academic curiosity

"I have nothing to say. It´s like there´s this story I´ve been telling and it has it´s vague ending    , I can see it far off in the distance there. But there´s a giant gap from here to there and I don´t know what to put... And I think it has pretty much to do with Ada being gone," Lily confided mysteriously.

"Speaking of which," Dale replied dryly, "I´ve been following what I think is her `progress´ in the newspapers... Death Eaters attacks and all that. She supposedly with them, so..."

"I haven´t seen a thing about them in the Daily Prophet!" Alia said , walking briskly behind them into the great hall.

"Oh, I don´t bother with them anymore! I mean the muggle papers... There´s been a wee bit too many `gas pipe explosions´ this summer if you catch my meaning. I doubt London even has that many bloody gas pipes in it´s history! Please..." He rolled his eyes and sat down next to Lily when they reached the Gryffindor table.

But..." Alia replied, finding a seat across from them. "Did she say why she got that tattoo on her arm?" She flung a huge purple bag that matched her shoes perfectly, onto the bench beside her. The big violet pouf sent a few second years, young and confused, flying away. A boy at the end hung on to the edge of the table for dear life.

`It wasn´t a tattoo!" Lily insisted. "It was a scar." She whipped out her wand impatiently and flicked it at the young hanger-on. "Gorgio Horizontala!" The bench on Alia´s side extended a few feet and the boy stopped kicking wildly to stay in his seat.

"Ada was always quite morbid." Alia shook her head in disbelief.

"But this wasn´t just any bloody scar. This was the Dark Mark. It´s what people talk about seeing over the houses of the victims of Voldemort," Lily snapped impatiently.

"Well, she always DID fancy the Lord Voldemort," Alia shrugged. "Doesn´t mean she´s a Death Eater though does it?"

Lily became cross and scowled at Alia defiantly. "I know what I saw and heard. You calling me a liar?"

Alia looked surprised. "'Course not. I believe what you say. But let´s not blow the thing out of proportion. I mean, really, the Ministry of Magic wouldn´t just let some yobbos run around committing murder left and right, would they? And even if it is really happening do you really think Ada Mac Fusty is a bloody killer?"

Lily didn´t know much about the Ministry of Magic, except that the UFMC (United Federation of Magical Creatures), whom she had been employed by for a summer, was very angry with them because they wouldn´t help put their offices back together after the Death Eaters blew them up. In fact, the Minister had refused to even assist them in rebuilding. The rumour she heard while working with the teamsters was that the Minister was afraid to associate with an enemy of the Lord Voldemort. The thought made Lily physically ill with fury.

Later, after the first years had been sorted and the food had apparated onto their plates, Lily heard a suspicious conversation.

Butt how did they find it? Only we know about it." a boy´s voice was saying levelly.

It was sometimes a good trick to speak normally in a large group at Hogwarts. No one suspected you were saying anything important enough to be kept secret.

"Must be lucky," another voice conjectured simply, through a mouth full of tomato bisque.

Lily snuck a peek further down her bench and saw James Potter talking with his friends.

Remus Lupin said again, "Yes, but how did they figure out what the pass word was? Nobody is supposed to even know it. I´m going to have to figure out how to change it now."

"I´ll change it if it bugs you," Sirius offered smoothly.

"Pass the salt, will you Moony?" Potter said, his mouth was still stuffed with food.

"Get it yourself," he muttered stoutly and Sirius laughed.

Potter reached over and grabbed it without appearing to be offended.

Pettigrew, their short stubby friend, had nothing to say. He looked nervous, playing with his food and hoarding it into three little groups on his plate divided by colour.

"That´s sick, Wormtail," Sirius said impatiently. "Why don´t you quit it already?"

Peter´s spoon dropped with a clang and he looked even more disturbed and furtive. When he made eye contact with Lily he practically flew out of his seat.

Lily turned and tried to get involved in the conversation around her. But it was about Quidditch. Quidditch was everyone´s favourite topic it seemed.

*    *    *

"All right, that was real sloppy team! Real sloppy... What the hell do you think your doing Bashir? This isn´t a pony show, it´s Quidditch... And you, Palmer! Remove that ridiculous thing from your head! This isn´t a Jimi Hendrix concert... Dear god Potter, what is that tied to your broomstick?! Have you had that checked out? It won´t ruin your aerodynamics will it?!"

"Ingraham, take it easy... You have this year´s Cup in a bag," Sirius said from one of the stands nearby where Lily and Dale sat, bundled against the early chill setting in.

Steve Ingraham was the new Quidditch captain for Gryffindor now. This meant that the team would not only practice when Potter begged them, but that they would be subjected to a tumult of his nervous screeching at every minute. His voice would not alter between praise and reprimand so that when he congratulated Jones for a particularly deft catch, he nearly fell off his broom.

This was the second practice of the season, Lily had heard that the first had been extremely entertaining, what with the yelling not to mention Potter and Ingraham brawling over what plays were necessary to learn first and El Palmer´s vertigo, which had set in a few weeks ago, unexpectedly. Lily and Dale, attracted to the grotesque had made a point to clear their schedules to attend as as possible.

Steve turned and wrung his hands at Black. "How can you say that?! How, Black!? Gryffindor hasn´t won the cup in two years... Not even with the fastest chaser Hogwarts has ever seen did we beat Hufflepuff last year... Word is they´ve been practicing OVER SUMMER..." he went on in this vein and Lily could tell that Sirius wished he hadn´t bothered saying anything.

Steve suddenly flipped around and waved his hand at the team circling high above. "TWENTY MORE LAPS! NO... THIRTY-FIVE!!! DON´T YOU DARE EVEN SLOW DOWN OR I´LL MAKE IT EIGHTY-"

"Take a chill pill man," Dale sighed in a perfect imitation of Joe Leary.

Lily guffawed. She had never known Dale to do imitations. "Can you do anybody else?" she asked.

Dale nodded. He suddenly grinned like a feline, his eyes began to bulge with heaviness and he darted his pupils sideways back and forth, resembling the wall clock her grandmother had in her kitchen that resembled a black cat with a swinging tail. He moved his arms forward and hissed, "Muh family comes from nine billion generations of pure blood wizardry. Impeccable, I assure you. Yeees... And when great great great Aunt Doris had run out of options she just married with the donkey out back, which had been in our family for one thousand years and was christened by Jesus Christ, the son of god himself and Buddha even came down the mountain top for their wedding. The children all had tails and buck teeth but at least they never consorted with muggles! Yes, and we´re all a bunch of sadists because we have to mate with our cousins-"

Lily was crying she was laughing so hard. She saw that Sirius had heard Dale impersonation and was laughing too.

"That´s Bellatrix dead on... Who else can you do?" she prodded.

Dale screwed up his face in concentration for a bit, then grinned. He looked over at Sirius, who had turned back to the game and then he smiled and ran his hand through his hair, messing it up so badly that Lily wondered if Dale had lost his mind. Dale´s hair was never out of place.

But now it was a rat´s nest. He smirked in a self-satisfied sort of way and gazed around lazily. At first Lily thought he was doing Sirius Black, but that didn´t explain the hair and something about the way he acted didn´t fit Black. Was it Osman Shodwick, that selfish git from Slytherin? Hmm... No, Osman´s hair was always slicked back...

He opened his mouth and said, "Hey Evans... Remember that time you charmed that satchel out of the trash bin?"

Lily clapped her hand over her mouth with shock and delight. The accent was perfect!

"...I felt really stupid cause I couldn´t do it and everyone was watching. That´s why I´m always really short with you, really..."

Lily glanced at Sirius, somewhat warily and to her displeasure Black was watching Dale again with a unreadable expression on his face. It was either vicious anger or mirthful glee, that was a problem with most the Black children but particularly Sirius. He was perched upon a fence and could drop into either emotion it seemed. She had seen him laugh and tool around the common room harmless as anyone, and she had witnessed him try and clobber the hell out of helpless Slytherin Severus Snape, who was smaller and friendless.

She mumbled, "Dale..." to warn him to keep it down, but he didn´t hear her.

He continued in Potter´s low voice, "When Pontus Cruz kissed you that time I found out about it and hexed his broomstick to crash into one of the goal posts. It was ace, Evans! You should have seen it!" Dale ran his hands through his hair one more time, causing it to stand straight on end. Then he smiled in a way that looked just like Potter.

Her hands flew up as she began to crack up. She didn´t care if Black bludgeoned them, she would just die laughing then. But to her immense surprise Sirius started laughing as well and so hard that he shook the stands around them. Everyone turned to smile and grin too since he was so good-looking.

Dale didn´t seem to mind the extra audience and nodded his agreement. Maybe if he had even known Sirius was there. Dale was pretty fearless in his own way. "Yes, I´m brilliant I know... I´ll be here all week..." He still was imitating Potter. He stopped though, his eyes focused on the sky beyond Lily´s shoulder. "Wow..." he muttered.

Lily saw that Sirius was looking in the same direction with an identical expression, his eyes were twinkling though with excitement. When someone like Black was excited, it wouldn´t be anything pretty, Lily knew. She turned to see what they were seeing .

"Bugger!" Steve sighed, holding both sides of his head in disbelief.

Lily turned and saw that seven additional people had stormed onto the pitch and into the air, each wearing a orange banner around their arms or necks.

"It´s the Hufflepuffs! BLOODY HELL!" Frank Longbottom stood up and cried as if the martians had finally arrived in their flying saucers.

Lily could hear Alia screeching as the Hufflepuff Beater, Hector Gala slammed a bludger in her direction out of nowhere.

The team´s other beater, Pontus Cruz deflected it deftly and then Potter swung around on his broom and stormed after the quaffle that Terry Frond was hitting along towards the Gryffindor goals. Lily didn´t know whether El Palmer, their team´s Keeper was watching this with abject terror or delight. It didn´t matter. Potter got control of the quaffle and took it to the opposite side of the pitch, darting around several Hufflepuffs and then Alia, who was still screeching, though she had caught a bludger and was hurling it at Hector Gala angrily.

Potter scored through the center and the Gryffindors in the stands cheered. Meanwhile Miranda was bellowing, "Has anyone let out the snitch? The snitch? Is that out...? I don´t want to go looking after it if it´s hasn´t even been let out yet...!"

A Hufflepuff Beater answered her by hitting her in the stomach with a bludger. She nearly got knocked off her broom (for the second time that day) but Pontus held her up, shaking his fist at the Hufflepuffs.

"BAD FORM! BAD FORM!" he began to cry, his arm around Miranda.

Dale, sitting beside Lily was rolling with delight. "Ahh, he´s your hero, Lily!" pointing at Pontus happily.

"You´re unstable," Lily replied. Would the teasing never stop? She could have sworn nobody had even seen Cruz kiss her last term. But maybe the walls saw and then told her friends all about it. She wouldn´t be terribly surprised. Embarrassing secrets were the least safest thing at Hogwarts, she noticed.

Hufflepuff´s Chaser, Abdirazak Warton, knocked the quaffle into Cruz´s face and that´s when all hell really broke loose... Although you wouldn´t have been able to tell by watching many of the people in the stands. They seemed happier then swine in it´s own filth...

"This is how Quidditch is played on my block!" Nathaniel Corner from Ravenclaw said proudly. He looked just about itching to join in the chaos above. Everyone nodded fervent agreement.

Potter scored several more goals, yet Hufflepuff hadn´t scored a single one.

Alia made a impressive play that involved ricocheting a bludger off four people´s heads on the opposing team. One of them was trying to score and he fumbled the quaffle when the blow hit him in the back of the head. Alia was pointing and laughing maniacally. So was LIly and quite a few other Gryffindors. Steve had both hands on his head and he cried, "Jeezie Creezie..." Dale was covering his ears and smiling congenially around the stands.

All the sudden Angela Usher of Hufflepuff waved a golden beam of light about and everyone froze.

She had caught the snitch, but it didn´t matter because Potter and Robert Jones had easily scored more than the necessary points for Gryffindor

Everyone in the stands including Gryffindor´s team Captain leapt up and down in uncontrollable excitement.

"WE WON WE WON WE-" Steve was hurtling through the air towards the ground thirty feet below, so excited was he that he flung himself at the pitch head first. Nobody on broomstick caught him and that´s how Gryffindor lost it´s second captain in a row to bodily injury.

"It´s like the most fascinating and sad thing that´s ever occurred!" Dale stated in shock as everyone rushed below like cannibal heathens to crowd and prod Steve´s body.

*    *    *

"Oh, pardon me," Lily said to a few Hufflepuff Quidditch players who had been ordered to scrub the great hall for a week as their punishment for causing the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain to nearly kill himself.

Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black were far less polite. They walked through the blue silvery suds, tracking a lot of dirt and muck. The suds grew dull and ugly. The Hufflepuffs scowled angrily at their backs as they flounced towards the great hall. Remus walked around them, staring straight ahead as if he hadn´t seen a thing. Potter, luckily, was not with them.

"I know a good scouring charm you could use," Dale offered them sympathetically. He had been assigned scrubbing once when Ada had landed them in detention.

"Not allowed to use any magic," one of the boys, named Amos, muttered. He gestured over his shoulder to a feline twitching it´s tail back and forth and watching the proceedings with an interest that was unnatural and wrong in a cat. It was nosy Mrs. Norris. "Thanks, though!" Amos added under his breath.

"You fly quite well," Lily said casually to him. He was so cute. Everyone thought so, but Lily felt that no one appreciated him as much as she herself did.

Dale went on ahead to class, muttering to himself and shaking his head.

Amos looked up at Lily stoically. "If you say so. I don´t think this floor even comes clean... Aren´t there Geneva Convention laws against this kind of torture or something?"

Lily laughed. Geneva Convention laws... So he was a muggle born too. Either that or he took Muggle Studies.

"Probably. But I don´t think they have seen anyone as bloody terrifying as Filch yet. How many more evenings do you have to do this?" she motioned to the vast expanse of floor.

He shrugged over his big sponge. "Tommorrow is my last detention."

Tommorrow was Friday. And the first Hogsmeade weekend was Saturday and Sunday...

"Look, I don´t know you or anything but would you want to come out with me and some of my mates this weekend? This week we need to find this Hag named Bertha. She tells stories, and Joe swears up and down that she told him all about why the Shrieking Shack is so haunted, last year."

"A hag, huh?" Amos asked with a skeptical smile.

"Uh, huh."

"Look, you don´t have to. I just thought it be good for you to get a little air after being hunched over the floor for a week, man. Plus, it will keep you from trying to ambush my team on the Quidditch pitch, again. Don´t want you guys too dejected before the season starts..."

He laughed and threw down his sponge. "And you started out complimenting my flying!"

Lily shrugged. "I like to keep you on your toes. So, you interested? I mean, maybe you shouldn´t... Maybe you should start practicing now-"

"What time should I meet you?"

Lily smiled.

*    *    *

"I can´t believe you asked out Amos!" Alia sighed.

"Coerced him is more like what I did," Lily explained.

Dale grinned. "Well, if we don´t ever find Bertha we can always just spend the day watching the young couple make awkward first date conversation!" Dale suggested.

"Heck yes!" Alia clapped.

They were joined by Joe and a number of boys from the other houses. Joe had friends in all four area codes. Toggie Booth was the only Slytherin though.

Amos came after them, and trotting after him was a tall, imposing Hufflepuff seventh year.

"-Don´t want you out to long, Diggory! We got practice at four- Don't forget!"

"Yes, mum. I´ll be sure and be back by four!" Amos cracked over his shoulder and waved at Lily.

"Was that your Captain?" she asked.

"We can call her that." he shrugged.

They all started walking towards the Hogsmeade gates.

"Didn´t you play for Gryffindor for a while?" Amos asked her suddenly as they crossed into the village.

Lily found it impressive and a bit flattering that he recalled this. She hadn´t even played in a single match.

"No." she lied. "What position do you play again?"

"Chaser," he answered. "If you couldn´t tell in the melee a few days ago... I´m fast. But I´m worried about Potter this year. I mean, he´s something."

"Oh, he sure is," Lily agreed fervently. "A real something!"

Amos laughed amicably. "Bashir is pretty good too. Faruza wasn´t expecting that." `Faruza´ must be the name of his captain, Lily realized.

"Yes, Alia is fantastic!" Lily agreed with pleasure. This handsome Hufflepuff could go on complimenting her friends all he wanted! This would probably be the best Hogsmeade weekend ever!

"I like your hair," Amos changed the subject swiftly.

Lily touched her head and smiled, embarrassed. "Oh, thanks!"

"You´re awfully pretty..." he said quickly. "But I´m sure you hear that a lot."

"Oh yeah!" Lily joked, seriously embarrassed now. She started to angle their walking more towards the group now. She didn´t feel comfortable having Amos eye her like he was starting to now.

"Just saying..." he mumbled. He brightened up a few paces later when he saw the sign for a popular bar that Lily had never been in.

"Hey!" he cried, grabbing her arm. Lily´s friends kept walking, oblivious and she watched after them sadly. "Look! It´s the Three Broomsticks! Have you ever been here?"

She shook her head.

"Let´s go..." he walked through the door without so much as a glance at her. She had no choice but to follow. It would be terribly rude to ditch him after she had invited him to come along... But what was he playing at? He had just disengaged them from the group purposely! She just knew that Joe would find the mad hag Bertha and she would miss the story!

Now, it was a bad sign for any young wizard when his girl would rather sit across from a old hag named Bertha in a smoky bar than himself.

Lily settled for him though, out of politeness sake but decided to try and cut the date as short as possible. If he was a talker, well then, she´d just have to feign illness, or fake death to escape is all. Lily has little qualms and no sense of dignity though she sympathized with those that did and this is why she was following behind Diggory in the first place. She was so busy ruminating on all this and trying to peer into the limited light of the place that she missed seeing two dark haired boys turning to look at her from the bar.

They saw a beautiful bar tender and Amos waved to her. " Oy! Rosmerta! Can we have two butterbeers?" he motioned towards Lily.

"What, do you think were running bar here or something?" Madam Rosmerta cracked, and she ponied up two foaming bottles.

"She´s funny," Amos explained, pointing to Rosmerta. "Want to sit at the bar here?" he asked.

Lily´s gaze fell on Sirius Black and Potter, a few feet away, they were being distressingly quiet.

"Er, no."

"Oh," Amos looked happy. "Okay then! How about that booth?"

Lily turned and saw that he was pointing toward a very dark, secluded place in the corner.

"It looks awfully shadowy... Isn´t there a place with more light and people and less privacy?"

But Diggory apparently couldn´t hear her. He waltzed over to the small booth with their drinks and slid into the darkness.

She trampled after him, now mutinous. She noted for her memory banks to never ask out another boy just because he´s good looking and could sit on a stinking broom well.

She slid into the opposite booth and sipped her butterbeer. It was quite good. She hadn´t tried it before. It almost made her want to be pleasant. But `almost´ was never enough in matters such as these.

`So, Lily... You were on the team, right? Did you ever go to practices?" he sipped his drink with wide, innocent eyes.

She felt a leg touch hers. She skirted her own away quickly and stared at him blankly.

"What?"

"The team... I mean, it must have been joke. Did you guys train? What sorts of things did you guys have to do?"

Lily continued to stare.

"Relays, I heard? Boy, that must have stunk!"

"Yeah it stunk," Lily replied. And something stinks now, she thought angrily. Was this joker milking her for information? Was this low-down, dirty scum trying to spy on Gryffindor´s Quidditch team? Not even the ambitious Slytherins had sunk this low! Lily took another drink from her mug and sat back watching Amos go on like the smooth operator that he apparently fancied himself to be.

She decided to not be coy.

"Oh, you know... We hardly did anything at the practices when I was on the team," she confided, and this was the truth. However what she next was not even close to it.

"And they hardly do anything now! I mean, the only reason those lazy bastards were practicing the day you all stormed in on the pitch, was because Ingraham was captain. But Potter... He doesn´t care. He let´s everyone do what they want. He´s young and afraid of what they´ll say." This is was one of the biggest lies of all and she wondered if her nose would grow and poke Amos right in the eye. She knew a spell for that actually, but now wasn´t the time...

Diggory looked like Christmas had come early. "Wow!" he kept muttering and shaking his head. "That´s awful..." but he was grinning like he thought it was wonderful news.

"Coward," Lily muttered at him.

"What?" he asked with the same delighted smile on his face, pleased with his own sneakiness.

"Oh, nothing. So, listen. I should go now... My friends will wonder about me. I understand if you want to get back to the school for practice and all that. You do seem quite preoccupied with Quidditch so..."

Amos stood up after her looking a bit downtrodden. Perhaps he did actually like her... Well, too bad for him. He obviously like being a big sneak even more so serves him right!

"You know, Lily, it is the start of the season. Sorry if I sort of talked about nothing but the game... Maybe next time we do this I´ll let you in on the conversation. Geez... I´ve been a jerk." Lily saw that both Gryffindor boys at the bar were listening in. Potter was the team captain now. Obviously they were curious about what a member of an enemy team had to say to her. Potter looked over his shoulder and caught her eye.

"Oh, no. You´ve been a real prince!" Lily turned and grinned at Amos, though anyone that knew her would be able to tell she was joking. She downed the rest of the mug in one gulp. "Thanks for buying me a butterbeer!" she clapped him on the back and flew out the door. Diggory looked at Lily´s back to the empty glasses to Rosmerta in protest.

Behind him at the bar, James Potter was smiling.