The Librarian's Club

Tap, tap, tap.

"Go 'way," Lily muttered.

Tap, tap, tap.

She opened her eyes, expecting to see the carved wood of her bedstead, and the warm velvet shades of her hangings. The ceiling that stared back at her was unfamiliar. Lily sat bolt upright, her heart pounding. Where am I? Even the bed felt unfamiliar.

Tap tap tap.

It must be early, Lily though dimly,

It was still half-dark, the room suffused with a dim greyish light. Where was she? A soft tinkling met her ears, as the curtains of her room billowed. A familiar sound, sweet and soothing. And then Lily laughed. Of course! It was her wind chime, the one she'd made all those years ago in primary school. She was at home! Then what was that tapping?

Lily pulled herself to her feet, drawing the curtain. A flurry of grey wings flashed before her eyes, and a sharp curving beak.

TAP TAP TAP.

Hastily Lily opened the window. The owl fluttered onto her bed, giving Lily a cold glance with its fishscale grey eyes.

"You shouldn't have come so early if you didn't want to have to wait,"

Lily squinted at the watch on her dressing table. "It's six o' clock in the morning!"

The owl merely blinked at her. Lily sighed and dug out her purse.

"Here you go," she pulled out her purse, putting a Knut in the owls pouch and pulling the newspaper off its leg. "And if you want a tip, come at a reasonable time. I'm not nocturnal!"

The owl gave a very disapproving hoot and took off. Stupid ball of feathers. Lily unrolled the newspaper.

WHODUNNIT?

Yet another mysterious murder in the Department of Muggle Relations has left the Magical Law Enforcement Squad baffled. Albert Hartley, outspoken opponent of the Purist movement was found dead yesterday at his flat in Ealing. Albert Jugson , Head of the Department of Law Enforcement today said that claims that the extremist group "The Death Eaters" were involved was "entirely unsubstantiated" and claimed that "Mr Hartley was most likely the victim of a petty robbery".

Lily dropped the paper to the floor, leaning back on her bed. Could it be true? she wondered. Had the Death Eaters really just got away with another murder? Lily remembered Narcissa Black's words on the journey home. "Just you wait. It won't be long. No one can stop him now..."

Rubbish, Lily thought. Men like that - people like that - couldn't gain power. They'd be stopped. Probably half of it was just scandal mongering, bullies like Narcissa trying to frighten anyone. Well, Lily wasn't frightened. She wasn't going to be frightened out of her world - for yes; it was her world - by those creeps. She looked quietly around her lightening room, the old stuffed toys and flowered wallpaper. How strange, not to have recognized her own home this morning. It gave her an eerie feeling; as if the morning, the newspaper, everything was conspiring to tell her that this was a threat she couldn't turn her back on. She had become part of this world of wizards and magic, and now it seemed not to want her any more. Lily sighed, shaking her head and pulled on her slippers. Shaking her hair out of her face she padded down the stairs into the kitchen.

It was not unoccupied. Petunia, dressed in what appeared to be a long pink ball gown, was making coffee and humming to herself.

"Good morning," she said cheerfully.

Lily blinked at her sister, wondering if she could be dreaming after all, and whether that incongruously bright pink dress, and still stranger the bright smile on her sister's face were merely the elements of a deranged subconscious.

"G-good morning," Lily said at last.

"Dear me, you look awful," Petunia said with evident relish. Evidently, thought Lily, the lack of ball gowns at six thirty in the morning was detrimental to Lily's appearance.

"Oh," said Lily. Then deciding to divert the conversation onto a more comprehensible plane "Is that coffee?"

"Yes," said Petunia, looking at the coffee pot with a fond smile playing over her face.

"Umm .... D'you think I could have some?"

Petunia looked taken aback.

"Oh - well, yes, I suppose so."

Lily poured herself a cup. She took a large swallow of the liquid and nearly spat it straight out again. It was stone cold.

"Good?" asked Petunia absently.

"Umm," said Lily. Then, deciding she could take it no longer, she asked, "Why are you wearing your ball gown? Are you going out?"

Petunia tinkled a laugh.

"Going out? Why would I be going out?" she said, sounding as though it was the most ridiculous suggestion she had ever heard.

"I have no idea." Lily gritted her teeth.

"I've just come back in," Petunia explained.

"Oh - you - you were out all night?" Lily asked carefully. Her sister had never exactly been what you would call the party type.

"Came back an hour ago," Petunia smirked.

"Oh well that's - that's nice," Lily said guardedly.

"It was," said Petunia in an uncharacteristically dreamy tone, smoothing her dress.

Lily had finally worked out what was going on. Petunia had gone mad. The only policy open to her was be to ignore it. She opened the bread bin.

"Toast?" she asked crisply.

"Oh no, Lily. I couldn't eat a thing." Petunia patted her bony stomach.

"Fair enough." Lily shoved two slices of bread under the grill and watched them darken slowly. It was such a pain, Lily thought, not being allowed to do magic... it would have only taken a fraction of the time... She glanced at Petunia, who was now stroking the coffee pot and humming to herself. Mad or sane, she did not think Petunia would react well to Lily pulling out her wand.

"Making toast, Lils? Excellent," a voice said from the doorway.

"Morning, Dad." Lily smiled, flipping the toast deftly.

"Good morning, Daddy," Petunia beamed, leaning up to plant a kiss on his cheek. Harry Evans looked at his eldest daughter in shock.

"Are you feeling alright, Petunia, dear?"

"Never better," Petunia trilled. "Excuse me, I must go and change"

And she swept out of the room.

"Is the whole house up?" Lily's mother padded into the room in her dressing gown. "The whole house out of bed by seven o'clock," she said wonderingly. "The Apocalypse must be nigh."

From above Lily heard the unmistakable sound of Let's Twist Again drifting through the floorboards. Lily exchanged a baffled look with her father. Petunia singing?

Lily finished her toast slowly and began to stump up the stairs to her room when the doorbell rang. Lily half-turned, wondering whether she ought to go and answer it when she was nearly knocked flying by Petunia, who was tearing down the corridor for the door.

"It'll be for me," she sang, yanking the door open. Petunia stuck her head around the door. Lily heard a murmur of voices and then Petunia drew her head back sharply.

"Lily," she snapped. "It's a boy. He says he wants to see you." She flounced off into the kitchen again. Lily walked to the door slowly. Who could be calling for her at this hour?

"Evans!" A boy about Lily's age with untidy, jet black hair and brown eyes stood on the doorstep.

"Potter?"

"You're looking good," James said suavely. Lily realised with a jolt she was still wearing her pyjamas.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she gasped.

"Visiting you," James answered promptly. "Aren't you going to let me in?"

"I don't think -"

"Thanks."

James walked in looking around him interestedly.

"I've never been in a Muggle home before."

"How did you find out where I live?" Lily asked, horrified.

James smiled easily.

"It's hardly rocket science, Evans. I looked on your luggage label on the Hogwarts Express."

"Oh, you did, did you?" Lily said, annoyed.

"Yep."

Lily resisted the urge to shake him.

"Why?"

"I wanted to know." James shrugged. "Is this your kitchen? Have you got anything I could eat? I'm starving."

"No, don't go in there!"

It was too late. James had ambled into the kitchen smiling courteously at Lily's startled parents.

"Er - Mum, Dad this is Po- er - James," Lily said helplessly.

"Pleased to meet you," James said with a broad smile. "I'm terribly sorry to intrude so early in the morning, but I had to talk to your daughter."

"Of course," said Lily's mother smiling warmly. "Nice to meet you, James. Have you had breakfast? Lily, why don't you put on some more toast?"

Lily dazedly put on some more bread as James chatted easily to her parents. Petunia, who had taken to skulking behind the kitchen counter, shot James a poisonous glare. Typically, Potter took this as an invitation.

"Hello again," he said sweetly. "My name's James, by the way, James Potter. You must be Lily's sister. I've heard so much about you." Lily gaped at him. She was sure she had never even mentioned Petunia to him.

"What a beautiful dress." James smiled his most ingratiating smile.

"I should think so," said Petunia, in her hard, bitter way. "It cost a month's worth of savings."

That was when Lily realised that she couldn't possibly be dreaming. Never in her wildest nightmares could she conceive of James Potter and Petunia, people so different they may as well have spent their lives on different planets, sitting around in her kitchen and casually discussing ball gowns......

"Lily! Wake up, dear, the toast's burning," her mother pointed out.

"Blast!" Lily pulled the smouldering toast out from under the grill. James leapt up.

"I'll help," he said eagerly, pulling out his wand. Petunia let out a muffled scream.

"Rectus Cendio," James muttered and his toast returned to normal. "Cheers." He picked up one of the slices of toast giving Lily one of his trademark dazzling smiles.

"I thought we weren't allowed to do magic out of school," she said stiffly.

James' smile faded a little.

"Oh, yeah... Well, my dad has contacts in the Ministry, he'll fix it. Anyhow I'm practically of age..."

Lily quickly decided she'd better cut to the chase before he became any more insufferable. Turning to one side so that her parents couldn't see her being rude to a guest she asked:

"Why are you here, Potter?"

James put down the piece of toast he was holding.

"I have something to tell you."

Lily raised her eyebrows.

"You barge in here uninvited, perform unauthorised magic in my house...What makes you think I am remotely interested in anything you have to say?" she hissed at him.

James flushed.

"Evans, please, this really is important. Honestly, I'm not messing about."

Lily opened her mouth to make a sarcastic reply, and then closed it again. Something about the way James was looking at her told her that for once, he might actually be sincere.

"Fine," she said reluctantly. "But not here. I'll just go and get dressed and we can go for a walk."

"Sounds good." He smiled.

***

Lily dressed hurriedly putting on her favourite denim skirt and green blouse. Not that it mattered what she wore, of course. Merlin only knew she didn't care what Potter thought of her. The arrogant prat, just turning up at her house expecting to be admitted...who did he think he was?

She glanced in the mirror. Petunia was right: she did look awful. She dragged a hairbrush through her hair and splashed some water on her face.

At the foot of the stairs Lily paused to look into the kitchen. Her father was animatedly explaining the rules of football to James, who was listening, apparently enthralled, while Lily's mother was looking on at the pair fondly. He already has them eating out of the palm of his hand, Lily thought, exasperated.

Petunia however did not look so happy. She was skulking in a corner, glaring balefully at James. For a moment Lily felt a wave of affection for her sister. At least she could be relied upon to be unimpressed by the superficial charms of overconfident young wizards.

"Lily." Petunia looked up. "Whatever are you wearing your best skirt for? I thought you said you weren't doing anything special today."

Lily's feeling of affection vanished.

"It's comfortable," she said shortly. "Are you coming, Potter? I haven't got all day."

James got up immediately.

"Talk to you later mate." James clapped Lily's father on the shoulder. Not if I can help it, Lily thought.

She opened the door, stepping out into the leafy front garden, James following closely. They walked to the gate in silence. James fumbled with the catch in apparent confusion until Lily showed him how to open it. Pure bloods! she thought, amused. Strip them of their powers and they're as helpless as children...

Perversely, now that they were alone, James seemed suddenly unwilling to talk. He was staring at the ground now, biting his lip. Nervous? Lily wondered. Surely not.

"You seemed to be getting on well with my dad," Lily commented, to break the silence.

"He's nice. You have nice folks, Evans," James said thoughtfully.

"I know." She didn't say what she was thinking: but then you'd know how to charm a Basilisk.

James took a deep breath, stopping short.

"Evans, I - I did come to tell you something."

"I'd hope so," Lily said coolly.

"Yes." James grinned sheepishly. "But this- this is really is important."

Lily shrugged.

"O.K. Look, there's a park over there. We can go sit on a bench if you like."

They reached the park, sitting awkwardly, looking around at the bland stretch of grass in front of them.

"I don't suppose you've had much contact with the wizarding world," James said suddenly.

"Not a lot. Bobbie and Raina write to me but..."

"But you haven't heard?"

"Heard?"

"About the attacks," James said bluntly.

"No - what attacks? What's happened?" Lily said, alarmed.

"Well, it's not exactly common knowledge yet, hasn't even been reported in the newspapers... I only know because my dad he works for the Ministry and -"

"What kind of attacks?" Lily repeated.

"Murders. Some family called Harris - their house was completely trashed and they were found dead in their beds. And the Peters -"

James swallowed. Perhaps it was the light but Lily thought James looked somewhat paler than usual. Lily closed her eyes for a moment: Sudden deaths, unliftable hexes, blackmail and seduction... they're gaining power everywhere.

"Is it - is it them? The Death Eaters."

James nodded slowly.

"Dad thinks so. I mean, it's definitely an organised group of some kind, and the curses they used were pretty powerful Dark Arts spells - but he says it doesn't make sense. These people weren't like the others, weren't, like, political opponents or anything; they don't seem to have done anything to get in Lord Voldemort's way. They were just - ordinary people.

"

There was a silence. Then Lily said,

"But can't anyone stop them, can't anyone do something...?"

"The Ministry are trying, but Dad says they've no proof Voldemort's lot were even involved. And lots of the Aurors are scared to look too closely at the evidence. They're afraid that if they openly oppose them, they'll be next."

There was a long silence.

"So I just wanted to say - to warn you - be careful, Evans." James was poking at an empty cigarette packet with the toe of his shoe.

"O.K.," Lily said slowly. "Have you told this anyone else?"

James didn't look at her.

"No. My dad's not - they're not allowed to talk about it. The Ministry's trying to hush it all up. He shouldn't even have told me, but he wanted to put me on my guard. And... I came to you first because... all the witches and wizards killed so far have been Muggle-borns."

Lily felt her stomach clench.

"Oh."

James was looking at her closely.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes - yes, I just -" she took a deep breath. "I suppose I should've been expecting that."

In her minds eyes she saw Narcissa Black's face, twisted with anger, as it had been two weeks ago. You wait, filthy little Mudblood, just you wait, it's coming... He's coming.

"The Ministry are on full alert now so it shouldn't be so easy - I mean the Death Eaters will have a harder time getting away with it next time. I'm sure you'll be safe really, I just wanted to -" James babbled on, still looking at her anxiously.

"Are you planning to tell anyone else?" she cut in.

James shifted in his seat.

"You reckon I should?"

"Yes," said Lily decidedly. "It's wrong that people shouldn't even know about the danger. Other Muggle-borns especially ought to know what's going on. I could help you. Perhaps if we set up some kind of network we can get everyone in our year warned... and they can tell their families..."

James frowned, deep in thought.

"We'll have to be careful... if the Ministry finds out..."

"Well, I'll begin by telling my friends... if you tell yours."

"We ought to meet up sometime... organize this properly, y'know," James said hopefully.

"Good idea," Lily said briskly. "We could get everyone together in the Leaky Cauldron, that's easy. How about Saturday, eleven o'clock?"

"It's a date," said James. Lily frowned at him.

"It's just an expression," he said, with one of his lop-sided grins.

They walked back to Lily's house slowly, deep in thought. At the Evans' gate James stopped short.

"I have to get back."

"Oh." Lily was taken aback for a moment. "Alright. See you on Saturday then."

"Sure. Well - bye, then."

She merely nodded. James opened his mouth, shrugged and then turned walking briskly down the sleepy street.

"Oh, and James!" she called after him. James looked back.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem." James turned again and went on his way, smiling widely.