...and in the beginning, there were the marauders

Chapter Three - Two Galleons

"So, what are you plotting now?"

Lily Evans sat down across from Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and James Potter. Upon entering the Great Hall for breakfast, she had seen the four boys sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table, huddled together. Given their behavior since their arrival at Hogwarts, she decided her best plan of action was to get in on whatever it was they were planning, which would make her chances of being their target slimmer. She had no desire to be the third recipient of one of their Dungbombs.

It was the Friday after their arrival at the school. Lily had loved every minute of it. Most of the people were wonderful (Lucius Malfoy being the most notable exception, although he had left her alone since their arrival), and their classes were fascinating. Lily, of course, and read all her school books and several extra ones before her arrival. So far, she had earned her house almost fifty points. But Sirius Black had managed to loose half of them the night before, when he had been caught out of bed at eleven thirty.

"What makes you think we're up to something?" Remus asked innocently.

"That," she replied. "You're all horrible at this. I can see it in your faces."

"At what?" Sirius asked. "We still don't know what you're talking about."

"Fine," Lily said, spooning fruit salad onto her plate, "don't tell me. I was going to offer to help, actually."

"You?" Sirius gasped. "Perfect, studious Lily? Offer to become a common prankster? No."

"Very funny. I still have the right to have fun, don't I?"

"Aw, Lils, I'm so proud. I knew you had in in ya."

"So are you going to enlighten me or not?"

"Sorry. Not this time," said James.

"Why not?" Lily demanded.

"Trust us on this one," Remus said.

"Yeah," Peter said, trying to sound important.

"You're infuriating sometimes, the lot of you," said Lily.

Sirius grinned. "But that's why you love us, remember?"

"I'd love you more if you hadn't lost half my points."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Relax. It wasn't anything personal. And it was Sirius who was punished; he has detention this afternoon. And knowing you, you'll get all those points back in Defense Against the Dark Arts and...and..."

"First of all, you met me four days ago, so I don't think you really 'know' me, and we have Flying after Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Peter went pale. "Flying?"

"Flying," Lily repeated. "You know, up in the air, on brooms? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"I don't feel so well," Peter said. He didn't look too well either.

"You'll do fine," Remus reassured him.

"I don't know..."

"It'll be fun, Peter," Lily put in.

"Assuming you don't fall off-"

"Sirius!" James, Lily, and Remus exclaimed in unison.

"Sorry," he said. He turned to Peter. "Don't worry, Peter, you'll be fine. It's Lily we have to worry about."

"Hey!" Lily exclaimed. "Why's that?"

"Because you're good at school and books and all that junk," he explained. "Bookworms don't go well with broomsticks."

"Would you like to wager on that?" Lily asked.

"Two galleons. I say you'll either get too scared to get on the broom or you'll fall. Or fail to get off the ground. Or-"

"We get the idea, Sirius," James interjected.

"Fine," Lily said. "Two galleons."

She held her hand out across the table. Sirius grabbed and shook it.

*****

James' palms started sweating on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had been dreading this class since the feast. He knew he was being ridiculous, Professor Cartwright hadn't been staring at him, what was he thinking? It was nonsense.

Still, he made sure that he and Sirius took seats in the back. Peter and Remus sat in front of them. He could see Lily and Daphne Winter in the front row, Daphne slumping in her seat, arms crossed, obviously displeased to be in the front.

She and Lily had taken to each other from the start. All the Gryffindor girls seemed to get along, but Lily was with Daphne more than any of the others. Or, she was with James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius. Or Snape.

James had decided that he didn't like Severus Snape. He struck him as cold and conniving. The morning after the feast, Severus had come up to Sirius and given him a rather cold, mildly sarcastic speech on politeness and how one is supposed to treat young ladies. Sirius, of course, didn't appreciate this, and the two had been at each other's throats from that moment on. James couldn't understand why Lily would be friends with him.

Of course, Lily did seem to get along with the strangest sorts of people. There was the giant man who had brought them across the lake (Lily told them his name was Hagrid), William Brigsby, the infamous "why-is-this-door-locked" prefect from the train, with whom Lily seemed to have made peace, and the all the Gryffindor girls, who were freaks by definition.

There were the Torrington twins, Eve and Eden, whom no one could tell apart, the insufferable Daphne, and Arwen Adams, who didn't seem to be afraid of anything, and, with her raven hair, was the oddball of the group. All the other girls had hair that was about the same color, Lily with dark red and Daphne, Eve, and Eden having auburn (although the twins' curls were redder and more tightly wound). Their male counterparts had learned quickly that it was unwise to cross more than one of then at a time. They could be dangerous as a group.

Gryffindors had Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws, and it was the only class they had together. Most of them hadn't seen the members of the other house since the Sorting. The Ravenclaws looked much more confident than the Gryffindors. Rebecca Yang was sitting in the front row as well, periodically shooting a glare in Lily's direction.

The professor came in a few minutes late. He placed an old briefcase on his desk. It hardly looked like something the world-famous researcher William had described would carry. He moved behind his podium at the head of the class.

He was a tall man, with a mess of dark hair and hazel eyes partially hidden by glasses. He was not of large build, but was not lanky and certainly not weak-looking. He shuffled some papers on the podium and looked up at them all.

"I suppose I should take roll first. Start learning all your names," he said.

He began to go down his list, calling out the names of all the students, first the Ravenclaws, then the Gryffindors. Right before he called James' name, he paused, waited a moment, then cleared his throat.

"Potter, James."

His voice changed when he said it. It seemed as though it had softened. Or perhaps James was imagining things again. The professor was looking straight at him. James realized that he hadn't answered.

"Here," he called meekly.

The professor finished the roll quickly enough, and then announced the day's lesson.

"I thought that I'd spend today figuring out where you all are in your Dark Arts defense training," he said. "So we will have a quiz."

Groans went up around the room. The professor held up his hands in defense.

"It will not be graded," he assured them. "You will all have a few moments to complete them, and then we will all share answers."

He passed sheets of parchment down the rows. Everyone took out their quills and began scribbling down answers to the eight questions. The first few questions weren't too hard, but the level of difficulty increased with each question. Lily was first person done, only needing five minutes. The rest of the class needed a good twenty to finish it (save for Rebecca Yang, who finished two minutes after Lily).

"Alright," Professor Cartwright said when they had all finished. "Who has the answer to number o-"

Rebecca Yang's hand went up before he finished asking the question. He motioned too her.

"Garlic." She shot a triumphant look at a shocked-looking Lily.

"Excellent. Two points to Ravenclaw. Now for number-"

This time Lily got the upper hand. The professor nodded to her.

"Midnight."

"Correct. Two points to Gryffindor."

Rebecca Yang scowled.

The class continued on like this, Lily and Rebecca answering all the questions. No one else even tried to answer, and instead took in the spectacle.

"Beetle eyes."

"1237."

"Uric the Odd."

"The Unforgivable Curses."

"Um...I'm not sure."

Someone gasped. Rebecca had missed an answer. Lily's hand shot up.

"Chocolate," she said triumphantly.

"Thank you, Miss Evans," said Professor Cartwright. "Yet another two points for Gryffindor. Well, that's all I wanted to cover for today. You may all leave."

Cheers went up around the room. Everyone hurried out of the room to enjoy their extra time of freedom. All the Gryffindors clapped as Lily came out into the hallway. Once all the others left, an irate Rebecca Yang stormed up to her.

"Listen, Evans, I don't know who you think you are-"

"Me?" Lily exclaimed. "You're the one who turned that into a competition, glaring at me and egging me on-"

"I heard about you, Evans," Rebecca told her. "Probably think you're so smart, don't you? But listen. I am the smartest girl in our year. And I will be Head Girl for our class. Do you understand?"

"Well, I-"

But Rebecca didn't care; she stormed off before Lily could say anything else.

"Wow," Peter said.

"I can't believe her!" Daphne exclaimed. "The guile!"

"'The guile?"" Sirius questioned. "Who says that?"

"Me, obviously," Daphne retorted.

Lily looked surprisingly calm all of a sudden.

"Are you going to be alright?" Remus asked her, looking confused by her sudden change of mood.

"Perfectly," she replied. "Once I prove to her that she can't intimidate me into failing."

"What?" asked Peter.

"Basic psychology," Lily replied. "Natural instinct. When you feel threatened by someone, you sometimes try to intimidate them to the point that they become so insecure that they fail. That's what she's doing, whether she realizes it or not. Or, she's just pathologically insane."

"I'd bet on pathologically insane," James said. "There was something off about her..."

"I thought she was pretty," said Peter.

*****

For the first time since the sorting, all the Gryffindor first-year boys had a meal together. They sat down in the Great Hall for lunch after their first flying lesson with their spirits still high and their cheeks still pink. Sirius Black looked grim, but that was understandable, seeing as he had just lost two galleons to a girl.

Lily was very proud to be that girl. Someone needed to put him in his place, and she had managed it. And she intended to gloat.

"'Bookworms don't go with broomsticks,'" she said, sitting down with the six boys. "Weren't those your words, Sirius?"

He glared at her, but didn't say anything. But he did seem to scoop the mashed potatoes onto his plate with an unusual amount of force.

"How much did you win off him, Lily?" Jeremy Aston asked her. "Two galleons?"

"Yup."

"And you've never been on a broom before?" asked Richard Haviland, Jeremy's newfound best friend.

"Never," Lily replied.

"Wicked," Richard breathed. "You know, Calahand's going to be graduating this year. You might have a shot at his spot on the Quidditch team."

Lily smiled at Sirius before asking, "What position does he play?"

"Seeker," Jeremy answered. "Doesn't really have the build for it though."

Jeremy and Richard seemed to talk about Quidditch and Quidditch alone. Richard was Muggle-born and had come to Hogwarts obsessed with soccer. Jeremy, however, had made him a quick convert to the wizarding sport. The two boys had been close friends since meeting on the train. Both of them had brown hair, but there ended the physical similarities. Jeremy's eyes were sea-green and Richard's were brown; Richard was thin and tall, Jeremy was stronger of build and a good three inches shorter.

"'Bookworms don't go well with broomsticks,'" Lily repeated again.

Sirius lost it. "Alright, so I made one bad call. So what? Are you going to gloat about it for the rest of the year?"

"Of course, Sirius," Lily sad sweetly, a smile on her face. "Maybe even into next year."

Lily could not think of anything more exhilarating than flying. It hadn't been as difficult as she had been expecting. It seemed to be for some of the other students (namely Ellie Owens of Hufflepuff, whom Lily had spent twenty minutes coaxing into the air, and Sirius, whose broom kept making strange jerking movements).

James, on the other hand, had been very impressive. He claimed to have only been a passenger on a broomstick, but Lily found that hard to believe. And he had been very courteous as well, helping her spot Ellie, once she gathered enough courage to get up in the air (and decided she loved it).

None of the other Gryffindor girls had taken to flying as well as Lily had. Arwen, the bravest of the five seemed indifferent to it, Daphne thought it was pointless, and Eve and Eden seemed slightly uneasy on brooms.

"I think we should have these little bets before every flying lesson," James announced.

"I'll go in on it," said Peter.

"So will I," added Remus.

"Funny," Sirius muttered.

*****

Hagrid was outside when Lily reached his hut. He had been tending to some overgrown plants that reminded Lily of burnt cornstalks, but stopped when he saw her approach.

"'Lo, Lily," he said.

"Hello, Hagrid," she replied.

He led her to the thick wood door of his hut and held it open for her. When she entered the small, cluttered hut, a large black dog that probably weighed twice as much as she did rushed to greet her.

"Get back, Fang," Hagrid ordered. He grabbed the excited dog by the collar and pulled him away from Lily. "Ye can sit down, if ya like."

Lily felt dwarfed by the Hagrid-sized chair, but it was soft and very comfortable. Hagrid was removing a brass pot from the fire.

"Thank you for inviting me," Lily said.

"Anytime," replied Hagrid. "I wanted te hear about yer firs' week anyway. That Malfoy boy's left you alone since ye got here?"

"Thankfully."

He poured some dark tea into an old cup and handed it to her.

"Ya liken' Hogwarts so far?"

"Oh, yes," she replied. "It's wonderful. The lessons are fascinating. Although I don't think I like that Hetting man and History of Magic cam be so boring. I earned forty-seven points in classes this week but that Sirius Black lost twenty-five of them last night. That boy can be so infuriating; the first day he met me, he was already telling me to whom I should be speaking-"

"Black?" Hagrid interrupted. "I'd forgotten he'd be startin' this year."

"Do you know him?"

"Not exactly. Who's he tellin' ya not to talk to?

"Severus Snape."

Hagrid raised one of his thick eyebrows. "You've been hangin' round the Snape boy?"

Lily sighed. "Don't tell me you believe all this nonsense about judging people by their parentage."

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong. Ye've just gotta be careful, especially now."

"What do you mean?"

"What do ya mean, what do I mean?"

"Why do I have to be especially careful now?"

Hagrid paused.

"I probably shouldn't be tellin' ya this," he finally said. "You might get upset."

"I can handle it."

He sighed. "Little over a year ago, some underground wizard started lookin' for supporters. Found 'em, too. Apparently, he was some big-shot Dark wizard. None of us respectable people really knew who he was. But a lot of people from old families that messed around with that sorta stuff suddenly disappeared. Lucius' uncle and brother. Severus' two uncles."

"Where did they go?" Lily asked.

"Nobody really knows. Now they think eastern Europe. Seems to be where they started from."

"Started what?"

Again, Hagrid paused. "Seven months ago, there was an attack in Albania. A few members of an old wizarding family killed by a curse. Couple weeks later, an attack in southern Germany. Muggles this time. Then an attack in northern Germany, one in Belgium, then one in Holland."

"They're working towards Britain."

"Yup."

"But how do they know they same people are responsible for the attacks?"

"Knew that wouldn't get by you. Yer too bright. After each attack, the same symbol has appeared in the sky. A skull with a snake in its mouth."

"And they don't know who the leader is?"

"Nope. Everyone's starting to panic a bit. So the Black boy, he means well."

Lily stayed with Hagrid a while longer and talked with him about her first week. She told him about Rebecca Yang and how much she had enjoyed flying (and winning those two galleons). But soon, the sun started to go down, and she had to leave for dinner.

She was deep in thought as she walked back to the main castle. She must not have been paying much attention to her surroundings. When she had almost reached the castle and the pair of arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the bush, she was almost too shocked to scream.