I Am My Own Knight

Chapter Four: Friday Night Friends

For the Head Girl, late night corridor checks were an inevitable part of life at Hogwarts. As a Prefect, it was possible to get out of them now and then, forcing the Head Students to fill in. But as the Head Girl, Lily couldn't skive off, and felt like she was stuck patrolling the halls every time she turned around. As tedious as it was, filling in for absent Prefects turned out to be a great way to get to know the Prefects better as she patrolled with their partners.

If there was one night, however, when both Prefects were bound to be too sick to make their rounds, it was always Friday night. So Friday nights inevitably found Lily patrolling the halls with James Potter.

"Do you think maybe we should just plan ahead and schedule ourselves for Fridays," Lily asked James on Friday night, "instead of always cancelling our plans to cover for the Prefects?"

"You make Friday plans other than this?"

"Well... yeah."

James seemed surprised. "I just kind of assume that I've got a date with you and the local rule breakers on Fridays. I'm never disappointed."

"So why don't we just schedule it that way?"

"Because, the way we've got it, after a while the Prefects will start feeling guilty about always skipping their Friday rounds, and we'll get an occasional Friday off."

He was right. "And if we scheduled ourselves for Fridays," Lily said, "we would never have a free Friday again."

"Of course, if you're really just angling to get to spend more time alone with me, I'm sure I can arrange a standing date." James gave her a roguish wink.

"There's nothing I look forward to more than wandering around the halls, freezing my nose off, and looking for trouble makers with you."

"I understand completely. It's the highlight of my week."

"Of course it is. We all know that you're madly in love with me."

James grinned. "Would you like to hear my daring plan to murder Bowman and then carry you off into the sunset on my Comet before any of the other guys know you're available?"

"Yes, please. I've got to hear this."

"Sorry. It's top secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

Lily nodded in understanding. "Naturally."

"And if I killed you," he added, "then the whole plan would go down the drain anyway."

A combination of laughing and croaking echoed down the corridor to their left, and they turned aside to investigate.

The Transfiguration classroom was dimly lit, allowing them to observe two Gryffindor boys hovering over a tank full of very excited toads. Lily recognized them as a pair of third-years who rather idolized James and his friends.

James seemed amused to catch them. "Trust me, this has been done already."

Both boys spun around, startled. The taller boy tried to hide a wriggling toad behind his back, but it slipped to the floor and hopped wildly about the room.

"We weren't doing anything!" he said.

His friend nodded in vigorous agreement.

The toad hopped around to Lily's ankles and she grabbed him. He looked thrilled to see her.

"You weren't doing anything original, you mean," James said. "Placing Cheering charms on the toads - that's old news." He took the toad from Lily and carried him back to the tank. "Amusing, but it's been done before. Now if you were trying to...say...put a Bouncing charm on the crystal balls in the Divination room, now that would be original - and a challenge."

Lily rolled her eyes; James would never grow up. "That's ten points from each of you tonight," Lily told them, and the smiles drooped from their faces. "Now you two head straight on up to the dormitory. You aren't supposed to be out this late."

The boys nodded and quickly shuffled out of the room. Lily and James stayed behind to set the happy toads to rights.

"James, you know you shouldn't encourage them like that."

"It isn't like they're hurting anybody." He closed the tank and pinched out the candle on the professor's desk. "Besides, Nick is just trying to pull off something amusing to impress the girl he fancies. You can hardly blame him for that, can you?"

Lily shook her head as they exited the room and struck a course towards the fourth floor. "If she's going to be impressed by him, it won't be because of his antics."

"Yes, I've learned that lesson myself."

"Why do you let him go on then?"

"Because he'll insist on learning it the hard way - just like I have."

This thought was much too intriguing for Lily to resist. "Who do you fancy, James? I promise I won't tell."

"I thought we'd already established that I'm madly in love with you."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine. You don't have to tell me. I'll figure it out eventually, you know."

"You think so?"

"Of course I will, now that I've set my mind to it. Girls have a natural ability to identify things like that. Plus you boys aren't any good at keeping secrets."

"You're one to talk! I've known you for six and a half years, and you've never been able to keep a secret to save your life."

"How do you know? You have no idea what secrets I've kept."

James coughed in a bad attempt to hide a laugh. "You're right. You tell me a secret that you've managed to keep, and I'll tell you who I fancy."

"Alright. I'll tell you a secret." Lily thought for a moment, and gave him a sly smile. "I'll bet you didn't know that back when I was thirteen I used to fancy you."

James' eyes popped with astonishment, but he didn't respond.

"Oh, yes," Lily continued, "I was really quite devastated when you asked Marian Wallace to Hogsmeade that year. I remember it was Halloween, and George and I spent the whole feast thinking of horrible curses to give her over her pudding. Of course we were too chicken to actually do anything to her, but it was rather satisfying to imagine her sprouting antennae."

"That would have made her more interesting. I only asked her out as a favour to Sirius, and I'd never been so bored in my life. He had to do my Potions assignments for two weeks to make up for it."

"I wish I'd known! It would have saved me a lot of personal drama."

"I wish I'd known you were pining after me. I'd still have Sirius doing my Potions assignments."

Lily laughed. "No you wouldn't. You barely knew I existed back then. You would have thought it was a great joke if you found out."

"You mean like the way you thought it was such a big joke whenever I kept asking you out in fifth year?"

"Something like that. Except you brought that on yourself, you know - always making such a scene. I was so relieved, in our sixth year, when I found out you were dating Doreen."

James grimaced. "Yes, well, we all saw how well that worked out didn't we?"

Lily gave him a sympathetic frown. "I was so surprised when I heard you two broke up over the summer. You seemed to make a really good couple."

"Yeah, well, that's why we were going out, wasn't it? Because everyone else thought we would make a great couple - but we both knew better from the beginning. We just strung it out too long until it got nasty."

They walked in silence for a moment.

"So how do you know if someone is right for you?" Lily asked.

"You just know for sure, deep down." James glanced over and grinned a little. "Having second thoughts about Bowman, are we?"

"No!" Lily rolled her eyes and laughed. "You wish."

"Very much."

She shook her head. "You guys really don't like Richard, do you?"

"Honestly?"

"Of course."

"Really and truly and you won't hold it against me?"

Lily nodded and grinned, knowing what was coming.

"Can't stand him."

"Not even a little?"

"Nope. Can't even look at him without wanting to gag."

"That's just because of your Quidditch rivalries."

"Not at all. He's just an annoying prat who's been obsessed with trying to beat me in everything from the day we met."

"I don't believe that."

"Alright then, name one thing that I do that Bowman doesn't do too."

"Detentions."

He smiled in acknowledgement. "Ha ha. I meant something that I do on purpose."

"You could avoid detentions if you wanted to."

"Come on. Think about it. He takes all the same courses as I do, and always tries to look at my marks. He plays Chaser on his house team, and before every game he reminds me of how many points we've each scored throughout the season. He tries to be funny...tries," he emphasized. "He even knots his tie like I do - and I invented this knot!"

Lily raised her eyebrows. "And he even fancies the same girl you used to like."

"I didn't say that."

"But you were thinking it. Come off it, James. You two just have a lot of common interests. You would probably be great friends if you made any effort. I bet he's just interested in what you do because he thinks you're cool."

"Has Bowman said that?"

"Well, no," Lily admitted. "Actually, he doesn't really seem to like you all that much either, but it isn't as if he talks about you or anything. He's not obsessed. And he only knots his tie like that because I told him I like it."

"You do?"

"It's cute."

James wore a pained expression. "It isn't supposed to be cute."

Lily was about to tease him over his cute tie when she paused at the sound of muttering in the library. "Do you hear that?"

James frowned in silent concentration and waved for her to follow him nearer the wall. As they stood quietly, Severus Snape came through the library door. A heavy bag was draped over his back; his wand was held aloft in order to illuminate the pages of an oily book in which his nose was deeply buried.

James cleared his throat pointedly. Glancing up, Snape jumped, dropping his book.

"Library closed over an hour ago," James said. "What were you doing in there?"

"Minding my own business." Snape went for his book, but James stepped on it first.

"I suppose this book was checked out properly with Madame Pince?" he said.

Lily shoved James aside and picked up the book: The Inferius: A Study of Advanced Necromancy. Lily shuddered at the thought.

A double flash made her jump when the boys each fired off a quick spell; the book flew out of Lily's hands and over to Snape. He caught it, but did not look pleased. When he'd summoned the book, James had stolen his wand.

"Lost something, Snivellus?" James flipped the wand between the fingers of his left hand. "I think I'll just have to hand this over the McGonagall. You'll be able to get it back from her in the morning - probably."

"Just give it back to him, James," Lily told him. "We can report him to Slughorn. I think that - "

"Shut-up," Snape growled at her. "Nobody cares what you think."

"Don't you talk to Lily," James said in a low, controlled voice. "You aren't good enough even to look at her."

"Is that so?" Snape sneered. "And which of us has had a look her knickers, then?"

In one swift movement, James had Snape pinned against the wall, forearm across his chest and wand pressed into his throat.

Lily wasn't about to stand by and let the situation get out of control; she placed her hand over James', and gently eased it down, moving his wand away from Snape. "Come away, James," she whispered. "He isn't worth it." She looked at Snape. "Go," she told him.

Without taking his eyes from James, Snape slowly took a step back. "I'll go when and where I please."

James threw Snape's wand away from them. "GET OUT OF HERE!" he shouted. His voice thundered up and down the corridor. Lily still held James by the arm, and she could feel his tension.

A glance at James' white knuckles gripping his wand and Snape seemed to think better of staying. He backed away towards the end of the corridor and crouched to retrieve his wand. Just before rounding the far corner, he contorted his face into the most unpleasant grin that Lily had ever seen.

"The Dark Lord's army will come for Mudbloods and blood traitors first," he said, "and there will be no escape...not even for you, Potter."

A jet of sparks ricocheted from the stone wall. James had torn his arm away from Lily to cast the spell, and would have chased Snape around the corner, except Lily grasped the back of his robes with both hands.

"He's just baiting you. Can't you see?"

James threw Lily a look that was half infuriated and half unbelieving. He said nothing, however, and turned away quickly, pulling hard at his hair and rubbing his nose under the bridge of his glasses as he walked away from her.

The silence weighed heavily between them, but Lily couldn't form anything to say. The bitter feud between James and Snape had started on the first day of their first year at school, and had done nothing but intensify ever since. At one time, James had baited Snape unmercifully, much to Lily's irritation, but she could not help noticing a marked improvement in that area during the last year. If only Snape would make that such an effort.

Finally, James turned back to her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let him get to me like that. I just...I don't know. He's..."

"He's a jerk," Lily finished for him. "Come on. Let's call it a night, shall we?" That was enough excitement for one night.

Three flights of stairs and two secret passageways later, they were approaching the entrance to Gryffindor Tower when they met with a surprise.

Professor McGonagall was waiting for them in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Mr. Potter," she said. "The Headmaster needs to speak with you. Come with me, please."

"What did I do?" James asked.

Lily searched Professor McGonagall's face; surely Snape hadn't gone to her about their altercation near the library. But she did not look angry in the least.

James seemed to have picked up on this as well; the colour drained from his cheeks. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Just come along, and everything will be explained." She gave Lily a pointed look. "Good night, Miss. Evans."

Lily had no choice but to go on into the Common room while James followed Professor McGonagall back down the corridor.