The Parents Who Died

The Parents Who Died: Part I of Tale #1

Hit Me, Lily, One More Time

You're an ocean, you're an ocean

Settle down, settle down

What's the commotion?

I'm an island, but you're an ocean

It's a stormy sea of love and emotion

You've got me suspended motionless inside

--Fastball, “You’re An Ocean”

“I’m going to get run over, I just know it!” wailed Padmavati Balverj, fluttering her tanned, refined hands worriedly as she and her friends pushed their way through the throngs of sixth year Hogwarts students making their way to an assembly in the Great Hall. “Being short is the most horrible thing in the world! You get stamped on!”

“Stomped,” corrected Frank Longbottom. He was short himself, with pink cheeks and sparkling blue eyes. His feet were huge though, warning of a sudden growth spurt that was soon to happen (hopefully for him). “Stomped, not stamped.”

“Oh, whichever!” Padmavati cried, swishing her long black plait in Frank’s face. She would not grow, most likely, and would have to live with her shortness, as her feet were tiny inside of pink sneakers. The prissy-type, Padmavati hated to get dirty and loved talking about clothes and boys. But after five years of just that while hanging out with Kaye Song, another sixth year Gryffindor who shared those same beliefs as Padmavati, she’d grown sick of it and turned to Lily Evans instead.

Lily was between Frank and Padmavati, and by far the tallest of the three. She wore her dark red hair down her back in waves, and her large, glittering green eyes skimmed across the many heads of the students swarming down the hall. A complete opposite of Padmavati, Lily found it much more fun to get dirty than to stay clean, and would rather study with Frank than to talk about him. She was pretty and smart, and most would have assumed she’d have blended in well with Padmavati, Kaye, and the other fifth year Gryffindor girl, Lydia Figg (who blended in with no one), but Lily had abandoned them early in their first year to hang out with Frank instead, who had quickly become her best friend.

“Lily, here, you go in front of me,” Padmavati said, forcing Lily to walk in front of her. “That way, no one will stamp me.”

“Stomp,” said Frank, glaring.

“Oh, do I look like I care?” Padmavati, actually, did look like she cared, but as Frank was about to point this out, Lily elbowed him quiet.

“No, you don’t, Padma,” Lily assured her.

Padmavati nodded, shooting a triumphant look to Frank.

The throng became even more congested as the entrance to the Great Hall drew nearer, and it took them a whole ten minutes just to make their way to the Gryffindor table, where they took seats in relief, Frank on one side, Lily in the middle, and a pouting Padmavati on the end.

“What do you think we’re here for?” Frank asked, looking around.

Lily shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Probably to kill us with another project!” whimpered Padmavati. “As if we don’t have enough with all the OWLs, they have to give us more!”

“What are the chances of that?” Frank snapped, looking fed-up. “It’s probably just to announce something about You-Know-Who.”

“Voldemort, Frankie,” Lily told him with a grin.

Both Frank and Padmavati shuddered and cried, “Don’t say that!”

“It’s just a name,” Lily said.

“It’s his name.”

“Whatever.”

The three friends were silent after that, until Lily suddenly emitted a type of enraged, muffled shriek and disappeared under the table.

United for a moment, differences forgotten, Frank and Padmavati looked at each other in bewilderment. Then they both ducked under the table to find Lily crouched there.

“What is it?” Padmavati demanded. “What’s wrong, Lily?”

“He’s out there,” Lily sniped. “That’s what’s wrong. Is he still there?” 

“Who ?” asked Padmavati in bewilderment, but Frank had already jumped up and looked around for any signs of a bespectacled wild black head. 

He spotted James Potter making his way over to the Gryffindor table, flanked by his friends (Sirius Black, the craziest kid, by far, in the school; Remus Lupin; and Peter Pettigrew) and his biggest, most obsessed fan, his girlfriend, Kaye Song. 

Frank had nothing against James. They were actually on friendly terms. But Lily hated James’s guts, and James wasn’t too fond of her, so for Lily’s sake, he ragged on James and informed Lily, who still hid under the table, “Yes. He’s sitting down waaay away from you.” 

“Is that wench Kaye with him?” Lily hissed. 

“Kaye? Wench?” said Padmavati in disdain.

“Yep, practically in his lap.”

A weird sort of look skittered across Lily’s face, as if she were debating something in her mind, before she nodded in satisfaction. “Good. It’ll distract him.”

A slightly ruffled Lily emerged from the depths of the table and seated herself in her chair. She afforded a glare at James, who didn’t even notice.

“Ohhh,” said Padmavati, a slight grin of dawning information on her lips. “Ohh, I see.”

“See? See? Don’t look at that—that thief,” Lily sniffed, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it. “Stealing my number one spot, he is, and he’s not even trying! Argh!”

Padmavati smiled a know-it-all smile. “You know you like him, Lily.”

Lily looked plainly disgusted. “Ugh.”

“He’s adorable!”

Now Frank joined Lily. “Ugh,” he agreed.

“Well, I hope you would say that,” said Padmavati, blinking, scrutinizing, at Frank. She threw her long black ponytail over her shoulder. “After all, you’re a guy.”

“I’m an adolescent,” sniffed Frank in a superior tone. 

“You’re a male adolescent,” said Lily in exasperation. “Therefore, you are a guy, as Padma said, and though I wouldn’t look down upon for it, we both hope you would like girls rather than guys.”

Frank turned pink. “Of course I do!”

“Oooh,” said Padmavati in a sudden squeal. “Who do you like?”

Frank was a shiny red now and gave a muffled and unintelligible answer.

“What was that?” Padmavati leaned forward eagerly, dark eyes flashing.

“Padmavati,” Lily said firmly. “Drop it.”

Padmavati obviously had no wish to do so, and opened her mouth to continue her inquiry. “Who—”

Fortunately (or unfortunately, as Padmavati began pouting again), their conversation ended prematurely (or belatedly) by Professor McGonagall standing up at the teacher’s table. “May I have your attention?” she yelled over the noise and Padmavati’s question.

“Yes, please,” muttered Frank, fixing his eyes upon McGonagall’s slight figure.

The hall fell silent but for a few muffled whispers and noises, and McGonagall lost her windswept appearance (too, too many students in the sixth year, she thought) to resume her stern, educator look. “Thank you,” she said stiffly. Fixing her crooked hat, she turned to the rapt (or not) students. “You are sixth years.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” snipped Frank.

“Whoa there, Frankie,” whispered Lily in surprise, eyes sparkling. “Someone’s uptight.”

“That—that—” He raised his fingers in the air in search of a proper word describing McGonagall.

“Bitch?” suggested Lily.

“Yeah she gave me an F on my essay!”

“How many pages did you write?” Lily asked.

Frank looked shifty. “Never mind that! It was a good essay, still!”

“Quality, rather than quantity?”

“Yes!”

“You only did a paragraph, didn’t you?” Lily said knowingly.

Sheepishly, Frank nodded.

“The sixth year is a year of change,” continued McGonagall, raising her voice over the murmur of the students. “Your work load increases, as you’ve seen, and you’ll take OWLs and NEWTs rather than your usual exams, like in your fifth year. But that’s just textbook grades,” she went on. Her eyes darted around the Hall to glare at whispering students. “We need to prepare you for life. And in life, it’s not all textbooks.”

“Don’t we do that in the seventh year?” Padmavati wondered, looking to Lily in bewilderment.

“Yes.”

“But we’re sixth years.”

“Really?” said Lily. “I didn’t know.”

Frank stifled a laugh.

Padmavati glared. “Lily. Why are we taking it in this year?”

“Padma how would I know?”

“You’re a Prefect!”

“Really?” said Lily in mock surprise. “I didn’t know—”

“You will take a test on your real-life skills in your seventh year,” McGonagall said loudly over the students’ confused mumblings. “But we must prepare you for it, so we’ll start now.

“This year, the study of real-life magic skills will be on the ability to work together. That’s a base. And we must start at the base.”

“Really?” said Frank sardonically. “I thought you started at the top.”

“You will work in groups of two. I will assign each group a project, which you will present for the school. This will be a test on your communication skills as well as group skills.”

“Pairs?” said Frank. “We’re working in pairs, did she say?” He turned and grinned in a cheesy way at Lily. “Hi, Lily.”

“Hey, Frankie.”

Padmavati, knowing that when it came to pairs, she was always the odd one out, turned to the person next to her, Lydia Figg. “Hello, Lydia. Would you like to be my partner?”

“I’m not done!” McGonagall cried out the fifth years’ voices. “Quiet!”

When she was satisfied at their level of noise, she continued. “The pairs will not be decided by you.”

The Hall was filled with groans.

“The Sorting Hat and Headmaster Dumbledore worked together to group you with the person you will work best with. So don’t come running to me. Go to the headmaster.” She laughed to herself at this.

Frank made a sneering face.

McGonagall bent over the table and pulled out a roll of parchment. “I will read out you and your partner, and when I do, I ask that you remain quiet as you go to join them. Do not leave this hall until I dismiss you.”

Lily looked to Frank nervously. “I hate it when she pairs us up.”

Padmavati agreed so much that all she could muster was a nod. This was a scary occurrence, as Padmavati always had something to say.

“I know ” Frank moaned. “I’ll probably get stuck with a Slytherin.”

True to this, the first names McGonagall called out were “Avier, Brett” and “Longbottom, Frank.”

“See?” Frank shrilled. “See?”

“If he tries to curse you, Frankie, you come to me straight away,” Lily said with a grin. She smoothed his hair down. “I’ll protect my little baby Frankie.”

Frank rolled his eyes, but he was very pink when he left the table.

Recovering from her fear, Padmavati smiled mischievously. “Ooh, I think he likes you, Lily!”

“Who? Frankie?” Lily snorted. “No, no, Frankie likes guys.”

Padmavati was so shocked at this statement that she nearly missed her name. 

“Balverj, Padmavati,” called McGonagall.

Padmavati grabbed Lily’s arm tightly. “Please say Lily, please say Lily,” she prayed.

“Patil, Patrick,” finished McGonagall.

Padmavati moaned. “Pray for me, Lily.” She released her arm and shuffled around for her school things. “Do you see him?”

Lily sat up, eyes searching for a figure standing. She saw one, a guy, emerging from the Ravenclaw table. “Yeah.”

“Is he cute?” Padmavati asked curiously.

“He’s okay.”

“Ravenclaw, I think.”

Padmavati looked pleased as she sat up with her books bundled in her arms. “A smart one!” she said happily. She swiveled her head around in search of him. “He’s okay? Okay?” she cried, spotting him. “Lily, he’s gorgeous.”

She jumped up and hurried off to Gorgeous, Smart Patrick Patil, leaving Lily sitting, alone and mulling over who would end up being her partner.

“Black, Sirius,” read McGonagall. “Snape, Severus.”

Lily choked. Sirius and Snape? Them? Work well together? She burst out laughing.

She wasn’t the only one. James Potter and Remus Lupin were laughing so hard that their faces were in the plates on the table. Sirius, on the other hand, looked upset, and was complaining loudly to McGonagall. “Him? Him? I have to work with him? Aw, Professor! You know I can’t!”

“Mr. Black, I am fully aware of your—er—incompatibility with Mr. Snape. But as I am in no position to change it, I beg you to join you partner.”

“No,” said Sirius stubbornly.

“Mr. Black, if you please!” snapped McGonagall. 

Grudging, muttering, taking as much time as possible, Sirius gathered together his things and shuffled over to the Slytherin table.

Recovering from her laughing fit, Lily began worrying again over who would be her partner.

“Dexter, Judith. Lestrange, Gary.”

Now terrified, Lily clutched tightly at her bag of books and stared at the tabletop.

“Douglas, Juliet. Prewett, Susanna.”

Don’t be Slytherin, she begged. Not a Slytherin. Anyone but a Slytherin.

“Evans, Lily.” She held her breath. “Potter, James.”

Okay, I take that back, she thought listlessly. Anyone but James Potter and a Slytherin.

She didn’t move. This wasn’t happening. There was no way in the world the person she was most compatible with was James Potter. No way in the great big blue.

She was aware of the fact that Kaye Song was whining about the fact that her “boyfriend would never, ever work well with anyone” but her. She was also aware that Padmavati was sniggering and that Frank was rolling, even though she couldn’t see them. She knew them well enough.

She just sat there for a few moments, blocking out reality and joining the tabletop in Inanimate Land.

The chair next to her was pulled out and someone plopped down in it. “What, Evans? Not happy with the pairing?”

Slowly, as if her head weighed of lead, she looked up at the person in the chair next to her. He was grinning a mouth full of white and straight teeth, his dark brown eyes were sparkling behind his round glasses, and his hair settled in a crazy way over his face. 

Padma’s right, a voice in her head said interestedly. He is kind of cute.

She shook her head, trying to shut the voice up.

James grinned at her. “Well, I can’t say I’m that happy either.”

“Oh really?” said Lily harshly. She raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” said James easily. “As a matter of fact, you’re perfect.”

Lily was aware of the fact that her cheeks were pink now.

“But you hate me, and I don’t work well with people who hate me.”

“I don’t hate you—” Lily began.

“And all along I thought you did!”

“—I just dislike you,” she finished.

James shook his head, leaning back in his chair. “Such harsh treatment I get.”

“You deserve it.”

“Do I?” he asked. “Why?”

“Why? Why?” Lily glared at him. “You stole my number one spot!”

“That’s it?”

“And you tease me hopelessly about my red hair. ‘Hey, Lily, is your head on fire?’ ‘Yo, Lily, better stay away from the walls. Don’t think Hogwarts has magic protecting against flames!’”

James burst out laughing. “That was a good one, wasn’t it?”

“No,” said Lily coldly. “No, it wasn’t, Four-eyes.”

He grinned. “And proud of it.”

He’s impossible, Lily steamed. How the hell am I supposed to work with him?

“Now then,” said McGonagall loudly. “You should all be in your pairs now. When I call your names, you come up here and I will give you your assignment.”

Miffed, Lily buried her face in her arms. 

“Evans?”

She didn’t respond.

“Evans?”

“What?” she snapped in a muffled voice.

“You—you aren’t crying are you?”

She picked her face out of her arms and looked at James in exasperation. “Why the hell would I be crying?”

James shrugged. “I dunno. Kaye does a lot.”

“Do I look like Kaye?”

Considering this, James’s eyes skimmed over her. His eyebrows rose suggestively. “No,” he said slowly. “But, Kaye or not, you look pretty good ”

“James?” said Lily so calmly he missed the flush on her cheeks.

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, ma’am, Miss Evans, ma’am.”

“Evans and Potter,” said McGonagall from the teachers’ table. Her eyes scanned the students until she spotted them. “Up here, if you please.”

Tiredly, Lily pushed herself to her feet and headed to the table, not caring if James was coming or not. She stopped in front of McGonagall. “Yes, professor?”

James hopped up to the step beside Lily. “Hey, Minnie, how you doing?”

“Potter,” said McGonagall coldly.

“Yes’m?”

“The next time you call me Minnie, I will be sure to expel you. Understood?”

“Yes, sir, right away, sir!” James saluted.

“And Potter?”

“Yep?”

“I am not a sir. You will address me in the proper fashion. Understood?”

“Yes, professor,” he said meekly, looking down at the floor in mock shame.

McGonagall rolled her eyes to Lily in exasperation. 

Lily nodded appreciatively.

“I am aware of the fact that you two don’t get along very well,” said McGonagall. “And I’m sorry about that.” She looked especially to Lily at this. “But the Hat paired you two up, and Dumbledore approved, so I suppose there’s a reason. You two are the top of the class, and two of my best students. I expect you to do well at this, despite difficulties. Miss Evans, I am counting on you to be the disciplinarian.”

“Oooh,” said James enthusiastically. He leered at Lily. “If I’m bad, do I get a spanking?”

Lily stared at him in shock. Did he just say that?

McGonagall, on the other hand, took him literally and did not see the hidden meaning. “Miss Evans has my permission to do so,” she said with twinkling eyes. “As long as she doesn’t kill you.”

“Yesss,” said James, scooting closer to Lily. “I’ll be sure to be a bad boy now.”

Appalled, all Lily could do was stare between them and turn red.

McGonagall, peering down at her paperwork, was lost on this chain of events and continued with the project. “I’m giving you the hardest project of them all.”

“Aw, no, Minnie.”

McGonagall narrowed her eyes at James.

“I—er mean Aw, no, professor.”

“Yes, Potter.” She shuffled papers. “Your assignment was handpicked by Headmaster Dumbledore.”

“What is it?” Lily asked curiously, recovering from shock at this.

Professor McGonagall looked nervous. “To research the fall of Lord Vol—You Know Who.”

All banter and perverted remarks aside, James became the solemn person he was that Lily never saw. “Pardon?”

“Discuss the motives. Why would anyone turn evil? Why would anyone join the Dark Side? Is it bad parenting, or something more? Temptation? Fear? Wants? Needs?” McGonagall explained. “It’s not just You-Know-Who, although his fall is a focal point. Dumbledore told me to tell the ones who got this project that they can see him at any time to discuss it. He’d love to help. He also expects great insight on this, as I do. And I know you two can pull it off. Here are the direct objectives.” She held out a packet of paper.

“You take it, Evans,” James said shortly. “You’re more responsible.”

Lily had to agree. She took it with a smile to McGonagall and placed in neatly in her bag.

“You may disperse,” McGonagall said.

As they turned away, she grabbed Lily’s arm. “May I have a word, Miss Evans?”

“Sure,” said Lily inquisitively.

James jumped down the step. “You free tonight after the Quidditch match, Evans?”

“Why?”

“To work on this?”

“I guess,” she said shortly.

“Cool. Meet you in the common room.” He swept a bow to them both. “G’day, m’ladies.”

He skipped off to where Sirius Black and Severus Snape sat glaring at each other.

“That boy worries me,” muttered McGonagall.

“He worries everyone,” Lily assured her.

McGonagall smiled at her. “Lily, I want to apologize for the pairing you got. I’m fully aware that you and Mr. Potter aren’t the best of friends.”

“You can say that again.”

“But I’m with Dumbledore on this decision. I think you two can do marvelous work on this. I’m counting on you, though, to keep James in line. If you can manage that, then I’m sure he’ll be a great asset to you.” She smiled gently. “I do sympathize with you, though. James can be—er a bit—er difficult sometimes.”

“Annoying is more like it,” Lily muttered.

McGonagall patted her shoulder. “Go luck, Miss Evans.”

“Thanks,” Lily said quietly, silently seething as she headed away. 

“Paulette Garner and Billy McDonald,” McGonagall called out behind Lily.

There is no way on Earth I can work with James Potter, Lily thought angrily as she pushed her way out of the Great Hall. And there’s also no way I’m spanking him if he’s bad, either, the pervert. 

Steamed, annoyed, uptight, and angry, it was a wonder any thoughts of the project crept into her mind.

But some did.

Lily would rather have thought of James than that, and that was saying something.