Rising from Embers

RISING FROM EMBERS
by shiiki

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CHAPTER SEVEN

Changes

December, 1976

Concentrate, thought Lily, as she focused with all her might on the Shield Charm Professor Flitwick was wielding before her. She knew it was a Shield Charm, but she had to make it reveal itself; uncover the magic that could take on a visible pattern if only she could concentrate hard enough …

‘Bravo, Miss Evans!’

Lily’s eyes flew open, and she watched in delight as the Shield Charm materialised before her, showing itself as a silvery, translucent wall, through which Professor Flitwick’s face was beaming hazily at her. The shimmering barrier held for a full half a minute, then disappeared as Lily lowered her wand, tired.

Professor Flitwick dropped the charm and stepped forward through where the wall had been.

‘I think you’ve finally mastered this, Miss Evans,’ he said happily. ‘In a mere space of a month, too, which is no mean feat. I’m impressed.’

‘Thank you, Professor.’

‘I think we’ll end here today. After the Christmas break, we’ll start working on holding a spell in its materialistic form for longer periods of time. Have you any questions, Miss Evans?’

‘Could I stay here a while?’ asked Lily. ‘I’d like to practice a bit on revealing spells from their incantations before I return to the common room.’

‘Certainly,’ agreed Professor Flitwick. ‘I’ll leave you to it, then. Good night, Miss Evans.’

‘Good night, Professor.’

Professor Flitwick let the door close behind him with a soft click. Lily stood very still for a minute, her eyes closed, the image of the perfect visual projection of a spell floating before her. She felt as though her energy was spent, but the excitement of her success bubbled within her and sustained her. She wanted to try it again, prove her talent and ability to herself once more.

Lily opened her eyes and held out her wand before her. A spell … a non-visual spell, she thought. It would give her more satisfaction to put shape to a spell that had no visible form. Her mind ran over the myriad of charms she knew, and finally settled on Evanesco. The Vanishing Spell made things disappear; what kind of form would it take?

‘Revelio Evanesco!’

The lights in the room seemed to waver for a moment, and then bursts of red light emerged from the end of her wand. They sparkled, then glowed black and dived towards a centre, and seemed to implode. Lily watched, fascinated, as the lights mapped out a path. The magic was creating its own little black hole, collapsing upon itself. So this was the Vanishing Spell. This was what was happening every time someone pointed their wand, flicked and muttered ‘Evanesco’.

It was amazing. Magic was amazing.

‘That’s amazing.’

Lily almost dropped her wand. The red and black disappeared immediately as she was startled out of concentration by the sound of the new voice.

James stood by the open door, watching her in awe. Lily felt her face go red.

‘Er – I was just … practicing. Charms.’

‘Was that what you were doing in Defence the first day we did Dementors?’

‘Um – yeah.’ Lily was surprised that he’d remembered. That lesson had been nearly three months ago.

‘Wow,’ he said slowly. ‘It’s amazing,’ he repeated. There was a long silence, in which Lily felt warmer than ever, though she couldn’t fathom why. It was just a compliment. One which she felt was thoroughly deserved, too, although it seemed bigheaded to believe so.

‘Can I try?’ said James finally, and Lily almost snorted. The nerve of him, thinking he could do this. Then she berated herself for being so egoistic.

He then asked, ‘What do I do?’ It occurred to Lily that James didn’t really know exactly what she had been trying.

‘It’s a spell web,’ she explained. ‘Like a visual aid to the spell. It shows all the paths the magic takes, and how magic manipulates elements – even intangible elements – to create the effects that it does. You need to do a Revealing Charm on a spell.’

‘Oh. Which Revealing Charm?’

‘Any one will do, really. Do you want me to do a spell for you to try?’

‘Er – it’s all right, I’ll just try on my own. Let me see … Apparecium Nox!’

The room went black. Although she knew James couldn’t see it, Lily’s eyes narrowed in the darkness. He had better not be setting up the scene to try anything on her. Just because she’d been warming up to him lately and getting to be quite friendly didn’t mean she was going to let him get close or make any moves.

But there was no groping in the darkness, or unwelcome advances, just James’s voice calling out ‘Lumos!’ and his sheepish face reappearing as the room brightened once more.

‘I don’t think I did that quite right,’ said James. ‘I thought Nox was the simplest spell so I’d have more success with it.’

Lily searched his face suspiciously. He seemed to be in earnest. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

‘Maybe you did get it,’ she said encouragingly. ‘I mean, Nox is really just blackness isn’t it?’

‘You try it,’ he said.

‘All right. Apparecium Nox!’

This time, her wand started to tremble as light began to be sucked in towards it like tiny particles. The room went black, but in a different manner. Light was slowly absenting itself, rather than dark spreading.

‘Lumos!’ said James again. ‘That’s quite something.’

‘Yeah,’ agreed Lily. A hint of pride that she could do something that James Potter, the brightest student in the year barring Sirius Black, could not manage blossomed in her chest.

‘You’re really talented.’

‘I – well, thanks.’ It crossed her mind that she could downplay this ability, shrug it off modestly, but she didn’t quite feel like it. And it didn’t feel at all like arrogance to accept James’s extravagant praise.

‘You look tired, though,’ he commented.

‘It – took quite a bit of energy to conjure all that up,’ admitted Lily. ‘I’m still not really good at it.’

James nodded in understanding. ‘Well, if you’re done practicing … I’ll walk you back to the common room?’ He watched her hopefully.

To her surprise, her spirits lifted at the offer. Maybe she was more tired than she thought; her own emotions didn’t seem to make sense. But she nodded and let James put out the lights and lead her out the classroom.

~ * ~

‘Cheers!’ Four glasses made a loud clink against each other. James downed his glass in one gulp. The alcohol was bitter but burned satisfactorily in his throat.

‘Sirius!’ Remus put his glass down after a sip and looked at Sirius in distaste. ‘You didn’t –’

Peter spluttered and grimaced. James thumped him soundly on the back.

‘Head Boy agreed,’ said Sirius defiantly. ‘It’s not like we haven’t done it before, anyway.’

‘It’s Christmas, Moony,’ said James. ‘Forget the Head Boy and prefect stuff, all right?’

‘To Christmas!’ Sirius raised his empty glass cheerfully. ‘Another round?’

‘You know Peter can’t take his alcohol.’

‘I can!’ Peter indignantly took a deep swig of his Firewhisky to prove Remus otherwise. To his credit, this time he kept it down without gagging.

‘Don’t start with the responsibility talk, Remus,’ warned Sirius. ‘I’m going to get us another glass each.’

‘We should have gone to the Three Broomsticks,’ moaned Remus.

‘Where’s the fun in that? Rosmerta won’t sell anything but Butterbeer to students.’

‘Drinking isn’t irresponsible,’ decided James. ‘Getting drunk would be, but a couple of glasses to drink to Christmas aren’t going to hurt anyone. Anyway, there aren’t any students in the Hog’s Head for us to set a bad example for. Besides, we’re of age, aren’t we?’

Remus acquiesced reluctantly, and accepted the second glass of Firewhisky that Sirius brought round.

‘Two glasses, that’s all,’ James found himself saying. Sirius sighed but agreed.

‘Remember that time last year? That was a riot – you were totally pissed.’

‘I’ll thank you not to remind me of that!’

‘And in fifth year, when Evans caught us –’

‘Caught you and James, you mean,’ said Remus tartly.

‘That was because you and Peter hogged the Cloak,’ retorted James, remembering the incident well. It had been just after O.W.L.s, and they’d snuck out to celebrate. However, when they had returned, they’d made so much noise and boldly strutted around outside the Cloak and run right into Lily. She’d scolded so, it’d been a wonder the entire school hadn’t all woken up.

‘Anyway,’ James said, ‘that’s not happening again, because we aren’t drinking more than two.’

Peter interrupted with a loud burp.

‘Shoo.’ He hiccupped and giggled. James stared at him.

‘Peter can’t take his alcohol,’ repeated Remus helpfully.

‘Two glasses,’ said Sirius derisively. ‘Two! He can’t take two?’

James shook his head sadly. ‘I think we ought to get him back to the castle.’

‘There goes our fun.’

‘We’re responsible for him, Sirius.’

Sirius glared at him. ‘Since when did you side with Professor Lupin?’

‘Sirius, would you stop calling me Professor Lupin?’

‘Professor – hic – I donch snow fee answer,’ slurred Peter.

‘All right, Peter. We’re going back. Sirius, where’s the map? I didn’t bring the Cloak, but we can use one of the passages.’

‘Not the Honeydukes one, it’ll be packed in there,’ pointed out Remus.

‘How about the one behind Zonko’s?’ suggested James.

‘There’s be lots of people in Zonko’s –’

‘Exactly, in Zonko’s, they won’t really notice us sneaking behind.’

‘Good point. OK, let’s go, then.’

James and Remus hauled Peter to his feet and together, they dragged him out of the Hog’s Head. Sirius sighed but followed behind them, Marauder’s Map in hand.

~ * ~

Lily pulled her cloak tighter around her as she stepped out of Gladrags, mentally ticking off the last item on her shopping list. The scarf in the package she carried wasn’t particularly fancy, but it was a pretty blue that would match her sister’s hair nicely, and it wasn’t exactly a magical item. Petunia was more partial to what she called ‘normal’ clothing.

With her Christmas shopping done (she’d bought Chocolate Frogs at Honeydukes for her parents, who were fascinated by the moving pictures in the cards), Lily wondered if she should just return to the castle. She had fifteen Sickles left in her pocket, which was meant to last her the rest of the term, unless she was to ask for more money from her parents when she was home for Christmas. And she certainly didn’t intend to. Her family worked hard enough to make ends meet without adding her school needs into the equation.

Still, chilly as it was, Lily was tempted to spend her remaining money on a nice warm Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks. Suddenly, she thought of James. He’d probably buy her a drink if she ran into him. But Lily had no intention on imposing on him that way.

Even if I’m freezing. I can take care of myself.

Zonko’s Joke Shop was next to Gladrags. Lily paused a moment to allow a gaggle of students to emerge, laughing and chatting. She watched them wistfully, her mind drifting to a time when she’d come to Hogsmeade with her own best friend – Aura Banning had been murdered two years ago, but Lily still missed her.

She focused her attention on a group of four boys crossing the street. Two of them seemed to be supporting a third, with the last loping along beside them. Two tall dark-haired boys, a thin fair-haired one, and the one in the middle, clinging to his peers, was short and podgy. Lily’s eyes narrowed in recognition.

‘James Potter!’

‘Lily!’ Sirius Black grabbed her hand suddenly and pulled her aside. ‘What a delight!’

Lily yanked her hand out of his and glared at him.

‘Don’t be fierce, Evans. Come now, you look cold. Surely you wouldn’t say no to a Butterbeer? My treat.’ Sirius winked at her enticingly. Lily rolled her eyes. He didn’t really expect her to fall for that, did he?

‘What’s going on? Something’s going on. Remus, James –’ She turned to look for them, but they and Peter had slipped away.

‘Nothing’s going on, Evans, you’re always so suspicious.’ Sirius’s tone was perfectly innocent, but years of experience had taught her never to trust Sirius however innocent he sounded. She ignored him, and scanned the surroundings intently until she caught a glimpse of three boys moving through the alley between Zonko’s and Gladrags.

‘Potter!’ Sirius caught her wrist again but she wrenched her arm away and marched after his friends.

‘What is going on here?’ she demanded once she’d caught up with James, Remus and Peter. James and Remus exchanged looks. Peter burped and she nearly choked; the stench was overpowering.

‘He’s drunk,’ she realised, recoiling.

‘Wonderful powers of deduction, Evans,’ said Sirius wryly, popping up behind her.

‘We’re just getting him back to the castle, Lily,’ explained James, avoiding her eyes. ‘We’ll take care of it.’

Lily just stared at them: at Peter, whose eyes were glazed over; at Remus, who looked guilty; at Sirius, who as usual was acting like he hadn’t a care in the world; and at James, who still couldn’t seem to meet her eyes.

‘Don’t get mad,’ he said earnestly. ‘We’ll just bring him back to the dorm and we won’t come out again.’

If they were heading for the castle, then why were they sneaking behind Zonko’s? A year ago, Lily would have pointed out the contradiction immediately; she would have screamed and put them in detention and gone to Professor McGonagall, but now she found herself believing James’s words … and more surprisingly, offering to be part of their ploy.

‘I’ll help.’

Her words were met with two open-mouthed stares and a spreading grin over James’s face. He lifted his eyes in amazed relief and gratitude.

‘OK – come on, then.’

Curiously, Lily followed the boys into the thick bush behind the shop houses. They came to a stop before two large trees which seemed to be interwoven. Sirius reached between them and pried a branch away. Lily’s mouth dropped. Hidden away behind the trees was an opening, like a cave.

‘Secret passage,’ explained James, grunting as he pushed a stoned Peter into the cave. ‘Back to Hogwarts.’

Lily had imagined, before she’d ever arrived at Hogwarts, all sorts of brilliant adventures like she’d read in storybooks pre-Hogwarts – of discovering magic tunnels and exploring. When Hogwarts had turned out to be nothing like what she’d expected and at the same time everything she’d dreamed of, she’d dismissed the notion of adventuring. Now, however, she felt as though the adventure she’d been waiting for all along was beginning. She thought she might be able to understand why the Marauders had been so keen to stray out of bounds all these years.

The cave turned out to be a long, winding tunnel. They walked for half an hour – or forty-five minutes – or even an hour; it seemed to be never-ending. Finally, Sirius, who was leading the way, stopped and held up an old piece of parchment to his wand light.

‘All clear,’ he said. Before Lily had time to wonder how he knew this, the passageway was flooded with candlelight. She followed the boys out of a hole in the castle wall and stood, blinking, in the corridor as Sirius slid a stone back into place and let a tapestry fall over it. Had they not just emerged from it, Lily would never have imagined that a secret passage out of school was hidden behind that tapestry. The wall it hung on looked completely solid.

‘It’s all clear to the common room,’ announced Sirius, still regarding his parchment. ‘Filch is patrolling near the Great Hall, he won’t bother us.’

‘How do you know?’

Sirius winked at her. ‘I’m psychic, Lily dear. Divination and all, you understand.’

‘You don’t take Divination, Sirius,’ said Remus dryly.

When the boys had hustled Peter up the spiral staircase to their dormitories, Lily leaned back in an armchair in the common room and reflected that she hadn’t really helped them much in the end. Besides not turning them in or giving them detention.

Why she hadn’t was still beyond her, though. She was Head Girl, she ought to be responsible for discipline, and although she believed in giving chances, the Marauders were far past their last chance with the antics they had got up to over the years.

And James was Head Boy – Remus was a prefect. Why wasn’t she angry at them, as she should have been? Where was her sense of responsibility? Her strictness in enforcing a proper code of conduct?

Then she wondered if, in the first place, she was really responsible and strict and perfect prefect material. When they were younger, Petunia had been the law-abiding one, and she had been the sister with a penchant for mischief and a keen sense of adventure. Lily hadn’t even realised how much she’d changed since then. Maybe now, she was finding that old bit of herself again.

‘You look really serious.’

Lily blinked. James had come down from the dormitory and was standing before her.

‘Are you ticked off about Peter?’

‘Is he all right?’

‘Sleeping like a log. Snoring atrociously, though.’ James pulled up a chair next to her. ‘Look – thanks for not turning us in and all that.’

Lily shrugged.

‘I’m not going to apologise, though,’ was James’s unexpected next statement. ‘I know you probably disapprove, especially because of the prefect thing, but it’s Christmas, Lily. And we only had two – I swear. It’s not like the other time you caught us.’

‘I expect there were many more times besides that.’

‘Er – two more, actually,’ said James frankly, surprising her again. ‘Not including this. Peter can’t really take alcohol well, that’s why we limited it to two tonight – except now we know his limit ought to be one. Anyway, Lily, we’re of age; we’d be able to drink if we weren’t at school. And term’s ended.’

‘So the rules are relaxed?’

‘We-ell …’

‘Actually, I find it an acceptable explanation.’

‘You do?’

‘Strangely, yes.’

James nodded. He said nothing more, but sat with her in companionable silence. Lily wasn’t sure what made her say what she did next.

‘Do you want to … go down to the kitchens? Have a friendly Christmas drink?’

James looked thoroughly surprised. He stared at her for a long while.

‘You know where the kitchens are?’ he said, finally.

‘No,’ she told him. ‘But I figured you probably do. And you’re right. It’s Christmas.’

‘That it is,’ agreed James, a grin breaking across his face. ‘Come on, then.’