academic curiosity

*

"EEEEEEEEEEAP!" This was the first sound out of the mouth of Lily Evans, a Gryffindor first year as she awoke in the middle of her first week of classes. She was running late, very late.

"Sheeeoooooot!" she screamed and flung herself out of bed, her eyes felt tight and dry but she could see clearly that all the beds around her were empty, blankets thrown back and only one bed had been made (this was Ada Mac Fusty, she ran a tight ship at her end of the dormitory).

She dressed and moaned curses at the same time, stamped her feet into her new trainers and decided there was no possible time to draw the laces so with that she went for the door.

"Books!" she suddenly wailed and flew back to her trunk where a significant pile of them were waiting for her. She rifled through, seeing the yellow coloured book A History of Magic by Perfidious Bout, and she tossed it into her rucksack and followed it up with books for the other courses of the day. The rucksack swung violently behind her as she turned and shot out of the dormitory, down the narrow stone staircase and through the common room. She pitched forward and nearly fell on her face as she hit the bottom step.

She hadn't had History of Magic yet so she had no clue where the classroom was supposed to be. After flying out of the portrait, she tried a few hallways at random until she ran into a Hufflepuff prefect, who seeing the small red-haired figure of a girl, cheeks flushed and all four limbs flailing about her, figured she had to be lost and pointed her in the right direction.

Silently she opened the door and snuck through and saw to her immense relief that the professor didn't even bother to look up from the gargantuan book he was reciting from. Barely a first year even looked up, as it seemed that in the first fifteen minutes Lily had missed of class many had fallen back to sleep or were rigorously day dreaming.

Three heads in total turned. One was a exhausted-looking and thin boy with light brown hair. He was in her house, she had seen him the night before getting directed to a dorm room. Before him was his notes and a open course book. After giving her a nondescript look he turned and gave his attention back to the droning Binns. The second was Ada Mac Fusty, another Gryffindor whom she had first met on the Hogwarts Express. She was big-boned and fierce and Lily had taken a liking to her. Ada looked back at her as she came in to class and rolled her eyes deeply and pretended to be dead of boredom. Her head leaned back on the back of her seat, tongue lolling horribly. The third person to see her was a slight girl with black hair in small braids. She also had a book open but the cover it bore was like the romances her mum would sometimes read. The girl, seeing that she was being exposed, quickly slid it under the table and looked away.

Lily slipped into a chair in front of the girl and directly behind Ada who, after a few seconds of quill scribbling, unceremoniously flung over a bit of parchment at Lily. She moved lower into her seat to open the note, trying not to make a sound even though the professor didn´t seem to realize he had a classroom full of students in it.

WHO IS THAT

BEHIND YOU???

Lily took out her quill and ink and responded:

MUST BE

HUFFLEPUFF.

SHE´S READING A

MUGGLE BOOK!

A half a minute later a new note was tossed over one of Ada´s blocky shoulders:

NO

THE BOY TO HER LEFT

AND TWO SEATS BACK

BY THE DOOR!!!

Lily folded the note back up and pretended to look out the window near the back, she let her eyes dart quickly around. There was a lot of boys. One caught her eye with his own and looked away quickly. Lily put quill to paper:

THE DARK HAIR?

Ada wrote back:

NARROWING IT DOWN SLOWLY THEN?

YES

NEXT TO THE PUNKY LOOKING KID WITH GLASSES.

TELL ME HE´S NOT THE GROOVIEST EVER

Lily dared another look backwards and found the black haired boy in glasses, he was now busy twirling his wand and muttering something. Lily looked in the same direction he was and saw that a small velvet drawstring pouch that had been placed in the waste basket next to Binns' desk was floundering at the bottom as if trying to take flight and escape. He was sitting between two other boys at the table. To his right was a boy she had met on the Hogwarts Express. He had a slightly mousy look to him and she was surprised but pleased that he had made friends so fast. On the left she saw another boy with the same black hair as the one trying to levitate the satchel from the trash bin. Maybe they´re related? It was slightly longer and he was staring off out the window.

As she too gazed out of the glass she could see that every now and then small figures on broomstick flew by, and she thought she also caught sight of some kind of bulky looking ball being hit back and forth. Playing Quidditch! She thought. This was something she had been longing to see. In Muggle school they made them play sport and Lily hated it all, but those games did not involve flying. She was planning on trying it out whenever it was possible to do so inconspicuously.

She looked back at him and tried to decide if he was attractive or not. The boy turned from the window and met her eyes. She was facing him completely, turned backwards in her chair. Seeing her at it, he smiled and gave a little wave and Lily flew back around to face the front of the class, cheeks pink. Ada smiled faintly and nodded, mouthing, "that one!"

The class trudged very slowly onward and Lily had spent a lot of the time listening to what apparently was a very dramatic vampire rights uprising but to Professor Binns might as well have been his grocery list. She faded in and out of the history and scanned her book. It looked vaguely uninteresting. Her eyes returned to the subtle movement of the velvet pouch in the waste basket. She saw that now a few other pairs of eyes were also observing it. The satchel had not progressed very much further. She watched, anticipating, for several minutes. She wasn't the only one who hissed and shook their head when instead of the little red pouch, a rolled up ball of scratch parchment popped out four feet in the air and landed on the floor beside the desk. Binns, miraculously, didn´t notice and Lily watched closely as for another five minutes the satchel was unsuccessfully retrieved.

Her palm tingled slightly as she sunk her hand into her pocket.

She felt the shiny smoothness of her new wand and pulled it out cautiously. She had practiced using it only a handful of times, never with any great degree of success. She hadn´t had many classes that had required its use yet. But she studied the satchel carefully and recalled a spell that she had read about, then incanted under her breath, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

There was a palpable tenseness in the room as the satchel was lifted fully out of the waste bin, followed by an abrupt murmur of agreed triumph among the students who had been watching the whole period of class. Two boys in front shook hands and a girl to Lily´s left sighed resentfully and counted out seven sickles to the boy she had betted behind her. She floated the satchel only about a foot above the bin, so that the professor wouldn´t catch it out of the corner of his eye. She thought for a moment, now what? Before deciding and quietly muttering, "Accio satchel!"

Halfway between its harrowing flight across the room in her direction she thought that maybe this had been a bad idea. But too late, it shot out like a spitfire and luckily she held out her hand instinctively. It smacked right into her open palm and as it did she froze as every eye in the room was on her, including Binns´. After quickly closing her hand around the satchel to conceal it, she met his phantom gaze, which other than being that of a ghost was rather benign.

"What the devil?" the professor spoke up at her with polite disbelief. Lily heard a snickering in front and saw that Ada was about to die from a fit of laughter and she had to shove her face into the table in front of her to conceal her hilarity. By now a few other students were dangerously amused. Binns was still peering up at her with confusion.

"I apologize for the disruption Professor Binns!" she said nervously, squeezing at the satchel desperately. Whatever was inside was shaped like a small ball...

Binns conferred with the class list and then returned, "Ms. Edwards, may I ask you to please refrain from practicing your Charms during my class?" He looked confusedly around the room. "If you dropped a quill over here you should have just asked permission to retrieve it. First years don´t have enough experience to be flinging sharp objects across the room. I´m sure Ms. Mac Dusty or Mr. Prickly in front of you prefer to remain with both eyes."

With the statement made, Binns went back to the history, by now the vampire´s uprising had failed utterly and they were being chased down and slaughtered by hoards of wizards. Ada was slapping the table and laughing silently with no pretext of trying to be discreet.

After the lesson was finished Lily got up and dropped her book back in her satchel. She turned and saw that the owner of the satchel and his small ensemble were watching her warily. As she approached them a few of the other students gathered near, apparently waiting to give their commentary on her summoning charm. The owner of the satchel had his eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

"Here, this is yours," she managed to mumble at him as everyone stared, taking out the satchel from the pocket of her robe and extending her hand to deposit it into his.

He took it from her and continued to look rather grim.

"That was brilliant!" the boy who she had seen taking notes earlier, exclaimed suddenly, as if not able to contain his opinion on the matter any longer.

"Oh, uh..." Lily got out, she wasn´t too good meeting new people. This was unfortunate as she had not known a single magical person two weeks ago.

"You must have read right through our entire charms course book!" he said appreciatively. She felt herself growing warm and tried to appear interested in the floor and in the large clock by the door. Sensing that the conversation was turning literary all students but those immediately involved in the transaction fled into the corridor.

"Yeah..." Lily answered lamely, meeting Ada´s glance as she came up towards them after gathering her things from her table.

"You´re all Gryffindor," Ada pronounced on arrival and tilted her head very slightly at the four remaining boys. "It´s strange we haven´t met yet." The boys didn´t seem to see anything odd in it.

"I´m Sirius. And I think that summoning charm was ace, don´t you think so too James? " This was stated from the taller of the four boys, dark haired and slightly arrogant looking. The boy in eyeglasses, called James, fidgeted grumpily and went to cross his arms once again. "Yes, pretty good trick for a Muggle born and all," Sirius added.

"Um. Hi," Lily replied, barely audible. She wasn´t quite sure what else to say.

"How do you know she´s Muggle born?" the brown-haired boy asked him pointedly. Lily felt slightly grateful to him, even though she thought the fact was as good as written on her forehead.

Sirius paused for a moment and was about to reply but the mouse interrupted him, his pudgy little fists balled up as he stared the boy down. "He didn´t mean it like that, you! He ain´t anything like the rest of `em!"

Lily didn´t understand what this meant but she saw that both Sirius and James, looked a little alarmed.

"Uh, Peter..." James began.

But the brown-haired boy made peace. "It´s okay, sort of hypocritical really. No hard feelings?"

"Nah, I´m used to it," Sirius replied back with a nod.

"Okay!" Ada sighed impatiently and exchanged a heavy glance with the bewildered Lily.

"I heard," Sirius said again to Lily, "that they don´t even tell you you´re a witch until the Hogwarts acceptance letter is delivered."

Lily wasn´t sure if this was a question or a smug remark. In any case she was saved from having to respond by the one called James.

"Well, obviously!" he sighed with exasperation. "I mean, if her ruddy folks didn´t know, who else would have told her?"

This didn´t bother Sirius one bit, he grinned widely and then said, "Hey, now we know who to pay to do our homework! We should make sure to introduce ourselves." Sirius looked around the small circle.

"James Potter is the name," the boy in eyeglasses was clutching his little satchel a bit too tightly as he said this to Lily.

"Remus... Lupin," the sallow-skinned one lit a shy smile at them all.

"I´m Peter Pettigrew," the fourth one added in a tone that sounded as if he had been asked a unexpected question and was not really sure if he was giving the correct answer.

"Ada Mac Fusty," the valiant-looking girl announced in turn, rolling her eyes into the back of her head as if waiting for something inevitable.

And it came from James: "As in the Hebridean dragon Mac Fusty´s?!" His eyes widened behind his glasses.

"You´ve heard of us then?" Ada replied looking off and tapping a foot.

"Cooool," Peter mouthed. Both Remus and Sirius nodded their agreement.

"Hebridean dragons?" Lily asked with a blank expression. Why am I now just hearing of this? she thought.

"My family has been the caretakers for generations," Ada explained to her sounding slightly surprised that someone didn´t know this.

"But... I've been to the Hebrides..." Lily murmured incredulously.

"Well, we best be on our way mates! We´ll be seeing you two birds!" Sirius waved.

"Hey... Uh, Lupin? Do you want to come with us? Were going to...." James pulled Remus along and began whispering in his ear.

Waving back to Sirius, Ada mumbled to Lily under her breath, "he likes you I think. Well, I still have seven years..." She squeezed her fingers together in mock prayer under her chin and fluttered her eye lashes towards the rafters.

"Did he just call us birds?" Lily asked.

*

A month had gone past and Lily had picked up a little of what´s what and who´s who in the magical realm, and was now reading a horribly cruel news article on the Minister of Magic. She was not only staying afloat in all her classes but sailing through Charms and Herbology. Both subjects she understood as she had been performing rudimentary charms all her life.

She levitated cookies from too high counters when she was four, melted one of Petunia´s toys in a fit of righteous anger at five, was playing simple songs on the piano without touching a single key by six, grew out her wavy hair six inches overnight after a horrible haircut her mother had subjected her to at seven, even blew out one of the tires in her parent´s old battle axe of a car in anxiety when her dad was about to take her for a unwanted doctor visit at age eight.

In the past few years it had only gotten stranger. The family sat amazed (and in her sister´s case completely traumatized) at the kitchen table more than once when a pepper shaker would lift off to Lily´s open hand or everyone would be brought to confused silence when she would know who was knocking at the front door before opening it, whether it be the post woman or a completely random and seldom seen distant relative coming through town.

In the common room she was hunched over her daily and was sipping a cherry soda through a straw. It came in a care package filled with other simple, familiar, non-magical pleasures that she was having a bit of trouble being apart from. Looking up she saw Ada and another first year who Lily often talked to, Dale Percy (Mr. Prickly to Binns). He gave her a sheepish grin as both sat across from Lily.

"What´s shaking Dale?" Lily looked up from her book.

"A joke?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. In Defense Against The Dark Arts the day before his spell backfired and hit the formidable Professor Bond, giving him the case of the knee shakes. Even though it only lasted approximately four seconds it was still pretty funny. That is until Bond had spun around and glared death at them all and the entire room remained silently fearful until they were released.

"I thought it was funny," a pudgy-faced Davey Gudgeon remarked from the other end of the table where he was playing wizarding chess with James Potter.

"You never did have a very good sense of humor," Dale responded loudly down the table at him before leaning over Lily´s book with conspiracy in his eyes. "We need your help!" he hissed.

She looked back and forth at both of them, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I´ve been challenged to a duel!" Ada whispered, looking only partially happy.

"What?!" Lily laughed.

"No, it´s serious! Tonight at midnight, seventh floor corridor!" Dale added, he did not look the least bit happy. "You´re our only hope."

"You´re joking, right? Is this going to be a fist fight or you going to form a gang and out-dance the rival gang?"

"This is only 1970, that Michael Jackson video hasn´t come out yet!" he replied.

"What?" Lily asked, mystified.

"Nothing! Any ways! Charms and Defense are my worst subjects..." Dale continued hastily.

"And I´m not exactly professional myself," Ada interrupted, "we need you to teach us some charms!"

"What on earth do you mean? Midnight is like in ten hours... It took me something like three weeks to master the Engorgement charm!"

"But only like two minutes to get the Disarming spell! C´mon what are mates for other than teaching you how to bludgeon a few beastly Ravenclaw heads?"

"Well, on that note-"

"Thank you! Okay, so what do you think would be good? I mean I´d like to see some blood... But I don´t want us to get caught!"

"I´m going to stand guard behind the sculpture and pop out in case that slug Quietus brings her posse!" Dale told her.

"Posse?" Lily was confused. "Um, and we are referring to Nico Quietus?" she asked looking at them incredulously. They each looked back at her with matching expressions.

"Oh! Please! She´s like the top of our class in charms!" Lily exclaimed, forgetting to be quiet. Both Gudgeon and Potter looked over.

"Shhh!" Ada waved a hand at Lily. "Look, I think.... or at least I´m hoping that you´re the top in our class! You´re real good... Say you´ll help us tonight after Potions!"

Lily thought for a moment before replying, "only on the condition that you trade Potions partners with me!"

Ada leaned back and looked at Dale. `Nooo!´ he mouthed soundlessly.

Alia Bashir was Lily´s unfortunate partner. A dark, pretty Gryffindor who everyone admired even though she was, Lily suspected, missing a couple marbles. She liked to talk and hear herself speak but hadn't mastered gabbing and chopping at the same time. Their wormwood had been destroyed during their last class when two Ravenclaw girls had some hot gossip to give at the next table

Looking at Ada, Dale gulped and turned back to Lily. "All right then, I´ll swap with you. But I´m just warning you! My partner isn´t exactly... "

"But he´s at least good at the class work!" Lily butted in.

*

Professor Slughorn gave them all measuring stares as he walked figure eights around the busy pairs of students in first year Potions.

"Look, you! Why don't you mind your own asphodel?!" Alia Bashir was shouting at Dale across the room. Lily smiled but it creeped off her face when she caught the eye of her new partner, standing on the opposite end of the cauldron. He

had perfected the glare.

"Are you going to pay attention?" he spat at her.

"Who says I´m not?" she leveled her voice so it would come out low and smooth.

"I believe I just did, you´re not the quickest around, are you? But the Gryffindors are not famous for their wit." he shook his head in mock-sympathy.

"Look Severus," she replied trying to maintain calm and grasping the warm edge of the cauldron they shared, "I don´t need to be that smart to dump this whole potion all over your feet and lose the grade for both of us, now do I?"

He looked at her incredulously.

Apart from his severely depressing hair style, she had picked up on his desperate desire for achievement.

"So let's both shut-up and get this over with," she continued with a lighter tone now that she saw her words were having the right effect. Looks like Gryffindors are good at something... She thought as Severus went back to his fervent pace to finish his part of the drought.

Indeed mean threats were the only known language of her partner, and working wordlessly they were the first to finish their lesson and hand it in to a approving Professor Slughorn. He dismissed them and Lily saw most of the Gryffindors give her a longing look as she cleaned out her cauldron, closed her slick green copy of Fun With Poison Level 1 by Bob Hoskins, folded it under her arm and exited the cold dungeon just behind Severus Snape. Before she left though, she met Dale and Ada´s gazes and winked.

"We have eight hours to get a few good hexes down," Lily began speaking as she took a turn about the room before her pupils. They had cleared a large space in one of the abandoned classrooms. They had not been there two minutes before the door to the room opened and a head poked around.

"Oh fabulous!" Dale shouted pointing at the head. Alia Bashir smiled at them and closed the door behind herself.

"I followed you!" she explained unnecessarily, and sat on the desk next to Ada. The two shook hands. "I was curious!"

"We´ll be in a duel at midnight... Lily is showing us some hexes," Ada explained.

"This is spiraling out of control!" Dale shouted throwing up his arms.

"Relax, Bashir here is the Encyclopedia Hogwarts! She´ll be able to tell us some dirt on Quietus and her cronies."

"Please!" Alia rolled her big black eyes, "Nico Quietus, one point four meters and 3 point nine and a half milligrams of pure menace, likes quiet walks along the lake, Sirius Black- "

"Who doesn´t?" Ada interrupted with a foggy grin.

"... And visiting Egypt, hates..." Alia trailed off smiling evilly at each of them, "sewer drains, camera flashes and rats!"

"Well then, let´s begin with the Rat´s Nest Hex!" Lily took out her wand.

"I could run and get my camera!" Dale exclaimed, but no one took him up on the offer.

A while later, as the hand on Dale's wrist watch approached eleven forty-five he looked at Ada and they each tucked their wands away. Lily was utterly spent but secretly very pleased. She had helped them perfect no less than four new spells, all of them perfectly nefarious! Alia had left a half hour ago, humming.

"Well, this takes care of both the duel and our Defense Against the Dark Arts home work for the year! Let's be off then!" Dale announced. The three left the class room and Lily shut the door carefully behind them. She looked around warily, keeping an eye and ear out for Filch, who she imagined was prowling somewhere with his cat, Mrs. Norris.

The other two walked with her halfway to the common room, but then said they had to part ways at the bottom of the stair case. Lily paused for a moment, watching their receding backs disappear into the unlit gloom of the corridor.

She of course followed them.

*

"So you decided to show up Ada Mac Fusty!" a high voice bit into the cool air of the nearly pitch black corridor. Lily, stooped in a doorway, saw Ada´s back. Before her was not the lone figure of Nico Quietus but of her and two more girls. She could also see Dale´s back from where he was crouched behind the

sculpture. From his profile she could tell he was angry. And it was warranted. Three against one! Lily shook her head.

"Afraid to face me by yourself you pointy-faced hag?" Ada swung out her wand and the two figures on either side of Nico jumped back liked frightened hens.

Nico stepped forward and replied, "well, actually if you consider that all three of us weigh about one of you, it´s perfectly fair!"

"Oh , that´s it you... You WITCH!" Dale shot out from around the sculpture and didn´t even pause. "INFESTO CAESARIES!"

Lily could see a blue light shoot off his wand in the dark aimed at Nico, hitting her in the face. For a moment she looked only stunned but then as the strange movement in her coif began, the expression changed to terror. She began screaming and spinning.

"Fabulous!" Lily shouted, and as the figure on Nico´s left fired a hex at Dale, Lily hurtled at him, shoved him so hard he rolled head over heels on the floor. Pointing her wand upward she screamed, "TARANTALLEGRA!" and dodging another spark of light that was coming from over her target´s shoulder.

Ada by this time had her wand knocked aside in the murky corridor and was amidst hand to hand combat with a strange looking boy who Lily recognized from Ravenclaw. "It´s an ambush!" Ada bellowed, taking a dangerous swipe at the boy.

Lily felt herself be slammed into the hard stone wall and a girl before her was hissing a spell, the tip of her wand pointed right at Lily´s nose. She swung her leg out and around the girl´s leg, uprooting her from the floor. "ENGORGIO!" Lily shouted and the girl dropped her wand in fear as she realized both her hands were already doubling in size. Unfortunately as Lily had begun to to help Ada with her foe, Lily saw that the engorged hands may have been a bad idea as now the girl had a fantastic new weapon. Dale had to duck wildly as the girl´s giant hands swung at his, in comparison, tiny skull.

"Not so fast birdbrain!" a voice shouted. Lily looked up in time to see Frank Longbottom, a Gryffindor first year, dart out of the shadows. He sent the girl flying, but she got back on her feet quickly despite the unimaginable weight dragging at her wrists. Frank was quickly followed by a skipping Alia and another boy from their house named Joe Leary.

"Fuzz-mentum Viola!" Joe incanted merrily, aiming his wand at one of the girls who was jumping on Ada´s back and kicking her. The girl fell and sprouted long, violet chin hairs.

"Cool," Joe sighed and dodged a spark coming from Dale.

"Oh, wait. Are you on our side then? Didn´t get you did I?" Dale called over the bulky shoulder of one of the boys. They were wrestling on the floor.

Lily stood amazed for a split second, observing that now, somehow, thirteen first years including herself were brawling. She spun around sensing a wand aimed at the back of her head. Just in time she ducked as one of the girls came at her. She began another spell but clumsily tripped over Nico as she writhed on the floor screaming.

Lily darted away and aimed her wand at her, "QUIETUS, Quietus!" The girl was reduced to silent screams. Lily turned and hexed the boy bending Dale´s elbow back over his shoulder.

Then she ran smack into someone. As their bodies collided she felt so cartoonish that she laughed out loud, but it hurt so bad she stopped and rubbed her head before taking aim with her wand into the shadow. Also laying on the floor was... Peter Pettigrew.

"Pettigrew!" she hollered, and started laughing again.

Out of the shadows came three running boys. She recognized Black, Lupin and Potter who were all bellowing madly, "FIIIIIIIIILLLLLCH!!!!"

At this the brawl suddenly came to a halt, except for poor Nico Quietus who was still rolling about and screaming her soundless scream.

"Run!" hissed Sirius, grabbing Peter from the floor. Students were dashing around everywhere and Lily found herself running towards the common room up the stairs. She could hear Ada and Dale panting behind her and looking back she saw that all the Gryffindors except Peter´s lot were following, she just barely caught the sight of one of their cloaks flying... But somehow they had disappeared. Dale, who knew the layout of the castle better than the others grabbed Lily's arm and took them the long way in case Filch would think to try and meet them at the portrait. Gryffindor, after all would be anyone´s best guess for a wizarding duel in the middle of the night.

"Pervesperi!" Lily screeched the password at the fat lady. She gave them all a look of sleepy confusion before opening quickly and closing behind the last of

them. She spun around and saw that all were the worse for wear.

Alia had managed to scrape by without injury until she exclaimed, "I told Longbottom and Leary about the duel and we decided to drop in on the fun!" At this Dale kicked her right in the shin not caring that she was a girl and no one seemed to want to take that issue up either as they were too busy ogling their fabulous new wounds. Lily had a weird jagged scar running up her arm that had seared through her robes. The top of Dale´s ear was singed. One of the cuffs of his robe was torn to the elbow and he was missing both shoes and a sock. Frank was laughing at Joe who had apparently been exposed to some spell that had left his robes dripping wet.

"What sort of charm does that?" Lily asked curiously.

Leary shrugged. "Actually me and that Ravenclaw, Bernie, took a tumble into the girl´s lavatory."

"There´s no lavatory in that corridor!" Alia looked at him quizzically, rubbing her shin.

"Well, there was one when that cat shoved me through the door and was dunking my head in the toilet!" Joe yelled back at her.

"I have been bruised," Ada hissed, interrupting them. She extended her round white arm outward towards them all and rolled up her sleeve. With her index finger she pointed to a tiny discoloration on her fore arm. "And every one of them snakes will pay dearly for it, if my name isn´t Mac Fusty."

"But of course your name is Mac Fusty, so looks like there´s a vendetta on," Alia replied, "and only five weeks into term!"

"Snakes? Weren´t they Ravenclaws?" Frank asked.

"Well they might as well be Slytherin snakes, what with that dirty trick they pulled. Imagine if we weren´t even dirtier fighters where I would be right now?"

"Not in your bed!" a seventh year who still managed to look imposing in his floppy night cap came down the tower stairs suddenly. Everyone jumped out of their trainers (Dale jumped out of his sock) then froze in place. Ada was still holding out her arm for display.

"Is there a rational explanation for six Gryffindor first years to be out of their dormitories an hour past midnight, looking as if they just been torn apart by a

wild hippogriff?" As he came closer Lily saw it was the head boy, Angelus Johnson.

"No," Frank spoke up for everyone, "there is absolutely no rational explanation."

Angelus smiled faintly and pointed to the tower rooms. "Dormitories. The lot of you."

"Aren´t you going too?" Alia asked him casually as she passed the tall dark seventh year to the first year girls' dormitory. Ada smacked her in the arm, and gave her a threatening look.

"No, I have to wait for Potter and Black to show their faces."

Lily turned and waved to her male associates as they entered the room directly under the stairs. Alia was the last in and shut the door primly. "Well... He´s rather dishy, don't you think?"

"Aiming a little high, don't you think?" Ada remarked as she removed her trainers and threw them across the room at her trunk.

"So why did the Ravenclaws demand a duel with you any ways?" Lily´s thoughts hadn´t traversed as far away from that evening´s events as her room mates had.

Ada looked briefly confused. "Oh! I don´t remember... Something about.... Some thing. Can't recall exactly..." she trailed off and Lily turned to Alia who was already rolling over on her side in bed with a dreamy expression over her face.

*