Lily Evans: A History

30 October 1971

Dear Mum and Dad,

I hope this letter finds you well. I'm doing great here, though I miss
you terribly! It seems so hard to believe that I've been here for
almost two months! The school is wonderful. I love my classes,
especially charms class. Professor Flitwick said I have a natural
talent for it. We learned how to make things fly this week, it was
great! James and I had a race with our feathers. I won, of course.

The Halloween feast is only a day away, everyone is excited. Hagrid,
the ground keeper, has been growing some beautiful pumpkins for our
decorations. He showed them to me yesterday, though I think he's
helping them along with magic. They're huge!

The first Quidditch match of the season is the first of November. I'm
very excited. It's Gryffindor, the house I'm in, against Slytherin.
Molly told me that Gryffindor hasn't beat Slytherin in three years, I
hope we win this year! It would be great to win the house cup. (That's
an award the house with the most points gets. Remember in my last
letter when I told you about the house points?)

I have to run now, I don't want to be late for Transfiguration. Sirius
and James were late our first day, that's when we all found out that
Professor McGonagall is an animagus (a witch or wizard who can turn
into an animal at will) and turns into a cat. They thought they had
beat her to the room, when she was sitting on the desk watching them
the entire time. It was funny! I don't think I've ever seen Sirius
stutter so much.

Everyone is well, except Remus. I'm really quite worried about him. He
hasn't been looking good for a couple of days, and now he's in the
hospital wing. Madam Promfrey won't let us see him at all. I feel so
bad for him, last month his mother was sick, and now he is. I'm very
sure that the nurse can get him back to health again, though. She's
very efficient.

James, Peter and Sirius said to tell you 'hi'. Tell Petunia I said
'hi', though I doubt she'll care. The last time I tried to send her a
letter by Morgana, my poor owl wouldn't come near me for two days.
Write back when you can, as I will write again soon.

Much love,
Lily

	Lily Evans neatly folded her parchment and slide it into an
envelope, sealed it with some candle wax and stood up. It was five
minutes before class started and most of the common room had cleared
out, leaving Lily to herself. Picking up her school bag, she stuffed
the letter to her parents in a side pocket and headed towards
Transfiguration.
	She hurried through the nearly empty halls, her shoes clicking on
the stone floor as she went. She had barely slid into her chair when
the bell rang and Professor McGonagall came out of her office at the
end of the classroom.
	Minerva McGonagall had the air of a very stern witch, regardless
if this was her first year teaching or not. She always wore her solid
black hair back in a bun and hunter green robes. But it wasn't her
appearance that made even James and Sirius snap to attention, it was
the look she gave you when she caught you misbehaving. Since their
first encounter with the new teacher, Sirius had deemed it the look.
It wasn't something Lily ever wanted directed at herself.
	"Good day," McGonagall said as she sat down at her desk. She
skimmed over the classroom, mentally taking roll. Satisfied that her
entire class, save Remus, was present, she stood up. "Today we will be
transfiguring beetles into buttons. If everyone will please turn to
page 183 in your books."
	By the end of class Lily had successfully transfigured all of her
eight beetles into buttons. She had tried to help Peter, but it was a
lost cause. An hour later his buttons were still running across the
table. James and Sirius, of course, had transfigured all of theirs the
first try and had since then amused themselves by making them fly
around in the air while Professor McGonagall's back was turned.
	The bell rang and everyone gathered their belongings and started
off to their next class. For the Gryffindors, it was History of Magic.
Lily wasn't much looking forward to the class. Not only was it a boring
subject, but it was made more so by their teacher, Professor Binns. He
was their only ghost teacher, who talked in a endlessly tone dead voice
that bored most students to sleep within a few minutes. The only
interesting thing that happened was when Binns came to class through
the blackboard.
	Lily forced herself to stay awake long enough to take notes,
glancing sideways at James, Sirius and Peter, who was conversing it low
tones over a piece of parchment. Shaking her head, she once more dipped
her quill in her ink and jotted down another note.
	At the end of class, Lily gathered her belongings and was headed
out the door when she heard someone call her name. Pausing, she glanced
back and seen James running to catch up with her, followed by Sirius
and Peter, who both had doubting looks on their face. "Lily," James
huffed out as he came to her left side. "I wondered if we could have a
word?"
	Lily raised a eyebrow questionably. "Oh?"
	Sirius was on her other side so that she was squished between the
two taller boys. They steered her out of the hall and out a side door
into the sunlight. The sky was clear and the wind crisp, preparing for
winter. They came around the side of the building and stopped, all
three looking serious.
	James began after a pointed look from Sirius. "We are in need of
your services."
	"It's a very good cause," Sirius added.
	Peter nodded assuredly.
	Lily could tell by the looks on their faces that whatever it was,
it was against school rules. Biting her lip, she adjusted her books in
her arms. "And who are you pulling a prank on this time? Because I know
it was you three that turned Nick Brown's hair blue, set off dung bombs
in the prefects dormitory," she added, giving them a rueful look. "And
I would almost bet a hundred galleons it was you that also exchanged
Professor Walsh's potions with pumpkin juice."
	Sirius and James had identically hurt looks upon their faces. It
would take someone who knew them as Lily did, however, to know they
wore guilty expressions just beneath. She clicked her tongue against the
roof of her mouth, giving all three of them disapproving looks. "Guys,
I'm not dumb. You have guilty written all over your faces."
	"We do?" James said, feigning surprise.
	Sirius started searching James face over from different angles.
"Oh, wait, just there--"
	"You, too!" James said, pretending astonishment and pointing to
Sirius' face. At once both turned towards Peter. "Look! Peter, it's
written just there!" they exclaimed, putting their forefinger to his
forehead.
	Lily shook her head, trying to keep a smile from pulling at her
lips. As quickly as the three began, they all stopped and turned
pleading eyes towards her. "So what do you say, Lil? Please?" James
drawled, large brown eyes staring at her intently.
	Lily finally failed at keeping a smile from her lips, however
small she allowed it. She threw her arms up in defeat, rolling her
eyes. "Ok, ok. What is your master scheme this time?"
	James' eyes glowed as he put his arm around her, Sirius closing
in on the other side. They began walking, Peter trailing along beside
Sirius. Lily often wondered how Peter came to be a part of the two, it
wasn't a match she would have made from appearances. Peter was small,
not that good in class, and seemingly frightened at everything. A polar
opposite of the two smartest, quirkiest boys in first year.
	"You see, tomorrow is Halloween..." Sirius began.

	Lily, once again, couldn't believe what she was doing. She had
long since figured out that perhaps the only reason they had enlisted
her help was because the brains behind most of their operations was
laying in the hospital wing. Since the day on the Hogwarts Express,
you'd never know by watching them that Remus hadn't known Sirius and
James most of their lives. It was as if there was an invisible chain
linking them all together; if you seen James, you seen Sirius, Remus
and Peter within five feet. It seemed odd that Remus wasn't with them
now.
	Making sure that Madison, Kathleen, Gabrielle and Alexis were
asleep, Lily stealthily made her way down to the Gryffindor common room.
As she came down the steps, the clock chimed midnight. Waiting for her
in front of the smoldering fireplace was Sirius, James and Peter; all
wearing black cloaks. Lily pulled her own around her shoulders,
buttoning it at the collar. James nodded and motioned for them to
follow him. They climbed out of the portrait hole, shutting it gently so
as to not wake the Fat Lady.
	It was then that Lily noticed James pull out a cloak he had been
holding. It was an odd color, changing between gold and silver. "What's
that for?" she whispered.
	James only grinned and wrapped it around his shoulders. If Lily
hadn't learned in the last two months that anything was possible in
the magical world, she surely would have not believed her eyes. She
watched as James' body completely disappeared under the cloak.
	"What...?" Lily mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
	Sirius grinned, pulling the cloak out so he could also disappear
under it. "An invisibility cloak," Peter said, grinning as well. "Come
on."
	Lily, looking doubtful, stared at the place that the three boys
had stood a moment before. There was no trace of them. "James? Sirius?
Peter?" she whispered, suddenly thinking this might be a joke. A well
thought out one, but a joke nonetheless.
	"Come on Lily," Sirius urged, peeking out from under the cloak.
"This thing is huge, there is enough room for all of us. Now get under
here before we get caught!"
	Doubting her sanity, Lily done as she was told. The four of them
slowly made their way downstairs and into the main hall. Lily felt her
breath catch in her throat as Peeves the Poltergeist went zooming over
head, but he didn't see them. They made their way into the Great Hall
where hundreds of pumpkins were flying over head. Making sure they were
indeed alone, Sirius pulled the cloak from them. "Do you know what
spell you'll use?" he asked Lily as they made their way to the
Slytherin table. Lily nodded, hardly believing what she was about to
do. "Ok then, let's get started."

	An hour later they once again came to the landing to the
entrance to Gryffindor tower. James mumbled the password, and without
opening her eyes, the Fat Lady said "If you say so" and swung open. The
four hurried through the hole and collapsed into chairs before the
fireplace.
	Suddenly Sirius grinned, the light catching his eyes and making
them seemingly glow. "I can't wait to see the looks on their faces."
	Lily's heart was still racing, even though they were safely back
in their common room. "I can't believe you three talked me into helping
you."
	James grinned as well, reaching over to pat Lily on the head.
"We'll make a good prankster out of you yet, Lil."
	"That's what I'm afraid of," Lily retorted, rolling her green
eyes over to Peter, who was looking quite sober. "What's the matter,
Peter?"
	Peter sighed. "Remus should have been with us."
	Sirius' eyes turned dark. "I wonder what's wrong with him? That
stupid nurse up there won't let us see him."
	"Maybe it's contagious?" Lily suggested. "You know, he was
looking like he had just gotten over something horrid when I seen him
in Diagon Alley. Maybe he just gets sick a lot."
	James nodded thoughtfully, but Sirius didn't look convinced.
Despite how much she was also worried about Remus, Lily's eyes were
burning madly. Yawning, she stood up. "I'm heading to bed, and I
suggest you three do the same. Don't want to be late for
Transfiguration again," she said, grinning over at Sirius.
	
	The next day classes seemed to take twice as long as usual, and
even more so for Lily, James, Sirius and Peter. When finally the last
bell rang, the students tore into the castle and up to their
dormitories to put away their school things. Lily hung behind her room
mates as they left for the Great Hall. Finally she spotted James
descending from the boys stairwell, followed closely by the other two
boys. "Come on, we don't want to miss this feast," Sirius quirked,
grinning evilly. Nervously, Lily followed.
	The blood was rushing to Lily's ears loudly as they entered the
hall. Quickly she took her seat between James and Madison and waited
for the start of feast.
	If James, Sirius or Peter were nervous about what they had done,
they didn't show it. Lily found it hard to eat any of the delicious
food placed before her, but the three boys ate like they always did.
	"Lily, you going to eat that?" Madison asked, pointing to a large
piece of pumpkin pie. Lily shook her head. Instead of taking the pie,
the blonde next to her raised an eyebrow at Lily. "Anything wrong?"
	Across the table, Gabrielle and Kathleen both swung their heads
over to look at Lily. "No, I'm fine," Lily lied, staring at the
pumpkins floating lazily above the Slytherin table.
	"She's had too many sweets, if you ask me," Mundungus Fletcher
said, grabbing the piece of pie that Madison had been asking about
earlier.
	"Hey now!"
	"Just trying to help Lil out!" Fletcher said defensively as he
took a bite of pie. Lily couldn't stop herself from giggling.
	"I doubt that!" Sirius suddenly said rather loudly.
	Lily, Madison, Gabrielle and Kathleen all gave him a shocked
look. Sirius, paying no attention, continued his conversation with
Brian Mantooth, a fourth year. "The little wrench stole that idea from
us, I'd wager."
	"All we'll have to do is beat him to it," James said calmly.
Peter looked horrified.
	"To what?" Lily asked.
	James turned around, keeping his voice so low that Madison and
the twins had to strain to hear him. "Sirius and I were going to see if
we couldn't get close to that whomping willow. Davey Gudgeon, in
Ravenclaw, told Brian that he was going to do it first." James
shrugged, as if he were planning to go on a stroll rather than get near
a tree that hit back. Lily's eyes grew wide.
	Any tongue lashings she was about to give were halted abruptly,
though. There was a scream that pierced through the Great Hall,
stopping all conversations. Lily felt her heart drop to her stomach as
she realized what it meant.
	It was quite one thing to talk about something, plan it, or even
follow through. It was quite another to see the product of your work.
	Lily watched in fearful amazement as every one of the pumpkins,
that just seconds before were floating lazily over the Slytherin table,
tipped upside down and poured green slime over every single Slytherin's
head. Somewhere, someone laughed, making way for a tidal wave of
laughter from the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables.
	Transfixed, Lily stared at the table of students as they all
stood up, some yelling, others cursing, as green slime caked their
heads. Beside her, James, Sirius and Peter were in tears from laughter.
	"Do you reckon," Sirius choked out between his laughter. "That
this will make ole' grease head wash his hair?"
	"Doubt it," James replied, wiping a tear from his eye.
	"Wait til' we tell Remus about this," Peter said between his own
giggles.
	Lily forced laughter from her lips. Sure, it was a funny sight,
but then why did she feel so guilty? James, Sirius and Peter sure
didn't. Was there a trick to being able to pull pranks and not feel bad
because of it? She wondered if she'd ever be able to.

	The Halloween feast ended early as a result of the Slytherin
table incident. No one could quite figure out who was responsible, so
no punishment had been laid. James, Sirius and Peter knew better than
to brag, so the only people who knew they had done it was themselves
and Lily.
	Lily had found out the hard way, though, that she'd rather not be
in on the jokes. She found them much more amusing when they surprised
her as well. Fueled by their past success, James, Sirius and Peter could
be found planning out their next attack in the common room. When asked
if she wanted to join, Lily politely told them no.

	On the first Saturday in November the student body all bundled up
in their winter cloaks and set off for the Quidditch field. Lily found
the atmosphere was intoxicating. Every Gryffindor carried flags or
banners, painted in gold and red, to support their house. Huddled
between Sirius and Alexis, Lily watched field as Madam Hooch, the
flying instructor and Quidditch referee, walked out on the field.
Mundungus Fletcher, a third year Gryffindor, was doing commentary.
	"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season!" his
magically amplified voice rang out of the cheers of students. "Today's
match is Gryffindor versus Slytherin!"
	The crowd broke out in cheers so loud that Lily couldn't hear
herself think. From the left side of the field, seven people zoomed out
on broomsticks. The Gryffindor team done a few laps around the stadium
before settling over Madam Hooch. A second later, the Slytherin team,
dressed in green and silver, came flying out of the right side of the
stadium. There were several hisses from the Gryffindors that were
drowned out by the cheers of the Slytherins.
	"There goes the Bludgers," Fletcher was saying. "Followed by the
golden Snitch. The Quaffle is released and they're off!"
	It was hard to tell who was doing what unless you listened to
Fletcher. Some of the players were flying so fast, as well as Bludgers
zooming here and there, it was simply impossible to know what was
happening. Lily kept a keen ear out as she watched the students fly
around.
	"Emily Tankard has the Quaffle, she's closing in -- SCORE! Ten
points to Gryffindor!"
	The Gryffindor side screamed loudly. Lily could barely make out
the Slytherin captain saying something to their keeper that made him
raise his fist.
	"It's Roberts to Grim to Roberts -- wait, Slytherin captain Todd
Vixon made the slip. It's Vixon to Morgan. Morgan barely misses a
Bludger -- dang! -- goes for the goal... HAHA! Blocked by Tony Dunn!"
	Back and forth the Quaffle went for nearly an hour. Both teams
scored over and over again, but still there was no sign of the Snitch.
The Gryffindor seeker was flying around in a giant circle above the
field, but hadn't seen it yet.
	Suddenly James shouted out from beside Sirius, loud enough that
Lily could hear. "I see the Snitch, why can't he? Is he blind!" he
roared, looking like it was a crime to not see the Snitch from that far
up. Lily followed James gaze and seen the Snitch hovering just a few
feet above the ground near the Slytherin goal. Luckily, the Slytherin
seeker hadn't seen it, either.
	"Slytherin in possession, Vixon of Slytherin heading for--Whoa!
There goes Curtis Wood of Gryffindor, he's seen the Snitch!"
	Everyone's eyes seemed to follow Curtis Wood as he dived towards
the ground. The Slytherin seeker was close at his heels. Suddenly Wood
pulled out of his dive, looking around in a confused manner. The Snitch
had disappeared again. There was a large "Ooooh" from the crowd as
Fletcher once more started back up on who had the Quaffle.
	"Gryffindor in possession. Watch that Bludger! Tankard passes to
Grim -- he goes for the goal -- agh, no! Intercepted by Morgan. He's
coming in for a goal--Score! Slytherin's up ten points, making the
score sixty to fifty, Slytherin."
	"BOO!" the Gryffindors hissed as Tony Vixon once more took hold
of the Quaffle and started to score again. Suddenly there was a loud
explosion of screams from the Hufflepuffs. Lily took her eyes off the
Gryffindor goals just in time to see the Slytherin seeker pull out of a
dive, his fist raised. In it he held the golden Snitch.
	Madam Hooch's whistle blew shrilly. "Slytherin wins!"
	"Damn!" James swore. "I could have caught that Snitch. Our seeker
is horrible!" he stated. On and on he went to anyone who would listen
as they made their way back up to the castle. Lily couldn't help but
agree with him, they didn't have the best seeker. From the talk in the
common room that night, they hadn't had a good seeker in a while. Their
current seeker, Curtis Wood, graduated this year. James swore up and
down the rest of the night he was trying out for seeker next year.
Sirius agreed with him wholeheartedly, also stating he wanted to try
out for beater.

	The disappointment of Saturday's game held around until Monday,
when they all returned to class. Potions became even more unbearable
than normal, since the Slytherins were quick to point out the faults of
the Gryffindor team. Lily was glad when the day was over and she could
retire to the common room to do her homework.
	Remus returned from the hospital wing that evening, looking thin
and worn. Indeed, whatever it was he had caught, had sent him for a
loop. There was dark lines under his eyes and he seemed very tired.
Lily was alone in the common room, finishing up her homework on
Boggarts for Defense Against the Dark Arts when the portrait swung open
and revealed Remus. He gave her a tired smile when she looked up. "Hey
Lily."
	"Remus!" Lily exclaimed, abandoning her parchment. "Are you
feeling better? We've been worried," she chastised lightly, wagging a
finger in front of him. "Sirius, James and Peter have been trying to
see you all week, but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us near the hospital
wing."
	Remus grimpsed. "Just a bad cold. I'm fine. You shouldn't have
worried," he said, taking a seat. He looked as if he would fall over if
he didn't. "What have I missed?" he asked quickly. Lily thought he
seemed eager to change the subject.
	"Oh dear, where to begin," Lily mumbled, remembering everything
from Halloween night on. She told Remus about the prank they had pulled
all the way up to Slytherin beating Gryffindor. "I can't stand the
shame," she admitted.
	"Someone had to win," Remus said pleasantly. "Though I had heard
rumors we had a bad team." He pushed a stay lock of brown hair from his
forehead. "Professor McGonagall told me you had a list of the work I
missed. I might as well get started on it."
	Lily nodded, worry still nagging her mind as she handed Remus a
roll of parchment with all his assignments on it. Something didn't add
up, though Lily couldn't put her finger on it. It wasn't anything Remus
had said, it was more what he wasn't saying. I'm just being
paranoid, she thought. Remus wouldn't lie to us.

	A few days later Remus looked fine again. And the four pranksters
were back in full swing. It was amusing, in a way, to see how the four
friends balanced each other out. James and Sirius by far were the
leaders of their little group. Both had outgoing personalities that
drew lots of people to them, they talked back and forth off each other
like they had been doing it their entire lives. Both displayed their
charming abilities to perfection, which got them out of more than one
tight spot. And both of them were top in all their classes, amazing
even Professor McGonagall. Remus was obviously the voice of common
sense behind their operations. Late in the evenings he could be heard
pointing out flaws in a plan or fine tuning some of James and Sirius'
more far fetched ideas. Peter, however, seemed to live to do their
bidding. He didn't quite fit in with the other three, but still
followed them around. Lily was glad he had friends like James, Sirius
and Remus, though. She figured that he would be a great source of
teasing if he wasn't being protected by the other three.
	And protected he was. The four boys were great fun, unless
someone said something out of line to one of them. Which made tension
between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses worse than normal. If you
insulted one, you insulted them all. Each of them were fiercely
protective of the other three and they had came to Lily's rescue a
couple of times, as well.
	Lily didn't have trouble getting along with people, quite the
contrary. But it was a well known fact that Slytherins hated Muggle
borns, and Lily was especially loathed because she done so well in her
classes.
	She hadn't known just how much, though, until mid December.

	Potions had been as bad as ever. Professor Walsh favored her
house, and didn't care to show it. Which wouldn't have been so bad if
Gryffindor and Slytherin didn't have her class together. Tempers were
always running high by the time the hour was up.
	Lily quickly stuffed her books in her bag and headed out of the
classroom, eager to get outside into the crisp December air and away
from the dungeons when she knocked into a Slytherin. By having class
with them, and from her first day in Diagon Alley, she knew it was
Severus Snape she had knocked head first into. The books in his arms
went flying across the hall and both him and Lily fell back.
	"Sorry!" Lily squeaked, getting to her feet with some help from
Sirius who was standing behind her. Lily went to get her bag, but Peter
had already picked it up.
	"I should make you sorry," Snape hissed as he got back to his
feet, glaring at her. Lily's eyes widened, but before she could say
anything, Sirius was speaking.
	"She said she was sorry, Snape. Now leave her alone," he
threatened.
	"And if I don't? What are you going to do about it?" Snape asked
in a low, greasy sort of voice.
	Much to Lily's horror, Sirius and James both drew their wands.
	"You don't want to know," James replied.
	Snape looked like he wanted to reach for his wand, but thought
better of it since James, Sirius and now Remus had theirs on him. There
was a small crowd growing around them. "Guys, don't..." Lily pleaded.
	"You better listen to your little Mudblood girlfriend," Snape
growled.
	Lily had no clue what he had just called her, but within seconds
pandemonium had broken out in the hall. Sirius and James, wands
forgotten, had lunged forward. Gryffindors were calling out angrily all
around, arguing with some Slytherins who had witnessed as well. Some
were getting into fights and the sounds of hexes being thrown roared in
Lily's ears.
	Then suddenly, after what seemed like forever, though it could
have only been a minute or so, a voice rang out. Professor Walsh nearly
threw some students to the side as she made her way to the center of
the mess, where Sirius and James had Snape pinned to the ground. "What
is the meaning of this?" she roared, glaring at the Gryffindors. Some
of the Slytherins were smiling smugly.
	"Lily fell--"
	"She knocked him over, Professor!"
	"And Snape called--"
	"Got attacked by those--!"
	"A Mudblood--!"
	"SILENCE!"
	The entire hall fell silent. Welsh looked around, pointed to a
Slytherin girl and said "Explain."
	An evil sort of smile formed on the girl's lips. "Professor,
Evans knocked Severus to the ground and then Potter and Black gained up
on him."
	Most of the Gryffindors shouted in outrage at her story, but
Walsh wouldn't hear any of it. She waved her hand to silence everyone
again, and said in a very sultry voice. "Five points will be taken
from every Gryffindor in this hallway." And with that, she turned on
her heel and went back into the classroom. Lily felt like the bottom of
her stomach had dropped out.
	Mumbling angrily, the Gryffindors again started up the steps to
go to Herbology.

	Lily was planning on spending the afternoon in her room, away
from all the eyes of her fellow first years and even some of the higher
grades. In all Walsh had taken seventy-five points from Gryffindor and
Lily knew it was her fault for not watching where she was going.
	She fought back tears all day, and avoided everyone, skipping
dinner so as to not be in the Great Hall. She had just opened the door
to her room when she was greeted by Morgana sitting on the window seal.
Tied to her leg was a piece of parchment.
	Curiously, Lily untied the letter and opened it. The note was
written in untidy scrawl that she could barely read.

Lily,

Was wondering if yeh want a cup o' tea with me this afternoon.
Come as soon as yeh'r last class is over if yeh want ter.

Hagrid

	Lily stared at the parchment in total disbelief. Hagrid was the
grounds keeper, a giant of a man that, since the incident the first
night of school, had proven himself to be a very nice person. Lily ran
into him often on the grounds and he would start talking about
different creatures and things in the Forbidden Forest.
	Her curiosity peeked, Lily decided that she would join him for
tea. At least he would get her mind off what had happened today.
Besides, she had yet to find out what a Mudblood was, since she was
afraid to ask James, Sirius or Remus about it.
	Slipping past the Great Hall, she hurried out a side door and
across the grounds towards the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid lived in a
small hut just on the outskirts with his boar hound, Curly. Lily slowed
down when she came to the hut and knocked quickly. Curly's barks came
loudly, followed by Hagrid's footsteps. "Lily!" he greeted with a large
smile, holding the door open. "Didn' reckin yeh'd come for a min'te."
	"Hello Hagrid," Lily smiled, going in and taking off her cloak.
She sat down in a chair three times the size of a normal one. "Thank
you for inviting me."
	"Any time," the giant said, bustling around the kitchen area of
the cabin for a moment. "Have tea ready in a min'te."
	Lily suddenly felt like she shouldn't have came. Her mind was too
preoccupied with what had happened at school that day to be properly
paying attention to Hagrid. He didn't seem to mind (or notice) though,
he made them a plate of cakes and brought tea. Saying nothing, he
poured Lily and himself a cup. "There yeh go."
	"Thanks," Lily repeated, automatically bringing the cup up to her
lips.
	Hagrid glanced at her over the rim of his cup thoughtfully for a
moment before putting it down. "I heard what happen'd at the school
today. An' I'm here ter tell yeh, don' let it get ter yeh. There ain't
a person in that school better than yeh are."
	Lily forced herself to swallow the piece of cake she had picked
up, putting it down quickly and making a mental note not to try it
again. She started to just agree with him, even if she didn't know what
the word had meant. But... surely Hagrid wouldn't laugh at her, right?
	"Er--Hagrid, I... I don't even know what it meant. I mean, I
could tell it was bad, from the way James and Sirius lunged at Severus.
But..."
	Hagrid's eyes grew small for a moment. "Mudblood is a really bad
name for som'one w'th Muggle parents. Som' wizards, like the Snape's,
reckin it's bad to have Muggle parents. But see, most wizards an'
witches is half an'ways. Had to, or we'd died out. Notin' wrong w'it at
all."
	Lily didn't think she felt any better after hearing what it
meant. Instead, she sighed inwardly, feeling even worse for getting the
whole of Gryffindor first years in trouble because she was Muggle born.
It seemed what she thought that day at Diagon Alley was true, she was
different in this world as well as the Muggle one.
	"Tha--" There was a knock at the door cut her off.
	Curiously, Hagrid got to his feet and opened the door, Curly
barking madly at his feet. Lily couldn't see past him, since his figure
covered the entire doorway, so she tried to listen. What she heard was
four voices ringing in unison. "Is Lily here?"
	Oh no, she thought, burying her face in her hands. It was
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. Hagrid stood back and allowed them to
see Lily sitting in the chair by the fire. They came in, looking around
the small cabin with interest. Lily thought they must not have been in
Hagrid's cabin before, since they looked slightly uncomfortable.
	"An' of you four want tea?" Hagrid asked from the kitchen.
	They all stared at him for a moment. Finally James spoke up.
"Actually, we just wanted to talk to Lily for a minute." He turned his
gaze towards Lily.
	"Um, ok," Lily mumbled, getting up. The four of them filed out of
the cabin, waiting for her to join them. Hagrid gave her a smile as she
put her cloak on. "Thank you Hagrid."
	"Anytime, Lily."
	Reluctantly Lily left the cabin and went out into the cold night.
With the sun down, the lights on the castle seemed to sparkle and the
forbidden forest looked haunted and evil from where she stood.
Repressing a shiver, she hurried up to where James, Sirius, Remus and
Peter stood waiting for her.
	For a moment no one said anything, then awkwardly, James said,
"Are you alright?"
	Of the things she expected to hear from them, that certainly
wasn't one of them. "I guess," she replied, eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"
	"Well, we figured, with what happened today," Sirius said, but
something on Lily's face made him stop.
	Remus gave him a pointed look that clearly said he was an idiot.
Then, obviously deciding he could say what they wanted better, he
began, "We just didn't want you to think we were mad at you or
anything. We noticed you weren't at dinner, and thought to come look
for you."
	"I wasn't hungry," Lily told him. But she could tell right away
they didn't believe her. Not able to resist the stares the four of them
were giving her, she bit her lip and said softly, "Look, if I had been
watching where I was going today I wouldn't have knocked into Snape. He
wouldn't have called me a Mudblood and Gryffindor wouldn't have lost
seventy-five points. I didn't feel like going to dinner to face the
stares, whispers and what not."
	Satisfied they had gotten the truth from her, they visibly
relaxed. "Come on Lil, no one thinks it's your fault. If they do, I'll
hex them," James said easily, causing Lily to giggle.
	"Besides, we have something truly evil planned for revenge.
Don't worry," Sirius grinned.
	Lily rolled her eyes. For them, this was the perfect excuse to
pull another prank on somebody. They started back up into the castle
when Lily's stomach gave a small rumble. She blushed visibly. "I wish
I hadn't skipped dinner," she mumbled, looking towards the empty Great
Hall as they passed.
	Sirius suddenly stopped, causing the rest of them to nearly
collide into him. "Come on!" he said, looking around briefly before
heading to the Great Hall. Lily raised an eyebrow; the only time one of
them had that look is when they were up to something.
	She followed them to a hall on the other side of the teacher's
table that she hadn't noticed before. There she seen many large
paintings with pictures of different foods on them. Checking again to
make sure no one was looking, Sirius went up to a picture of a large
fruit bowl and tickled the pear. Lily jumped slightly when the pear
not only laughed, but produced a door handle. Giving it a tug, the four
of them slipped inside.
	Beyond that painting was the largest kitchen Lily had ever laid
eyes on. Everywhere she looked was fires, sinks and more cooking
utensils than she'd seen in her life. Suddenly the sound of many
footsteps could be heard coming near them. Fearfully Lily stepped
behind James, still looking out curiously.
	Before them was about fifty small creatures with skinny bodies,
large heads and bat-like ears. All of them had their huge eyes
plastered on Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter like they had never
seen anything quite like them. Each of these creatures wore strange
shaped garments and hats with the Hogwarts symbol on it. One of them
came forward slowly, it's huge green eyes staring at Sirius. "Sirs and
Misses, hows can we be helping you?"
	"What do you want to eat Lily?" Sirius asked, laughing at the
look on her face.
	"Er--just a turkey sandwich and some pumpkin juice," Lily replied
uncertainly. At least half of the creatures took off towards the other
end of the kitchen.
	"I'll take some treacle pudding, please," Peter said, smiling as
at least five of them went running.
	"W-What are those things?" Lily asked uncertainly, stepping out
from behind James now that she seen they weren't going to do any harm.
	"House elves," James supplied, taking a cake off a tray one of
them had offered. "Dead helpful things, house elves. They'd cook up a
huge feast if you ask them to. We have a couple at my house."
	Lily looked over to the left where four large tables that looked
identical to the ones in the Great Hall were sitting. James, noticing
her gaze, swallowed his cake. "They cook the food and put it on that
table then it's magicked up to us. Pretty neat, eh?"
	Nodding, Lily noticed that one of the house elves was standing in
front of her, holding up a golden tray with a large turkey sandwich on
it and a goblet of pumpkin juice. "Thank you," she said, taking them.
	The house elf bowed as he backed away, it's large brown eyes
staring up at her to see if she required anything else.
	Lily finished what she could eat of the huge sandwich and washed
it down with pumpkin juice. One of the elves quickly came rushing up to
take her plate and goblet as another brought a tray of deserts. Still
munching on cakes, the five of them left the kitchens and headed to the
Gryffindor common room.
	When they came in the common room, however, several of the oldest
students sent glares Lily's way. James and Sirius again looked like
they might blow up. Remus had a hold of the back of Sirius' robes just
in case. Right about that time, though, Molly came down the stairs to
tell everyone to get to bed. Slowly the common room cleared out.

	By the next afternoon everyone had heard the reason behind the
loss of points to Gryffindor and unlike Lily feared, no one blamed her.
Tension between the Gryffindors and Slytherins was at an all time high
after this. So it was a relief when Christmas holidays came and most
everyone went home. Lily, not looking forward to another encounter with
Petunia, signed up to stay at Hogwarts.
	The following two weeks without classes was very enjoyable. There
was only a handful of students who didn't go home, among them James,
Sirius, Remus, two third year Hufflepuffs girls who were sisters and a
first year Ravenclaw boy. Lily took full advantage of being the only
Gryffindor girl to stay by taking her time in the shower, and staying
up as late as she wanted with the candles lit in her room as she read.
On previous nights, if she wanted to stay up, she had to do so under
her blankets with her wand as her only light.
	James, Sirius and Remus, without anyone to pull pranks on, spent
a lot of their time playing exploding snap in the common room.
Sometimes Lily watched them, and a couple of times she played. She
probably would have played more, except she beat everyone of them
except Remus.
	Most of the teachers left over the holidays as well. Dumbledore,
McGonagall, Sprout, Binns, Hooch and the caretaker were the only ones
to stay. Madam Pince and Madam Promfrey stayed on as well, though no
one seen them except on Christmas day.
	Madam Hooch let them have extra time practicing flying, and even
allowed James and Sirius a go at catching the Snitch. In four minutes
flat James held it in his hand. Madam Hooch's eyes seem to light up and
Lily distinctly heard her mumbling about not looking far for
Gryffindor's next seeker. James couldn't have been more happier.
	On Christmas day Lily was rudely awoken at the ungodly hour of
six am by James, followed quickly by Sirius and Remus. "Oy! Come on
Lil! Time to open presents!" James shouted, rushing into her room.
	"You aren't suppose to be in here," she said sleepily, looking
outside the window. The sun wasn't even up yet. "Ugh! Go away!"
	The response was three fireworks being let off in her room.
Rolling her eyes, Lily tried once again to bury herself under the mound
of blankets on her bed. "Sleep! Must have sleep..."
	Suddenly the curtains to her bed was pulled back and she glanced
up in time to see James holding a glass of water above her head.
Screaming, she leapt off the other side of the bed and not a moment too
soon.
	"JAMES POTTER!" she yelled, scrambling for her wand. "You'd
better run!" she called as he took off out of her room, Remus and
Sirius not too far behind. "You're going to pay for that!" Eyes
burning, she done a quick drying spell on her bed and put a robe on
over her gown.
	"Whoa! Brush your hair!" her mirror said gruffly as she slid her
house shoes on. Lily ignored it and went down the stairs where the
three boys were ripping into a stack of presents.
	Not too long after that they were all sitting around in the
floor, nearly every inch covered with wrapping paper, eating sweets and
messing around with their gifts. James had got a new Wizard Chess Set
that him and Remus were currently trying out. Lily watched in horror as
the chess pieces would smash their opponents. "How awful!" she exclaimed
as one of James' knights was smashed to pieces.
	"That's Wizard's Chess. Don't worry, they go back together when
the games done," James said. "Check."
	"I should hope so."
	"Cracker Lily?" Sirius suddenly asked.
	Lily stared at a small, brightly colored box with a string
hanging out the end. She'd never seen anything in her life that looked
less like a cracker. Raising an eyebrow questionably, she pulled the
small string and nearly leapt onto the chess board when a large party
hat erupted from the box. Sirius burst out into laughter, sticking the
hat on Lily's head.
	That evening they headed downstairs for Christmas dinner.
Professor Dumbledore had cleared away all but one of the tables, which
now sat in the middle of the room. He was sitting at the head of this
table, talking animatingly to Professor McGonagall as they made their
way in. "Ah!" he said pleasantly as the four of them took their seats.
"Now that we are all together, let's eat, shall we?"
	At his words a large turkey, potatoes, green beans, casseroles
and other delicious looking food appeared on the table. It was really a
delightful meal. Dumbledore passed out crackers to everyone so that at
any given time confetti, hats and even crystal chess pieces erupted out
of boxes at the table. Two hours later, Lily almost hated to see it
end. Professor McGonagall told everyone to return to their common rooms
and the four of them headed up to Gryffindor tower to put away their
presents and head to bed.

	Just when everything seemed normal again, with Christmas over,
something else came up. Remus received an urgent letter from his
mother. His mother was ill and had asked for him. Sober faced, the
three of them stood in the common room to bid Remus goodbye yet again.
	As he left though, something struck Lily as strange. Her mind
kept running back over the time she had seen Remus with his mother in
Diagon Alley. The woman didn't look all that sick, in fact, she looked
in good health. But as Lily watched Remus leave, he didn't look
good at all and she couldn't help but wonder if Remus wasn't the one
sick and not his mother. Worriedly she stood beside Sirius and James as
he left.

--End Chapter 3.