Sleep was all too deep once Lily returned to her dorm, quickly falling into a deep black state, perfect for her to finally sleep without flashes of the eerie fire. Only without the fire, she wasn't waking up in a cold sweat within a predictable time limit. She simply continued to drift until a hand on her shoulder pulled her from her sleep.

"Professor McGonagall's looking for you." Daphne nudged her, an eyebrow raised. "And apparently you somehow fell asleep in Ancient Runes and Divination, which should be impossible."

"Ask Dumbledore." She sighed, pulling off her jumper as she sat up. "What's this about McGonagall?"

"You missed lunch, and Trelawney was talking to her the entire time." Daphne shrugged, heading back out of the door. "I'll see you at dinner if you're still alive then."

Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed her back, making sure her wand was tucked inside of it, instead of in her robes which she left on her bed. It was a short walk up to McGonagall's office, though it may as well have been a mile long as she went through all of the possible scenarios in her head. All of the different reasons she would be on her own again.

With a sigh and a swift knock, Lily stepped inside McGonagall's office, nibbling on her lip as she tried to remain calm.

"From what I've heard you spent most of this morning half asleep." McGonagall raised an eyebrow, taking a long sip of her tea. "And according to Professor Trelawney, your inner eye was deep in a vision." She placed her tea cup down, leaning forward on her desk. "Sit down."

Lily quickly sat, trying to avoid the intense stare in her surrogate mother's eyes.

"Professor Snape would normally deal with this, given your in his house, however I convinced him that this might be something more than just a student getting caught up in their owls." She took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. "I don't believe there's any stock in divination, that you can't read the future. But Professor Dumbledore does."

"I fell asleep." Lily shrugged. "That's it. And I won't be sleeping in any of the rest of my classes."

"You were standing up." Professor McGonagall frowned. "You walked around that classroom as if you really were somewhere else. And you answered every question she asked you. That wasn't sleep walking."

"Then what was it?" Lily asked, trying to calm her panic. "Like you said divination doesn't actually work."

"I don't know what it was." McGonagall frowned, standing from her chair. "But Professor Dumbledore wants to find out. And if you don't want to, I can make sure you don't have to."

"I'm fine with it." Lily shrugged. "Maybe they'll figure out a way for me to sleep at night."

McGonagall's eyes softened. "You haven't been sleeping?"

"Not at night." Lily frowned. "I've been using the time turner to sleep between lessons."

"I suppose it's better than nothing." McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Professor Snape will want to speak to you before then, so wait for his message. And wait an owl from Professor Dumbledore."

Lily stood and turned to leave, only to be interrupted by Professor McGonagall.

"Look after yourself in the meantime." She sighed, pulling Lily into a hug. "Just a month ago you were so small. Don't go too fast, even if you think you're capable."

"I'll try." Lily smiled, happily returning the hug.

With one last smile, Lily left McGonagall's office and headed for the library, mildly irritated by a light clicking inside her bag. She'd barely made it to the stairs when she grunted dejectedly and began digging through her bag to find the culprit, only to find the runes she'd been handed during divination. She barely remembered taking them, let alone how they worked, and yet she simply knew by holding them.

She continued her walk to the library, absently tossing the runes into the air and catching them as she walked, noting the burst of tingling in her hand as she caught them. Magic had been a strange constant in her life, far more free than anyone had ever described. She'd achieved the impossible, controlling magic with no teachers, no understanding of how it worked. Perhaps Professor Trelawney was right, after all, she could turn into a wolf at will, why should seeing the future be so impossible. She shook the idea from her mind, ridiculous as it was, and began searching the library shelves for books on Ancient Runes. She'd have to catch up on the missing work somehow.

With several books spread open around her, Lily dipped her quill in her ink and began copying out several of the runes from her class notes, at least the ones she'd remembered to write down, and began shuffling through the pages to translate them. It was difficult to concentrate as students bustled around her, whispering about a host of other subjects, her fingers itching to hold her wand rather than a quill. She narrowed her eyes on the page before her, as if she would somehow read it better than she had before, her nails tapping on the desk. She found herself glancing to her left, where the runes sat tauntingly at the edge of the table. She picked one up, narrowing her eyes at the symbol carved into it. She recognised it immediately. The birds. An unexpected change. She snorted and dropped it to the table. She'd had many unexpected changes in her life, and the little rune seemed almost laughable when she thought about it. It was so small, how could it ever encompass something so big and turbulent.

"You're being ridiculous." She pouted, grabbing the runes and throwing them back into her bag.

"She does seem a bit ridiculous doesn't she Freddie?" Her attention was drawn to a pair of ginger boys, both with arms crossed and mildly amused expressions on their faces.

"I'm not so sure. Maybe it's the Slytherin insanity that's going around?" One of them spoke, apparently ignoring the fact that she was looking at them.

"She's McGonagall's girl though, you'd think she wouldn't catch it." The other spoke, a hand rising to his chin.

"Shall we see if she can catch the two of you with a stinging hex?" Lily asked, twirling her wand between two of her fingers.

"I think she's talking to us Georgie." The pair glanced at each other and back at Lily. "Do we respond?"

"She might be talking to the bookshelves for all we know." The pair continued to stare at Lily, even as her eyebrow rose and her expression became that of a challenge.

With a sigh, she gathered the books she'd taken and with a flick of her wand her bag packed itself and hung itself on her shoulder. She began walking between the shelves, placing the books back in their respective places, while the two gingers followed her, muttering to themselves. She began the trek from the library down to her common room, painfully aware of the pair.

With a quick snap, she caught them off guard, turning to face them as she rounded a corner. "Why are you following me?"

The pair turned to each other, looking slightly guilty. "We're observing a rare species in its native habitat."

"A muggleborn slytherin." The other smiled, as if his explanation excused the stalking they'd been up to for the 20 minutes prior.

"Well, show's over." She frowned. "Unless you want to experience what happens to Gryffindors when they try to get into the Slytherin common room." She tried her best to sneer at them, though she knew she didn't look very threatening.

"I suppose it's the same thing that happens to anyone who tries to go inside." One of them spoke, smiling to the other.

"They go in." The pair grinned and laughed together as they walked away, leaving Lily alone in the corridor.

"This bloody school." She muttered, stalking her way back to her common room. She'd wasted a whole day of studying, and the feeling didn't sit well with her. Neither did the feeling that clung to her gut when she thought about her dream during Divination. It didn't sit well at all.