Lily Evans: A History

Lily Evans; A History

Chapter 59- Home again

By: Bethany

~*~*~*~*~

Throughout the past six years Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been tainted with varying pranks, charms and general mischief. Without a doubt, Professor McGonagall felt she had seen more trouble from a certain four students than she had the rest of her entire teaching career. Though it appeared that James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew may be maturing, every now and then something came up. So it stood to reason when she rushed over to the scene in the Gryffindor stands that the scream she heard was merely another prank. When she arrived however, she found a sight not at all as she had expected. Obviously dating James was rubbing off on Lily because the red-headed girl was standing in front of her friends with her wand in hand, and Kassie was slumped over on another girl.

"James told me to hex her if I had to." Lily looked at Remus in a way that suggested he had asked the question she was answering. "I had to."

"Miss Evans, dare I ask?" Professor McGonagall came a bit closer to where Remus and Lily had laid Kassie out on the floor. Kathleen and Gabrielle had backed up, looking for all the world like they expected James to have told Lily to hex them, too.

Though she had addressed Lily, it was Remus that answered. "Professor, it may be better if we discussed this in your office."

"I think now will do!" Professor McClure said briskly from behind Professor McGonagall.

The Head of Gryffindor House, looking much calmer than she really felt, turned to the Potions professor. "I agree with Mr. Lupin. Could you please fetch the Headmaster and have him meet us there?"

Professor McClure looked as if she wanted to argue, but instead turned on her heel and headed off the other direction. From below they heard Madam Hooch blow the whistle and the stands erupting in cheers. "Gryffindor wins!"

Professor McGonagall hurriedly waved her wand, bringing Kassie upright but not waking her from the stunning spell. "Come with me, Lupin, Evans."

They reached the ground just as James and Sirius rushed out of the changing rooms, having discarded their game robes and brooms. Sirius looked at Kassie, his eyes growing huge when he realized she was being lead by their Head of House's wand and upon closer inspection appeared to be stunned. His blue eyes swung over to Lily questioningly. "It's a long story," Lily muttered.

"Is she ok?"

"Besides being either under a spell, or hexed, or something?" Lily replied.

"Physically," Sirius said, watching Kassie rather than Lily.

"Physically she is fine," Remus assured him. "She mouthed off about breaking up with you, threw an insult in, she was obviously not herself. I'm pretty sure it sent Lily over the edge, nerves and all, and Lily stunned her."

James looked for a split second like it occurred to him to smile, instead he cleared his throat. "And you seemed so reserved about that."

"I had to," Lily repeated for the second time in ten minutes. "You didn't hear what she said... the way she said it..."

For the rest of the walk to the castle, no one spoke. James put his arm around Lily and hugged her to him. Lily felt horrible for having to stun her best friend, but it was obvious this wasn't her best friend. Or if it was, there was something amiss that they needed to get to the bottom of.

By the time they had reached Professor McGonagall's office, Professor McClure and Professor Dumbledore had arrived. Professor Dumbledore, much to the potion master's dismay, thanked her and shut the door before she could join the discussion. He walked across the room briskly, his crescent moon covered robes billowing out behind him. He looked around at the students and his eyes landed on Lily. "Explanation?"

Lily launched into the story of how Kassie had been acting strangely all day, and then what caused her to stun her best friend. James filled in that he thought Kassie was under the Imperius curse when suddenly Kassie started moving. Well, not moving as much as changing. Before all of their astonished eyes the body lying on the floor that just a few moments before had looked like Kassie, was now someone else entirely. Sirius looked like his world had just fallen out from under him. Lily's eyes grew huge as the implications of what this meant hit her.

That wasn't Kassie. And if it wasn't Kassie, where was she?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lily sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, trying to bite her nails. Every now and then James, who was seated beside her, would reach over and gently move her hand back down. Lily felt slightly frustrated that he wasn't going to let her bite them to the quick. On the other side of James, Peter was watching Sirius pace back and forth in front of the fireplace. Professor Dumbledore had ordered every student to their various Common Rooms and they were not being let out. The portrait of the Fat Lady was under strict instructions to not open from the inside and to be opened only by one of the Professors or the Head Boy or Girl from the outside.

This hadn't sat well with Sirius. They had to practically force him back to Gryffindor tower and since then he had been trying to escape. The portrait wouldn't let him out and apparently there wasn't another way. Sirius ran his hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I should be looking for her..." Sirius muttered darkly. His fists were clenched at his sides and he looked as if he longed for something to hit.

James slipped his arm around Lily, almost protectively. Lily could tell without him saying that as upset as he was that Kassie was missing, he was glad it wasn't Lily. "They have people looking for her, Sirius. The Order, Aurors... they will find her."

Sirius threw James a look that said he wasn't convinced. In the chair to the left of the sofa Madison and Remus had squeezed in together. Every now and then Madison would sniffle, but her tears had run out a while before. Remus was studying the Marauder's Map. Kassie wasn't on it, which had caused Sirius to curse a good few times. Remus was watching the Professors going through the halls, checking on students. The Head Girl was on her way towards their Common Room now. Remus, despite his reserves about it, said, "The Head Girl is heading our way."

Sirius looked anxiously to the portrait. James stood, Lily accompanying him. "Padfoot--"

At that moment the portrait opened and Sirius immediately took off out of it. "Saw that coming," James muttered, running after him. Lily, unsure what to do, followed James. Behind her Remus and Peter came out.

"Hey, wait a minute, you can't go out there!"

The sound of the warning went unnoticed by the five students. Just around the first bend of the stairwell Sirius slid into an opening and took off at a fast sprint down the stairs. Lily shook her head, still impressed despite herself, as she followed James inside the wall. Sirius was running down a stairwell taking two steps at a time. Lily felt like her side was going to explode from the effort, but she managed to keep up with James. "OY! Padfoot, slow down!"

Sirius slowed down long enough for them to see which passage he took. He called, "Hurry!" as he ran head long down the dark hall, his lit wand in front of him.

Fifteen minutes later, one short trip across the third floor corridor and sliding inside the one eyed witch, found them in the cellar of Honeydukes. James snuck up the stairwell to check if the coast was clear. Belatedly he wished he had his invisibility cloak but there was nothing to be done about it. It seemed the owners were not in, at any rate, since it was now dark and past closing on a Saturday night. Slowly they all made their way out of the shop, Lily charming the door locked behind them.

James ran his hand through his hair, looking around the deserted street. "Now what?"

Sirius started walking towards his flat. "I get my motorbike and..." he trailed off, the high from escaping the school finally wearing off and revealing the problems that lay ahead. Sirius could fit two on the motorbike, but not more and that left three of them out. He knew who he wanted to come with him, but he seriously doubted James would leave Lily's side right now.

"How about we think about this for a minute," James suggested. "I say we head to your flat, so as to not get caught out here in the middle of the road, and make a plan."

With an unspoken agreement between the others, the five students headed to Sirius' flat just down from the Three Broomsticks pub. Sirius undid the enchantments on his door and they filed in. Lily glanced around curiously, having never been here before. Sirius' place was neat, but not overly clean. The living room had a sofa, love seat and matching chair, and a few tables. There was a leather jacket lying over the back of the sofa and what looked like a pair of Kassie's shoes sitting abandoned on the floor next to the bedroom door. Sirius was standing in the middle of the floor, staring at the shoes with an odd expression on his face when suddenly there was a loud 'pop'.

"Good evening," Professor Dumbledore said, having just apparated into Sirius' flat. He looked as if they were all coming together for a pleasant evening. Lily could feel her pulse quicken as the words 'expelled' ran through her head as she looked at the Headmaster. He studied them all for a moment over the rim of his half moon glasses before clearing his throat slightly. "Sirius, do you have any aversions to some help, perhaps some of the information that the Order has already gathered?"

If Sirius found it curious that instead of reprimanding them the Headmaster was asking if he could help he didn't show it. Sirius rummaged through a drawer in the kitchen for a moment and produced a bottle of powder. "Will this do?"

Lily assumed Floo powder was held in the bottle, but Professor Dumbledore seemed to have other plans. "I will enchant a portkey, it will be safer than travelling by floo. We can't keep the fireplaces connected to the network you see."

"Ah," Remus muttered under his breath.

Professor Dumbledore looked around the room for a moment before settling on Sirius' leather jacket. He touched his wand to it and said, "Portus". The jacket glowed slightly and he motioned them all to gather round. "In thirty seconds this will take you to the headquarters of the Order. They are expecting you."

Lily had never travelled by portkey before. She had heard of it, studied it in Charms class, but the theory was bound to be different than the experience. The others didn't look nervous as they all put a finger on the jacket. Lily tried to hide her own nervousness but she could tell James was watching her for any sign of trouble. She didn't have long to think about it, though. Suddenly there was a hard tug somewhere around her navel and Lily found herself being pulled through space faster than she could have ever imagined. In mere seconds it was over and Lily found herself planted on her bottom in the garden of a house that looked very familiar.

"The Order of the Phoenix headquarters is here?" James stammered as he helped Lily up off the ground. Lily dusted grass off her robes and looked up in time to see the front door of Potter Manor open and Olivia Potter rush out of the door.

"Come on, all of you, before someone sees."

Who could have been watching through the high walls that surrounded the estate was a mystery to them all. But doing as they were told, the five of them hurried in and followed James' mother down a hall leading to a part of the house James had never set foot in.

One time, several years ago, James and Sirius had stumbled upon this area of Potter Manor and set off alarms. Neither had really given it much thought since then, but now a lot of things were making sense. Olivia Potter bypassed the wards without any problems, bringing the five friends with her. Once inside, she opened a glass door that looked like it belonged to a greenhouse and ushered them in. Inside was a large room with a long wooden table set in the center. Around this table were twelve chairs, five of them occupied. James and Sirius seem to immediately recognize a few of the wizards, but Lily's eyes were fixed on the man sitting just to her left. He had long brown hair, and was wearing a large overcoat despite the very warm evening temperature, trousers and boots. But none of this concerned her more than the large, obviously magical, electric blue eye that was where his right eye should be. Lily tried to tear her eyes away and looked to James questioningly. The wizard got up, pulling a silver flask from his belt as he did so.

"Lily," James said, suddenly realizing that his girlfriend looked a bit worried about the other wizard. "This is Alastor Moody, quite possibly the greatest Auror to ever walk the earth."

Lily tried to clear her throat, failed, and extended her hand out in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

The Auror glanced at her offered hand, took a long drink from his hip flask and replaced it on his belt. "Likewise. I assume you are James' girlfriend that I've heard so much about," he said, his voice a growling imitation of what a bear might sound like if it spoke.

Lily nodded, dropping her hand stupidly and side stepping closer to James without actually meaning to. James laughed, unconcerned. "Don't worry, Lily. He's a bit paranoid, that's all." Moody turned from them and went to Sirius, asking questions about when Kassie had started acting strange. James leaned in to Lily. "He lost his eye fighting against Death Eaters. Bloody brilliant, but a little...." He twirled his finger around his temple and winked at Lily. "Everyone calls him Mad-Eye."

Lily glanced around the room. She recognized James' parents, of course, but there were still a few wizards at the table she didn't know. Following her line of vision, James nodded his head toward the table to the left. "That's Charles McKinnon, Frank Longbottom and Fabian Prewett." James indicated the three wizards still sitting at the table. Having grown up with these wizards around his home, James was perfectly at ease. Lily nodded her head in greeting as the three of them looked up when James spoke.

"But when exactly would you say this started? We've got to pin point the timeline better," Moody was saying to Sirius.

Lily ran back over her mind. It seemed ages ago that they had been in Hogsmeade, shopping and laughing. Kassie had been perfectly fine this morning, threatening to curse Sirius when he ran out of the Great Hall with her over his shoulder. They had shopped at Hogsmeade, came back to the castle... "Wait," Lily said, stepping away from James and more towards where Moody, Sirius, Remus and Harold were speaking. "When we were at the Three Broomsticks, Kassie went to the loo alone."

Sirius nodded his head in agreement. "That's the first time she had been alone all day."

"Come to think of it," Remus added. "Wasn't it right after that when we ran into Bellatrix?"

"And Kassie didn't get into it with her like usual," James shook his head. "It was a first."

"Because it wasn't her." Sirius looked like he wanted to hit something again. "So it's safe to say that Kassie was replaced when she went to the loo. Someone must have been following us, waiting for the right opportunity."

"Maybe not," Peter said. "She could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

They all looked at each other for a moment. Sirius took his wand out and started twirling it again. "Ok, I say James, Lily and I head out, see what we can pick up--"

"Wait just a minute," Moody growled. "You five are not going anywhere."

"Says who?"

"Why not?"

"What?!" Sirius looked outraged, looking at Olivia as if she might come to his rescue. "I don't care what you say, I'm going to look for her. With or without your consent."

"Sirius!"

"I'm sorry Livie, but I'm of age. And I'm putting my foot down on this one." Sirius put his wand in his pocket and headed to the door. James grabbed Lily's hand and made to follow.

"Ok, let's calm down a minute," Harold Potter said. He moved to block the door, but put his wand away to signal he didn't want to fight with them. "Mad-Eye, he has a right. Really, they all do. Besides, Dumbledore has already recruited them."

Before anyone could answer the alarms around the building went off and Harold moved away from the door. "That would be Dumbledore."

Lily recognized that the alarm had sounded differently this time than when it went off when they entered. Curiously she looked at Olivia. "There are charms that detect who is entering?" Olivia nodded her agreement and Lily's eyes widen appreciatively. "Brilliant!"

Professor Albus Dumbledore came through the door, his expression all business. He glanced around the room, took note of who was there, and folded his hands in front of him. "We have found Kassie." Sirius looked ready to bolt out the door again, but this time James grabbed the back of his robes. "We have also found ten other students that were exchanged for Death Eaters while in Hogsmeade today."

"Ten!" Moody growled, jumping to his feet. "Ten students were taken today and no one realized the difference?"

Dumbledore studied Moody over his half moon glasses for a moment. "Ten," he repeated. "And it was not until we started questioning students from other houses that the others were found out. Professor McClure was kind enough to brew Veritaserum for me. I used it on the Death Eater that impersonated Kassie and gained the location of the students."

Sirius pulled himself free of James. "Where is she?"

The Headmaster turned to Sirius, "There are several members of the Order who are going to retrieve them--"

"Where? When are they leaving? I'm going with them." James once more grabbed the back of Sirius' robes in case he tried to bolt out the door.

Dumbledore looked disapprovingly at Sirius. "I understand your position, however these are trained wizards who deal with--"

Sirius' eyes were steady as they met the Headmaster's. "Sir, if you trust me with being part of this Order, then you should trust me to go out with them." He swallowed. "And this isn't just another raid, sir, this is Kassie we are talking about. I will stop at nothing, or no one, to get to her."

There was a tense moment in the room where Lily felt sure that any moment Dumbledore was going to stun Sirius for his own good. If not the Headmaster, surely Mad-Eye Moody was going to. Suddenly, though, Dumbledore's posture shifted ever so slightly. "Very well, but we haven't a moment to lose. Mad-Eye?"

The Auror got to his feet, his blue eye rotating around the room as he walked towards the Headmaster. Lily felt a slight shiver run down her spine but managed to not show it. Dumbledore looked to James as if James might suddenly demand to go, but James took a seat at the table and pulled Lily down next to him. Remus and Peter then followed their lead.

Without another word every other member of the Order save Olivia Potter went out the door.

~*~*~*~*~

There was a strong wind sweeping through the trees, and it was making the hair on Sirius' arms stand on end. Straining to listen he glanced over at Moody, who was trying to use his magical eye to look through the walls of the house they stood behind in the forest. Using the large oak tree for shelter, Edgar Bones was to Sirius' left and Alastor Moody, crouched down behind a large boulder, was to his right. Sirius' hand that gripped his wand was becoming sweatier by the moment. Frustrated he switched his wand to his other hand so he could dry his wand hand on his robes. The wind howled through the trees again. "I see the students, but unless they are using concealment charms, I see no-one else."

"And if they are using charms?" Edgar replied, glancing around the tree to the small shack.

"We're screwed," Sirius muttered in reply. Edgar gave him a small smile.

"Correction, we fight," Moody replied. "And hope we aren't outnumbered. Constant vigilance!" He walked silently behind them to the trees where six other members of the Order of the Phoenix waited for instructions. Sirius couldn't help but be impressed by the stealth Moody used when moving, it was as if the wind was carrying him. Finally he returned. "Black, you come with me. Wand at the ready. Bones, take the North end with Potter and Longbottom."

Sirius nodded, slipping out from behind the tree and following Moody through the thick undergrowth of the forest floor towards the run down shack that sat darkly before them. The wind whistled through the trees again as Moody cast a shield detector charm. "Hmm, nothing strong, anyway," he muttered. "Prewett?"

A tall red-haired wizard that had been at James' house when they arrived came forward from the trees and started casting spells. Sirius watched, fascinated, as the charms broke down. Moody, watching Sirius' attention, nodded towards the other wizard. "He's a curse breaker, one of the best."

Within minutes they had gained access to the house. Moody motioned for Sirius to follow him, the former's magical eye turning every which direction in search of threats. Harold Potter used his wand to unlock the door and slowly pushed it open, covered by Frank Longbottom and Fabian Prewett. They went in and within seconds gave the all clear. Moody, still using his magical eye to make sure nothing was amiss, followed in with Sirius at his heels.

The house was a run-down, two-room shack. The only furniture was a couple of broken down chairs and a table that was missing a leg. By the time Sirius came into the front room and glanced around, three of the other Order members had moved across the space to the room's only other door. Just as Harold pushed it open, Moody growled, "INCOMING!"

Several loud cracks filled the air, followed by Death Eaters apparating in. Sirius moved towards the broken table, turning it over on its side to use as a shield while simultaneously throwing a hex towards the nearest Death Eater. His choking hex hit the Death Eater causing him to bend over, unable to breathe. Sirius glanced around the room, oddly much calmer than he had been before entering. He dodged an incoming stunning spell and sent his own stunning spell back at the caster. Instead of hitting the intended target, the spell hit the Death Eater that was already bent over trying to get free of the choking spell and he fell to the floor.

"Impedimenta!"

Another Death Eater went down at the hands of Sirius. Mad-Eye was dueling with another Death Eater, spells going back and forth so fast it was hard to keep up. Frank Longbottom had stunned his attacker, Harold Potter had two in a full body bind and the other members had disappeared into the other room when the Death Eaters they were fighting disapparated. Sirius, noting that Moody was backing the Death Eater he was fighting into a corner, slipped out from behind the table and slid into the other room.

The other room seemed to be the same size as the first, but was empty of all furniture. Lying around the room, slumped together in twos and threes, were the eleven missing Hogwarts' students. Sirius' eyes roamed over the teenagers, searching for the familiar black hair...

"Enervate." Charles McKinnon repeated the spell over and over, awakening each student in turn. One by one the students came to.

Sirius' eyes landed on a lone figure lying under the room's only window, her black hair draped around her like a blanket. He rushed over, falling to his knees beside Kassie and pointing his wand towards her. "Enervate."

Very slowly, violet eyes blinked open, shut, then opened again. Kassie groaned slightly, as if it hurt to move, and looked up into blue eyes. "Sirius?"

Sirius wanted nothing more than to grab Kassie up, run out the door and take her somewhere safe, preferably somewhere a Death Eater would never even look her way again. Gently he reached down and helped her to a sitting position. "Are you ok?"

"What happened?" she looked around with a blank look, her eyes shifting from student to student, then to the Order Members. Coming in the door was Alastor Moody and her eyes opened even wider upon being greeted by both his magical and real eye landing on her. "Who...?"

"Can you walk?" Sirius asked instead of answering. He fought to keep his emotions under control as opposed to running out the door with her. That thought was still tempting.

Kassie broke her stare from Moody and looked back and Sirius questioningly. "I'm sore, but I'm sure I can."

"Come on, then. We'll get you back to school and explain everything then." Kassie got to her feet, joining the other students who were all slowly working out their stiffness. Sirius suddenly wrapped both his arms around her tightly. Feeling her in his arms, safe, caused his chest to tighten considerably. "Oh, God, Kassie, I was scared to death. I love you."

Still confused, still sore and not knowing why, Kassie hugged him back. "I love you."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lily drummed her nails against the hardwood table, watching the boys talking over a map that Mad-Eye Moody had left on the table. As far as she could tell, they were discussing how to make the map detect where everyone was, much like the Marauder's Map. She glanced up at the clock impatiently. The members of the Order had left on their mission two hours ago, and yet they had heard nothing. As the hands moved closer to midnight, Lily had this horrible feeling that the witching hour would not hold good news for the mission. She swallowed, trying to push away her worries. Two hours wasn't long, really. It didn't mean anything had gone wrong.

She had just about convinced herself that she was lying about nothing going wrong when a light flashed through the window. To her amazement a large misty looking Phoenix appeared in front of Olivia Potter and Albus Dumbledore's voice came out of it. "Team will arrive in five minutes. Poppy incoming, as well."

Olivia nodded her understanding and pulled her wand, levitating all the chairs in the room away from the table. James, Remus, Peter and Lily moved back against the wall as Olivia flicked her wand and the large table moved against the wall. She then transfigured the chairs into medical cots. Just as she finished the door pushed open and the Hogwarts' Matron came in, helping a student who looked ready to collapse.

"Quickly, the rest are just arriving."

Olivia motioned for the other four to follow her and they rushed into the garden to find a group of Order Members helping students towards the door. There was still one unattended student and James and Lily rushed forward to help the girl while Olivia, Remus and Peter assisted the Order members in moving the others. Lily spotted Sirius carrying Kassie, who was telling him not to make such a fuss. Lily smiled to herself, now that was her best friend.

The girl Lily and James were helping looked very young, possibly a first year. She looked scared, white and extremely sore as she walked. They were making slow progress when suddenly she collapsed. James easily lifted her into his arms and carried her inside. Madam Pomfrey was handing out large chunks of chocolate to the students who were awake.

"Chocolate?" Lily asked, covering the girl up with a starched white blanket that Remus had provided. "I thought that was for Dementor attacks?"

"Can help anything, really," Remus replied. "But especially Dementors."

The door opened again and Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall came in. The Headmaster glided over to the cots, all but one bearing a student, and began speaking to Madam Pomfrey. "Are they all okay?"

The matron looked as if she couldn't stand much more time with the large number of people in the room while she worked, but noted, resignedly, she couldn't do anything about it. She stood from where she had just covered up the last student and faced Dumbledore. "From what I understand, they had all been stunned. Sore and confused, but healthy. Thankfully."

"Indeed," Professor McGonagall said, noting which students were present, much like the Headmaster had just done. "I know what to do, Albus. You will follow?"

"Shortly, yes," the Headmaster replied. He turned his attention back to the group of Order members as well as Lily and the Marauders. "Thank you all for how quickly and smoothly this operation went."

Moody huffed and conjured himself a chair that he fell down into heavily. "Smoothly wouldn't be the best word, but we managed." He raised an eyebrow and glanced to where Sirius was sitting on the floor next to Kassie's cot, holding her hand. "Black did well. Good spell work, stayed calm."

Sirius glanced up, nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment, and went back to staring at Kassie like she might disappear if he looked away. Moody let out a small chuckle. "Obviously only interested in one thing at the moment."

Lily got up off her knees and moved five cots down to where her best friend was lying. She knelt down. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been ran over by the Knight Bus," Kassie replied, licking her lips. Sirius offered her a cup of water he had by his feet and she drank from the straw thankfully. "Otherwise okay. I heard that we were stunned? But what happened?"

Dumbledore addressed the students who were awake, a few still slept off the effects of their day under the watchful eye of Madam Pomfrey. "Today in Hogsmeade several of you were stunned and replaced by Death Eaters using polyjuice potion."

Kassie's eyes were large and she swallowed compulsively. She glanced at Sirius like he would explain it to her in a way to make sense. He only nodded his agreement and she looked back to the Headmaster.

"Thankfully you five know Kassie well enough that you noticed something was amiss and we were able to find the students before any real harm came to them. And for that," he nodded to the Marauders and Lily, "we are all very thankful for. Who knows how many lives you may have saved."

"And now, if you would all excuse me, we have ten more Death Eaters at my school who are in need of being escorted out."

Once he was gone the chatter in the room rose. Order members were debriefing the mission, Madam Pomfrey was fussing over students, the Marauders were checking on Kassie. By the time everyone was up to date on what happened it was the early hours of Sunday morning. Lily sat, fast asleep, next to James on the floor, her head leaning on his shoulder. James and Sirius were talking softly, Sirius still holding tightly to Kassie's hand though she slept. On the other side of the cot, Remus sat on the floor, listening to the other two but not saying anything.

"The only reason I'm sticking around is because I want another year of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Otherwise I wouldn't bother," Sirius was saying, his eyes glancing to Kassie when she reached up and scratched her nose.

James nodded his understanding. "I know. I don't want to disappoint my mum, but I plan on being a member of the Order full time. Don't need high N.E.W.T.s for that. Then again, when the war is over, I should probably have some education to fall back on," he added thoughtfully.

"You would play quidditch and you know it," Lily said sleepily, opening one eye to see James' reaction. He chuckled appreciatively but didn't reply. Lily closed her eyes again and fell back into an uneasy sleep.

"I need all the education I can get," Peter said, frowning slightly. "I'm only slightly better than a squib."

"You are not," Sirius replied, punching him lightly on the arm. Peter winced theoretically and grabbed in arm, smiling sadly. "All you need is some confidence in yourself."

"Well, there went that," Peter mumbled.

Sirius ignored him and leaned back against the wall, trying to get comfortable. Olivia noticed them and came over. "You know there is no reason to sleep on the floor. We have plenty of bedrooms."

Sirius, predictably, shook his head, no. James stretched his legs out and nudged Lily gently. Remus and Peter also stood and followed Olivia inside the main house. Several minutes later, after telling James goodnight, Lily found herself in the room she always stayed in when she visited the Potter's house over the years. Olivia had placed a picture of Lily with her parents sitting in a frame on the dresser. In the corner was a new owl perch for Morgana and Lily sat on the bed, looking around. It appeared that James was right; Olivia did expect Lily to stay there.

And for some reason, after the day's events, having something resembling home seemed a better proposition than it had before.

--End chapter 59.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the ideas, the characters, etc. They are not mine. Please don't sue me, there are enough people wanting my money as it is...

HUGE thanks to my wonderful, great, awesome, outstanding editor/brit check Kate. I can not believe how long you have put up with me. Did I mention you are awesome!?

Thanks to Shannon, whom without you wouldn't be reading this chapter because it would still be lying unfinished in my past.

Thank you to everyone who reads. If you wanted to review your thoughts, I wouldn't be opposed to it ;)

See you next time for the end of sixth year!

~Beth

12.29.2012