Lily Evans: A History

Lily Evans, A History
Chapter 27 - The youngest generation of Death Eaters
By: Bethany
Rated: PG
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Lily Evans' fourth year attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was to be unlike any other she had experienced thus far. The first noticeable change was the amount of school work. In the first month back to class, the fourth year students had been slammed with homework. All teachers had begun lecturing on the importance of this year, the last before they began "hard" preparation for O.W.L.s or Ordinary Wizarding Levels. The exam they would take at the end of their fifth year was most likely the most important school testing they would do in their lives, the Professors explained. It would create or destroy the road to the profession they wanted to take up after they left school. It would shape the rest of their lives.

But, no pressure.

"It'll be worse next year," Alice Rhea said in response to Kassie's latest complaint that McGonagall was going to drive her into the ground. Lily and Kassie looked up from the table in the corner of the Gryffindor common room where they had been working on an essay about Switching-Spells for Transfiguration. "Next year you'll do nothing but eat, sleep and study."

"That makes me feel loads better," Kassie muttered, dipping her quill in her ink and bending over her parchment again.

"Actually," Marlene McKinnon, Alice's friend, said thoughtfully. "You don't really get a break after O.W.L.s. Sixth and seventh year is all about N.E.W.T.s."

"Sixth year's not too bad," Alice replied as the two of them continued on their way towards the portrait hole. "But seventh year... well, we're off," Alice suddenly said, having caught a look of murder on Kassie's face. Whether it was towards Alice or herself, no one knew.

Lily sighed heavily and flipped to the back of her book looking for a reference when they had yet another interruption. This time it was coming from the window nearest the table the girls were sitting at. At first Lily paid it no mind, not sure if she was hearing things or not. Then Kassie, also noticing an odd pecking sound, looked up. "Lily, Morgana's at the window."

Lily dropped her quill and headed quickly towards the window where her owl was pecking. The wind had picked up early in the evening, and the sky looked like any moment it would burst open and send rain drowning the Earth. As Morgana forced her way in the common room, Lily struggled to latch the window back from a particularly strong gust of wind. Finally she managed and came back to the table where Morgana promptly held her leg out.

"Looks like it's from my Mum," Lily said. Kassie gave her an interested look. "I wrote to her a few days ago, but I didn't expect a reply so soon." Ripping the envelope open, Lily spread the paper before her just as Bast jumped up in Kassie's lap.

Dear Lily,

We are all doing fine. I hope you're a bit more caught up in your
school work by now. Just do your best, I know you'll do fine.

Things have been a bit hectic around here. The night before last
Petunia and Vernon announced the date for their wedding. It's going to
be August 2nd. And as your sister so wonderfully reminded us all
yesterday, that only leaves us 306 days to plan out every detail. I
just know this whole ordeal will get way out of hand, as most everything
Petunia plans does. Be very glad that you will spend the majority of
this time at school.

Please tell all your friends I say hello. And if you (or they) need
anything, please let me know.

Love,
Mum

P.S. Your father says hello.

Lily folded the letter back up and replaced it in the envelope. Kassie, who had been reading over her shoulder, sat back, a stupid grin on her face. "What?" Lily asked, confused.

"Be very glad you are at school," Kassie quoted from the letter, snickering. "Yes, very glad indeed. Could you imagine the hell your sister is going to put your parents through about this? Are you parents paying for it?"

"As far as I know," Lily replied, not really as interested in what her sister and her perverted fiancé did as Kassie seemed to be. She picked up her copy of Immediate Transfiguration and disappeared behind it.

"I wonder what horrid colors she will put together for the occasion?" Kassie suddenly asked out loud a few minutes later. She hit the feather end of her quill against her chin thoughtfully. "Probably something that clashes, like pink and orange."

"I doubt my mother will allow that," Lily replied. "My mother can plan a formal occasion like no one I've seen. She's helped a few of her friends out with their own weddings." Lily finally finished the last paragraph on her essay and preformed a quick drying spell on the parchment. She let it spring back into a roll and placed it in her bag. "On to Divination."

"Cripes," Kassie muttered, sitting up quickly and accidentally sending Bast flying off her lap, hissing all the way. "I haven't done mine, yet, either." She pulled her bag out and began fishing around for her text book. "And here I thought I was finished," she muttered, hauling her text book out onto the table and digging for a fresh roll of parchment. "So much for that."

Professor Trelawney had assigned them to do Astrology charts, predicting their own immediate futures using the planet alignment and a series of very complicated calculations. An hour later, when the Marauders (who either did their homework extremely fast, or didn't do it at all) came through the portrait hole and towards the table, Kassie and Lily were barely half way through.

Sirius was the first to realize they were in the corner and immediately headed for them, bringing his three friends with him. As they pulled up chairs, Lily groaned aloud and glared up at them. "Can we help you?"

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked in response, turning a chair around backwards and straddling it. He leaned over Kassie's parchment, and one eyebrow rose slightly.

"Homework. Would you like me to give a definition, or do you know what that is?" Kassie retorted, not looking up from her spare bit of parchment she was doing a calculation on. "Now go away, I have three more weeks to predict."

"Predict?" James asked, leaning over and giving Lily's work a once over. "Err--you seem to be loosing your books a lot, don't you?" he asked, scratching his head.

Lily shrugged, rubbing a hand over her eyes tiredly. She didn't even have the energy to argue. "I guess I should go ahead and write to Mum for some money for new ones--eh--four times."

"Lily, are you doing the calculation right?" Kassie asked, pulling Lily's parchment towards her. "No, no. You're suppose to subtract the number of moons Pluto has, not divide." While Kassie started to work on Lily's new predictions, which Lily hoped would involve more sleeping, the red head laid her head on her arms and closed her eyes.

"Aw, what's the matter Lil?" James asked, patting Lily's hair down. Beside him Sirius was trying to do the same thing to Kassie, who whipped her wand out and pointed it between his eyes threateningly.

Lily opened an eye sleepily and noticed that, oddly enough, James seemed to be sincerely worried. His eyes were watching her intently, and he had yet to stop running his hand the length of her hair. Nowhere was the mocking smile she had expected. She figured if he wasn't teasing her, he at least deserved an answer. "I'm just so tired," she explained, stifling a yawn as she did so. "I can't believe how much work we've had and it's only the fourth week of school! I hope it eases up some."

"There Lily," Kassie said. Lily sat up and James, looking slightly disappointed, removed his hand from her hair. Kassie pushed Lily's parchment back towards her, and to the red head's dismay, there was no prediction of her sleeping away two days.

"You two are boring," Sirius suddenly said, getting up. As if attached by some sort of binding spell, James, Remus and Peter all stood as well.

James gave one last look over his shoulder towards where Lily was currently bent over her parchment, her quill working furiously again. Shaking his head a bit, he turned just in time to see the wall as he smacked into it; but not in enough time to stop himself. Without looking back (because he could feel Kassie's eyes watching him as she sniggered) he quickly went up the stairs to his room.

Thankfully he had been last in line when they went up, and none of his friends had seen him stupidly walk into a wall. He might very well never hear the end of it, had they been paying attention. Sirius had flopped down on his bed, pulling out another book on animagi along with a rather long roll of parchment filled with notes and illustrations he had copied over the past year or more. It was a mark of how well Sirius could do his school work. If he ever did it, that was.

The research on animagi was coming along rather well. Remus had mastered the counter-spell. Well, they thought he had. Since they had nothing to test it on, they could only hope. But Remus was rather good with magic, and he knew the theory well enough. All three of them had spent long hours meditating, according to instruction, to find their inner animal. Sirius had announced at the end of last year that he had sensed something; a large animal. So had James. Peter, on the other hand, was having difficulty not falling asleep while mediating, and therefore wasn't any closer to finding his "inner animal" than he had been to begin with. Remus had been trying to help him to stay awake, but every time he poked at the smallest Marauder, Peter would shout and then James and Sirius would groan and give up.

"It says here," Sirius began, sticking his quill behind his ear and reading aloud. "That long peaceful walks can be as good as mediating. Perhaps we should try that tonight. Peter can perhaps stay awake if he's on his feet."

Peter flushed red as James said, "Since when have our after-curfew strolls ever been peaceful?" He leaned back on his bed, his hands behind his head. "I think our time should be better spent on other things."

"Like snogging Lily Evans?" Sirius quipped.

"No," James replied, only after a short hesitation. He leaned up on his elbows, glaring at Sirius, who was looking at his book again, straight faced. "Why would you think for a second I would want to snog Lily? She's like--like a sister to me," James finished, rather lamely.

"Then, if it is as you say," Remus interrupted Sirius, who had opened his mouth to say something along the lines of how James would burn at the stake for lying like that. "You are well on your way to incest."

"What?!"

"Aw, what's the matter Lily?" Sirius mocked, fluttering his eyes. "You fancy her. And don't lie to us, because I saw this about two years ago, too."

"You have no proof of--" James began.

"Infirmary," Sirius cut him off, throwing a knowing look to Remus and Peter, who nodded. "The night you spent up there with her. Do I need to mention the Floo episode?" he added, ticking the list off his fingers with a pointed look to his best friend.

"You promised you wouldn't," James replied dryly.

"And let's not forget the night she was lost in the woods," Remus added thoughtfully. He shook his head. "None of us will forget that."

"I have never seen him so upset," Peter said needlessly. They had all been there when James had been pulling at his hair, searching everywhere, heedless to whatever else might be in the Dark Forrest.

James opened his mouth, but Sirius had stood up and shook his head in a pityingly way. "I don't blame you, mate. She's a nice looking witch."

Again James opened his mouth to argue, but it was pretty much a waste of breath, by the looks on his friends faces. Instead he threw his hands up and laid back again on his bed. "Ok, fine. Let's say I want to snog Lily Evans. And you, mate, want her best friend so bad you can't stand it. So we're even."

"Ah, but the difference is," Sirius said, his eyes lighting up like they usually did when a well planned prank paid off. "Is that I will have Kassie. It's only a matter of time." He looked entirely too smug, and over confident over this statement. Especially considering Kassie would rather hex him than speak to him. That point somehow eluded him, though.

"Why her?" Peter asked, looking for all the world as if the last sentence was all he had heard in the entire conversation. "She hates you."

"No, she doesn't," Sirius insisted, closing his book. "She's just playing hard to get."

"Whatever makes you sleep better at night, Sirius," James said. "Never mind that it appears to the rest of the world that she hates you, and would curse you into next week, if given a chance and ample opportunity. At least Lily doesn't flinch at the sight of me coming."

"Ah ha! You admit you like her!" Sirius announced in a triumphant yell.

James flicked his wand and sent two feather pillows flying across the room, landing against the side of Sirius' head in response.

************

By the time the sun had come creeping into the windows of the fourth year girls' dormitories, Lily had already awoken. She was sitting crossed legged on her bed, the picture album the Marauders had given her for her birthday spread before her, as well as a stack of pictures she had taken with her camera. Professor McClure had been more than happy to show Lily how to develop her pictures in the Photograph potion, as well as helping her with another potion that made them develop in color, rather than black and white. Lily flipped through the album, smiling as her friends smiled, waved, or in the Marauders case, punched and wrestled with each. She had taken a lot of pictures; but Lily had always enjoyed pictures, even more so now that they moved, so this didn't bother her a bit.

She laughed to herself as she studied the picture of the Marauders with horns and tails. Sirius was shaking his fist angrily, and James was laughing and pointing to Remus' tail. There were two more pictures, both showing the Marauders either laughing at each other, or giving death looks towards the person taking the picture. Lily knew better than to put these in her album, though. She had to keep them hidden; as they were blackmail. She and Kassie had made a deal with the Marauders; they wouldn't tease the fourth year Gryffindor girls, and Lily wouldn't be forced to make duplicates of these pictures and blow them up the size of posters to hang in the Great Hall.

Taking a few pictures out of the stack she had yet to put in the album, Lily stuffed them inside a letter to her mother and poured a bit of candle wax on the envelope to seal it. She addressed the letter, placed the remaining pictures back in a box and stored it, along with her album, in her bedside table.

For whatever reason Lily had awoken at an ungodly hour for a Saturday morning, and hadn't been able to return to sleep. Which explained why she had been placing pictures in her album at such an early time. Bast, her newly named (and recently un-haloed) kitten, was fast asleep on Lily's pillow. Quite obviously sleep hadn't been evading her as it had her master. Giving the kitten a small scratch behind the ears, Lily tip-toed from the room and went to shower. Twenty minutes later she returned, dressed and with more tamer hair, gathered the letter to her mother and headed towards the Owlery.

The castle was very quiet this time of the morning. Without classes to make the students get out of bed, most of them slept past six-thirty. Lily's footsteps echoed on the stone floors as she passed corridors and made her way to the tower that housed the school, as well as personal, owls.

A large barn owl swooped into the Owlery as Lily pushed the door open and stepped in. The smell wasn't pleasant in the least, and Lily felt her stomach contract as she stepped on the bones of what most likely had once been a field mouse. After a few moments search, she found Morgana sitting high up on a perch, her head beneath her wing. Almost as if she sensed her owner's presence, Morgana looked down sleepily. "Come here," Lily coaxed, smiling. "I've got a treat for you, and a letter to deliver."

With what seemed great effort, Morgana stretched her wings, hitting the owl next to her, who hooted in distaste, and glided down to land on Lily's outstretched arm. Lily fed her the treat and then tied the letter onto her leg. "That's for my mother, all right?"

Morgana gave Lily a nip in the ear and Lily threw her arm out and watched as Morgana glided out into the clear blue sky beyond. She watched for a few minutes, until she couldn't see her anymore, and turned just as another owl came gliding down and landed on her shoulder. "Horace! What a surprise. Why doesn't James have you in his room?" The owl hooted in what could only be considered a reply, though Lily wasn't sure what, and nipped down at her hand. "Oh, looking for a treat, are you? Let's see..." Lily dug into her jean pocket and produced a bag. "I think I've got one more in here."

"That's a beautiful bird," a voice suddenly commented. Lily jumped and spun around to find a blonde haired boy standing at the door, a letter clutched in his hand. "Not very often you see a snowy white owl in this area, is it?"

Lily recognized the boy as a fifth year Hufflepuff, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember his name. Not wanting to be rude, she smiled and stroked Horace's feathers as he ate. "I suppose not. He's not mine."

"Oh, he seemed to know you," the boy said, coming further into the room and beckoning down one of the school birds. He began attaching a letter to its leg, still watching as Lily stroked Horace's back.

"He belongs to a friend of mine," Lily replied. Horace, finished with his treat, lifted up into the rafters again to settle in for sleep.

The boy suddenly smiled apologetically, and Lily noticed he had a rather boyish looking smile. Like someone who had got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and knew it wasn't his first offence. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. My name is Tim Abbott. I know I've seen you around. You're in Gryffindor, right?"

"Yes," Lily replied, taking the proffered hand and shaking it quickly. "Lily Evans."

"The pleasure is mine, Miss Evans," Tim grinned, lifting her hand to his lips for a quick second. Lily felt heat rush to her face. He slowly dropped her hand and picked the owl up, carrying it to the window and letting it go. Lily, for some reason, didn't immediately leave. She felt as if Tim was still going to say something and she wasn't disappointed. "Well, now that I've remembered my brother's birthday..." He paused and grinned again. Lily couldn't help smiling back. "Well, I remembered it about twenty minutes ago, anyway, I think I'll get a bite to eat. Care to join me?"

Lily felt the heat rise to her face again, especially when he held out his arm for her. Not wanting to disappoint (her or him, she couldn't tell) she threaded her arm through his. "Sounds good."

After they descended the stairs from the Owlery, Lily found she had nothing to say. And as the silence stretched, she racked her brain for something smart or witty to say. Neither came to mind, so instead she settled on something she at least knew and didn't sound terribly stupid: "Do you only have one brother?"

Tim smiled again and Lily felt an odd stir in the pit of her stomach. He had large hazel eyes that seemed to light up when he smiled. "No, unfortunately I'm cursed with three brothers, all younger. In fact, Richard, whose birthday is today, should be starting Hogwarts next year. How about you, do you have any siblings?"

Lily thought about Petunia and wondered idly if she wanted to tell Tim about her. Deciding to keep it short and simple, she nodded. "Yes, a sister. But she doesn't go here."

Perhaps it had been the way she said it, or the fact that they had just walked into the Great Hall, but Tim didn't ask anymore about Petunia and Lily was forever grateful for it. Tim led Lily to the Gryffindor table (which was empty, as much of the Great Hall was) and stopped as if working up the courage to say something.

Lily looked around the nearly empty room. Outside of herself and Tim, the only other people in the room were Professor Kettleburn, Professor Sprout and Severus Snape sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table, hunched over a piece of parchment. It didn't leave for very good company. Decided, Lily looked up at Tim and asked "Would you like to sit with me?" Only, at the same time he asked her the same question.

There was an awkward moment and then, not being able to stand it another second, Lily laughed. Tim smiled slightly before laughing as well. "Now that that's decided," he said, pulling a chair out for Lily at the Gryffindor table. "I tell you what; We'll sit at your table today and my table tomorrow?"

"Deal," Lily replied and only after having said it did she realize what she had done. Now she was not only spending this morning with Tim, but now she had promised to tomorrow morning, as well. But as he took a seat across from her, she decided perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.

**************

At the third bed from the door, in the circular room that the six Gryffindor fourth year girls shared, the blankets moved a bit. And after a few minutes, they moved again. After yet another few minutes Kassandra Phillips slowly pulled the blankets from her head, and looked around. Yes, the sun was shining into the room. And no, it wasn't a school day. Which meant she could possibly get several more hours sleep in. And with that thought in mind, she yanked the covers back over her head and buried herself in the mattress.

Unfortunately things weren't to work out as planned. As much as Kassie tried, she couldn't get back to sleep. Which meant that any second... naw, never mind. Her stomach, as predicted, had growled. With a groan and a mutter under her breath, she threw the covers off, pulled the bed hangings back and surveyed the room while yawning.

Either everyone had decided to leave for breakfast without her or it was late and she had slept through breakfast. And as the former wasn't really possible, given the fact that the sun was bursting in through the window, Kassie muttered yet something else under her breath and went to shower.

The common room was as empty as the dormitory when Kassie emerged, fully dressed, twenty minutes later. A quick look at the clock on the fireplace mantel told her that she had missed breakfast, but still had a bit before lunch time. Her stomach growled again. "This isn't going to be my day," she said to herself, turning towards the portrait hole.

"Good morning Kassie!"

"And I repeat," Kassie said, turning to face Sirius Black. The boy had absolutely the worst timing. And not only that, but unlike Kassie, Sirius was a morning person. Actually, he was more like a morning person, a day person, a night person and a Sirius-shut-up-before-I-hex you person. But that was solely her opinion. "This isn't going to be my day."

"It looks like mine, though, so stick with me and it can only get better!" Sirius said, jogging up to Kassie and trying to put his arm around her. She shrugged him off, but he only came back to try a second time. She fumed up at him, her violet eyes boring into his blue ones. "Come on, Kassie, I'm having a marvellous morning. So far I've managed to dump ice cold water on Peter, James and Nick, scared McGonagall to death, and found out that Lily has a boyfriend!"

"What?!" Kassie had just about successfully tuned Sirius out when that last part came tumbling out of his mouth. She gaped up in shock at him. "She didn't when I went to bed! How long did I sleep??"

Sirius checked his wrist, which was watchless, shrugged and once more attempted to put his arm around her. "Dunno. Come on, we should spend the day at the lake."

"What's at the lake?" Kassie asked as Sirius managed to steer her towards the portrait hole.

"Lily and her new boyfriend, of course!"

Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Kassie allowed herself to be directed outside by Sirius. Well, no, let's be truthful. Kassie was dying to know who had grabbed Lily's attention and how. Either way she was sure she could get to the lake on her own, without Sirius' arm around her shoulders. But every time she shrugged him off, he came back and held on a bit tighter so that by the time they actually made it out into the sunlight Kassie knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that a piece of parchment wouldn't fit between her and Sirius.

"I'm going to hex you," Kassie spat at a smiling Sirius.

"Kassieeee," Sirius whined, dragging the last symbol of her name out while giving her his patented 'puppy eye' look. "You never let me get near you!"

"Most wizards would have taken the hint by now," the black haired girl retorted, glaring up at him.

Sirius smiled his most charming smile at her and even Kassie couldn't help but notice that any other witch would have probably been swooning had he been doing this to them. But Kassie wasn't any other witch. "Sirius Black, get your arm away from me."

"You're so beautiful when you're----ARH!"

Kassie gave a great "humph" and stalked away from Sirius, leaving him on the ground, scratching like mad. With a self satisfied smirk she put her wand away and continued towards the lake where she could see a certain red head sitting beside a boy with blonde hair. She could hear Lily laughing at something even from this distance, but couldn't place who she was sitting with. Oh well, she'd find out soon enough.

************

The sky was a clear blue, allowing the sun to beat down on Hogwarts grounds mercilessly. And while this was great for everyone down at the lake, or strolling across the grounds, it wasn't very good for the seven Gryffindors on broomsticks.

Well, six.

"James, if he doesn't show up soon I'll suspend him!" Emily Tankard called as she threw the quaffle to James, who caught it and searched the pitch once more. The problem was that practice started fifteen minutes ago. The last practice before the game against Ravenclaw that very afternoon. And they were one beater short. And this bewildered everyone, but none more so than James, who had left the common room with Sirius in tow not an hour before hand.

"Perhaps I should go look for him?" James asked meekly. Emily glared at him. "Or not. I--wait! Here comes someone on the pitch, maybe it's him!" And without giving Emily a chance to reply, James threw the quaffle at her and dived towards the ground where he seen a black haired person coming onto the field, oddly hunched over.

In the stands Remus and Peter had noticed the person coming onto the pitch as well. Both of them started down, pretty sure from their angle that it was Sirius and curious as to where he got lost to between the Common room and the Quidditch pitch. It was pretty much obvious by the time they got to him what had happened.

"Sirius, what happened?" Peter asked, concerned as he hurried ahead of Remus and towards Sirius. There were large angry looking red patches all over Sirius' skin that he was scratching at full force.

Remus jogged to catch up with the shorter wizard and made it to Sirius just as James landed and debroomed. "Sirius, where have you been? Emily's about--what happened to you?" James asked mid-stride, repeating Peter's earlier question.

Remus, on the other hand, burst out laughing, causing all three of his friends (especially Sirius) to look at him quizzically. Remus pulled his wand and approached Sirius, but couldn't stop chuckling long enough to remember the counter spell. "Kassie?" he managed between laughs.

"I don't know the counter," Sirius grunted out, trying to twist and scratch his back. "Arg! Couldn't she have done something a little less drastic?"

"What did you do to her?" Remus asked as James performed the counter curse. Sirius fell to the ground, breathing a sigh of relief, but not looking any better for the wear. In fact, a couple of the scratches looked like they were bleeding. "Did you try to snog her or something? A full body itch curse is pretty nasty."

Despite the blood dripping slowly from a scratch on his arm, and despite the red rash everywhere else, after Sirius had caught his breath he grinned up at his three friends. "What a witch," he sighed dreamily.

"You're barking," James said, shaking his head sadly.

Peter chuckled, but stopped short, his eyes wide as he stared at something behind James. The three other boys turned just as Emily Tankard, Chaser and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team came storming up, not looking happy at all. As she finally drew close enough to see Sirius' battle scars (Sirius would later proclaim them love marks) she rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "If you're not dying, Black, I want you on a broom. Now." She turned around, leaving much the way she came. Sirius, speechless for once, got up and took off at a run for the broom closet as James once more took to the skies.

***********

As much as Kassie wanted to (and she wanted to pretty badly) she managed not to disturb Lily and the blonde Hufflepuff that she recognized as Timothy Abbott. They were sitting near the edge of the lake, talking and laughing and even though a big part of her wanted to walk right up and see what was going on, the logical part of her said not to. She had plenty of time to hound Lily about this; the rest of the weekend, in fact. But this left her with very few options on what to do with the time she had before she could tease Lily mercilessly.

Since she had already hexed Sirius and left him to fend for himself, she doubted hunting down the Marauders was a good idea. She could never be sure (Sirius' friends usually found her and Sirius' bickering amusing) but they might not be happy with her after the itching hex. And since Lily was tied up at the moment and the boys were out of the question, she decided it may be high time to see what the rest of the Gryffindor fourth years were up to. Turning on her heel, Kassie headed back to the castle, wondering idly if she could figure out how to get into the kitchens. She was starved.

The inside of the castle was bright and cheery with a bright early November sun that would all too soon be gone and replaced by cold drafts and candle light as opposed to sunlight. Kassie wondered through the corridors, rather aimlessly, truth be told. And so when she entered the third floor corridor she wasn't looking for trouble. But, then again, any trouble she had found herself in usually did just that: found her.

"You're going to learn that Mudbloods aren't welcome here."

The voice was low and nearly hissing, and Kassie at once felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Since second year, when the Potions teacher, Professor Walsh, had been brutally murdered in her classroom, the atmosphere in the school had changed. The hint of danger was rather subtle, anymore. If anything other than inter-house arguing had gone on, Kassie didn't know about it. But there was always that underlying notion that the war that raged on in the wizarding world would seep into the school. The dark haired witch always hoped it wouldn't, but from the sound of that voice, the opinions of grown witches and wizards were being passed to their children.

Another student might have passed on by; would have minded their own business. But Kassie hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor for nothing. Her violet eyes narrowed as she tried to squint into the darkness further down the unused corridor and slowly she drew her wand up to the ready. Checking around her to be sure she wasn't be watched, followed, or anything else that might suggest even more trouble, Kassie moved towards the voice.

"Our Lord will purge the wizarding world, and we will purge the school. This is just a warning. Im--"

"I don't know what the hell you think you are doing, but get away from her right now," Kassie demanded in a sharp, clear and very threatening voice. Her wand was pointed straight at the back of a dark haired student. Facing her, a look of utmost relief on her face, was a first year Hufflepuff. She looked scared to death. Tears pooled in her brown eyes. Kassie felt an overwhelming urge to back slap the girl in front of her.

Ever so slowly the student turned. Kassie felt that she should have at least tried to pull together the thought to look surprised, but she couldn't. Instead a smirk appeared on her lips as she eyed the Slytherin robes and black hair. "Ah, Bellatrix Black. I'd say this is a surprise, but I'd be lying."

"Phillips," Bellatrix greeted coldly, her dark eyes near slits. She tutted softly. "You Gryffindors are all the same, sticking your noses where they don't belong." She crossed her arms over her breast, looking for all the world like she was more annoyed at being bothered than being caught.

"I'm going to stick my wand somewhere if I find you threatening students again, Black," Kassie retorted. Her palm was sweaty, but she held her wand quite steady when she raised it. She nodded to the Hufflepuff, who look a few unsteady steps away from Bellatrix and behind Kassie.

Bellatrix looked amused, a small smile appearing on her lips. "You shouldn't be threatening the bully, should you? You're no better than her," she jerked her head to the Hufflepuff, who still stood frozen in fear beside Kassie. Though she had pulled her wand, Kassie didn't feel better. She doubted the first year knew any useful curses. "Or do you think my stupid cousin will protect you? I've heard he's got quiet a thing for you."

"You don't deserve to call Sirius family," Kassie spat. She knew she should walk away; shouldn't listen. Bellatrix was only trying to make her mad. It was working.

The Slytherin laughed shortly, and somewhat high pitched. She sounded a bit unhinged. "Family? Sirius isn't in our family. He was disowned when he was sorted into Gryffindor." She spat the house like it left a bad taste in her mouth. "Did you know he is the only Gryffindor in our family? I don't see how his mother put up with him after that. But they weren't any better. Being friends with those Mudblood loving Potters. The whole lot are better off dead."

Kassie's eyes flashed and she knew she was seconds from flinging curses at Bellatrix. She took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her feelings. But anger was welling inside her, building in her chest. Sure, she didn't like Sirius as more than a friend. But he was a friend. And Kassie didn't sit well with anyone, Slytherin and related, or not, insulting her friends. The logical part of her mind screamed that she was doing just as Bellatrix wanted; letting her anger get the best of her. The other part of her mind didn't care.

"I hear my cousin is quite taken with you, actually," Bellatrix continued, twirling her wand between her fingers idly. "He always had a thing for Mudbloods, though---"

SMACK!

The sound echoed off the stone walls and through the corridor. Kassie shook her hand, trying to shake off the sting. Bellatrix's head had slung to the side when Kassie's hand hit her face and she instantly brought her hand up to her lip. It looked as though she had bit it; a small drip of blood was welling up. Kassie felt like every nerve in her body was on fire, hatred and anger welled up in her chest as she took a few calming, deep breaths. "Stay away from me and those close to me, Black, or you'll regret it," she hissed.

Kassie turned on her heel, pushing the Hufflepuff a bit along ahead of her in case Bellatrix regained her momentum and decided to shoot a curse their way. When the dark haired witch reached the end of the corridor that split off towards the staff room, she turned to look back. Bellatrix was still standing where Kassie had left her, still holding her cheek. When she noted Kassie had turned, Bellatrix wipped the drip of blood off her lip and sucked it off, licking a bit down her finger as she did so. She winked at the disgusted look on Kassie's face. "We're not done, Mudblood," she hissed. "Not done by a long shot."

A shiver ran through Kassie's body and without meaning to she picked up speed as her and the first year headed through the castle. She had a bad feeling she had just made an enemy that would make her life miserable. Or try to. Watching her back might have just become a priority.

*************

Ravenclaw beat Gryffindor, but not by much. In fact, had James been able to get the quaffle in two seconds before, Ravenclaw would have caught the snitch for nothing. So even though the Gryffindors didn't win, they weren't too terribly upset about it. Loosing by ten points didn't knock them out of the running for house cup, and there were plenty of games left to be played.

Teasing Lily had been a fun passtime for about two hours. And might have been fun after that, had Lily not pulled her wand and threatened to hex Kassie on the spot. Sirius didn't seem to be mad at Kassie for hexing him earlier in the day; if anything it seemed she may have increased his desire to seek her out. And as much potential fun as all of this could have been on a normal basis, Kassie found herself looking over her shoulder a lot. And not without good reason.

At first she thought it was paranoia and nothing more. After her encounter with Bellatrix earlier in the day, Kassie had been watching herself a bit more than normal. But by dinner time, she was sure she wasn't imagining things. She was being followed. And not just by Bellatrix, but by a gang of Slytherins. It was rather unnerving.

"Kassie, what are you looking at?" Lily asked, putting down her fork and throwing a questioning look at her best friend. "You seem very... distracted today."

"Nothing," Kassie muttered, forcing herself to focus on her food. No one else seemed to think anything amiss. The doors to the Great Hall opened, making Kassie jump slightly, and the worn out, sweaty Gryffindor team made their way in and sat at the table.

"It was a good game," Remus commented as Sirius and James took seats across from them, pulling various bowls toward them with no apparent care to what was in them. They began dishing out large amounts of everything within reach.

"We lost by only ten points," Peter said, chewing on a roll. Sirius and James glared at him in response. "What? It's not bad!"

"We didn't think so," James muttered.

"But Emily sure did," Sirius continued, throwing a glare down to their captain. "That witch is a slave driver."

Kassie, who had been listening, suddenly jerked her head up as a group of witches and wizards came near the table. Her hand went automatically to her wand handle. Bellatrix Black, surrounded by her usual gang of admirers, stopped just behind Remus. Sirius glared up at her suspiciously. "What do you want?"

"Is that a way to greet your favorite cousin?" Bellatrix asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No, but you're not Andromeda, either," Sirius retorted, once more picking his fork up. "Isn't there helpless insects for you to torture somewhere? Or do you actually have a purpose for being over here?"

"She didn't come over here for your lip," Rodolphus Lestrange snarled, glaring at Sirius in a way that made all of them think he was preparing a curse or two under his breath as he spoke. His eyes glared at everyone at the table.

"Shut it," Sirius snarled in return. Kassie was holding her breath as Bellatrix turned her gaze to the Gryffindor girls. "Tut, tut," Bellatrix said, shaking her head a bit. "So touchy. Don't you think so, Kassandra?"

Beside Kassie Lily had pulled her own wand and was clutching in under the edge of the table, her green eyes staring at Bellatrix like the latter was a rabid dog. Her heart had picked up speed again, but her voice was calm when she answered. "I think you should just keep moving, Trixie."

Sirius snorted into his fork, a bit of his Yorkshire pudding spraying over onto Peter. Bellatrix's face turned a very unflattering shade of red. "I wouldn't go any where alone tonight," she said, her voice very clearly holding threat. "You never know what might.... jump out at you." And with that said she turned on her heel, Lestrange, Macnair and Vance tagging behind her like they were tied by string. Kassie let out a deep breath and calmly went back to eating her pudding.

Lily, her eyes wide, turned to look at her best friend. "What was that about?" she whispered. Kassie noted out of the corner of her eye that all four Marauders were also waiting for an answer. Instead of answering, she took the bite of pudding she had been holding up to her mouth and returned her fork to her plate. Lily was glaring at her, waiting for an answer. "Well?" she finally said, her eyes darting back to the two oak doors that Bellatrix and her followers had just left through.

"It's nothing," Kassie lied, pushing her plate away from her and standing. She pushed her seat in and headed out of the Great Hall. Trying not to think about her pounding heart, Kassie gripped her wand handle tighter. If it was a duel Bellatrix wanted, she would give it to her. But she would be damned if she was going to run around the rest of the school year, waiting for that nasty little Slytherin to jump out at her. No, best to take care of this now and be done with it.

After about a second Lily jumped up and followed her. Sirius, James and Remus, food forgotten, all jumped up from the table, intent on following the two witches and find out what was going on. Having dealt with Sirius' cousin before, they all knew that threats from her were not to be taken lightly. She usually meant business and didn't promise something she didn't see through. Remus stopped at the edge of the table, turning. "Come on Peter!"

Peter looked longingly at his plate of dessert he had just dished out, sighed, and jumped up. "Coming..."

--End Chapter 27.

This chapter stayed pretty pointless, in my opinion, until about two days ago. Ugh, I hate when I have a brain freeze where my plot is concerned. But it unfroze, and here we are :)

HUGE thanks to everyone who reviews, especially to everyone on the LilyUpdate group (send an email to [email protected] to join!! *insert shameless self promotion here*) and my wonderful editor/Brit-checker Kate.

Answers to questions, comments, etc.:

No, not magic mushrooms. Just regular :)

The Hot Topic in Knoxville doesn't have their shipment of HP shirts, yet :( But I'm getting one as soon as they do!

No, Lily won't date any of the Marauders, except for James, of course ;)

Actually, the Dark Forrest is only called the Forbidden Forrest in the US version, I believe. My Brit-editor didn't catch it, so I'm assuming I'm correct on that one. And *bows majestically* Thank you! :D

Lily can magic most anything with her wand by thinking, unless it's a complicated charm that the Marauders are behind. That's why the seventh years couldn't undo it; the Marauders re-enforce their pranks. Like when McGonagall couldn't get rid of the singing Christmas trees.

Lily's cats name is Bast after a rather evil witch, whom I can't really remember all the history on at the moment. But I did look up the name when I was thinking 'What is this cats name going to be??' and found that name, thought it was good, and that's where it came from.

Actually (!!!) someone DID do fanart of that scene! I'm sooo thrilled with LE;AH's first fanart. I uploaded it onto the files section of LilyUpdate, but I think only members can view it. I don't know how that works. But here's the link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lilyupdate/files/

Sirius/Kassie -- yes, a lot of people want them to get together. But they won't, at least in this story. Now, there is an alternate ending in the works, and they'll get together in it. And, if you want to preview the alternate ending, join the group (*yes, more shameless self promotion*) and you can read it, as well as all of the spoilers, etc. for the rest of this story :D

Until next chapter, which should be out in a decent amount of time, but I make no promises. (Hey, I'm managing every other week, that's cool, right?) Eat lots of Whoppers (the candy, not the burger!), drink water (it's good for you!), review and PLEASE draw more fanart for this story!! *huggles her fanart* :D

<3 Bethany
02.09.04