Anonymous Branch

"Do you really think that Marge'll actually eat those?" Annie asked Lily as they left Honey Dukes. Lily was carrying a box of cockroach clusters.

"She'll eat anything," Lily answered. "I just wish I could see her face when-if she realizes what she's eating." Annie snorted.

"That's a very big if," she said. Lily suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. She was staring at something or someone almost directly in front of her. Annie followed Lily's gaze and dropped her bag of sugar quills.

"What's my mother doing here? I thought this place had Muggle repellent charms," said Lily.

"Maybe we should ask her," Annie suggested. Lily nodded. They walked up to the spot where Mrs. Evans stood. She appeared to have been waiting for Lily. "Er-hi, Mum."

"Hi Mrs. Evans," said Annie.

"Hello, Annie. It's nice to see you again, dear." said Mrs. Evans.

"Likewise," said Annie with an uncertain smile.

"What are you doing here, Mum?" asked Lily. "I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you, but I thought that there were Muggle repelling charms on this place."

"Annie, could you excuse us for a few minutes. I really need to talk Lily."

"Yeah, sure," said Annie. "I'm going to see if the guys are at Three Broomsticks, Lily." Lily nodded and Annie hurried off to Three Broomsticks.

"Is there some place more private, Lily?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"I don't really know, Mum. This is my first time here." Lily wished that Veronica or Arabella were around at that moment. They could have suggested a place.

"I think I saw a nice spot near the train station," said Rose. Lily nodded and followed her mother.

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"Are you certain Gryffindor's winning streak will continue after you leave, McKinnon? I mean Potter can't stay on his broom any better than you can," Ben Prewett teased. His arm was draped on the back of Veronica's chair. Sirius, who was sitting at the next table with James, Remus, and Peter; snorted into his Butterbeer. If it had been Severus Snape or Lucius Malfoy making such a comment about James, Sirius would have lot his temper; but he liked Ben Prewett well enough and knew that the Head Boy and Head Girl liked to show as little obvious affection as possible when in the presence of other people.

"Well, Prewett, between the ability to stay on a broomstick and the ability to catch the snitch, I'll take the latter. I'd say that my ability to catch the snitch did a lot more for Gryffindor than your ability to stay on your broomstick did for Ravenclaw last year," said Veronica.

"Here, here," said Teddy Figg banging the table with his tankard.

"Well, Ben did come closer than he usually does to catching the snitch in that last match," said Arabella Fennigan. "But Veronica's ability to catch the snitch was ultimately more valuable." Everyone who had been listening to the conversation burst out laughing. In the Quidditch cup match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Ben had been mere inches away from catching the snitch when Veronica had decided to jump off of her broomstick in order to beat him to it. She had ended up in the hospital wing for two says with no small number of broken bones and earned herself a nice long lecture from Madam Pomfrey, but she had sealed a victory for Gryffindor.

"We all know how well she's taught James," said Tommy Jordan as he patted James heartily on the back. All of the students other than the Slytherins started to clap for James as a blush slowly crept up his face. It had been almost a year since he had played seeker in the match against Slytherin because Veronica had been poisoned. In that match, James had to dive strait down in order to beat Lucius Malfoy to the snitch. He had won the match but ended up unconscious. Students who were not in the Slytherin house had been teasing him about his flying in good fun.

Severus Snape scowled at the attention James was getting. He shot James a look of pure loathing. Sirius glared at Snape. "Do you believe that slimy git, Moony," Sirius whispered to Remus as the rest of the people in Three Broomsticks resumed their normal conversations. "He acts like James' sole purpose is to make his life miserable." Remus did not answer. Sirius realized that Remus had fallen asleep. The full moon was only a few days away and was already taking its toll on Remus. "Hey, Remus, wake up," Sirius said as he poked Remus in the side of his head. Remus gave a jerk, knocking Butterbeer all over himself. He looked around with a slightly bemused expression on his face, then looked down at his wet Butterbeer soaked cloak.

"Oh bother!" said Remus.

"Sorry about that," said Sirius. "You feel asleep again." Remus shrugged and smiled.

"Are you alright, Moony," asked James.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired," said Remus.

"Are you sure, you look really pale," said Peter.

"Yeah, you are a bit off-colour, Moony. Should we take you back to the castle?" asked Sirius.

"No way," said Remus. "This is our first visit to Hogsmeade. I'm not about to cut it short just because I'm a little tired. It's not like I'm going to drop dead."

"I think Professor Trelawney might have a different opinion on that matter," James snickered.

"Well, then there's no reason to worry," said Annie from behind Remus.

"Where' Lily?" asked James as Annie sat down next to Remus. Annie hesitated. She decided that it was best not to tell the boys that Mrs. Evans had stopped by. Mrs. Evans looked like she had something very serious to talk to Lily about. It was probably best for Lily not to be bombarded by questions when she arrived.

"She had to take care of something really quick," said Annie. "But she should be here any minute."

"Well isn't that nice," said Narcissa from behind Annie. "The Mudblood had to take care of something." Pug-faced Daisy began to snicker next to Narcissa. Annie shot up from her seat and spun around to face Narcissa.

"Go crawl back under the rock you came from, Narcissa," said Annie with her left fist balled at her side and her Butterbeer clutched in her right hand. At the next table, Veronica and Ben quickly stood up.

"Ooooh, getting a little touchy about your Mudblood friend, aren't you, Spinnet?" said Daisy with a smirk. James, Sirius, and Remus all stood up. Peter began to tremble in his seat. Annie started toward Narcissa and Daisy, but Remus seized the back of her cloak to stop her.

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"Is something wrong, Mum?" asked Lily as she and her mother took their seats in an empty room at Hogsmeade station.

"No, nothing's wrong, Lily," said Rose Evans as she took her daughter's hand and gave it a squeeze. "There's just something I've been meaning to tell you for a long time."

"Oh?" said Lily. Rose took a deep breath.

"Well, you know that I was adopted."

"Yes."

"The thing is, I wasn't being entirely truthful when I told you that I didn't know who my parents were." Lily's brow furrowed. Rose continued. "You were wondering how I got here with the Muggle repelling charms on this place."

"Yes," said Lily slowly. Rose took another deep breath.

"The thing is, Muggle repelling charms have no effect on squibs." Lily dropped her box of cockroach clusters.

"You mean to tell me you're a squib?" asked Lily. Rose nodded soberly. "So that's why you knew what the owl was all about the day I got my acceptance letter." Rose nodded again.

"Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his..." SS/PS p 259.

"I was born into an old family called Flannery," Rose explained.

"The Flannerys that Grindelwald murdered?" asked Lily. Rose nodded yet again.

"They knew that I was a squib right away," said Rose. "My father thought that it was a great dishonor to the family name to have a squib as a daughter. My mother found a nice Muggle family to adopt me. When I was about ten years old, she started to visit me regularly without my father's knowledge. She told me all about who I was. She said that she loved me and was proud of me no matter what. I really do wish she were alive to see what a good witch you are, Lily. She'd be so happy."

"Do Petunia and Daddy know?" asked Lily.

"Your father knows. Petunia, well, it would probably kill her if she knew." Lily snorted at her mother's words.

"So why are you telling me this now of all times?"

"I've been hearing strange things about some dark wizard who is gaining a following," said Rose.

"Voldemort?" asked Lily.

"Yes. I guess I just figured that with the things that could happen in the wizard community very soon, you ought to know the whole truth about yourself."

"Does anyone else know who you really are?" asked Lily.

"As far as I know, only Dumbledore. It's probably best that way." Lily nodded slowly.

"I'd better go meet Annie." She and Rose stood up.

"Take care of yourself," said Rose. She hugged her daughter and left.

As Lily headed toward Three Broomsticks a million thoughts simultaneously drifted through her head. She hated her grandfather for treating her mother so poorly. Why did some people think that children were a product that they could order and just throw away of the child wasn't exactly what the parent had ordered? She stopped dead as she remembered something she had read about in History of Magic. Brutus Flannery had been a ruthless, power-hungry man. He was the Minister of Magic at the time Grindelwald had killed him. He was also in the Slytherin house when he attended Hogwarts. What does that say about me? Lily asked herself. Nothing, absolutely nothing! Dumbledore says that it's the choices we make that tell us who we are. Besides, the Slytherins aren't all bad. Lily continued to walk.

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"Don't pull too hard, Spinnet," said Narcissa. "Lupin's looking a little weak today. I don't think he can hold you back much longer." With that, Annie threw her Butterbeer at Narcissa and Daisy, catching them both off guard. They stood there for a minute in complete shock. The pub had become completely silent

"You-how dare you!" shrieked Narcissa. She and Daisy both lunged at Annie knocking her the ground. The three girls became a mess of punching and hair pulling. Remus, Sirius, and James all rushed forward to try to pull them apart, but the fray was moving so quickly that their efforts were futile. Veronica and Ben rushed over. They were followed by Arabella, Teddy, Ang Chang, and Sandra Turpin. Alan, Annie's older brother, rushed over with his girlfriend Kathy. With the combined efforts of the older students, they were able to pull the three thirteen-year-old girls apart.

"Annie, what were you thinking?" asked Alan. Annie merely glared at her brother in response. Her lip was cut and she was bleeding from her forehead.

"So," said Snape silkily. "A member of the Head Girl's own house starts a fight in a public place. What do you intend to do about that McKinnon?"

"Annie didn't start the fight," said James. "Narcissa needs to learn how to mind her own damn business!"

"Now Potter, even you must admit that Spinnet has a terrible temper. She really isn't representing Hogwarts well when she behaves like this. I'd be ashamed if I were you."

"Stay out of this, Snape!" said Ben. "As I am not a member of either Gryffindor or Slytherin, I believe I shall handle this. Ten points will be taken from each of you," he said pointing to Annie, Narcissa, and Daisy. "I don't want to see any more fighting from you."

"You took more points from Slytherin than you did from Gryffindor, Prewett," said Lucius Malfoy.

"There were more Slytherins in the fight you idiot!" said Teddy.

"Use whatever excuse you want, Figg. It won't change the fact that the Head Boy shagging the Head Girl is clouding his judgment."

"You'd better watch it, Malfoy," said Ben with his fists balled up at his sides.

"Oh no, Prewett, it is you who should watch it. Your time is getting short." With that Malfoy turned around and exited Three Broomsticks followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well that was interesting," said Lily as she walked up to Annie.

"Yes, it certainly was," said Sirius. "I say that calls for a round of Butterbeers. I'll go get them."

"Somebody is looking for an excuse to see Rosmerta," said James as Sirius headed toward the bar. Remus and Peter snickered.

"Is everything alright?" Annie whispered to Lily as they took their seats.

"Everything's fine," Lily answered. "You know, Annie, you really shouldn't let Narcissa get to you."

"I'm working on that," said Annie as she nursed her lip. "I just don't like it when she says terrible things about you or anyone else."

"It doesn't bother me when she calls me 'Mudblood," said Lily. "Besides, she doesn't know what the hell she's talking about."