That Which Cannot Kill Me

"There- there must be a mistake!" Lily stuttered, shocked. "I mean, James Potter? Why on earth would he be chosen?"

"You know, he is captain of the Quidditch team," Ava stated as she nervously twirled a strand of her blonde hair around one finger. "I mean, he probably does have pretty good leadership skills."

Medea elbowed Ava in the ribs as a signal to stop talking, but it was too late.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Lily exploded. "The boy is crazy! Don't you remember the time he jumped out of the Astronomy Tower, and the only reason he survived is because Black threw a broomstick for him to jump onto? And he's so irresponsible! I mean, what about the time in fifth year when he came up and started cursing Sev- I mean Snape- for no reason?"

"Well, Black was around when he cursed Snape, and at the Astronomy Tower incident, so maybe he only acts like that if his friends are around..." Medea mused. "Or maybe he's just changed and you've just been too busy with school and Prefect duties to notice?"

Lily considered this. "Maybe," she admitted slowly, "but I still think he's just an arrogant git."

Ava, eager to avoid such emotional eruptions as had been experience earlier that night, decided to change the subject. "So, did you two already go to Diagon Alley?"

"No, we only just got our Hogwarts letters ten minutes ago!" Medea reasoned. "Did you go already?"

Ava laughed. "Nope, Mum's been busy at work and Dad's got a bad case of the dragonpox, so I was wondering if maybe I could come with you?"

"No, of course not," Lily replied in a sarcastic tone that she had been perfecting for years (mainly by using it on none other that James Potter). Ava was glad to see a smile flickering behind those green eyes. "But I suppose if you insist..." At this point Lily really smiled. "This is going to be so much fun! We've never all been to Diagon Alley together!"

"When are we going to go?" Medea asked.

"How about the day after tomorrow?" Ava asked. "Then the wedding will be over, and if we just magic all the mess left over away, then there will be nothing that we have to help with."

"Yeah, you guys can use magic to clean it up! I have to wait until the thirtieth!" Lily cried indignantly.

"So you can keep us company," replied. "Maybe be our assistants..."

Medea adopted what she called her "rich lady" voice. "Oh, Lily, dahling, do be a dear and fetch me a glass of water."

The girls all laughed. They were interrupted when they heard Lily's mother calling from downstairs. "Girls! Time for dinner!"

"Will she be angry that I just sort of showed up?" Ava asked nervously.

"I told her that you would probably get here today. And anyway, we always have leftovers, so it's not like you'll go hungry," Lily reassured her.

"Okay..." Ava said, still not completely convinced.

The girls thundered down the stairs, Lily in the lead. As she turned the corner she saw Petunia's skirt swishing out of view, then saw it swish back in as she reached the foot of the stairs. Petunia had obviously heard them because Lily saw her shoulders stiffen, but otherwise Petunia ignored her.

"Petunia, I'm sorry about the owl," Lily said, praying that Petunia would forgive her.

Apparently, it wasn't meant to be. Petunia didn't even look at Lily, and instead opted to ask their mother whether she had invited Barney Winthrop, the local butcher of whom Vernon, her fiancé, was quite fond.

"Yes, of course, dear. You wrote him on your list, didn't you? As long as he was on there, I mailed him an invitation weeks ago."

"I'm sure I did..." Petunia replied, not even bothering to check although the list was on the table a few feet from her.

"And Lily, is this your friend Ava?" Naomi Evans said, nodding at Ava (who was still twisting her long, blonde hair around her finger and shifting her weight from foot to foot).

"Yeah, Mum, this is Ava White; Ava, this is my mum," Lily said.

Mrs. Evans shook Ava's hand and smiled. "Lily," she said, "you should introduce your sister as well, it's only polite."

"Oh, um, Petunia, this is one of my friends from Hog- from school," she said. She watched Petunia's face transform into a snarl, and decided that such a short introduction would suffice. "So, Mum. Guess what?" she asked, keen to change the subject away from, as Petunia would describe them, her "weird" friends.

"If it's about school, then you know I won't be able to guess. All of that is just out of my territory," Mrs. Evans replied as she smiled and began to set the table.

Lily grabbed the stack of dishes and started putting them at each place. She told her friends to sit down, then said, "I've been made Head Girl!" She realized almost immediately that this was exactly the wrong thing to say, realized it even before Petunia pushed back her chair, threw her napkin into the soup, and, announcing that she wasn't hungry, ran upstairs.

Mrs. Evans was the first to recover (being so used to her daughters' bickering). "That's terrific, sweetheart! Didn't you say something about there being a Head Boy, as well? Is it that Remus boy? He seems so charming, by what you've said..." She trailed off as she tried to decide on the best way to de-napkin the soup.

Medea turned a bright shade of pink at the mention of Remus' name. She hid this by having a sudden coughing fit into her napkin. Only Lily saw the reason for her friend's outburst, but kept quiet, knowing how Medea was when it came to Remus.

"No... it's actually- the Head Boy is- he's-" Lily stuttered, still rather shocked by this latest development.

"The new Head Boy is James Potter," Ava supplied, enjoying the scowl that Lily shot at her.

"Oh, is he that boy that you like?" Mrs. Evans asked. "Or was that Jordan... or Jack, for that matter..."

"Mum!" Lily exclaimed. It was now her turn to turn red as her friends sniggered behind their hands about Lily's crushes from first and second year. "James Potter is the boy that I hate!"

"Well, maybe you'll learn to get along this year!" Mrs. Evans said happily, not noticing the outraged look on her youngest daughter's face.

"Whatever," Lily brushed off. "Where's Dad?"

Mrs. Evans sighed. "He has to work late, that's the only way that his boss will let him take tomorrow off."

"When will he be home? I want to introduce him to Ava."

"Not until around midnight," Lily's mother said, and, having managed to successfully remove the napkin, placed a ladle in the soup.

Lily and her friends began to serve themselves to her mother's soup (which was, Lily thought, the best soup in England, and most likely the world) while Mrs. Evans went upstairs to try to convince Petunia to come back down. She returned about five minutes later looking disappointed, but tried to hide it when she noticed Lily watching her.

"So, have you girls got any plans coming up? You still need to get your new school things, Lily," she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, about that, Mum; we were wondering if we could go to Diagon Alley the day after tomorrow. We'll still help clean up here and everything."

"As long as you can get yourselves there, that's fine with me," Mrs. Evans said, reaching for the bread and offering a piece to Medea.

"We can just use Floo powder, don't worry," Lily assured her mother.

"Good! So you can just do that, and I'll finish tidying up from the reception, and we're all set!" Mrs. Evans said excitedly, glad that things were falling into plan so easily.

The four women finished their meal happily, making chit-chat and joking about all sorts of things. The three girls that finally fell asleep in Lily's bedroom at 11:00 (Ava on a bed that Medea had conjured) were completely content.