The Seven Year Itch

Chapter 10

"No...that's not true!" Lily mumbled. "It's not them-they can't be-"

Charlotte and Edward had been both pure-bloods; Edward had been the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation and Charlotte had worked in the Improper Use of Magic Office. As far as Lily knew, neither of them had actively participated in the fight against Voldemort. So why had they been killed?

Tears sprung to her eyes. Probably just for fun, she thought.

"These bastards!" she screamed. "These sick bastards!"

She had to see Dorcas. She couldn't let her go alone through this. She skimmed over the article again, quickly finding what she was looking for.

"The survivors are currently being taken care of in St Mungo's Hospital."

Lily put on her sneakers as fast as she could, grabbed her wand and the little box with floo powder and ran down the stairs.

"Lily! What are you doing-"

"I can't explain now-"

Her father grabbed her arm and held her back. "What do you think you're doing? You're going nowhere-"

"Dad, I'll explain to you later-"

"You'll explain nothing!" he shouted. "You'll stay here! You're under house arrest, remember?"

Lily had no choice. She pointed her wand at him. "Let go off me, Dad, I'm serious."

He let go off her arm as though having received an electric shock. She threw him an apologizing glance. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, she said, "I'll explain everything later."

Throwing the powder in the fire, she yelled, "St Mungo's!"

***

Arriving at St Mungo's, Lily immediately ran to the welcome witch's desk, getting curious stares because of her Muggle clothing.

"I need to see Dorcas Meadowes!" Lily panted.

"No, darling," the welcome witch told her unfriendly, "you need to queue up like everyone else." She gestured to the people standing behind Lily.

"Please! It's an emergency! I'm her best friend, I need to see her at once!"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Fine, what happened to that Dorcas Meadowes?"

"Her parents were killed in last night's Death Eater attack and-"

"Sorry, you can't see her," the welcome witch said. "Next!"

"Moment! Why can't I see her?"

"Security restrictions," the welcome witch answered. "All survivors are on the fourth floor, Spell damage, but nobody except close family may visit them."

Lily snorted inwardly. It would take more than an unpleasant witch to stop her from seeing her best friend. She walked through the double doors into the narrow corridor, running up the stairs. Panting, she reached the fourth floor, but stopped dead when she saw all the people standing there. She frowned, walking towards them.

"What do you want, miss?" one of the asked as he saw her approaching.

"I'm here to see Dorcas Meadowes. Her parents were killed last night-"

"You can't see her, sorry," a woman said, frowning at Lily.

"But I need to see her! She's my best friend, I can't let her go through this alone!"

"We can't do anything, it's the security restrictions. I am sorry, but you cannot see her."

Lily was on the verge of tears, when a familiar voice said, "What's going on here?"

"Sirius!" Lily gasped.

"What's going on?"

"This young woman wants to see a friend whose parents were killed last night. But we mustn't let anyone in, in case some Death Eater wants to finish what they started last night."

Sirius snorted. "Ever seen a Muggle-born Death Eater?"

"It doesn't matter if she is a Muggle-born or not! They could have kidnapped her and-"

"Lily," Sirius said impatiently, "tell me, why did I use to make fun of Dorcas?"

"Because she asked Remus to give her lessons in Arithmancy even though she wasn't taking Arithmancy at all."

Sirius grinned. "That's the real Lily Evans."

"Yes, but still-"

"What if I stay next to her all the time? Can she see her friend, then?"

"She still could attack her!"

Sirius groaned, snatched Lily's wand from her hands and pocketed it.

"There, happy now?"

The man and the woman looked as though they didn't know what to say. Finally, the woman said, "All right, but only for ten minutes."

"Oh, thank you!" Lily said, relieved. Sirius took her arm and dragged her through the double doors signposted "SPELL DAMAGE".

"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Lily asked while they walked through the long corridor.

"Most Aurors are out to look for the Death Eaters, and so they used Aurors-in-training to guard the survivors. I've been here since one a.m. I've just been replaced."

"Oh!" Lily said. "So I'm keeping you up? Sorry."

Sirius snorted. "Oh yeah, Lily, I have to stay up ten minutes longer! That's really much time! Lily, you nasty girl, how could you do that to me?"

Lily smiled slightly. Sirius stopped in front of one of the wards where two Aurors-in-training were standing guard.

"What are you still doing here, Sirius?" one of them asked.

"I'm just accompanying Miss Evans here to see Dorcas Meadowes," he answered. Before one of the Aurors could say anything, he added, "She's family."

The guards nodded and stepped aside. Lily and Sirius entered the Ward.

"Lily! Oh, Lily!"

Dorcas ran up to Lily and hugged her tightly.

"How did you come in here? The Aurors and Healers told us we weren't allowed to have visitors."

"With a little help," Lily smiled, pointing at Sirius, who grinned slightly.

"Oh," Dorcas said, a look of surprise on her face.

"I'm staying here," Sirius said. "If you have anything to talk about, do it quickly, because we only have ten minutes."

Dorcas pulled Lily over to her bed.

"How are you?" Lily whispered urgently. Dorcas shrugged, smiling bitterly. Then she clapped her hands over her face, sobbing.

"Oh, Dorcas," Lily said. "I'm so sorry..." She wrapped her arms around her friend.

"It was so horrible, Lily... I woke up in the middle of the night because it was so noisy downstairs. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Probably Mum or Dad did it so I wouldn't get out and the Death Eaters wouldn't get into my room. I just heard the screaming downstairs... and then it was suddenly silent."

"Dorcas, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Lily said softly. Dorcas shook her head and went on, "Several minutes passed by, but still nobody came. Finally, I climbed out of the window. And then I saw this thing over our house and-and then I knew what had happened."

"Thing?" Lily asked.

"The Dark Mark," Dorcas choked out. "The Death Eaters were already away. They probably thought I wasn't home or something like that."

She laid her head on Lily's shoulder and cried. Lily only held her, not knowing what else to do.

After a few minutes, Sirius came over to them.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "But the ten minutes are over..."

Dorcas let go off Lily.

"I'll try to come again," Lily said quietly. "I promise."

"Bye, Lily," Dorcas sobbed.

Before Lily went out of the door, she threw one last glance at her best friend. She was lying on her bed miserably, staring at the ceiling.

Lily and Sirius walked down the corridor in silence, and it wasn't until they arrived at the staircase until Lily said anything.

"Thanks for bringing me to her, Sirius," she told him.

"You're welcome," he said.

Lily's eyes prickled. She blinked a few times, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to escape from her eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah," she said.

"You don't look it," he told her truthfully.

Tears spilled from her eyes. She wiped them away hastily, but new tears came. Suddenly she found herself in Sirius's arms, crying into his robes.

When she had calmed down a bit, he said, "Let's go to the Visitor's tearoom and have a cup of tea. You can tell me what is wrong then."

"I don't have any money with me," Lily replied. Sirius smiled slightly.

"What are dashingly handsome young wizards there for, if not to invite pretty young witches for tea?" he asked.

"Yes, but you've been up all night and morning. I don't want to keep you up any longer-"

"It's okay, Lily," he said. "I couldn't sleep anyway, not after all what happened."

***

When Lily took her cup full of hot tea, she suddenly realized how cold her hands were. She quickly took a sip.

"So, Lily," Sirius said, putting sugar in his tea, "what's the matter?"

"A lot, actually," she said, sighing heavily. "And everything seems to be connected with each other."

"How so?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"Sirius?" she said hesitantly. "Can I ask you something very personal?"

He nodded.

"Sirius, why did you run away from home?" Upon seeing the look on his face, she quickly added, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to talk about it."

"No, no, it's okay," he told her, putting his head in his hands. "Lily... what do you know about the Black family?"

"Not really much," she answered, confused at this strange question. "Well, I know that the Blacks are an old and very rich pure-blood family... and most Blacks I've heard of are or were in Slytherin."

"All of them," Sirius said darkly. "All of them except me."

"But what's so bad about it? Not all Slytherins are mean," Lily said. She wanted to add something, but the look on Sirius's face made her shut up.

"It's not about that," he said. "The Black family is a pure-blood family, and proud of it. They think Muggle-borns are inferior, not worthy to know about magic and shouldn't be accepted into Hogwarts. I didn't agree with these ideas, and that made me the black sheep of the family. Oh yeah, and my cousin Andromeda as well. She was in Slytherin, though, and so it came as a real shock when she married a Muggle-born last summer," Sirius grinned evilly. "She never believed in that pure-blood rubbish either."

"So that's why you ran away from your family?"

"I ran away because I don't agree with them and their stupid pure-blood mania. And because I was sick of being beaten black and blue every time I dared to voice an opinion different than theirs."

Lily quickly looked up at him. He was staring in his teacup with an expression of anger mixed with sadness on his handsome face.

"But they must love you," Lily said in a desperate voice. "They can't hate you just because you didn't turn out how they wanted you to be-"

Sirius let out a mirthless laugh. "Lily, my mother sent me a Howler when she found out that I got sorted into Gryffindor. House of the Muggle-lovers and Mudbloods, she called it."

Lily shivered. "I'm sorry," she said.

There was a silence.

"You know what, Lily," Sirius said finally, "sometimes I wish I were like you. Sometimes I wish everyone was like you."

"What? Why?" she asked confused.

"Because you're so unbiased. You treat everyone equally, no matter who their family is. To you, it doesn't matter if the person wears a Gryffindor or a Slytherin crest on their robes. As long as they are friendly to you, you are friendly to them. I can't do that. I simply can't. As soon as I see the Slytherin crest, I am reminded of my family, my damn parents and their sick ideas. That's why the Slytherins make me so angry."

Lily simply stared at him. That wasn't the Sirius Black she knew. She had never seen him this serious.

"So, what about you? What's your problem?" he asked.

"I have a problem with my family, too," she told him. "I got in a horrible fight with my father last night, because I said some... things to my sister."

"Things?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's a Muggle, you know. I guess that's what the whole argument was about. My family are Muggles. I suppose they just don't understand me anymore."

"You mean you think that they don't understand our world?" Sirius said.

"Yes, that's it." Lily put her head in her hands.

"But you can't change that," he said. "And they are still your family even though they might not understand your new life."

"I know," Lily said frustrated. "And I'm trying to get along with my sister, I really am. But every time I try to have a civil conversation with her, she just insults me. Sometimes-sometimes I think she hates me."

"But why?"

"Because in her eyes, I'm abnormal," Lily said. "Magic is abnormal for her. 'Freak' she calls me..."

"But then it's her fault," Sirius said.

"How do you mean that?"

"If she doesn't want anything to do with you, you can't change it," he told her. "I know it's hard, but you have to accept that she despises your life because she can't understand it. You tried to get along with her, and if she doesn't want to, you can't force her to. It's not your fault."

"But still I think it was wrong to say what I told her yesterday."

"What did you tell her?"

"That it annoys me how she always snoops around in other people's business. She doesn't like me, but she likes to know my business," Lily said, making a noise that could be either a laugh or a sob. "We got into a fight, and Dad was on her side."

"Oh, I know how you feel," Sirius said. "My parents were always on my brother's side."

Lily placed her chin on her hands and sighed.

"I don't know what to do anymore."

"Maybe you need some distance," Sirius suggested, "to...think about everything."

Lily nodded. That was convincing.

***

Lily stepped out of the fireplace. It was already dark outside. She hoped that neither Petunia nor her father were home. It would make everything easier. She quietly went upstairs and hurried into her room. There she flicked her wand to make everything fly into her trunk. Stepping up to her trunk to look in it, she smiled slightly. It was a mess. I probably transferred my personality on the spell, she thought.

She closed the trunk, put her coat on, hung her bag around her shoulder and took the cage with her sleeping owl. Throwing one last look at the room she had lived in since she was born, her eyes became cloudy. This was it. Her childhood was finally over.

Lily put the note she had hastily scribbled on her desk. She just couldn't explain why she wanted to leave. She would write her father a letter when she found the right words. If she ever found them.

Closing her door behind her, she walked down the stairs as quietly as she could. When she was about halfway down, she heard the door to her father's study being opened. She closed her eyes.

"Lily?"

She simply stopped, not turning around. Her father came down the stairs and walked around her so he was standing two steps under her, facing his daughter.

"Where did you go to this afternoon?" he demanded. Glancing at her trunk, he added, "And where do you want to go now?"

"I went to see Dorcas today," Lily said warily.

"Didn't I tell you that you mustn't leave the house?"

"It was important," she answered.

"What was so important?" he asked.

"If you really want to know, her parents were killed," Lily replied testily.

He stared at her for a few minutes. "And you expect me to believe that?"

Lily didn't answer. He shook his head, frowning.

"I don't know what is wrong with you, Lily. First you insult your sister and now you're making up stories-"

"I didn't make it up!" Lily hissed angrily. There was a silence.

"What are you doing with your trunk?"

Lily took a deep breath. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" he asked, staring at her blankly.

"I have to go," she said. "I swear I will come back some day and explain, but I have to go now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he shouted. "You cannot leave!"

She said nothing, walking around him and down the rest of the stairs.

"If you leave now," he told her, his voice now desperate, "you won't be my daughter anymore!"

She slowly turned around. "You're not serious."

"I am."

It was quiet for a few moments.

"I'll come back, I promise," she said again. "I'll come back and explain everything."

"Your mother would be so disappointed," he said.

"No," Lily said, opening the door and kicking her trunk out with her foot, "she'd understand."

With that, she followed her trunk outside, closing the door behind her. Dragging her heavy trunk behind her, she opened the gate and closed it behind her.

Where am I going to go now? she wondered as she walked down the street. Julie was with her parents in France to visit her family.

She leaned against a wall, letting herself slide down to the ground and hugging her legs. The cold December air was creeping through the thin linen of her pants. A few of her neighbours passed by, giving her the evil eye.

Then she got an idea. She'd send Benjy an owl to ask him if she could spend the rest of the holidays at his place. And tonight, she'd sleep at the Leaky Cauldron.

She pulled her wand out, flinging out her right arm. Instantly, a purple triple-decker bus appeared. A young, bored-looking man in a uniform, which was as purple as the bus, leapt on to the pavement, exclaiming, "Welcome to the Knight Bus-"

"Thank you, I know," Lily said hastily. "I need to go to London."

"All right, pretty woman," he said, winking at her. "Get on the bus, I'll take care of your trunk."

She rolled her eyes and boarded the bus, her owl's cage still in her hand.

"Sit down," the young man said, gesturing to one of the beds. She sat down, gripping the bars of the bed to stop herself from flying down as the bus went off again. With her other hand, she rummaged through her bag, looking for money to pay for the ride.

"Where to in London?" the conductor asked her as she handed him the money.

"The Leaky Cauldron," she answered. The bus gave a jolt and she banged her head against the window behind her.

"So, I'm John," the young conductor said, eyeing her like a wolf would a large piece of meat. "And what's you name?"

"Alanna," Lily answered. Better safe than sorry. She didn't want that guy to know her name.

"And what do you want in London?" he asked her, dropping down on the bed opposite her. Lily inwardly rolled her eyes, but then she got an idea.

"Oh, I just dropped out of school," she told him, gesturing for him to lean closer. He obeyed her, grinning dubiously. She continued in a quiet voice, " I dropped out of school because I got The Call!"

"The Call?" he asked blankly.

"Yes!" Lily whispered, feigning excitement and joy. "I'm going to enter a convent and become a nun!" She grinned inwardly as she saw his dumbfounded expression.

"Oh, that's-nice for you, Alanna," he said hastily. "Listen, I need to check if the other travellers are all right, so-"

"Yes, that's quite all right," she told him. "I'm going to pray a bit."

He nodded and stalked off. Lily smiled and leaned back on her bed. This trick always worked on guys like that one.

"Our next station is the Leaky Cauldron!" John called out to her after a few minutes.

"Great!" she called back. The bus gave another jolt and Lily, not holding the bed's bars anymore, flew through the bus against the opposite window. John threw her a glance and took her trunk. She quickly got out, standing next to her trunk, which had been carelessly thrown out by John.

"Thank you, brother," she said, faking a smile. "May God bless you!"

"Yeah, you too," he said, getting quickly back on the bus. Lily grabbed her trunk and the cage, walking towards the Leaky Cauldron.

It was rather full. Lily threw a glance at the clock in the corner. It wasn't even seven. She smiled hopefully. So Benjy would get her owl today already, and maybe she could even spend this night at his place.

"Hi, Lily!" Tom, the barkeeper, greeted her friendly, helping her out off her coat. "What can I do for you?"

"I need to wait here for a few hours, maybe even spend the night," she answered. "Could you bring me a butterbeer?"

"No problem." Tom smiled toothily and went off to fetch the drink. Lily opened her trunk and pulled a piece of parchment, a quill and a glass of ink out of it, writing a note to Benjy. Then she turned to open her owl's cage. Her crazy eleven-year-old self had called the owl 'Eleanor Rigby', after her favourite Beatles-song.

"El, you need to deliver a letter for me," she told the owl, who only glared at her. "Come on, Eleanor, or I'll change your name into 'Yellow Submarine'."

If looks could kill, Lily thought amused as she tied the letter to Eleanor's leg, walking out of the pub with the owl on her arm.

"Hurry up, please," she called as Eleanor flew away. Shivering because of the cold, she went back into the pub, where her warm butterbeer was waiting for her.

A few hours later-it was already nearing eleven-Lily decided to tell Tom that she would be spending the night at the Leaky Cauldron. Just as she got up, someone flew out of the fireplace.

"Benjy!" she called, relieved.

He got up and walked up to her, hugging her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "And why didn't you just come over? You know Mum loves you and would have you at our place anytime."

"I thought it'd be more polite to ask first," Lily explained. Benjy snorted.

"Since when do you care if something is polite or not?"

She playfully punched his arm. He picked up her trunk, shaking his head.

"See you in a minute or two," he said, flooing back home. She quickly paid for the butterbeer and followed him.

"Mum's already asleep," he told her when she arrived at his place. They went up the stairs to his room where he had put her trunk.

"So what happened?" he asked, dropping down on his bed and rummaging through the pockets of his jeans. He pulled a packet of tobacco out and began to roll himself a cigarette.

"I fought with Petunia," she said, sitting down next to him.

"Well, that's nothing new," he said. "You want one, too?"

Lily shook her head and continued, "This time it was different..." She proceeded to tell Benjy everything about her fight with Petunia and her father. Telling Benjy was somehow easier than telling Sirius. Though Sirius had proven that he wasn't the prick she had considered him to be the past six years and had helped her a lot, Benjy knew the past history of Lily and her family because they had been friends since first year.

When she had finished, Benjy was quiet for a few moments, apparently pondering about something. Finally, he asked, "Did he hit you before?"

"No," Lily said. "Never. That's not the point anyway. I'm not even angry about it anymore. I'm just sad because it's another sign how much he has changed."

He nodded. "And now you don't want anything to do with him anymore?"

"I do want to stay in touch," Lily said. "But honestly, I have no idea how to do it. But I promised I'd come back one day and explain why I left. I need a bit of distance right now."

"Sounds like a good idea," Benjy said. "But do you really think that distance can save your and Petunia's relationship, too?"

Lily put her head into her hands. "No," she answered bluntly. "I tried everything, I really did. Everytime we had a row, I would go to her and try to talk to her, because I knew that was what Mum would have wanted me to do. But she didn't want to." Recalling Sirius's words, she added, "That's her decision, and I can't force her to get along with me if she doesn't want to."

They sat a few minutes in silence. Then Lily said quietly, "But I still hope that some day, she will approach me and we will make up, though it's not probable."

"And as long as she hates you," Benjy said, laying an arm around her, "we can make fun of Vernon without you having a bad conscience. Remember how he walked in on us smoking pot?"

Lily burst out laughing despite her misery. With her brightly coloured clothing, headscarves, long-beaded necklaces and her liberal and progressive views-in other words, being the epitome of a hippie-Lily had been Vernon's worst nightmare. They had actually gotten into a serious argument about the death penalty. That was before he found out that she was a witch and quit talking to her at all.

"He's the most conservative person I've ever met," Lily said, shaking her head. "Do you know that he thinks every thief should be executed?"

Benjy grinned. "I can imagine."

There was a silence. After a few minutes Benjy asked in a serious voice, "Have you heard about Dorcas's parents?"

Lily swallowed hard. "Yes. I went to visit her today."

Benjy frowned. "But nobody's allowed to see them!"

"I met Sirius Black, he was there as a guard this morning, and he helped me get in."

"How is she?"

"She's feeling horrible."

Benjy sighed.

***

After having breakfast the next morning, Lily and Benjy went into the town to buy groceries for Benjy's mum. They dropped by at a Coffee Shop, having hot cocoa to warm themselves up because it was freezing outside. When they returned home, Benjy's mum had a surprise for them.

"You've got a guest, he just arrived."

"Who?" Benjy asked.

His mother didn't answer, just gestured for them to go inside the living room. When Lily saw who it was, she started.

Adam stood by the window, looking out into the garden. When they entered the room, he turned around to look at them.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Lily answered. Adam looked at Benjy. "I actually came here to talk to Lily."

"No problem," he replied. "You can go up into my room."

Adam nodded. Lily and he ascended the stairs in silence. It wasn't until Lily closed the door behind them that he said something.

"Listen, Lily, I was an idiot, and I'm sorry."

"It's all right," she said. She hadn't even thought about their fight the last few days.

"I behaved like a prat, and there wasn't even any reason for it," he said.

"It's okay," she said again, taking his hand.

He pulled her close to him and kissed her. He backed her slowly towards her mattress, making her lie down on it with him on top of her.

"Adam," Lily said breathlessly, breaking away from his kiss, "Adam, do you have a condom?"

He just pressed his lips on hers again, rummaging through the back pocket of his trousers.

"Got you," he mumbled as he pulled the wanted item out of his pocket. With his other hand, he fumbled with the button of her jeans.

Lily felt as though something really big was stuck in her throat. She hugged Adam tightly as he undid the clasp of her bra and pushed her softly back onto the mattress. She scrunched her eyes, trying desperately to get the unwanted image that had just flashed before her eyes out of her mind.

She shivered. Why didn't his kisses make her feel wonderful like usually? Why didn't his touch excite her?

The answer to these questions was flashing in her mind, but she denied that it was true. She grabbed Adam's face, panting.

"Look at me," she commanded. He gazed at her, his face contorted in lust. Then he closed his eyes, pressing her even more tightly against him. She put her arms around his necks, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to keep herself from imagining that it was James Potter who was inside her.

Adam placed kisses down her neck to her collarbone. Lily wanted to retch, she was so disgusted with herself.

"Lily," Adam moaned softly into her ear, gripping her auburn locks. "Oh, Lily." He came inside her, and then rolled to the side, panting. "Oh God, Lily, I-"

He stopped dead when he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" he asked, horrified. She just sobbed and turned to the side with her back to him, pulling the blanket up around her.

"Lily, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?"

She simply cried into her pillow, ignoring his efforts to find out what was wrong with her.

"Lily," he said desperately, running his hand softly over her naked shoulder. Lily couldn't bear his touch any longer, she gathered her blanket around her, running out of the room to seek refuge in the bathroom. Locking the door behind her, she let the blanket fall to the floor to take a shower.

Half an hour later, she descended the stairs after showering and dressing in new clothes. Benjy and Adam were sitting in the living room, conversing. Adam looked at her with sorrowful eyes when she entered the room. She avoided looking at him, still feeling as though the shame she was feeling inside would strangle her any moment.

"We have to get her out there," Benjy said as Lily said down on the couch opposite her.

"Get who out where?" she asked.

"Get Dorcas out of St Mungo's," he told her. "The Ministry wants her to stay there until school starts again because she has no family left to take her in."

"She will crack up in there!" Lily said indignantly.

"Exactly. Mum's trying to get her out off there. But there will probably be new security restrictions, we can visit her."

"What restrictions?" she asked.

"Apparently, you have to fill out a form with personal information, and then you have to take Veritaserum so they can check if the given information is true."

Lily nodded, fumbling with the hem of her green skirt.

"Julie and her parents are coming home tonight," Benjy continued. "They are needed at the Ministry. Maybe she'll come over in the evening."

"That'd be great," Lily murmured.

There was a silence, which nobody broke for a few minutes. Finally, Mrs Fenwick stepped into the modest living room, smiling faintly as she indicated the three bottles of butterbeer on her arm.

"Anybody thirsty?" she asked.

"Thanks, Mrs Fenwick," Lily said, taking the bottle that was offered to her. She took a sip, asking Benjy, "Can we go visit Dorcas now?"

Benjy nodded, opening his bottle. They both got up, leaving the living room to fetch their coats. Adam followed them, unsure what to do.

Lily slipped her coat on and downed the rest of her butterbeer, handing Benjy the empty bottle who carried it into the kitchen.

"Lily-" Adam said, but she cut him off.

"Listen, Adam, it wasn't your fault. I'm just-I'm just not feeling my best at the moment."

Biggest understatement of the century, she thought to herself. He still looked unconvinced.

"We'll talk about it when we go back to Hogwarts, alright?" she said, desperate to get away from him and to try to forget her own disgusting behaviour.

He sighed heavily. "If you want it that way." At this very moment, Benjy exited the kitchen.

"Ready to go?" he asked. They both nodded in agreement, re-entering the living room. Taking a handful of floo powder, Adam turned to look at Lily. He hesitated for a moment, then he quickly pecked her on the lips, and before she knew it, he had flooed home.

When they arrived at St Mungo's, Lily noticed that a second desk had been put up next to the one of the Welcomewitch. Benjy walked up to it, and Lily followed.

"We're here to see Dorcas Meadowes. She is a survivor of the Death Eater attack."

The wizard behind the desk, an elderly wizard with a grey beard and barely any hair on his head, nodded and handed each of them a clipboard with a form on it as well as a quill. They quickly filled them out and gave them back to the wizard. He quickly looked if they had answered every question, then he waved his wand and the forms transfigured into paper aeroplanes that quickly flew away.

The wizard took a small notebook to his right, leafing through it.

"Miss Meadowes is still on the Fourth Floor, Spell Damage," he told them. "My colleagues will be awaiting you already."

Lily and Benjy walked up the stairs, finally reaching the fourth floor. In front of the two doors with the sign "SPELL DAMGE" were two guards, and about twenty tables with two chairs each were standing in the hall before the doors. Most of them were occupied.

"Miss Lily Evans and Mr Benjamin Fenwick?" a deep voice asked.

"Yes," they answered in unison. Two wizards were standing there, each holding a paper in their hands, apparently the form Benjy and Lily had just filled out. The taller wizard with the short, dirty blond hair nodded at Lily.

"Come with me, Miss Evans," he said. She followed him to one of the tables. He sat down and motioned for her to sit down on the chair opposite him. He gave her a very small bottle he had been holding in his hand until now.

"This," he said, "is Veritaserum. We need to check if you're really who you said you were."

She nodded and emptied the tiny bottle.

"First of all," he said, glancing at her form, "what is your name?"

"Lily Anne Evans," she answered. He ticked the first point on her form with a quill.

"When were you born?"

"May 8th, 1960."

"Are you working at the time/Are you a student? If yes, where do you work/where do you go to school?" he asked her, reading the question from the paper.

"I am a seventh year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"What is your relationship to Dorcas Meadowes?"

"She is my best friend, and we're in the same house at Hogwarts."

"Have you ever participated in a movement that was involved with the Dark Arts? If no, are you planning to do so in the future?"

"No, I have never taken part in such a movement and I am definitely not planning to do so in the future."

The wizard nodded satisfied and signed the paper.

"Miss Evans, if you just would sign this form here," he said. Then he pulled out another tiny bottle.

"This is the antidote," he said.

"Thank you, sir," she said, emptying the small bottle.

"You may now go to see Miss Meadowes."

She smiled at him and walked over to the doors. The guards stepped aside to let her in. Benjy was already waiting for her inside.

They spent the whole day with Dorcas. Mrs Fenwick had given them a large box with food (the food at St Mungo's wasn't known for its good quality) for Dorcas. After the Aurors had checked if anything was poisoned, they were allowed to give it to her.

When the nurse brought dinner, she told Lily and Benjy that they had to go because the visiting hours were over. They said goodbye to Dorcas and left very reluctantly.

"Lily," Benjy said when they closed the ward's door behind them, "I need to go to the loo before we go home. You wait here?"

"I'll wait by the staircase," she told him, pointing discreetly at the guards that were giving them the evil eye.

"Right," he said, walking off to the toilet. Just as she wanted to open one of the double doors, somebody called her name. She turned around to see who it was.

"Oh, hi Sirius."

"How are you?" he asked, catching up with her and opening the door for her.

"I'm okay. And thanks again for listening to me yesterday, you really helped me."

He smiled. "It's quite all right. Did you visit Dorcas?"

She nodded. "And you? Are you on duty?"

"Yep," he replied. "See you, Lily."

"See you," she said as he walked over to the desks. Lost in her thoughts, she sauntered over to the door that lead to the staircases. Just as she went through, she bumped into someone. Looking up, she saw a pair of hazel eyes that widened in shock upon seeing her. Before she could say anything, he barked, "Watch where you're going!"

She flinched. He quickly went through the door. Then Lily saw that he hadn't been alone; Peter Pettigrew was standing before her, frowning. When he saw that she looked at him, he tipped his finger against his temple.

"Totally crazy, that one," he told her. "I'm thinking about simply leaving him here."

She smiled. He smiled back and followed James through the door. Lily sighed and sat down on the top stair, resting her head on the palms of her hands.

Maybe he only had a bad day, she thought, maybe it's got nothing to do with me-

STOP IT! a voice in her head screeched at her. Since when did she care why Potter snapped at her? Since when did she try to justify his behaviour? She used to be perfectly content with telling herself that he picked on her because he was a bloody bastard.

"Are you ready to go?" Benjy asked from behind her, snapping her out of her annoying thoughts.

"Yeah," Lily said, standing up. "Let's go."

***

"James, you're the most stupid prick I've ever-"

"Oh, I know! Will you stop calling me th-"

"No!" Sirius hissed. "If you are in love with a girl, you have to be nice to her! Do you know what that means, nice? It's spelled N-I-C-E and it means that-"

"I know what it means!" James said, annoyed. "It wasn't my fault! It's a reflex! Everytime I see her, I just snap at her! I don't know why!"

"What's wrong?" Peter asked as he approached them, handing both of them a cup of coffee.

"Oh, James just snapped at Lily Evans, and now he realizes that it wasn't a very smart move after all because he's in love with her-"

"Shut up about that!" James said angrily.

"Yeah, it's not as if I had known that all along," Peter said sarcastically.

"Great," James mumbled. "If you're so clever, then tell me what I'm supposed to do now!"

"Re-consider your tactics, maybe?" Peter suggested shrewdly.

"I'm just telling you what I told you before," Sirius said. "She's not going to fall in love with you if you're going to continue behaving like a prat."

James sighed, leaning against the wall behind him.