The Marauders; A Generation

The weeks flew by for the second years. If they thought first year was hard (and most of them did seeing as how they weren't accustomed to so much work - magical children were usually home schooled in basic skills until they got their letters) then it was nothing compared to second year. Lily remembered back to the first day of classes when she'd met the new boy. He wasn't like the other Slytherins. They looked up to him though, he was cool, calm and he was from Durmstrang. But he didn't pick on her and the other muggle-borns as much as they did, he didn't at all in fact. He seemed to just want to be on his own. The only catch was his temper when anyone got in his way, physically and academically. So far, Lily was his only competition.

Potions was the worst for her, because Professor Lestrange knew how smart this boy was, and the fact that he was a Slytherin seemed to drive her on further. Lily beat him in everything, every single class ... except for this one.

Second year, first day back to school.

Potions.

Professor Lestrange had paired her second year class up, one Gryffindor and one Slytherin to each cauldron. Lily Evans had been paired with the new boy, Severus Snape. She'd watched him carefully since he arrived. Even Lucius didn't seem to have as much hold over the other Slytherins as this boy did. He just emanated respect. Deciding to at least try to be nice, she said hello to him. He seemed shocked for a moment before nodding his head curtly. Well, at least he didn't insult her!

The potion they were making today was a little more dangerous to the simple healing potions they'd been studying last year, and involved the use of the shredded skin of a boomslang. Lestrange had been quizzing them periodically about the ingredients of the potion, checking to see if they'd done their summer work. They had never studied boomslangs before. It definitely wasn't in their holiday reading, Lily had checked and re-checked, so when the Potions Master asked them where they could find it, only one person could answer.

"Yes, Severus?"

"Boomslangs like dark, cool areas, not dissimilar to the dwellings of snake-like creatures and such. If you were to look for one here on the Hogwarts grounds, I would presume they would only be found hidden in the depths of the Forbidden Forest, as it is the darkest area I can think of," he said silkily. Professor Lestrange gave one of her extremely rare smiles.

"Well done Severus, I can see they don't waste their time at the Durmstrang institute," she replied, raising an eyebrow. Severus simply stared back at her.

"I did not learn this at Durmstrang," he told her. She looked surprised, but decided to let it drop.

"20 points to Slytherin for your knowledgeable initiative. Class dismissed," she said before turning her back to the class and floating towards her chambers. Severus had started walking out when Lily saw that he'd left something behind.

"Severus, wait, you've left your quill," she said, calling him back. They were now the only two left in the room. He strolled back over and picked it up. Lily was confused when he studied her for a moment. She felt uneasy and tried to think of something to say to lighten the situation.

"You sure know your stuff, how did you know all that information about the Boomslang?" she asked. He narrowed his eyes.

"I know how you play Evans. You may think you're the smartest person in this year, but let me tell you, you've got some competition heading your way. If there is one thing that we Slytherins don't like, it's being an insufferable know-it-all (AN; you can just imagine this dating forward into later years when he says it to Hermione!) you may excel in your other classes, maybe even ahead of me because of that insufferableness, but you will NEVER, and I repeat never beat me at Potions, so I suggest you stop trying." And with that, he stalked out.

Lily was left in a state of shock. Potions was one of her favourite classes (disregarding the teacher). What a pillock, she wouldn't let him scare her. She would show him if it was the last thing she did.

Ever since then, it had been a fierce competition between the two; with Lily only just managing to make the score even. They were equal heads in all their classes, with the exception of Potions where Lily fell JUST behind. She knew this was only because of Lestrange's prejudice towards anyone non-Slytherin, but it stung all the same.

One evening after Christmas, she found herself walking around the castle by herself, subconsciously heading down towards the lake. She was stopped on the way.

"Hello Lily, how was your Christmas?" it was Lucius. She hadn't seen much of him lately. He'd gone home for Christmas, but seeing as the situation at her own home was not pleasant (Petunia was still snarking) she'd decided to stay, once again. James had also stayed, as well as Remus, but Peter and Sirius had decided to go home.

"It was alright I guess. The house elves really outdid themselves this year; I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my life!" she laughed. Lucius smiled - a rare occurrence for him she'd come to discover. Remembering the real reason of their friendship he pressed on.

And er ... how's Potter's mum doing, getting better?" he said rather awkwardly, Arvan's face always lingering in his mind. Lily had come to trust Lucius a great deal. She believed that the conversations they'd been having had been kept with a great deal of confidence. She was wrong though. After she'd poured her heart out to him on some of the rare occasions where they were able to sit by the lake together and just talk, Lucius always went running straight back to Arvan. His fear of his father overcame any qualms he had about the wrongness of the situation.

Cynthia Potter had been doing extremely well as a matter of fact; she'd regained a lot of her lost memory. She sometimes slipped up when addressing James by calling him Billy, but most of the time, she was fairly normal. The Gryffindor's were relieved to say the least.

It just so happened, quite fatefully one day, during one of Lucius' talks with the now sixth year Lestrange that a certain redhead happened to walk by late afternoon and catch their whole conversation in sordid detail ...

Lily was walking back to Gryffindor tower one Friday afternoon after having just finished talking to Professor McGonagall after her final class for the day. She heard a familiar voice coming from the Charms classroom and curiosity overtook her. She walked closer to the door, making sure she was hidden, and peeked through. It was Lucius ... and Arvan Lestrange. She shuddered. How she hated that boy. She was about to keep talking when she caught a slip of their conversation.

"You've done well Lucius, I've been watching. The mudblood will hardly know what hit her," Arvan was saying. Lily's eyes bugged. No. Oh god no, it couldn't be ...

"His lordship has been most pleased with the valuable information you've been able to pass on through your false-friendship with her. After tonight, an hour in fact, Potter's mother will be killed on her way home from St. Mungo's and you'll be able to drop your little friendship act and start acting like a real Slytherin again," he said, looking at the younger boy proudly. Lucius pushed back all the torrid feelings of guilt that were building up in his throat and threw back a smug smirk.

"Thank you Arvan, it is my wish to please the Dark Lord and one day become a loyal follower. If you'll excuse me now though, I really must be getting on with my Potions homework, your mother doesn't go easy on us!" he said, biting out the words with effort. Lily, silent tears streaming down her face, could not even think of the grief and sorrow she was feeling right now. All she could think of was that she had to get to James, and then get to Dumbledore. He would know what to do.

With a speed that even she didn't know she had, she raced back to the Gryffindor common room. Choking out the password, she was inside before the portrait had even opened completely. She spotted James sitting in front of the fireplace with his three best friends.

"James," she rasped. He looked up in shock.

"Lily, what is it?" he asked, jumping up. She could barely talk.

"Can't explain-must come-quickly-now!" she said, grabbing his arm. With Sirius, Remus and Peter hot on their heels, Lily and James tore out of the common room headed straight for Dumbledore's office. Lily hurriedly yelled out the password and the five of them were inside. They reached Dumbledore's office in a fit of near hysteria. Well Lily was, the other four didn't have a clue what was going on, but they knew it was something extremely serious.

"Miss Evans? Mr. Potter? What's wrong? What's happening?" Dumbledore said, his eyes filled with worry. Lily took a deep breath, tears collecting in her eyes again.

"Oh Professor, I've done something so, so incredibly stupid, but there's no time to explain. There's going to be an attack on James' mum when she heads home from the hospital. You have to save her, you have to go, now!" she cried. Dumbledore took charge immediately.

"Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew, I want you to go down to Professor McGonagall's office right now - she will still be there, and inform her of exactly what you heard just now. Mr. Black, head up to the owlery, I want you to do the same thing but tell your parents instead. It's urgent that they know. Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, stay here. Do NOT leave this room under any circumstances, do you understand?" he looked at them with seriousness in his eyes they'd never seen before. They nodded.

"Alright everyone. Go. You two, I will be back as soon as possible, and James ... I won't let them hurt her." And just like that, he was gone. Sirius, Remus and Peter raced out of the office soon after. Lily was distraught. She couldn't even look James in the eye. James had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Lily, tell me what happened, please, you know I will forgive you for whatever it is," he begged, reaching out for her hand. She trailed her eyes up slowly. They were rimmed with red and the skin around them was puffy from body-wracking sobs.

"James. I think I was put in the wrong house ... I've betrayed you in a way I don't think I could ever have imagine ... oh James, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry ..." she trailed off as another burst of tears took over her. James hugged her, extremely worried. What had she done that was so bad? The Death Eaters had been after his parents for so long, why was she to blame? He was torn between deathly worry over his mother's life and Lily's supposed betrayal. Her tears eventually subsided and she dropped to her knees. James, horrified at seeing her so distressed, dropped off his chair and took her hands.

"Lily ... please, you're ... you're practically my best friend, you can tell me," he said softly. After a moment, she nodded. Opening her mouth, she told him everything about what had happened over the past year, how Lucius had approached her, how the two of them had become friends, how she'd honestly thought he'd been genuine ... she had to stop a few times through her explanation, as tears overtook her and she was unable to speak. By the end of it, she felt like she couldn't cry anymore. One look at James' face told her she was wrong. Very wrong.

His expression was ... it was just so hurt. James felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart with a knife and had it ripped out agonizingly slow.

"James ... you have to believe me ... I had no idea he was lying to me this whole time ... James ... I trusted him, I, I" she burst into tears again. James was in too much shock and hurt to comfort her. Finally, he found the words to speak.

"From day one Lily. From day one, we have told you over, and over how Slytherins are. Not only did you not listen or not care about what we've been telling you, you then ... you then lied to me. I asked you so many times, and every single one of those times was a big fat lie. I thought I could trust you ... but obviously ... I was wrong." Lily felt her heart breaking in two but was unable to reply because it was at that moment that Dumbledore came striding through the front door, with a very healthy, alive-looking Cynthia Potter following in his wake. Shortly after, Professor McGonagall and the other three Gryffindors also arrived.

"Mum!" James yelled and rushed over to envelope her in a hug.

"Oh James, I've missed you so much," she said softly. He couldn't help the tears that welled up. His emotions were in overdrive.

"I thought you might be-, oh gods, I thought you were dead," he whispered, hugging her tighter. She smiled gently.

"But I'm not. And I believe I owe my life to your friend Lily," she said, smiling at the young girl. It was more then Lily could take.

"No, you don't. If I hadn't been so utterly stupid, your life wouldn't have had been in danger in the first place," she said softly before brushing past James and running out of the door.

Professor Dumbledore waved his hands and the apparition wards protecting Hogwarts from unwanted intruders was momentarily dropped. The moment he'd apparated, they went straight back up. He'd arrived in the home of one Mundugus Fletcher, which had been charmed to recognize and accept certain Apparators on arrival. The wizard in question jumped off the couch immediately and rushed towards the older man.

"Albus, what is it? What's wrong?" he asked frantically for it was one of those occasions when Dumbledore's face was extremely grave.

"There is no time to explain, please, you must get Arabella to us as quick as you can. Cynthia Potter's life depends on it," he said. Mundugus immediately threw some powder into his fireplace and called in on Arabella's apartment hurriedly. The next moment, she was standing there next to him.

"Arabella, what time is Cynthia living the hospital tonight?" Dumbledore asked. Arabella Figg looked entirely confused. He'd asked her this because she had been put in charge of admitting Cynthia into St. Mungo's in the first place. She now looked at Dumbledore through wide frightened eyes.

"W-what do you mean Albus? She ... well, she's already left." That one statement caused Dumbledore's heart to plummet right into the ground. Albus Dumbledore had experienced a lot of things in his long life, but one thing he had not experience enough of was the feeling of pure and utter panic. It was the feeling he had right there at that moment. Henry and Cynthia Potter had been almost like children to him. When they had become Aurors, Dumbledore had relied on them more then he'd ever relied on anyone in his life - he trusted a great deal of people, but reliance was something that had to be earned. When Harry was killed ... Dumbledore almost felt Cynthia's heart rip out as if it were his own. From then on, he'd sworn to himself that he'd protect and not let any harm come to her. He'd already failed once ... he wasn't going to do it again. James was not going to loose another parent.

Dumbledore set his face into an expression of determination. The only way to deal with this situation was to keep your panic at bay, and concentrate on the task at hand - in a calm and collected manner. He turned to friends.

"Mundugus, fetch your Aurors map, we must trace her and Apparate immediately to her side," he said. The younger man raced into his bedroom and retrieved the object. He then unfolded it and smoothed it out onto the table. Dumbledore took his wand out and placed it over the map. Muttering a few incantations, a light at the end of his powerful wand began to glow and heat up. With a zap it zoomed off his wand and hovered over a marked area of the map.

"Get ready to Apparate" The three of them pointed their wands to the lit spot and apparated. Immediately they reappeared in a grassy field near the Potter's home. Dumbledore's quick eyes flew in all directions before settling on the sight behind him. Cynthia Potter had her wand pointed out in dueling position with two black-robed death-eaters. The three new arrivals immediately jumped into action, whipping out their wands and throwing curses.

"Cynthia, get out of the way!" Mundugus cried as a curse came flying at her from the opposite direction. Just in time, she dropped to the ground and rolled. After a few more heated moments, the Headmaster, the two Aurors and the ex-Auror had the Death Eaters surrounded.

"There will come a day when no one will protect you, your family, friends ... all gone, no one left but you ... remember that," and without another word, the Death Eaters popped! And they were gone.

Cynthia Potter slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

"I can't express how grateful I am that you were here ... all of you ... I'm just not as in shape as I used to be when ..." she trailed off, smiling grimly at the three.

"Actually, the man you need to thank is this one over here," Arabella said, pointing her thumb at Dumbledore, "all we did was follow him after he came bursting in on Gus ... gods, I didn't know what was going on! I'm just so glad your safe Cynthia," she said, giving the other woman a warm hug. Cynthia returned it, softly crying into her shoulder.

"And you Gus ...thank you so much, it's truly an honour to know such wonderful people. I owe you my life," she told him, giving him a hug as well. He returned it also but shrugged and indicated towards the Hogwarts headmaster.

"She's right you know. I don't know how he does it ... how did you know what they were planning Albus? ... Albus ... are you in there?" But Albus Dumbledore was not listening. Inside his head the Death Eater's words were playing. Over and over again ... the woman's voice had been husky, dark and so, so familiar. Where had he heard that voice before?