Lily Evans: A History

Chapter 49 - Backed into a corner
-----------@~*~*~*~*~

Lily Evans had thoroughly enjoyed her summer holiday. The time she spent with her parents, especially as Petunia had made a point to avoid coming over since Lily was home, had been wonderful. Although Vernon claimed they didn't visit because Petunia hadn't been feeling well. It seemed her pregnancy was making her tired and very sick more often than not. Lily didn't know if this was the truth, or if that was Petunia's reasoning for not visiting.

The last day of July brought school letters and O.W.L. results. Lily awoke that morning to find Kassie jumping around the room, making all sorts of odd happy noises. "EIGHT! I GOT EIGHT!" Kassie jumped up on Lily's bed, effectively waking the red head up and pitching her nearly off the side of the bed. "Open yours! Let’s see what you got!"

"Is it our O.W.L. results?" Lily asked dumbly, taking the offered envelope from Kassie and staring at her name written out in emerald green ink.

"What else did you think I was talking about?" Kassie asked curiously, dropping down onto Lily's bed and nearly causing Lily to go flying off the other side again. Kassie pulled her legs up under her and watched Lily expectantly. "Go on, open it!"

Lily slowly did as she was told, her heart racing. It seemed to take forever to get the envelope open and the parchment out. The top of the parchment had the Ministry emblem on it, followed by names of the Minister of Magic, Ministry heads, then the examiners that had given the tests.

Dear Miss Evans,

The following are the scores which you obtained during your Ordinary Wizarding Levels taken at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you should have any questions, or feel there is a mistake, please contact us--

Lily skipped down, not caring about who she would contact if there was a mistake. The attached page had her results:

Astronomy
Level: O
Grade: Exceeds Expectations

Care of Magical Creatures
Level: O
Grade: Exceeds Expectations

Charms
Level: O
Grade: Outstanding

Defence Against the Dark Arts
Level: O
Grade: Outstanding

Divination
Level: O
Grade: Exceeds Expectations

Herbology
Level: O
Grade: Exceeds Expectations

History of Magic
Level: O
Grade: Acceptable

Potions
Level: O
Grade: Outstanding

Transfiguration
Level: O
Grade: Exceeds Expectations



Lily read the results again, just to be sure she hadn't misread, then finally she allowed herself to smile. "I don't believe it," she whispered. Kassie looked asx though she would die soon if Lily didn't say. Just as she opened her mouth to demand what the results was, Lily laughed heartily. "Nine. I got nine!" And without waiting for Kassie's reaction, Lily jumped off her bed and took off downstairs as fast as she could go. "MUM! DAD! I GOT NINE OWLS!"

Christine Evans had already been bombarded with Kassie that morning. The black haired witch had come down the stairs, screaming that she got eight O.W.L.s and then back up them to wake Lily. So she decided to save Lily's vocal cords and meet her at the bottom of the stairs, but when she came out of the kitchen she knocked straight into Sirius. "Good morning Chris," Sirius said, kissing her cheek. "I'm here for breakfast."

Christine stood, flabbergasted, in the corridor staring at Sirius. He was still in his pyjamas and apparently had come through the fireplace. "I--" she started to say when suddenly Lily came barrelling down the stairs, Kassie on her heels. "I GOT NINE OWLS!" she screamed, nearly in their ears. Lily jumped the bottom step just as Sirius came around the corner and ploughed straight into him. Kassie, who was so close behind Lily that she didn't have time to stop, shoved into the redhead, sending her and Sirius onto the floor.

Christine crossed her arms and shook her head dejectedly at the pile of children on her floor. "Owwww...." Sirius muttered from the bottom of the pile. "Could you two get off me?"

"Merlin! I should have been here five minutes ago," another voice suddenly interrupted. Four sets of eyes turned to see James standing in the doorway of the living room, holding a piece of parchment in his hands.

Kassie gingerly moved off Lily, then helped her up off Sirius. Sirius still lay on the floor, staring at everyone's feet. "That hurt," he announced before getting up, shaking his arms and legs out to make sure they still worked.

Lily looked like she was going to say something, but changed her mind and eagerly handed her letter to her mother. "I got nine O.W.L.s!"

"So I heard," Christine laughed, taking the parchment and scanning it over. She hugged Lily tightly. "I'm so proud!"

"Be proud of me, too!" Sirius whined, fumbling with a piece of parchment stuffed in his pocket. "I got nine, too!"

"Me three!" James piped up.

Christine laughed. "I'm proud of you all, then. Is everyone staying for breakfast? I should put more bacon on if that's the case."

"I am!" Sirius said first. "I have no food at my place."

"Go to the shops then," Kassie told him.

"It was easier to come over here," Sirius informed her. He glanced at the parchment in Kassie's hand, but she folded it and stuck it in her dressing gown pocket. "How many did you get?"

Every eye in the hall looked at Kassie and she turned a little red. "Eight," she said in a small voice.

"That's great!" Sirius said very enthusiastically, hugging her around the waist and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"What'd you miss?" James asked. Lily could have kicked him.

"Divination," Kassie replied, shrugging. She brightened up, laughing a little. "I guess the Professor that was testing me really wasn't going to marry a large black dog." For some reason this made James and Sirius blanch before nearly falling to the floor laughing. Lily and Kassie threw each other curious looks and shrugged.

----------

The summer holiday flew past very quickly. Lily enjoyed herself so much that she almost wished that August hadn't slipped by so fast. Before she knew it her sixteenth birthday had arrived and Lily awoke to stare at the rain falling outside the window. She sighed heavily. "What a dreary day," she muttered, pushing the blanket off her legs and sitting up on the side of the bed. Her statement was punctuated by a streak of lightening splitting the darkened sky. "Great."

Lily left her room, tying her robe belt as she went. Normally she would get showered and dressed before going downstairs, but with the weather as it was she didn't feel like it. When she arrived in the kitchen it was to find Daniel sitting behind the newspaper, Christine standing at the stove and a pile of presents on the table. "Good morning," Lily greeted, sitting at the table and pulling the coffee pot towards her.

Daniel peeked out from behind his newspaper and raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "When did you start drinking coffee?" he asked.

Lily shrugged. "Today." She looked out the window at the rain and heaved a huge sigh.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," Christine said, placing a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her and kissing her cheek. "I can't believe my baby girl is sixteen."

"We're getting old, Chris," Daniel said, chuckling. Christine clipped him around the ear and Lily giggled. "Sixteen. Gosh, you old thing, what are your plans for today?"

"Well," Lily sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. "I thought I'd drag my best friend out of bed and then take it from there."

"What are we doing after that?" Kassie asked, stumbling into the room. She wore pyjama pants and a t-shirt that looked suspiciously like Sirius' - it nearly came to her knees. Her black hair was sticking up in several directions, but she either didn't notice or didn't care. Kassie poured herself a cup of coffee and dumped a huge amount of sugar in it. "Oh, and happy birthday Lily."

"Thanks," Lily grinned, tucking into her food.

After eating her breakfast, Lily opened her presents. She was admiring the beautiful cashmere jumper her mother had bought her when suddenly there was a shout from the living room. Everyone in the kitchen stopped, ears perked. Kassie and Lily's gazes meet over the table and Kassie jumped up. "I'll check. I think I know that voice."

Lily started to follow, but decided against it, choosing instead to open the present Gabrielle and Kathleen had sent. Kassie returned a few minutes later, scratching the side of her head and wearing a dazed sort of expression. "Who was it?" Lily asked.

"Sirius," she replied, reclaiming her seat at the table and picking her fork up. "He wanted to know whether it was ok if Remus brought someone along. I told him yes." Kassie nearly had the fork of food in her mouth when she seemed to realise what she had said. "If that's not ok, I can call him back..."

"Fine with me," Lily replied, shrugging. "I wonder--"

Kassie grinned, jumped up and ran back into the living room. Lily had the same thought at the same time and jumped up to follow her. When she got there Kassie had already thrown floo powder into the flames and was waiting for someone to answer at Sirius' flat. It was a few minutes until suddenly Sirius stuck his head through the flames, shaving cream on his face. "Yes?"

Kassie blinked, then broke into a fit of giggles, leaving Lily to talk to Sirius. Lily smiled, fighting laughter. "Eh, who is Remus bringing with him today?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to, Lily. And what, pray tell, is so funny, future Mrs. Black?" Sirius asked Kassie, who had managed to bring herself back up to eye level.

Kassie pointed at him. "You look so sweet with that on your face."

Sirius grinned. "I do, don't I? I thought about growing a goatee, what do you think?"

Kassie's smile faded into a thoughtful expression. Lily rolled her eyes. "You could try it," Kassie replied, tilting her head and looking at him through half closed eyes. "I think it might work..."

"Ok. I got to go finish getting dressed. See you in a bit. Love you. Happy birthday Lily."

Before Lily could reply, he was gone. Kassie sat back on her heels, still staring at the fire. Lily glanced at her. "Kassie?"

"Hmmm?"

"What are you doing?"

Kassie looked up, her lips curling into a grin. "He's so adorable!" Lily smirked and got up, leaving Kassie to follow. She had barely made it upstairs when Kassie caught up. The black haired witch walked dreamily into Lily's bedroom behind her and plopped down on the bed.

Lily cast her a sideways glance as she pulled out her clothes. "So, future Mrs. Black, huh?"

Kassie's face turned red very fast, but her grin was contagious. "He's just playing."

"Really?"

The black haired witch grinned again. "Yes. But it sounds good nevertheless, doesn't it?" she sighed, laying back on the bed and staring at the ceiling. "Mrs. Kassandra Black. Ha! My aunt would have apoplexy!" Lily only shook her head and continued digging through her drawer when suddenly Kassie said; "What about Lily Roberts, hmm? Sound good to you?"

"I think marriage is more than how your first name sounds with someone else’s surname," Lily said, looking horrified. "I'm not sure it has a nice ring, though. I can't see myself with Will forever."

Kassie had a brooding expression on her face as she studied Lily, then she jumped up. "You're absolutely right. Marriage is more than last names." Lily turned to go out of the room when Kassie added, "It means snogging anytime you want."

Lily thought she was going to fall over. "Don't you do that anyway?" she asked seriously then took off at a quick trot out of the room just as Kassie huffed in indignation and pitched a pillow at the spot where Lily had been standing.

"You're just jealous!" she called. Lily shut the bathroom door in response.

-------------

After a rather interesting morning in the Evans' house, Kassie and Lily flooed to the Leaky Cauldron to meet up with Sirius, Will, Remus and whoever he was bringing. Well, it was stupid to pretend they hadn’t guessed. But it was still a pleasant shock when the door of the pub opened and Madison came in, followed by Remus. She looked so ecstatically happy that Lily found herself grinning for absolutely no reason. Lily stood up, hugged Madison briefly then reclaimed her seat next to Will at the table. "Well, now that we are all here, I can ask this again. Do we eat here, or somewhere in London?"

"We're going into muggle London?" Remus asked, looking slightly surprised.

Lily nodded. "I thought we could spend half a day in London, then the other half in Diagon Alley. I want to get my school stuff while I'm here."

"We are not talking about school today!" Kassie suddenly said, standing up. "I say we eat in London. I, for one, have only seen muggle London in passing and I'm very curious about it all."

"I've walked down a few streets," Sirius admitted, glancing out the door like he expected a muggle to come wandering in at any second. "And flown my bike overhead, of course. But my mum always kept to Diagon Alley."

"Same here," Remus said. Will nodded.

"Then let's go," Lily said, leading the way out the door. "I'm starving."

Their half a day in London ended up being pretty much the entire day. There were a couple of times during the day that Lily and Kassie thought they could make good use of silencing charms on their respective boyfriends. Lily had never seen this side of Will. He was nearly as bad as Sirius. Each of them would be walking along, then suddenly gawk and point at something, trying to guess what it did. Lily nearly envied Madison as Remus, although curious, had enough brains about him to ask questions quietly. Sirius and Will didn't have enough brains between the two of them to keep quiet in front of muggles.

After visiting a few shops on Oxford Street, eating in Covent Garden, visiting the Tower of London and then a cinema in Leicester Square, the group came back to the Leaky Cauldron. It was nearly five o'clock, so they ate dinner before heading into Diagon Alley to buy school supplies. Lily thought she would get away from this day unscathed by any surprises when suddenly Kassie stood up and motioned for the barman to come over. To Lily's horror nearly every person who worked in the pub followed the barman to their table. He placed a birthday cake down, waved his hand over the candles to make them jump into life and said, "Now, I understand someone here is sixteen today?"

Lily wanted to hide under the table. She kept shrinking back against Will, but he wasn't helping, if anything he was pushing her forward again. "It's this charming witch right here!" he announced. Lily made a mental note to hit him for that later.

The pub workers broke out into "Happy Birthday" and all of Lily's friends joined in. She had an acute feeling this was Kassie's payback as the black haired witch looked entirely too smug as they finished. "Make a wish!" she urged, grinning.

Lily closed her eyes, willing an image to come forward of what she wanted. But nothing came. Feeling a little silly for taking so long, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was James Potter.

She blinked, unsure if she was imagining him or not; and not sure what to think of it if she was. But when she reopened her eyes, he was still standing there among the waiters. "Hurry up already!" Kassie urged. "Are you wishing for everything on Earth?"

Lily hurriedly blew the candles out. Beside her Will asked, "What did you wish for?"

Lily hardly heard him. Instead she said, "James?"

Remus' eyes grew huge, Sirius sniggered but Kassie said, "Hi James. Fancy seeing you here."

Understanding dawned on the group, and the rest of the table looked to where Lily was staring. James gave them all a lopsided grin. "Hi everyone. Sorry if I'm interrupting."

Everyone stared at him for a moment, then Lily finally realised he was waiting for a reply. "Not at all," she muttered. "Why don't you join us?"

James ran one hand through his hair, his other buried deep in his jean pocket. "I can't, really, I have to meet someone..." His voice trailed off, his eyes locking with Lily's. She swallowed. "But I wanted to say happy birthday, Lily."

"Thank you," Lily replied. James gave a little wave, promised to drop by Sirius' flat later and walked off. Lily felt like a sudden weight had been dropped on her shoulders. She looked around at everyone at the table. "That was odd," she noted, trying to keep her voice neutral and uninterested.

"I agree," Remus said.

Sirius waved them off. "Nah, he's just all moody because Olivia dumped him for Patrick Mundame."

"Crikey, I think that's the first girl to dump him, isn't it?" Kassie asked. Lily couldn't help but hear the sarcasm in her voice.

Apparently Sirius heard it, too. "So? That doesn't make it any better for him. He really liked her."

"Oh, yeah. Her and Celeste, Hestia, Genevieve, Katrina... Did I miss anyone?" Kassie asked, ticking the list off her fingers.

Lily agreed with every word Kassie said, but after seeing the look on Sirius' face, she was very glad she hadn't said it aloud. Sirius looked like he was trying very hard to control himself. "That doesn't make him a bad person."

"I'm not saying it does. I'm saying it's about time someone dumped him instead of him leaving another girl crying about after him."

Sirius turned in his seat to face Kassie and Lily stood up. "Eh-I'm sure that whatever row you two have planned for today would be interesting to watch, but I'd like to get to Gringotts before it closes," Lily said. Will, Remus and Madison stood as well. But Kassie and Sirius didn't.

"We are not having a row, we are having a difference of opinion," Kassie said evenly, finally getting up.

"It's only your opinion that is differing," Sirius shot back, also shoving his chair away from the table.

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but Remus beat her to it. "Enough. Both of you. Today is Lily's birthday. You can fight tomorrow."

Sullenly the six of them headed to the back of the pub. Sirius tried to put his arm around Kassie, but she shrugged him off. "What was that for?"

"Apparently I'm having another difference of opinion. You seem to think I want you hanging all over me at the moment. I disagree."

The brick wall couldn't have opened fast enough. Kassie went through it, Sirius trailing along behind her, looking half angry and half amused. Lily shook her head and looked up. "And it's raining again," she muttered. Will squeezed her hand as she drew her cloak hood up around her head.

They barely made it to Gringotts before it closed. Lily withdrew some gold from the account her parents had set up for her and once everyone else had obtained their money they headed back into the noise of Diagon Alley. Lily had a pretty good idea of which subjects she was going to take from her meeting with Professor McGonagall, so she bought all the books for her mandatory subjects, as well as Muggles Studies, Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. She replenished her potions supplies, bought new parchment, ink and quills and a couple of sets of new robes since hers had actually been a bit too short for the better part of the previous year.

Kassie and Sirius quarrelled back and forth for the following few hours after leaving the Leaky Cauldron. Kassie refused to say that she hadn't meant whatever Sirius thought she had been implying about James. And Sirius kept insisting that she was wrong, and he would never say that about her best friend. Kassie pointed out that her best friend wasn't trying to snog the better half of the population at Hogwarts, which caused Sirius to get angry again.

Lily left them to it and she and Will talked to Remus and Madison. Remus had never been one to show a huge amount of public affection, even with Alexis. But the small things made Madison so happy that Lily felt herself grinning just to watch. Remus would open the door for Madison, carry her bags and was nearly always holding her hand. In return for her new found joy, Madison talked more than Lily had heard her talk in a very long time. She laughed openly, talked freely and just seemed very happy over all. Lily was very glad for her, though she was dying to find out how it had all come about. The last she had heard, Madison was afraid to even talk to Remus.

The shops were closing by the time they finished shopping. Will said he had forgotten something at the Apothecary so he ran back to get it, leaving Lily, Remus and Madison standing at in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies waiting for him. Sirius and Kassie were a little way down the road, apparently still in the middle of their "difference of opinion". The rain that had been on and off for most of the day was on again and the dark clouds caused the day to darken prematurely. The wind was picking up and Lily felt a cold chill run down her spine.

"I wish Will would hurry," she muttered, watching a witch and her children run through the rain and wind swept streets and towards the Leaky Cauldron. They were standing under the overhang of the shop, but the rain was falling so hard that they were being misted by smaller drops. "I'm freezing."

"It feels like it's getting colder by the second," Madison muttered, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. Beside her Remus went oddly stiff, staring towards the other end of Diagon Alley with narrowed eyes.

The clouds over them swirled and the wind blew harder, causing many of the nearby street lights to go out. They were suddenly thrown into a pitch blackness that startled Lily. Kassie and Sirius seemed to have stopped arguing suddenly. "Lumos!" Remus said, his wand tip flaring. The pale yellow light barely cast anything more than shadows on their faces. "Something is wrong here," he muttered, moving closer to Madison and looking up and down the street. “Very wrong.” A streak of lightening above them made Kassie squeak in alarm. Sirius lit his wand and taking their cue from the boys, Lily, Madison and Kassie did the same.

Lily could now see her breath in the air in front of her. The rain was pelting down at a steep angle now, completely soaking them. Remus tried to open the door to the shop they were standing in front of, but it was locked. The cold grew deeper and Lily suddenly felt it as though it were a weight pressing down on her body. All along the alleyway, witches and wizards were coming out of the shops, lighting their wands and looking up and down the road curiously.

"It's so cold," Lily muttered. Her entire body was shaking madly. "What's that?"

Everyone turned to where Lily was pointing. Down the alleyway, back toward Gringotts, there were cloaked figures moving about. The five of them watched, their nerves growing more and more on edge. And not without reason. The dark alley was suddenly split with a flash of green light, followed by several screams. Sirius cursed colourfully, then yelled "RUN!" at the top of his voice. Lily wasted no time, she took off at a dead run, Madison and Remus right behind her.

Chaos followed the green curse. Wizards and witches were screaming, running out of shops and through the streets. Lily ducked behind a dustbin in front of Ollivanders just as a red curse lit up the sky next to her. She squeaked, hurriedly putting her wand out. There was a shout, then someone grabbed her. Lily opened her mouth to scream when a hand closed over her mouth and she was dragged backwards into someone. She struggled frantically until suddenly a very calm, and very familiar voice said in her ear, "It's me. Stop moving, someone is very near."

Lily stopped struggling, but her body was convulsing madly. James took his hand away from Lily's mouth, but didn't remove his other arm from around her waist. Lily peered up at him. A flash of lightening split the sky and she could tell he was looking at something down the alleyway that she couldn't see, hidden as they were behind the dustbin. His eyes narrowed and suddenly he pointed his wand and said, "Stupefy!" A flash of red light left James' wand, followed by an "oof!" as someone went down. James backed into Ollivanders, tugging Lily with him. Once inside they crouched down under the window. "Are you ok?" James asked, his eyes not leaving the window.

"Yeah," Lily replied. She swallowed. "What's going on?"

"Death Eaters," James replied, moving his head to the side to better see out of the window. "And dementors."

Lily had no idea what a dementor was, but she didn't get a chance to ask, either. There was a shout, followed by a crash as the window above them shattered, raining glass down on them. James yanked on Lily's arm and they ran behind the counter just as the door of the shop burst open and two Death Eaters came in. James peeked around the edge of the counter and then settled back down next to Lily. "There are two," he whispered directly in her ear, his breath coming in quick gasps. "You can stun?" Lily nodded. "On the count of three, then." James swallowed and Lily tightened her grip on her wand handle. "One… two… THREE!"

Lily and James both jumped up just enough to take aim and shouted "STUPEFY!" at the same time. Both Death Eaters fell and James shoved Lily down while he looked around. "Someone would have heard that. We have got to move."

There was no time to discuss their actions. James grabbed Lily's hand and practically dragged her out of the back door of the shop and into a small alleyway. Screams and curses filled their ears from the street and the cold seem to be paralysing now. Lily felt fear trying to consume her, but she managed to keep it at bay, barely. The fact that James was standing so close to her, looking so calm and so in control, helped her to keep her head. His grip on her hand tightened. "We can't stay here. We have to keep moving. Come on."

Lily felt like she was in a dream. Everything seemed to move too quickly and with such an unreal quality that she felt as though any second she would wake up and find that the entire thing was nothing more than a nightmare. She and James ducked behind another dustbin, the sound of more curses reaching their ears. "Why here?" Lily whispered, feeling terror trying to take hold of her. "James - Sirius, Kassie, Remus, Madison, Will... they are all out there somewhere."

"Sirius and Remus can take care of themselves," James said without any real conviction in his voice. "Sirius is a damn good dueller. He'll take care of--"

James' voice was cut off by someone very near them screaming, "KASSIE! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" There was a loud scream followed by the sound of Sirius cursing loudly.

James crouched down, easing his way out from behind the dustbin. "IMPEDIMENTA!"

There was a flare of light, more cursing and then Sirius rolled out of the way of another curse and nearly into Lily's lap. Without a word to her he jumped up and ran back into the street. Lily, unable to do nothing any longer, followed his lead and left the cover of the dustbin.

In the street in front of Ollivanders, Sirius and James were duelling two Death Eaters. Lily was stunned at the sight. She had never seen curses flying so fast back and forth. The duelling club they had a school did nothing to prepare you for the reality of a real duel. But Sirius and James were holding their own, and Lily couldn't help but think that the spell work looked vaguely familiar to her. "WATCH OUT!"

Lily didn't have time to look at whatever was coming at her when suddenly James had grabbed her and both of them rolled into the small walk way between Ollivanders and the second-hand robes shop. There was a flash of green light over their heads and then a series of very loud popping noises in rapid succession filled the air, so rapid that Lily thought someone had pulled out a muggle machine gun.

The lights in the lampposts up and down Diagon Alley came back to life shortly thereafter and relieved, Lily glanced up to see Aurors appearing every few feet. James sat up, helping Lily to her feet. A blonde witch ran up to them, her wand held before her. "Are you two ok?"

"Yeah, I think so," James replied.

"Don't leave before we've spoken to you," she commanded and then ran on up the street.

"Come on," James said, hauling Lily to her feet. "Let's go and find everyone else."

The rain eased to a drizzle as James and Lily made their way back towards the Leaky Cauldron. After winning the duel with the Death Eater, Sirius had disappeared in the mass of wizards and witches in the streets. Lily stopped to help a young girl, maybe aged six by the looks of her, untangle herself from a pile of robes that looked as though they had been thrown out of the window of “Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions”. Her mother rushed up as Lily was helping her, grabbed her daughter and ran off without even saying thank you. The streets grew brighter as more and more lamps were lit, but it only caused the devastation to become more apparent. No shop had been left untouched. Windows were broken, dustbins thrown over, and shop supplies littered the streets. Wizards and witches were walking around looking dazed and scared, unsure of how, or why, this had happened.

James removed a broken bench from the middle of the road. For the first time it occurred to Lily that they were both under age and weren't allowed to use magic outside school. But it seemed like such a moot point at the moment that Lily couldn't give it more than a second's thought.

"James! Lily!"

Both of them turned to see Remus and Madison hurrying towards them. Remus had a cut across his forehead, but otherwise looked no worse for the wear. Madison was shaking madly, clutching her wand in one hand and Remus' hand in her other. They stopped just short of James and Lily. "You two ok?"

"Yeah, we're fine. You?" James asked, scanning a small crowd of wizards and witches that was passing. They didn't recognise anyone, though.

"We'll live. Have you seen Sirius or Kassie? The last time I saw Sirius he was blasting a dementor away from Kassie, but then I lost them."

"Sirius was down our way a few minutes ago, and I think Kassie was with him. But I don't know where they went." James scanned the alley, obviously hoping they would appear. "We'll have to look for them. Come on."

They found Will near the Leaky Cauldron being attended to by a Healer. He had a pretty deep gash on his side but he seemed completely unaware of it as he made his way towards Lily, immediately wrapping his arms about her. "Are you ok?" he demanded, ignoring the angry muttering of the Healer that was trying to mend his side.

Lily nodded, stepping back from him and looking at him worriedly. "What about you? What's this?" she asked, lifting his arm and checking his side.

"Nothing serious," Will replied, wincing as the Healer finally caught up to him.

"Be still or I'll have you sent straight to the hospital by port key, young man!" the Healer said sternly, jabbing her wand in Will's cut and causing him to yelp.

"We're going to go look for Kassie and Sirius, I'll be back," Lily promised, hurrying to catch up with James, Madison and Remus.

"Is he alright?" James asked quietly when Lily rejoined them.

Lily blinked at the odd tone of voice James was using. "Yeah, he will be. I--wait! Is that Kassie?"

Lily pointed to where a group of Healers were attending to someone on the ground. An Auror was holding back a girl with very familiar waist length black hair. Lily ran up ahead of the others just in time to see Kassie shove herself away from the Auror. He caught her arms easily and said something they couldn't hear. But what Kassie said back could be heard by anyone within a mile, "I DON'T CARE! LET ME GO!"

"Kassie!" Lily rushed past an Auror just as Kassie turned around. Her face was stark white in the light of the lamp post above them, a streak of blood running down the side of her cheek. She was half crying; but it was hard to tell if it was because of nerves or anger. "Merlin, Kassie, are you alright? Where’s Sirius?"

"I'll be ok," Kassie replied, glaring back at the Auror. "But he won't be in a minute." She turned, her hands waving around frantically in front of her. "Sirius," she gasped, her tears starting to fall. "He's hurt and they won't let me--"

"You need to calm down," the Auror said, his voice stern and without much pity. "Take her over there and let a Healer look at that cut," he said to Lily in a commanding tone.

It took Madison and Lily's combined efforts to move Kassie away from the spot she was standing. The Healer finally got her to sit down and while she was working on the various cuts Kassie had, the black haired witch started explaining what had happened. "Sirius and I hid in the ice cream parlour, but a dementor found us. Sirius used some charm - I didn't even know what it was - and made it go away. Then we ran back into the alley, trying to find you but a couple of Death Eaters found us. We fought them, and that's how I got hurt," she indicated her head. The Healer shoved some chocolate in her hand and Kassie took it, but didn't eat. "The Death Eaters were coming out of Knockturn Alley, and we kept running into them. Sirius and I fought a couple more, then I got hit with something, I don't know what. I remember seeing James and Sirius fighting with whoever hit me, then Sirius grabbed me and we headed back up this way. But…"; Kassie's voice started to sound slightly hysterical again and she got up, looking like she was getting ready to bolt back towards where the Healers were working on Sirius. "He got hit by a curse and…"

James rejoined them at that time and Lily hugged Kassie, trying to comfort her as best she could. In the four years she had known Kassie, she'd never seen her look like this. Any second Lily just knew her best friend was going to loose what little grip on sanity she had. Her eyes were wide and kept darting over to where Sirius was lying on the ground. "The Healers said they are going to move Sirius to Saint Mungo's. We can follow by floo," James informed them. "Kassie, are you going to be alright?"

Kassie looked at James like she wasn't entirely sure she knew who he was. Lily tugged on her arm. "Come on Kassie, let's go. I'm sure Sirius will be fine. Come on. He wouldn't want you to lose it like this."

Those words seem to have an effect on Kassie. Remus, Madison and James went on ahead of them while Lily stayed close to Kassie. The Healers had already left with Sirius, and Kassie was looking more and more like she was going to go into shock. Just as they were waiting in the line that had formed at the fireplace inside the Leaky Cauldron, Kassie grabbed Lily's arm, her eyes wide. "Lily," she gasped, her voice ragged and low. "There's something... something I’ve got to tell you. But you can't tell anyone."

Lily nodded, holding her breath. Kassie looked the calmest Lily had seen her since Sirius had been injured. The black haired witch glanced around, her voice lowering, her hands shaking as they held onto Lily's arm. "I-" she swallowed, tears filling her eyes, "Lily, that Death Eater that attacked Sirius... I-I killed him."

--End Chapter 49.