Eyes as Green as a Fresh Pickled Toad

Chapter Eleven

Houses Divided

The sun announced its exit from the land of the living in a blur of orange, pink, and purple, with a giant blood red streak of farewell painted across the sky. Lily sighed and leaned back against James, staring as the clouds became tinged with pastel pink and took on the appearance of giant cotton candy blobs. The moon began to glow faintly in the eastern part of the sky, and Lily drank in the beautiful scenery hungrily with her eyes, wrapping James's arms around her and sighing softly, feeling very mushy and romantic and silly all at the same time.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she whispered.

"Mmm-hmm," James agreed, sounding distracted. Lily twisted her head around to find that he was not gazing at the sunset at all, but rather at her.

"James, you're not even looking at it."

"I'm looking at the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he replied, and leaned into kiss her. Lily closed her eyes and let him, but was disappointed to find that his mouth tasted rather like cotton. It was very...dry, and...not so warm, and...cottony...

Lily pulled her head back, opened her eyes, and glared angrily at her favorite green pillow, which was lying innocently on her bed.

Oh. So she'd been dreaming again.

How annoying.

If Lily didn't stop having dreams about James, then she wouldn't be able to put him out of her mind, and she would get distracted at work all the time, and she would just sit for hours on end wishing she could see him, and her summer would become completely unbearable. Although as far as Lily was concerned, it really wouldn't be much of a stretch to get to that point, seeing as how the summer was pretty miserable anyway.

Lily rolled over in bed and let memories of the last few weeks at Hogwarts drift through her mind in a haze. Ravenclaw had gone on to beat the Gryffindors at the Quidditch Cup; Lily and James and Sirius and Melody and several others had all been tacked up on the new Auror Training List, which was to be decided with finality at the beginning of seventh year.

Lily had scored top on nearly all of her exams, except two; James had beaten her in Transfiguration, and Severus Snape had beaten her in Potions. Lily frowned. She was still angry about that one. Her Purifying Potion had been absolutely perfect; just because she didn't spend her lunch hours lurking around the potions dungeon laying praise all over Professor Thorne didn't mean she didn't deserve top marks. Honestly. If you asked Lily (which no one ever did, mind you), Professor Thorne had a thing or two to learn about Potion-making himself.

Quite suddenly Lily's alarm clock went off, and she jumped, and glared at the evil little piece of machinery as she turned it off. Never mind that she had been awake already; it was still an annoying thing to hear, and she had no desire to get out of her nice warm bed and shiver through an early-morning shower before work.

Work. What a strange concept. What a strange thing to be burdened with, in the Muggle world. Her life at home was so radically different from life at Hogwarts that she had felt rather like a fish out of water when she'd first stepped into her house this summer, but to be working in a Muggle coffee shop alongside other Muggles and serving Muggles all day long...it was almost surreal. Every day she felt herself detaching a little from Hogwarts and magic and the life she'd grown so accustomed to after all these years. Slowly she felt herself growing distant from the magic of Potter's cottage, the charm of Hogsmeade, and the hospitality of Windkey. Slowly the dread and fear regarding "You Know Who" and his "Death Eaters" was seeping away, back into the world of magic.

Here there was just earth, and sky, and spirit, and no magic at all except for the magic of life, and Lily, every day, was slowly discovering that it was not so bad to be a Muggle after all.

And besides, if she thought of magic then she thought of James, and if she thought of James for more than a second she became terribly homesick for Hogwarts, or Potter's Cottage, or perhaps either, or both; there was some strange connection between the two, although Lily did not know what, but whatever quality it was that connected them, it made Lily feel at home.

Lily's alarm clocked beeped at her again, and she fixed a glare on it that would have turned most other alarm clocks to stone; hers, however, kept beeping in a high-pitched monotone, and she was forced to pick it up and throw it across the room in frustration.

Unfortunately, this action had no impact whatsoever on the clock's beeping. It smacked into the wall and dropped to the floor, where it lay beeping as insistently as ever, and Lily was forced to get out of bed and stomp across the room to turn it off. She sighed and dropped the alarm clock carelessly back on the floor before stumbling across her very messy room to the hallway, where Petunia had stuck her head out of her door.

"What's all the noise?" she mumbled.

"Just my alarm clock," Lily replied.

"What'd it do?" Petunia asked sleepily.

"Oh, nothing. It's just working again, that's all. Go back to sleep."

"Well, you might consider getting a quieter one. It keeps waking me up, and I'm supposed to be having company tonight! I need my rest!" Petunia snapped before retreating into her room.

Lily rolled her eyes and stepped into the bathroom, where she glanced at the clock on the wall and realized that it was fifteen minutes ahead of the one in her room.

"Oh...bullocks!" Lily exclaimed, and set about taking her shower and brushing her teeth and all other sort of cleanliness-related activities before rushing into her room, fishing around for her uniform, throwing her wet hair into a messy bun, and sprinting out the front door. She ran three blocks to the bus station (where she barely managed to catch her bus), and arrived at work nearly on time.

"Almost late again, Evans," her boss, Ian, said as she hurriedly punched in.

"Almost, but not quite," Lily replied, smiling cheekily. "I like to be punctual. No sense in arriving too early, you know."

"Is that like 'why do today what you can put off until tomorrow'?" asked another voice, and Lily turned to see Ethan, another employee, coming through the kitchen door with a tray of tall glasses.

"Something like that, yes," Lily agreed, taking several glasses off the tray as he set them down and placing them on their proper shelf.

Ian checked his watch. "Fifteen minutes till opening. Who wants to start brewing coffee?"

Ethan and Lily looked at each other.

"He does," Lily said quickly, pointing. "I'll get things set up out here."

Ethan glared at Lily as she busied herself with taking down the chairs that had been stacked on top of their respective tables and arranging them in a more convenient manner. The coffee machine was a Thing of Purest Evil, and the only one who really knew how to operate it was Kiki, the general manager of the place, but she wasn't working today. Ethan hit the coffee machine until, with a squeal and a shuddering crunch, it began grinding coffee beans. The thing was ancient, and took forever to brew a pot of coffee, and in all fairness it should have been thrown out years ago, but for some reason it made even the oddest of coffee beans taste delicious, so it stayed.

"So what's with you and this 'James' fellow you keep talking about?" Ethan asked, as he busied himself with making some decaf.

"Oh, it's nothing," Lily replied. "He's just hopelessly obsessed with me, that's all." She grinned for a moment, imagining the look James would have had on his face if he'd heard her say that.

"Well, I can see why," Ethan replied, glancing at her over his shoulder.

Lily's cheeks went a bit pink. Ethan normally flirted with her, but this morning he was apparently feeling a bit more forward than usual. "Can you?" she asked, feeling amused and flattered.

"I guess it's just too bad for him you're going to be stuck in a coffee shop with me all summer."

"It is tragic," Lily agreed. "He'll never get to see me whip up a mocha. And I make a mean mocha."

"Well, I'll give you that. But your mochas have nothing on my cappuccinos."

"The steaming machine hates me!" Lily protested. "It knows I'm there! It won't let me make good froth!"

"Sure, Lily. You just keep telling yourself that."

"Oh, shut up," Lily snapped playfully.

"All right, you two, enough flirting," Ian said, reappearing. "Shop's about to open. Let's get the pastries out."

Lily and Ethan sighed and both made for the back of the store.

"Zelda and Fran are both grumpy this morning, just so you know," Ian warned as they both disappeared into the kitchen.

Zelda was the name of their walk-in freezer. Someone had once accidentally turned it to the coldest setting, and then the gauge had broken and nobody had been able to figure out how to lower the temperature, so everything was twice as cold as it should have been and it was usually very hard to get the door open. Fran was their resident chef, and she didn't like to be bothered while she was cooking, especially if it was before noon and she hadn't had her standard three cups of coffee yet.

Lily and Ethan both put a hand on the door of Zelda and yanked with all their might. With a loud pop!, like that of a suction cup being pulled off of a smooth surface, the freezer door swung open. Lily and Ethan trudged into the depths of Zelda and recovered some of yesterday's pastries, which they stuck in the oven for a few minutes before bringing them into the main dining area and putting them on display.

Ian left Lily and Ethan to handle the rest of the opening and went in the back to face the wrath of Fran (and to check up on the muffins she was supposed to have been making). Lily and Ethan ran around the shop as the clock ticked closer to six o'clock and placed sugar and butter packets on various tables.

The clock clicked to six and nothing happened. Ethan and Lily continued to prepare the shop, brewing more coffee, wiping off counters, preparing the dining area, bringing more pastries and fresh muffins and donuts out from the kitchen.

At six-fifteen their first customer arrived in the shop, accompanied by the tinkling of the bell that hung above the door.

"Good morning," Lily greeted the man as he came in the door. His name was Thomas, and he came to the shop around this time every morning before heading off to work. He wore plain brown pants and a wrinkled work shirt, and he removed his tattered green hat as he approached the counter and tucked it under his arm, next to his rolled-up newspaper.

"What'll it be this morning?" Lily asked, and he surveyed the glass pastry case, considering.

"Donuts, I think," he replied, taking a seat at the counter. "Two of the glazed ones, and a cup of coffee."

"Coming right up," Lily replied, taking two fresh donuts out of the case and filling a coffee cup right to the brim before placing it on a saucer and sliding it across the counter. "Just let me know if you need a refill, then."

"Thanks very much," Thomas replied, taking out his newspaper and disappearing behind it.

Lily punched his order into the computer and then stood at the counter, watching Ethan write the daily specials on the wipe-off board and feeling extremely sleepy. She supposed she could have been restocking the mini fridge with whipped cream and milk and chocolate syrup and the like, but she really didn't feel like moving, and besides, it was very interesting to watch Ethan write on the wipe-off board. He was a rather talented artist, and did the most fantastic little drawings of people drinking cups of coffee, which really fascinated Lily, as she was about as artistic as a rhinoceros was graceful.

Unfortunately for Lily, she did not have the opportunity to stand around and watch Ethan draw on the wipe off board, because at that moment, Ian came out of the back looking very annoyed (probably because of one argument or another with Fran) and snapped at her to do some work, at which point she decided to fight with the coffee machine again, and eventually coaxed it into brewing her some more coffee. By the time she had finished with this, Ethan had already hung up the wipe-off board and they had several more customers. One of them ordered a mocha, and Lily was forced to run into the back to fetch some more supplies so she could make it.

After all these customers were taken care of, Lily managed a look at the wipe-off board, and was rather surprised to find a drawing of herself on it. She was depicted as fighting with the coffee machine, and her hair was looking rather frizzy. Self-consciously, she patted her hair before turning to Ethan and poking him in the stomach.

"My hair does not look like that," she informed him, frowning.

"It does sometimes, when we get really busy," Ethan replied.

"It does not," Lily protested. "My hair is...perfect!"

Ethan laughed. "Of course it is, Lily."

"Oh, and I expect because you're an artist you think you just notice everything," Lily snapped playfully.

"Of course I do. It's my job," Ethan said, puffing out his chest. Lily whacked him with a spoon.

"Cocky git."

"Silly ass."

"Arrogant buffoon."

"Self-centered drama queen."

"Yes, well, someone has to be," Lily replied dramatically. "Who else is the world going to revolve around, if not me?"

"Oh, stuff it, you two," snapped another voice. Fran appeared, carrying a tray of steaming bagels. "You're making me sick."

"And a very lovely morning to you, too, sunshine," Lily said merrily, smiling cheekily.

Fran glared at her, and Lily continued smiling as she poured a cup of coffee. Fran really was very grumpy in the mornings, but for some reason she liked Lily, and she did not protest when Lily offered her the steaming cup of roasted almond blend. Fran was not so fond of Ethan, who she glared at before retreating into the kitchen. Ethan shuddered after she left.

"That woman," he said. "Every time she looks at me, I swear she's plotting to somehow turn me into a newt."

Lily snorted with laughter. "A newt?" she repeated, giggling. Ethan grinned. (He had a very handsome grin.)

"Well, I imagine I'll get better if she does."

"Indeed," Lily replied, a smile still twitching quite actively at the corners of her lips.

"Speaking of newts," Ethan said conversationally, "how is your dear sister?"

Lily laughed again. "Are you calling my sister a newt?"

"Well she doesn't seem like much of a person..."

Lily sighed, and began sorting silverware. "Oh, she's not all that terrible. We've just been fighting an awful lot. And besides," she added, smiling mischievously, "she's much more horse-like than she is newt-like."

Ethan laughed, walking over to help Lily with her silverware. "Ah, yes, how could I forget? Dear old horse-face. So she's doing well, I take it? Eating lots of hay?"

Lily laughed. "Not quite. She is having a party tonight, though," she remembered, pulling a face.

"Oh, lovely," Ethan replied sarcastically. "Well, obviously neither of us are working tonight. What say we catch a movie?"

"Really?" Lily asked hopefully.

"Absolutely. I haven't got any plans, have you?"

"I do now," Lily replied. Ethan smiled.

"How about we get a bite to eat first?"

"Sounds fine to me."

"Meet you at the pub 'round the corner about seven?"

"Sure."

"It's a date then?"

"Sounds like it."

Ethan smiled again, and if Lily weren't completely aware that she was entirely hung up on James, she probably would have felt a bit week at the knees. Because...she was entirely hung up on James, after all...wasn't she?

Of course she was.

* * *

Melody was going to have an aneurysm. If her little sisters didn't stop playing with their new Exploding Snap game and her youngest brother didn't stop banging pots together and her other sisters didn't stop running around the house playing tag and her younger brother didn't stop stealing things out of the room she had to share with two of her sisters (the sisters who were playing Exploding Snap, in fact) and then hitting the aforementioned sisters with those things instead of packing for camp like they were supposed to...she was definitely going to have an aneurysm.

Her mother had gone out and her stepfather was at work, and she was supposed to be helping some of her younger siblings pack for going away to camp, but none of them could stay in one place long enough to concentrate on packing.

Life would be much easier if her sister Novolie (who was about the same age as Melody) were here to help, but she was at work, and Melody was very much out of luck.

"That's IT!" Melody screamed as her tag-playing sisters ran into her room. "STOP IT!"

Her sisters froze.

"Just sit down, right where you are," Melody ordered. Her sisters sank to the floor, looking terrified. "Stay there until I get back."

She stomped out of her room and slammed the door, and rounded up all her siblings in a similar manner, bringing them to her room, where she sat all of them down and glared.

"Mom is not here. Steve is not here. I am in charge. You are all old enough to know how to behave yourselves, and this is ridiculous. Marie, Hannah, John, and Dexter all have to go to camp, and I have to help them pack, and the rest of you are going to go downstairs and put on a movie and for God's sakes be quiet, or else I take out my wand and hex you all until your arms are coming out the top of your head. Have I made myself clear, or do I need to repeat any of that?" Melody asked, so savagely that all of her siblings simply looked at her in terror and shook her heads, and the two youngest of them quickly got up and ran out of the room to go find a movie.

"Okay, let's go pack," Melody said to her remaining siblings. They all got up and followed her silently into the next room.

Three days, she reminded herself. Three days, and then it's off to America and I won't have to deal with any of this for the rest of the summer...

* * *

"All right, Dumbledore, is my great-great-grandson finally going to make something of himself or what?"

"Your great-great-grandson? Please, Phineas, save it. If you're going to make it a Gryffindor, that's bad enough, but we don't want to go there. I mean, honestly, who ever heard of a troublemaker being Head Boy?"

"Like the Ravenclaws are so much better this year?" Phineas demanded, puffing up his chest.

"We have a few."

"That's enough from you two. Slytherins are the only ones with any intelligence in this school!"

"Well, you certainly can't rule out Hufflepuff!" piped up another voice. "We've got some good ones too."

"All right, all right!" Dumbledore said, glaring at his portraits. "That's quite enough! As former headmasters, I would expect you all to be a little more objective."

Phineas snorted. "That hasn't happened in previous years, why should we change things now?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Point taken. Now, the Head Girl's been all sorted out already--"

He was broken off by a great clamor of voices.

"Silence!" Dumbledore commanded, and the voices quieted abruptly. "As I was saying, Lily Evans will be the Head Girl. It is the Head Boy that troubles me."

"As long as it's not Sirius Black..." one of the headmistresses muttered, and Phinea glared at her.

"Remus Lupin is good," one of the portraits suggested, but another shot him a dirty look.

"You would suggest a Gryffindor."

Dumbledore sighed again, very audibly, and the portraits attempted to contain themselves. "I would suggest a Gryffindor as well. I was thinking--James Potter, although he is a bit of a troublemaker himself."

The portraits erupted in conversation. Dumbledore sat and watched for a few minutes, catching snippets of various arguments, before he nodded and made a decision.

"It's lunchtime," he announced. "I'm going to have a sandwich."

The portraits stopped abruptly. Dumbledore looked around at them expectantly, as if waiting for one of them to speak.

"Well?" he asked. "What is it?"

"The Head Boy!" one of them finally erupted. "Who is going to be the Head Boy?"

"Oh, yes, that," Dumbledore said. "James Potter, I think. Now, if you will excuse me, I really am going to have a sandwich."

As he left the portraits again erupted into conversation, and he smiled to himself as he closed the door. Maybe it was a mistake, to put Lily Evans and James Potter together in such positions. But they would have to give in and work together before the end, and it wouldn't at all hurt to have two of the most talented young wizards Dumbledore had ever met teach each other a few things.

* * *

Sirius's cousin had come for a visit. Visits from Bellatrix were never pleasant by any means, but now that she'd met this Lestrange character, they were positively unbearable. Bellatrix had met him at Durmstrang, where they'd both gone to school, and after graduating this spring she'd been able to speak of nothing else. Although she and Sirius were born within a month of each other, Bellatrix had gone to school a year early, and enjoyed lording this fact over Sirius's head, without seeming to realize that Sirius did not care.

"So you've gotten a flying motorcycle, have you?" Bellatrix asked him rather nastily over tea. "Leave it up to you find a flying Muggle contraption rather than a proper wizarding one."

"I have a broom, you know," Sirius said evenly, chomping rather violently on a crumpet.

"Do you? Well I don't suppose your broom is any good, is it? At least not compared to Siegfried's. He has the latest model, some Nimbus thing, and a flying carpet he bought in Persia last summer."

Yes, and carpets and brooms aren't Muggle contraptions at all, Sirius thought sarcastically, rolling his eyes as Bellatrix droned on about her beloved and unbelievably boring sweetheart Siegfried. After another few minutes of this rambling, Sirius was so out of his mind with boredom that he began coming up with imaginative ways to kill himself.

Now, if I just grabbed that teapot and smashed it over my head...no, that wouldn't work. It might knock me out for a while, though, which would be good as well...he thought, his eyes straying around the courtyard. The edge of that railing looks pretty sharp, he mused, considering. I wonder if I could impale myself on it....

He imagined James's voice in his head, telling him what a lame plan it was. Now come on, Padfoot, James would say, if you're going to kill yourself from boredom you should make it dramatic. If you're going to impale yourself upon a railing, at the very least you should hit yourself on the head with the teapot first, and then run screaming around the courtyard as though you've gone insane, and ram into the railing going full speed for dramatic effect.

Sirius laughed aloud at this, and Bellatrix's eyes widened. She looked rather enraged, Sirius noted, slowly coming out of his imaginings.

"Well, cousin, if you think the tragic death of Siegfried's great aunt is at all humorous, then by all means laugh, but I myself did not find it amusing."

Sirius clamped his mouth shut and racked his brain for something intelligent to say. There didn't appear to be anything stored in his brain for this situation, however, so he simply stared at Bellatrix rather dumbly. Bellatrix glared stonily back at him.

"I can see that you and Siegfried would not get along, as you obviously have something against his dead relatives."

Now that's something I agree with you on, Bellatrix, Sirius thought bitterly, although for a purely different reason. I would not get along with Siegfried, but it would probably have more to do with the fact that you make it sound as though he has an extraordinarily large broomstick shoved up his ass than it would with any grudges I may or may not hold against his dead relatives.

"I laugh at funerals," Sirius blurted out.

Bellatrix's eyebrows raised up so high they were hidden by her bangs. "That's disturbing, Sirius. You should have more respect for the dead."

"No," Sirius replied hastily, "you misunderstand. I only meant to say...I'm so horrible at handling death, I generally...laugh at funerals instead of cry. So when I hear really horrible stories, I just...laugh instead of being...sympathetic. I'm not very good with emotions," he said, impressed with his ever-improving bullshitting skills.

"Well, I'm glad you're so aware of your emotional incapacitation, Sirius. It's refreshing," Bellatrix replied, an annoyed sort of glint in her eyes.

Having a conversation with Bellatrix was often like having your bones ground up into dust by large cement blocks, and Sirius was just begin to feel that grinding sensation when his mother appeared in the courtyard and saved him from having to come up with a decent response to Bellatrix's not-so-veiled insult.

"Mum! How spanking good to see you!" Sirius cried out, leaping up from the table. Bellatrix looked rather annoyed at Sirius's lack of manners, but he really didn't care anymore.

"Hello, Sirius," Mrs. Black said, glancing at Sirius suspiciously out of the corners of her eyes. She had reason to do so, as Sirius rarely looked excited to see her except when he wanted something. "Good afternoon, Bellatrix," she directed courteously at Sirius's cousin. "How is tea?"

"The tea is lovely," Bellatrix replied. "The company," she began delicately, "is rather--"

"Distracted, mum," Sirius interrupted, and Bellatrix glared at him.

"That is hardly surprising," Mrs. Black said dryly. "What's distracting you, Sirius?"

"It's just...my motorcycle!" Sirius invented suddenly, realizing the second he blurted it out that this may not have been the right thing to say. His mother was not very fond of his motorcycle. "It's--it's been making funny noises, and I've been meaning to have a look at it. I might not be able to ride it again without proper repairs."

"Oh, what tragedy," Mrs. Black replied sarcastically. "Well, you'll have time to look at it later. For now I think you should remember your manners and entertain your cousin."

Damn it! Sirius thought, with feeling. "Of course, mum," he agreed hastily. "I was only saying--that's what's been distracting me. I didn't mean to look at it right now."

Mrs. Black looked at him as though she rather doubted this, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she said, "I have good news. Your cousin Andromeda is going to be in town from tomorrow until Friday for a convention, and she's going to be staying with us." At this, Sirius visibly perked and Bellatrix visibly soured.

"D'you think I could take her to meet James then?" Sirius asked. Mrs. Black sighed.

"Not if you intend to take your motorcycle to get there, and only if Bellatrix goes too," Mrs. Black replied, looking at Bellatrix, who raised an eyebrow and looked at Sirius.

"James who?" she inquired, looking quite as though she expected Sirius to blurt out some surname which she did not recognize, so she could sneer at him some more and mock his association with non-high society types.

Too bad for Bellatrix that the next word out of Sirius's mouth was "Potter," and that James was the son of the Minister of Magic. Bellatrix's eyes widened.

"You know the Minister of Magic's son?" she asked, suddenly sounding very interested. She was far too wrapped up in all the society nonsense--having "connections" and whatnot, and gaining "powerful allies". Having the Minister of Magic's son as a friend would gain her family a powerful ally indeed, and Sirius knew that this was what she was thinking as soon as she said, "I would love to go," and smiled rather too widely at his mother.

Well, he'd won and lost that round. Having Andromeda meet James would be fun, but trying to get Bellatrix to leave James alone would not. Never mind that, though; Potter's Cottage was huge, and Sirius knew it almost as well as James, and all it took was a moment of distraction and a well-placed secret passageway and Bellatrix would never find them.

If only it were tomorrow already, and Sirius didn't have to sit through an entire evening and morning of Bellatrix's droning...

Well, Sirius supposed, beginning to plot out various ways in which to ditch Bellatrix once they reached Potter's Cottage, you couldn't have everything...

* * *

"Mum!" Lily yelled as soon as she got home from work. "I'm going out tonight!"

Mrs. Evans appeared in the front hall with a cloth and a bottle of window cleaner in her hands and began attacking the small windows that lined either side of the front doorway. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"Movies," Lily replied, kicking off her shoes. "I actually have some money now that Ian's remembered to give us our paychecks."

"Who are you going with?" Mrs. Evans asked, sounding curious.

"Ethan," Lily replied, removing her coffee-stained work apron and making her way to the laundry room to throw it in the washer.

"Ethan?" Mrs. Evans repeated, following her daughter to the laundry room to throw her own dirty cloth into the washer. "Who's Ethan?"

"Boy at work."

"Is he...cute?" Mrs. Evans pressed, and Lily's cheeks went pink.

"Mum!" she cried, tossing her apron into the machine.

"What? I was just curious!" Mrs. Evans insisted, throwing her rag in on top of Lily's apron.

"Have you forgotten about James?" Lily demanded as she threw in a little detergent and put the washer on the lowest setting before closing it and fiddling with the knob that made it start.

"No," Mrs. Evans replied, "but you can still tell me if Eric's cute or not."

"Ethan, mom. It's Ethan."

"Right. That's what I meant."

Lily smiled. "He is cute," she admitted. "But it doesn't mean anything. We're just friends!"

"All right, all right," Mrs. Evans said, holding her hands up in defeat. "I believe you. But--speaking of James--" she began as they left the laundry room.

"James?" Lily demanded, whirling around. "Did he owl me?"

"No, actually...he..." Mrs. Evans looked as though she were trying to figure out how to word it.

"What?" Lily cried, exploding with curiosity.

"He...his...his head appeared in our fireplace this morning while you were at work."

Lily burst into laughter. "Oh my goodness! Is he crazy?"

"Well, it scared the heck out of Petunia, at the very least," Mrs. Evans replied. "He said he'd be back around...now, actually. But really, Lily, is that how wizards communicate?"

"Sometimes," Lily replied, dashing into the living room and dropping in front of the empty fireplace, which quite suddenly burst into flames, and she scurried back a bit but kept her eyes fixed on the fire as James's head appeared in it.

"Lily!" James cried, looking pleased. "I tried earlier, but you were at work."

"I know, my mum just told me."

"Ah. Well, good, because I wanted to--"

"James, are you insane?" Lily demanded, cutting him off. "Not only is our house not connected to the Floo network, so I don't know how you managed that, but--"

"How did you know about the Floo network?" James cried, cutting Lily off in turn.

"I read about it," Lily replied quickly, "but that's not the point. The point is--"

"They put that sort of thing in books?" James wondered aloud, not really paying attention to Lily.

"James!" Lily snapped, and he focused his gaze on her.

"Oh, right," he said. "Now, Lily, about the last letter you wrote me--"

"No, no, no," Lily insisted. "This is highly illegal, James, and you shouldn't just be popping up in Muggle fireplaces, you never know who might see--"

"Oh for heaven's sake, Lily, it's just your family, and they know all about wizards, I really don't see what--"

"James!" Lily cried. "Are you really that dense? What if we'd had guests over or something? What if they'd seen you? I think that is a very serious concern. What would your father say if he knew--"

"All right, all right, I won't do it again!" James interrupted, but his cheeks were very red. "I hadn't really thought of that," he admitted. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Obviously."

"Oh, hush, Lily, I did this for you."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Did you really? What was so important to talk to me about that you couldn't put it in a letter?"

James looked as though she'd touched on the part of the conversation he was really interested in. "Yes, that," he said, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "Lily, in your last letter--" He cut himself off, thinking.

"In my last letter...?" Lily repeated, feeling confused.

"You wrote..."

"Yes, I wrote," Lily agreed. "Now, really, James, what is this all about?"

"You wrote about a boy named Ethan," James blurted out.

"Oh my Lord!" Lily exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. "James, you are being a ninny!"

"A ninny?" James repeated, frowning. "A ninny?"

"YES!" Lily cried, annoyed. "What about Ethan?"

James looked hurt. "I just...I was just wondering if you...if he...if you and he..."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, James," Lily said, shaking her head at him. "If I could reach into the fire right now I'd hit you upside the head, and then I'd probably kiss you."

James perked up considerably at this. "Would you?" he asked, sounding extremely interested in this proposal. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Yes, James. I probably would," she replied, "if for no other reason than to reassure your pathetically insecure male ego."

"Well then," James said. "Hold on there a moment."

"James, what--" Lily began, but James's head abruptly disappeared, and she blinked, staring at the still-crackling fire. "What was that a--"

She never had a chance to finish her sentence, however, because at that moment James fell out of the fireplace and right on top of her.

"Sorry," he said, scrambling to his feet and offering a hand to help her up.

"Sorry indeed," Lily replied, wiping the ashes off her work uniform. "Now I'm going to have to wash this, too!"

"I said sorry," James sulked. Lily rolled her eyes. "So, uh...where were we?" he asked, and Lily rolled her eyes again.

"Right here," she replied, hitting him upside the head. "James, you're ridiculous. Stop being so insecure," she ordered, then grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked on it, bringing his lips to hers. James was quite happy to respond to this action, and they had a very pleasant moment before it was interrupted by a rather unpleasant shriek.

Lily and James jumped apart, and Lily looked up to see Petunia standing at the top of the stairs wrapped in a towel and looking quite horrified.

"How did he get here?" she shrieked before running to the safety of her room.

James and Lily looked at each other with wide eyes. "Maybe you should go," Lily suggested.

"Perhaps," James agreed, digging some Floo powder out of his pocket and throwing it into Lily's fireplace. "I'll see you later, Lily-bean," he said, leaning in to kiss her quickly before stepping into the fireplace and bellowing "Potter's Cottage!"

The flames engulfed him and as soon as he was gone the flames disappeared, leaving not even a pile of ashes on the bottom of the fireplace. Lily brought her fingers to her lips and sighed, staring at the fireplace rather forlornly.

"Well," she said, closing the doors that prevented drafts from coming in when the fireplace wasn't in use, "that was random."

* * *

After several hours, a refreshing shower, and a brief skirmish with her sister, Lily managed to escape her house and walk to the bus station, where she rode into town and met Ethan at the pub. He looked absolutely smashing, even though he was just wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, and Lily's stomach, quite of its own accord, decided to flip over when he smiled at her.

Immediately images of James popped into her head, and she imagined him standing right behind her and glaring at both her and Ethan. In her mind, Lily glared at Imaginary James and informed him that Ethan was just a friend and that he knew perfectly well how much she liked him (him being James), and that he should bugger off so she could enjoy herself. Imaginary James promptly disappeared, and Lily sat down at the table.

"Glad to get out of the house?" Ethan asked.

Lily rolled her eyes at the thought of her sister. "You have no idea."

Ethan grinned. "I bet I have some idea."

"I thought you didn't have any siblings."

"I don't, but at school...there are just some people whose necks I'd like to wring."

Lily laughed. "Same here. Where do you go to school?"

Ethan's face got mysteriously blank. "Boarding school," he replied. "It's not in England."

"Where is it?" Lily asked, curious.

"Finland, actually."

"Why Finland?"

Ethan shrugged. "Who knows? You'll have to ask my parents."

Lily nodded. "I go to a boarding school too, actually."

"Do you? Where's yours?"

"Scotland."

"Scotland...that must be nice. Much warmer than Finland."

Lily smiled. "I imagine so, yes."

"Must be nice not having Petunia in school with you anymore then."

"What? Oh...yes...right, so nice she's away at university."

Ethan looked at her curiously for a moment but didn't say anything. "I've brought a paper," he announced. "I thought we'd see what times the movies were."

"Right," Lily agreed, and leaned over to peruse the paper. "Oh, that one looks good," she said, pointing, but Ethan wrinkled up his nose--which, Lily noted, was now extremely close to Lily's own nose...and also rather adorable. Damn it, why did he have to be so good-looking? James was handsome, of course, but Ethan was handsome on a completely different level than James. He was handsome on an "oh-my-goodness-you-look-like-a-god-and-I-will-gladly-bear-your-children" kind of level, whereas James was just...the kind of handsome that melted your heart. Or at least it melted Lily's heart. But that wasn't important. Lily was supposed to be checking out movie times, not Ethan.

"Hm," she said, considering. "What about that one?"

"Looks decent."

"How about we go to the show that starts at ten till eight?"

"All right," Ethan agreed, flashing a smile at Lily, which was extremely unnerving, as his face was so close. She blinked and froze, dazzled for a moment, before sinking back into her chair.

"Good," she said vaguely, wondering just exactly what the hell was wrong with her. Ethan folded up the paper and tossed it on the seat next to him. The rest of the time in the pub passed in a rather confusing blur. They talked about music, and books, and had a rather halting and extremely brief conversation about sports before moving on to careers, which lasted a surprisingly long time, considering neither of them had any clue what they wanted to do, and considering Ethan was a Muggle, and even if Lily knew what she wanted to do, he wouldn't have a clue what she was talking about.

The walk to the theater passed in much the same fashion, and the movie was horrible, so they spent the entire time making snide comments about the actors and laughing and getting yelled at by the people around them. Ethan offered to walk Lily to the bus station, and she gladly agreed, and they walked along laughing about the movie and swapping bad jokes and in general just being dumb teenagers. At one point, Ethan stopped suddenly and let his head fall back, and just stared up at the cloudless night sky.

"What are you looking at?" Lily asked.

"The stars," Ethan replied.

"Well, I can see that," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "What about them?"

"Come here," he beckoned, and Lily complied. "Look," he said, pointing. "Orion."

Lily smiled. "Do you know a lot of constellations?" she asked, curious.

"Most of them."

"Show me," Lily commanded, feeling it rather unnecessary to mention that she knew all of them, even the ones that didn't appear in the northern hemisphere. It turned out Ethan did know most of them, which impressed Lily, as Muggles normally paid as little attention to the stars as they did to the ground under their feet.

"That's fantastic," Lily said.

"Well, it's a hobby," Ethan shrugged, taking his gaze away from the stars and placing it on Lily. He smiled, and Lily felt compelled to smile back.

"You're fun, Lily," he said. "I could do this every night."

Lily smiled wider, her cheeks burning red. "Thanks," she offered, feeling silly. "You're fun too, though."

"Well, I'm glad you think so," Ethan said, still smiling, and Lily took a moment to note how incredibly symmetrical his smile was. James's tended to be rather lopsided, which she found rather endearing, but Ethan's was wonderful, too--no mistake about that, and--

It took Lily a moment to realize how very, very close she suddenly was to Ethan's smile, and even longer to realize that his lips were now very, very close to hers, and--

No, not just close, they were touching. Lily blinked, feeling confused. Ethan was kissing her. He was definitely, definitely kissing her. And she was definitely standing there like a fool, letting him. Indeed her lips were putting up no resistance to this action, although her eyes were still wide open and her brain was still feeling very confused, and taking its sweet time to process all this.

Her brain made a very odd decision. Lily's eyes fluttered closed for just a moment, just long enough to experience the sensation of Ethan's lips on hers, and think, Damn, he's a good kisser, before her brain remembered that, despite the fact that Ethan really was a damn good kisser, she felt absolutely nothing else for him, and that she liked James far too much for this to go on.

Gently Lily broke away, and stepped away from Ethan, who looked very much as though he'd like to repeat the experience.

"Ethan..." she began, in a "let's-just-be-friends" sort of tone, and his face fell, as though he'd rather expected this but hoped that it wouldn't happen.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "It's that 'James' chap, isn't it?"

Lily nodded. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have let you..."

Ethan shook his head. "It's fine. I thought I'd give it a try, anyway. I must admit I got a bit farther than I thought I would," he said, grinning crookedly at her. Oh, that's not fair, thought Lily. He's not allowed to have a beautiful crooked grin, too!

If it weren't for the fact that at that moment a very strong image of James popped into Lily's head, and her heart filled with longing for him, she probably would have grabbed Ethan and kissed him again. As it were, however, Lily did nothing, and Ethan walked her the rest of the way to the bus station in silence.

Ethan said good-bye to her rather normally, not too perky, not too depressed, and Lily would have thought that he was perfectly fine with her being absolutely gone over James, if it weren't for the fact that he stood at the bus station and watched Lily's bus drive away with a decidedly forlorn look on his face. Lily sighed and put her head in her hands as the bus turned the corner, feeling very, very confused.

* * *

America was much quieter than Melody's house, she would give it that. The money was weird, and everybody drove on the wrong side of the road, and nobody she'd met so far followed Quidditch, but at least it was quieter than her house. Of course, she hadn't been to New York City yet, and she supposed that would be a bit louder than home, but for the time being, she was enjoying the relative quiet.

"Melody!"

So much for quiet.

"Yes?" Melody called from her bedroom. Her uncle had an absolutely amazing home just outside of Rochester, New York, and she had her very own, very large bedroom for the rest of the summer.

"Ah, there you are," Catalina said, appearing in the doorway. "Are you all unpacked?"

"Just about," Melody replied, plopping down on her bed and looking over at her nearly empty suitcase. "All I've got left are the shoes."

"Good," Catalina replied, surveying Melody's wardrobe. She turned back to Melody and frowned. "What happened to some of the robes we bought you last summer? A few of them are still in fashion, I believe."

"Oh," Melody said, "I left them at home. They wouldn't fit in my trunk." This, of course, was a blatant lie; Melody had sold nearly all the clothes she'd bought in Venezuela and given the money to her parents. She would have done the same with her winter wardrobe, had Luc not stolen it all. However, she preferred not to think about that, as it was still a rather embarrassing memory.

"Hm," Catalina said, considering. "Well, Hans wants us to all have lunch in the garden, and then we should go shopping."

Melody perked visibly. "Can I send an owl while we're out?" she inquired. "Uncle's been using all his for business, and I want to send a letter to my friend Lily."

"Of course," Catalina replied. "Now, get dressed for going out. I'll meet you in the garden in about twenty minutes."

Melody nodded and jumped off the bed, perusing her wardrobe for an appropriate outfit.

An hour later, she and Catalina were strolling the hidden streets of New York City, buying out entire clothes shops with credit and having everything delivered to Hans's home via magic. Melody, after consenting to twelve new pairs of shoes and allowing Catalina to buy her a hideous set of pink dress robes, managed to get ten minutes in a Quidditch store to drool over new broomsticks and Beater equipment. Catalina begrudgingly allowed her to buy some gloves and a new Beater club before sweeping her out of the store and into a salon, where a witch with a pair of scissors and a wand worked wonders on her hair.

Melody stole off in between trips to a sweetshop and a Wizard Outerwear store to send Lily a short owl. Catalina recovered her and forced her into the Wizard Outerwear store, which actually turned out to be quite an enjoyable experience. Melody purchased a very beautiful, very expensive new traveling cloak and a pair of luxurious dragon leather gloves (fashionable, affordable, and non-flammable!), as well as a colorful red-and-gold scarf.

The last stop was at a magical pet store, where Catalina was looking into getting yet another owl for Hans so he could keep up with his business correspondence. As if five owls isn't enough, Melody thought, rolling her eyes. While Catalina negotiated with the saleslady for a large barn owl, Melody wandered the store, peering curiously in at the cages of magical rats, turtles, rabbits, fish, toads, and cats. As she bent down to observe the magical properties of a snapping turtle, she felt several strange pricks on her leg, like dull needles, and heard the sound of gently ripping fabric.

Melody's head whipped down, and she found herself staring at an orange kitten, which had attached itself to her leg with her claws and was attempting to climb up her robes.

"Hey, kitty," Melody purred to the kitten, gently prying it away from her robes. "You can't climb there," she informed it, cradling it in her hands and bringing it up to face level. It had a very squashed face, crooked hind legs, and an extremely bushy tail. By most standards, it was ugly, but to Melody it looked rather adorable. "Hello," she whispered to the kitten. "What's your name?" The ball of orange fur meowed and lifted one of its tiny paws to bat at Melody's nose. She smiled.

"Melody!"

Melody sighed and straightened. "I'm right here, Catalina," she replied, and in a few short steps joined her at the counter.

"What have you got there?" the saleslady asked.

"Um...a kitten," Melody replied. "I'm not sure where it came from."

"Hm," the saleslady said, frowning, and she plucked the kitten from Melody's hands and examined it for a moment before sighing and rolling her eyes. "He got out of his cage again. We can't figure out how. He doesn't really have any powers, but we figure with his intelligence he has to be magical in some way."

"What's his name?" Melody asked, curious.

"He doesn't have a name. That's up to whoever takes him home. So far no one's wanted him...but then, he doesn't take to very many people."

Melody looked at the kitten with longing, and Catalina's gaze flicked from Melody to the cat and back to Melody before she sighed and said, "We'll take the barn owl, then, and the kitten, too."

"Really?" Melody asked, ecstatic. Without waiting for an answer, she stole the kitten away from the saleslady and hugged it to her chest. It meowed in slight protest, and used its claws to climb its way up to Melody's shoulder, where it perched, looking quite content, and began purring.

"Well, I don't know what you're going to call that thing," Catalina commented as soon as they left the store.

Melody considered this for a moment. "Crookshanks," she decided.

"Crookshanks! That's an odd name for a cat, don't you think?"

"Well, look here, see how his legs are all crooked? It makes sense."

Catalina arched one perfectly formed eyebrow. "If you say so, my dear."

Melody grinned up at her kitten. "Wait'll Lily sees this..."

* * *

Andromeda was a few years older than Sirius, and very into art. She was in town for an art convention, which Sirius found fascinating and Bellatrix found degrading.

"You mean you parade around displaying meaningless lines and scribbles painted on cheap plastic canvases to the general public with Muggles?" Bellatrix had asked, sneering.

"Well, we spend a lot on the nametags," Andromeda had replied. "So we skimp on the canvas cost. But yeah, generally, you're right."

Sirius had found this hilarious; Bellatrix was not as amused. Then again, Bellatrix was never amused, so what was the difference?

Andromeda had a free day or two before the convention actually started, so on the second day of her visit Sirius managed to steal her away to Potter's Cottage, where she and Sirius and James easily managed to ditch Bellatrix and leave her at the mercy of the house elves. They then spent nearly the entire day in the indoor gardens, which Andromeda had positively fallen in love with. Everywhere she turned, she saw something else she wanted to paint, and was even so bold as to ask James whether she might be able to bring some of her artistic friends here to paint a bit, to which James replied that she should ask his father.

Andromeda did, in fact, ask the Minister of Magic if she could intrude on his indoor gardens with paint brushes and artist's palettes, and he agreed, quite amiably, after which point Andromeda was completely lost in thought, thinking of angles and shading and painting and the people she was going to bring to paint as well.

Several days later, she did bring her artist friends to paint, and everyone tactfully avoided the indoor gardens while they were there.

* * *

Work was a awkward for a while. Ian hired a new girl, Brigette, who was seventeen and very blonde and liked to chew gum and giggle a lot (especially at Ethan). Lily did not particularly get along with Brigette, but Ethan hit it off with her very well--suspiciously well, Lily thought, considering how recently Lily had turned him down. Ian and Brigette would often go out for a bite to eat after their shifts ended, and Lily would often make faces at them as they left the coffee shop, Ethan flirting like mad and Brigette giggling like a lunatic.

It wasn't Brigette's fault, of course, that Ethan had gotten so uncomfortably distant from Lily, but Lily enjoyed blaming her anyway, mostly because she was there to blame. Brigette had once had a conversation with Lily about Ethan, in which Brigette named off all of Ethan's positive and negative attributes, in hopes of deciding which of the boys she was casually dating right now would serve as the best boyfriend (Ethan was, apparently, at the top of the list), and Lily refrained from rolling her eyes.

Another reason Lily had not to like Brigette was that, during the aforementioned conversation, Lily had mentioned something about her and Ethan's compatibility, and Brigette had commented, "Oh, I don't think Ethan would really be interested in dating a girl like you."

Lily hadn't really been sure, at the time, whether to inform Brigette that Ethan had tried to date her, or simply feel insulted and slap Brigette across the face in a show of righteous indignation.

Instead, however, Lily just nodded, and felt stupid, and then walked away.

After a while, tensions between Ethan and Lily faded a bit, and they were back to being friends and flirting and teasing and joking as usual (a relationship which Brigette severely did not understand). Ethan and Brigette continued to go out together, and this led to more serious dating (which, considering how shallow Brigette was and how...not shallow Ethan was, Lily did not understand).

The summer began to pass in a blur of coffee and donuts and the sound of local bands, and Lily slipped away even more from the magical world she adored so much.

* * *

"So how's your summer going, Prongs?" Sirius asked, plopping down on a couch in one of the many random spare rooms in Potter's Cottage. Andromeda had moved on to her next artist's convention, and Bellatrix had been reunited with her beloved Siegfried, and Sirius was free for the summer, and spending time at James's house as usual.

James sighed and pulled his bouncy ball out of his right pocket. "It's all right," he replied, shrugging. "Dad's been at work until at least midnight every day since the end of May Things...things aren't so good right now, Sirius."

Sirius grimaced. "That's what they've been hinting at in the papers, but no one at the ministry's been brave enough to say anything. Or rather...they're not allowed to say anything."

"They don't want people to panic," James said. "The papers don't know it, but the Ministry's managed to cover up eight Dark Marks since school got out...and think how many of them have been in the paper."

Sirius's eyes widened. "There've been at least eight since school got out...but if the Mimistry's managed block out half of those attacks in reality...who knows what other secrets they've been keeping from us?"

"The Ministry's logic exactly," James replied grimly. "Like I said, they don't want the people to panic, so they're trying to keep the truth to a minimum. They don't want people finding out what they've already hidden. They want everyone to think they've got it perfectly under control."

"Except they don't," Sirius reasoned.

"Right," James agreed.

"Bloody hell," Sirius muttered under his breath. "I sure as hell hope all the Aurors nowadays are spanking good. And I hope Dumbledore has a plan."

"Dumbledore? Why Dumbledore?"

"Can you think of anyone more powerful than Dumbledore? Of course he's going to have a plan. If the Ministry fails, at least he won't."

"So we hope," James said, sounding rather skeptical.

Sirius shuddered, still thinking. "Imagine if those people in the papers were people we actually knew," he said. "The targets have been mostly Muggle, and we don't really know Muggles. But imagine if he started targeting wizards. What in the world would we do then?"

"I don't know," James replied, looking very much as though he was starting to get a headache, "but I sure as hell hope it's all over soon."

* * *

Lily jumped easily off the bus as it came to a rolling stop at the corner of Lennox and Westfield and began walking in bouncy, happy steps down the street. Work tonight had been unusually fun. Ethan had been there, for one, and he had been exceptionally flirty, which was always enjoyable (although James probably wouldn't have seen the enjoyment). For another, business had been good; the stream of customers had been constant rather than in small spurts, and the shop had stayed at least half full until ten, when the customers slowly started filtering out.

All in all, however, the night had been successful. Lily was finally getting the hang of the coffee machine, and she hadn't broken any glasses (although she did manage to spill some coffee on Brigette's white sweater; that had been a tragedy).

Plus, hopefully, when she got home she wouldn't have to worry about seeing Petunia, as she was out with friends (what friends, Lily didn't know; she couldn't imagine anyone putting up with her sister for more than five minutes at a time, but if Petunia had found people who could put up with her excessive nosiness, then good for her). But then, Lily would be going straight to bed as soon as she got home anyway, so she supposed it didn't really matter.

The sky was dark and clear and full of twinkling stars, and Lily looked up as she walked, humming softly to herself and picking out random constellations she'd learned in Astronomy class. She turned the corner when she reached Opal Street and continued walking. Her house was just another block or so away, a little ways down this street and then around a second corner onto Harper Avenue. Lily took in the scent of the night as she walked, and listened to the soft chirping of the crickets and the slight rustling of the trees as a sweet summer breeze played along the treetops and the ends of Lily's hair.

Lily couldn't take her eyes off the sky; the moon was large and full and beautiful brilliant silver, and the stars were positively shimmering. Just as she began to wonder if James was looking at the same moon and the same stars as she was, she saw an odd rippling disturbance in the sky, and stopped just short of Harper Avenue, frowning. Presently the breeze carried to her ears some unpleasant sounds--faraway shouting and even screaming, and Lily's heart began beating irregularly as the disturbance in the sky became more profound. The shrieking sound had gone, but there was still some distant shouting, and the small rippling disturbance in the sky erupted into a definite form and figure--that of a giant skull with a serpent slithering out of its mouth.

Lily froze, and felt an icy chill run through her veins as her mind processed the meaning of the skull in the sky. No, she thought suddenly. No. Not them. Please, dear Lord, anyone but them. At this point, curiosity overcame her fear and she dashed around the corner, not caring what became of her, just as long as the skull wasn't positioned over a white two-story house with blue shutters and a blue front door, and the beautiful flowerbeds--

--situated around two tall proud trees, which several men in dark cloaks with hideous masks on were leaning against, staring at the white blue-shuttered house, from which shrieks, shouts, and the occasional ominous flash of magic-indicating light were still issuing. The sounds and light stopped abruptly, and another black-cloaked man came out the front door and motioned to the men clustered around the trees, and with soft pop!s they all began to Disapparate. Lily stood on the corner in shock and silence and watched the Death Eaters leave, and that might have been all, had a bloodcurdling shriek not come from the spot directly behind Lily.

Lily jumped and whirled around to find herself face-to-face with her sister Petunia, whose face was very white and terror-stricken, and whose mouth was wide open and issuing a terrible shriek, which Lily quickly stifled before whirling around to assess if any of the Death Eaters had heard. Judging by the fact that the remaining black-cloaked men had whipped their wands out and were stalking down the street in the direction of Lily and her sister, they had.

Lily grabbed Petunia's hand and yanked her viciously around the corner, and attempted to begin running away, but for some reason Petunia resisted.

"No!" she shrieked, trying to wrench her hand from Lily's grasp. "We have to go back--we have to tell those men to go away and call the police and--"

"Shut up and RUN, Petunia, unless you want to die!" Lily cried desperately as the Death Eaters rounded the corner and began shouting. One of them yelled an incantation, and an ominous looking green spell shot at Lily, who ducked, and began tugging on Petunia's hand again. Her sister was slightly more compliant this time, but it immediately became apparent that she was not wearing shoes fit for running.

"Lily!" Petunia shrieked, staggering along behind her younger sister and wincing as a spell flew past her right ear. "Who ARE those people, and---wha---what is that thing in the sky, and--"

"Later!" Lily cried, rounding the next corner she came to as sharply as she could, which apparently was too sharply for Petunia, as she stumbled and fell right over on top of Lily, who shrieked and toppled over as well, flinging out her right arm in a desperate attempt to break her fall. All this accomplished was to drive searing pain into her arm--pain which, Lily imagined, was only a precursor to what the Death Eaters would do to them when they inevitably caught up.

As Lily lay on the ground trying to catch her breath and come to terms with the pain shooting up her arm, Petunia screamed again, bloodcurdlingly, and Lily yelled out as well as a blinding light obscured her vision, and for a moment all she heard was Petunia's screaming, and her own screaming, and the footsteps of the Death Eaters approaching the corner, and her own heart beating, and then something very large approached Lily's head very quickly, and she closed her eyes tight, and prayed.

* * *