academic curiosity

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Lily had been having strange dreams. She had never minded dreams before, unless they were very scary of course, but now they were frustrating her more than anything and she was willing to try any thing to prevent them from coming again.

"Lily, hold verrry still. . ." Ada mouthed, her wand in one hand and a standard book of spells, year five, in her lap.

Lily hesitantly did so, but sighed out loud with relief when the voice of reason came upon them in the form of Dale.

"What are you girls DOING?" he asked, tapping a foot, without a trace of humour.

Lily looked up at him from where she and Ada were sitting indian-style, opposite each other under a Gryffindor common room window.

"We are fixing Lily´s mind," Ada explained to him in a patronizing tone. "Do stand back or you could get a blast of this. . ." she flicked her wand but Dale snapped it away from her with a speed Lily had never seen a boy move before.

Dale asked, "Are you INSANE?" Lily waited for Ada´s reply but she realized then that Dale was glaring down at her.

She grinned sheepishly. "How much harm could she do?" and Lily pointed at Ada who was now using her wand to scratch the inside of her ear.

"THIS from one of the witnesses of Ada throwing a fully grown man flying over a desk with one hand?!" Dale snapped and Lily chuckled.

"HE touched me inappropriately!" Ada screeched at Dale in reply.

"No, your considerable backside touched Professor Crundall inappropriately! You´re just lucky that he has a very good sense of humour!" His eyes flicked back to Lily and added, "And your lucky that I´m here in your time of depression. Teenage lobotomy, Lily? Don't do it!"

"That would make a catchy song," Lily suggested playfully.

"C´mon. Put your wands and things away and let´s get down to the pitch before all those bleeding blighters get the good seats. I want a good view of that smirk being wiped off Flick´s face!"

"What does `considerable´ mean?" Ada asked. But neither Lily nor Dale seemed to remember what the definition was so she never got an answer.

Lily pushed herself up somewhat reluctantly and followed her two friends out the portrait hole. She had noticed that the commons were mostly empty. She had totally forgotten that there was a Quidditch match today. Gryffindors had been less involved in Quidditch this year due to `The Disgrace of 1972´. . .

As this era was already titled, and the responsible party was generally believed to be Omar Deck, the very good looking (if you were into that type) new Captain of the team. Some even wondered if it was a Slytherin plot. Lily, however, thought it had more to due with the facts that they hardly ever practiced, the players that had been added this year were prettier than they were skilled and morale was down because more than one of the players had a family member missing or tied up in the Ministry´s search for the infamous group, the Death-Eaters.

So, obviously today´s match had nothing to do with Omar´s lot of handsome failures. Lily found that one of the rivals was Slytherin, no surprise, as Dale had mentioned their Captain, Mickey Flick earlier. But the opposing team was a surprise to learn about as they entered the stadium´s north pavilion.

"HUFFLEPUFF?!" she cried a bit too loudly, as they were entering the stands...

"Yeah, what of it girl?" a Hufflepuff third year called out at her angrily, shaking a meaty fist.

"Let´s find some seats with our own kind," Ada hissed warningly.

"Yes, before we cause a bloody riot!" Dale added with a grim smile.

But they had to squeeze through at least eight rows of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw legs to get there and Lily had to sing `100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall´ to distract herself from all the derisive looks they were each getting. People had gotten so edgy as of late. But could she blame them? No, of course not as she hadn´t been herself lately either. What with one missing Hogwarts student and one dead no one could really say anymore that this dark uprising was not a big deal.

Lily wondered if Elaine Philips was dead too. It would be queer if she was. To see someone and then know that they were lying somewhere rotting away struck Lily as horrible and bizarre. What if Elaine simply didn´t exist anymore? Like Nico, did she just suddenly stop being? She hadn´t known either Ravenclaws very well. They had shared a class or two last year and Elaine had let her borrow a book. She still had the book actually. . .

"Lily? Where are you going?"

She turned and saw that, lost in her thoughts, she had walked a long ways on after Ada and Dale took seats in the Gryffindor section. They had found a prime spot with Alia and Joe behind where the Gryffindor team were seated together. They were leaning over and looking at her as if she were mad.

"Oh! I was looking to see if there were better seats over here!" she called, reddening.

She looked at her new surroundings and turned an even deeper shade of red. She had walked clear into the Slytherin section and none of them were too happy about this development.

"Trying to make new friends, Evans?" a boy called from the Gryffindor seats. Contemptuous laughter.

"Yes!" Lily spat and planted herself immediately at the first empty space available. As soon as she sat she felt stupid. Now, to save face she would have to sit here for the whole game. And Dale and Ada were still looking over at her as if she had lost it.

"Cockroach Cluster?" a first year Slytherin offered with a nasty grin.

"No, thank you," Lily replied and pretended like sitting with the Slytherins was a normal activity.

A few girls were gossiping nearby, "Yes, and he sent her a crup of all things! Can you IMAGINE? What do you think Bellatrix did? She kept it! She even bought it a collar when we went to Hogsmeade. Named it Cupcake! Isn´t that darling? It´s trained to attack Muggles of course. No, I don´t no where he got it, but. . ." Blah, blah, blah, Lily thought. Gossip was much more fun when you knew the people involved and it also helped if it wasn´t centered on a silly DOG. Although, what sort of sick freak would keep a pet trained to attack innocent people? Slytherin House. Disgraceful!

She could hear a few boys directly behind her laughing and talking, like you do, and then suddenly a tap. "Hey, it´s Evans!"

She turned and greeted Eddie Carmichael and nodded at the other familiar faces with him. She knew Abraham Canard better than she wanted and Osman Shodwick was also in too many of her classes. She did like Eddie though, despite his total lack of morals.

"Why are you with us? Been ousted?" Osman asked conspiratively.

"Is it true you made the skeletons tear open a hole in the dungeons?" a Slytherin girl she had never seen before asked immediately.

"Yes! I was there!" Abraham exclaimed. Lily decided it wouldn´t be a good idea to remind him he had been passed out from fear by that time.

"Yeah, do you really make skeleton armies?" a eager-looking Slytherin first year asked.

"Well, only on the weekends," Lily joked.

"That´s great. I need to learn that! McGonagall want´s some fabulous project by end of term and I can´t think of a damned thing!" the girl continued. Her mouth turned down in the corners when she spoke the Professor´s name.

"Well, technically, reanimating lifeless objects doesn´t count as transfiguring. . ." Lily began meekly but the conversation suddenly turned toward what a few other Slytherins were talking about a few rows over and then Lily went back to staring out into the empty pitch. "Let´s get this show on the roll. . ." she sighed to herself, tapping her toes impatiently. Just what she needed to settle her mind. A nice sit with the most depraved house in the school. She hadn´t even wanted to watch the game that much. She didn´t want to see the obvious. The obvious of course was what everyone here knew and believed, that the Hufflepuffs would be destroyed and the Slytherins would take the house cup again. It seemed so wrong!

On one side a curtain fluttered and people in sleek little orange capes came zipping from behind it, amid the roar of seventy-five percent of the arena. Quite a few unsportly boos came from around Lily´s region. She frowned and tapped faster.

The Slytherin team came bursting forth from their own curtain at the opposite end of the pitch, flying laps around the stadium, close to the heads of those in the front rows. They did not receive quite as many claps but the noise around Lily was nearly deafening for a few seconds.

She could make out a few faces. The Slytherin seeker, Pedro Spellman, was eyeing the sky with narrowed eyes, Cap´n Mick Flick was scowling unhappily.

"Hey there."

Lily swerved and looked to her left. A rather large girl, all white skin and dark hair had slid right next to Lily somehow without notice.

"Oh... Hello Bellatrix." Lily grumbled.

"Good." The older girl reached over and tapped Lily´s head. Bellatrix Black could easily go for a seventh year, but Lily had recently learned to her dismay that she was in fact only a third year. She was very tall and in general large for her age but not in a unpleasant way. She had very long straight black hair that never was out of place. Her clothes looked better put together than everyone else´s and she had no appearance of ever being unsure of herself or afraid of anything.

". . .Look at your little hair clips. . . But really, red heads shouldn´t wear pink. It clashes frightfully you know. . . Do you have a boyfriend? I do, he´s at Durmstrang. That´s the best dark magic school, y´know. Of course you know. I heard you have a Nimbus 1001. How on EARTH could you afford it?" Bellatrix throughout this whole speech looked down at Lily unflinchingly amused and cynical. It was only apparent through her dissecting gaze that she was not intending to be nice at all. And she wanted Lily to know that.

Since Lily wasn´t a complete dolt, she caught on but didn´t know exactly how to react. So she responded in much the way she always did in tight situations, with the worst possible thing that could be said.

"God, I despise Flick."

Bellatrix´s face went blank for a second with confusion, then became patronizing again. It didn´t make sense to have said that. But she had said it anyway and she didn´t care one way or the other. She decided to continue.

"Yeah. . . I mean, uh, why does he always try to knock people off their brooms. What a bloody git." The Slytherin captain was known for this and it was said he had even broke a record.

Bellatrix, to her surprise, caught along. "Well, it´s in the rule books, isn´t it? You´re ALLOWED to knock em off the brooms. Any witch or wizard KNOWS that." A jab at her being Muggle-born? Lily wondered. Bellatrix smiled toothily. Yes, definitely.

A few other Slytherins, Bellatrix´s disciples, leaned forward and began nodding ain time with her end of the conversation.

"Oh," Lily muttered. She frowned as a fourth year boy sitting behind Bellatrix began to snicker. This just made Lily more peeved. She looked back at Bellatrix and said, "But isn´t he a keeper? Why doesn´t he stay by his goal posts instead of attacking people out in the middle of the pitch?"

The snickering boy began to shake his head and a few more Slytherins began to follow his lead, even though they probably didn´t have a clue why they were doing it. Bellatrix began speaking again, still with her ever-present condescending airs.

". . Because he knows no one is a good enough player to hit a goal with the team we´ve got this year! Fleming and Acme. . ."

"Yes, but it seems to me," Lily interrupted, "that he doesn´t do it to for tactical reasons. He does it because he likes to see them fall and get hurt. If anything, he should have been a beater!!"

Bellatrix replied, dryly, "What´s so wrong with liking to bif a few Hufflepuffs around the head? Isn´t that the whole POINT of Quidditch? Well. . . It´s been fun Lily, but maybe you should go back to your friends. . . It looks like they miss you."

In fact no one in Gryffindor seemed to be noticing she was gone, but Lily could take a hint.

"Afty!" Bellatrix called happily as Lily squished her way ungracefully back to more familiar ground. She turned back and saw Bellatrix hiss something that appeared to have rhymed with `witch´ as soon as she was out of ear shot.

"Cow," Lily muttered back.

Lily waded over to Ada and a small space was made for her. Good ol´ Gryffindors. . . It was nice to be back! She forgot about saving face and clapped merrily when Terry Frond of Hufflepuff scored. Mick Flick had been nearly a hundred feet away from his goals, trying to smash the Hufflepuff seeker´s face.

"Trying to clobber Andromeda when he should have been watching the bloody goal!" Remus cried gleefully.

"Really! It´s like I´ve always said. . ." Omar Deck put in rather pretentiously, from where he was sitting in the row under Lily´s knees. He was for some reason, wearing his team captain uniform.

"That great prat. . ." Lily overheard a heated whisper from near Remus. Leaning over she saw that Sirius Black´s mouth was in furious movement, conferring with several boys in their year. She turned away quickly. She had had enough of the Black family for one day!

But she could still hear him.

". . .only thing that makes me want to puke more than this match is that sad sack, Deck, over there! Where does he come off. . ."

". . .wouldn´t let me join this year because I´m. . ." she heard faintly the lower tone of James Potter´s voice.

". . .don´t worry mate, you´re loads more talented than that whole lot put togeth-"

". . .Well," Potter´s voice rose again, "Cruz is really rather good. . . Only a matter of time before I get on and take this matter into hand. Can you believe that third match?"

"You mean the LAST one?" Lily hissed to them, over the laps of two third year girl´s gazing lovingly at the left side of Omar Deck´s head.

A few of the faces involved in the secretive discussion looked over at her then at Omar who was close enough to hear if everyone else wasn´t cheering like mad and if he wasn´t such a dolt.

"Did you see that daft maneuver that Deck tried to pull?" Remus hissed, loudly enough so she could hear clearly as well.

"Yeh, who does he think he is?" Peter snickered a bit too noisily and Omar actually turned and glared at him. It was obvious he hadn´t gathered that they were speaking of him, but Peter turned white with fear any ways and shrunk to about half his original size.

James and Sirius laughed silently at him and then continued to make fun of the Quidditch team literally behind their backs.

"Hey, hey Evans!" James suddenly hissed. She looked over at him suspiciously but he just blinked dark-coloured eyes behind his glasses innocently.

"What were you doing over there," he motioned over to the Slytherin section of the stadium with his hand. "We saw you talking to The Bellatrix. What´s she want with you anyway?"

It didn´t shock her that Bellatrix was famous.

With much bravado, she replied, "Just went over to see what it was like. That bag just plopped down next to me and started acting like we´ve been the best of friends for years. Don´t know what´s gotten into her. I thought she hated me."

"She does," Sirius affirmed.

"Oh, well, good to know," Lily shrugged. She was a bit embarrassed from this simple statement, but she could hardly say why.

Sirius continued, "No, it´s just she hates ALL... uh..."

"Muggle-borns," James finished.

"It´s, like, what´s that Muggle thingie?" he asked James suddenly. "Remus was just saying it the other day. . . Jeans?"

Remus whispered a word to him that Lily didn´t catch and Sirius nodded.

"Right! It´s like genetics," Sirius waved a hand and looked as if he was describing his family had leprosy.

"Not you, of course." Lily muttered.

"Course not. I´m not ignorant.!"

"Except when it comes to muggle studies," James offered helpfully.

"Well, that´s why we have Professor Lupin along. Our educator on these sorts of matters. . . Too bad you don´t fly half as well as you can think mate. We would all be on the team together next year." He made a face.

"I won´t be on it!" Peter admitted sadly.

. . . She turned back to the game just in time to see the Hufflepuff seeker Andromeda Black (Oh, good, there´s another one! Lily thought with exhaustion) rising from the ground with a golden sparkle in one uplifted arm.

*    *    *

"She caught the Golden snitch! Did you see that DIVE? Did you see that catch? She´s ACE. . . It´s too bad we don´t have her in our house, that´s for damned sure. If only we could just BUY her. . ." Omar was blabbing on and on at one table while his friends and followers gathered and shouted their own heated opinions.

"What a jackass," Ada mumbled in a low voice, not because she didn´t want to be overheard but because she had screamed herself hoarse after the shocking Hufflepuff triumph which turned into a full-out parade into the great hall, half the school swearing an oath to name their first born Andromeda. (A lofty vow that thankfully not one of them went on to indulge later on in life.)

"Agreement on this side!" Marva Sequim, another second year called out. It was always convenient to have Marva around if you were feeling cynical.

"Can we make fun of someone else now?" Lily asked impatiently. "He´s such an easy target!"

This garnered a round of surprisingly loud laughter for some reason. She hadn´t intended on making a joke.

"What´s so funny?" she asked.

"Your face!" Ada threw a deck of exploding snap at her and ducked under the table just as the pack exploded.

It was a mess. Lily spent a good portion of the evening cleaning the soot off her skin and robes, but she sneezed black powder out her nose like a cannon for at least two days.

*    *    *

Less than a week later, while going from Charms to Herbology by herself Bellatrix Black hailed her down.

She was sitting by a window overlooking the lake, her nose in a large text. Today she wore her hair back and had worn shoes with high heels, so that she appeared another extra storey taller than Lily.

"Can we jive a moment Evans?" Bellatrix sniffed in a shockingly ingratiating manner. Lily wondered if the older girl was going beatnik, but decided to hold back on asking.

"I guess," Lily replied, hiding her reluctance at risking tardiness. Which was worse? Professor Sprig´s wrath or Bellatrix´s?

Bellatrix laughed and then asked, "Can you meet us somewhere?"

Lily couldn´t imagine what on earth she was talking about, or why she was talking at all for that matter. . .

"It´s been so warm outside lately that we should do it outside. But in the forest OF COURSE, otherwise we´ll have staff snooping in on us or that disgusting old squib with his cat. . . Tonight at eight? No. . . too early for me actually. I´ve got Arithmancy study. How about ten thirty? I´ll meet you at the lake path into the forest then. I´ll show where we all meet further in. . ."

Lily was only more confused.

"Who?" Lily asked, bewildered.

"Why, the Death Eaters! I´m in with them here at Hogwarts. What on earth did you think I was referring to!? The United Hippogriff Lovers Club!? Merlin´s beard, you can be slow. Don´t push your luck with me, Lily, or I may change my mind! You have an opportunity to make amends. It´s not often that someone in my position offers a hand to a non-pure blood. With my sponsorship you could overcome and achieve greatness with those who are great. . .

Bit repetitive, Lily thought with humour. Bellatrix went on with her recital, Lily noted that her gaze became fixed and despite the strange nonsense she spewed forth, she had no fear of sounding like an idiot.

"So. . . I´ll see you down there tonight. Wear a dark hooded robe of course. Costume de riguer, you understand. You can bring a friend. . .Yes, bring that Mac Fusty girl along. She has a good family history. Her presence will help you. Well. . . Ta Ta."

The older girl sauntered off as if they had been planning to meet for homework study in the library.

Wait. Does she want me to meet her at the Forbidden Forest tonight?! Lily suddenly caught on with horror. And did she just mention Death Eaters at Hogwarts?!

She was of course late for Herbology, but managed to slip in unnoticed. But this slyness made her feel even more guilty. And Poor Professor Sprig had dirt on her nose.

Lily had attempted to explain her predicament to Ada, over the tray they were sharing. But Ada didn´t quite understand.

"What you mean to tell me is Bellatrix Black want´s US to meet her and the D.E. in the woods this evening." Ada gasped. "And why is this a bad thing?"

Lily stamped her foot. "We don´t LIKE her! She´s evil and demented. And I don´t have a clue what she want´s us to meet in the forest at all. Just mentioned the Death Eaters. She never said what they were up to. It probably is a trick to get us expelled. . . Or killed!"

Ada made a face, which said `Don´t be so over-dramatic. She said, "Let´s not get carried away!"

"Yes!" Lily hissed. "Let´s definitely avoid being `carried away´ by NOT going into the Forbidden Forest with that Black girl!"

Ada cracked a grin, "I mean, let´s not be stupid about this. We´ve been in the Forest a billion times-"

"Twice."

"And we´ve never had a serious problem-"

Lily laughed. Ada had stepped on gnome poo last time they had gone wandering through the Forest. The other time she had made Lily be a one-man sideshow act, `resurrecting´ a dead frog AND charging Hogwarts students to see her do it.

"I said SERIOUS!" Ada cried. "If you aren´t going, I´ll go! After all, I´m a official sponsor of the Death Eaters. . . I gave them all my allowance for a year!"

"Yes, but you stopped after I explained to you how they burned up the UFMC union offices," Lily replied sternly.

"Well, I ran out of allowance actually. Besides they had to stop the fan club because they were too busy," Ada explained.

"Blowing people up?" Lily offered with a fake smile.

Ada snorted. Lily became thoughtful and continued, "Do you. . . Do you really think Lord Voldemort would care about something like me and that silly hex I can do? God. . . What if he REALLY is trying to contact me. . . Oh. . ." Lily put her hand to her head.

"Calm down!" Ada spoke soothingly. "If he had wanted to contact you he would have done it. He´s the most powerful wizard on the planet practically!"

"So you think I should meet them in the Forest tonight? If I don´t, they could just get even more angry. . . I´ll need my wand."

"Of course! They might want you to show them an example. . ."

An EXAMPLE? Has Ada gone mad? Lily put her head down in the tray.

Dale reached over and gave her a questioning look.

"Lily is worried that the Lord Voldemort will meet her in the Forbidden Forest and ask her to produce his evil-dead minions."

"Is this happening tonight?" Dale spoke.

Ada nodded and Lily cringed.

"Does this have to do with Bellatrix?" he asked solemnly.

She nodded forlornly.

He nodded sagely. "Lily, why don´t you talk to Sirius Black? They´re supposed to be cousins and maybe he could help you deal with her. You´re way out of your league here. . ."

When he saw the doubtful look on her face he said, "I saw that you were talking to him today in class. . ."

"About the Flame Freezing Charm! He tried to copy my work because Lupin was mad at him!"

"Well, in any case, he´s the only person I can think of that would be in the know on handling that Bellatrix. I bet he´ll call off her for you. See! He´s looking over there here right now!" Dale began waving at him madly, despite Black only being twenty feet away from them.

Sirius strode over leisurely, Sprig didn´t even look up at his abandonment of his Herbology work.

Sirius said, "Couldn´t help overhearing that you have a problem with my relatives."

"Good hearing," Ada complimented.

A shook his head, "Nah, it´s only a matter of time with the `noble house of Black´."

Dale asked him, "How much else have you heard already?"

Black looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "Well, just something about that shifty Lord Voldemort making Evans have his demon baby and a little bit about a evil gift. . ."

"Can you help?" Ada asked.

"Of course I can," he replied as if this were obvious.

"Oh, well, good," Lily mumbled.

"Bellatrix wants Lily and I to meet her alone in the Forbidden Forest. Well, not ALONE, she´s going to take us to some unnamed group of people, probably the Death Eaters," Ada summed it up concisely. "And Lily, as you know, can raise the dead," she said this as if she was talking about Lily coming up with a great way to decorate her mantle piece, "so naturally this attracts the attention of-"

"She can´t raise the dead," Sirius pointed out.

"Thank you!" both Lily and Dale threw up their arms.

"No problemo. Don´t you think he´ll be mad when she can´t do it properly? He´d kill you all! My dad met him once. . . He was terrified of ol´ Voldemort and you should see what he´s married to!"

"What´s he married to?" Dale asked curiously.

"My mother!" Sirius larfed at his cheek. His face contracted into a dark grimace for a second then he brightened again, "Now where were we? Oh, yes. I have an idea. Did she ask you to wear a hooded robe?"

Lily nodded. "How did you know?!"

He shrugged. "What´s an illicit party in the Forbidden Forest without hooded robes? Don't worry about a thing. It´ll be good to get out tonight anyway. . ."