Lily Evans: A History

Lily Evans, A History
Chapter 26 - Halos and Horns
By: Bethany
Rated: PG
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Potter Manor had been named by James' great-great grandfather for whom he had also been named. The large Manor sat just on the outskirts of Greater London, close to the city, but not so much that anyone ever bothered them. Not that they could, at any rate. The ancient home of the Potters had been reinforced with so many magical wards that James wasn't even sure his parents knew what they all were. At any rate, only a select few were allowed to the home, which is the way the Potters had liked it for years. And so it happened that one James Potter, while knowing of these wards and charms set in place, paid them little mind. That was to say, until one was activated early the morning of First of September.

First of September was never a calm day in the house that claimed two teenage boys, three house elves, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Potter and any number of magical plants as its inhabitants. The first day to Hogwarts to start another year seemed to always start with mayhem, continue with mayhem and end with a disaster, be it small or large. The house elves actually prepared for this day a week before it came, the adults found themselves going to bed earlier the night before and the two teenage boys didn't find themselves going to bed at all. Which would most likely explain the shout of "BLOODY HELL!" that rang across the once silent grounds as the ward on the outer most barrier around Potter Manor was activated.

"Cripes," the youngest James Potter in a long line of sons named after their great-great grandfathers swore as he leap back from a doorway on the outer most part of the east garden's grounds. It had been bothering him since he was a small child, what was behind that door. And at five a.m. with nothing to do, and not a thought to sleep, James and his best friend Sirius Black had been discussing this door when the latter decided they should try to get through it. James now glared at Sirius as he racked his brain for any way to deactivate the alarm that now sounded across the grounds, and surely in the main house.

"Not one of my most brilliant plans," Sirius muttered, though James considered it possibly the biggest understatement of the year. He opened his mouth to say as much when Sirius rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok, one of my most horrible plans to date, which probably exceeds the time we tried to curse Peter's acne off. And that wasn't my fault, by the way," he added thoughtfully, completely ignoring the fact that the alarms were still going off. "Peter was the one dense enough to let us do it."

James cracked a smile, despite himself. "Letting two underage, never-used-a-spell-that-worked-yet wizards try to curse his acne off." James shook his head. "How did we ever get him to do that?"

He didn't receive an answer. At that moment both Mr. and Mrs. Potter came running across the grounds, wands drawn and eyes wide. When they arrived on the scene (that James and Sirius had already decided they had better just stay put at) Olivia was the first to realize what had happened and drop her wand arm. Harold, catching on, shook his head and gave both his son and Sirius a patented "You're going to be grounded after your mother and I lecture you to death" look. "Dare I ask?" Olivia began, hands on her hips.

"If you want," James replied. "But you may not like the answer."

"Do I ever?" Olivia muttered under her breath. She raised her wand and pointed it over the boys head. A silver light shot out of the end of it, dissolving into what looked like an invisible wall. Almost at once the alarm stopped. James and Sirius both let out a breath of relief, but all too soon their relief was gone. Olivia grabbed both boys by the ears and started dragging them back towards the main house. "What were you thinking? Why are you up? Have you been to bed? Do you know what could have happened if that ward hadn't recognized you as our son?!"

Sirius glanced at James, letting him know that since he was the only blood relative she was speaking to, it was up to him to answer. James considered this a moment. "Nothing, because, no, not really." He grinned. "That cover it all?"

"James Potter, Sirius Black -- you're both grounded!"

"Mum, we go back to school today..." James pointed out.

"Then, then," Olivia sputtered, at a loss for words. She let go of their ears, and both her son and his best friend began rubbing them gingerly. "Then you're grounded when you get back from school!" Olivia proclaimed and stalked out of the room in a huff. The teenagers looked to Harold Potter for help, but he raised his hands and shook his head before following his wife.

"Ah, she'll forget it by next summer," James proclaimed and started up the stairs to his room to try to catch a few hours sleep before leaving for King's Cross Station.

*******

Not too much later that morning, another bought of chaos was ensuing. This one at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Evans, of Little Whinging, Surrey. Mr. Evans would be first to say that he should have expected something along these to happen. The last forty-eight hours had been quiet, much too quiet. And from years of living with his two daughters, it was common practice to assume something was up when it was quiet.

Never more in his life had he wanted to be wrong.

"I'm going to miss the train!" Lily Evans, recently turned fourteen and youngest daughter in the Evans home announced as she descended the stairs at break-neck speed and dashed into the kitchen. "Mum! I know it's in Petunia's room, it has to be!"

"I've already told you, freak, I wouldn't touch your devil-worshiping books for anything in this world!" Petunia Evans, seventeen and eldest daughter, shrieked as she came stomping down the stairs after her younger sister. "Maybe it vanished!"

Lily looked ready to explode. Her face was turning as red as the hair on her head and had it been any colder in the room, there very well may have been steam coming out her ears. "Do. Not. Call. Me. A. Freak," she spat back, raising her chin so that her emerald green eyes bore into her sisters.

There was a time, not so long ago, that Lily might have not faced Petunia. A time when a vain hope laid in her heart that maybe, one day, she could make her sister understand about her life and they could be close. That time had come and gone, and now Lily had one motto where her older sister was concerned: Destroy, or be destroyed. She preferred the former option, thank you very much.

"Why can't you just be normal?" Petunia hissed back.

"Girls..." Christine said, placing her dishrag down and turning.

"Who said I wasn't? What if you are the freak, Petunia? Did you know, at my school, you would be the outsider?"

Petunia huffed in a way that clearly said she had no reply to such a statement. Turning on her heel so fast that she nearly lost her balance, the tall blonde marched back up the stairs to her room and slammed the door so hard that the chandelier above their heads shuddered in response. Lily turned, her arms crossed over her chest. "Mum, she has my book."

"Lily, I know your sister can be, well, a bit... But you have no proof."

"I don't need any," Lily retorted. "I'm half tempted to do a summoning charm, I bet my book would come flying out of her room!" And with those departing words, Lily marched back up stairs to her room. She, too, shut her door a little harder than was necessary and turned around. She supposed she would have to use Kassie's Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 until she could get to Hogsmeade to buy another. Sighing angrily, Lily crossed the room and went to shut her school trunk closed when she noticed something that wasn't there twenty minutes before, when she had begun her mad search of the house. Her book. It was laying sideways atop her robes, thrown in such a way that Lily knew without a shadow of a doubt that Petunia had had it. She growled deep in her throat, slammed her trunk shut and listed with a satisfied grin as the hexes fixed into place. Let Petunia try to get her stuff now.

********

Without a doubt it was First of September. There was something about this day that brought out the weirdoes and their offspring. Stanley Rogers, a Muggle station attendant, had worked at King's Cross Station in London for fourteen years. And every year on First of September there was an unnatural amount of strange people that came to the train station. And then, at the end of spring, they all seemed to return. Yes, it was odd. But any time he had mentioned it to his superiors, they all informed him that strange people came and went everyday, and this was nothing to be alarmed about. But he couldn't help but disagree as he watched two black haired children hurrying into the station, one with an owl in a cage perched on his trolley.

The boy opposite the owl-carrying child was chewing what appeared to be bubble gum, but when he blew bubbles, instead of popping, they lifted up in the air and floated away. A woman standing behind the boys, presumably their mother, smacked the boy in the back of the head and hissed just loud enough that he could hear: "Sirius, the Muggles will see!"

"Sorry," Sirius muttered, ducking his head and hurrying up to get beside boy ahead of him. The two grinned at one another as they approached the wall between platforms nine and ten.

The mother took a quick, presumably nonchalant glance around and nodded to the boys. They both took off a top speed towards the brick wall and Stanley watched, horrified, waiting for them to slam straight into it. He glimpsed, bracing himself for the sound.

But when he opened his eyes again they were gone. He blinked several times, moving closer. But still there was no one there. A man walked by at that moment, staring at him strangely. He blinked, looked at the wall, and then at the man who now walked towards him. "Sir, are you all right?"

"Blimey," Stanley muttered, rubbing his hand over his face. "I-well, there's no way--"

The man approached him and glanced down at his name tag before speaking again. "Stanley, is it? Did you just see a woman and two children disappear into that wall?"

"Bloody hell! You seen it to, did ya?" Stanley blurted, eyes wide.

"Aye, I did, indeed. It's all right, mate, they were wizards. Their Mum, a witch." Stanley blinked, now looking at the man as if he might be crazy, as well. But before he had a chance to voice that opinion, the man raised a wooden stick and smiled at him in a way that made him think he was being pitied. "Obliviate!"

Stanley Rogers looked around at the train station he had worked at for fourteen years. Judging by the man that was walking away from him, wearing what looked like some sort of cloak, he knew it was First of September. That was always when the weirdoes came out.

Harold Potter, said man in the cloak, walked briskly towards the wall between platforms nine and ten, made sure that this time Stanley Rogers wasn't looking and passed through it. Darting through trolleys filled with owls, cats, toads and other animals, children darting here and there to say goodbye to their families, and witches and wizards running around making sure their children had all of their belongings, he came to a stop next to his wife. "Oh, there you are, dear," Olivia Potter said, smiling quickly to her husband as she passed James his owl's cage. "Where did you get to?"

"A Muggle, probably attracted by the no doubt interesting bubbles floating in the air," Harold said, throwing a stern look to Sirius, who was grinning madly. "Watched you three disappear through the platform. I had to stop and help him forget what he seen." Olivia rolled her eyes, as if to speak her mind would be prudent and un-useful. Harold sighed as James and Sirius returned from stowing their trunks, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin in tow. "I'll have to get to work early, to report the Memory charm I used."

Olivia nodded once and returned her attention to the four boys standing in front of her now. She heaved a great sigh that clearly said she was about to waste perfectly good breath. "Do try to behave?"

"Mum, how can you accuse us of anything other than being on our best behavior?" James said, giving his best puppy eyed look.

"Woman, you act like we stay in trouble," Sirius teased, trying to look indignant and failing miserably.

Olivia opened her mouth, shook her head and closed it again. "Have a good term, boys," she finished, hugging them all in turn and shooing them onto the train as the whistle blew. "Write to me sometime for something other than for money, ok?"

James, Sirius, Peter and Remus climbed onto the train and barely made it into their compartment when the last whistle sounded and the train began moving forward. "This is what it's all about, gentlemen," Sirius announced, pulling his wand. "We only go through our fourth year once, perhaps twice, we might as well make it count. Who should be our first victim?"

"Snape?" Peter suggested.

"Good choice, my friend, good choice," James commended, bowing slightly. Peter pulled his own wand. "Any ideas for pranks that work, Moony?"

"I have an idea," a voice behind them said as the compartment door slid open. Standing in the doorway was a rather tall, skinny girl with near waist length black hair and flashing violet eyes. "How about waiting until we are out of London before playing any pranks?"

"Ah, Kassie, you are no fun," Sirius whined, trying to look pitifully at her. "We haven't used magic all summer. We have to brush up before we get to school."

"I assure you, magic isn't something you forget."

"Marry me?" Sirius suddenly asked, grinning roguishly at her.

"Keep dreaming," Kassie replied instantly, causing Sirius' three friends to snigger.

"Sirius, you might as well give it up," James told him, making a valiant effort to push past Kassie and get to the hall. Instead he found Lily standing just behind her.

"I was hoping in the effort to not forget her magic, she had forgotten that she swore to never get near, date, or marry me," Sirius shrugged. "It's ok, I like a challenge," he added, raising his eyebrows at Kassie suggestively.

"Can we help you ladies with something?" James interrupted before Kassie gave in to the look of murder she had in her violet eyes.

"As a matter of fact, you can," Lily replied, heaving her trunk before her. "Can we use your compartment since you aren't going to be needing it for a while? We don't fancy sitting with Slytherins, and that's about all that's left."

"What about the rest of our year?" Remus asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Absolutely every one of them are sitting together, and there's no room for us," Kassie explained, levitating her own trunk into the compartment. "So run along, so we can sit and chat."

"Pushy, pushy," Sirius muttered, following James out the door. He glanced back at Kassie and wiggled his eyebrows. "You will give in."

"When pigs fly," Kassie retorted.

"That can be arranged," Sirius replied, pointing his wand at her. "We'll be picking out napkin patterns before long."

Before Kassie could reply, Sirius slid the compartment door shut behind him and they could barely hear him and the other three laughing. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "What is it with him? Are there not small children and insects for him to horrify somewhere?"

"Maybe he really fancies you," Lily suggested, pulling out a gray kitten with white feet from a basket at her feet and placing her in her on the seat next to her. The kitten stretched out before lying down and contenting itself with watching Morgana interestedly.

Kassie snorted. "Sirius will drive a very lucky witch to insanity one day."

Lily laughed and sat back in her seat, pulling her new books out. She hadn't had much of a chance to look them over since she had kept them in her trunk to avoid being stolen by her sister and burned for sacrifice. The first book she come to was Unfogging the Future a textbook that had been on her list this year for Divination. Last year they hadn't really used books, this year, for whatever reason, they had. She flipped through it randomly, picking out a likely looking chapter. "The Seer's gene, how to know if you are the real thing," she read, throwing a quizzical look towards her best friend. "Does that mean that fortune telling is passed down in family, like hereditary?"

"Usually," Kassie replied, flipping through the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 and looking very disinterested in whatever spell she was reading about. "It did mine."

"It did?" Lily asked, glancing up from her book. "I didn't know that."

Kassie chuckled, though she didn't sound as if whatever she was thinking was all that funny. It was dry and hollow and Lily was forcibly reminded that Kassie wasn't too happy to have her "gift" and would like to not have it at all. Lily didn't blame her, but she was still interested in what Kassie meant. She waited a moment, and sensing that Lily wanted an explanation, Kassie shut her book and put it aside. "Have you ever heard of the world famous Seer, Cassandra Trelawney?"

"Yes," Lily replied, not making any connections. "Isn't she Professor Trelawney's great-great-grandmother? I've heard her speak of her before, and I think we read something..."

"Indeed," Kassie said offhandedly, looking sour. She folded her legs under her and once more picked up the book she had earlier, though she didn't open it. "Did you know that I was named after my great-great-auntie Cassandra?"

Lily, who hadn't been expecting that bit of information at all, blinked and stared at Kassie as if she were mad. And then, it clicked. Several times Lily had the feeling that Kassie and Professor Trelawney knew each other, but never had she had proof and therefore hadn't brought it up to Kassie. Lily chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to access this information. "So, you are--"

"Very distantly related to Trelawney, yes," Kassie confirmed, looking very put out by this information, and also a bit resigned. "Her great-great-grandmother was my great-great-grandfather's sister. The gene seemed dormant in my family line, especially when my mother married a Muggle. But, well..." she gestured to herself grandly. "I came along, and low and behold... But I'm nothing like Auntie Cassandra. She could tell everything, for anyone. I only get rare visions of odd stuff."

"How come you spell your name differently?" Lily asked. It was a moot point, but it was all she could think of in response to Kassie's sour attitude.

"My mother thought, in case I somehow became a Seer, that I shouldn't be exactly like my Auntie. So she changed the first letter. Doesn't make a big difference, though, my father started calling me Kassie when I was about two and it stuck."

There was a few tense silent moments in which Kassie bruised herself with looking up a spell in the Standard Book of Spells and then she finally seem to feel the moment had passed. "So, who were you named after?"

Lily rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. "My Mum's favorite flower." She reached out a hand and rubbed the kittens head, listening to it purr.

"Speaking of names, did you ever name that poor animal?" Kassie asked, forgoing her book and reaching over to pick up the kitten.

"You're funny," Lily replied dryly. "I had Morgana for nearly a month before naming her."

"Hmm, how about Bast?" Kassie suggested, pulling her finger out of the unnamed kitten's mouth and shaking it. "That hurt, you bloody creature."

Lily giggled to herself. "Hmm.... she seems to like it."

**********

By evening the commotion on the train had mostly died down. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had retired back to their compartment to find Lily and Kassie both asleep. Morgana was asleep in her cage by the window, and in a basket on the floor between the girls, a small gray kitten was also sleeping. Sirius was the first to enter, and upon realizing that the witches were both asleep, stopped dead, causing Peter to run straight into him. "Watch where you're--"

"Shhh!" Sirius hissed, a finger over his mouth. He moved to the side and allowed the tree boys behind him a better look. "Look what we have here. Sleeping witches. Whatever shall we do to them?"

"My guess would be to let them alone, lest we find ourselves sleeping on nails tonight," Remus replied. He didn't like the sound in Sirius' voice at all. It sounded too much like the time they charmed a few Slytherin girls bags shut, to keep them from having their belongings stolen. Or so Sirius had said. Payback had been hell, especially when they were later to find out that one of those Slytherins had been Sirius' none-too-liked cousin, Bellatrix Black. Who was a few ingredients short of a potion to begin with. Remus still looked before he sat down anywhere outside of Gryffindor Tower to be sure he wasn't being jinxed.

"But they look like angels," Sirius whispered, shooting James a look that the addressed seem to understand perfectly. "Don't they, James?"

"They do, don't you agree Peter?"

"Absolutely," Peter grinned. All three of them turned to Remus. "Angels, Moony, they'll be flattered."

"And we'll never live to take O.W.L.S.," Remus muttered, while pulling his wand. "How do I get talked into these things?"

No one answered him, because at that moment Sirius had started waving his wand towards Kassie. James had also started muttering spells, and Remus, without anything else do to, decided to charm the kitten.

********

"Please leave all belongings on the train, they will be brought to the castle for you."

Kassie groaned, turning her head slightly and squinting at the window. She was nearly sure she had heard a voice saying to leave their belongings on the train, but she wasn't sure if she had dreamt it or not. She was almost just as sure that they couldn't possibly be there yet; she hadn't been asleep that long. Either way, through the gaze of sleepiness that fogged her brain, she finally noted that they were not moving. Which could only mean one thing. "Lily! Wake up! We haven't changed into our robes yet!"

"I don't have to get up early this morning, Mum," Lily grumbled, throwing her arm over her face and groping for presumably blankets. "Make Petunia do it."

"Get UP!" Kassie repeated, shaking Lily roughly. The red head groaned again, glaring at Kassie for her effort from behind her arm. Ignoring her, Kassie began digging into her trunk for her robes and then Lily's. "Here, put these on. Arg, why didn't those stupid boys wake us?"

Lily slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around sleepily. She wasn't one to quickly wake up, unless she woke up on her own. And so at first she wasn't exactly sure if what she was seeing was sleep induced or not. She hadn't been having a dream about Kassie being an angel, but one could never really tell. So she stared at the black haired girl with a half bewildered expression, wondering if she should laugh out loud or not. Deciding it was better not to include Kassie in on whatever trick her mind was playing, Lily removed her eyes from Kassie and happened to glance down at Bast. Then she blinked, rubbed her eyes, and looked back up at Kassie. "Err--"

Kassie pulled her head through her robes, yanked Lily's up and threw them at her. "Lily, you need t---Merlin's Beard, what happened to you?!"

"Me?" Lily screeched, pointing to Kassie. "It's you that has a... a--"

"Halo?" Kassie asked, reaching both hands up and feeling around in the air above her head. "So do you!"

Lily didn't even reach for her own, instead she opened her mouth and said, in a horrified voice: "Bast has one, too!"

"SIRIUS BLACK!" Kassie screamed, tearing the door open and running into the hall. Lily hastily pulled her robes on, stuck the lid on the basket that Bast was still sitting in and ran into the hall after her best friend, screaming, "James Potter, you better undo this this instant!"

Unfortunately, by the time they made it outside, all of the first years were already gone on the boats, and most of the carriages were full. And nowhere was the Marauders to be found. Kassie and Lily, both steaming, climbed into the first carriage they came to that wasn't already crammed full and got in. "Is it ok for us to sit here?" Lily asked, not honestly caring if the girl in the carriage cared or not. Her friend gave a startled gasp and Kassie muttered something dark under her breath.

"Err--" a pretty dark brown haired girl with a heart shaped face began, looking uneasy. Lily and Kassie had both seen her around, but couldn't honestly say they knew who she was. "My name is Alice Rhea. And this is my friend, Marlene McKinnon."

Lily wasn't in the mood for introductions as much as she was in the mood to hex the Marauders. Attempting to be polite, she smiled slightly. "Lily Evans." She pointed to Kassie. "Kassie Phillips, nice to meet you."

There was a moment's silence as the carriages jolted and began moving forward. Lily and Kassie looked at each other, noted each other's continuing halo issues and snorted to themselves. Alice leaned forward. "I-well, can I ask what happened?" she asked, gesturing to Kassie and Lily's bright golden halos.

Lily wanted to disappear. Kassie cleared her throat in a way that sounded suspiciously like "Going to curse them every day for a year," but Lily couldn't be sure. Instead she tried to laugh at their predicament, but failed miserably. "We, eh, seem to have fallen victim to a prank."

"James Potter and Sirius Black, I presume?" Alice asked. Both Kassie and Lily nodded, both looking a bit surprised.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Don't look so surprised, they don't keep pranks to their own year and below. They've got a few of us, as well."

"We're in seventh year," Alice picked up, shaking her head. She pulled her wand. "Do you want me to try to get them off for you?"

"Please," Kassie and Lily replied together, looking hopeful.

They weren't looking so hopeful by the time the carriage stopped at the school. Both of their heads was still adorned by bright halos, and Kassie swore Lily's had only gotten brighter with each counter spell. Reluctantly the two fourth years stepped out of the carriage behind Alice and Marlene, trying to disappear into the crowd. It wasn't working by the points and sniggers that followed them up the stone steps and into the hallway of Hogwarts castle. And still the Marauders seemed to have effectively disappeared.

It took a few minutes, but the throng of hungry students finally managed to get into the Great Hall and find seats at one of the four House tables. As it had been for centuries past, candles floated lazily above their heads, and above it the night sky, lit up occasionally by a flash of lightening. Lily and Kassie, ignoring all of the whispers, worked their way to the Gryffindor table and looked for four certain boys. "Lily! Kassie! Over here!"

Lily and Kassie turned just in time to be victim of a bright white light. Lily blinked, groping for her wand. "I'm sorry!" a voice giggled, coming towards them. Lily, while she could tell who was coming at her, still saw flashing white lights when she closed her eyes. "I knew you'd never let me take a picture if I asked."

"Allana, do you see this halo?" Lily asked through gritted teeth. Kassie sniggered beside her, obviously having found something funny that she wasn't sharing. "If I--" Suddenly, Lily stopped talking, her face lighting up with an idea. The Hufflepuff in front of her blinked curiously while her friend tugged on her arm. While Lily wasn't paying attention, the two girls slipped away to their tables.

"Come on Lil," Kassie said, tugging on Lily's robes. They were two of a very few that were still standing. Without any more prompting, Lily followed Kassie back to their table and sat across from Alexis and Madison, who were caught in a bout of silent giggles. Once they were seated, Kassie leaned towards Lily. "What's your idea?"

Lily scanned the students around them to be sure there were no Marauders present within ear shot. They still seemed to have not shown up yet. Just to be sure, she whispered in Kassie's ear her idea, leaving Madison and Alexis in the dark. When Lily finished, Kassie looked immensely pleased and sat back, grinning. The blonde across the table finally let out a giggle. "This means war," she told Alexis, who nodded in reply.

"If I could have your attention, please!" Professor McGonagall called. "The first years are about to be brought in, everyone needs to please have a seat!"

Suddenly Lily and Kassie found themselves surrounded by Marauders on either side. James and Peter took places to Lily's right and Sirius and Remus on Kassie's left. All four boys were grinning madly. Professor McGonagall walked out of a side door off the Great Hall and the noise level rose a bit. "Take these off us," Kassie hissed at Sirius, glaring.

"Go out with me?" Sirius asked in response.

"No," Kassie replied.

"I'm sorry, then," Sirius said, undaunted. "I have no incentive."

"I'll give you incentive," Kassie raged, turning in her seat. Sirius blinked, surprised, but only for a moment before declaring; "You're beautiful when your angry."

Kassie opened her mouth and everyone in ear shot winced, preparing for the string of curses that would most likely be hitting Sirius Black any moment. But instead the double doors to the Great Hall opened, bringing in a line of first years, and thus adding at least an hour to Sirius' life. He sighed in relief before flashing one of his most charming smiles to a still haloed Kassie, who scowled in return.

If the number of first years had diminished last year, it was nothing compared to this year. It seemed like perhaps this was a joke, and the rest of the students were outside. But after a moment the caretaker, Mr. Filch, closed the double doors and Lily blinked in surprised, once again looking at the front of the room where little more than twenty five students stood. She remembered her own sorting, when there had been easily double the number of first years. It was just a small sign of how much terror Voldemort was raging on the wizarding world outside the school halls.

The hat broke into yet another song, this different than the previous three years Lily had heard it. When it had finished, and the applause died down, Professor McGonagall moved towards the first years with a role of parchment held before her. "When I call your name, come forward and put the hat on your head. After your house is selected, please join that table." Looking down the bridge of her nose, through her square shaped spectacles, she called: "Acton, Broderick!"

A rather tall, skinny boy with reddish brown hair came forward and silently sat on the stool and placed the hat on his head. A few moments passed and then: "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily applauded with the rest of her house as Broderick Acton came over and joined the table, looking immensely pleased with where he had been placed. Lily remembered well how excited she had been in her first year to be in the same house with Sirius, whom she had already met. Her worse fear was that she would end up in a house with no one she knew, and have no friends. But just the opposite had happened. "James," Lily said sweetly as "Crouch Jr., Bartemius" was sorted into Slytherin. "Please take this halo off me, now. The novelty has worn off, I believe."

"Hmmm," James appeared to be in deep thought, and to Kassie's left, Sirius tore his attention away from the sorting and threw a grin Lily's way. While he was deciding on his reply, "Edmund, Hazel" was sorted into Hufflepuff. "I don't know, Lily. What do I get?"

"Jinxed every day for a month if you don't," Lily replied, giving a second look at the sorting. A dark haired girl who looked identical to Hazel Edmund, who had just been sorted, was now sitting on the chair. Lily looked to the Ravenclaw table and back to the sorting hat.

Next to Madison, Gabrielle seemed to notice Lily's confusion. "Looks like her twin," she said excitedly. Next to her, Kathleen nodded. "Another set of identical twins! How exciting!"

As "Edmund, Ansel" was sorted into Ravenclaw, Lily wondered exactly was so exciting about having two more witches who looked so much alike it would be hard to figure out who was who. After four years of sharing a room and classes with Kathleen and Gabrielle, it was sometimes still hard to tell them apart. Beside Lily, James was trying to change the subject. "Did you know that the last kid sorted into Slytherin is the son of one of the blokes my Dad works with--"

"James," Lily warned, her voice no longer sweet. "Get these off us."

"Lily, you should be flattered that we think so highly of you!" James insisted. Sirius nodded, trying to keep a straight face and not really doing so. "We could have given you horns and a tail!"

Beside Lily, Kassie nearly choked. Sirius patted her on the back, looking rather confused. Lily decided to change her approach. "Remus," she said, leaning forward to see past James, who also leaned forward. "I know you can get these off. Be a good friend and get rid of them?" Lily didn't want to appear to be begging, but she had a feeling that was what was happening. All around students from other houses were pointing and laughing at her and Kassie, who were both doing their best to appear as if nothing were amiss. Lily was also quite sure that even the Headmaster had given the pair of them a few knowing glances.

"I'm sorry Lily, I don't know how," Remus said, obviously lying and not making much of an effort to not appear so. Lily blew out a frustrated breath and turned in her seat, determined to ignore all of the Marauders for the rest of her life.

When she looked towards Kassie, she only found Sirius grinning at her, though. So instead she focused on the sorting, that was nearly over by the looks of it. "Reese, Devon!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Roderick, Carline!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Finally the last student ("Weller, Ebony!") came forward, placed the hat on her head and waited. It seemed to take forever, and Lily was acutely aware of the fact that her stomach was growling loud enough that she feared everyone at the table could hear it. Finally the hat announced; "SLYTHERIN!" and the sorting was over. Professor McGonagall took the hat and stool away and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet.

"I have several start of term announcementsthat can wait. So tuck in," he said, smiling at them all. All four house tables at once filled with every food imaginable and everyone began to happily eat.

Dinner was a rather quiet affair, since Lily had vowed not to speak to any of the Marauders again, which was especially hard since two was sitting to her right and two to Kassie's left and they kept talking over the girls to each other. Glaring and muttering from Kassie failed to scare the wizards into undoing their prank, so by the end of dinner, the two golden halos were still shining brightly and still attracting attention from everyone in the large room. Some time later the desserts disappeared, leaving the golden plates empty and clean once more, and several hundred happy, well feed students in its wake.

It was then that Professor Dumbledore once more got to his feet before a rather inattentive audience, and began start of term announcements. "First off all, I would like to welcome you back to another year at Hogwarts. I am quite happy to say that all of our teachers from last year have returned, and there are no new staff appointments.

"Quidditch trials for house teams will be held on the Quidditch pitch next Saturday, I ask all returning team members to be present, especially captains." Professor Dumbledore consulted a piece of parchment laid before him by Professor McGonagall, scanned it quickly and nodded once.

"I would like to advise all new students that the Dark Forrest at the edge of our property is forbidden, as well as the Whomping Willow. I also ask returning students to remember this.

"And finally, the caretaker, Mr. Filch, has posted a list of items forbidden in the corridors between classes. You can find this on his office door, should you have questions." Dumbledore went to sit down, but didn't make it to his seat when he stood again. "I apologize, there are two things more: One, I would like to see the Head Boy and Head Girl before you retire. And second, we've had a request to sing the school song."

Lily wasn't sure she had heard correctly. All the teachers, save for McGonagall, gave Dumbledore a rather fixed and dubious look. But he either didn't notice, or didn't care. Most likely the latter. Beside Lily and Kassie, the Marauders were looking extremely happy with themselves and Lily wondered if it hadn't been them that had suggested it.

Dumbledore gave his wand a flick and a ribbon shot from the end of it, rising high in the air and forming words. "Just pick your favorite tune to sing to," he instructed.

Not in harmony, not as one, and most certainly not to where it made much sense, the students began singing:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we're forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."

Everyone finished singing at different times, Kassie and Lily being one of the first, since they rushed through it. Just behind them the Marauders were singing to a sort of jig, repeating verses and doing a sort of two step, arms linked together as they danced. Dumbledore clapped his hands along after he finished singing, a few others joining in, and the Slytherins scowling or outright laughing. The Marauders didn't seem to care. At last they finished, Sirius carrying the last note of "rot" on several high pitched octaves that Lily wasn't sure how any male could do.

"Bravo!" Dumbledore praised, clapping and smiling. "We should do this every year," he added, much to the dismay of the other professors and the delight of the Marauders. "And now," he added, coming towards the table as the Prefects began calling forth their houses first years. "If you could please remove the halos from Miss Evans and Miss Phillips, we can all retire for the evening."

Dumbledore winked at the two witches as he turned and disappeared in a crowd of seventh year Hufflepuffs. Lily and Kassie turned eagerly to James and Sirius, who waved their wands rather unenthusiastically. Lily, still not sure she was going to speak to James ever again, thanked him only briefly and proceeded behind the first years towards Gryffindor Tower and the promise it held of a nice warm bed and sleep.

After a rather uneventful trip up seven staircases to the corridor that housed a picture of a very fat lady in a pink dress, Lily and Kassie finally made it through the round common room, up yet one last set of stairs and into the dormitory door that now read: "Fourth Year". As per usual, all of their belongings were already sitting at the end of their beds, and Lily picked up a wicker basket that contained her kitten, Bast, and placed it on the bed where she opened it. "Oh no!" she moaned, pulling Bast out.

"What?" Kassie asked, looking up from where she was rummaging in her own very untidy trunk, looking for a night dress. When her eyes landed on the kitten Lily held, she shook her head. "Oh."

While Kassie and Lily had gotten rid of their halos, it seemed that Bast had not.

**********

When asked later, Peter claimed that he vaguely remembered hearing an odd noise that sounded suspiciously like the creek the bedroom door made sometime during the night after their return to Hogwarts. But at the time it happened, tired and blurred eyed, Peter ignored what he assumed was dream induced, and didn't pull back the curtains when he believed he heard the dormitory door open. Instead he turned over, pulled the blankets tighter around himself, and drifted back to sleep.

When he awoke the next time, it was to a scream that sounded so near female that the shortest of the Marauders would have sworn that one of the witches in their year was in the room. Or a rat was dying a rather horrid death somewhere nearby. But, on second thought, Peter had heard that scream before. And it came from only one person, and hadn't really happened since Sirius' voice had started changing the year before. Pulling back the curtains sleepily, he peeked out into the room he shared with his three best mates and confirmed his earlier suspicion.

"Sirius, what are you on about?" Peter muttered sleepily, wondering what time it was.

Sirius wasn't the only one awake. James, Remus and Nick were, as well. Nick was still sitting on his bed, looking torn between being angry at being awake, or laughing hysterically at something that Peter had yet to discover. The blonde wizard again addressed himself to his friends. "Anyone care to answer?"

"Go on, get up Peter, let's see," James demanded, walking up. It was then that Peter noticed something odd. Something was sticking up out of James' normally untidy hair. In two places, as a matter of fact.

"James, what's on your head?" Peter asked, confused. He looked around, and sure enough, Sirius and Remus seem to have the same problem. Ever so slowly he raised his hands to his own forehead, half of him already knowing what he would find, but making sure all the same. "What in the bloody hell?" he yelled, jumping from his bed.

Sirius nodded quickly, shaking his fist at the thin air and declaring in a voice loud enough to wake the dead: "I can't believe it! I can't believe they had the nerve!"

"I can't believe they knew the spells," James added.

"I can't believe we didn't think of it first," Remus said.

Peter, looking horrified, slowly made his way towards the mirror, only to have his worst fears realized. "They gave us bloody HORNS and TAILS!" He looked again, but they were still there. "Horns," he repeated, getting as close to the mirror as he dared. "And a tail!" he added, turning to stare at the pointed red tail protruding from his behind.

To add injury to insult, and to make it possibly the best payback given in the history of paybacks, at that exact moment the door to the boys room opened. A bright white flash announced the arrival of Lily and Kassie, laughing hysterically as Lily took two more pictures before running for all she was worth, Kassie right behind her.

All through out Gryffindor Tower, James and Sirius could be heard screaming; "GET BACK HERE!"

--End Chapter 26.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. It seems that when I don't promise on a date of release, that I manage to get chapters out in better time. Perhaps I should just keep doing that, eh? So, no promises on the next chapter, but it is about three pages done, so it's not as if I haven't started on it or anything. So all death threats can be delayed ;)

Huge thanks to my editor and Brit-check, Kate. And of course, to everyone on the LilyUpdate group, and everyone who reviews. You are all wonderful.

Answers to questions, comments, etc.:
Lily is going to date outside of James, but no, it won't be Sirius. He has an unhealthy obession with Kassie, if you can't tell. And that will be continueing.

I am 23 years old. And yes, I have a wonderful editor who also does Brit-checking, since she's British. :)

Hmmm.. and arguement between Petunia and the Marauders. That might be doable ;)

The Marauders won't become Animagi until fifth year, but I'm sure it took a lot of work to get there. So that's why it's coming up. It was a pretty big part of their lives.

Remus will get with someone. All of the Marauders will, in due time. Especially since we are entering fourth year, and they are properly old enough to be noticing the opposite sex.

The point of injurying Lily will come back, so it's not totally useless. :)

My problem with 'seen' and 'saw' goes back to the problem with growing up in the south. I have a horriable accent, and have a bad habbit of writing how I talk. And I definitly talk southern. Sorry about that.

If you have any questions, comments, etc. Please put in in reviews, I read, and try to answer all question in reviews. Or, you can join the LilyUpdate group (*insert shamless self promotion here*) by sending an email to [email protected] we have fun talking about this and that, and they get sneek peeks of upcoming storylines that tend to result in threats to my life ^^;; But it's all in good fun, so join!

Read, review, shop at Hot Topic for the Azkaban Sirius wanted poster t-shirt, and eat lots of mushrooms :)

<3Bethany
01.25.04