Lily Evans: A History

Chapter 11 - Of surprise visitors, tours and bewitched snow ball

There are some things words just can't express; How furious the Slytherins usually stayed at the Marauders, how brilliant it was each and every time one of those same four boys talked their way out of trouble, how satisfied Lily still felt to this day about slapping that mud on Snape's head. One of these also included the horrible pull in said girl's stomach as she followed Professor McGonagall through the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The stern professor didn't offer a word of condolence or conversation as she marched just a few feet ahead of the red head, her aim true. Where ever that was. Lily found herself holding her breath, nearly biting her tongue. Was she going to be in such deep trouble for doing magic in the halls that McGonagall wouldn't even look at her?

She then pictured her parent's faces when (assuming that the school wrote to them about it) they found out she had gotten in trouble. And, of course, Petunia would be delighted. Lily shuttered to think about it.

They stopped in front of the office of the caretaker and Professor McGonagall gave a short knock before letting herself in. "Mr. Adams, the Fat Lady has left her post at Gryffindor Tower. Will you please find her immediately and see that she stays there until I can have a word with her?"

The aged caretaker said nothing, only nodded his head, gave a slight look of amusement to Lily and shut his office door. McGonagall, still not saying a word to Lily, once more began walking briskly. Lily followed silently.

They arrived a few moments later in front of a gargoyle and Lily's stomach plummeted even further than she thought possible.

"Frizzy Whizzbees," McGonagall said and the gargoyle jumped to the side immediately, revealing a stair case that spiraled upwards. "Follow me, Miss Evans." The first words directed at Lily since they had left the small room outside the Gryffindor Tower. Somehow Lily only felt more nervous from them.

When they arrived at the top of the staircase, the large oak door was closed. McGonagall gave a sharp knock before pushing the door open. What lay beyond the door made Lily's eyes widen.

"Mum? Dad?" she whispered, her knees weak. All of this because she did a simple spell in the corridor? How they got there so quickly somehow escaped her mind as she stared. She felt like she couldn't stand properly and was only able to move when she seen the Headmaster smile kindly at her.

Christine Evans rushed over, hugging Lily tightly and kissing her forehead. Daniel Evans smiled at her softly until her mother released her and he could also hug his daughter. Standing protectively between her parents, Lily forced herself to meet the Headmaster's blue eyes.

Professor McGonagall silently left and Dumbledore gestured for them to sit. Christine sat in a chair to the left and Daniel to the right. Dumbledore had already taken his seat when he chuckled lightly.

"Oh dear, seems I'm a seat short." And with a wave of his wand, another cushioned arm chair appeared behind Lily. "I had four chairs in here not long ago, though I have some ideas where they may have gotten to." He flashed a knowing smile at Lily, which she returned slightly.

"Now that we are all comfortable, we should address the reason I extended this invitation. I've already spoken with Lily about this, but in case you had any questions, I wanted to be able to answer them personally."

Lily must have had a rather queer expression on her face, because the Headmaster chuckled, his eyes shining. "No, this hasn't anything to do with the charm you performed on Miss Phillips in the hall earlier. Though it was rather remarkable that you didn't disincarnate her hair." Lily felt relieved until she felt her mother's eyes boring into her. She flushed, a smile creeping up on her face. "I wanted to explain your abilities to your parents."

"Oh!" Lily gasped, understanding at last. Her mother and father, however, were very confused now. "But, I haven't had anymore visions since then..."

"That doesn't mean you won't, as I'm sure Miss Phillips has told you," Dumbledore told her. Lily nodded, and perhaps would have spoken, except her father took that moment to cut in.

"May I ask what you are referring to? And who is Miss Phillips?"

"Calm down Dad," Lily said automatically. "It's nothing... bad. And Kassie Phillips is my best friend."

"What about that charming young man who came to the house over the summer? And his friends?" Christine asked, ignoring the earlier conversation for trying to figure out what was going on her in daughter's life while she was away at school.

"Oh, trust me, they're around," Lily replied, grinning. "In fact, I daresay they are the reason Professor Dumbledore's chairs have gone missing."

"Indeed," the Headmaster said, a somewhat exasperated look on his features, but it was lined with amusement as well. "Now, back to the subject at hand."

It took a good hour for Lily's parents to feel that they somewhat understood her vision and what it implied. If Lily's grand mum had been a Seer, Christine knew nothing of it. Daniel asked one question after another, which the Headmaster patiently answered, sometimes twice. To her relief, neither of her parents seemed overly worried about it. Which was surprising, Lily excepted her father to have a fit similar to the one he had when he found out his youngest was a witch. She found herself vaguely wondering if anything would surprise her father anymore.

After the meeting, Lily asked Dumbledore if she could show her parents around (since they both had charms on them so that they could see the actual castle and not the ruins other muggles would see). He agreed and Lily walked happily between her parents while giving them a tour.

"This is the Great Hall, where we eat," she explained, walking forward into the large room with the bewitched ceiling. Her mother nearly squealed in delight.

"Those candles won't fall, will they?" Daniel asked in a bemused sort of way, eyeing the floating candles as they walked under them.

"No Daddy," Lily giggled as they left.

"Hey Lily!" Lily heard the voice and turned to look around long before she actually seen who was calling. Her eyes finally landed on the stairs as Kassie came running down them, jumping the vanishing step just in time. "Where have you been? McGonagall told the Fat La--" Kassie stopped in mid sentence, and stride, when she noticed Mr. and Mrs. Evans standing just behind Lily. Her violet eyes widened and she stood a little straighter.

Lily giggled. "Mum, Dad, this is Kassie Phillips, my best friend. Kassie, this is Daniel and Christine Evans, my parents."

"Nice to meet you, dear," Christine said, extending her hand to a now rather nervous looking Kassie.

Kassie took her hand, shook it and let go quickly, eyeing Lily. "Nice to meet you, too, Miss Evans."

"Please call me--"

"Christine! Daniel!"

Lily and Kassie both wiped their heads around, groaning at the same time. Sirius Black came running down the steps, waving and grinning. He came to a stop before them, grasping Christine's hand and kissing it while bowing. "You look even more lovely than the last time I seen you," he said, quite convincingly. If Lily hadn't known any better, she could have sworn her mother blushed.

"Well, it's nice to see you too, Sirius," Lily's mother smiled, looking behind him expectantly. "Where are the other boys? James and Remus?"

"Well, Ma'am, it's my unfortunate duty to tell you that they are both currently--"

"Going to hex you if you continue to talk," James said, coming down the steps, wand in hand. Lily shook her head dejectedly as Remus and Peter also came around the corner.

"Mum, Dad, you didn't get to meet Peter last summer," she said, pointing to the smaller blonde haired boy. "Peter, this is my Mum and Dad. I was just showing them around the castle while they are here."

"Really?" James piped up.

"A tour, you say?" Remus continued.

"No one better to show you the castle than the ones who know it best," Sirius said, lacing his arm through Christine's. "Follow us, good Sir and Lady, we shall show you splendid sights."

As Kassie and Lily lagged behind, Lily turned to her friend and rolled her eyes. "This should be interesting."

* *

It seemed the Marauders had a story to tell with every room they passed, every teacher, and some prank they had done (or planned on doing) concerning both. Before starting upstairs, they took a quick look at the grounds where Sirius animatedly told the story of Lily summoning the mud to land in Snape's greasy hair. James showed them the Quidditch field (story of the flying boxers included) and Remus explained what the Whomping Willow was and why they couldn't get any nearer than they were to it.

Peter told them all about Herbology class and Hagrid came over to say hello before they went back in. (Lily thought her Dad looked exceptionally nervous next to a man who towered even him.) By the time they had reached Gryffindor Tower Lily's feet were killing her, and Kassie looked like she longed to shove her wand down Sirius' throat to shut him up. They rounded the last corner before the portrait of the Fat Lady and found themselves blocked by none other than Peeves the Poltergeist.

Even the Marauders groaned this time.

"Whasie you doing?" Peeves said in a syrupy voice lined with sarcasm.

"Showing Lily's parents around, now buzz off," Sirius said, waving his hand.

Christine moved closer to her husband as Peeves turned his attention to them. "Oh! Muggles! What fun!" he cackled, turning upside down in air and laughing more when Christine gasped.

He suddenly disappeared, only to reappear a moment later on Christine's head. She screamed, trying to duck behind Daniel, who looked bewildered and obviously had no clue how to stop a Poltergeist from attacking his wife.

"Get away from my Mum!" Lily shouted, pulling her wand out. James, Remus, Sirius, Peter and Kassie also pulled theirs out, aiming at Peeves.

"You can't use magic in the corridors, you'll get in trouble," Peeves sang in a high pitched voice, cackling as he pulled on Christine's hair.

"Wanna bet?" Lily said, her eyes narrowed. "Relashio!" she cried and red sparks flew from her wand, hitting Peeves in the chest. He cursed loudly, but zoomed away and down the stairs.

"Mum, are you all right?" Lily asked, putting her wand up.

Christine nodded, still looking shaken, one hand on her chest.

"I was going to stun him," Sirius mumbled, putting his wand away.

Remus and James grinned at Lily. "Good one, Lil. I was thinking of the same thing," James told her.

"Pixie Dust," Peter said to the Fat Lady, who had watched the entire scene with a smile. She hated Peeves like everyone else.

"You may not enter," she said slowly to Peter who looked confused.

"They changed the password, remember?" Remus asked. "Humperlimp," he said and the portrait came open.

"Did that portrait just talk?" Daniel asked as they entered the common room.

"Yes," Lily answered. "All the paintings in Hogwarts move and talk."

Daniel just shook his head in amazement as Christine looked interestedly around the common room. Currently it was rather empty, save for a few first years gathered at a table across the room and two sixth years on the couch. "Do you want to see my dorm?" Lily asked her mother as Daniel was coaxed into playing Remus at Wizard's Chess.

"Do you think it's ok to leave your father here?"

Lily glanced over at the table where Daniel was examining the chess pieces, one of them biting his finger. "Sure he will, Remus is really good at chess, they may be a while."

They climbed the circular staircase to the second year dorms and Lily pushed the door open. "This is my bed," she told her mother, going over and flopping down on her own four-poster. Christine sat beside her, examining a wizard photo Lily had on her bedside table. "That's Alexis, Gabrielle, Kathleen, Madison; they also sleep in here with Kassie and I."

"Why aren't you in the picture?" Christine asked.

"Oh, I am, but I think I may be over to the side. Wait, there I am with Kassie." Lily pointed to the edge where her photo self had just ran into the picture, laughing, Kassie beside her. "This was taken just after the Quidditch game."

Christine put the picture down, looking thoughtfully around the room. "So, you're allowed to do magic here?" Lily nodded. "Can you show me some? That is, if you want to. It's just that... well, I'm so happy for you."

Lily smiled at her mother, wishing she knew what to say. She was happy here, too. Hogwarts was just like a second home to her, where she felt safe, and definitely comfortable. Where the first friends she had ever had in her life was at. But there was a sadness in Christine's eyes that Lily didn't want to see. She knew her mother wished she had been a witch also. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, anything, I suppose," Christine said, looking quite excited.

Lily pulled her wand out, looking around her room thoughtfully. "Accio quill!" she called, pointing her wand at the quill laying inside her book bag. The quill zoomed out and Lily caught it, laying it on the bed between her and her mother. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Christine gasped delightfully as the quill rose in the air between them, supported by magic alone.

Lily twirled her wand tip in a small circle and the quill obediently spun around as well. "Lumos!" she cried and her wand tip lit, casting a semi-sparkling ray on the quill. Even Lily looked surprised, she had thought it would be nice for it to sparkle, but hadn't actually thought it would happen. It was as if her spell was replying to her thoughts as well as her words.

"That's amazing," Christine breathed, her eyes wide with appreciation. "Truly amazing."

Lily blushed, still watching the sparkling quill with a hint of surprise. She dropped her wand and the quill fell back to the bed obediently. Lily stared at it. "Nox," she whispered and her wand light went out.

"That was great, Lily," Kassie whispered from the door. Both mother and daughter wiped their heads around, not realizing she had been watching. "How did you make it sparkle?" she asked, coming further in the door.

"I-I don't know," Lily replied honestly, blinking several times. "I just... wanted it to, and it did."

Kassie said nothing, but Lily felt that later, when her mother was gone, Kassie would bring it up again. "So, Mrs. Evans, what do you think about our humble abode?"

"It's quite interesting, save for flying little men with odd hair styles." Christine shivered despite herself, only hoping she didn't have another run in with Peeves again. She sighed. "Lily, as much as I love seeing Hogwarts and spending some time with you, we have to pick up Petunia soon."

Lily forced herself to feel interested and not display the huge disappointment she felt. "Oh. Where is Petunia?"

A dark shadow crossed Christine's face momentarily, but it was gone so quickly Lily wasn't sure if she had actually seen it, or if it was her imagination. "Over at a friend's house. We had a... bit of a row, you could say. And she left." Christine's eyes darted around the room, landing on Morgana, who had just flew in the open window. "I just don't know what I'm going to do with her, I honestly don't."

Lily said nothing. Not sure what to say, to be truthful. Petunia had always been funny turned since she was old enough to back talk. And no matter what it was over, Lily could always relate just about every memory in her life to Petunia having a sour attitude. "She'll grow out of it, Mum," Lily finally muttered.

Christine wrapped an arm around Lily, smiling. "I'm so glad you aren't like her. God forbid we had two Petunias running around, I'd go mad."

Lily didn't say so, but she was quite happy she wasn't like Petunia, either.

* *

Lily had planned on going home for Christmas, but after hearing about Petunia's growing sour attitude, decided against it. She was invited to go to James' for the holidays, to Kassie's, and even Gabrielle and Kathleen asked if she wanted to come stay at their house. But Lily couldn't find it in herself to impose on anyone else at the holidays, so she stayed behind at Hogwarts the day that most of the school boarded the school train to go home.

For the rest of the day Lily stayed in her dorm and read a book she had borrowed from the library that seemed quite interesting. But near the end of the day, she began getting restless. Washing up a bit, she decided to go visit Hagrid before dinner.

It wasn't until she reached the common room that she noticed she wasn't the only Gryffindor to stay over for the holidays. There was one other sitting at a table near the fire, scribbling on an old piece of parchment, consulting a book, and then writing something else.

"I didn't expect to see you still here," Lily remarked as she came down the last step.

Remus snapped his head up, obviously he hadn't heard her coming down the stairs. He shut the book he had open and slipped it into his bag. "I didn't know you were here, either."

Lily noted he looked very tired, and dark circles were appearing under his eyes again. Trying not to stare, Lily shrugged lightly. "I didn't feel like putting up with my sister. She has a way of ruining even the best of holidays."

"That's a shame," Remus replied, folding his parchment and placing it inside his bag as well. "I can't say I sympathize with you, though. I'm an only child and have no idea what it's like to fight with siblings."

"Consider yourself lucky," Lily said, shaking her head. "Actually, I was just thinking of going to visit Hagrid, would you like to come with me?"

"Sure, just let me grab my cloak," Remus said, dashing up the stairs. He was back in less than a minute and the two left the common room.

The castle was an extremely silent contrast to the mornings hustle and bustle of students ready to leave for the holidays. Their footsteps echoed through out the halls as they reached a side door and pushed it open.

Lily bundled her cloak around her tighter against the harsh wind. The clouds were thick and hanging low and the wind was bitter as it wiped through the trees of the Dark Forest and circled them. "It'll snow before morning," Remus said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"How'd you know?" Lily asked.

Remus pointed towards the forest and then glanced up at the sky. "The wind is coming from the north, and the clouds are hanging low enough that you could touch them on a broom stick. But besides that, you can smell it."

Lily sniffed, but was only rewarded with a stinging pain as the cold air filled her lungs. She started to say that he probably had better smelling than her, since he was a werewolf, but then remembered that he didn't know she knew. It showed how little she knew.

"Well, animals can tell these things better, I suppose," he remarked suddenly and Lily stopped dead in her tracks. Remus chuckled lightly, stopping to look back at her.

"You-you know I know?" she mumbled. Not once did it occur to her until after the words left her mouth to deny it. She bit her bottom lip.

Remus shrugged, the wind wiping around his sandy brown hair and causing the strands to slap his forehead. Lily felt rooted to the spot as his brown eyes searched her face. Whatever he seen there made him smile. "Yes, I know that you know. James told me. But Lily," he said, coming closer to her. "It don't bother you, I can see it in your eyes. So don't worry about it. It's just something else you know about me."

Lily's mouth formed into a small 'o' -- but still she said nothing. Remus gave her a little push, making her walk forward again. They walked in silence until Lily finally found her voice. "Remus, I-I'm sorry--"

"Don't be sorry," he said quickly, glancing over to her. "It's my own fault, and it's my burden. I wish you didn't know, but nothing short of a memory charm will make you forget, and I'm not very good in charms class."

Lily nodded, glad for that. She didn't feel like loosing her memory today. They arrived shortly after at Hagrid's cabin and knocked on the door. For several minutes Lily waited, but no sound came from within the cabin. She gave a puzzled look.

"I think Hagrid is out, and took Curly with him," Remus said.

Lily, looking perplexed, glanced at Remus. "How'd you know? Could you.. um... smell them?" she asked awkwardly.

To her surprise, Remus burst out in laughter. "No. Look." He pointed to a set of tracks in the mud by the house that was large enough to only be Hagrid's, beside them was giant paw prints.

Lily blushed scarlet as Remus continued to laugh. He finally calmed down, much to Lily's relief, and pointed to the tracks again. "It looks like they were headed into the Dark Forest"

"Well, I don't fancy heading in there today," Lily said matter of factly, turning on her heel.

"It's not so bad," Remus mumbled. Lily started to ask how he could say that, but decided, upon reflection, she really didn't want to know.

* *

Remus was right, as usual. The next morning Lily awoke to find she couldn't quite see out her window for all the snow covering it. She found herself getting ready to pounce on Kassie's bed, demanding she get up, when she remembered she was quite alone. In fact, so alone that there was only a handful of people left in the entire castle. She pursed her lips, thinking.

See, there was something peculiar about Lily Evans. She was rather straight forward most of the time, done her school work, didn't play around much. And usually nothing could make her abandoned her ways--nothing short of snow, that is.

Even when she was little, if she awoke to snow, an excitement built up in her until she was just bursting to get outside. And even though she was nearly thirteen years old, that feeling hadn't went away yet. So with a bounce in her step, she quickly got out of the bed and got dressed in her warmest clothes. She ran quickly down the stairs, over to the boys dormitories and straight into the second year room.

"Remus! Wake up!" she yelled, pulling her wand out and lighting every torch she seen. "Get up!"

"Whaa...?" a voice from the third bed from the door mumbled. Lily yanked his curtains back, grinning. "Lily?"

"Get up! It snowed!"

"And your point?" the boy asked, burring his face in his over sized pillow.

"The point is, I want you to get up! I want to go play in the snow!"

Remus mumbled, grumbled and yawned several times, but Lily finally forced him out of the bed and to the showers. She waited impatiently in the Common Room for him to come downstairs and was just about willing to bet he had went back to bed when he finally came down, still yawning loudly.

They set off for the Great Hall first. Lily, not being able to stand waiting any longer, grabbed some toast and Remus' hand. "Let's go!"

It appeared they were the first ones out in the newly fallen snow. They had just pushed the doors open and took a step out when a voice shrieked from behind them; "Stop! Evans! Lupin! Just a minute!"

Both of them turned, surprised to see their usually strict Transfiguration teacher rushing towards them, one hand holding her wand and her other keeping her pointed hat from falling off her head. She reached them a moment later and took a deep breath. "My goodness, Evans, you are fast this morning. I've been trying to catch up with you since you left the Great Hall."

"Oh?" Lily muttered, mentally going over everything she had done in the last two days in her head. So far she hadn't remembered anything she could have done to get in trouble, but that didn't mean much. "What for?"

"The Headmaster has asked that if any of the students go out in the snow that they have heating charms on their robes. It's bitterly cold outside, and if you are out longer than a few minutes, I'm sure we'll be treating you in the Hospital Wing."

"Actually, Professor, I've already charmed my robes and was just about to charm Lily's," Remus said quietly, looking as if he wasn't sure he should have done so.

McGonagall looked quite shocked. "You--I mean to say, you know how to do heating charms?" she asked, skeptical.

"Yes Professor," Remus replied. "We -- James, Sirius, Peter and I -- read up on them last winter and learned them to keep warm."

"Oh." Lily was quite sure she had never seen their Head of House speechless before. It was a sight indeed. She finally opened her mouth. "Lupin, I have seen many talented wizards in my age, but -- well, you and your friends are among the most talented, I must say." Both Remus and Lily just stared at her a moment, surprised.

Remus shifted his feet awkwardly. "Thank you, Professor."

McGonagall nodded, turned on her heel and walked away much more dignified than she arrived. Remus and Lily looked at each other for a moment, shrugged and then pushed the door the rest of the way open and went out into the cold snow.

"That was without a doubt the strangest thing I've ever encounter at Hogwarts, and I thought the house elves would stay at the top of that list for a long time," Lily remarked as Remus cast a warming charm on her robes.

"You mean seeing Terrance Higgs' boxers flying around the Quidditch pitch didn't give you warm, fuzzy feelings for weeks?" Remus asked, blasting a bit of snow to the side so they could walk.

"Was that really his boxers or just a duplicate pair?"

"It was his boxers. If you send Sirius into the Slytherin common room to do a job, he does it." Remus chuckled to himself at the memory. "Poor Peter went with him, nearly scared him to death when they almost got caught."

Lily walked along a bit in silence while Remus used his wand to move the snow so they could walk without problems. "Not to be mean, or anything, but Peter doesn't... well, it's hard to see how he gets on with you and Sirius and James," Lily blurted. She had often wondered how Peter fit in with the three other boys, but was surprised when an emotion she couldn't identify flitted across Remus' face.

"We just do," he said, stopping in mid-stride.

His voice wasn't hard, but there was definitely a warning in it. Lily swallowed, trying not to look as intimidated as she felt. "I guess that's all that matters," she replied, bending down to pick up a bit of snow. She suddenly wished she had just kept her mouth shut.

Remus didn't reply and Lily, in an effort to lighten things up again, threw the snow ball she held playfully at Remus. It hit him square in the chest and Lily couldn't help but giggle. "I'm sorry Remus," she managed, swiping the clumps of snow off him.

He didn't move, nor change expression. Lily's heart raced painfully in her chest. Was he mad at her because of what she said about Peter? Or throwing the snow at him? "Remus?" she whispered, staring in his face.

Suddenly his eyes moved to meet hers. "This.. means war," he whispered. And without warning a snow ball hit Lily in the back.

"What?!" she squealed, turning around to another snow ball, lifted in mid air, came pelting towards her.

She ran, but still the snowballs came at her. "REMUS LUPIN!"

For at that exact second, Remus was bent over he was laughing so hard his face was blood red and he was gasping for air. And that's when she noticed the wand he held in his hand.

"YOU CHARMED THE SNOWBALLS?" she screamed incredibly, running through the knee deep snow, and failing miserably to get away from the snow balls that kept hitting her repeatedly. "How do I stop them?"

"You don't!" Remus laughed as she ran by him, one of the snow balls narrowly missing his head. And that gave Lily a grand idea.

She came running back towards Remus, who seemed to have read her mind and took off running for the castle. The two kicked up snow, fell quite a few times, but still managed to make it to the oak front doors at the same time.

"Lily!" Remus screamed as she caught up to him now that they were out of the snow and one of the snow balls hit the back of his head.

"Don't - *pant* Lily me!" she gasped, a stitch in her side as she continued to run. Remus was rather skinny and had a lanky frame, but he could run, Lily found out. And rather fast, at that. "You started this! Make it - OUCH! - stop!"

"I can't make it stop hitting me long enough," Remus panted back, still running while massaging the back of his neck. "Bloody hell, they sting!"

"You're kidding?" Lily remarked sarcastically. "Oh no!"

*Crash!*

There was a screech like that of a owl, a yell as Remus tumbled and hit the ground, and another scream as Lily plummeted over him and landed on her face. The snow balls were still coming in from the door they left open and still hitting now all three people mercilessly.

Lily moaned, her arms slinging around in an effort to stop the snowballs from hitting her. She fumbled for her wand, raised it up, but not before another voice called; "Finite Incantatum!"

"Thank Merlin," Remus grumbled, pushing his sopping wet hair out of his face.

"No," Lily muttered, her green eyes huge and rather scared as she seen Professor Walsh laying on her backside beside them, looking much like an enraged Hippogriff. Lily and Remus then both looked up at who had stopped their attacking snowballs. "You should thank Professor Dumbledore."