Proving Me Wrong

PROVING ME WRONG

LAST CHAPTER:-

In the following weeks James avoided coming into contact with her as much as possible, it was difficult though, with Prefect meetings and Hogsmeade visits to organise. James was trying so hard to ignore Evans's existence, that he didn't notice her leaving the Great Hall early one morning in the last week of September.

Nor did he realise a boy with long black hair, getting up from his seat opposite James and following her route out of the hall moments later, a menacing expression on his handsome face.

CHAPTER 10

"Dogging her steps"

"Evans, oi! Evans!"

Lily's hand immediately reached for her wand as she whipped around on the wet grass to see who had followed her outside.

She was stunned to one find Sirius Black standing behind her; hands in his pockets, his black hair falling elegantly around his face, on which there was a friendly grin that didn't completely reach his dark brown eyes.

Lily didn't know what to do, what to say. The words 'bugger off' came to mind but she was keen to avoid trouble with the Marauders these days. So she settled for, "Er...umm..."

Black raised his eyebrows in amusement behind the curtain of his dark hair.

Don't raise your eyebrows at me, Black, thought Lily, snapping out of her reverie.

"What do you want, Black?" asked Lily in a calm voice, though it was laced with venom.

Sirius's smile widened at this, his white teeth gleaming in the sunlight. In an airy tone he replied, "Can't I have a little chat with the Head Girl? Merlin knows I talk to the Head Boy enough- I just thought I should balance it out, there's plenty of me to go around you know. Maybe we could get to know each other a little bit, it'll be...nice."

Now it was Lily's turn to raise her eyebrows; get to know each other a little bit? She didn't know what Black was up to, but was sure it could be nothing good. Lily didn't want to make trouble with the Marauders, especially Sirius, as she knew he could turn nasty, oh yes, he could turn very nasty indeed. Reluctantly, she agreed.

"Alright, Black," she said in a sceptical voice, grip tightening around the wand concealed in the pocket of her robes, "I'll play along, for now. What is it you wanted to tal- "

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Sirius, grabbing Lily's entire arm and dragging her off towards the quidditch pitch.

When they reached the stadium, Sirius let go of Lily who immediately began nursing her shoulder, having a bad feeling that it had just come out of its socket.

She raised her eyes to watch the black haired boy bounding up the steps to the highest spectators' bench. He whistled down to her, so she followed rather cautiously, climbing the rickety wooden stairs with building fear.

At the top, she found Black with his feet propped up on the seat in front and his hands behind his head, bathed in golden rays of the sun. His eyes were closed, so Lily sat as far away from him as possible without being on a different bench.

Her knuckles were white as she gripped the seat beneath her and stared at her feet. She had a slight fear of heights, which explained why she didn't like quidditch very much.

The minutes passed in silence and Black had not moved a muscle. He had fallen asleep. As Lily continued to throw glares in his direction she noticed that they were completely out of sight of the castle, and no one knew where she was.

This is wrong, I shouldn't have come here, she thought anxiously. God, I am an idiot. Black has probably set this up to see how long I'll wait here. Git.

Lily stood up and was about to take her first step down when,

"Going somewhere, Lily?" came the voice of Sirius Black, who although appeared to be having an early morning nap, had clearly been awake the entire time.

'Lily?' mouthed the girl herself, a bemused expression on her face. Something was definitely wrong.

Sirius opened one eye, and squinting in the sunlight, he registered the look on the redhead's face. He closed his eye again and spoke in an indifferent tone, "That is your name, isn't it?"

"Yes," replied Lily slowly, narrowing her eyes.

Then Black sat bolt upright in his seat and turning to her he said in a cheery voice, "So, do you like quidditch, Lily?"

Lily sat back down on the bench because she was afraid of toppling down the steps in shock. "It's alright, I suppose. I don't really like heights much."

"Really?" exclaimed Black, that sickly grin back on his face, he was apparently pleased about something. He glanced down to the ground, far below them, and then back up to Lily's paling face.

He fixed his face into an expression of sympathy, but inside, he was smirking.

"How about quidditch players? Do you like them as much?" he continued.

"What?" asked Lily, who had been concentrating hard on not looking down, "What did you say?"

Sirius clicked his tongue quietly in annoyance, and repeated the question.

"Oh, no," she answered, "I don't follow the league, I'm a muggleborn, you know. We don't have the WWN at- " she stopped as the words caught in her throat, "at home."

"Lily, Lily, Lily," said Sirius, shaking his head in mild exasperation, "I mean quidditch players at Hogwarts. So, do you like anyone?"

Black saying her name was unsettling enough, but repeating it over and over again unnecessarily alarmed her. What was he trying to do?

"I don't really follow quidditch in school either, so I haven't seen many people play," she responded.

"Not even anyone in Gryffindor?" continued Sirius.

"Well, I saw the final last year between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. We won by four hundred points, not even counting the sni- "

"Well, I know all the lads from both teams, would any of them know you, Lily?" he asked, waiting for her to comprehend.

Something in Lily's brain clicked as she listened to Black's question.

So that's what this is all about, boyfriends. He just wants to make fun of me, bastard.

She tried to keep from hexing Black as she replied in a voice of forced calm, "No, Black, I don't think any of them would know me."

"And why is that, Lily? I'm sure there is at least one quidditch player you like, in Gryffindor perhaps?"

"Nope, no one," she replied shortly

Sirius was annoyed now, "Ah come on now, Lily. There's definitely one Gryffindor whose head you've turned."

"What? Who?"

"Don't play dumb, Lily. I need to know how you're doing it."

Lily didn't answer because she was clueless as to what Black was on about.

"Tell me Lily... Well?" asked Sirius, getting impatient.

Lily was angry now, "I have no memory of deliberately setting out to turn anybody's head, or ruin their life for that matter! In fact, if anyone blames me for their bad performance on the pitch, my jinxes will make sitting on a broomstick very uncomfortable indeed."

Sirius sat in stunned silence and had an incredulous expression on his face, clearly not believing her.

"Lily, I think you're fibbing," he said in a singsong voice.

Lily shot him an icy glare, and he moved back a bit.

"I'm leaving it for now, but that doesn't mean I believe you, Lily."

The way he said her name, in that saccharine tone, made Lily shiver. She had had enough of this.

"Shut up," she answered quietly, preparing to curse him.

"Why Lily?"

"Stop saying that," snapped Lily, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Stop saying what, Lily?" said Sirius, fighting to retain an expression of innocence.

"That," she retorted.

"What Lily?" cried Sirius who was trying very hard not to laugh.

"My name you idiot!" she yelled, "Stop saying it, now!"

Sirius held up his hands in mock defence, "Merlin, Lil- I mean, Evans, don't you think you're getting worked up over noth-."

"It's not nothing, you git," spat Lily, pulling out her wand and pointing it at Black's heart, "You know full well what you were doing, so I recommend you shut up and leave now before I hex you!"

Sirius' eyes darkened and he smirked at her. He stood up and stretched languidly, before putting his hands in his pockets again and walking slowly down the wooden steps.

Halfway down, Sirius stopped and turned back to face Lily.

"You'd better watch out walking back up to the castle on your own, Evans," he called, with no hint of a smirk, just a deadly serious expression on his face, "I hear there's a huge black, monster of a dog that's roaming the grounds."

Lily rolled her eyes and shouted back, "Worry about yourself, Black! I'll be fine, all dogs love me!"

Sirius flinched, as though offended by her words. He replied more quietly with cutting tones, though Lily still heard him, "I assure you, this one doesn't."

Confused by this remark, Lily started, "How-?"

Sirius cut her off, "Just watch where you're going, don't be sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong, this dog has a habit of turning up... unexpectedly."

Sirius continued down the steps in silence until he reached the bottom. With his back to her, he yelled up, "Remember, Lily," there was no hint of sweetness in the way he said her name this time, no, he spat the word as though spitting poison from his mouth, "if you are involved with something or someone that you shouldn't be, stop it. Stop it now. Or else you're going to get bitten..."

Lily began, getting a twisting feeling in her stomach, "I seriously doubt that a dog is going to know what I'm doi-"

He brought a hand to his forehead with a pained expression on his face, "Don't argue with me, Evans. It's a fact."

Sirius strolled across the pitch, whistling happily to himself as he headed back towards the castle, and hopefully, he thought, back to a best friend I recognise.

As soon as Black was out of sight, Lily lowered her wand and slumped against the back of the bench.

She was shaking, and it wasn't because of the altitude either. Although she hadn't shown it, Black's words had terrified her, there couldn't possibly be a real dog roaming the grounds, she knew it was a threat; Lily seemed to be getting a lot of those recently...

A couple of weeks ago Bellatrix Black had cornered Lily after a prefects' meeting one night. The Slytherin girl had said something that made Lily truly afraid of her for the first time in seven years:

***

"Things are changing around here Mudblood," she said in her low raspy voice while drumming her fingers on her left forearm, " and I don't mean just in this muggle-lover's paradise that you call a school."

She closed her hooded eyes and sighing, smiled her 'I'm a lunatic and I know it' smile before continuing, " No, its bigger than that, much bigger. It's going to affect every living thing in this world...and the next."

Her eyes snapped open and she spoke in a soft, blissful tone, "He will find you, Mudblood, wherever you are, no matter who tries to protect you, He will find you, and once He does, you'll wish you had never been born."

Seeing the look of scepticism on Lily's face, Bellatrix added, "Oh, don't be thinking He's going to swoop down on you now, Mudblood. No, not now... maybe next week," she smirked, "maybe not; maybe next month," she laughed loudly, "but- maybe not;" she turned away from Lily, "maybe next year- then again," she whipped around and slammed her palms down on the desk, "maybe not."

Her face lost all expression as she ran her long nails into the wood on the desk, scoring it and she seemed to be talking more to herself now than Lily, "It doesn't matter if you're a shrivelled old hag when He gets you, He will. Just know this Mudblood, when He does get you...I'll be there."

Bellatrix then crossed the room and held the door open for Lily in mock politeness, when Lily made no move to leave, Bellatrix chuckled darkly, "Have it your way then," and slammed the door behind her.

***

Lily had been in a state since the 2^nd of September, worrying that whatever Potter was so angry about had made him forget their deal.

Well, it wasn't an actual deal, Lily had thought, it was more of a challenge, and Potter never refuses a challenge.

Then a voice whispered in Lily's ear, but he also never turns up during dinner looking like he's been in a brawl, perhaps he's changed his mind about your challenge. Perhaps he knows that divulging your secret will hurt you more than he ever could...

Since this realisation, 3 weeks ago today, Lily had been sure that any day now, James Potter was going to tell someone, and destroy what little normality she had left.

Pulling herself back to the present, Lily decided she had to worry about one thing at a time, so...

"How the bloody hell am I going to get down from here?"