instantly turned emerald green. Lily hovered her hand over the flames cautiously. She could still feel the heat, but it wasn’t as intense.

Gripping her bag, Lily squeezed her eyes shut and slowly raised her foot. She brought it down, ready to yelp and jump back, expecting to feel great pain…but her foot touched the bottom of the fireplace and she opened her eyes in surprise.

It wasn’t painful at all. The flames were warm, but they felt pleasant. Lily grinned and stepped all the way inside. She was short, and the flames were so high they practically engulfed her. Suddenly it didn’t feel so great: smoke stung Lily’s eyes and when she took a breath she choked on the rising ash. “Parker residence!� she choked and she was gone.

She fell out of the fire in an ashen-faced, coughing heap on a soft rug. She wiped her face off and got to her feet.

Alex was sitting on a couch. “Lily, you’re here!� she exclaimed. “I hoped you’d figure it out.�

“Yeah.� Lily’s head was spinning and she suddenly felt very dizzy. She crawled over to the couch and collapsed on it.

“Are you okay?�

“Yeah, I just…that was…weird.�

Alex laughed. “It can take a little time to get used to Floo powder. But you’re here now, at least. Cadrian should be coming any minute.�

Soon Lily’s dizziness subsided. “Alex, where’s the bathroom?� she asked. “I need to wash my face.�

“Down the hallway, second door on the left.� Lily left the room, staring around. Alex’s house was huge and it made her house seem like a mousehole in comparison. She stopped to look at a tall portrait hanging in a hallway and when she turned she bumped into somebody.

“Oops, sorry!� she said. Whoever it was, she’d knocked them to the ground. He was a young boy, younger than Lily, with the same curly hair as Alex. She offered him her hand. “Are you okay?�

He took her hand and pulled himself to his feet. “I’m Adam. You must be Lily or Cadrian, right?�

“Lily. Nice to meet you.�

“Yeah. What happened to your face?�

Lily scowled. “Floo powder. It was my first time.�

Adam grinned. “Oh. The bathroom’s just down there, if you want to wash up.�

“Thanks. Well, I’ll see you later.� Lily walked in the direction Adam had pointed and soon found the bathroom. Her appearance shocked her. Her red hair was tangled and messy, her face and clothes caked in soot. She quickly washed her face off and smoothed her hair down, then found her way back to the room where she had come in.

Cadrian had arrived while Lily had been gone, although she looked a lot better than Lily did. “Lily! Are you alright?�

Lily grinned. “Yes…Floo powder isn’t that easy.�

Cadrian giggled. For coming through a fireplace, she looked immaculate. Not a speck of ash soiled her clothes and her dark plait was perfectly intact. “It takes some time to get used to.�

“Come on.� Alex jumped up. “Let’s go up to my room!�

Lily and Cadrian followed Alex up a stately marble staircase. “Jeez,� Cadrian whispered, “Alex’s house is huge!� Lily silently agreed.

Alex’s room was about three times the size of Lily’s. Her bed was huge, right in the middle of everything, with a blue and green bedspread. Her walls were painted a light blue and all her posessions were of the same color scheme. Alex plopped down on her bed and switched on the light.

Lily dropped her bags by the door and Cadrian followed suit. “Mom will conjure some beds for you guys tonight,� Alex informed them. “After dinner.�

“What time is the concert tomorrow?� asked Cadrian.

Alex shrugged. “Six-thirty, I think. I don’t know.�

“Where is it? Is it somewhere in Diagon Alley?� asked Lily.

“No, not there. It’ll be in a field somewhere in the middle of nowhere. They’ve probably spent weeks enchanting it so Muggles can’t find it.�

“Oh…okay.�

Alex checked her watch. “Okay guys, it’s four o’ clock and we won’t eat dinner until six. What do you want to do until then?�

Cadrian glanced out the window. “It’s a nice day. Can we go for a walk or something?�

Alex jumped up. “Sure!�

“Wait!� said Lily. “I just remembered. I promised my dad I’d write him as soon as I got home.�

“Here.� Alex produced a blue gel pen and pale blue stationary. “You can use my sister’s owl. Hurry!� she added impatiently.

Lily scribbled a short note to her father and folded it up. Alex grabbed it. “ADDISON!� she yelled.

About five minutes later a teenage girl with bright purple hair entered the room. “What?� she asked irritably.

“Can Lily use your owl?�

Addison eyed Lily. “Fine. Give me the letter, I’ll send it.�

Alex handed her the letter and Addison left, slamming the door behind her. “Now let’s go.�

They left the house and emerged onto a brightly sunny street lined with mansions identical to Alex’s. The perfectly manicured lawns were a healthy-looking kelly green with bursts of white and pink and yellow flowers. Some houses had kids running through the yards-the ideal picture of suburban life.

After about ten minutes Alex stopped abruptly. Lily and Cadrian turned back to her. A mischievous smile had spread across her face.

“Oh, no,� groaned Lily. “What are you thinking, Alex?�

Alex laughed, a sly grin on her face. “Guess who lives just down there.� she pointed at a huge mansion. It looked just like every other one.

“Who?� asked Cadrian.

“Sirius’s nasty cousin, Bellatrix.�

“Hey,� said Cadrian slowly. “I think…didn’t Sirius mention that he was going to Bellatrix’s house for Christmas?�

“Yeah!� replied Alex. “You think he’s here?�

“Who cares?� asked Lily indifferently.

“Because…I bet if he was, we could get serious revenge on Bellatrix and Lucius.�

“Alex…� Lily groaned. She knew why Alex wanted revenge: a week ago, Lucius had been aiming a hex at Sirius, but he’d missed and hit Alex instead. It had caused her to break out in boils that didn’t make sitting down very comfortable.

Cadrian was already grinning. “Oh no,� said Lily. “No way. No, no, no.�

“Yes!� said Alex. “Please, Lils? It’ll be fun.�

“Fun?� Lily asked in disbelief. “No it won’t. We’ll get in trouble.�

“Come on, Lily. Can’t you ever think about anything besides trouble?�

“No, I can’t, because everything you do leads us to trouble!�

Cadrian and Alex laughed together. “You’re right!� said Alex jovially. “Cool, isn’t it?�

Lily rolled her eyes. “I won’t do it.�

But Alex and Cadrian knew her well enough to know that she’d go along with whatever crazy scheme they thought up.

* * * * * * * * * *

A half hour later, Lily was crouching behind a prickly bush, her legs starting to burn from sitting like that for so long. Alex and Cadrian were peeking into the windows, but so far they hadn’t seen a thing.

Suddenly Lily heard the front door open and voices speaking loudly. “Guys!� she hissed. “Get down! Somebody’s coming!� If they were found in this position by one of Sirius’s cousins, it wouldn’t be pretty.

Cadrian immediately ducked down next to Lily, but Alex’s reaction was slower. She flapped her hand at Lily, motioning for her to be quiet, but she didn’t crouch down. Cadrian tugged at her shirt but Alex pulled away.

“It’s just Sirius, you guys,� she whispered, waving at the black-haired boy. “Come on!�

Exchanging exasperated glances, Lily and Cadrian crawled out onto the grass and got to their feet.

“Hi guys,� said Sirius, striding over. “What in the world are you doing here?�

“Seeing if you were still here,� explained Alex. Her expression darkened. “We want revenge on your cousins for that hex. Will you help us?�

Sirius grinned slyly. “Of course. What did you have in mind? We can’t use magic, you know.�

“Oh, we don’t need magic,� said Alex breezily. “We’ll just…use our imaginations.�

Sirius laughed. “Okay, then. Meet me back here tonight at eight and we’ll get started. Now I should get back inside before somebody comes looking for me.�

“Eight o’ clock. Got it. See you tonight!� called Alex as the three girls turned to go back to the Parker residence.

* * * * * * * * * *

At seven-fifty, the three girls snuck out of the house and crept down to the Black mansion in the gathering dusk. Sirius was sitting outside on the lawn, waiting for them. When he saw them coming he jumped to his feet and gestured for them to hurry. The girls ran the rest of the way to him.

“So, Sirius. What did you plan?� whispered Cadrian.

“We need to get into Bellatrix’s room first,� he replied, “and that’s not going to be easy. Luckily she’s at a friend’s house for two more hours, so I’ve put up a rope ladder. Follow me.�

The girls and Sirius, hidden well by the darkness, shivering in the cold, ran around to the back of the house where a flimsy rope ladder was hanging from an open window. “It’s so high,� Lily murmured, but nobody heard her. Lily had a vivid fear of heights.

Alex scampered up the ladder easily and disappeared into the room. Her head promptly appeared, looking down at them. “Come on guys, it’s easy!�

Sirius and Cadrian climbed up with no difficulty and then it was Lily’s turn. She hesitantly placed her right foot on the bottom rung and reached for a higher one.

“Hurry!� Alex sounded impatient.

Lily brought up her left foot to the second rung and the ladder swung with a slight breeze. Panicked, Lily froze and clutched the ladder tightly.

“Lily, come on! Just climb up!�

Lily took a deep breath and then proceeded climbing. About halfway up, she made the mistake of looking down. She was about twenty feet in the air and the ground, so far away, stunned her. Her sweaty hands began to slip and she cried out.

“Shh! Be quiet! Come on Lily, you’re almost up!�

Gritting her teeth, Lily adjusted her grip and climbed slowly up the last few feet. Alex and Sirius grabbed her arms and hauled her inside the room. It had a creepy, black theme, but that didn’t surprise Lily a bit.

“Great. So what’s next?� asked Alex brightly, as Sirius pulled the ladder up.

“Well,� said Sirius. “This is Bellatrix’s room.�

“Yes,� said Cadrian. “We know.�

Sirius hopped over Bellatrix’s bed and then opened the drawer of her black nightstand. He pulled out a black notebook. “Bellatrix’s diary.�

“Ooh!� exclaimed Alex, locking the room’s door. (The door was also painted black.) “Read it. What’s it say?�

Sirius laid the notebook on Bellatrix’s bed and pulled a long, skinny stick out of his pocket. “We’re going to switch Bellatrix’s wand with this.�

Cadrian laughed, but Alex wasn’t pleased. “That’s all?� she asked, clearly disappointed.

“No, that’s not all. That’s just the beginning,� grinned Sirius. He found Bellatrix’s wand lying on her dresser and switched them. “Now back to her diary.� He opened it up and a devilish grin spread across his face. “Oh, this is good.�

“What does it say?� asked Alex, bouncing up and down on the bed.

“Hmm.� Sirius flipped through the pages. “Here’s something. She says, ‘I just can’t stand Rosie Parkinson. She is the most annoying person I have ever met, and the way she hangs on Lucius is sickening.’� Sirius looked up. “I always thought Rosie was one of Bellatrix’s best friends.�

“Read more,� Alex urged. “Please!�

“Severus Snape thinks he is so smart just because he’s a first-year and he can understand those complicated Dark Arts books. He acts like a pureblood, but I know better. He’s a half-blood.� Sirius snorted. “She doesn’t have a good word about anybody.� He turned the page and gasped. “Dumbledore is the stupidest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. The Muggle-loving fool is such a disgrace.�

Lily gasped. “How could she say that?�

“There’s more,� he said grimly, reading on. “I can’t believe Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor. Now he’s started hanging out with Mudbloods and blood traitors and scum.� Lily felt herself reddening at the “Mudblood� comment.

“Okay, okay. That’s enough,� said Alex hurriedly, sensing Lily’s discomfort. “So what are we going to do with Bellatrix’s diary?�

Sirius shut it and returned it to the drawer. “For now, nothing. But when we go back to school, we’ll take action. I’ll steal it right before we go back to Hogwarts and put a different notebook in so she doesn’t notice right away. Then, at school, we’ll make copies of the diary and spread them around the school so everybody will know what a horrible person she is.� He grinned, looking very self-satisfied. “There’s so much stuff in here, I’m sure everybody will be very offended.�

“Perfect,� breathed Alex. “Now we’d better get back. See you tomorrow, at the concert!�

Sirius threw the rope ladder back over the windowsill and the girls climbed down quickly. Waving good-bye, they ran back to Alex’s house.

The next day, Lily woke up earlier than her two friends. The sun was just barely climbing over the horizon, sending weak pinkish beams over Alex’s kelly green lawn. Lily checked Alex’s clock; it was only five-thirty.

The girls had stayed up late giggling about this and that, but hard as Lily tried to resume sleeping, slumber would just not come.

So she got up and quietly slipped through Alex’s door, careful not to wake anybody who might be asleep. She tiptoed down the marble staircase and, taking care to still be as silent as humanly possible, slid back the glass door that led to the backyard and stepped outside.

Lily drew in a deep breath of the chilly morning air. The grass was dewy and cold under her bare feet, and her toes curled up at the dewdrops hanging on the blades of grass.

It really was a beautiful morning. The sun was rising rapidly and more light fell across the ground with every passing minute. Lily reclined in a chair on the wooden deck in the yard, just enjoying the feeling of being alive.

The sound of soft, pattering footsteps made Lily jump. She twisted around in her chair to see Adam walking towards her.

“Oh, hi, Adam.� Lily sat back down.

Adam sat down in a chair next to her. “Hello. I hope I didn’t scare you.�

“Oh-oh, no. You didn’t. I just didn’t think anybody would be up for awhile.� Lily had to suppress a giggle at Adam’s appearance. His eyes were red and puffy-obviously he hadn’t gotten much sleep-and his brown hair was sticking out in odd places.

Adam stretched and leaned back in his chair. “I’m an early riser. Everybody in our family is, except for Alex.�

“I know.� Lily giggled. “You should see her at school when we have to get up early.�

Adam’s expression darkened. “I will never see her at school.�

Oh yeah! Lily thought. Adam’s a Squib. “Sorry,� she said.

There was an awkward pause.

“It doesn’t matter,� said Adam sourly, but Lily could tell by his tone of voice that it mattered a lot, at least to him.

“Well-�

“I’ll never go to Hogwarts,� Adam sighed. This time, there was more longing than bitterness in his slightly squeaky voice. “Never go to Hogsmeade, or learn magic, ride a broom…�

“It’s not all that great,� Lily lied. In truth she loved magic, but it was better not to let Adam know that right now. “I mean it has its ups and downs, just like everything.�

Adam snorted. “Yeah. Right. There’s no way I’m going to believe you, after seeing what all my sisters can do. It’s…so cool. I’d give anything, practically, to be able to do magic and play Quidditch and everything.�

“Well, you never know what will happen, right?� reasoned Lily. “For all you know you could wake up tomorrow with magic leaking out of your ears.� She didn’t actually know if this could happen or not, but it seemed like a good thing to say.

Adam smiled. “You’re nice, Lily. But I’m not magical, and that’s that. I’m okay with it most of the time. But when they all come home, and they’re talking non-stop about all the great things at Hogwarts…I get so jealous.�

Lily sighed. “Yeah, it sounds pretty rough.�

Adam shrugged. “I used to be so mad about it. I thought it was so unfair. I mean, my family’s pureblood. Completely. You can trace our ancestors back for ages. I’m the first Squib to pop up since, like, the seventeen hundreds. But I’m used to the idea now.�

Lily nodded and silence fell over the pair of them. Adam was not quite as talkative as his sister Alex, it seemed. But then, thought Lily with a wry smile, who is?

Just then somebody shouted, “LILY!� Startled, Lily jumped up from her chair. “Who said that?�

Adam pointed up to a window with Alex’s head poking out. Alex waved jovially.

“Lily, what are you doing out there?� she called.

Lily shrugged, and then yelled back, “I didn’t want to wake you up.�

“Well, get back up here! It’s important! It’s about the concert!�

“The concert? Okay, I’ll be right up.� Alex shut the window and then Lily turned to Adam. “See you later, I guess. I’d better go before Alex freaks out on me.�

Adam nodded with a knowing smile. “Yeah, I know what you mean. See you around.�

Lily crossed the dewy grass, stepped inside the house, and picked the wet blades of grass off her bare feet before heading up to Alex’s room. When she knocked on the door, it was flung open and Alex pulled her inside.

“Lily!� she shrieked.

“What’s going on?� asked Lily, bemused by her friend’s behavior.

“Dress robes!� Alex exclaimed.

“Huh?�

Cadrian took over, though she was still rubbing her eyes, stretching, and yawning. “Dress robes,� she explained. “You know how at school we wear black ones? Well, for special occasions like this people wear dress robes. They’re fancier. And prettier.�

“Oh,� said Lily with a sinking feeling in her stomach. “But I don’t have any.�

“Exactly,� said Alex.

“Cadrian, do you have some?� Lily asked.

Cadrian nodded. “Here, I’ll show you.� She rummaged around in her duffel bag and produced bright pink robes adorned with tiny diamonds. “See?�

“Wow, those are cool!� enthused Lily. “But what am I going to wear? Alex, what are yours like?�

“Oh, I’m wearing these.� Alex disappeared into her closet and returned holding silvery silk robes embroidered with swirls of shiny sequins. Lily sighed. “They’re great,� she said.

“Don’t worry, Lils! I already talked to Mom about the situation, and she’s going to take us to Diagon Alley to buy you some robes!�

“What? No, no, no. I can’t let you buy me the robes!�

Alex waved a hand through the air as if brushing Lily’s comment away. “No big deal, Lily. Just a friend helping a friend. They won’t be very expensive.�

“Let me pay you back, at least,� said Lily.

“No, Lily! When’s your birthday?�

“In April.�

“Just consider this an early birthday present, okay?�

Lily thought about this. “Well, okay.�

“Of course it’s okay. We’re leaving at eleven-thirty, by the way.�

“It’s only six,� Cadrian giggled. “When did you talk to your mom, anyway?�

“Last night. When I figured it out.�

Lily nodded. “Well, okay…�

“It’ll be fun, Lils! Now come on. Let’s get some breakfast, I’m starved.�

Lily and Cadrian followed Alex downstairs into the kitchen. “I’ll make some toast,� she announced. “Or muffins? Bacon? Porridge? I’ll make it all,� she decided happily, getting down pots and pans. “I do like to cook.�

Lily laughed. “That’s good, because I’m starved.�

“Cady, can you get me the eggs?� Alex requested. “Over there.� she pointed to the refrigerator. “Do you guys like blueberry or chocolate chip muffins?�

“Oh, definitely blueberry,� chorused Lily and Cadrian.

Alex grinned. “Chocolate chip it is. I don’t like blueberry.� She ripped open a package of chocolate chips and dumped them in her batter, picking out a few to pop in her mouth.

“Lily, make the toast,� said Alex bossily. “Cadrian, hurry up with those eggs!�

“Here,� grumbled Cadrian, handing Alex two eggs. “Chill out.�

Lily quickly made the toast and spread jam over the three slices of bread. Setting them on the table, she said, “Should I make the bacon, Alex?�

“Yeah, sure.� Alex was busy mixing the chocolate chips that she hadn’t yet eaten into the batter, and then plopping dollops of the mixture into a muffin pan.

About forty-five minutes later, the three girls had a feast laid out in front of them: Lily’s toast and bacon, Alex’s muffins, and Cadrian’s cinnamon-porridge and biscuits. Grinning at each other, they sat down and started to eat.

Lily peeled the paper carefully off of a muffin and took a bite. “This is…tasteless,� she observed, studying it. “Alex, did you leave any chocolate chips in the batter when you baked it?�

“Er…a few…� said Alex through a mouthful of Cadrian’s special porridge.

Cadrian snorted with laughter as she lifted a piece of toast to her mouth. Suddenly she set it down and pointed out the window. “Isn’t that James’s owl?�

“Where?� asked Alex, jumping up.

“Flying straight towards us! Hurry, open the window!�

Lily glanced outside. The brown, speckled owl certainly did look familiar. A small parcel was hanging from its talons.

Alex opened the window and the owl soared in gracefully, landing with a ruffle of its feathers on the table. A feather fell into the bowl of porridge but nobody noticed.

Cadrian untied the package from the owl’s scaly leg and it flew off right away. Bewildered, the three friends examined it. “It says, ‘to Lily’!� Alex shrieked.

Lily took the package. “It’s light,� she said, hefting it in her hands. “Wonder who it’s from?�

“James, of course. That was his owl, I’m positive,� said Cadrian.

“But how did he know I’m here?� asked Lily, perplexed. “And what is it?�

“Sirius is his best friend. He probably told James. Now open it!� said Alex impatiently.

Lily unwrapped the brown paper. It fluttered to the ground, along with a note. Alex picked it up and thrust it at Lily. “Read it!�

The note read:

Dear Lily,

Hey. Hope you’re having a good holiday. I realized that I had forgotten to give you your Christmas present at Hogwarts, so I’m sending it now. Hope you like it. Oh, and I really can’t wait to see you at the concert tomorrow.

James

Cadrian grinned, her eyes sparkling. “He can’t wait to see you, how sweet!� she exclaimed.

Lily ignored her friend’s comment and laid the note on the table. “I wonder what it is,� she murmured, picking up the small box that had been revealed when she’d pulled off the paper.

“Open it,� urged Cadrian.

Lily lifted off the lid and gasped. “Oh my gosh!� she exclaimed.

Cadrian’s jaw dropped and she was speechless, but of course Alex was never speechless. “Lily, it’s beautiful! Try it on right now! Oh, just think how much this must have cost. Wow, he must really like you!�

Sitting innocently in the box was a beautiful diamond ring. The jem was the biggest Lily had ever seen. “Surely it’s fake,� she murmured, but she didn’t truly believe that. How could it be fake? It was too completely dazzling-it reflected the light in breathtaking colors and patterns, and was perfectly shaped.

“There is no way that that’s fake, Lily. Oh, my gosh…please try it on, right now!� said Cadrian.

Never taking her eyes off the shimmering jewel, Lily slipped the ring onto her finger. Suddenly she was enveloped in a burst of green smoke; coughing, she waved it away and looked back at her finger.

The ring had vanished.

And her finger was green.

Horrified, Lily’s eyes traveled up her arms. Every inch of her skin had been turned bright green. “JAMES!� she screeched angrily, furiously trying to rub the green off her skin. It didn’t work. “I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!�

It was very obvious that Alex was trying hard not to giggle. “Look,� she said, flipping over the note. “He wrote more.�

Alex read aloud:

“Well, merry Christmas, Lily! I thought the color would bring out your eyes nicely. And with your red hair, you’re really in the Christmas spirit now. But don’t worry, it’s temporary. Meet me inside the concert and I’ll turn you back. Cheers, James.�

Lily was positively steaming. “That boy is the most insensitive, arrogant, slimy little cockroach I have ever met!�

Alex was still struggling to hold back her laughter. “He said he’ll change you back tonight, Lils. No harm done.�

“Yes harm done!� Lily cried, not caring that her statement didn’t make much sense. “I actually have to go out in public looking like this!�

Cadrian grinned. “It was a good enchantment, though!�

Lily threw her a dangerous look and Cadrian instantly backed off. “Rotten though.�

Lily threw the red box in the trashcan and ripped up James’s note. “Stupid git,� she muttered angrily. “Stupid, donkey-brained GIT!�

“Calm down, Lily,� intoned Alex. “It’ll be fine. He’ll change you back at the concert tonight and we’ll forget about this and move on.�

“Fine,� grumbled Lily. “But I am not speaking a word to him.�

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that day Lily, Alex, and Cadrian set off with Mrs. Parker to Diagon Alley. After arriving through Floo powder, Lily was quite sooty but it didn’t hide the fact that her entire body, including her lips, eyebrows, and fingernails, was green. She was attracting more than one odd stare and after a while she had a strong desire to hex every person staring at her (even though all she could really do was disarm.)

But when they reached Madam Malkin’s, Lily’s anger was momentarily forgotten. Inside Madam Malkin’s was amazing. The shelves were stuffed with fabrics of every imaginable color and design, and Lily couldn’t imagine how she’d ever choose just one.

Lily tried on fiery oranges that clashed painfully with her hair; deep crimsons that clashed with her skin; shimmery midnight blues that looked practically black; feminine lavenders, palest pinks, sky blues, sunny yellows, even dingy browns. But nothing seemed quite right…until Madam Malkin brought out a light, springy green. At first, it looked a bit odd with her green skin. But Lily reminded herself that soon her skin would be back to normal.

So Mrs. Parker purchased the green robes, as Lily thanked her profusely, and they left the store. It was one o’ clock and the girls were eager to begin preparing for the concert.

When they arrived back at the Parker mansion, the girls set about getting Lily’s skin back to normal. They ran a hot bath in a bathtub the size of Lily’s own bed and Lily soaked in it for hours, scrubbing viciously at her skin with every type of soap, body wash, even shampoo that Alex owned. But nothing daunted the pigment covering Lily’s body.



Next, they asked Alex’s parents for help. Mr. Parker was at work, but Mrs. Parker tried a number of different spells on Lily, and none of them worked. In fact, she only made the situation worse; one of them made purple polka dots spread over Lily’s body. “This is very strange,� Mrs. Parker mused. “They’re only first-years, after all…how did they produce a spell so strong?�



Though none of them knew it, James and Sirius had stumbled upon a book of Dark magic at Sirius’s house (his parents were not exactly the nicest people.) It wasn’t as Dark as some other things they could have found, luckily, but Dark nonetheless. (Obviously beginners’ Dark magic, as James and Sirius were first-years, and not capable of too advanced magic.) The spell they had cast on the ring turned the wearer green and the only way it would come off was if the wizard who cast the spell performed the countercurse. It was an ingenious way to make sure that Lily would still be green at the concert.



And purple polka-dotted, of course.



By then Lily was absolutely fuming. “If I was James,� Alex remarked, “I’d be pretty scared right now.� At that Lily cracked a smile. But grudgingly.



It was two-thirty when Mrs. Parker announced that she couldn’t remove the green from Lily’s skin. Lily groaned as her friends giggled, not helping the situation at all.



“Come on, Lily,� said Alex, grabbing her wrist and hauling her up the stairs, “it doesn’t matter. You can pulverize James tonight. Let’s get ready. Maybe practice some boxing.�



This time Lily wouldn’t grin. “I hate that boy,� she muttered under her breath. “Hate him, hate him, hate him. He’s the foulest, stupidest, ugliest, meanest little-ugh!�



Alex and Cadrian had, of course, seen Lily mad before. As her best friends they calmed her down when her fiery temper flared up. But they’d never seen her this angry. “Whoa, calm down, Lils,� said Cadrian. “Beat up Alex’s pillow, not James.�



“Actually-� cut in Alex, but she stopped at a threatening glance from Cadrian. “Cady’s right. Of course. Completely.�



Lily rolled her eyes. “I think that if I punched your pillow right now, your room would be covered in feathers.�



Alex shrugged. “Try it anyway. Get your anger out.�



They entered Alex’s room. Alex bounded over to her bed, grabbed a pillow, and handed it to Lily. Lily threw it against the wall, narrowly avoiding a shelf stocked with books. Though it didn’t hit the shelf, the impact of it hitting the wall sent the books tumbling into each other. They landed in a heap on the ground.



“Oops, sorry!� Lily exclaimed, scurrying to pick them up as Alex and Cadrian collapsed in peals of laughter. It was infectious, and Lily found herself giggling too.



At three o’ clock they decided to start preparing for the concert. Lily did, indeed, practice punching Alex’s pillows and thought she did a fair job. Maybe good enough to give James a black eye, which definitely worked for her. Or perhaps a nice bloody nose.



While Lily planned ways to get revenge on James, Alex and Cadrian primped and curled and sprayed and spritzed and dabbed. Lily ignored their girly giggles and rituals as she contemplated the possibility of kicking James right in the place where it hurts the most.



At four o’ clock her friends forced her into the bathroom, which smelled strongly of hairspray and…strawberry? Lily sniffed inquisitively and Alex explained. “It’s lemon-strawberry spritz! You like?�



“Er, it’s alright.� She took another sniff and choked. “Doesn’t go well with hairspray.�



Cadrian laughed. “Well, what should we do with your hair, Lily?� she inquired. Cadrian’s own hair was curled loosely, bouncing whenever she took a step, and Alex’s was in a long French braid that had taken a lot of starting over, pulled hairs, and untangling horrendous knots.



“Um…I don’t know…isn’t it fine?�



Cadrian scrutinized Lily. “Hmm. Could be worse, I suppose.� She cracked a smile. “Of course, you know nobody’s going to be really paying attention to your hair.�



Lily put a hand to her hair defensively. “Why not?�



“Your skin’s going to get all the attention.�



“Shut up,� Lily growled. “I can’t help it!�



“Sorry, Lils. So you don’t want to do anything to your hair?�



“Well. Not really. But what do you suggest?�



“We could curl Lily’s hair,� said Alex.



“I don’t know…� protested Lily, but Cadrian had jumped on the idea. “Ooh, yes! You’ll look great, Lils. Just sit down here and stay still and close your eyes. And don’t open them until I tell you,� she added sternly.



Lily obediently closed her eyes. When she cracked open an eyelid, Alex’s hand immediately clamped over her eyes. “Aw, get off, Alex!� she said, prying her friend’s hand away. “I won’t look, I promise.�



So she kept her eyes closed for about twenty minutes, willing herself not to fall asleep, until Cadrian tapped her shoulder lightly. “’Kay, Lils, it’s done. You can look!�



Tentatively Lily opened her eyes and stared at her reflection. Looking past the polka-dotted skin…she sort of liked the curly hair. Her curls were tighter than Alex’s, but she liked that. They framed the skin on her face nicely.



“Well?� asked Cadrian. “You like it?�



“Um…yeah, do you?�



“It’s beautiful, Lils!� Alex squealed and clapped her hands together joyfully. “Oh, I’m so excited. What time is it?�



“Four-thirty,� replied Cadrian. “We’re leaving in one hour!�



Lily couldn’t help feeling apprehensive at the thought of going out into public looking the way she did. Especially where she’d see James. She didn’t join with her friends’ excitement. Instead she grumpily stomped out of the bathroom and collapsed onto Alex’s bed.



“Oh, come on, Lils. There will be so many people there, nobody will even notice you. Besides, James will change you back. We’ll make him.�



Lily sighed. “I guess so.�



At five they dressed in their extravagant robes. They were so much different from Lily’s black, scratchy school robes; these were silky and light and breezy, and Lily loved the feel of them.



The three girls admired themselves in the mirror, then Alex snapped a few pictures, promising to bring them to school so the girls could have copies. By then it was five-twenty, so the girls went downstairs.



“Ready to go, Mom!� Alex announced cheerfully, patting her ticket, carefully placed inside her pocket. Lily slipped a hand into her pocket to make sure her ticket was still there. It was.



“Everybody got their tickets?� asked Mrs. Parker. They nodded.



Then they proceeded out the door.



“Er…Mrs. Parker, how exactly are we getting to the concert?� asked Lily.



“There’s a Portkey waiting for us…it’s leaving at six,� Mrs. Parker replied.



“What’s a Portkey?�



“Oh, it’s an object that has been enchanted to take wizards to a set place somewhere in the world. It’s also leaving at six on the dot, so we need to move a bit faster.�



The girls increased their pace, practically running to keep up with Mrs. Parker’s long strides. “Where’s the Portkey, Mom?� asked Alex.



“Not too far away, but we have to walk, so we should probably hurry.�



Still running, they rounded a corner and abruptly the rows of mansions ended. They were facing a steep hill lined with trees, and in the gathering dusk it didn’t look very inviting.



But they kept on going, right up the hill, decreasing in speed as they went. It was a tough climb, scrambling over boulders and jumping over little creeks that wound around the trees. Somehow, Mrs. Parker hadn’t slowed at all, but the three girls had. Quite noticeably, in fact, until Mrs. Parker had to stop at the top of the hill, look back down, and yell, “Hurry up, girls!�



Exchanging resigned glances, they pressed on and finally they had reached the top, panting and quite out of breath.



They were standing, with a group of other people, none of whom they recognized, around an empty, dirt-caked butterbeer bottle. Lily stared down at it blankly. “That can’t be the Portkey.�



“But it is, dear,� said Mrs. Parker, bending over to pick it up. “Now, crowd around, everybody. Lily, come on! Everybody needs to be touching it…just a finger will do.�



So Lily uncertainly reached out and placed her green, polka-dotted finger on the bottle. They looked quite odd, she especially, huddling around this bottle expectantly, and suddenly…



They were gone.



They landed in a big heap on short, soft grass. Lily immediately disentangled herself from the group, got to her feet, and looked around. She had never seen such a big crowd as this. Witches and wizards were milling around everywhere; Lily could hardly see a gap in between anybody. She was almost knocked to the ground as the crowd jostled her forward. Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the group.



“Lily, that line’s for people buying tickets,� said Cadrian, eyeing them critically. “So silly to stand in that line…hardly any of them will get lucky.�



“Come on girls, over here!� called Mrs. Parker. They darted in between groups of chatting people and got into a line with Mrs. Parker, tickets in hand. Mrs. Parker had agreed to stay right outside, as she didn’t have a ticket, and if anything should happen they were to leave and come get her immediately.



The line was long, tedious, and extremely slow going. After a half hour they had hardly moved at all, or so it seemed, anyway. But finally, finally, finally, they reached the ticket booth.





“Ticket?� grunted the tall security guard. The three girls simultaneously held out their tickets.



The guard took them and examined them closely. “More fakes,� he announced to the man standing next to him. “Sorry girls. No entry.�



“What do you mean, no entry?� demanded Mrs. Parker. “Aurora Beam gave the girls these tickets personally!�



“Yeah, we saved her life!� ejaculated Alex loudly. “You’ve gotta let us in!�



“I did hear about Aurora nearly dying…but she was saved by a bunch of kids?� asked the guard skeptically.



“Yes, she was,� said Alex defiantly. “So let us in, you big pig.�



“Alex, let me handle this,� said Mrs. Parker quietly. Alex rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything.



Mrs. Parker drew herself up to her full height, which was considerably imposing, as she was six and a half feet tall. The guard stood taller, but Mrs. Parker didn’t seem to care. “What they’re saying is true. These girls really did save Aurora’s life! She mailed them the tickets. How can they be fakes?�



The guard shrugged. “I don’t know, but I assure you, they’re frauds.�



Lily peered around the guards into the crowd talking excitedly. A lot of people were staring at her; she could feel herself blushing, but kept searching. She was looking for James and Sirius…had their tickets turned out to be fake as well?



“Evans, I see you got my Christmas present!�



That was James’s voice. Lily looked around wildly but didn’t see him anywhere.



“Evans, over here!�



Lily turned around. James. He smirked. “That green color really brings out your eyes, but it would probably be better on clothing than skin.�



Lily narrowed her eyes. “Shut up, James. How did you get inside?�



James looked puzzled. “Um, with my ticket.�



“Yours weren’t fakes?� called Cadrian.



“Fakes? What do you mean?� that was Sirius; he’d appeared at Jame’s side. Was Lily imagining it, or did they both look sort of…smug?



“Yeah, what do you mean?� this time, Lily was sure she’d seen it; the two boys had exchanged grins.



“What did you do, James?� she screeched.



He winked at her and strolled away with Sirius.



“Come back here, James! You have to come back and turn me back to normal! JAMES POTTER!!!�



They didn’t even look back. Enraged, Lily tried to follow them but couldn’t get past the guards.



“You have to let me in!� she yelled, kicking and flailing against one of the man’s strong grip. “You don’t understand! I HAVE to get in there! It’s important! Let me go!�



The guard dropped Lily on the ground and the painful thud of her landing on the ground brought back her senses. Cheeks warm, she got to her feet and angrily strode away. Her friends followed.



“I’m getting in there,� she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t care what happens. I’m going to pound James so bad that he will never be able to play Quidditch again. I’m going to rip all his hair out of his head, glue it back on, and then rip it out again. I’m going to break his glasses, not to mention his nose, and-�



Alex cut her off. “Lily! Calm down. It isn’t James’s fault we can’t get into the concert.�



“I wouldn’t be so sure, I were you,� called the cocky voice that Lily hated.



James and Sirius were standing on one side of a chain-link fence, grinning like two idiots who had just won the lottery. Lily rattled the fence hard. “What are you talking about, you slimy cockroach?� she snarled.



Alex covered Lily’s mouth with her hand before she could spout out any more insults. “Yeah, what’s going on?�



James smirked. “We stole your tickets, replaced them with the fakes, and then sold yours. We made quite a lot.�



“That’s our money,� Cadrian said. “Hand it over!�



“Can’t,� said Sirius. “We already spent it. On a ring.� He eyed Lily’s skin, barely concealing a wide grin. “The spell wasn’t supposed to do polka dots, was it, James?�



“No, I guess it’s just an added bonus.�



This was just too much for Lily. James had stolen her concert ticket, given her a fake, spent the money on a ring so they could turn her skin green, and he expected Lily to just take it? Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Not a chance.



Shaking off Alex’s hand, Lily stepped away from the fence. “See you at school,� she said to the boys before running the other way.



Sure. She would get her revenge. Of course she would. But for now, she was just going to cry.





________________________________________________



A/N: Don't forget to review!!!! ;) Thanks

Mrs. Parker wrote a letter to Aurora explaining what had happened with the tickets, but the reply was a generic letter that read:

Dear Mrs. Parker,

We are very sorry to hear about your incident, but all we can do is offer to refund the tickets at half-price, seeing as you did not pay for the tickets yourselves. Have a lovely New Year’s.

Aurora Beam & Management

Right. That was a fat lot of help.

New Year’s came and went and when the holiday ended, Lily’s skin was still green. It had been the cause of a great deal of mirth for Petunia, to the point where Lily just shut herself in her room on the last day before she left to go back to school.

She was so angry, she could barely find the words to do her feelings justice. She had never imagined that anybody would be that mean…true, she didn’t like James. She thought he was arrogant and pig-headed, but not that cruel. Now she would have to go back to school looking like a red-headed Martian, and she wasn’t happy about that at all.

She filled up pages and pages in her journal over the last few vacation days, spilling out her thoughts, covering the pages with insults and ways to get revenge on James. But none seemed quite right. None seemed severe enough to console her. She wanted to do something that James would never forget. Something so humiliating that nobody would ever forget.

When she boarded the train to return back to Hogwarts, Lily was still fuming. When she heard James call out her name, she deliberately picked up her pace and dove into the nearest compartment she could find, not eager to talk to him.

It just so happened to be a compartment filled with Slytherins. And not just any Slytherins-Sirius’s nasty cousins. The sight of Bellatrix leering at her reminded Lily of the prank they were planning to play on her. That reminded her of Sirius, which made her burn with a new wave of fury.

“Look, it’s Sirius’s little Mudblood friend,� sneered the pale-haired Lucius. “How nice of you to drop in.�

“Look at her,� Bellatrix cackled. “Look at her skin! It’s green, for heaven’s sake!�

“Merlin, what happened to you?� asked Lucius.

Lily got to her feet. “James Potter hexed me, and he won’t take it off.�

This was met by loud bursts of laughter. Lily ignored it and started towards the door, but Lucius barred her way. “Wait just a minute,� he said, pushing her backwards. “Do you want to get some revenge on James?� he exchanged a glance with Bellatrix.

“I, uh…� she did, of course, but she didn’t want to work with the Slytherins. “No. Let me out.�

Lucius crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t want revenge? You don’t want to get James back for what he did to you?�

“I, er…no! Now move!�

It was clear that Lucius had no intentions of moving. “You’re planning your own revenge, I suppose. With your little friends.�

“No, I’m not,� spat Lily. “Now I’m serious. Get out of my way!� she vainly tried to push him out of the way, but the fourteen-year-old boy had quite an advantage over the eleven-year-old girl. He grabbed her wrist and held it tightly.

“Look, you little Mudblood. Our nasty cousin Sirius is planning something against us, isn’t he? Against Bellatrix?�

Lily inhaled sharply. “Um. No. What do you mean?�

Lucius squeezed her wrists tighter. “Come on, Evans. I saw you in Bellatrix’s bedroom. What are you going to do?�

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,� Lily retorted, trying to wriggle out of the older boy’s grasp. “Let me out of here!�

Lucius released Lily’s wrist and pushed her to the floor. “You dirty Mudblood, tell us what he’s planning, or you’re going to get it.� He held his wand up threateningly.

Lily scrambled to the other end of the compartment, but there wasn’t exactly much she could do. She fumbled for her wand, but she hardly knew any magic. What could help her right now? Even if by some bizarre twist she somehow beat Lucius, there were five or six other Slytherins waiting in the compartment.

Just then the door burst open and somebody yelled, “Rictumsempra!� Lucius fell to the ground, writhing, laughing, gasping for air. Lily looked up in amazement. It was Chris!

“Chris!� she gasped, getting to her feet and stepping over Lucius. “I am so happy to see you.�

“Lily, what in the world happened to you?� was his reply.

Lily rolled her eyes. “One word. James.�

Chris grinned knowingly. “I see. And why were you in there? I saw you since the door is clear, and thought you could use some help.�

“Could I ever,� said Lily gratefully. “I don’t know what Lucius was going to do to me, but it wasn’t going to be good.�

“Why was he threatening you, anyway?�

“Well, see…Sirius is planning to play this prank on Bellatrix, but apparently Lucius saw us sneak into her room, so he wanted me to tell them what Sirius is going to do.�

“What’s he going to do? Did you tell them?�

Lily shook her head. “No, I didn’t. He’s going to make copies of her diary and spread them around the school. She wrote some really nasty stuff in there.�

Chris frowned. “That’s just going to create more problems, you know. After that, Bellatrix will want to get Sirius back, and she’ll do something much more sinister than read his journal.�

Chris’s words unsettled Lily; she hadn’t thought about that. “You’re right,� she said. “But…it was Alex’s idea in the first place. She wanted revenge because Bellatrix hit her with a hex a month or so back.�

“Revenge seems sweet, but it just makes your conflict bigger,� said Chris wisely. “Trust me, I know.�

Chris’s words stirred something inside Lily. Maybe she should forget about James and the tickets and the green skin…

But then she glanced back down at herself. Ugh. No, she couldn’t just forget about it. She’d at least have to scream at him.

“Thanks for saving me, Chris. But I have to go find James now and get him to turn me back to normal. See you later!� Lily scampered down the corridor, peeking into every compartment until she found where James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were seated. They were sitting in a sea of candy wrappers, chatting. Lily barged right in.

“Well, hello, Evans!� said James pleasantly, sweeping away a boatload of candy wrappers so Lily could have a place to sit. “Please, sit down.� He patted the newly uncovered seat invitingly.

“James, you had better take this spell of off me right this instant, or I swear, I’ll-�

“Manners, Evans,� James cut in, his hazel eyes twinkling. “How was your holiday?�

“You should know exactly how my holiday was,� she retorted, “as you messed it all up. How could you steal our tickets?�

“We needed money to buy you that lovely ring, and then it just blossomed into something bigger. Funny how that happens, isn’t it?�

Peter sniggered and Lily shot him a dirty look. “Oh, shut up,� she said, “and get my skin back to normal. NOW!�

Sighing, James muttered an incantation so softly that Lily couldn’t hear it. It did the trick, however; the green pigment, and purple dots, faded away, leaving Lily’s skin a normal color.

“Thank you,� she said stiffly. “Now where was I. Oh yes. How DARE you steal our tickets? Our own posessions? And sell them! You’re the lowest, foulest, slimiest person I have ever met, James Potter. You’re such a worthless worm! You deserve to be trampled by elephants and dragged through the mud by pigs, and eaten by a giant snake!� then she turned to Sirius. “By the way, your cousins know about your prank on Bellatrix, and they’re not very happy about it. Don’t expect me to help you, though.�

As she stepped out into the corridor Lily wondered if she’d overdone it a bit. James hadn’t even replied, which surely indicated something. Probably intense anger, but maybe sadness? Regret? Remorse? Passing up a chance to insult people wasn’t very James-like, and as Lily looked around for Alex and Cadrian she began to feel a tiny bit bad about her harsh words.

Finally she located her friends, sitting alone in a compartment. As she walked in they jumped to their feet. “Lily! You’re normal again!� Cadrian exclaimed.

Lily laughed. “Yes, I am.�

“Where have you been?� asked Alex sternly. “We looked all over the bloody train for you.�

“Well…it’s a bit of a long story. Sort of.�

“And it’s a bit of a long ride. Tell,� Alex ordered, sitting back down.

“Okay.� Lily unwrapped a Chocolate Frog and examined the card, but she already had it. She bit off the frog’s legs so it couldn’t hop away then began to tell her friends what had happened.

�When I was getting on the train I heard James calling my name. And I didn’t really feel like talking to him, so I just went into the first compartment I saw. Unfortunately for me, Sirius’s cousins were inside.�

“Ooh. Bad luck,� commented Alex. “So what happened?�

“When we went up into Bellatrix’s room, Lucius saw us. But he didn’t know what the prank was. He asked me about it but I wouldn’t tell him. And he was going to hex me, or curse me or something, but then Chris busted in and saved my butt.�

“That was lucky,� laughed Cadrian. “And then…?�

“So then I went to find James and make him get my skin back to normal. He did and I yelled at him for a bit. That was about it.�

Alex waved Lily’s story aside. “So. What are we going to do about James?� she asked.

“What do you mean?� asked Lily.

“We have to get him back for everything!� said Alex. “The tickets, and the ring, and everything. We just have to!�

Remembering Chris’s words, Lily slowly shook her head. “No…we don’t. Can’t we just…let it go and move on?�

Cadrian looked plain old puzzled, and Alex was looking at Lily like she was crazy, but Lily didn’t back down. “Seriously,� she insisted. “If we do something back, then they’ll just get us back, and then again, and again, never-ending. So wouldn’t it be better to just end it now?�

“Not really,� said Alex, but Cadrian shrugged and said, “Maybe Lily has a point.�

“Look, Alex. If you want to do something to James, go ahead, but I’m not helping.� Lily crossed her arms resolutely. “In the long run it won’t change anything.� Thank you Chris, she added silently.

Alex stared at her bewilderedly for a couple seconds, obviously not believing what she was hearing. Then she shrugged and said, “Fine. No revenge on James, then.� A grin spread across her face, a sure sign of upcoming trouble. “But the Bellatrix thing is still on, right?�

“As far as I know, Sirius is still going to do it,� replied Lily.

“Cool. I can’t wait to see what she does!� Alex giggled.

A couple of hours, dozens of Chocolate Frogs, and hundreds of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans later, the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogwarts and the three girls pushed their way into the bustling crowd. They made it out into the inky night, climbed into a horseless carriage, and set off for the start of the new semester of learning magic.

* * * * * * * * * *

After the Christmas feast, Lily was so full she felt that any movement more strenuous than walking might cause her to burst. She lay in bed quietly late into the night as Alex, Cadrian, Danielle, and Jeniece slept peacefully, thinking. About Adam the Squib, and James’s nerve, and Chris’s wise words, and any other thoughts that wormed into her head as she fought to get to sleep.

She found that the more she thought about it, Chris was right. Sure, maybe revenge on James seemed like a really good thing now. Humiliating him brutally for what he’d done to her. But undoubtedly he would want his own revenge after that, and Alex would never give up after that. No, better to head everything off right now and not blow the whole situation out of proportion. Besides, in the long run, would it really matter?

Finally Lily drifted off to sleep. She dreamed about green-skinned Squibs and a diary with all its pages falling out. And for some strange reason, a long, skinny, slimy worm with James’s head kept popping up.

_______________________________________________

A/N--please review!! thanks :)

The next morning at breakfast Sirius was bragging a bit too loudly about the prank he was going to pull on Bellatrix, while James and Peter sniggered, and Remus pretended not to hear what was going on. Lily rolled her eyes. “If he keeps going on like that, Bellatrix will find out,� she said to her friends.

Alex thought about this statement. “You’re right. Hey, Sirius!� she called.

Sirius looked over. “What?�

“Shut up. Bellatrix is going to hear you!�

“No, she won’t,� cut in James. “It’s brilliant. Besides, what could she do?� he smirked. “What she thinks is her wand is just a stick, remember?�

Alex and Cadrian laughed. Lily sipped her milk and looked the other way. She had been blatantly avoiding James and his friends ever since they arrived back at Hogwarts; she felt that if she didn’t, James might end up headless, so it would be better all-around for her to stay out.

“What, Evans? You don’t think it’s a good idea for revenge?� asked James.

Lily did not deign to reply. She concentrated on buttering her toast.

“It’s not revenge for Sirius,� said Alex. “It’s for me, remember?�

Sirius looked slightly disconcerted for a second. “Well…yeah…� he took a bite of toast, then said, “But the prank idea was all mine.�

“Exactly,� said James. “Which gives you the bragging rights. So go ahead. The Slytherins don’t care about first-years’ conversations.�

Sirius laughed and then resumed his prideful boasting.

Lily rolled her eyes and drained the last of her milk. She got to her feet, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Alex reached out and grabbed onto the strap of her bag as she passed by. “Wait up, Lils,� she intoned, stuffing an entire blueberry muffin into her mouth. She gestured to Cadrian, then got up. “Okay, let’s go.�

The three girls left the Great Hall together, heading to class.

* * * * * * * * * *

Back in the Great Hall, Sirius was discussing last-minute details of the prank with James while Peter was cleaning up his glass of spilled pumpkin juice and Remus was absent-mindedly reading a Herbology book. “How are you going to get all the copies?� James asked. “Of the diary, I mean.�

Sirius shrugged. “There must be some hex. We can look it up at break,� he suggested.

James nodded. “Perfect. So at break we get the spell, then tonight we make the copies, and later tonight, we sneak out and spread the papers around.�

The two boys smiled wickedly. It was a perfect plan.

* * * * * * * * * *

All day, Lily was troubled by the prospect of the boys’ prank. In her gut, she knew that nothing good was to come of it.

Also, her thoughts kept wandering to when she’d been in the Slytherins’ compartment. Lucius had offered to help her get James back. Had he been sincerely offering? At the time, Chris’s words had turned her away from the idea of revenge. But the more she was around James, the more she thought that Chris was just being stupid.

The Slytherins played dirty. They’d be sure to help Lily get something good on James, something much better than she’d be able to think of herself. But she’d have to talk to Lucius before James and Sirius spread Bellatrix’s diary around the school. Which meant that she’d have to talk to him soon.

* * * * * * * * * *

During lunch, Alex and Cadrian were working diligently (or rather, Cadrian was working and Alex was gossiping with some other girls) on a nastily long Potions essay that Lily had already finished. She glanced around to see where Lucius was-surrounded by other Slytherins, of course. Hmm. This was a potential problem.

Uncertainly she got to her feet. Nobody seemed to really take much notice of it.

Could she really just walk up to Lucius and ask him for his help?

His gang of Slytherins suddenly burst out laughing. Lily sat down. She was too much of a coward to walk over to all of them. But she would ask him. Soon. In between some class, maybe.

Her chance came sooner than she’d expected. She was roaming the empty corridors, clutching a note in her hand. The note was from Professor McGonagall, and she was taking it to Slughorn. It was so quiet that her footsteps echoed off the high ceiling. She shivered; the hallways were a bit creepy. She picked up the pace, and her feet were so loud that she didn’t hear footsteps behind her.

When she turned to go down to the dungeons, she saw him walk by. Lucius. Her heart skipped a beat and she froze, glancing down the stony stairs. No; the message would have to wait. She wouldn’t get another opportunity as perfect as this one.

So she turned and ran after him. “Malfoy? Er, Lucius?� she asked meekly, coming up beside him.

He looked down at her coldly. “Mudblood,� he regarded her coolly.

Lily ignored the insult. “Look. You know that offer you made me…?�

He didn’t look as if he did. “I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Why would I offer you help?�

Lily took a deep breath. “I know. Weird. But you did, on the train…�

Lucius’s hard gray eyes narrowed in thought. “Fine,� he said, after a few seconds. “I’ll help you get your little revenge.� He smirked. “But for a price.�

It wasn’t like Lily hadn’t been expecting that. “What do you want?� she asked.

“I want to know what Sirius is up to.� He stepped closer to Lily. “Don’t try to lie to me; I know that he’s up to something. So come on, what is it?�

“Well…� Lily wouldn’t look into his eyes. She stared determinedly at the ground. “I don’t know about anything…�

“Really now.� Lucius wasn’t fooled. “Evans, come on, just tell me. What-do you think Sirius will get mad or something? Do you think you have to be loyal to him?�

“Well, I…�

Lucius snorted. “Oh yes, you owe the boy so much loyalty. He stole your concert tickets, turned your skin green. I see why you think so highly of him.�

His words stung like a slap, but they rang true in Lily’s ears. “Oh…� she said softly, as the impact of what he was saying sunk in.

He’s right, she thought regretfully to herself. Still, she avoided his eyes.

“It…doesn’t feel right for me to do that,� she said finally.

Lucius rolled his eyes. “You stupid Gryffindors,� he said dismissively. “Always thinking of others before yourselves.�

Rage burned through Lily. “Oh, yeah, it’s so much better to be a Slytherin,� she said sarcastically, her temper rising dangerously. “Everybody knows you’re all a bunch of Dark wizards!�

Lucius reached for his wand. “You stupid girl,� he snarled, fumbling with his wand, “what would you know about the subject? You’ve only known about magic for six months!�

Lily whipped out her own wand, but there was no way she’d be able to hurt Lucius. “Wait,� she said quietly. “I’ll…tell you what Sirius is doing.� Lucius’s earlier words had a haunting truth to them that Lily couldn’t ignore.

Lucius stopped suddenly. He dropped his wand and it clattered to the ground. He quickly stooped over to pick it up.

“Well, then…out with it,� he said, stowing the wand in his pocket.

Lily hesitated, then poured out the story. “Sirius stole Bellatrix’s diary. He’s planning to make copies of it and spread them around the school to turn everybody against her.�

Lucius nodded slowly. “I’m a bit disappointed, actually.�

“What are you going to do to him?�

Lucius shrugged. “That I don’t know yet. When is Sirius going to pull this prank off?�

“Tonight.�

His expression clouded. “I see.� He frowned, thinking hard.

“Er, Lucius?�

“Yes?� he seemed to be absorbed in his own mind, not paying much attention to Lily any longer.

“What about my revenge?�

That snapped him out of his trance-like state. His lips curled into a cruel smile. “As for that, meet me in the dungeons tomorrow during lunch, and we’ll talk.� He strode off.

Lily didn’t move. Although it was true that Sirius hadn’t always been the best friend to her, she felt bad about betraying him. She only hoped that whatever Lucius did, it wouldn’t be too mean.

* * * * * * * * *

The next morning, as Lily climbed out of the common room, she noticed spare sheets of paper lying on the floors. Groups of people were reading them, laughing. Bellatrix’s diary, she thought, and the anxiety of last night began to ebb away. It seemed that Lucius had left the boys’ prank alone.

She picked up a paper and began reading.

Sirius Black wet his bed until the age of ten, and still is known to occasionally “have an accident.�

Lily gasped. Lucius must have made his own papers and spread them around! Well, then there would still be rumors circulating about Bellatrix…

Lily tucked the paper into her bag and then started searching for one concerning Bellatrix. But all of the papers she picked up spoke only of Sirius, with the occasional mention of James. Lucius was smarter than she’d given him credit for, it would seem.

Had Sirius and James seen this yet? “LILY!� a voice yelled. Lily turned to see Alex and Cadrian running frantically towards her. “Lily, look!� Alex was brandishing one of the papers. “Have you seen this?�

Lily pulled the paper out of her bag. “Yes. It’s horrible!�

Alex ripped up her sheet into tiny bits. “So much for revenge. I’d bet you anything that Lucius and Bellatrix are behind this. How did they find out?�

“We told Sirius not to be so loud about it,� put in Cadrian grimly. “He should’ve listened.�

Lead was progressively building up in Lily’s stomach. This was all her fault. “Er. Yeah. Um. Guys, I gotta go,� she said, and sped away from them into the Great Hall.

It was there that she found James and Sirius. Sirius sat quietly, his head down, picking at his food, but James was ablaze, snatching the papers out of passerbys’ hands and ripping them apart. “When I find out who’s behind this,� he started to say menacingly. Lily looked away.

“It was Lucius and Bellatrix, of course,� Lily heard Sirius mutter. Her chest constricted painfully. She longed to yell, “No, it was me!� But that would be like suicide.

She sat down as far away from Sirius and James as possible and tried to tune out the people around her, most of whom were talking about Sirius.

* * * * * * * * * *

By the first-years’ second class, Herbology, Sirius could no longer walk through the corridors peacefully. Sixth- and seventh-years mostly ignored him, but the second-, third-, and fourth-years really let him have it, especially the Slytherins. In Potions, even Slughorn dished out a few jokes, much to the Slytherins’ delight and Sirius’s pain. Stoically, he kept sitting up straight, just staring straight ahead. None of the Gryffindor first-years laughed.

Then came lunch. Lily managed to slip away from her friends by saying that she needed to ask Slughorn a question, then when everybody, including Slughorn, had gone, she crept out of the room cautiously.

“Malfoy?� she called tentatively.

He stepped out of a nearby room. “Oh, Evans. Good.� He smiled. “How do you like what I did to Sirius’s little joke?�

Lily didn’t answer. She had known that something would like this would happen if she gave away the prank to Lucius. But she’d done it anyway, thinking only of getting James back. Well, it looked like Chris had been right. She had hurt Sirius, ruined Alex’s revenge, betrayed her friends. She had been thinking only of her own revenge.

Lucius ignored Lily’s silence. “Down to business, then. What are we going to do about James?�

Lily’s eyes filled with tears as she started to leave. “Nothing,� she replied to Lucius. “I’ve already done enough damage.�

And she ran out of the dungeon.

She didn’t go to the Great Hall. She wasn’t about to show her face there. She went back to the common room and cried.

In a very un-Lily impulse, she decided to just stay up there all afternoon, skip all her classes. She had Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and History of Magic. She could miss those for a dose of self-sympathy, right?

A couple hours later, she could hear the common room filling up again. Lily buried her face in her pillow.

Only about three minutes later the door to the dormitory opened. “Lily! What are you doing? Are you okay?� That was Cadrian’s voice.

Lily sat up to face her friends. Her hair was messed up, her face tear-streaked, her eyes red and puffy.

“Lily! What’s wrong?� asked Alex concernedly.

“I have to tell you something,� she croaked, wiping her face.

“What is it? Were you up here all afternoon?� asked Cadrian.

“You know…what happened? With the prank?�

Alex rolled her eyes. “Stupid Slytherins. Sirius shouldn’t have been talking about it where they could hear.�

“They didn’t hear him, Alex. Somebody told them.�

Alex and Cadrian gasped simultaneously. “No! Who?� demanded Alex. “That little rat. Traitor. Scumbag!�

Lily took a deep breath.

“It was me.�

Her friends’ reactions were sudden and quite loud. “WHAT?� Alex shouted, so loudly that Lily fell backwards onto her pillow. “Lily, how could you?�

“I don’t know,� she replied miserably. “Malfoy said he’d help me get James back. But I don’t want to get him back anymore.�

Cadrian threw her a disgusted look. “Lily, that was pretty low.�

Lily looked at her friends speechlessly. Alex folded her arms across her chest angrily. “I’m going to go tell Sirius what you did.�

“No!� Lily scrambled off the bed and grabbed Alex’s sleeve. “Please, Alex. I have to tell him myself.� She swallowed. “When I’m ready. Which isn’t now. Promise me you won’t tell him yet?�

Alex’s eyes locked with Lily’s. “Fine. But if you haven’t come out with the truth in a week, then I’m going to tell him. Do you know how big a mess you’ve caused? I actually saw Sirius crying!�

That last part hit Lily like a brick in the head. “Crying?� she asked softly. “Are you sure?�

Cadrian nodded. “I was there, too. It was in History of Magic. He was keeping his head down so nobody would see, but we noticed.�

Lily didn’t reply. She drew her knees up to her chest. “I’m so sorry, guys.�

“Don’t apologize to us,� said Alex. “You owe Sirius an apology. Not us.�

“Not yet,� said Lily. “Tomorrow, okay?�

Alex shrugged. “Fine. But you’d better have a good apology. Because Sirius is going to be mad enough to strangle you when he finds out.�

And that didn’t exactly help.

* * * * * * * * * *

That night all the first-years were quite subdued, but none as much as Lily, not even Sirius. Older kids kept coming and patting Sirius on the back. Chris came by and gave Sirius some Chocolate Frogs, which seemed to cheer him up a bit.

But nothing cheered Lily up. She had never felt so guilty in all her life. Every glance over at Sirius brought on a fresh wave of guilt. Soon she just couldn’t take it. Throwing her things haphazardly in her bag, she disappeared up into the dormitory.

Tomorrow, she told herself sternly. I will tell Sirius and James what I did tomorrow. For sure. No excuses.

And then she fell asleep.

Back downstairs, the other first-years were still congregated together glumly, their books open before them but not much homework getting done. James and Sirius were whispering furiously, and it was clear they were arguing. Suddenly James slammed his fist on the table.

“God, Sirius!� he said loudly. “Why don’t you want to stand up for yourself?�

Sirius turned red. “It isn’t that,� he muttered. “I just…don’t want to face them.�

“Maybe you don’t. But I do,� said James. “This was just plain dirty of them. You’ve been teased all day. Let them have a piece of your mind! Don’t let them control you!�

“JAMES!� Sirius roared. “I…I’m scared of them, alright? My whole stupid family hates me, and they won’t care what happens to me. They…will hurt me.�

James was silent for a moment, and when he spoke it was in a different tone than he normally used.

“I know your family’s sort of messed up,� he said quietly. “And that Lucius probably knows way too much Dark magic. But that doesn’t mean you should let them boss you around. You’re in Gryffindor. You’re better than all of them. You just have to let them know that.�

James’s speech didn’t have quite the desired effect. Sirius only rolled his eyes. “Oh, shut up, James. You’re so full of it.� With that, he swung his bag over his shoulder and stomped up to the boys’ dormitory.

“Jeez, what’s his problem?� asked Peter, scratching his nose.

James turned back to the group, frowning. “I don’t know. I was trying to help him. It’s not my fault that his loser cousins found out about his prank. It wasn’t that great, anyway.� He kept muttering things like that to himself, Peter agreeing with all of them.

Next to Cadrian, Remus shut his book. “I’ll go talk to him, James.�

“Fine,� said James sulkily. “Go. Of course he’ll listen to you. Smart Remus, nice Remus, teacher’s pet Remus. Yeah. Go. Whatever. He’ll listen to you, but not his best friend.�

Remus cast him a strange, hurt look as he walked away.

“James…� Alex began. Cadrian shot her a warning look. Alex ignored it. “James, we know how Lucius got wind of the prank.�

“How?� asked James.

“Alex!� said Cadrian. “Stop!�

“I promised I wouldn’t tell Sirius yet,� Alex told Cadrian. “I said nothing about James.�

“But…� Cadrian felt uneasy. “Don’t, Alex.�

“Alex! Come on, tell me! It can’t be that bad. Was it a first-year?�

Cadrian grabbed Alex’s arm as Alex opened her mouth. “DON’T,� she said loudly. “She’ll never forgive you!�

“She?� James contemplated this. “So it’s either Danielle, Jeniece, or…� his eyes lit up. “LILY!�

Alex nodded, ignoring Cadrian, who had buried her face in her hands.

“Lily,� James muttered under his breath. “Why’d she do it? She’s such a goody-two-shoes.�

“It wasn’t her fault, James,� said Cadrian. “She had a reason.�

“What could possibly make her tell a secret like that?� asked James frustratedly.

Alex and Cadrian exchanged glances, and this time Alex had enough sense to keep the truth to herself. “Nothing,� they said simultaneously. James didn’t know that he was the reason Lily had spilled to Lucius.

James shrugged. “Whatever. I just can’t believe she did that. That’s so stupid. What kind of a Gryffindor would do that?�

“James, you don’t know anything about it,� Cadrian defended Lily. She shot Alex a venomous look-she shouldn’t have told James at all. Alex began to look a bit repetent. That was the problem with Alex-she didn’t realize the consequences of her actions until the damage was already done.

James was looking up towards the girls’ dormitory, a look of contempt on his face. And that was when Alex began to feel truly sorry about telling.

“Look, James. She had a reason. A good one. So don’t be too hard on her, okay? And please, please don’t tell Sirius. He’ll kill her,� said Cadrian.

James got to his feet. “No, he won’t. I will.�

Peter’s small, watery eyes darted around nervously. “James, calm down…� he said hesitantly, but nobody really paid him much mind.

Cadrian threw up her hands. “Fine. Great job, Alex. You promised Lily you wouldn’t tell. But now you’ve messed everything up.� She viciously zipped up her bag and left the common room. The party of first-years was very steadily dwindling.

James was still looking murderous, and a squirmy feeling was growing in the pit of Alex’s stomach. “James…� she said nervously. “Cadrian’s right. She didn’t want to tell. She’s plenty upset about it, so keep it to yourself, alright?�

James threw her a cold, hard glance. “Why don’t you keep it yourself?� he asked her quietly. “It seems like you have a harder time with that than me.� With that, he, also, left the common room.

Peter took one look up at Alex with his beady, bloodshot eyes, then followed.

Alex leaned back into the cushy couch and sighed. Yes, she knew she really, really shouldn’t have told James what Lily had done. And now Lily and Cadrian were probably upstairs talking about her and her many faults…she was too reckless, too fearless, too mischievous, had no common sense, never thought things through. All of that was true, and she knew it. She’d heard it all before.

Gradually, as the clocks ticked later and later, the sky grew inky and starry, and the fires burned down, the common room emptied. The yawning sixth- and seventh-years disappeared up to dormitories, and by one o’ clock Alex was left alone in the near darkness, her schoolbooks still open.

Yawning, she rubbed her eyes. I should get some sleep, she thought, and then simply kicked off her shoes, lay down on the couch she’d been sitting on, pulled a blanket over her small frame, and fell asleep.

* * * * * * * *

She woke up early as somebody shook her. “Alex, you should get up now.� It wasn’t Lily or Cadrian. It was a boy. James? Sirius? Blearily, Alex opened her eyes, shivering in the cold.

She stretched and rubbed her eyes. It was Chris, looking concerned. “Are you okay?� he asked.

Alex self-consciously ran a hand over her hair, which always looked crazy in the morning. “Oh, yeah, yeah,� she said hastily. “I’m great. I just, er, fell asleep down here last night.�

“With a blanket over you?� asked Chris skeptically.

Alex frowned. “Yes.�
Chris grinned good-naturedly. “Fine. Are you sure you’re okay, though?�

Alex sighed, closing her still-open book and dropping it in her bag. “No, not especially. I’m such an idiot.�

“Yeah, well, we already knew that,� teased Chris. When Alex didn’t laugh, he sobered. “Okay, okay, sorry. What’s up?�

“It’s just that…it’s sort of a long story. I’ll give you the short version. Sirius was planning to play a prank on Bellatrix, and then that whole thing with James turning Lily green came up, so obviously Lily was mad. So she asked Lucius to help her get revenge, since she knew Lucius could come up with something really good. Well, Lucius wanted Lily to tell him what was going on with Sirius as, like, payment. So she told him, and that’s why the papers everywhere were trashing Sirius,, instead of Bellatrix, so Sirius was obviously upset. Then Lily was really upset too, and I told James that she told, and she and Cadrian are both really mad at me, and James and Sirius will both be mad at Lily, and it’s just a big mess!� Whew. She took a deep breath.

“Wow,� said Chris, after a few seconds. “That’s the short version?�

At this Alex cracked a grin. “As simple as I can give it to you.�

“Well, you shouldn’t have told James.�

“Oh, thanks for the great advice,� said Alex sarcastically.

Chris held up his hands defensively. “Ouch! No need to get all girly on me!�

“Sorry.� Alex paused. “Hey, what do you mean by girly?�

He smirked. “Girly. Girls can be mean. They bite, you know.�

Alex had to laugh. “Fine, I get your point.� She looked up to see Lily and Cadrian descending down the steps. “Now I really need to get down to breakfast so I’m not late to class.� Raking a couple fingers through her hair (which was looking exceptionally ratty), she stuffed her things into her bag and exited the common room, still wearing yesterday’s robes.

At breakfast she sat down across from Lily and Cadrian. They kept their eyes trained on their plates, chewing slowly and deliberately, not saying a word.

Alex stabbed a sausage viciously, tears pricking at her eyes. “Um…hi,� she said cautiously.

Lily glanced up, then quickly lowered her head again. It was clear that Alex wasn’t welcome here. Willing herself not to cry just yet, Alex picked up her bag and moved to a relatively empty spot near the end of the table.

Her friends didn’t call her back, didn’t even look over at her once.

All through the day it was like that: Lily and Cadrian avoiding Alex. It was made worse by James and Sirius’s spiteful comments about Lily, Peter’s incessant sniggering, and the general animosity between the first-years.

All in all, the atmosphere in the common room that night between the first-years was anything but friendly. Once one big group stealing answers off of each others’ homework, the seven first-years (minus Danielle and Jeniece) were now in three separate groups.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were occupying two couches, and they were talking in hushed voices. Every so often they would look over to Lily, who had an odd feeling that they were plotting something that she wouldn’t exactly like. Lily herself was sitting with Cadrian by one of the bigger fireplaces. The two of them were silently plodding through a Potions assignment and trying not to look back at Alex, who was sitting with Danielle and Jeniece.

Sirius was wishing that he wasn’t related to Bellatrix. James was wishing that he knew enough magic to turn Lily’s head into a pumpkin. Peter was wishing that he could have some Chocolate Frogs. Remus was wishing that Sirius and James would just forget about what Lily had done.

Cadrian was wishing that this whole thing had never started; Lily was wishing she hadn’t told Lucius about Sirius’s plan.

But Alex was wishing the hardest out of any of them, and she was hoping with all her might that somehow her friends could forgive her.

The following weekend, the first-years’ situation hadn’t changed a bit. Alex was spending a lot of time on her own, and Lily was spending her time with Cadrian as they avoided James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus, since James and Sirius were channeling all of their energy into making Lily miserable.

Most of the school had moved on from taunting Sirius, but of course the Slytherins weren’t quite done. Sirius had taken to enlarging James’s school bag and stuffing himself inside as they walked from class to class, so brutal were their intentions. Lily found herself one day wistfully thinking what Alex would think of all that, then quickly scolded herself and snapped out of it.

All in all, none of the Gryffindor first-years (minus Danielle and Jeniece) were very happy that weekend. On Saturday there was a Quidditch match-Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw-and so they made their way outside into the freezing weather.

Lily and Cadrian sat by themselves on the very edge of the Gryffindors’ section. Alex was somewhere with Danielle and Jeniece; she had taken lately to studying with them at night in the common room.

The game began. Ravenclaw scored right off the bat to rousing cheers from the blue and green (the Slytherins loved seeing Gryffindor lose) end and loud groans from the Gryffindor crowd.

Play was fast-paced yet score-less for about ten minutes, and the crowd started to lose interest, chatting in small groups. Lily kept her eyes trained on the pitch. Her ears and fingers were numb, and she thought she could feel snowflakes melting on her face. “Is it snowing?� she asked Cadrian, through blue lips.

Cadrian looked up at the sky and blinked. “Yes,� she replied, “a flake just fell in my eye.� Blinking a couple more times, she shivered, pulling her coat tighter around her. “Jeez, I wish somebody would just hurry up and catch the stupid Snitch!�

“If I was out there,� came a cocky voice, “you could already be inside, drinking butterbeer by the fire.�

Lily ground her teeth, willing herself not to react to James’s pigheaded comment. Ignore him, she thought furiously, trying to direct her thoughts towards Cadrian. Just ignore him, and he’ll go away!

But apparently Lily’s telepathy skills needed some polishing up, because Cadrian turned around in her seat and told him simply to shut up.

James grinned. “Come on, you seriously want to watch this match? The score’s been 10-0 for the last fifteen minutes!�

They couldn’t really argue with that statement, of course. Lily still refused to turn around. She stared rigidly ahead, hardly seeing the Quidditch players through the swirling snow.

“Cool, it’s snowing!� exclaimed Peter. Within the last couple minutes, the snow had picked up spectacularly, and all Lily could see was a white haze. She turned to Cadrian, whose red and gold hat looked like it had been dusted with powdered sugar, and suddenly got a faceful of freezing cold snow.

Wiping the powdery substance off her face angrily, Lily got to her feet and scraped some snow off the bench. Packing it into a ball, she brought her hand back to throw when-bam-another cold ball hit her square in the face.

The impact knocked her off balance and she wobbled dangerously, her arms windmilling like crazy to keep her up. But it wasn’t enough. With a shout, she fell backward, tumbling head-over-heels on the bleachers. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut, she waited for it to end.

Finally she came to a stop. She tried to open her eyes, but when she did she became overwhelmingly dizzy. Lily closed her eyes again and slipped into black unconsciousness.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lily opened her eyes and blinked a few times, then groaned. Her head throbbed, and everything was sore. She tried to lift her head but then dropped it back down and shut her eyes.

“Lily? Are you awake?� It was Cadrian’s voice. Lily forced herself to open her eyes.

“Cady?�

“Oh, Lily! Are you okay?�

“Um…� Lily looked around. She was lying in a small cot in the hospital wing. Cadrian was sitting in a chair next to her, poring over a thick book. “I don’t know. What happened?�

“Don’t you remember?� asked Cadrian, setting the book aside. “We were at the Quidditch match and then you fell backwards over the bleachers all the way to the ground!�

Lily winced as her memory came flooding back. “Right,� she said slowly, then propped herself up onto her elbows, trying to block out the dizziness. “Um…what day is it?�

“It’s Sunday…you haven’t been sleeping that long.�

“Good.� Lily glanced out the windows to see that it was dark, the inky sky dotted by a few pale stars. “What time is it?�

Cadrian shrugged. “I’m not sure. Probably around eight.�

Lily gasped, then clutched her chest; the sharp intake of breath had sent shots of pain through her body. “I’ve been asleep that long?� she wheezed.
“Calm down, Lils…Madam Pomfrey said you’re mostly okay, just a couple bruised ribs.�

Lily took a shallow breath, not wanting to upset her ribs again. She lay back down. “Okay. When can I leave?�

“Not for a couple days, that’s what Madam said. She says you need to rest a few days.�

“That’s stupid. I’m perfectly fine,� Lily declared, though her head was still pounding horribly, and it hurt to breathe. She threw the covers off of her, got to her feet, and took a step forward.

Immediately, Lily’s headache increased tenfold, the dizziness came rushing back, and her ribs ached. Slowly and carefully, she eased herself back onto the bed. “Okay, Madam Pomfrey was right.�

Cadrian stood up, hovering over Lily uncertainly. “Here. Do you need help?� she asked anxiously. “Should I get Madam Pomfrey, or something?�

“No, I’m sure she’ll be here soon enough. I’m fine, really.� Lily settled back into the bed. “Do you think dinner’s still being served in the Great Hall? Because I’m starved,� she said.

Cadrian jumped to her feet. “I’ll get you something to eat. Be right back!�

“Thank you!� Lily called as Cadrian rushed out of the hospital wing.

Not five minutes after Cadrian had left, Lily heard footsteps echoing through the empty hospital wing. “Cadrian, are you back already?� Lily asked incredulously.

But it wasn’t Cadrian who stepped into view from behind the wall. It was Alex, looking shy and self-conscious.

“Oh, Alex. Um. Hi,� said Lily.

Alex toyed with a curly lock of her hair. “Hi.�

“Um…come in?� Lily said it as more of a question than an invitation. She missed hanging out with Alex and felt that the whole incident had gone way too far, but she didn’t want to admit it until Alex did.

Tentatively Alex took a few steps forward, still twisting her hair around and looking uncertain. Her sapphire eyes were oddly bright, as if tears might start flowing down her face at any second.

“Lily, I’m, um….well, look, I’m really sorry for telling James about…you know…� Alex was still a good fifteen yards away from Lily’s bed and Lily had to strain to make out every word. “Um…could we just…forget this whole thing ever happened?�

Lily grinned. “Everybody has been way too dramatic about everything lately. Including me,� she said. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting.�

Alex shrugged, still twisting her dark hair around her fingers. “I guess I deserved it.�

“I wasn’t a very good friend to you.�

“Yeah, well, neither was I.� Alex eyed Lily critically. “Are you okay? A fall like that could kill you!�

“I got lucky. Just some bruised ribs,� said Lily. “I feel horrible though.�

Alex ventured closer. “Do you, um…need anything?�

“Cadrian’s getting me some food.� As if waiting for that cue, Cadrian stepped into the room, a plate piled high with Lily’s favorite foods in her hands. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Alex.

Alex turned when Cadrian came into the room. “Um. Hi, Cadrian,� she said.

“Hi…?� Cadrian looked at Alex, then to Lily, then back at Alex. “Are we…I mean…are we friends? Can we...forget about this stupid thing already?�

Alex glanced back at Lily questioningly. Lily nodded, a grin spreading across her face. Alex turned back to Cadrian and nodded as well. Cadrian grinned and brought Lily her food.

And just like that, the trio’s friendship was restored.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The next day, Lily lay apathetically in her cot. It was about one o’ clock, and she was bored out of her skull. Alex and Cadrian had promised to rush up to the hospital wing immediately after classes ended, but there were two hours still until that happy time, and the hours stretched before her in a boring eternity.

She heard Madam Pomfrey’s spiky heels clicking across the ground and groaned. Each arrival of Madam Pomfrey brought with it medicine-disgusting medicine, supposedly to heal her aching ribcage, but so far it hadn’t had much of an effect.

Soon Madam Pomfrey came into view. But she wasn’t accompanied by the big purple bottle of medicine this time.

No, following behind her was James.

Lily’s jaw dropped-what was James doing here, in the middle of class? He wasn’t sick or hurt-he looked perfectly intact, right down to the customary smirk plastered across his face. “Evans! Good to see you,� he said loudly.

“James, what are you doing here?�

“Bringing you some History of Magic notes. Professor asked me to.� James produced a bunch of papers, covered in messy handwriting. “Here you go.�

Lily took the papers suspiciously. “Um…thanks, I guess.�

“Anytime, Evans.�

Lily glanced down at the notes. “Did you hex these or something?�

James laughed. “Swear I didn’t.� Madam Pomfrey sniffed and then walked away, the high heels clicking. James lowered his voice. “Listen, Evans. I think…that it’s time to just forget about the Sirius-prank thing. You know?�

“Yeah…� said Lily hesitantly.

“No, I’m serious. I…want…us to get over it and go back to being friends.�

“Well,� said Lily slowly, “I’m not sure we were friends, exactly. But…okay.�

James flashed his hundred-watt smile. “Great! See you later, Evans.� He got to his feet and started walking out.

“Wait!� said Lily, as James reached for the doorknob. “James…why are you trying to make up with me?�

“Honestly?� asked James.

“Well, yeah…�

He cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “I miss being able to copy off your essays.� With that he left the hospital wing, leaving Lily fuming.

That’s just like him, Lily thought furiously, to do something decent, and then spoil it.

The rest of January flew by in a whirl of increasingly difficult essays and more and more hours of studying. Lily could hardly believe the workload. “What will it be like in seventh year?� she marveled one evening, as she, Alex, and Cadrian toiled over a Potions essay.

Alex made a face. “Let’s not think about that right now,� she said. “Let’s think about this Potions rubbish instead.�

Cadrian pulled her dark hair into a ponytail. “Or we could take a break,� she suggested.

Lily lay down her quill and picked up her parchment, skimming over what she’d written so far. “I bet Remus has already finished,� she remarked.

“Yeah, but that’s because he spends every minute on homework,� countered Alex. “Poor guy looks like he never has any fun. I mean, look at him!�

Lily and Cadrian turned to see Remus sitting with Peter, Sirius, and James. He did indeed look pale and ill. “He looks sick,� observed Cadrian. “You’re right.�

“Well, of course he’s sick,� said Lily briskly, turning around. “Spending too much time with James will do that to you.�

Alex and Cadrian laughed. “He hasn’t affected you, Lily,� Cadrian pointed out.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Come on, guys. You know that I always try to avoid him.�

“Yeah, you do,� said Alex, “but he doesn’t try to avoid you.�

“True.� Lily snuck another glance over at the boys. They were laughing. “I guess I’m immune.�

Chris appeared out of nowhere and slung himself down on the couch next to Lily. “Is anybody immune to that kid?� he asked.

Lily rolled her eyes again. “Somebody should invent a James vaccination.�

Chris laughed. “He isn’t that bad, is he?� He smirked. “After all, he saved your life twice.�

“And almost killed me at that Quidditch match!� Lily protested.

Chris shrugged. “Whatever.� He cocked an eyebrow. “So, any of you eyeing somebody for Valentine’s Day? It’s in less than a week.�

Lily snorted. “No way. You?�

A wistful look came across Chris’s face. “Well…yeah,� he said. “Do you know Melanie Garrow?�

“Um…I think so. Blond third-year, right?� asked Alex.

Chris nodded. “Yeah, that’s her. She’s sitting over there. I’ve liked her for about a year now.�

The three girls grinned. “Well, what are you going to do?� prompted Alex. “I’m sure she’d go on a date with you. To Hogsmeade or something!�

Chris shrugged again, staring down at his clasped hands. “Maybe. But she’s so…I don’t know, I just don’t want to ask her.�

“What, you’re never going to tell her?� asked Cadrian. “Come on Chris, you have to! What if you never do, and then when you graduate you never see her again?�

“I’m not graduating for three more years!� protested Chris. Cadrian folded her arms across her chest.

“You have to. On Valentine’s Day,� she announced.

“Yeah. I guess you’re right,� said Chris, glancing over at Melanie. She was sitting with a group of third-year girls, laughing. She was really quite pretty: she had a slim, petite figure, shiny blond hair, and chocolatey eyes. Lily didn’t know much about her, except that she was an exceptional Herbology student.

“Any ideas how, though?� asked Alex, propping her elbows on the table at which they were working. “I mean, if you make it really sweet or something, she’ll be more likely to go on a date with you, right?�

“Er…that makes sense, yeah,� said Chris uncertainly. “I’m not very experienced at this kind of thing…�

“Well, neither are we. We’re only eleven,� said Cadrian. “This is just what we think. How should we know what makes girls say yes?�

Chris got to his feet. “Well, I should be going. I’ve got a ton of homework,� he said. “Thanks for the help.�

“Sure,� said Alex. They watched him leave and then went back to their essays.

After a few minutes filled with only the sound of the girls’ quills scratching on parchment, Alex absently laid down her quill, blotting the essay with ink. “I’d bet you anything that James will try something funny on Valentine’s Day,� she remarked.

Lily looked up. “You’re right,� she said. A smile spread across her face. “But who says we can’t try anything funny?�

Cadrian smirked. “What should we do? It has to be the best, way better than anything they could ever think of.�

Alex pushed her essay aside excitedly. “Oooh, yes!� she said. “Any ideas?�

Cadrian rustled in her bag for a blank roll of parchment and inked her quill, then looked up at Lily and Alex expectantly. “Well?�

“We could change their food into worms,� suggested Alex.

Cadrian wrinkled her nose. “Too gross!� she said. “Something more practical. Like…stealing their homework.�

“Boring,� objected Alex. “That’s too predictable.�

Lily twisted a lock of fiery hair around her finger. “I might have an idea…� she said thoughtfully.

Alex grinned. “Yes! Lily’s got an idea. Spill it!�

Lily just grinned and motioned for her friends to lean in closer, closing out the rest of the common room with their schemes.

* * * * * * * * * *

It was the weekend before Valentine’s Day, and everything was ready. It had taken quite a bit of help from Chris and his friends, but the three girls had devised a plan. They were going to present each of the boys with a box of Honeyduke’s chocolates that Chris had bought on the last Hosgmeade weekend. But the boys didn’t know that all of the chocolates had been bewitched. Chris had a friend in sixth year who knew all sorts of useful spells, and he’d helped them out. The jinx wouldn’t take effect immediately, but the next day, if they ate the chocolates, they would be turned into lions-in honor of Gryffindor, of course. It was a very complicated spell, and Chris’s friend hadn’t guaranteed its success, but Lily was willing to try, and so were her friends.

It was a Saturday-Valentine’s Day was on Monday-and the girls were at a Quidditch match. Lily hadn’t really wanted to go. Gryffindor wasn’t playing-it was Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff-but Alex and Cadrian had begged her profusely until she gave in.

Now she was really beginning to regret it. It was absolutely freezing outside, with a temperature of a measly three degrees. The wind was whipping Lily’s cheeks and lips raw, and her nose and fingers were completely numb. Her cloak just wasn’t cutting it against the cold. She turned to Alex, her lips chattering. “I think I’m going to go inside,� she said.

Alex turned to her. “Why?� she asked. Alex didn’t look the tiniest bit uncomfortable. A few snowflakes rested in her curly brown hair. Her cheeks were rosy and her lips were purply, but her eyes were excited and sparkly.

“Because it is freezing cold!� Lily said, getting to her feet.

Alex shrugged. “Whatever!�

Lily stepped over dozens of legs, managing not to trip, which was even more of an accomplishment than usual because the bleachers were getting more and more icy every second. But she made it without incident back into the castle.

The long, dark, drafty corridors were deserted, and truthfully, not much warmer than outside. Lily slowly ambled up to the common room. She wondered vaguely if anybody was up there. Probably-not many people thought this match would be worth watching. Slytherin was pretty much a lock to win.

Before long Lily reached the common room, murmured the password, and climbed in through the portrait hole. As she’d expected, the room wasn’t deserted. Sixth- and seventh-years were poring over their books. A group of giggly third-year girls, including Melanie Garrow, were laughing over by the fire. Lily noticed Chris sitting by himself. Every now and then he glanced over at Melanie.

“Lily?�

Lily turned to see James sitting alone in the darkest corner of the room. “Hello…� she said cautiously. “Why aren’t you at the match?�

“Well, Remus felt lousy and I decided to stay back with him. He’s upstairs. He fell asleep and I didn’t want to bother him, so I came down here.�

“Oh. That’s, um, nice of you.� Very nice, Lily thought to herself, and very unlike James.

James shrugged. “He’s my friend, so I have to.�

Wow. He’s doing it again, thought Lily furiously. Being the decent James. The bearable one. Now any second, he’ll change back…

As if on cue, he shifted his weight in his chair and grinned up at Lily. “Speaking of friends, where are yours? They find somebody better to hang out with?�

Unbelievable! He couldn’t just leave something nice stand by itself. He had to back it up with a nasty comment. “Of course not,� said Lily primly. “It’s just freezing cold outside, so I decided to come in.�

“Ah, right. Delicate little Lily has to be protected from the elements. You’d better go up to bed right now so you don’t get sick,� he said mock-seriously, his hazel eyes wide and seemingly innocent.

“Don’t worry about me, James. The only thing that can make me sick is you,� she replied just as sweetly, then smiled angelically at the boy before skipping up the stairs to her dormitory.

Ugh! He was infuriating…horribly infuriating. She couldn’t wait to turn him into a lion. She just hoped he wouldn’t attack her.

* * * * * * * * * *

Valentine’s Day was filled with spontaneous showers of pink confetti in the corridors, lots of candy, and much kissing in between classes. The common room that night was pure mayhem. Lily, Alex, and Cadrian stayed in a corner, out of the mess. Girls were cutting pink hearts out of paper and laying them around the common room, while boys were all working up the nerve, if they hadn’t already, to tell the girls how they felt. Lily had a Herbology essay out, but she wasn’t getting any work done. She kept watching Chris. Would he ask Melanie out? He hadn’t yet, and Lily knew he was very nervous.

Melanie was sitting with her friends, looking especially pretty. Her blond hair was wavy and cascading down her shoulders. Her skin glowed and she was smiling and laughing, obviously very happy.

The minutes ticked by and soon it was eight-thirty. “Guys, should we give the boys their presents now?� asked Alex slyly, checking her watch. “I think it’s time.�

In the end they’d opted to give all the boys chocolates and not leave Remus out. He seemed to be feeling a lot better since the weekend, and Lily was glad. He was so much nicer than James, Sirius, and Peter.

“Okay, let’s go!� The three girls clutched the chocolate boxes in their hands and went over to where the boys were sitting.

Alex cleared her throat to make the girls known. James looked up, alarmed, and then quickly stuffed whatever he was working on into his bag. Lily saw a flash of pink before it disappeared.

“Hello,� she said cheerfully, as the other boys looked up. “We brought you some presents. Happy Valentine’s Day!� Alex and Cadrian handed each boy a box of chocolate.

“Wow, cool,� said James. “Peter, taste one to make sure the girls didn’t do anything.�

Lily rolled her eyes. “Some people would just say ‘thank you,’� she muttered.

Peter chewed the chocolate cautiously and swallowed. Nothing happened, of course-the spells wouldn’t kick in until the next day. “They’re fine,� he announced.

“Great. Thanks, guys,� grinned Sirius, popping three of the candies into his mouth.

“You’re welcome,� said Cadrian, and the girls turned to leave.

Back at their table, Lily again fixed her attention on Chris. He was hunkered over his work, looking depressed. Oh no-had she turned him down? “Guys, I’ll be right back.� She hopped off her chair and walked over to Chris.

“Chris, are you okay?�

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.�

“Did you ask Melanie out?�

He turned to her, his expression conveying pure misery. “No,� he said. “Somebody beat me to it. Look.� He nodded over to where the blond girl was sitting. Somebody who hadn’t been there before had joined the group: a curly-haired boy whom Lily didn’t recognize. His arm was draped over her shoulders and Melanie’s head was lying on his shoulder contentedly.

“Oh,� said Lily softly. “I see.�

“Yeah.� Chris was obviously in no mood to talk. “Look, Lily, I’m really tired, okay? I’m going up to bed.�

“Yeah. See you later, Chris.� Lily watched him leave. He looked so dejected, her heart went out to him. Valentine’s Day wasn’t always so great for everybody, it seemed.

Not long after that, the three girls also headed up to bed. Lily was surprised to find a bright pink card lying on her pillow. There was a big purple heart clumsily drawn on the front with the words “Happy Valentine’s Day� in the middle of it. Curiously, Lily opened the card.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Lily! This card is a greeting card for the holiday and also an apology…sorry for, well, throwing that snowball at you. You know the one. I don’t think I really ever apologized for that, so here it is. But, although I never apologized, you never actually properly thanked me for bringing you those notes. I mean, I actually had to write them, something I usually try to avoid. And all you did was point out that we aren’t really friends. Still, don’t worry about it, I forgive you.

James

“He almost apologized,� Lily muttered, rolling her eyes. “I guess that’s a step.�

* * * * * * * * * * *

The next day, around six-thirty in the morning, Lily rolled out of bed when she heard a yell. The sound startled her and she ran out of the dormitory to see what was going on.

At first what she saw didn’t make sense. Then she remembered the prank, and she burst out laughing.




Reilly, a first-year boy whom nobody really knew very well, was sitting wide-eyed in the doorway of his dormitory (He’d been running out of the room when Sirius-though Reilly didn’t know who it was-growled. Reilly had stopped in his tracks in the wide-open door.) He seemed to be frozen with fear-for where the other boys usually slept were, instead, four lions.

Wait… thought Lily. Those lions are awfully small… then, all in a rush, it hit her. Chris’s friend had warned her the spell might not go perfectly. And it hadn’t. Instead of turning into lions, the boys had turned into lion cubs.

Still laughing, Lily woke up her friends. “Alex, Cadrian! Come here, look what our prank did!�

Alex sat up groggily. “Huh?�

“Come on!�

Reluctantly, Alex climbed out of her bed and followed Lily into the hallway. When she looked into the boys’ dormitory, her eyes widened and she giggled.

A few seconds later, Cadrian stumbled blearily out and joined in her two friends’ peals of laughter.

One of the cubs jumped off the bed and padded over to Lily, growling. Lily had no way of knowing who it was. But the eyes were exactly the same hazel as James’s, and she could’ve sworn that the lion cub was grinning.

* * * * * * * * * * *

A/N: Really, really, really, really, REALLY sorry it took so long. I’m really busy right now and things won’t slow down for awhile. Hope you enjoyed it, and don’t forget-REVIEW! :)

Chris’s brilliant sixth-year friend was able to transform the boys back into boys without too much difficulty. They actually were taking the prank quite well. James was acting much better about it than Lily had expected. He thought it was funny, which disappointed Alex somewhat, but Lily was glad they hadn’t hurt the boys’ feelings too much. (Although she didn’t dare mention that to Alex.)

February melted into March and the snow melted along with it. March brought intensely blustery winds, sudden downpours of rain, and the occasional warm, sunny day. The lake overflowed and older boys spent a lot of time by the shore, hoping for the giant squid to wash up. (It never did.)

March also brought with it Alex’s birthday. As she reminded Lily and Cadrian every day, her birthday was on March the twenty-seventh. Lily had no idea what to buy her as a gift, or even where to find a gift. Cadrian suggested sneaking into Hogsmeade again, but Lily wouldn’t go. The twenty-seventh grew closer every day, and every time Lily thought about a gift for Alex, she came up short.

One Saturday morning, Lily and Cadrian were eating breakfast and discussing what to do for Alex’s birthday (Alex was still asleep) when James, alone for once, plopped down beside them. “Look,� he said bluntly, “I need your help.�

Lily and Cadrian exchanged confused glances. “Okay…� said Cadrian slowly. “What do you need?�

“Okay, before I say anything, let me just say that asking you guys is completely a last resort. I’ve asked every person I could possibly think of.�

“James, just tell us,� sighed Lily exasperatedly.

“Okay, okay. Sirius’s birthday is coming up, and I have no idea what to get him.�

“Sirius’s birthday is coming up?� Lily asked. “When is it?�

“On March twenty-seventh, which is only about two weeks away,� replied James. “I’m running out of time.�

Lily’s jaw dropped. “What?� she asked loudly. “The twenty-seventh? Are you sure?�

“Of course I am,� replied James. “What’s your problem?�

“The twenty-seventh--that’s Alex’s birthday!� blurted out Cadrian.

“What?� said James. “No, it’s not.�

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yes it is, stupid,� she said. “Two people can have the same birthday. But…that’s so weird.�

“Wow,� said James. “That is strange. So anyway, what should I get for him?�

“Actually,� said Cadrian, “we were having the same problem with Alex. We don’t know what to get her.�

“Darn. I thought you guys were smarter than that,� remarked James. “Well, I’m off, then.�

“Wait!� said Lily. James looked startled.

“Did you just ask me to wait?� he asked.

“Oh, just sit down, James,� she huffed. Looking puzzled, he obeyed. Cadrian looked confused as well. She ignored their bewildered expressions and pressed on.

“Since their birthdays turn out to be on the same day,� she said, “why don’t we do something together for them? We could throw a surprise party for them, or something like that. It would be fun.�

“A party?� asked Cadrian. “Cool!�

James was skeptical. “It probably wouldn’t be very surprising,� he said. “Besides, where would we hold it? The common room would be too packed with other people. And anyway, that doesn’t solve our problems. We still have to get them presents.�

James’s reply had hurt Lily, but she wasn’t about to let him know that. “Okay,� she said, staring down at her food, willing her cheeks not to turn red. “It was just an idea.�

“I think it’s a great idea,� said Cadrian staunchly. “They would be surprised. They wouldn’t expect it, I don’t think. If you ask me, we should do it.�

James rolled his eyes. “But it’s not like they won’t be expecting something.�

“But maybe if they don’t know they have the same birthday,� started Cadrian, “then-�

“Hi guys! What’s going on?�

Cadrian jumped at the sudden sound of Alex’s voice. Her hand flew into the air and knocked her cup over. Her orange juice flew right onto James.

“Cadrian! What was that for?� James leapt to his feet, looking down at his shirt in disgust.

“Sorry!� Cadrian got up and reached across the table, knocking Lily’s cup over in the process. “Oops.�

Lily righted her cup. “That’s okay.�

“I’m going to go change,� James announced. “So Lily, Cadrian, I’ll talk to you guys later…okay?�

Cadrian nodded. “Yeah.� He stalked off.

“What was that all about?� Alex asked, helping herself to some sausages. “Talking to you two later?�

“Oh, nothing,� said Lily breezily. “Anyway! Quidditch match today! You guys want to go?�

Alex shrugged. “Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin, it won’t be much to see. Slytherin’s a lock to win.� She grinned. “Hey, did you guys know my birthday’s coming up?�

“Oh, I hadn’t heard.� Lily rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Alex, we’re getting you the best present imaginable.�

“Really?�

“No,� cut in Cadrian, “we’re not getting you anything.�

“Oh.� Alex deflated rapidly. “Well. Don’t worry about it, it’s okay.�

Lily and Cadrian exchanged glances, and then burst out laughing. “Alex! Cheer up,� said Lily. “Of course we’re getting you a present.�

“The look on your face…� Cadrian collapsed in giggles again. “Here, have some bacon.�

“Uh, thanks.� Alex speared a slice of bacon for herself. “So, I’ve been thinking.�

“About?� Lily prompted.

“My birthday.� She took a bite of her bacon. “Do you think maybe McGonagall would let me pass on my homework as a birthday gift?�

Lily and Cadrian laughed. “Can you imagine what the look on her face would be like if you asked?� Cadrian giggled.

“Maybe I will ask,� Alex said. “So pay attention to her face on my birthday.�

The three friends took a second to picture what McGonagall’s expression would be like, then simultaneously burst out laughing.

* * * * * * * * * * *

March the twenty-seventh was a Friday. The Alex/Sirius surprise party was set to be the next day, Saturday. Lily and Cadrian had spent a lot of time planning it along with James, Remus, and Peter. They were holding it in the empty Transfiguration classroom, though they had had to promise McGonagall profusely that not a speck of food would end up on the ground. The five of them were working very hard to keep Alex and Sirius from finding out about their birthdays being the same day, and they were fairly confident that neither of them knew.

But they were wrong.

The Tuesday before the party, as Alex was browsing the library, waiting for Lily and Cadrian to get back from the dormitory (although they were actually arranging for James to somehow get ahold of a birthday cake, not retrieving books, as they’d told Alex), Sirius appeared behind her.

“Hi, Sirius,� she said absent-mindedly, picking up a dusty old book.

“Hi.� He cut to the chase right away. “Have you noticed anything weird about your friends lately? You know, weirder than usual?�

Alex frowned and put the book back. “No…why? Have you?�

“Actually, I have.�

“Okay, so what do you think is going on?�

“I don’t know, but I think I have a pretty good idea. And it’s not just your friends, it’s mine, too.�

“Like what?�

Sirius shrugged. “I don’t know. A lot of whispering and stuff…and they told me to meet them in McGonagall’s classroom this weekend. I mean, what would we be doing in there?�

“Cadrian told me to go there, too!� gasped Alex. “What time did they tell you?�

“Two o’ clock.�

“Same here,� mused Alex. “But I just assumed it was something to do with my birthday.�

“Saturday’s your birthday?� asked Sirius.

“No, Friday,� said Alex. “But you know. Close enough.�

“Friday? Friday is my birthday!� exclaimed Sirius, his voice raising so loud that the librarian gave him a stern glare. Lowering his voice, he said, “I didn’t know we shared a birthday.�

“Weird,� said Alex. “You know, I bet that Lily, Cadrian, James, Peter, and Remus are throwing us a surprise party. I’d bet you anything!�

“You’re probably right,� said Sirius, a sly grin growing across his face. “And now that we know…�

“We have to pretend that we don’t,� finished Alex.

“That’s not what I was going to say.� Sirius rolled his eyes. “That would be boring. No, we’re going to have some fun with this.�

Alex grinned, too. “Ooh…like what?�

Sirius beckoned for her to come closer, and the two of them began plotting.

* * * * * * * * * *

Friday the twenty-seventh came and went. Lily and Cadrian woke Alex up early by dumping a bucket of water on her face and then yelling, “Happy Birthday!� Although Alex found it amusing, Danielle and Jeniece didn’t. As they grumbled about “immature roommates,� Alex rolled her eyes, refilled the bucket, and doused the two of them.

Then Lily and Cadrian assured Alex that her present was coming. They’d gotten her a present they were quite proud of from a mail-order wizarding catalogue: a pack of Sugar Quills and a small bag of velvet ribbons in assorted colors that said “Alex Parker� in gold letters on them. They were for tying letters onto an owl’s leg, and Lily thought they would make an excellent gift.

On Saturday, March twenty-eighth, Alex woke up giddy. She was looking forward to the prank she and Sirius would be pulling, and, of course, getting her gifts.

At 12:30 that afternoon, Alex and Sirius slipped into the Transfiguration classroom. It was empty: Lily, Cadrian, James, Peter, and Remus had been planning on coming in to set up at one. They got into a storage closet in the back of the room, then locked it. “Stay quiet,� Sirius cautioned. “Then if they try to hide in here, they’ll assume McGonagall just locked it.� Alex nodded.

Time passed. Before too long, Alex and Sirius heard their friends come in. “No! James! Stop licking the icing!� they heard Lily shriek. “And Peter, don’t open that present!�

They listened as Lily and Cadrian directed the boys with various tasks: “Put the butterbeer there.� “Blow up these balloons, Remus!� “Hang up the streamers.� “STOP LICKING THE ICING, JAMES!� And then more people started arriving: all of Alex’s siblings, Chris and a few of his friends, Danielle, Jeniece, Reilly, and more of their friends. Then Lily’s voice saying, “Everybody hide, they should be here soon!� It was all Alex could do not to burst out laughing.

The room grew quiet except for the occasional coughing and snickering. Sirius tapped Alex lightly. “Now,� he mouthed. Alex nodded, grinning. Sirius quietly edged the door open, and then the two of them popped out: “SURPRISE!�

The girls in attendance screamed at the sudden noise and the boys stared, dumbstruck. Then James started laughing and soon the whole room was laughing.

“How did you find out?� Lily asked Alex later, through a mouthful of cake.

“It was Sirius,� said Alex. “He figured out you guys were up to something and he planned this whole thing. We’ve been in that closet for an hour and a half!�

“It was funny, though,� giggled Cadrian. “Really funny.� She handed Alex her present. “Here, open it.�

Alex set down her cake and tore open the gift. “Sugar Quills! Awesome,� she said. “Ooooh, these ribbons are so pretty! Were they expensive? Wow, I’m going to write a letter to Adam right away! Thanks, guys!�

“You’re welcome,� they said together.

“Happy birthday, Alex,� Lily added.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: SO SO SO SO SO sorry for the inexcusably long wait. But I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!!!

In April, the frequency, as well as the intensity, of the Quidditch matches rose to an insane level. “Does this always happen?� Lily asked Chris one night, as he came into the common room, looking exhausted, after a long practice. He grinned at her.

“Yep,� he said. “It’s exhausting, but I love it. Besides, I think this year we really have a chance at winning.�

“Really?�

He nodded enthusiastically, his eyes lighting up. “Yeah. Jen’s a great captain.�

“Yeah,� Lily mused. “So, how do you get into the championship game? When will you know?�

“Can’t tell yet, but I’m pretty confident we’ll make it in. On the other hand, Slytherin’s our biggest competitor, and they’re pretty strong.� He yawned. “I’m wiped. See you later, Lily.� He brushed by her and disappeared up into the boys’ dormitory.

It was almost scary, Lily thought, the way the school was practically transformed. And not just with Quidditch. The students, especially the older ones, were getting spring fever, and it was completely understandable, what with the gorgeously sunny days, flowers bursting into bloom (sometimes with explosive side effects in Sprout’s greenhouses), and days warm enough to make you seriously consider swimming in the lake.

The teachers, however, weren’t greeting the season change with the same enthusiasm. In fact, they didn’t seem to be affected at all. Wait, no, there was a change in the teachers’ behavior—they were starting to talk about finals.

Finals. Lily hated the word and she was already worried about the exams, even though she had two months to study.

* * * * * * * * * *

One night Lily was sitting in the common room with Alex and Cadrian (as usual), flipping through her Charms notes. Alex and Cadrian were sitting on the couch laughing about some incident involving Danielle, Jeniece, James, and an exploding cauldron, but Lily was already reviewing for exams.

“Can you guys be quiet?� she asked irritably, as Alex burst out laughing. “I’m trying to study here.�

“Relax, Lils. Exams aren’t for two months yet,� Alex replied lazily. “We’ve got plenty of time.� Suddenly her eyes opened wide and she sat straight up. “Look!� she whispered, pointing across the room.

Lily and Cadrian followed Alex’s finger, which was pointing to Melanie Garrow, the third-year that Chris liked. She was sitting with the boy who’d asked her out before Chris, a curly-haired boy named Jack. But neither of them looked very happy.

“Melanie,� Cadrian observed. “I wonder what’s wrong with her.�

Alex’s eyes gleamed. “Maybe she and Jack are going to break up!�

“So?� asked Lily, turning back to her notes. “Not important.�

“It’s important to Chris,� Alex replied. “He probably still likes her. And if she and that other guy break up, then he can ask her out!�

Lily shrugged. “Whatever. He’ll find out if they do break up. We don’t have to tell him.�

“We’ve got nothing better to do, though,� said Cadrian. “Come on, we can go sit over by them and listen in.�

Lily rolled her eyes. “Cadrian, Alex is having way too much of an effect on you.�

Alex laughed and Cadrian smiled. “It’s true,� claimed Alex. “Everyone wants to be like me.�

“Except people who don’t have a death wish,� Lily grumbled. “You guys go. Have fun. But I’m going to stay, because I don’t really care.�

Cadrian shrugged. “Okay. Fine.� She looked at Alex. “Let’s go.�

Her two friends left, crossing the common room to an empty couch near where Melanie and Jack were sitting. Lily grinned, shook her head, and went back to her notes.

She jumped when somebody tapped her shoulder and looked up into Chris’s face. “Alone tonight?� he asked, sitting down across from her. “Where are Alex and Cadrian?�

Lily gestured vaguely. “Over there. Spying, kind of. They think that Melanie girl’s going to dump that Jack guy.�

“Melanie? Really?� asked Chris, perking up. He twisted around. “Blimey, she doesn’t look happy, does she?�

“No, she doesn’t,� agreed Lily.

“So I guess the rumors were true,� Chris mused. “I mean, I’d heard that Melanie wasn’t happy with Jack, but you know how rumors are, always flying around.�

Lily nodded. “Yeah. But I guess it was true.�

Chris shrugged. “Well, whatever. Whatever happens, happens,� he said. “Now, I’ve got to go. Jen’s been getting on me about polishing my broom.� He rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I just want to strangle her…� he got up and walked away, taking a route so that he passed right by Melanie and Jack.

About ten minutes later, Alex and Cadrian returned, looking disappointed. “They were fighting before,� Cadrian informed Lily, “but it seems like they made up.�

“That’s too bad,� said Lily absently. “Chris still likes her, I’m pretty sure.�

“Yeah,� agreed Alex, “he walked right by the two of them. I saw him looking at Melanie. I don’t think she noticed him, though.�

Cadrian yawned. “I’m going up to bed, guys.� She checked her watch. “It’s nine-thirty…I thought it was earlier. Night.� Yawning again, she loped up to the dormitory.

Stuffing her notes away, Lily got up, too. “I’m going up with Cadrian. Coming?�

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be right there,� said Alex, bending over to retrieve her things. “Just gotta pick up my stuff.�

Lily ambled slowly up the stairs. Her bag was stuffed with books today. The bag’s seams were threatening to break. Luckily they held out long enough for her to dump the bag’s contents onto her bed.

That was when she noticed Cadrian.

Her friend was lying on her bed, eyes closed, her dark hair fanning out over her pillow. “Cadrian?� Lily asked uncertainly. Could she have fallen asleep that fast? No, she didn’t look like she was sleeping. Besides, she hadn’t even kicked off her shoes.

Hesitantly, Lily touched Cadrian. Her skin was ice cold. Then Lily screamed.

“Whoa! What’s with the screaming, Lily?� Alex asked, coming through the door. Then she saw Cadrian. Dropping her things, she rushed over to Lily’s side. “Oh my gosh. What’s going on? Lily, go get McGonagall!�

Lily ran out the door and raced out of the common room. She collided head-on with someone short and dark-haired. “Sorry,� she gasped, hardly looking back, as she kept running towards McGonagall’s office.

The person, whoever it was, only laughed. Lily looked back. It was Severus Snape, that weird Slytherin kid. What was he doing down here? Lily decided it didn’t matter, and kept running.

By the time she reached McGonagall’s office, she was breathless and red-faced. “Professor!� she gasped as she burst in, not bothering to knock. “Professor—Cadrian—she’s—�

McGonagall peered at Lily disapprovingly over her spectacles. “Miss Evans. Calm down. What is going on?�


Lily smoothed her hair down with one hand. “Something’s wrong with Cadrian,� she said. “She’s unconscious and freezing cold.�

In a flash McGonagall was striding out the door. “Miss Evans, go to the hospital wing and bring Madam Pomfrey up to the dormitory.� Lily nodded and ran off towards the hospital wing.

As she was turning a corner, a hand snagged Lily’s arm, almost wrenching it out of her socket. It was James. “Whoa, Evans, where’s the fire?�

Lily pulled her arm out of his grip. “Something happened to Cadrian and I have no idea what.�

Was that a flicker of concern in James’s eyes? Lily couldn’t tell. It hardly mattered. “What’s wrong?� he asked.

“She’s unconscious,� Lily snapped. “I have to go get Madam Pomfrey!�

“I’ll go,� James volunteered. “I can run a lot faster than you. Go back to Cadrian and Alex.�

Lily hesitated. “Well…bring her straight to the dormitory,� she said. “I’m serious…no jokes.�

“No,� he agreed, his tone very, very serious. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Now go.�

She nodded. “Okay.� He started to go. “James, uh…thanks.�

“Sure,� he called over his shoulder, then turned a corner and he was gone.

There he goes again. Being that nice guy.

* * * * * * * * * *

Seven minutes later, Lily was back in the dormitory, sitting with Alex on her bed and wishing she knew what was happening. James had brought Madam Pomfrey in record time. Now she, McGonagall, and even Professor Dumbledore himself were crowded around Cadrian’s bed and Lily could hardly glimpse her friend’s body.

She and Alex were sitting next to each other silently, both scared and both not having much to say. James had hovered by the door for a bit, but he’d left a few minutes after.

Finally McGonagall turned to Alex and Cadrian. It seemed like they’d been waiting there on Lily’s bed for hours, but it had only been about thirty minutes in reality. McGonagall looked tired and maybe even a little bit scared.

“Professor, what’s wrong with Cadrian?� Alex asked anxiously. “Is she okay? Will she be alright?�

“She will be fine, Miss Parker. Madam Pomfrey knows exactly what to do. She’ll be fine after a few days in the hospital wing.�

“But what happened?� asked Lily.

McGonagall answered, her features tight and her voice sharp, “She was poisoned.�

Alex jumped to her feet immediately upon hearing McGonagall. “WHAT?� she yelled. “Poisoned? What do you mean, poisoned? People don’t just get poisoned!�

Lily was dazed. “Poisoned…?� she asked timidly, but nobody heard her. She decided to let Alex take control of the talking for now.

“Miss Parker, control yourself, please,� McGonagall said sharply.

“Will she be okay?� Alex asked, blundering on despite McGonagall’s warning.

McGonagall sighed. “Well…I’m sure we’ll be able to cure her. Madam Pomfrey does, of course, have a wider knowledge of poisons than I do…rest assured, she will be fine in a week’s time.�

“So you don’t know?� Alex cried.

“Miss Parker!� McGonagall said. “One more outburst like that and I’ll have you in detention! Now, do not question me! Miss Michaels will be perfectly fine.� She straightened her robes.

“Do not worry about your friend,� came Dumbledore’s voice. Even now, it sounded faintly amused and when Lily looked up, the old man’s eyes were twinkling. It comforted her, seeing him so calm. “I have a few ideas of what’s going on here. I just need to perform a few spells to know for sure. In the meantime, we are going to take her down to the hospital wing. I advise you two to get some sleep.�

Lily nodded. Suddenly she was feeling very, very tired. She watched as Dumbledore levitated Cadrian’s body gently, and then he, Cadrian, and McGonagall left.

“Oh my gosh, Lily, what’s going on?� asked Alex, when the teachers had gone. “Is that the creepiest thing, or what? I wonder who did it. Oh my gosh, what about us? Are we next?�

“Uh…I don’t know,� replied Lily, answering all the questions at once.

Alex kept on chattering. “How’d they do it, anyway? I mean, how could we actually let somebody get away with something like that?�

Lily shrugged, and then said, as Alex’s mouth was opening again, “Let’s get some sleep, alright? We’ll talk in the morning.�

Luckily, Alex complied, climbing into her bed and pulling the covers up to her chin. “Good night,� she said, her voice floating to Lily’s ears from somewhere in the darkness. In just minutes she was fast asleep.

Lily didn’t fall asleep so easily. She closed her eyes and stayed perfectly still, but sleep would not come. She pounded her pillow, tossed and turned, kicked off her covers and pulled them back on. But still, an hour later, she was wide-awake.

Danielle, Jeniece, and Alex were all sleeping peacefully. Wait a second-were they? Now that Lily looked closely, she could see that Danielle’s bed was empty. Curiousity came over her. What if something had happened to her as well? What if there was some awful conspiracy going on to eliminate all of the Gryffindor first-years? Lily knew her imagination was over-reacting, but she slipped out of bed anyway.

Cautiously, she opened the dormitory’s door and stepped outside. The common room was mostly empty. On the far side of the room, two sixth- or seventh-years were asleep on a couch, the girl’s head lying on the boy’s shoulder. Lily silently crept past them.

Outside the common room, the corridor was drafty and pitch-black. The school was much more eerie now, at night, without all the hustle and bustle that normally consumed the halls. But Lily didn’t really care.

Where to go? She wondered, absently making turns left and right. She had no idea where Danielle would be, if she was even out here. And where was here, anyway? Lily realized with a jolt of panic that she was completely lost. Hogwarts was huge, and in the dark, it would be no small feat to find her way back to the common room.

And it was getting creepier and creepier by the minute, now that Lily thought about it. The shadows cast on the walls by the moonlight seemed twisted and sinister. The suits of armor lining the walls seemed ready to stab her at any second. And jeez, that stupid silence was by far the loudest that Lily had ever heard. Or was she just imagining all those noises?

Picking up speed, Lily kept going, not paying any attention to where her feet were carrying her. Left, right, left, left…was she even in Hogwarts anymore? If so, this castle was bigger than she thought, because she’d been running for quite a while now.

And then she heard voices.

Lily’s heart skipped a beat and her stomach curled in fear as she heard Lucius Malfoy’s distinct drawl. It was faint, but getting louder and closer with each passing second. Which way was he coming from? She stopped, straining her ears, but still couldn’t tell where Lucius was coming from.

“…Mark’s an idiot,� came Lucius’s voice from somewhere to the right. Lily whipped around. Now she could hear his footsteps, accompanied by another’s. She could also see where they’d enter the very corridor she was in. Before Lucius and the other person entered, she ducked behind a particularly rusty old suit of armor, trying to breathe shallowly and quietly.

�Is he coming?� asked the other person. As Lucius stepped into Lily’s view, so did his companion. It was Bellatrix.

“Yes,� replied Lucius. “I told him to meet us here, anyway. He thinks he’s getting paid, so he’ll show.�

They stopped a little bit away from Lily’s hiding spot. She wished her hair wasn’t so vividly red. Cadrian’s dark locks would do nicely here.

“I don’t like the school at night,� Bellatrix muttered, looking around warily.

“Oh, please, Bella. Act your age,� replied Lucius snottily. “There’s nobody around.�

“I feel like there is,� she insisted, craning her neck. Lily flattened herself against the wall as best as she could. Which wasn’t very well, considering her knees were drawn up to her chest. Luckily, Bellatrix didn’t notice her.

Lucius took a sweeping look around, too. Was it Lily’s imagination, or did his eyes linger an extra second on her hiding place? She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for Lucius to come over, yank her to her feet.

“Mark!�

The sudden noise made Lily’s eyes fly open. She looked over to the Slytherins. They’d been joined by a third person: a boy, about sixteen, whom Lily didn’t recognize. He was tall and burly with curly red hair.

“Hello, Lucius, Bellatrix,� said the boy, presumably Mark, strolling over with his hands in his pockets. “My payment?�

“Not so fast,� Lucius said curtly, wiping the smug look off of Mark’s face, which was replaced with anger. He opened his mouth to protest, but Lucius held up a hand. “We promised you twenty Galleons, right?�

“Yeah, that’s right,� said Mark, stepping forward aggressively.

Lucius calmly stepped backward. “But you poisoned the wrong kid, Mark,� he said.

Lily’s mouth fell open. They were talking about Cadrian!

“What? No, I didn’t,� he said, looking confused. “The Gryffindor first-year with the dark hair, you said. How many of those could there be?�

“Evidently, there are two,� Lucius said icily. “We want Sirius poisoned, you imbecile.�

It took a lot of self-control for Lily not to gasp. They wanted to poison Sirius! Why?

“Who’d I poison, then?�

“A girl. Cadrian something-or-other,� piped up Bellatrix. “A girl, you moron! Sirius isn’t a girl’s name!�

Mark shrugged. “You should’ve been more specific.�

“That’s beside the point,� said Lucius, holding up a hand to silence Bellatrix. “The point is, we’re not going to pay you until Sirius is poisoned. Make it soon.�

“But I can’t,� said Mark.

“Why not?� asked Bellatrix.

“I’m out of poison,� Mark explained. “I only made a little bit, because you told me you didn’t want the kid dead. And it takes about two weeks to make.�

“You don’t have any left?� asked Lucius.

Mark shook his head. “Sorry. No.�

“Two weeks?� snarled Bellatrix. “Two weeks? We can’t wait that long!�

“There is a way to speed up the process,� Mark admitted.

“Then do it,� said Lucius.

“I’ll need ten more Galleons for that, though,� Mark said. “Because I’d have to buy extra dragon blood, and that doesn’t come cheap.�

Lucius narrowed his eyes. “Fine.� He dug the money out of his pocket and let it fall into Mark’s outstretched hands, piling up with a soft clinking noise. “But make it as fast as possible.�

Mark nodded. “By this time next week, he’ll be out.�

“Good.�

Mark turned to leave. Bellatrix yawned. “Let’s go, Lucius. I’m tired.�

Yes, thought Lily. Go. Go. Her legs were cramping terribly, on fire from the crouching.

“I’ll be up in a second, Bella. Go without me,� Lucius said. “I have another, er, errand to run.�

Bellatrix yawned again and shrugged. “Fine, then. See you.� She took off, too.

To Lily’s horror, Lucius didn’t leave. Instead, he walked over to Lily’s hiding spot, stopped in front of her, and crossed his arms intimidatingly.

Lily, her heart pounding wildly, looked up at him.

“Get up,� he said, reaching down for her arm and yanking her to her feet. “What are you doing here? Eavesdropping?�

Lily was so scared, she could hardly breathe. She definitely couldn’t answer.

Lucius, still holding her arm, shook her roughly. “Don’t ever let me catch you eavesdropping again, you filthy Mudblood,� he hissed, his face just inches from hers.

“I won’t,� she whispered. She tried to shake her arm out of his grasp, but he wouldn’t budge.

“If you tell anybody what you heard tonight, I’ll make sure you’re next,� Lucius threatened. “Do you understand me?�

Lily nodded timidly.

“Good.� He released her arm and she rubbed it tenderly. “Remember, Evans. Not a word.�

“I won’t,� Lily muttered.

“You’d better not,� Lucius called over his shoulder, as he walked away, disappearing into the shadows.

Lily, having completely forgotten about Danielle, started to go back upstairs to the common room when she bumped into somebody. “Sorry!� she whispered, intending to scurry away quickly before the person could get a good look at her.

“Lily?� asked a voice.

Lily stopped. “Danielle? Is that you?�

Danielle frowned. “Yeah. It is. What are you doing out so late?�

Lily shrugged, not wanting to tell Danielle the real reason—that she’d been looking for her--when she looked so…well, angry. “Couldn’t sleep. What about you?�

“Uh…yeah. Same. I couldn’t sleep, either,� replied Danielle quickly. “Well, the common room’s just up here. Let’s go.�

“Really? I had no idea where it was,� replied Lily gratefully, falling into step beside Danielle. “Lucky I ran into you.�

Danielle didn’t reply, just “humph�ed. What’s her problem? Lily wondered.

Sure enough, they found the Fat Lady before too long. Danielle whispered the password and she and Lily climbed inside.

Silently, they went up into the dormitory. Soon, Danielle was asleep. But still, Lily lay awake. They’re going to poison Sirius! And she was just going to stand by and let it happen?

No, Lily decided, just before she drifted off to sleep. She wouldn’t let Lucius scare her. She was going to tell McGonagall who had poisoned Cadrian. Tomorrow.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“And for homework…�

The class let out a collective groan, although by now, they were used to McGonagall’s extensive essays.

Surprisingly, a rare smile slid across McGonagall’s lips. “No homework,� she announced.

Lily and Alex exchanged excited glances. Then Alex got up to leave with everybody else. “Come on, Lily, let’s go.�

Lily got to her feet, putting her things in her bag. “One second. I’ve got to talk to McGonagall. You go ahead, go to the library, I’ll be there in a second.�

“Okay,� said Alex, leaving the classroom.

When the classroom was empty, Lily approached McGonagall’s desk. “Professor?� she asked timidly.

McGonagall looked up. “Yes, Miss Evans?�

“Um…I…I think I know who poisoned Cadrian.�

McGonagall’s eyes widened. “Miss Evans, before you say anything, that is a very, very serious accusation. Are you sure about this?�

Lily hesitated slightly, then nodded. “Yeah,� she said. “I’m positive.�

“Very well, then. Who?�

Lily nervously put her hands together. “Um…Lucius Malfoy,� she said. “And Bellatrix Black. Well, not them, but they paid somebody to do it. Mark somebody.�

McGonagall got to her feet. “Are you quite sure, Miss Evans?�

Lily nodded. “Yes.�

“Very well, then. I’ll look into it and let you know in a couple of days. Now, get along.�

Knowing she’d been dismissed, Lily walked out of the classroom.

Now what will happen? she wondered vaguely. She wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake. But no, she decided, later on that evening, she’d done the right thing, and she was glad.