Lily Evans: A History

Chapter 30 - No love lost

The Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop at the Hogsmeade station, just below the castle that was its namesake up on the hill. Had any muggle stumbled across this castle, the many enchantments and spells placed on it would only allow the muggle to see a crumbling stone structure with warnings all around it to keep away. But to the hundreds of thousands of witches and wizards who had attended this school through its many years and the hundreds that visited the town of Hogsmeade, it was a sight to behold. And when the students finally exited the train and made their way towards the carriages that would return them to the great castle, Lily Evans felt like she was finally home.

At first this feeling didn't sit well with her. After all, she had promised her parents, and herself, that she would never find herself so deep in the wizarding world that she preferred it over her muggle heritage. But that was exactly what had happened. The more magic she learned, the less understood she felt at home. Sure, her parents curosity of their daughter's life at a magical school was natural, but sometimes Lily felt like she was a circus performer, or an animal at a zoo. Her mother at times asked so many questions that Lily felt more like a Professor than a daughter.

But she was back now, getting out of the carriage and heading into the Great Hall for dinner. Stretching and yawning, she stayed in step beside Kassie as they joined the throng of students filtering into the Great Hall, all hungry and tired. But just as Lily could see the tables, and smell the aromas that made her mouth water, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. She jerked her head around and pulled her wand all at the same moment. But instead of a soul sucking evil dark lord, or even a Slytherin for that matter, she found herself sticking her wand in the chest of Tim Abbott. "Eh, sorry?" he muttered, giving her a quizzical look.

Lily, blushing madly, immediately put her wand away and gave a brief smile to a couple of Ravenclaws that were watching her curiously. "I'm sorry, you startled me."

"I'll give a tip to any Death Eater not to cross your path," Tim replied, scratching the back of his head slightly. Lily felt her blush deepen even more, but before she could say she was sorry again, Tim inclined his head towards the hall. "Could I bother you to take a short walk? I need to talk to you about something."

Since nothing Lily had ever wanted to hear began with those words, she immediately started jumping to conclusions in her head. She nodded, and the two fell in step down the empty corridors. For a long moment neither of them spoke, and then finally Tim, looking nervous, ran his hand through his hair and said, "Eh, I'm not sure how to say this." Lily felt an odd fluttering start somewhere around her mid-section. Tim stopped, Lily doing the same, and the Hufflepuff turned to face the shorter red-head. "Over the holiday my old girlfriend came over for a party." He stopped short, as if waiting for Lily to draw her own conclusions. But if she was being broken up with, she wasn't going to help make it easier for him.

"And?" Lily prompted when he didn't say anything more.

Tim swallowed audibly and threw Lily a look that said he knew that she was going to make him say it. But that wasn't making it easier. Finally he blurted; "And I think we've decided to get back together. We were together for over a year, but we had a misunderstanding. And I don't want you to be angry, we can still be friends, right?"

All of this was said so very fast that Lily had to think before she understood it all, and even then it took a moment before she responded. "Sure," she replied in a voice that didn't sound much like her own. She wondered blankly if she was smiling, because Tim sure was. He gave her an awkward hug that she might have returned, but couldn't exactly recall doing the motions.

Before she knew it they were heading back to the Great Hall, and Tim was saying something about getting together to study one afternoon. Lily didn't reply, only gave him a brief smile and walked to the Gryffindor table and sat beside Kassie. The black haired witch was chewing hurriedly on a piece of chicken that she finally swallowed. "Had to go snog in a dark corridor somewhere?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

Lily stared at the plate in front of her, but suddenly the very thought of food made her want to vomit. Pushing herself away from the table, she stood once more. "I-I'm suddenly not so hungry." And before anyone could respond, she quickly rushed away from the table and out the double doors.

Kassie dropped her fork and blinked. "What did I say?"

Sirius, sitting across from her, shrugged and went back to his food without so much as missing a beat. Peter and Remus were staring at James who was in turn staring at the door. He looked very confused about something and started to stand up, but before he had made up his mind, Kassie jumped up and ran out of the Great Hall as if being chased by swarm of angry bees. Remus grabbed a roll from Kassie's abandoned plate. "Wonder what that was about?" he asked no one in paticular.

No one replied except that James seemed to have finally caught up to what was happening and jumped from his seat, leaving the Great Hall in much the way the two people before him had. Peter shook his head. "Everyone is leaving in a hurry, aren't they?"

"Just means more food for us," Sirius replied, jabbing his fork into James' uneaten piece of chicken and taking a huge bite out of it.

"You are an insensitive prat," Remus said matter of factly.

"Whaa du I du?" Sirius replied, his mouth so full of food that it was hard to comprehend that he was even speaking English. He swallowed loudly, his adam's apple moving up and down as he did so. "Lily is upset, Kassie is her best friend and so went after her and James is looking for that opportune moment that Remus was telling him about. What is the need to let good food go to waste for that?"

Remus shook his head dejectedly. "And I repeat, you are an insensitive prat."

"Agreed," Sirius replied, once more reaching over to James' plate for food. "And admitting it is the first step to becoming a master."

Peter's face lit up as if the sun had dawned on it. "He got that wrong, didn't he?" he asked Remus.

"I'm surrounded by imbeciles," Remus announced, putting his face in his hands.

*********

Lily ran as fast as her legs would carry her up staircases and through hidden doors until she finally came to a stop, heaving for breath, outside the Gryffindor Tower. "I--" she stopped, the need to slap herself in the head filling her mind. "I don't know the password," she muttered, her heart still beating frantically under her breast. The Prefects always changed the password after the holidays, and Lily was usually with someone who knew it.

The Fat Lady bristled . "Well, then you won't be getting in, will you?"

"Oh, you old hag!" Lily screeched. Her hands flew up to her mouth at once. "I'm sorry," she apologized urgently. "I've had a horrible day." The painting said nothing, only continued to glare at her dissapprovingly. Lily wanted to lay down and die from the shame of having said that out loud. But the damage was done. Feeling like her chest would explode, tears burned her eyes and ran down her face, Lily backed up to the opposite stone wall and slid down it, burying her face in her hands. I will not cry here, she told herself firmly. But that didn't stop the ache in her chest.

She needn't worry about sitting on the stone floor for the crowd from dinner to come up. Not a minute after she sat, the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs echoed through the hall. She had barely stood when Kassie came up, one hand on her chest. "Phew," she spat, laying her palm flat on the wall as if to hold herself up. "That is one heck of a long run. Who thought to stick us all the way up here, anyway?"

Lily tried to laugh, but it wasn't in her. Instead she waited as Kassie pretended to take huge gulps of air and pant. "Now," the black haired witch announced, standing up straight. "What is wrong with you?"

"Cut straight to the point, don't you?" Lily replied, raising an eyebrow. "Do you know the password?"

"Haven't a clu--"

"Honeydukes," another voice interrupted. Kassie and Lily both whipped their heads about to see James coming up the stairs, acting for all the world as if it was a pleasant walk. "At least one of us had sense enough to ask."

"You flatter yourself," Kassie retorted, following Lily through the hole into the common room.

"I'm not Sirius, you don't have to bite my head off," James snapped, following them. The portrait closed behind him. Lily continued through the common room and up the staircase to the girl's dorms. Kassie followed, and James, looking for all the world as if he were following too, started to climb the stairs. Kassie turned. "Not now," she said simpily and shut the door in his face.

James stared at the closed door for a full five minutes before going down to the common room to wait. He'd find out what was wrong with Lily and it didn't matter to him if he found out now, or in an hour.

On the other side of the oak door, Lily Evans had just collapsed onto her stomach across her bed and burst into tears. Perplexed, Kassie stood with her back to the door before it penetrated her mind what she was seeing. Then, as if someone had shoved her in the back, she rushed over to the bed and gave Lily a hug. Well, sort of. As best she could do with Lily laying down, anyway. "Shhh," she soothed, her mind buzzing with questions. "Whoever did it, I'll hex them," she said. Lily snorted into her mattress. "Go on, then, tell me."

For a moment the redhead didn't move, then slowly she sat up, wiping her nose across her arm and then rolling her eyes. "That was disgusting."

"Only if you were planning on eating your arm," Kassie replied easily. Kassie wasn't someone you could easily be upset around. Her first instinct was to make said person smile and those instincts were in full force now. She gave Lily a lopsided grin. "You weren't going to eat it, were you?"

Lily giggled through her tears. "What are you on about?"

Kassie shrugged, grinning. "I can't remember. It must have been a lie. So, what's wrong with you?"

Lily told Kassie everything from the moment Tim asked her for a walk. When she was done, she smiled and wipped the tear marks from her face. "How mad am I? I was just telling you the other night that I wasn't sure I wanted to be with him anymore. And here was the perfect way to get out, and it upset me." She sighed heavily and grabbed up her pillow, hugging it in her arms. "I guess it's just because he dumped me."

Kassie tried to look sympathetic, but she only wound up smirking. "He was a prat anyway."

"Kassie!"

"Well he was!" Kassie insisted, jumping off the bed and giving Lily a disdainful look. "He didn't like any of your friends, he expected you to stay at the Hufflepuff table with him. I could go on and on, Lil. You're better off without him."

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?" Lily asked skeptically.

"Yes and no," Kassie retorted. "It's the truth, but if it makes you feel better than I guess it serves two purposes, doesn't it?"

Lily rolled her eyes. Kassie had the oddest explanations for events in life. After that short bit of crying, though, Lily had to admit she felt a lot better. Freer, perhaps, knowing that now she could be herself without worrying if it was making Tim happy. Lily bit her bottom lip. "I was horrible to you, wasn't I?"

"No," Kassie replied instantly, like a good best friend would. Then, "Well, you did spend a horrible amount of time with Tim. And I did feel a little jealous that I didn't get to see you much. And you even ignored the Marauders," Kassie listed, ticking her list off her fingers as she went. "But no harm done."

"Thanks Kassie," Lily muttered, arching one eye brow. "You're a load of help."

Kassie sat down on the edge of Lily's bed, folding her hands in her lap. "I'm truthful, you know that. And he wasn't good for you. A boyfriend should like your friends. Or even pretend to. I'll never have a boyfriend who takes time away from my friends. Ever. Boyfriends come and go, but friends are forever."

Lily was glad she had already cried so she had a good explanation for the way her eyes teared up. The friendship between her and Kassie had always just been there, never had they spoken about it like this. But inside, Lily knew that Kassie was the sister she would never have in Petunia. This was what she was searching for when she had accepted her letter to Hogwarts. She was happy to have found it. Impulsively she reached over and hugged Kassie. "I love you."

Kassie hugged her back. "Don't get all sentimental on me, Lil, I can't stand it." They both laughed, Lily wiping her face. "Besides, you know I love you just like a sister."

Lily nodded, leaning back. "I promise not to do that again. Date someone who takes time away from my friends, I mean. You're right, friends are more important." Lily stood up, and when she did, caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. "Oh, I look a mess, don't I? I'm going to go wash my face, and then I think I want to eat."

"Good," Kassie muttered as Lily left the room. "Because I'm starving."

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

Sirius liked to stay out of other people's business. Well, enough out of it that they never suspected him of knowing it. So he sat like a good little wizard and ate his food (James' and Kassie's as well) all the while wondering what had upset Lily. And if this meant he could prank someone for it. After all, if he could pull pranks with no excuse, having one should be all the more fun, right?

Not twenty minutes after they had exited the hall at top speed, Lily, Kassie and James all returned. In that order. James was lagging behind the two witches, looking very confused about something. Kassie took her abandoned place at the Gryffindor table, Lily sitting beside her. James flopped down hard in his own chair, staring at Lily as if he expected her to spontaneously combust. Sirius said nothing, he didn't need to. Peter would do it for him right about, "So, what happened?" Now.

"Nothing," Kassie replied. She looked down at her plate. "SIRIUS!"

"What?!" Sirius replied, feigning as much innocence as he could possibly muster.

"You ate my food!" Kassie accused.

"How was I to know you were coming back?" Sirius retorted, looking indignant. "I couldn't let perfectly good food go to waste!"

"Sirius!" James suddenly yelled.

"What now?" Sirius whined, averting his eyes from Kassie to his best friend.

"You ate my food!"

"I have the strangest sense of deja-vu," Remus told Peter, dishing out pudding and watching the people in his year with interest. There was honestly no telling what would happen next.

"Hey! Leave that alone!" Sirius yelped as Kassie reached over the table and grabbed his piece of cake out from under his nose. She started to take a bite when Sirius yanked it back. "That's mine!"

"Now children," James warned, rubbing his temples.

"That didn't stop you from taking mine!" Kassie retorted, pulling the plate back, a bit hard, which caused the cake to fly off the plate and into her lap. "Sirius!"

"I didn't do--"

"Mr. Black and Miss Phillips, dare I ask what you are doing?" Professor McGonagall demanded, hands on her hips and sharp eyes glaring at two of her house's fourth years. "Besides making enough noise to wake the dead, and arguing like a pair of two year olds?!"

"She--"

"He--"

"Never mind!" McGonagall held her hands up to fend off all excuses or, in Sirius' case, bribery. "Detention, both of you. Perhaps if you work together you'll learn to respect one another."

As McGonagall stalked off, her green robes billowing out behind her, Kassie scowled darkly at Sirius and Lily shook her head. "Somehow I doubt that will work."

Kassie's responce was to stand up and stalk out of the Great Hall. Lily looked after her, down at her plate of untouched food and sighed deeply. She grabbed a roll, put her plate in front of Sirius and followed Kassie. Sirius gave a suprised look to the plate of food and grabbed his fork.

"How can you possibly still be hungry?" James asked skeptically.

"My Mum always said I had hollow legs. Obviously they're still hollow, so I'm attempting to fill them."

"Good luck with that, mate," Peter muttered as Sirius scooped up a fork of potatoes and put them in his mouth. "Did you find out what was wrong with Lily?" the short boy asked James, diverting his attention away from Sirius.

James shrugged. "No. Kassie told me in not so many words to bugger off, and when they came back down to the common room Lily was laughing and they proceeded to ignore me." James was silent for a moment, then suddenly he stood again. "I'm going to find out one way or another." And without another word of explanation he left.

********

It took Lily a few minutes to find Kassie. Finally she caught up with her in the charms corridor. She fell in step beside the black haired witch and for a few minutes neither spoke. Then suddenly Kassie lashed out like she was finishing an earlier rant; "Why? Why does he have to be this way? Why can't he leave me alone?"

By he, Lily assumed Kassie meant Sirius. She couldn't quite understand why Kassie was so upset because Sirius ate her food. Sirius ate their food on a regular basis, this wasn't a first time occurrence. While Lily tried to piece together the reason for Kassie's anger, they descended a set of stairs that lead to the hall where Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was located. Coming out of a door further down was the very last person Lily wanted to run into at the moment. She groaned slightly under her breath just as Severus Snape said; "Well, what do we have here?"

"Bugger off Snape," Kassie spat, pulling her wand out. "I'm in no mood to deal with you."

"Under less ideal circumstances I would have to admitt I wouldn't bother with two mudbloods like yourselves, however," Snape came forward still, his greasy black hair shining in the torch light. "You're not a very well liked person in the Slytherin house because of your... unfortunate meeting with Bellatrix Black. In fact, there are people outside of this school, even, who are not pleased with you."

"If you're going to make a point, I suggest you get to it," Kassie spat, her own wand in hand. "I'll need to get upstairs soon and wash off the grime from having been in the same area as you for too long."

"Fools," Snape hissed, so low that if he hadn't approached them they wouldn't have heard. "If you embarrass one Slytherin, the entire house will be down on you. And I believe I would like to be the first to extend our anger--"

"No."

Severus pulled his wand back and glanced, shocked, at the person coming through a doorway to his right. Bellatrix Black was wearing her house robes, her wand in hand. Her long black hair was falling down her shoulders, and her eyes were heavy made up, making them appear almost cat like. "No," she repeated, softly this time so that it sounded almost like a purr. "I have bigger plans for Kassandra."

Lily felt her heart beat quicken, but she swallowed her panic. She may not know any dark magic, but she knew enough defensive magic that she could most likely hold her own against the likes of Bellatrix Black. Or at least get away. She was betting on the last part because everyone knew that Bellatrix was just pure evil. And that Snape came to Hogwarts knowing more curses than most seventh years.

Kassie was breathing deeply. "Why bigger plans, Trixie? Are you too big a coward to take me on in a proper duel?"

Small red blotches were just visiable on Bellatrix's forehead, but her voice was calm. "You have been duly warned, Kassandra. You'd best watch your back." She motioned for Snape to move, and with a flicker of annoyance on his face, he threw a vicious look to Kassie and Lily and left the hall. Bellatrix smirked at the two Gryffindors before stalking off herself.

Kassie's eyes were narrowed and still staring at the space that Bellatrix and Severus had just occupied. Her hand was sweaty around the handle of her wand, but she managed not to drop it when she put it away. "I ought to--"

"No!" Lily said, grabbing onto Kassie's robes in case the taller girl bolted after the Slytherin's. "We can't follow them, there is no telling how many more of their house is in that room." Lily stared, pleadingly at Kassie, whose gaze was still rooted to the door. "Come on, let's just get out of here."

Lily tugged on Kassie's robes to make her move and the two of them headed back towards Gryffindor tower. As their footsteps dissappeared James Potter removed his invisability cloak and stuffed it in his pocket. His wand was still in hand, and his blood pressure was surely sky high. His first thought was to barge into that classroom and curse every last Slytherin but even he wasn't such a fool. He couldn't take a group of Slytherins and he knew it. But that didn't make him feel one ounce better about the threat against Kassie and Lily. Determinedly he headed off the opposite direction.

*********

"We've got to talk," James said urgently upon arriving at the Gryffindor common room where Sirius, Peter and Remus were sitting by a window. The three wizards looked up in surprise and Peter's queen let out a string of profanity at having the chess game interrupted. Remus knocked her off the board.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked. Sirius, who had been leaning back on the back two legs of his chair, sat forward, his eyes intense.

"Not here," James said, glancing around at the crowded common room. "Is Mark upstairs?"

"I don't think so," Sirius replied.

"Come on, then," James instructed. He left no room for more questions, only bounded up the stairs to the dorm he shared with his three friends and Mark Johnson. He searched around for a moment and satisfied that no one else was present in the room, shut the door behind his three friends. Everything he had heard from Snape and Black's mouth kept repeating in his head, added in with the memory of how stark white Lily's face had gone when the threats were being made. James started pacing the floor while Sirius, Remus and Peter watched him, slightly amused.

"What is it, James? Does Lily have another boyfriend we need to run off?" Sirius asked, laughing at his own joke. Peter sniggered but Remus "shhed" them and looked back at James, who had stopped in front of them.

"I followed Lily and Kassie under my invisibility cloak," he started. Sirius began to say something but Remus put his arm out to silence him. "They ran into Snape and your favorite cousin in the first floor corridor." Sirius had stopped smiling and Remus finally let his arm down. "Black is planning something, I think the entire house is. Because of what happened with Kassie. And they'll target Lily because she's her best friend."

Sirius, his wand suddenly in hand, marched towards the door but was pulled back by James and Remus. He tried to brush them off, but the two boys together were stronger and sat him back on the bed. "I know how you feel, Sirius," James said. "But we can't just barge into the Slytherin Common room and curse the entire house."

"Says who?" Sirius growled.

"We need to think this out," Remus said wisely, sitting down next to Sirius in case the former decided to jump up and start throwing curses at their rival house members. "What were you thinking, James?"

James again started pacing, stopping only to run his hands through his hair and then start pacing again. "Well, obviously we need to make sure that the girls aren't in harms way. And I mean all of the fourth year girls. I'm sure the Slytherins will attack any of them, and the girls usually stay together between classes."

"Let's just go tell them that we are going to stick around them for a while," Peter suggested.

"No!" James said, stopping and turning on Peter so abruptly that the smaller boy jumped. "No. Lily and Kassie don't know I heard, remember? I was using the invisibility cloak."

"Well, we'll just have to keep an eye on them without them knowing it," Remus suggested.

"Or we can just burst into the Slytherin common rooms and rid the school of a bunch of pra--"

"I agree, Remus," James said, over riding Sirius' voice. "We'll just have to make sure they don't know we are following them. Because I have a feeling that they would be pretty mad if they knew that I was following them, and over heard, and then didn't think they could handle themselves."

"If that stupid cousin of mine puts one hand on Kassie, I'll--"

"Relax mate," James said, giving a surprised look at the venom on Sirius' face. "We'll take care of them. All of them," he added, noting how Sirius' main concern seemed to be Kassie. The urge to tease him about it came over James, before he realized he was in no position to be doing so. Besides, there would be plenty of time to remind Sirius about his crush on Kassie later.

Remus and Peter nodded their agreement, and then, as if someone had slapped him, Peter jumped up. "So, eh, where are they now?"

"Oy!" Sirius groaned and jumped up. Only this time James, Remus and Peter were right behind him.

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

With the speed that only rivalled the previous year, time seemed to pick up after the Christmas holidays were over. Febuary came, much unwanted, and froze the grounds, making Care of Magical Creatures more like pure torture. Potions wasn't much better in the bitterly cold dungeons and heating charms were in demand in Charms class for the younger students.

But for Lily Evans and Kassandra Phillips, they had other things to occupy their time. Usually the two girls managed to run into the Marauders at meal times, in class and in the common room. And even though that was a lot, it wasn't overly worrying. They led their lives and the Marauders made the Slytherin's lives a living hell. It was just the way things were. But suddenly the two girls started noting that they ran into the Marauders a lot. To the point that both of them had voiced their opinion that they were being followed. At first they figured it was a prank the boys were up to. But after a month and a half of watching their backs, still nothing came up amiss. But that didn't stop them from noticing they were being followed on a Friday the second week of March.

Lily and Kassie hurried down the steps of their dormitory, Kassie stuffing books in her bag. They had over slept (it was completely Alexis' fault for not waking them up the fourth time) and breakfast was surely over. Kassie was complaining loudly that she was starving when Lily came to a dead halt in front of her, nearly making the black haired witch fall down the remaining stairs. "James?"

James Potter was standing at the portrait hole, watching the staircase intently. When Lily addressed him, a look that bordered relief flashed across his face before it was gone so fast that Lily couldn't be sure she had seen it at all. "I-eh-forgot my Potions book," he blurted and sprinted up the boys staircase. Lily look at Kassie, who shrugged her shoulders and the two continued out the portrait hole and towards the dungeons.

Ten seconds later, though, James was back. He ran up beside them, looking for all the world as if he were running a marathon. Lily threw a sideways look at him, and then continued on. Kassie, however, quirked an eyebrow and gave James a second look. "Your book?" she asked by way of greeting.

"I must, eh, Sirius probably has it."

"And what would he do with it? His homework?" Lily retorted.

James chocked out a hollow laugh. "Right, homework."

With no time to think about it, the three Gryffindors ran down the stairs and barely made it into the Potions dungeon room as the bell rang. Kassie and Lily took their normal places at the center of the room and James joined Sirius at the back just as Professor McClure came sweeping in. She dropped her book on the desk, glanced around to make sure her class was present and flipped the book open. "Turn to page two hundread and ninety-one. Today we will be making a weaker version of the truth serum, Veritaserum."

As she wrote the potion ingredients on the board, Kassie was glancing back at the table James and Sirius were sharing. Just above the scratch of the chalk board she could make out Sirius asking James where his potions book was. She rolled her eyes and hissed at Lily; "They don't have a book between the two of them."

"Then what was he doing?" Lily whispered back, copying down the instructions and listening with half an ear.

Kassie shrugged. "Lil, do you ever get the feeling that they are following us?"

"I do," another voice hissed and Lily and Kassie turned to see Alexis had been listening. "Peter and Remus followed us to breakfast this morning, to the toilets and then to class."

"They went in the loo?" Kassie asked, accidentally out loud. Professor McClure cleared her throat and Kassie bowed her head sheepishly. "Er, sorry Professor." As soon as the teacher had once more turned around, Lily and Kassie turned to the table behind them again.

Alexis shook her head. "No, just followed us down the hall, walked away when we went in and was walking back when we came out." Alexis tilted her head a bit, sending a piece of her blonde hair across her face that she blew away again. "Come to think of it, they were there when we went yesterday, too."

"Ladies, if you are done, we shall begin our potions now," Professor McClure said. Lily and Kassie turned to see the head of the Slytherin house standing in front of their desk. They nodded. "Five points from Gryffindor. Now--"

The Slytherins chuckled just loud enough for Lily to hear and she turned to glare at them. When she did, however, she was confronted with a death glare from Bellatrix Black. Undaunted, she glared back and then turned in her seat again to begin her assignment.

In the back of the room, James and Sirius had also noted the looks Bellatrix was giving the Gryffindor girls. As soon as they were free to begin brewing their potion, James spoke up. "I think something is going to happen."

"You've said that every day for nearly two months," Sirius pointed out, slicing up his bat wings and throwing them in the cauldron. "What's so different from today?"

"I don't know, just a feeling," James replied, looking up again. Bellatrix was talking in whispered tones to Rodolphus Lestrange, and occasionally glancing in Kassie and Lily's direction. Which, had he thought about it, was also the direction of the board their instructions were written on. But James only seen one thing and his gut tightened. "If they were going to attempt something, I wish they'd go ahead and get it over with. I'm tired of all this waiting."

Sirius said nothing, only nodded an affirmative and continued to throw potion ingredients in their cauldron. At the table next to them, Peter was biting his nails uneasily and looking at the pink fluid that was swirling in his and Remus' cauldron. Remus blew out a frustrated sigh. "Bicorn horn first, Peter. What did you throw in?"

Peter glanced uneasily at the potion bottles in front of him, at the cauldron and said, "I d--" He never got the chance to finish, at that moment there was a sizzle and then BOOM!

"Mr. Pettigrew!" McClure gasped, rushing over among all the sniggering and laughs from the Slytherins. She threw them a hasty glance that they ignored. With a wave of her wand, the potion dissappeared and the smoke lifted. Peter's face was black with soot and there were a few burns on his forehead. Remus emerged from under the table, looking no worse for the wear, if only a bit nervous. "That is the fourth cauldron this week!" McClure gasped, looking as if she wanted to pull her hair out. Peter continued to stare at her. She sighed, looking a bit resigned. "Mr. Lupin, please take him to the infirmary," she muttered. The Slytherins was bursting with concealed glee. "If the rest of you are finished you can hand your potion in!" she snapped. There was a great shuffle of moving clothes, potion bottles and clinking of glasses as the class hurried to finish their potions.

James and Sirius shook their heads, half in amusement and half in pity for their friends. At the sound of the bell they hurried to put their own potion in a glass tube and turn it in. James was storing their ingredients when he happened to look up just as Bellatrix Black knocked into Kassie, making her drop her vial onto the floor. The shattering glass caught Professor McClure's attention and she put her face in her hands. "Who, I ask, was the idiot who put Slytherins and Gryffindors in the same class?"

"Hear hear!" Sirius applauded. McClure shot him a nasty look which he grinned at.

The Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin House waved her hand toward the mess at Kassie's feet. "Miss Black and Miss Phillips, you can clean that mess up. Everyone else move out. That means you, too, Mr. Potter." McClure stood, shooing the students out the door. Lily shot Kassie a worried look as she was forced out of the room. Sirius and James tried to stay behind, claiming they wanted to help clean up, but McClure would hear none of it.

As the dungeon door slammed in the boys faces Sirius let out a string of profanity and slammed his fist against the stone wall.

--End Chapter 30.